Ochoccola War
The Ochoccola War, also known as the Cuthish invasion of Ochoccola and the Ochoccola Crisis, was an armed conflict fought between Cuthland and the Second Ochoccolan Republic during the spring of 1994. Fighting occured primarily in Ochoccola and the surrounding ocean and airspace, with a localized spillover to Akawhk briefly bringing Mascylla into the conflict. A major turning point in the Great Game, the Ochoccola War renewed tensions between Cuthland and Mascylla and led to a realignment of the Auroran world order, with the Mageiros League usurping the !Warsaw Pact as the primary geopolitical adversary for the Berean Defense Treaty Association (BDTA).
After the fall of communism in 1990, Ochoccola transitioned into a nascent liberal democracy under the administration of Paramount Chief Lamochattee. Lamochattee's government began to strengthen ties with the BDTA powers, signing a free trade agreement with Mascylla, Lavaria, Falland, and Sarrac in 1992. Cuthland had previously enjoyed warm diplomatic and economic ties with communist Ochoccola and was a major importer of Ochoccolan uranium, raising concerns that a possible Ochoccolan accession to the BDTA would jeopardize Cuthish interests in Alvinia. Cuthland subsequently began sending covert support to the Ochoccolan National Front (ONF), a far-right political party that had emerged as the primary opposition to Lamochattee's administration. Backed by Cuthish funding, the ONF's Kikikwawason challenged Lamochattee for Paramount Chief in the 1993 Ochoccolan general election, losing by a slim margin. Both the ONF and Cuthish government alleged widespread voter fraud and rejected the results of the election, resulting in a wave of unrest as protests and violence broke out in major cities across the country. Ochoccolan and BDTA officials accused the Cuthish government of orchestrating the protests, and in early February of 1994, tensions escalated significantly when Cuthish forces began a naval build-up near the Ochoccolan coast. On 25 February, the Cuthish government demanded that the Ochoccolan government nullify the results of the election and allow Cuthish peacekeepers and election observers to enter the country. Lamochattee refused, calling on the BDTA to immediately allow Ochoccola's accession to the organization and intervene militarily in the crisis.
The invasion began with an incursion into Ochoccolan territorial waters during the early morning hours of 4 March. Cuthish forces engaged the Ochoccolan Navy on multiple fronts, with fighting in the Godrican Sea producing one of the largest naval battles since the Great War. The Cuthish Navy quickly achieved naval supremacy and blockaded Ochoccolan ports, prefacing a 15 day long air and naval bombardment of the nation's military and civilian infrastructure. On 19 March, Cuthish ground forces launched a coordinated assault on South and North Middelton Island, capturing both on 23 March after four days of fighting against the vastly outnumbered Ochoccolan defenders. The capture of the Middeltons provided Cuthland with a foothold from which to stage air and ground forces for an assault on mainland Ochoccola, which proceeded on 8 April with a major amphibious operation at Oktamulke Beach. Cuthish forces quickly established a beachhead and pushed south towards Socapatoy, while Ochoccolan forces consolidated around Cahulga. The ensuing battle for the city resulted in heavy casualties for the Cuths, slowing their advance almost to a halt. Cuthland attempted to draw Ochoccolan forces away from Cahulga by seizing the northwestern port city of Pinhoti on 20 April, but poor planning and intelligence led to a stunning defeat at Lyndon Ridge on the outskirts of the city.
On 24 April, the Royal Cuthish Air Force carried out an airstrike on a Mascyllary supply convoy operating near the Cahulga. The strike ignited a brief clash between Mascyllary and Cuthish forces, the first instance of direct warfare between the two nations since the Melasian Crisis and the only such instance between two nuclear powers in Auroran history. The clashes led to an intense standoff around the Mascyllary overseas territory of Akawhk, with both nations deploying nuclear weapons to the region and threatening retaliation. Nevertheless, the military situation on the ground had swung decisively in favor of Cuthland. After the defeat at Lyndon Ridge, Cuthish ground commanders refocused their efforts on Cahulga, launching a final assault on the city on 25 April and seizing it three days later. A second attempt to capture Pinhoti on 1 May proved successful, and Ochoccolan forces had retreated to the outskirts of Socapatoy by 4 May. The imminent fall of Lamochattee's government prompted Mascyllary Prime Minister Michael Meilke to seek a diplomatic resolution to the situation in Akawhk, which resulted in the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from the region on 5 May. Cuthish forces reached downtown Socapatoy and seized the Presidential Palace on 14 May, and Cuthish Foresitter Harold Repton declared the end of combat operations in a televised address to the Wittenmoot the next day.
The Cuthish military occupied Ochoccola for 16 months after the invasion, working closely with ONF-aligned militias to arrest hundreds of members of Lamochattee's administration. Lamochattee himself was killed by Cuthish troops on 19 June under disputed circumstances, with sources differing on whether the killing occured during a shootout or as a summary execution. ONF leader Kikikwawason helped draft a new constitution that led to a return of civilian governance in September of 1995, and was installed as Paramount Chief upon the withdrawal of Cuthish forces from the country. Kikikwawason has remained in office continuously since taking power, and many political scientists regard modern day Ochoccola as an authoritarian dictatorship and Cuthish client state.
The international community widely condemned the invasion as a war of aggression. The Assembly of Nations Securty Council placed economic sanctions on Cuthland in response, resulting in a brief but sharp recession. Cuthish forces were widely accused of war crimes, including the intentional targeting of civilians during the Battle of Cahulga. As the first major offensive military action carried out by the Royal Cuthish Armed Forces since the Melasian Crisis, the war was viewed by many international relations experts as marking Cuthland's return to great power status after undergoing substantial internal turmoil following the Recession of 1967. The BDTA powers, which had focused on countering the threat from the now-defunct !Warsaw Pact during the 70s and 80s, now turned their attention towards the resurgent Mageiros League. A watershed moment in international politics, the invasion is generally considered to mark the start of the third phase of the Great Game.
Background
Prelude
Course of the war
Akawhk crisis
Aftermath
Impact
- ↑ Mascylla provided financial and material aid to Ochoccola during the initial stages of the war, and was an unofficial belligerent during the Akawhk Crisis