Shirvani Succession War

Shirvani Succession War
Rioni and Lombardo ships engage one another during the Battle of the Silinius Reef
Date 26 August 1802- 15 September 1809 (7 years, 21 days) Location Northern Siduri, Sundering Sea, Strait of Lirinya, Ruadak Sea Result Treaty of Fenjing
Belligerents
Cabbarli Khanate Tai Dynasty Mutoshina Shogunate Lombardo Matriarchy	Xalidli Khanate Rioni Union Kazarakhai Khaganate House of Luceria Trịnh dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Balil Cabbarli Fÿrxad Cabbarli Tai Joaho Zhong Yazhu Du Wen Sugawara Mutoshino Togawa Hiratoki Tatiana Savasta Amico Soracco	Ağahadi Xalidli Kamil Xalidli Hristo Sashov Pramatarov Damir Vrabec Dieguito Luceria Alonsico de Maderuelo Dzudze Kuashevy Hàm Khánh
Strength
~2,000,000+	~1,500,000+
Casualties and losses
1,000,000+	1,000,000+

The Shirvani Succession War was a conflict fought from August 1802 to September 1809 between the Adygeysk Alliance, composed of the Xalidli Khanate, the Rioni Union, the Kazarakhai Khaganate, the House of Luceria, and the Trịnh dynasty against the Bara League, consisting of the Balil Khanate, the Tai Dynasty of Serikos, the Mutoshina Shogunate, and the Lombardo Matriarchy.

The origin of the war laid with a succession dispute between the rival Cabbarli and Xalidli Khanates, constituent states of the Shirvani Kingdom which itself was a successor state to the dissolved Adamdar Empire. Various geopolitical reasons led the involvement of foreign powers; the Tai Dynasty sought to secure its western border by supporting the Cabbarli, which in turn drew in the traditional rival of Serikos, the Trinh Dynasty. The Rioni Union joined both to expand its influence and distract from its growing internal instability, which the war exasperated. The Kazarakhai Khaganate was drawn in due to its alliance with the Rioni; diplomatic ties between the Tai Dynasty and the Mutoshina Shogunate of Lirinya led to Liriyan involvement, which in turn drew in the House of Luceria, rivals to the Shogunate dating to the era of the Imperio Rojo. Displeasure at Lucerian raids and pillaging eventually drew in the Lombardo Matriarchy on the side of the Liriyans, and later the Serikese.

In November 1802 the first clash between the Tai Dynasty and the Rioni Union occurred at Dosdi on the Ilqar River in northern Shirvaniya, beginning the Tulixen Campaign which lasted until April 1803 when the Tai defeated a combined Rioni-Kazarakhai army at the Battle of Sardepe. In response a separate Rioni-Xalidli army crossed the Ziya River and besieged the Cabbarli capital of Namanisbaz from June to August 1803. A Tai relief army lifted the siege but in the subsequent retreat the Rioni and Xalidli laid waste to Cabbarli lands between the Alja and Ziya rivers, crippling the Khanate. A punitive naval campaign by the Tai Navy resulted in the bombardment of Adygeysk and additional Kazarakhai cities along the coast throughout Autumn 1803. In December a Rioni fleet defeated the Tai Navy at the Battle of Ninshi Bay, followed by raids and bombardments of Xinwu, Bulsogt, Tokneung, Suchong, and Xianzhou.

Encouraged by the setbacks the Tai had suffered, the Trinh Dynasty entered the conflict on the side of the Adygeysk Alliance, crossing the Yang River and advancing towards the city of Shidamen which was besieged from March to July 1804. Trinh entry into the war prompted the Tai to request assistance from the Mutoshina Sogunate, which dispatched troops, ships, and supplies to support the Serikese in repelling both the Trinh and the Rioni. Throughout the rest of the year the Serikese were successful in driving the Trinh back in the Shu Highlands Campaign, but in Shirvaniya suffered setbacks and were forced to withdraw behind the Mehdi River by December 1804.

The dispatching of much of the Shogunates' fleet and army towards Siduri left Lirinya comparatively exposed and led the House of Luceria to begin raiding Liriyan ports and coastal cities, prompted by continued hostilities between the two powers since the fall of the Imperio Rojo. These attacks resulted in the deaths of several merchants and visiting officials of the Lombardo Matriarchy, which when coupled with the raiding and seizure of Cacertian vessels prompted the Matriarchy to declare war on the Lucerians. Rioni ships, which had been supplying the Lucerians, were seized or sunk by the Lombardo Navy which in turn prompted the Union to declare war. In February 1805 the Rioni invaded and occupied the Andria Protectorate.

Overwhelmed by the combined Serikese-Liriyan-Lombardo navy the Trinh and Lucerian requested additional naval support from the Rioni, whom obliged and dispatched a fleet to support the Alliance but were defeated at the Battle of Silinus Reef in July 1805. With the Trinh navy rescinded to Quenminese waters the Lombardo launched a dual invasion of Knichus and Andria, the later which was recaptured in April 1806. The Lombardo besieged the Lucerian capital of Nycero for 11 months but were unable to storm the city, eventually forcing the Matriarchy to abandon the siege. In an effort to keep the pressure on the Alliance, a Lombardo fleet sailed for Rioni waters to raid Aszód but were defeated by a Rioni fleet in October 1806. A renewed Shogunate invasion of Knichus lasted from July 1806 to October 1807 but failed to hold on to any substantial chunk of territory.

With the Trinh largely expelled from Serikos, the Tai went on the offensive with the Three Rivers Campaign under Tan Xuefeng, who scored a decisive victory over the Rioni at the Battle of Farand in December 1805. Xuefeng followed up the success by crossing the Ziya River and invading the Aglicki Basin, but was halted at the Battle of Taqor in June 1806. The Rioni followed this success with the crossing of the Tengri Mountains by an army led by Alexis Szőke, who arrived behind Xuefeng's army and successfully destroyed it, costing nearly 150,000 Tai casualties. Emboldened by their victory, the Rioni mobilized additional forces and drove the Tai armies back to the Qi River before invading Serikos proper in March 1807 with 350,000 troops.

Despite requests that the Rioni armies march through the Qilin Mountains to meet up with the Trinh armies near the Guo River, the Rioni invasion skirted north of the Qilin and advanced on the Hui River. Crossing the Hui at Jinshu, the Rioni defeated the Tai and advanced on the Pan River, culminating in the Battle of Fuhar in October 1807. Reinforced with Lombardo and Lirinyan troops, a Serikese army attempted to halt the Rioni but were defeated. After crossing the Pan the Rioni briefly attempted than abandoned besieging Lingshujing, and instead advanced on the West An River at Guimay. The Tai Dynasty responded by recalling Xuefeng to service, who led an army to Guimay to halt the Rioni in January 1808. The ensuing battle ended in a tactical stalemate but a strategic Serikese victory, after which the Rioni retreated to Henjiag up river near the coast. Xuefeng then dispatched additional armies to cross the Qilin and follow the Tang River before pivoting north and capturing the Hui and Pan Rivers, resulting in the liberation of Qixiang in April 1808. Xuefeng hoped to destroy the now trapped Rioni army, but was unable to prevent their evacuation from Zhenya to Zoaxing. The Serikese pursued the Rioni to the Guiying River where they were fought to a stalemate, before the Rioni opted to abandon their invasion all together and withdrew to Shirvaniya.

Not satisfied, Xuefeng launched the Ilqar Campaign in September 1808 to drive the Rioni back to the eponymous river. The Tai successfully captured Karonur and defeated the Rioni and Imishli, but the subsequent drive on Samrau was defeated in December. In March 1809 the Rioni crossed the Ilqar at Vahuk and then advanced on Mirlob, forcing Xuefeng to withdraw back to Karonur. Concurrent to the Ilqar Campaign the Tai also launched the Qio River Campaign, which succeded in driving the Trinh out of Shizinping and culminated in the conquest of Aoshang in May 1809. The last major battle of the war occurred at Urkan in June and ended in a stalemate; by now years of war had devastated northern and central Shirvaniya, while both sides had suffered appalling losses and were in financial ruin. The Treaty of Fenjing officially ended hostilities on 15 September 1809, recognizing a joint rule of the Shirvani Kingdom by both the Cabbarli and Xalidi Khanates. The treaty would effectively be rendered moot by the annexation of both states in the Zaur Khanate a decade later. Shirvaniya itself would later be incorporated into the Cacertian Empire less than a century later, along with the Kazarakhai Khaganate.

The war was immensely costly to all involved parties, with minimum estimates of casualties exceeding one million for both alliances. The conflict bankrupted most of the involved states with tremendous consequences; the Rioni Union, already fragmenting amid ongoing ethnic and political tensions, would collapse into civil war just two years later and dissolve. The Tai Dynasty would retreat into isolation until after the Siduri War, while the House of Luceria would fade from prominence in eastern Siduri affairs before ceasing to exist all together with Knichus' incorporation into the Cacertian Empire less than a century later. Ruvelkan writer Király Csenge, herself a veteran of the conflict, would later write that the war "produced nothing more than corpses, misery, and ruin".

Lirinyan historian Umeji Toshiko, writing in 1989, stated that the war "cemented the end of the era of empires" in Sudiri, as the nation-states that had emerged in aftermath of the fall of the Adamdar were too powerful, independent, and resourceful to allow for the resurgence of a continent-spanning hegemony that had existed during the time of the Symmerian Empire and Ridevan Empires. Siduri would settle into a permanently complex, multi-polar political realm where dominion over large swathes of the continent could only be achieved through political alliance like the Inner Sphere or Cacertian Empire. In military terms the conflict ushered into the early era of modern warfare; armies grew larger and campaigns more complex. The early seeds of industrialization allowed for the mass production of weapons and ammunition, allowing armies and fleets to be mobilized much faster than in previous conflicts. Conscription allowed for armies to grow even larger while lessening the impact of "decisive battles", as even appalling losses could be made up by levying additional troops from the increasingly populated Siduri states. The increased effectiveness of artillery reduced the significance of fixed fortifications and fortresses, although they still played a prominent role in many battles and operations. Knichan historian Francisco Jose Alférez stated that the war "laid the groundwork for the coming industrial scale of warfare that would continue to intensify throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries".