San Martin War

The San Martin War was a brief, relatively unbloody military conflict between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Repubic of San Martin.
== Prelude ==
By 1750 PD, the San Martin government, following the statist example of the Republic of Haven, but without the larger star nation's strong economy, was in dire fiscal straits. A coalition of radical minority parties gained control of the executive and legislative branches in the 1751 PD elections, and in 1752 PD "nationalized" the nearby Trevor's Star Terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction, dispatching warships to seize control of it in clear violation of the Junction Treaty of 1590 PD. ()
== Course of the war ==
Surprised by the attack, Manticore was unable to prevent the seizure of the terminus, but Queen Caitrin and her government, led by Prime Minister Margo Thackeray, would not allow such aggression to stand.
Rather than attempt to fight its way through the Wormhole, the Royal Manticoran Navy chose instead to demonstrate its resolution to assault through the Terminus while simultaneously sending a powerful force of ships of the wall and battleships under the command of Vice Admiral Quentin Saint-James on a month-long voyage through hyperspace. This force struck not at the terminus, but at the star system itself. As Saint-James had hoped when he proposed the strategy, every heavy unit of the San Martin Navy had been drawn to the terminus by Manticore's ostentatious preparations, leaving the home system covered only by light units.
A single San Martin light cruiser was heavily damaged when it refused to strike its wedge, but personnel casualties were minimal. No other San Martin units were in any position to intercept the RMN, and the San Martin government had no option but to surrender once Saint-James’ ships controlled the space about its home planet.
Vice Admiral Saint-James, accredited as his monarch’s plenipotentiary, imposed remarkably gentle terms: he demanded the restoration of all seized property, restitution to private owners for damage and losses, and a return to the terms of the Junction Treaty of 1590 PD. In addition, he proposed to the Queen that San Martin be granted favored status and that their transit fees through all Junction termini be reduced by fifty percent for a period of 25 T-years in return for a pledge from the San Martin government of fiscal reforms designed to return the system to solvency.
As a result of Saint-James' strategy, only seventeen people were killed and fewer than sixty were wounded in the entire war. ()
== Aftermath ==
The fiscal reforms which San Martin adopted in compliance with his terms did, indeed, restore the system government to prosperity over the next thirty T-years.
Together with the actions that earned him the Parliamentary Medal of Valor as a young ensign, the San Martin War solidified Vice Admiral Saint James' reputation as one of the greatest officers in the history of the RMN. ()
== References ==
Category:Wars
Category:San Martin