Fall of Jerusalem

Location

The **Shanghai Pact's capture of Jerusalem**, better known by the name **Fall of Jerusalem**, was a significant military conflict of the Conquest of Africa, and lasted for six months between January 3, 2038 and June 29, 2038. As part of the Shanghai Pact's Operation Invincible, the Fall of Jerusalem built on the successes of the previous Siege of Jerusalem to completely seize control over Jerusalem State; at the same time, the conflict resulted in significant levels of political change within the Bovido Imperium.

Following the complete encirclement of Jerusalem city on January 3, 2038, the Shanghai Pact forces under the leadership of General Xu Fenlin began to launch a bombardment of existing Bovido supply lines surrounding the region in an attempt to prevent a counter-attack on the Shanghai Pact forces, whilst also launching a campaign to starve off the Bovido capital by disconnecting the region from water and electrical supplies. On January 10, 2038, Bovido Imperator Julios Cragen announced in an address to the nation that political command of the nation would remain in Jerusalem, whilst the army command would move to be based in Cairo under the leadership of Praefectus Amar Sato; as part of the withdrawal to Cairo, Praefectus Sato began a withdrawal from the Sinai peninsular lasting from January 12 until February 3, 2038, with Bovido forces maintaining a perimeter around the Suez Canal to control shipping routes through the region. Faced with the sudden withdrawal of Bovido forces, General Xu tasked the Persian forces of the Shanghai Pact with seizing the abandoned lands, ensuring the capture of surrendered lands by February 4, 2038. On January 28, 2038, a large scale explosion took place at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's mission base in the outskirts of Jerusalem, killing several high ranking US and British commanders in the process; subsequent surprise missile attacks took place on January 29th and February 1st, whilst an armed helicopter transporting replacement commanders to the mission base was shot down in the evening of February 6, 2038. Faced with a barrage of undetectable assaults on the NATO leadership and high death tolls, UK prime minister Angela Rayner announced in a ministerial statement to Parliament on February 11, 2038 that British forces would be withdrawing from the mission in Jerusalem, whilst the Dunsteenian foreign ministry confirmed Dunsteen's withdrawal of forces from Jerusalem to focus on Operation Safeguard the following day. With the withdrawal of key western allies from Jerusalem, on February 29, 2038 US president Alexandria Raines signed a formal treaty with Libirachi president Karyn Voor for the Shanghai Pact to purchase American military bases in the region at a sizeable mark-up whilst the United States Armed Forces formally withdrew from the mission in Jerusalem; leaked files from 2047 would later show that the Libirachi armed forces were responsible for the mystery attacks on NATO leadership in an attempt to get the western forces to leave Jerusalem and prevent any partition agreement with the United States. On March 3, 2038, Cardinal Nicholas Azure of the Bovido Imperium resigned his role within the Bovido government and joined up with the armed forces in Egypt as a personal advisor to Praefectus Amar Sato. By mid-March, the political power of Imperator Julios Cragen had all but evaporated, effectively leaving him as a prisoner in Jerusalem whilst the provinces of the empire he nominally ruled began to descend into factionalism; despite having lost grasp of the Bovido political system, Imperator Cragen remained publicly confident in his ability to lead the nation and made several public speeches and addresses as if he still controlled a vast transcontinental empire. As a sign of Cragen's diminishing authority, on March 13, 2038 prime minister Marisa Belacqua pronounced the autonomy of the province of Pindorama, effectively unilaterally revoking the *Treaty of Pindoraman Assentation* that Belacqua signed in November 2030 to bring Pindorama into the Bovido Imperium.

Following the declaration of autonomy for Pindorama, Praefectus Amar Sato and North African prime minister Yesu Soong travelled to Brasilia to meet with prime minister Marisa Belacqua on March 19, 2038, with the trio of leaders holding a political conference at the presidential palace to discuss the future of the Bovido Imperium; following several days of negotiations, the trio of leaders formally called a meeting of the Grand Council of the Bovido Imperium on March 23, 2038, and with the presence of former cardinal Nicholas Azure, the Grand Council voted to formally impeach Imperator Julios Cragen, with Azure being appointed as acting imperator and being reinstated as cardinal. At the same time, Belacqua, Sato and Soong formally proclaimed the establishment of the Triumvirate as a formal government institution between the three forefront Bovido leaders. Under the new regime, Nicholas Azure immediately initiated the Depurgo Protocol across the entirety of the state of North Africa on March 23, 2038, after the protocol was first used by Praefectus Sato in Egypt, and began to establish regional command centres at the behest of Sato in order to coordinate local forces better. With his removal from office on March 23, 2038, Julios Cragen proclaimed the formation of the Holy Salvation Government of the Bovido Imperium to control the territories in Jerusalem still loyal to him. On March 29, 2038, Imperator Nicholas Azure formally reached out to the Shanghai Pact with the promise of securing a peace agreement and an initial meeting between Bovido negotiator Justas Kolas and Persian prime minister Tamim bin Hamad took place in Geneva, Switzerland on April 2, 2038, with a follow-up public conference between bin Hamad and Kolas occurring on April 10, 2038. On April 11, 2038, Imperator Azure dismissed himself as cardinal and appointed Yesu Soong to the office, conducting a reshuffle of prime ministers on the same day to appoint Amar Sato as prime minister of North Africa and giving Justas Kolas the effectively defunct title of prime minister of Jerusalem State. Following the government re-shuffle, Imperator Azure made a televised public address directed at leaders of NATO and Shanghai Pact nations on April 13, 2038, pledging willingness to sign a conditional surrender and denouncing the proto-government in Jerusalem led by former Imperator Julios Cragen. As negotiations between the Bovido Imperium and Shanghai Pact continued, Libirachi vice president and foreign minister Angelica Rivera travelled to the United States of America on April 21st, 2038 to meet with President Alexandria Raines and discuss terms for a new political world order in the event of a Bovido Imperium surrender during the war and began working on negotiations for a reformed United Nations. On April 29, 2038, Cardinal Yesu Soong gave a speech in Rio de Janeiro announcing that peace negotiations between the Shanghai Pact and the Bovido Imperium had begun, with Soong, prime minister Justas Kolas and Libirachi foreign minister Angelica Rivera leading the negotiations; despite the announcement, war hostilities between the two states continued. On June 16, 2038, a hypersonic missile fired from a Persian military base struck the Bovido Imperial Palace in Jerusalem, killing the self-proclaimed imperator Julios Cragen and senior members of his Holy Salvation Government. With the death of Julios Cragen, the city of Jerusalem began to crumble in its defences and within days of Cragen's death, the city walls were breached by the armies of the Shanghai Pact, who claimed full control over the city on June 29, 2038.