Four Banners War

The Four Banners War (September 1810 to December 1814) was a civil war in Anitkabir, with the rebel Four Banners movement supported by Liotain and Erisia.

### Causes

In February 1808, Burakgazi II became sultan of Anitkabir. A young firebrand reformer, Burakgazi organized a group of supporters called the Four Banners Movement who sought to purge the country of the "four corruptions:" slavery, forced conversions, the Janissary system, and forced marriages. The Four Banners met resistance from Anitkabir's conservative nobles and the religious leaders, who saw it as a direct attack on their power-base.

In April 1810, Burakgazi issued an edict mandating the end of forced conversions, which he felt was the most easily-achievable of the four goals. The edict enraged the Hishelmite conservatives, and on April 19th, the Sultan's bodyguards entered the palace, murdered Burakgazi, and proclaimed his five-year old son Mesud sultan in his place, appointing a conservative nobleman, Alperen Katirci as Grand Vizier.

Sultan Madmoud's assassination drove a rift through Anitkabir society. The Four Banners Movement, shorn of leadership, initially tried to continue their campaign politically, but in August the new Grand Vizier outlawed them, and mobilized the Janissaries to destroy them.

Four Banners leadership, now largely following Altan Tilki, a companion and advisor to Burakgazi II, fled the capital and declared open rebellion. The Four Banners movement continued to recognize Burakgazi's son Mesud as the Sultan, but demanded Katirci's removal and replacement by a more progressive Grand Vizier. The Four Banners also sent embassies to neighboring states that were expected to support the goals of the Four Banners movement, including Liotain, Erisia, Firocco, and others.

Skillful diplomacy on Katirci's part partially blunted this move, but the Four Banners found a willing ally in Liotain, which declared war on Anitkabir in September.

### Summary

#### 1810

The Four Banners army, dubbed rebels by Katirci in his role as Grand Vizier, were forced to fight unconventionally in the north and northeast of the country - an area where they found relatively little support from the population, and where their Liotainian allies could not easily support them. Over the winter of 1810-1811, Altan Tilki organized and executed the Thousand-Mile Ride, where the majority of the Four Banners Army dodged four pursuing Janissary armies to reach the western borders of Anitkabir.

At the beginning of the war, Liotain bribed the inhabitants of the city of Dahra to rise in revolt against the government, in support of the Four Banners Movement. The Liotainians then landed troops by sea and reinforced the city. A second attempt to repeat this strategy in Tekkadin failed.

#### 1811

With the arrival of the Four Banners army in western Anitkabir, the situation looked quite promising in early 1811. The Janissaries, however, had eventually mobilized, and arrived in the western provinces in force over the course of the summer. In September, over a year after the start of the war, the Janissaries outmaneuvered the Liotainian Army, which retreated back to Dahra and Pernarava after a short battle, and then chased Altan Tilki's rebel army further south, splitting them from their allies.

An attempt to beseige the Liotainians in the rebel city of Dahra started in October, but Liotanian reinforcements broke the siege in December.

At sea, the Liotainians destroyed the Kabirite Navy, although a small number of ships declared for the Four Banners.

#### 1812

Forced south, closer to the Erisian border, Altan Tirki continued to fight an unconventional war against the Janissaries, establishing strongholds in fairly remote or mountainous regions of western and southwestern Anitkabir.

After sitting on the sidelines, the Kingdom of Erisia abruptly entered the war in March on behalf of the Four Banners, although they fully expected that Erisia would be compensated with territorial gains for their assistance. The Erisians, however, made several critical mistakes in their initial campaign, becoming bogged down in a pointless seige of the Firoccan-occupied treaty port of Karindah - not even held by the Grand Vizier's army - and the strongly conservative cities of Kaynarca and Batman. The Erisian commanders became far too focused on these three seiges, which divided their forces and bogged down their campaign.

In the northwest, the Liotainians won the Battle of Silivri in early May 1812, but were forced to withdraw afterward due to casualties.

#### 1813

In January 1813, despite repeated warnings from Altan Tilki, the Erisians were surprised by the janissaries at the Battle of Batman. The Erisians took Kaynarca after a 263-day seige, only to loot the town and abandon it three days later when they learned about the loss of their supporting army at Batman. The Siege of Karindah also broke down. The Erisians regrouped and returned to their own borders by March, where they repelled a counterattack in November.

In the northwest, the Liotainians delivered another sharp defeat to the Janissaries at the Battle of Ibriktepe, but were unable to capitalize on this victory due to the approach of a second, even larger, Janissary force. Dahra was besieged once again, but once again held out.

Altan Tirki's forces, despite numerous victories, slowly started disintegrating after nearly two years with poor rations and little to no pay. The Four Banners began to suffer the effects of traitors and defections, with their de facto capital of Sarkoy being treacherously surrendered to the Grand Vizier in November. As an example, Alperen Katirci had the entire population of the city sold into slavery.

### = 1814

In January 1814, Katirci arranged a truce with the Erisians, skillfully sidelining them for the remainder of the war. He moved north with a large portion of his army, driving the remnants of the Four Banners army ahead of him.

Before the Four Banners troops could unite with the Liotainians, Altan Tirki was betrayed by one of his close companions in March, and captured; he was sentenced to be sawed in half, but was saved from this fate by the unexpected arrival of a Liotainian cavalry raid, which allowed his escape.

In the northwest, the Liotainians made a last-ditch effort to deal a decisive defeat to the Grand Vizier's forces. They won a minor victory at the Battle of Tepecoy, but Katirci, now taking the field personally as grand commander, successfully avoided providing them a decisive battle, instead wearing them down over time.

By summer of 1814, it was obvious to the Liotainian government that they were largely alone, with the Four Banners movement almost completely dispersed or destroyed. Negotiations started in July, but the war was not entirely over. The Grand Vizier's army made another attempt to besiege Dahra, still strongly-held by the Liotainians.

In October the main Liotainian army sent a cavalry raid into Anitaria, surprising the Grand Vizier at the Battle of Ayvacik. The Liotainian uhlans swept through the Janissaries and captured Alperen Katirci, a triumph of arms that - had it come two years prior - may well have changed the course of the war. Ultimately, Katirci's capture proved almost meaningless in the final negotiations.

### Results

The Four Banners Movement remained outlawed, with its leadership largely destroyed. Katirci remained Grand Vizier for Sultan Mesud until his death in 1839.

Liotain exchanged Katirci to Anitkabir in trade for keeping the rebel city of Dahra, which serves as an outpost and treaty port within Anitkabir.

The war caused one unexpected major change. The repeated Liotainian defeats of the Kabirite Janissaries, their high casualties, and subsequent uncertainty about their loyalties, forced Alperen Katirci to terminate the Janissary system in 1816. A conscripted national army replaced them, thus achieving one of the goals of the Four Banners movement.