Sajal War
| Sajal War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A common Mutulese soldier during the Sajal War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Mutul | Template:Country data Noble Republic of Northern Oxidentale | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Itzamnaaj B'alam Rabanij Yax Kelem Pat K'atun May Winik Pek |
Waxak B'alam Koj Siol Chan Xiu Sijal Ek An Xook B'al Bolon Chan B'alam | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 110,000 men 1830 | ~200,000 men 1830 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
18,500 killed 55,750 wounded or missing |
11,375 killed 34,125 wounded or missing | ||||||
The Sajal War, also known as the War of the Frightfuls or Terrifying War, was a civil war that opposed the Ilok'tab Dynasty of the Mutul and their loyalists against the Noble Republic of Northern Oxidentale. It lasted from 1828 with the Day of the Balconies (the murder of the Divine Lady Ik' Jol and the escape of her husband Itzamnaaj B'alam with their son the crown prince B'alijaj Chan K'awiil II) to 1839 with the Redition of Itzamkan.
The war happened in a context of political and economic decline of the Mutul which has seen its influence and and credit greatly diminished by lost wars against Tsurushima and Zacapican. Lady Ik' Jol rise to the throne came as a palace coup against the court faction that had taken control of the country under her father and brother's reigns. The reforms she promoted were an attempt to undermine the political power accumulated by the nobility over the 18th century but were cut short by her own assassination. It is remembered as the most brutal war in Mutulese history, one that has profoundly shaped the modern Mutul and created a clear historical cleavage between what came before and what came after the war.
Origins
Since the rule of Balijaj Chan K'awiil I in the early 18th century, the powers and authority of the K'uhul Ajaw kept being limited by the ever more powerful merchant-aristocracy of the Mutul. Local and national assemblies became permanent legal institutions whom obtained a de-facto say on the Divine King's politics after much political troubles. The weakening of the Mutul's position in the West after the Tsurushimese revolution of 1750 only exacerbated a conflict between a weakened monarchy and its nobility whom, inspired by both local and foreign thinkers, especially from Sante Reze developed a more liberal approach to both the economy and politics.
In 1819, the Second War for Kahei started, threatening some of the merchant-aristocracy's positions in Ochran. In 1820, Wahlam B'alam V died in K'umarkaj after a decade long semi-exile ordered by the Sajal Holpop, the Nobility's Assembly, who had taken over K'alak Muul. His young son, Wahlam B'alam VI, was brought back to the capital to be crowned and ruled as a puppet king for the Sajal Holpop. The same year, he died of illness and was succeeded by his elder sister, Lady Ik' Jol. Ik' Jol tried to restructure the Divine Throne bureaucracy to limit the powers of the assemblies like the Sajal Holpop. In 1828, a conspiracy of Mutuleses aristocrats managed to murder the Divine Queen and her body was pushed from the balcony of her palace. The same day, her husband managed to escape from a similar murder plot and flee the capital with their son, the future B'ailjaj Chan K'awiil II. Legends have Itzamnaaj escape from another balcony of the royal palace. After this "Days of the Balconies", the Sajal Holpop proclaimed the end of the Mutul and the creation of the Noble Republic of Northern Oxidentale.
Combattants
Ilok'tab Loyalists
After his escape from K'alak Muul, Itzamnaaj B'alam, king-consort of Ik' Jol gained Kumahkah, the traditional base of power of the Ilok'tab Dynasty and enthroned his son as B'ailjaj Chan K'awiil II while he himself took the position of Regent. He amassed around him an inner circle of friends, family members, and clients, and built from there his resistance to the Noble Republic.
The leadership of the Loyalists was thus made of the Ilok'tab Dynasty and all associated lineages. K'iche and Mam people had remained heavily tied to the Ilok'tab with their "special link" to the Monarchy and the Body of the Divine Lord guaranteeing them a privileged situation they would lose in case of a Monarchists' defeat. Similarly, the Republicans' project was one that would offer no alternative to the people who lived far away from the international economic circuits and was seen as guaranteeing the financial and social collapse of their communities.
Religious and Monarchists insurections would be a regular issue for the Noble Republic. Most of those revolts would be triggered by military successes from Itzamnaaj B'alam but were otherwise completely independent and unsupported by the Regent' party. They were more often expression of rural and popular uneasiness and dread at the reforms and changes promoted and pushed by the Noble Republic. Their association with the Monarchist movement was thus circumstantial at first but their repression by the Noble Republic and the rewards granted by the Ilok'tab whenever they were able to link up with local movements allowed the latter to build up a real popular base of power that guaranteed the perenity of the dynasty.
Noble Republic of Northern Oxidentale
The Republic's power-base was made of the middle class and the merchant-aristocracy everywhere in the country. It was especially well established in the Yajawil of Kanol and the West in general, where trans-Makrian trade had led to the emergence of a wealthy "modern" society that had the time to stabilize itself as it had existed for more than 200 years by the time of the Sajal War. A similar but much younger analogue society had emerged in the East after the Sante Reze revolution of 1701 that opened the trans-Thalassian trade routes to the Mutuleses merchant-nobility. While even more radical in its support of the Noble Republic than the "West", the "East" also proved to be the weak link of the Republicans, as it's relatively recent emergence meant that it was still full of contradictions, paradoxes, and social divides on which the Royalists managed to play to gain the upper-hand.
Course of the war
Exile and constitution of the Regency
Following the Day of Balconies, as baptized by the Republicans, Itzamnaaj B'alam was able to flee K'alak Muul with his son, the future Balijaj Chan K'awiil II and a handful of supporters. On their way they stopped at Sakal Witz where they were able to gain the support of the priests of the White Mountain which allowed them to continue their journey southward to Kumakah. Itzamnaaj established his son in the Palace of Chilok'tab, a suburb of Kumakah and a site with 800 years old ties to the Ilok'tab Dynasty. It's there that he proclaimed his son the new Divine Lord and placed himself as his regent before granting himself the status of Regent.
Kumakah, and the rest of the eponymous viceroyalty, proved more than receptive and dedicated to the Royalist cause. Chief among these supporters were the House of Achi, Itzamnaaj' own clan, the religious institutions, temples and sanctuaries, of the region, as well as other leading lineages chief among them the House of Koyol one of the four great K'iche houses and strong actors of the Mutul industry. The four "House of Iximte", the Zotzil, Xahil, Tukuche, and Akajal, were less immediately agreeable to the Regent' project for a civil war but ultimately sided with him. This convinced the "House of Pokom" (Xin, Palak, Puj, Batz, and Tik) and thus the two viceroyalties immediately to the east of Kumakah tied to them, to also follow the Regent' cause although popular and aristocratic support was weaker at first. To the west, the Yajawil of Mamk'ab would proclaim itself almost immediately in support of the Divine Monarchy: the Mam people had long been ruled directly by the Ilok'tab and they've been an important pool of recruitment for soldiers and clerks.
But beyond a strong base of support, by seizing Kumakah Itzamanaaj and his partisans also seized control of its Chocolate Mills and its royal prints, granting them the ability to continue to emit their own currency, collect taxes in the Viceroyalties controlled, and emit loans and war bonds. The Regent was thus able to secure the loyalty and the discipline of the Southern Army tasked with controlling the Mountain Passes between the Mutul and Sante Reze, but also the border with Zacapican. Leaving behind only a token force, the royalists thus acquired a core professional force of around 30,000 men. This they completed by calling to arms the "Faithfuls" and forming "People Blessed Armies": militias partially supervised by officers drawn for the southern military, old veterans (recruited in priority), and other charismatic local leaders. At this stage of the war, the Royalists were able to create the Achi People' Army, the Mam People Army, three K'iche people armies, and two Pokom people armies, which represented an auxiliary force estimated between 70,000 and 300,000 men depending on historians as records and claims often contradict each others and not all commissioned officers, tasked with recruiting their own men, were willing or able to keep track of their own numbers. Nowadays, a number between 90,000 and 110,000 militias is more often used and cited.
Consolidation and first campaigns of the Noble Republic
Following the Day of Balconies, the Assembly of Aristocrats began negotiations with its two counterparts (the Assembly of Clerics and the Assembly of Elders) to set the basis of a new state. They propose that the three Assemblies declare Lady Ik' Jol to have been an illegitimate ruler who took power through the murder of the rightful Divine Lord her brother Wahlam B'alam VI and that the ritual to divinize her own blood has never worked as the gods had disapproved her acts. The gathered assemblies were not necessarily opposed to the proposal, but a divide appeared between those who wished to look for a new successor and the radical few who wished to create a new state with no Divine Lord.
In these days of confusion, control over the putschists faction was assumed by the Viceroy of Chaknal, Waxak B'alam Koj, the Viceroy of Oxmal, Siol Chan Xiu, and the two Admirals (Ajaw Ha: Waterlords) of the Mutul: Sijal Ek and An Xook B'al. They gathered urgently in the aftermath of the coup and decided that Waxak B'alam Koj would stay in K'alak Muul to control the situation there while Sijal Ek and An Xook B'al would go to the Yu and Puylum respectively to gain the support of the west and east of the Mutul and gather armies there. The task of pursuing Itzamnaaj and the crown prince thus fell on Siol Chan Xiu who led 3,000 men out of the capital to stop the royal escort. However, he failed to do so before Itzamnaaj reached Sakal Witz which refused to give up the Divine Lord to his pursuers. Siol Chan Xiu did not challenge the city directly, instead returning to Apikal, modern Yajawil of K'ekchi, to gather a larger army while leaving behind roughly a 1,000 men to control the ways out of Sakal Witz. This troop harassed and followed Itzamnaaj and his strengthened escort after they left the city to continue their way south, but was ultimately unable to stop them and had to retreat and regroup with the rest of Siol Chan Xiu' new army.
White Mountain Campaign
Siol Chan Xiu returned to the Central Mountains at the head of a new army. The professional core was made of soldiers who participated in the coup and Marine Riflemen, the naval forces of the Mutul having sided almost entirely with the Republicans. To these estimated 10,000 veterans new recruits were added forming an army of 45,000 or so men separated into five regiments of nine columns each. Each column represented roughly a thousand men and were divided into uneven numbers of companies, each led by a Captain chartered to recruit and lead his own men as per the Mutul' practices at the time and an habit shared with the royalists.
Itzamnaaj was still organizing his Regency, gathering his supports, and recruiting new troops and could not directly influence the battle. The defense of Sakal Witz was thus organized mainly by the White Mountain Society, the inhabitants, as well as volunteers from the rest of the Central Mountains, and mainly from the Blood Hills to the northwest of the city, whose religious dedication to the protection of the holy city could not compensate their lack of weaponry and training. After three weeks of battle and siege, the city fell and was sacked by the Republicans. The Central Mountains now secured, Siol Chan Xiu was free to continue his campaign southward.
Nojkab'al Campaign
The battle of Sakal Witz was a setback for the Royalists. Itzamnaaj had led a relief force but arrived to the Central Mountains too late: the city had already fallen. Gathering up some of the militias and volunteers that had fled south, he entrenched his men in the main passes between the Central Mountains and the Viceroyalty of Nojkab'al, the last stretch of land before Kumakah and the K'iche lands.
Itzamnaaj had brought an estimated 60,000 men with him and was defending the five passes known to be suitable for military forces. The Republicans were thus outnumbered but lack of reliable information and weapons had led the Regent to take a purely defensive position while waiting for further reinforcements. At first, Siol Chan Xiu placed a regiment in front of each passes before discretly gathering almost all of his men to the westernmost pass and launching an assault there, leaving only token forces elsewhere. The 40,000 men stormed the 12,000 badly armed Royalists and took control of the pass. Fearing a potential exploitation of this breach, Itzamnaaj abandoned the passes and deployed his troops deeper in Nojkab'al.
Not daring to confront the Republicans directly, Itzamnaaj resorted to waging an assymetric warfare to which his men were better prepared. Siol Chan Xiu was able to reach Takalik, the Viceroyalty Capital and Itzamnaaj refuge, but a lack of supply, diseases, and constant harassment by the Royalists pushed him to retreat back to the passes. Itzamnaaj continued to harass the departing Republicans but did not press further before more rifles and ammunitions had reached him. It's only with 10,000 more men and decent artillery support that he tried to take back control of the passes. However, the Republicans had the time to entrench themselves and all the Royalists assaults failed. The Nojkab'al front would remain active in 1829 when Republicans launched a second campaign to take over Nojkab'al but Itzamnaaj' officers had learned their lessons from the previous year and improved on their defense-in-depth. By 1830, it became clear to all that the central theater of the war was frozen.
Muwan Mountains Campaigns
After his troops' victory at Takalik, Itzamnaaj returned to Kumahkah. He demobilized a number of soldier, his army having proved too large to equip and control correctly with his limited economy and reduced pool of officers. Instead he gave almost full control over the economy to Nimaq'ij, patriarch of the House of Koyol, with the mission to create a war industry capable of supporting the needs of the Royalists. To serve as an intermediary between Itzamnaaj' military and Nimaq'ij industry, the Regent also gave Muwan Chih K'in, a White Mountain official who escaped Sakal Witz and one of Lady Ik' Jol confidents before the war, complete control over the military logistics.
So in 1829, as Itzamnaaj just began to reorganized his faction, he divided his remaining 70,000 men into four armies. Ten thousand were left to defend Nojkab'al with the support of an unknown number of partisans recruited locally. 20,000 were kept in reserve in Kumahkah. Itzamnaaj and his brother Rabanij went eastward to link up with royalists in the Yajawil of Nokaj and to open a new front. The remaining 20,000 men were placed under the leadership of Achi Kooja, the Mam general of the defunct Southern Army, with the objective of occupying the Viceroyalties of Muwan Witz and K'ikxul. The objective of this campaign was simple: stretch out the frontline, foster more Royalists partisans, bypass the fortified mountain passes, and flank the Republicans entrenched in the Central Mountains.
The Viceroy of Muwan Witz was maintained in his position by the Republicans, and his loyalties were troubles. He was able to raise 10,000 troops to oppose Achikooja, but when the Royalists arrived before the gates of his capital city of Tz'ulum, he ended up declaring his support for Itzamnaaj B'alam. When, later that year, the Republicans launched their second campaign into Nojkab'al, Achikooja will arrest the Viceroy and keep him in house custody, possibly to prevent a new change of mind now that the Royalists were knowing difficulties.
The Republican response to Achikooja' takeover of the Muwan Mountains was meek at first: the nearby Governor of Muynal to the west decided to pre-emptively strike against populations and groups suspected of royalist-sympathies in his province before acting against Achikooja' army. K'alak Muul then decided to gather a new army of around 30,000 men to the north, in the province of K'ikxul it's there that Achikooja decided to strike next.
The 20,000 K'iche, Mam, and Achi Royalists soldiers were joined by the thousand of auxilliaries raised by the Viceroy. The Kanjob'al people had sympathies to the K'uhul Ajaw' cause and many volunteers had gone to Sakal Witz to participate in the failed defense of the city the previous year. And so did many Tohol Ab'al people of K'ikxul. The Republicans thus ended up having to fight an insurgent war in the Blood Hills while the Royalists were able to organize a network of sympathizers to support and guide their army. Dispersed and outnumbered, the main Republican column nonetheless moved to meet the Royalists by making a daring march through almost impracticable terrains before occupying Usij Witz, the Vulture Mountain, on Achikooja' eastern flank, threatening his supply lines. The two armies faced one another, unwilling to engage, before news forced Achikooja to retreat back to Muwan Witz.
In 1830, the Governor of Muynal received professional troops from the Noble Republic to add to his own army and he was able to launch a campaign against the Muwan Mountains, aiming to retake Tz'ulum. Achikooja rushed back with 30,000 men to face the Muynaleses who had roughly the same number of troops. This time it's Achikooja who dared to take a risky crossing of the Kox river to get behind the Muynaleses positions as the latter had continued their march on Tz'ulum almost unchallenged once they had gone through the Royalists lines of defenses. The Battle of Yalkox almost turned to the Royalists' disfavor but ultimately, while the main Republican column was able to retreat back to Muynal, victory was firmly in the hands of Achikooja and his men.
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