Military History of Alsesia

The **military history of Alsesia** spans over two-thousand years of warfare. This article only encompasses the military history of Bālthorian Alsesia, and will not exhaustively detail other militaries in the regions that now comprise the country's territory.

## Conquest of Soldakia

After the arrival of the Bālthors and their vassals on Soldakia, there was need to create a functional army for the new state. The Kylish Empire they had fled had retained its own professional military, leaving the initial Alsesian population of approximately 50,000 somewhat unprepared for warfare, as only a few soldiers had deserted to join the Bālthorian Exodus. Fortunately, their leaders had an understanding of military affairs, having served at the highest levels of the Kylish Imperial Army and Navy, and were able to organize the early Alsesian army.

## WIP

Throughout the most of the Unification Wars, lamellar armor was the dominant form used by Alsesian troops. Mail armor was also used, but was significantly rarer due to the expenses and time required to produce it.

Alsesia independently discovered gunpowder in 1261 by accident. It was initially treated as a curiosity, but otherwise not significantly pursued. It was in 1274 that it became apparent through experimentation that gunpowder had significant military potential. Experiments in gunpowder explosives began around the same period, while gunpowder artillery was developed towards the end of the 13th century. The first instance of gunpowder weapons being used by Alsesia in warfare is during the Norjet Revolt, when cannons were used to besiege rebel fortifications.

## Granish Interwar Period

With the conclusion of the First Granish Continental War on May 11th, 1922, the opportunity to downsize the military began. Aside from peacekeeping forces in the Granish Federation that were withdrawn in 1924, there were very few commitments outside of defending the country's protectorates and own borders. Nearly three-fifths of the Ground Army, Navy, and Air Service were demobilized, while the National Guard and Marines were reduced by over two-thirds. Fortunately, the veterans of the war were cared for respectably, as President Ormitak had signed policies to guarantee them extensive benefits for their service.

Although the size and strength of the military was decreased, the core institutions remained intact, and the lessons from the war were thoroughly studied and implemented. The first was that mobility and communications would be critical in a future conflict, and that airpower would be a decisive factor in any long-term conflict. Taking advantage of the nation's potent industrial capabilities and scientific base, the armed forces experimented with new designs in tanks, aircraft, and infantry weapons.

### Doctrine

The Committee of the Service Commanders studied and debated over how the next war would look like, and how it would be fought.

### Weapons

#### Infantry

The venerable bolt-action MR-3 was replaced as the standard-issue rifle by the new semi-automatic MR-4, a militarized version of Mogzak's Pattern 8 Rifle. The MR-4 utilized the same 7.5 x 55mm Mogzvak cartridge as its predecessor, simplifying the transition process. The switch to a semi-automatic rifle reflected the new ideas among Ground Army leaders that widespread firepower would be vital in mobile warfare.

Machine guns underwent considerable innovation during this time. At the small-unit level, there was considerable debate over whether full-fledged machine guns should be continue to be issued, and if so, whether or not they would be magazine or belt-fed. Some military leaders argued that although a machine gun would provide great firepower, it should not be issued at the squad level due to size and unwieldiness. The large, magazine-fed MA-5 Yagik Machine Gun had not fully proven itself during the war, but the smaller submachine designs had. After much deliberation, it was decided that the Ground Army would test new machine gun designs meant to be portable while firing a full-size rifle cartridge.

After several design competitions, as well as comparative wargames against units armed only with rifles and submachine-guns the utility of "light" machine guns were proven. The design of choice was the belt-fed MA-8 Novaksburg Machine Gun, designed by a team of gunsmiths in the city the gun takes its name from. Nicknamed the Novaks, the MA-8 was well-liked for its reliability and ease of maintenance, as well as good range and impressive accuracy. The MA-5 was fully replaced by the Novaks by late 1935.

### Rognūt Weapons

On April 19th, 1930, disaster struck the Irnian mining town of Zoparstov. Several bags of coal dust were negligently left near an open flame, and when one of these bags was torn open by a metal shard blown around by a strong gust of wind, which also spread out the dust, the collection of flammable material in the air resulted in a dust explosion. This caused a fire that rapidly spread through the town. By the end of the disaster, 21 buildings had been burned down, and 94 people had been killed.

A military researcher named Ēlias Mankit had been visiting Zoparstov when he witnessed the explosion from a distance. Already familiar with the concept of a dust explosion, Mankit wondered if it would be possible to replicate the effects in a bomb.

NESRG took interest in the idea as well, hiring Mankit in December of 1930. Mankit led a team that began its research by replicating dust explosions. After some consideration, it was determined that a weapon exploiting the concept should use a small primary explosive to disperse the flammable materials before using a secondary one to ignite them. The team then began experimenting with mixtures of flammable materials and liquid oxygen. This eventually developed the principles behind the thermobaric weapons that would arise from this program.

On June 1st, 1935, the first prototype was successfully detonated in a remote region of Solvitia Province. The test bomb, SXP-840, was a 60 kilogram charge that destroyed multiple targets in a large radius. Further tests eventually resulted in the creation of the first practical weapon of the type: the 100 kilogram REP-5 Fuersmusar (Fireduster). To conceal the exact nature of the weapon, researchers used the fact that a partial vacuum formed from this type of explosion to name it a Rognūt (Vacuum) explosive. The term Rognūt, although now widely known to be a deliberate misnomer, is still the most commonly used.

A brief fad in military research circles emerged following the success of the REP-5. The abundance of rognūt weapon projects produced nearly 70 variants across a wide range of applications. There was even an (ultimately fruitless) attempt to develop a rognūt torpedo, which failed, as the principles behind the weapon simply could not function in water.