OOC:Third Chryse War
A WIP, I'm going to write this in the stlye of a TV Tropes Useful Notes page, because I find that a nice casual means of conveying information.
The Third Chryse War was fought between the Republic of Syara and the unlikely alliance of the Republic of Górska and the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic, lasting from 1905-1909. The chief cause of the war had mostly to do with territorial claims, though there were underlying ideological and ethnic issues that will be addressed later.
As the name implies, the war was fought mostly over control of the island of Chryse, but in a trend of irony that will become commonplace in this war, most of the actual fighting (in terms of numbers of troops, casualties, and sheer scale), took place on the border between Syara and Ruvelka. Chryse had been settled by the Symmerian Empire and afterwards fell under the Rioni Union, but in the 15th Century growing tensions between Slavic migrants left over from the Slavokratia led to the outbreak of the First Chryse War in the 16th Century between various Slavic powers and the Rioni, which ended with the island split up into multiple principalities with very uneven borders. This was okay for the time since settlements were less interconnected, but became problematic when the industrial revolution took over and urban areas became more linked with trains and rails and mechanization consumed more and more land. The Rioni Union fell apart in the early 19th Century and in theory, control of the former Rioni-owned parts of Chryse fell to the Kingdom of Symmeria, one of the Syaran Successor States.
When the Rioni Union fell apart, both Syara and Ruvelka ceased being a unified domain and split, but while Ruvelka unified fairly quickly Syara was split between Symmeria, Galania, Scitaria, and Hayreniky. Originally Galania was top dog owing to its large population and fertile soil, but as industrialization picked up its lack of raw materials and limited coast line saw it fall behind, leading the Galanians to attempt to re-assert themselves by seizing control of Zemplen, a region land between Syara and Ruvelka that held special religious and historical significance for Syarans. The ensuing Galanian-Ruvelkan War ended badly for Galania, as their defeat cemented their status as a declining power, now eclipsed by Symmeria. But in what would seem like a growing trend, things actually arguably turned out worse for what was then the Ruvelkan Imperium; the war bankrupted the Imperium's already weak economy and the under performance of the Imperial Army resulted in heavy casualties, a burden primarily shouldered by the lower classes. Just a year after the war ended revolutions broke out in 1848 across Ruvelka, which were never fully stifled as communist-inspired groups arose across the Imperium.
While Galanian fortunes had waned Symmerian fortunes had risen; located along the valuable trade route of the Sundering Sea, plentiful coal, and an educated populace turned the Symmerians once more into a major power despite it's small size. For many Symmerians however the goal was Chryse; control of it would give Symmeria a major influence over the trade routes that run through the western mouth of the Sundering Sea. There was also a fair mix of growing nationalism as the Symmerians collectively recovered from the collapse of the Symmerian Empire and saw their rise in fortunes as a chance to "return to the fold", so to speak. In 1856 the Symmerians flexed their military muscle and went to war with Górska over Chryse. While the Symmerians fell short of their goal of total control of the island they got 80% of it in just under 2 years of fighting, demonstrating the Symmerian Royal Army was also a force to be reckoned with.
Less than 5 years later the Ruvelkan Imperium collapsed into civil war that ended with the establishment of the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic, who's communist ideology immediately identified the conservative monarchies of Symmeria and Galania as ideological opposition. Rising tensions between the Syaran Successor States and the Ruvelkan SR led to calls for war on both sides, but it was ultimately the Ruvelkan Reds who struck first. Officially the war was fought over Imerti, another disputed territorial region but a major cause was also ideological and geopolitica; by smashing the Symmerians the Ruvelkans were hopeful that a general communist uprising would be triggered across Syara, while also defeating the most powerful Syaran state would coerce the others into submitting to Ruvelkan influence over north-west Siduri. But the Red Army that marched into Symmeria in 1872 was a far cry from the one that had defeated the Imperium less than a decade prior for a variety of reasons, and the Ruvelkan were bloodily repulsed from Symmerian land. The Symmerians followed that up with an invasion of Ruvelka itself, ransacking the Koryal Plain and putting many Ruvelkan towns to the torch. Well aware Symmeria was too small to threaten the existence of Ruvelka entirely, the Symmerians settled for besieging and capturing Kunhegyes and then Kaposvár, the Ruvelkan capitol. The ensuing flight of the communist government and the damage to the city was something the Socialist Republic never fully recovered from, and for the next few decades political power would increasingly shift towards Debrecen and Aszod, but that's a story for another time.
Despite their victory it was clear to most Syarans that Ruvelka was an existential threat to all of Syara, and shortly after the war ended there were mass demonstrations across the Syaran states demanding unification. With Symmeria taking the helm, the successor states unified into the Republic of Syara in 1875. Unification proved a boon for Syaran fortunes; Galanian agriculture, Hayren mining, Symmerian industry, and Scitarian maritime influence turned Syara from a patchwork of unevenly developed states into a major industrial power in just a generation. Between 1875-1900 the Syaran economy grew an average of 12% a year behind a major industrial economy, especially in machines and shipbuilding.