Exiles at War

by Exiles at War

The Republican Revolution & War

The Republican Revolution

In 972, after the mysterious death of the Wingbardian king and the subsequent decision by the regency council not to investigate his death, Wingbardy and its allies Francistria, Talouse and Arantiga declared independence from the Empire. When the Empire was unable to react due to the squabbling of the regency council others followed suit and by 974 only the Herzlands, Griffonstone, Falcor, Cyanolisia and Gryphus remained. The collapse of the empire had catastrophic effects upon the economy of the continent, as borders once only there in name suddenly became immense barriers to trade and the economic downturn only worsened the conditions of the already poor peasantry.

Things didn't get better in 976, as a famine ravaged the imperial countryside, but even as the peasants starved the nobility still ate like nothing was happening and even worse, many lords raised taxes so that their income wouldn't decrease. After the harvest failed again in 977 due to bad weather the peasants of Interriver and Ernevarra rose up, signaling what was yet to come. In a last ditch effort to suppress the coming revolution several high ranking members of the NRP were arrested. While these arrests arguably delayed the revolution they only fueled the anger of the commoners.

On the 7th of February 978 rumors that the regency council was planning to revoke the reforms of Grover IV sparked riots in the streets of Griffenheim, which further escalated into a full on revolution after Reichsarmee units within the cities were ordered to forcefully disperse the protests, but instead turned on the empire and joined the crowds. Not soon after the revolutionaries overwhelmed the few remaining loyal units within the city, chiefly the Palace Guard, and broke into the imperial palace which the emperor had only fled minutes before. Thus, the center of the empire fell into the grasp of revolutionaries, and chaos reigned in all Griffonia.

The Republican War

News of the revolution in Griffenheim spread across the empire like wildfire, inspiring many sister uprisings. While most of these were crushed by local nobility sooner or later these also stopped any proper imperial response to the revolution in Griffenheim for the time being. Additionally the uprisings put the local nobility back into charge over their fiefdoms, undoing the decades of centralization that were the life works of the previous two emperors within only a few months.

978

Meanwhile, Grover V, Archon Eros VII and what remained of the imperial court fled south to Griffonstone where Archon Eros VII, as the only remaining member of the regency council, declared himself regent of the empire and used his powers as Regent and Archon to force the regency council of Griffonstone to also elect him as regent of Griffonstone. Now the (mostly unrecognized) ruler of the empire, Archon Eros immediately began organizing the imperial response to the revolution. However his efforts were severely trampled by his lack of legitimacy and so he first had to reassert his authority by traveling around the empire and meeting with the local nobles of the empire, and giving them concessions so as to ensure their cooperation.

The most important noble Eros had to meet with was Countess Emilia II of Cyanolisia, who, after extorting many concessions from the Archon, agreed to help in the evacuation of the 200.000 or so Reichsarmee soldiers garrisoning south Griffonia. Not much later most of the imperial presence collapsed, leaving only Cyanolisia under nominal imperial control.

The revolutionaries did not waste time after taking Griffenheim and immediately struck out into the countryside. They managed to take Prälatsheim, Helheim and Crona with ease as the imperial vassals were either in shock of the fall of Griffenheim or had to deal with their own republican uprisings.

The first battle of the Republican War was fought in Interriver where Count Jonas of Interriver led an imperial army tasked to retake Griffenheim. Due to him underestimating the military capabilities of the republicans his forces were crushed and nearly wiped out entirely. Vinnin, the largest city of the county however proved not nearly so easy to take as Alexander Kemerskai’s father Aldus Kemerskai held his lands with the loyalist troops that had fled Griffenheim and his own army. The republicans were defeated in the first battle of Vinnin and had to make concessions to the peasants of Interriver, who were also rebelling at the time. With the aid of the peasants' militias as well as reinforcements from Griffenheim another assault on Vinnin was launched. At first it seemed like this battle was to be a repeat of the last one, but Aldus Kemerskai, now convinced of his son’s military incompetence counterattacked. This counterattack failed miserably and Vinnin was finally taken in late June.

At the same time as the campaign in Interriver was going on revolutionaries in Katerinburg stormed the palace there and seized the principality.

Meanwhile in Griffenheim, the NRP leadership decided to delay general elections until the revolution was completed. Instead, a congress of NRP representatives elected the party’s de facto leader, Schnabel Sunglider, to the position of President of the Republic.

In September the republicans also captured Kronburg. With that, fighting ended for a while as both sides were licking their wounds and preparing for the coming battles.

The Archon used this time to finally meet with the rulers of Feathisia, Strawberry and Bronzetail thereby cementing his authority as regent of the empire. However not all his diplomatic efforts were successful, as Yale, Romau, Greifenmarschen and the Knights of Hellquill all declared neutrality. The Yale's neutrality was especially concerning for the empire, since it meant that the imperials would be split in two. Worse yet for the empire, the republicans did not sit by idly and instead used the winter to almost triple their forces by integrating many of the soldiers that had deserted the empire in the previous year. All this meant that while the Republicans started the spring campaign of ‘79 with some 250.000 soldiers, the imperials only had a total strength of about 100.000.

979

When spring came, the Republican Revolutionary Army struck out in all directions. General Claus Rosewing marched with the second-largest part of the army into the until then neutral Yale. This front proved quite easy, as a revolt in Cyrusval led by the anarchist students and an uprising in Greenback by the Griffonian Socialist Party split the already minimal forces of the rectorate. Soon Yale was completely under the revolutionaries' control, with Willie Scherler’s anarchists and the GSP-Militias joining Rosewing’s army.

While these were without doubt stunning victories, the greatest victory would be won in the Strawberry duchy. Generals Kemerskai and Suntail led the majority of the army into Strawberry where they met the largest imperial contingent yet. Through a stunning use of artillery, they routed the imperials, and with the front now safe, the two generals split the army, Kemerskai leading one-half into Bronzehill, while Suntail stayed in Strawberry to defend until Kemerskai returned.

The Bronzehill campaign would prove slow and costly. The local population was firmly royalist, which meant that the Revolutionary Army was the one facing guerrilla attacks for once. Kemerskai’s reliance on artillery also faced problems, as the guerrilla attacks drained his stock of cannons and the mountainous terrain reduced the efficiency of large-scale artillery use.

When summer reached its end, the National Revolutionary Army had made significant progress and had shattered almost every Imperial army they faced. But the young nation still planned a last autumn offensive to the south.

Having been reinforced by Bluhm’s army and bolstered his own by integrating the Yalish revolutionaries, Rosewing planned to strike the imperial remnants in Angriver before moving on to Giffonstone. The imperials were being reinforced by the remnants of the once vast garrisons of southern griffonia, which started arriving in great numbers during the late fall of 979.

Wanting to deal a quick killing blow to this vestige of monarchism before too many reinforcements arrived, Rosewing and Bluhm planned to attack into Angriver, while sending a detachment into Verenia to outflank the 50.000 strong imperial army.

Once the autumn offensive began, it seemed to go as well as the earlier offensives, with Bluhm going far into eastern Angriver. The problems appeared in Verenia as the republican generals had grown accustomed to being supplied by locals. In Verenia they were seen as foreigners invading their land and thus the locals were rather hostile. Still they made good progress and even managed to capture the somewhat popular Duke of Verenia and his family. When they were subsequently executed for treason against the people, as was the standard republican procedure, thereby giving the Verenians a martyr to rally around. Worse yet, the new Duke of Verenia invited the imperials into the duchy, and together their armies managed to push the republicans back and inflicted considerable casualties in the process.

When the expected support from Rosewings army never materialized, Bluhm was left to face most of the rapidly growing army of Angriver on his own. This greatly depleted Bluhm’s army over the autumn months, until he was forced to pull back to more defensive positions along the Angriver.

When the national congress in Griffenheim was informed of this, three decisions were rapidly made. First, Suntail would take the majority of his army and move south to help stabilize the frontline. Second, the NRA would begin a massive conscription campaign in the liberated parts of the Herzland with the aim of both reinforcing Kemerskai’s and Bluhm’s armies and establishing a new army. The third decision was to court-martial Rosewing and Scherler since they hadn’t actually gotten government approval to invade Verenia, but on this point Sunglider intervened, using executive powers and some political maneuvering to at least delay Rosewings trial until after the war. The arrest of Scherler also alienated the anarchists who split off and started to wage a guerilla war on their own.

Suntail quickly marched his army to the Verenian front and managed to aid in a couple of victories, but eventually, the winter came and most offensive actions were put on halt.

979 was no doubt a disaster for the imperials. The second wealthiest part of the empire, the Strawberry Duchy had been lost whilst the republicans now had a firm grip on the central and southern Herzlands. However not all was lost as the republican invasions of Yale and Verenia proved to the rest of Griffonia that the republicans couldn’t be trusted. Thanks to the brilliant diplomacy of Duchess Gabriella Eagleclaw, the Knights of Hellquill and the Duke of Cloudbury both made secret deals with the empire to join them in the coming year. The winter would also see a stabilization among the imperial remnants, with food supplies more secure following a somewhat successful anti-bandit campaign.

But for the republicans, the winter meant more than stabilization, as they used it to massively expand their military. The so-called “Winter Army”, consisting mostly of conscripts, was rapidly trained and reinforcements to the armies were sent out.

980

The imperial strategy for 980 was to try and stall the republicans for as long as possible to give Hellquill and Cloudbury time to prepare for the fight.

In the spring of 980 it seemed like this year would be the one to finally yield victory for the republicans. The only remaining imperial strongholds in Griffonstone and Bronzehill were separated, and the imperials were outnumbered nearly two to one. Like in the years before the republicans split their forces: Bluhm was to hold the southern front, Kemerskai would once again attempt to take Bronzehill and Suntail would lead the majority of the army into Feathisia.

The offensive into Feathisia made large progress at first but was then stalled in Luxwingburg for weeks. Even when the town fell, most of the relatively small Fethisian army was able to retreat and dug in in De Vleugels to repeat the siege of Luxwingburg. Suntail would not have this and sent the majority of his forces to encircle De Vleugels. While his attempts at an encirclement were unsuccessful, the Feathisian army still chose to abandon De Vleugels and instead retreated north, holding the easily defensible Griffking River.

Kemerskai’s second invasion of Bronzehill, which was commencing at the same time, was going better than his first one, but once again the resilient Dogs held their lines and harassed the hated republicans whenever possible.

In June, Grandmaster Trappenfeld reaffirmed his oath to Grover V and led the knights of Hellquill against the revolutionaries. Furthermore, Duke Otto II of Cloudbury also joined the imperials in the anti-republican struggle. Last but not least the imperials began an offensive on the southern front. This sudden change in the power balance had the republican leadership in Griffenheim panicking, especially as there wasn’t an army between them and Trappenfeld’s elite knights.

July proved to be a terrible month for the republic. The imperial offensive in the south smashed through the republican lines and just three weeks into it they found themselves at the gates of Romau, which over the course of 979 had slowly aligned with the republic. At the same time Kemerskai was forced to abandon all progress he had made in Bronzehill to defend Griffenheim and Suntail had to abandon his most recent gains as Otto’s intervention meant that he now had the lower troop count.

In order to save the revolution, on the 1st of August, Sunglider signed the decree of revolutionary Unity. The decree promised near total autonomy to any democratic republican organization in any territory it liberated. This sparked a new wave of uprisings across the Herzland. In Yale, Cyrusval and Greengate anarchists rose up and took the towns, in Romau the workers of the towns armed themselves and threw out the city council, in Skyfall and Rottendedam sailors of the imperial fleet rebelled and seized the coast and Greifenmarschen finally joined the republic. Most of what remained of the Imperial Fleet sailed to Cyanolisia while a battlecruiser, three cruisers and two destroyers and most of the Skyfallian High Society fled to Haukland. The Duke of Feathisia, Gerlach IV and what remained of the Feathisian nobility fled to the Feathisian South Zebrides on the small Feathisian Fleet.

The revolts in Feathisia and Skyfall completely compromised the imperial lines there and they were forced to flee behind the Griffking. In the south the socialists and anarchists halted the advance of the imperials and with reinforcements from Greifenmarschen, Bluhm’s army counterattacked and managed not only to restore the Angriver line, but with aid from the anarchists even took Greengate.

With the other fronts having been stabilized, most reinforcements were sent to Kemerskai’s army. With his now expanded army he counterattacked and defeated Trappenfeld and his knights. The knights attempted to retreat to Kronburg but most of them, including Trappenfeld himself, were killed in the chaotic retreat.

The battle of Kronwald effectively neutralized the Hellquillian threat for the time being, and so Kemerskai chose not to follow up on them into Hellquill, especially as he did not wish to repeat another Verenia.

This ended fighting for a few months as nobody had the strength to continue on fighting. The Knights used this time to elect Pallas Duskalton, the heir to Longsword as Grandmaster under the condition that he stay loyal to the empire and aid it in the fight against republicanism. Shortly after his election, his father died under mysterious circumstances.

980 also saw the Aquilean monarchy being overthrown in the Aquilean revolution. The revolutionaries in Aquilea didn’t waste time and used the winter of 980 to ally with the republicans in the Herzland, not as a republican autonomy but as an allied nation in the republican pact. However this was not as bad as it would seem for the Imperials, as the Aquilean republic was too unstable to significantly contribute to the republican wars.

Back in Griffonstone the Archon faced a crisis, as he and his ally Gabriella Eagleclaw were both humiliated by the apparent failure of their plan to defeat the revolutionaries. To preempt a power struggle the Archon launched a coup in Angriver, seizing the Barony and reorganizing the Herzlands into a Governorate. Thanks to the coup, the biggest threat to their rule, Baron Leer was dealt with, while also making an example out of the somewhat disloyal Baron.

981

In spring of 981 the Aquilean republicans launched a campaign to link their territories up with the Herzlands. Their campaign was successful, and within months they had captured Pomovarra and Flowena, which they annexed, and the western part of Verenia, which they turned into a sister republic. The Aquileans succeeded in taking Verenia where the republicans failed because unlike the republicans they didn’t rely as heavily on being supplied by locals.

Many of the Flowenan patricians had fled the City before it was conquered by Aquilea, taking as much money and gold with them as they could carry. Most of them fled to Griffonstone where they, and the millions of Talons they brought, were warmly welcomed. They were given autonomy in the town of Blackhollow, which was turned into a Free City, in exchange for aiding the rebuilding of the imperial economy.

At the same time Alexander Kemerskai once again invaded Bronzehill and Suntail started an offensive on the northern Front with the goal of pushing the imperials out of Feathisia. The third invasion of Bronzehill proved to be just as difficult as the two before, but this time Kemerskai wasn’t going up against guerillas, but against an organized army holding an easily defensible line between the Raven Lakes. The campaign was a nightmare as Kemerskai usually relied on outmaneuvering his enemies. Instead he had to attack heavily entrenched defenders in a few chokepoints. After a disastrous attack on Hundefeld saw him lose thousands in a week, he turned to simply shelling his enemies until there was nothing left to defend.

Due to being heavily reinforced throughout the winter of 980 and being able to maneuver, Suntail fared much better than Kemerskai and was able to push the empire out of Feathisia by October of 81.

In the southern front General Ebonwing’s army of Angriver and General Bronzetail’s Army of Verenia launched a two pronged offensive to push the republicans out of Katerin and Yale. The offensive started out on good footing, with Ebonwing capturing Andorstadt and Bronzetail pushing the republicans out of Greenback and beyond the Angriver. However Ebonwing was halted in the Scheißwald by Bluhm’s army and Bronzetail’s attention was needed in Verenia itself as the Aquilean offensive threatened to compromise the imperial flank, so the offensive simply fell apart. In late summer the Knights of Hellquill had somewhat recovered from the defeat dealt to them a year earlier, and together with the Longswordian army made their own small offensive into Katerin. They were easily able to capture the exposed town of Strathburg, but like Ebonwing they too were halted in the Scheißwald.

With the beginning of winter, fighting once again stopped in most places, except for Bronzehill where Kemerskai was unwilling to give the defenders any time to dig in further.

The failing of the offensives in the south also proved that the empire had firmly lost the initiative. Knowing that just staying on the defensive would lose them the war as the republicans would simply crush the disconnected armies of the empire one by one, the empire adopted a new strategy. The republicans would almost certainly have to focus their forces on one front if they wanted a serious chance of defeating whatever army they were attacking. The resulting weakness on the other fronts could then be exploited by the other imperial armies which would then quickly advance on Griffenheim, forcing the republicans to choose between crushing one of the imperial remainders and keeping Griffonstone.

982

In spring of 982 the republicans launched their spring offensive into Cloudbury. At first the republicans were making good progress, but thanks to the new strategy of the empire the republicans soon had to divert much of their offensive forces to the southern front where the army of Angriver was threatening to take Katerin. Once the winter came the Cloudburians counterattacked and pushed the republicans out of their land.

In late 982 the barony of Rumare also rejoined the empire in exchange for their claimed lands, but effectively this was the empire annexing Rumare in exchange for making Rumarean an official language in the Barony of Rumare.

983-985

In 983 the republicans launched a naval invasion of Vedina in an attempt to flank Cloudbury. They managed to take Turhamn but the hostility from the locals proved too much and the invasion force was eventually defeated. General Rosewing, the leader of the expedition, was among the ones captured by the Vedinans and was personally executed by the king.

983, 984 and 985 were peaceful years for the empire, at least if one ignores Bronzehill where Kemerskai continued to slowly grind forward, building to building, street to street, town to town. The war in Bronzehill finally ended when the republicans had taken the lowlands and felt that the imperials were far enough from Griffenheim to no longer be an immediate threat, and with it ended the Republican Wars.

Comments

[History Student]

Top notch gents

[shining paladin]

awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter

[JahJah]

Alright, I’m going to ask it because no one else will. How’s Ferdinand doing?

[Exiles at War]

11835059
He's an officer in the NRA who also does some politics
/Moon

[Exiles at War]

11835059
Please ignore what Moon said, she'd forgotten what the actual lore regarding Dawnclaw was because she's stupid (and because I forgot to write it down). As a teenager Dawnclaw joined the Republican Revolution on the side of the Republicans, instead of the Reichsarmee. He rose quickly through the officer ranks but decided to return to the priesthood after the war was over.
Following the revolution, the NRP would largely take control of the clergy which remained in the Herzlands. The problem with this is that there were very few clergygriffs willing to work for the Republican Church. Thanks to him being both a warhero and loyal to the republic, Dawnclaw would quickly ascend through the ranks of the Republican Church, being appointed Archon of Arcturius in 1005.
/Royalist