War of Golden Succession

War of Golden Succession
Bombed ruins of Aurillac
Date 2016–2018 Location Central Greater Dienstad Result Annexation of the Havenic Territories Partitioning of Guffingford Collapse of Safehaven, Atheism Islands, Zarbia, New Empire, and Guffingford
Belligerents
The Golden Throne (Loyalists) Hailandkill Mekugi Space Union Guffingford Izistant Juumanistra Athiesism	Weigari Rebels Sarcanzan Rebels Safehaven New Empire Zarbia Indras Independent Hitmen Stevid Questers Praetonia Malatose

The War of Golden Succession was a regional war that lasted from 2016 to 2018. It involved all of the then-great powers of Greater Dienstad, which took the side of either the Second Empire of the Golden Throne or Safehaven. The war required the majority of national resources for many of the governments involved, which generated geopolitical and economic instability throughout central Greater Díenstad.

Beginning in May 2016 with the beginning of the Weigari uprising led by Prince Heinrik, the conflict began as a war of succession over the Golden Throne against his son, Emperor Fedor I, and ended as a regional war which precipitated the great central Greater Dienstadi collapse. The war came to involve extra-regional powers like Amastol, Praetonia, and Questers. Fought mainly in the Macabéan province of Ruska, the Bay of Targul Frumos, Sarcanza, and northern Safehaven, the war claimed the lives of over fifty million people and eventually spread to Guffingford, Athiesism, and Stevid. In Weigar, the rebellion saw the first use of a nuclear weapon on provincial soil when the Laerihans—Macábean air force—fired an air-launched, missile-based nuclear-warhead against the city of Weigar, effectively ending Heinrik's rebellion. The Golden Throne launched its counter-offensive in Ruska in the spring of 2017, reaching into northern Safehaven by autumn of the same year, culminating in the Battle of Ishme-Dagan, the largest tank battle in the war. Naval warfare also took a prominent role in the war, including in the early repulsion of a Malatosian probe, and the two great struggles for the Bay of Targul Frumos in the west and the Sea of Otium Aqua in the east. In Sarcanza, the insurgency continued well into 2022, and in western Zarbia a 2017 Macabéan invasion continued until Zarbia's annexation in 2026. The war is generally determined to have ended in August 2018 with a Macabéan–Stevidian brokered cessation of military activities in Safehaven and Athiesism, after the Fuermak—Macabéan armed forces—authorized the use of nuclear weapons against Stevid's main naval installation on their western coast and a subsequent nuclear retaliation against the Macabéan navy outside of Macabea.

The war was a catalyst for largescale upheaval in Greater Dienstad. New Empire collapsed into civil war in late-2018, which was later exacerbated by the rise and fall of Dukopolious to their east. Safehaven collapsed in early 2019, after largescale territorial losses to the Golden Throne. The Guffingfordi government collapsed in mid-2017, leading to its partition in early 2018 between Stevid and the Macabéan empire. Indras and Zarbia fell into civil war in 2018 and 2020, respectively, while Holy Panooly became marginalized. The sudden fall of so many central Díenstadi powers made way for the rise of new regional powers, such as Lyras and Lamoni.

Background

Greater Dienstad, then known as Imperial Armies, transitioned from a period of civil and alliance-based conflict towards one of unprecedented stability during the late 19th and early 21st centuries. This was driven, in large part, by the final reunification of the Golden Throne under Jonak I and the decline of the Right Wing Collective, an alliance of hawkish right-wing governments which frequently sparred with alliances such as New Alliance Treaty Organization and New World Order. This period of relative tranquility and growth represented what many deemed to be a new era of peaceful trade and globalization, an 'end of history.'

Between 2004–15, the Golden Throne witnessed a period of quick economic growth. It had just emerged from the kríerstat epok, a 'warring states' period, that had been marked by disparate growth, widespread capital consumption due to war, and financial instability. The early empire adopted the institutions of the winning faction, the díenstadi Kingdom of Macabea. These institutions evolved in the early 19th century, following the collapse of the First Empire in 1898, and by the 1960s the kingdom's culture of autocratic rule and state capitalism helped to usher in a period of re-industrialization. The empire benefited from 40 years of Macabean economic growth, as well as from the acquisition of Beda Fromm's port and commercial centers in the west. Stabilization helped to further promote trade in the region and by 2014 the Golden Throne had become one of Greater Díenstad's great economic powers.

However, the Golden Throne was not the only power that benefited from the sudden resurgence of international trade. The region as a whole saw enormous growth, and with this soon came changes in the structure of international relations. The alliance between Guffingford and the Golden Throne strengthened, for example, as did that between Stevid, Independent Hitmen, and Adaptes Astrates. New relationships like these would play an important role in the spread of war in 2016.

Not all cracks had been sealed, though. Growing economic power also came with a rising demand for resources. Tension between Guffingford and Stevid over petroleum reserves in the Sea of Otium Aqua and the Bay of Fillosankiavo arose in the latter years of the first decade of the 21st century, and by 2012–13 the two countries began to mobilize in mutual escalation. Economic change came with social change, as well, and the newborn Golden Throne was not without its own fault lines. In Sarcanza, growing discontent slowly brewed, and the empire's aristocracy's ambitions had still not been fully aligned with those of the empire.

Causes of the War

When Jonak I died of cancer on 13 May 2016, it was expected that Heinrik Katalán, his son, would succeed to the throne. On 15 May 2016, it was publicly revealed that the throne would be inherited by Fedor Katalán, the deceased emperor's grandson. Although exactly why the late Jonak decided to pass the crown on to Fedor, over the crown prince, was never clarified, there is a broad consensus among historians that Jonak had groomed Fedor from a very early age to take on a more liberal ideology and to guide the empire further into modernity. However, the decision to jump a generation in the line of succession had clearly broken expectations and aristocratic protocol, as it was not until then that Heinrik first began to organize a political alliance to block his son's ascension and to support his own claim to the throne.

Prelude

Heinrik fled to Weigar the day Fedor's ascension was announced and called a meeting of the empire's leading aristocrats, including Weigari aristocracy that had been persecuted under Jonak's regime. As most of those involved in the rebellion died during the war or were executed after capture, the contents of the conference are largely unknown. It is known that a considerable number of aristocrats were murdered by Heinrik, who doubted their loyalty. It is also known that Heinrik brought with him loyal troops and replaced with their general officer corp with loyal officials.

Jonak, who had his father followed with spies, learned of the clandestine meeting almost immediately and ordered an elite airborne unit to enter Weigar and hunt for his father under the guise of an anti-crime crackdown. However, by this time Heinrik and his co-conspirators had already left the city to consolidate their armies on the Fields of Glory, the iconic area of the final battle of the Kríerstat Epok.

Seeking to attenuate the growing aristocratic resistance against his rule, Fedor left for Soborguntia soon after learning of his father's escape. There, he married Sofie, daughter of the Baron of Soborguntia and secured the loyalty of the southern and far eastern lords, setting the divisive internal tone that would persist throughout the conflict.

Whether in coordination with Weigar or out of coincidence, Sarcanza's rebellion began soon after events in Weigar. Insurgents launched a surprise strike on an old, large fire base named Beatrice I to eliminate one of the largest rural imperial garrisons in the province. The firebase fell after a heated thirteen-hour battle and marked the first official surrender of imperial troops to rebel forces of the war. Insurgent leadership soon declared their common cause with Weigar, uniting their efforts to depose Fedor under the belief that Heinrik would grant them independence in the post-war as a reward for their loyalty. Inspired by their victory, the rebels turned to the Sarcanzan cities of Prokhorovka and Marsa Bruth, still in imperial hands and crucial for control of the province.

As Sarcanza transitioned into open insurgency and the Weigari rebellion continued to grow, Hailandkill mobilized its armies to fulfill alliance obligations with the Golden Throne. Its fast reaction to the unfolding conflict would prove pivotal when the first Weigari offensive against Fedala was launched weeks later.

Coup and Rebellion

Although the war's center would soon transition to the Macabéan–Havenic Theater, the rebellions and their outcome had important implications on the post-war political makeup of the Golden Throne. From further democratization and political devolution in the provinces to the establishment of post-war stability in the empire's core.

Death Toll

Official estimates by the Havenic government of the death toll in northern Safehaven during, or as a direct result of, the War of Golden Succession are as high as 300 million civilians.