War:Sutican War
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The Sutican War, also known as the Merryweather War or the Mustache War, was a large-scale conflict between the Holy Orenian Empire and the Begrudged Alliance, an international coalition spearheaded by the Free State of Sutica.
Prelude
The ascension of Corwin von Alstreim, an outspoken Renatian loyalist, to the Sutican throne in 1762 saw the once-friendly relations between the Holy Orenian Empire and the Sutican State, already harmed by Josephite raids on Sutica and the State's subsequent entry into the War of the Two Emperors and intervention on the Renatian side, sour even further. Though many in the Empire favored a total absence of interaction between the two polities, certain factions within the Orenian leadership sought to both further the Empire's strategic goals in the south of Arcas and eliminate a potential threat which would arise through continued tolerance of a Pertinaxi loyalist monarch owing no fealty to Oren.
The opportunity for action presented itself in 1772, when a personal dispute between King Corwin and Master Peter Amadeus de Sarkozy resulted in the young nobleman's demise in combat. Throughout the following three Saint's Weeks, the Orenian diplomatic corps sensationalized the incident, presenting it to the Orenian public as a cold-blooded murder in a display of Pertinaxi barbarism. King Corwin's elimination of a newly-risen rogue faction within the Sutican State, which sought to overthrow Alstreim governance for the purpose of establishing a mage-led dictatorship in Sutica, further fueled the efforts of Imperial propaganda, which had by now convinced the public opinion of Helena that an armed intervention in Sutica was necessary so that its tyrannical regime might be removed from power. All the while, elements of the Imperial intelligence sought to gain favor among members of the Sutican Council with offers of protection under Orenian vassalage and a continued Orenian naval presence in the Sutican port, should King Corwin be delivered to face a show trial in Helena.
Though a complete avoidance of war seemed to be the formal course of Sutica in the first days of the diplomatic crisis, King Corwin and his closest advisors understood that an Orenian invasion seemed imminent and could only be defeated in battle, rather than averted entirely. A series of secret diplomatic meetings with nations aligned with Sutica, or sympathetic to the cause of opposing Orenian dominance, took place between 1773 and 1775. The Sutican Minister of Peace, Mika Goldhand-Uialben, exercised his diplomatic connections to ensure the realms of Urguan, Norland and Vanmark would support the cause of King Corwin, and view the Orenian incursion and violation of Sutican sovereignty as the latest incident in the sea of many similar transgressions committed upon these states in the service of Orenian expansion. These nations swiftly agreed on the principle that further Orenian aggression could only be checked by an all-encompassing defensive treaty. The alliance also found itself bolstered by a contract with the mercenary company of Hangmen, whose leader, unbeknownst to the allies at the time, boasted a claim to the Orenian throne as a Prince of Horen blood.
These agreements remained secret until a formal declaration of war was issued by the Orenian Empire in 1775. Its intelligence found itself stunned by the Sutican diplomatic offensive, as the defenders announced the formation of the Begrudged Alliance.
The war was massively unpopular in the Kingdom of Haense, whose people felt they were being dragged into a war that didn't pertain to them. The Lord Lieutenant Nicholas Barbanov declared Haense's support for the Empire in 1776, leading to the suicide of King Sigismund II. His seven year old son Josef then took on the throne. The war cemented the Haeseni populace against the Empire, who had endured a long string of grievances beforehand.
Major Confrontations
- 23rd of The Deep Cold, 1775 - Battle at Hangman's Keep - Allied Victory
- 8th of The Grand Harvest, 1778 - Battle of the Whispering Woods - Allied Victory
Timeline
