Kangwon War

**Kangwon/Moshka War**

### **Causes**

The border regions between Joseon & Aukustia had always been of hot content between eachother, as their populations continued to settle nearby but refused to intermingle due to pure disgust towards one another. Kangwon had been the farthest south Aukustia had thus reached in Joseon; from a humble starting territory in the northern bay some hundreds of years ago, Aukustia now dominated the majority of Joseon's previous Akainan mainland holdings. Fighting was almost a ritual tradition between Aukustia & Joseon at this point, and racial tension only continued to grow as migrants from previous wars pushed into what was the new border region. Kangwon, however, was special in its particular strategic importance to both nations; for Joseon, it formed a large part of their cultural identity & economic power within Akaina, whereas Aukustia wished to capture the province's known industry, & utilized its distinctive coastal position to threaten Joseon's further maneuvers in the strait. Tensions only began flaring in the first half of the 1880s, as Konseptiyan clerics from the Konseptiyan Church of Aukustia continued to violate border restrictions & proselytize to the native Aukustian population of the area, much to the disgruntlement of the region's Theophanites. Deeply conservative elements of Kangwonese society began forming outright militant bands to counteract their religious influence, however the Aukustians were also quick to arm themselves. Tensions came to a breaking point in the 1884 Standoff at Požarevac, where a Konseptiyan place of worship was surrounded by a mob of enraged Joseon peasantry; although local authorities came to break the conflict up, Mojsije Despotović, Konseptiyan pastor & later founder of the APIP, sent a communique to Prime Minister Sergej Savićević asking for an Aukustian intervention in the province; Savićević agreed, & plans for an invasion had been prepared around the beginning of January, 1885.

### **Beginnings of the Conflict; 1885-87**

Following a secret convening vote approving the intervention by the House of the Nation in the days prior, a mustered army of some 80,000 Aukustianians received the go-ahead to cross over the border into Moshka Province, and 6 hours later, the Aukustian government would send the official telegram notifying Joseon of the attack. The rest of the Aukustian army began preparing in the secure territories of the country, while Joseon's garrisons in the province scrambled together to put up whatever defenses they had against the encroaching forces. Stand-offs between Joseon & Aukustian militias erupted into full out fire fights, often over hills, rivers, and roads between separate ethnic villages. Minor forts & villages along the border were swallowed up by Aukustia within the beginning hours of the fight, however the first major goal for the Aukustians was the lakeside city of Miryang, which was just a short distance of some 110 miles from the Aukustian border. The main Aukustian army was continually slowed down by guerilla onslaught & unfortunate weather failings, which allowed Joseon more time to prepare a defensive force at the city, with volunteers continually aiding the formal force stationed within the city.

Meanwhile, in Wonson, Joseon officials began preparing a conscription program across the islands, as Emperor Ryu Ji-chang began establishing the administrative formalities which would be necessary for fighting the war. Armies were first grouped up in nearby Chungbuk Province, as the more formal forces prepared to be transferred from the main island onto the continent of Akaina. Aukustia, on the other hand, had already prepared a vast force, however continued to press more men into service for the eventuality of a prolonged conflict. Trailing behind the initial invasion was another army of Aukustians, with the 3rd group having been sent to defend Aukustian holdings in case of an incursion.

The first major battle would come at the end of July, as an Aukustian army gathered outside Miryang. Aukustia managed to position a major battery complement upon several hills over looking the city, which managed to force a response out of Joseon's forces when the city was repeatedly & viciously bombarded. Joseon's forces struck out from the city and repeatedly attempted to shake Aukustian positioning, but to no evail; the Aukustians would, in kind, split their forces and strike at the lowly elevated city. Threatened by an encroaching right flank, and fearing total encirclement, the city commander instead opted to leave their fires burning as to not alert the Aukustians of their retreat via boat over the lake the next day. The battle came as a major blow to Joseon's power in the northern part of the province, as Miryang was an important logistical stronghold in the area.

With the capture of the city, Aukustians continued advancing south as the retreating Joseonite army linked up with local volunteers & garrisons to replenish their power. At this point in time, the militias had also become much more solidified. The conflict still largely remained in the hands of the already fighting native residents of Kangwon, however these militias had become slowly more incorporated with the central military organ through government action in the coming months; Joseon pursued a more active drafting policy from their armed groups, wishing to have them act completely alongside the army, whereas Aukustia organized theirs as an entirely separate military force to the main army.

Aukustian forces reengaged with Joseon's Kangwon Army several times after the Battle of Miryang, whose limited numbers kept them helpless as they waited on reinforcements from Chungbuk. Even Aukustian officers were surprised with the rate at which Aukustian Army advanced through the province; after the victory at Miryang, several other key towns in the north would fall to Aukustia, including Amga, Undok, & Kilju.

The Joseonite forces finally received some desperately needed reinforcements, amassing some 80,000~ men as they prepared to drive the Aukustians back. The two armies met eachother near a small river town named Bomo-go, but would only dance around each other in minor engagements, as neither wished to decisively attack without a substantial numerical advantage. Opportunity arose for the Aukustians after both sides tried to cut north of each other; seeing an imminent disconnect between the Joseonite forces, Aukustia launched a risky frontal assault on the exposed middle, managing to break the stalemate & cut Joseon's positioning in half, separately inflicting great casualties to each of Joseon's flanks. The northern half, fearing imminent annihilation, fled through some hills & regrouped near an allied village at the coast, leaving the southern flank to be completely undone by the Aukustian assault. The defeat proved devastating for Joseon's future war efforts in the region, and they only managed to recover their power with the arrival of forces from the island in the next month.

As casualties only continued to mount for Joseon, Emperor Ryu Ji-chang made the reluctant decision to pull Joseon's forces completely from the province, while also relinquishing substantial control over the armed forces to the appointed General Park Dae-gyu out of shame. Large amounts of irregular forces remained behind, and a continual insurgent war was fought between the native population & the garrisoning Aukustian army. With the army, a small group of Joseonites also fled the province, however many remained; they had expected a counterattack to put Joseon back on top within the year. Later military historians would count the first two years of the war as especially violent & determinate in the fate of the conflict. Nearly 50% of all casualties in the conflict were sustained within the first months of the war, whereas the violence (on land, at least) had substantially tapered off following the retreat into Chungbuk Province.

### **The Conflict Stalls; 1887-90**

In Aukustia, nationalism soared with the stunning victories which had managed to seam the slight divide between those living in Moshka province with those in the main country. The parliamentary ministers breathed a sigh of relief with the salvation of their career through rapid military success, and only continued to approve bills which sent more & more men south into the province. Joseon remained in a reeled shock at the occupation of the province, and their successive defeats; many Joseonite women grieved openly & in the streets as they realized their husbands & sons would not be returning home. Still however, the importance of Kangwon to the whole cultural & economic sphere invigorated a nationalistic rebirth of war zeal across the empire, and more & more men joined the army across the territories. Ethnic violence only continued to heat up in the province itself; in order to reign in the population, the Aukustian government adopted a system of mass incarceration of thousands of Joseonites, with entire towns being turned into prison camps.

The actual field fighting had come to a halt as men came over the fjords & into Chungbuk province, greatly improving Joseon's military standing in the region, while the Aukustians struggled to solidify their logistical lines through the devastated province. Both sides remained strategically timid; Joseon had been shaken to its core following the defeats at Miryang & Bomo-go, yet Aukustia was unwilling to attack out of fear of overextension. General Dae-Gyu devised a strategy known as the Sanlim Gyeonbi Plan, by which Joseon would focus their efforts supporting the armed groups against the Aukustian government. Small bands of Joseonite soldiers would split off from the main force and sneak over into Kangwon, finding & linking up with established groups. At first, this strategy worked to great effect; the transferred soldiers provided huge amounts of experience & equipment to their groups. As Aukustian authorities caught on, however, small forts, checkpoints, & intercepting groups were established, who cracked down on those who attempted to circumvent the main army.

The war would drag on in the low intensity state for some 3 years, as officers on both sides drew anxious for some great break. Both sides made repeated but not fully committed to make breakthroughs via capturing small towns between their main logistical bases, causing massive amounts of damage to the border region between Kangwon & Chungbuk. Finally, eager to end the war, Aukustian land & naval officers convened, and decided that their next move to break through the highly entrenched Joseonite forces was to capture the island of Danghangpo, off the course of Chungbuk; via using it as a logistical base, Aukustia would be able to launch an army directly into the center of the province.

### **Naval Operations**

At the start of the war both the Joseon Navy (Wangsil Haegun) and Aukustian Navy were at rough parity of numbers. Both navies had just taken delivery of new flagships, with the Aukustians receiving the ironclad battleship *Mihailo* and Joseon receiving the protected cruiser *Tae-joon the Great*. Many technical aspects favored the Aukustians, but Joseon had a history of fighting aggressively and skillfully against opponents who were often more technically capable, but less skilled. In the opening days of the war, Admiral Baek Yoon-sik was promoted to command the Wangsil Haegun's fleet, and he acted very aggressively, chasing various Aukustian commanders back into harbor.

On two occasions, at Nanjido in 1885 and Gureopdo in 1887, Admiral Baek and the Joseon fleet nearly caught separate units of the Aukustian fleet. At Gureopdo the Joseon ships closed to less than four thousand meters before being forced to break off the pursuit due to Aukustian shore artillery. These close calls intimidated the Aukustian naval commanders who feared that they risked defeat if the Joseon fleet ever managed to trap them.

#### **Aukustian Operations**

The powerful Aukustian battleship *Mihailo* suffered a lot of bad luck, running aground twice and spending nearly all of 1886 and 1888 in port awaiting repairs. During the skirmish at Gureopdo in 1887 one of the *Mihailo*'s guns burst after the crew accidentally overloaded the gun. The ship's steam plant also broke down fairly regularly because the engineers kept running saltwater through the boilers.

Much more successful was the small foreign-built protected cruiser *Sisak*, which was not completed until after the war started. *Sisak* proved quite fast and her commander competent and aggressive, and so sometimes was detached to raid independently of the Aukustian fleet. In 1888, with the stalemate on land continuing, the Aukustian navy sent *Sisak* to raid further south in the Encircled Sea. She captured no Joseon vessels in this cruise but attracted international attention for managing to avoid Joseon patrols.

While the leadership was reluctant to risk their heavier units, the small flatiron gunboats saw heavy use, being sent to conduct nuisance raids on Joseon ports and fishing fleets. Their composite hulls, railroad boilers, and big guns made them easy to construct in small Aukutsian ports and thus relatively disposable. The gunboats had several small battles with their Joseon opposites.

#### **Joseon Operations**

Like the Aukustians the Wangsil Haegun sent their flatiron gunboats to make nuisance raids and bombardments of the Aukustian coast, but Joseon operations were significantly more varied.

On many occasions Admiral Baek attempted to catch out isolated portions of the Aukustian fleet. At Nanjido and Gureopdo he nearly achieved this goal. *Tae-joon the Great* was fast enough to overtake any Aukustian ship, but Baek was slowed by his old ironclads *Noryang* and *Sacheon*. Joseon also blockaded the Aukustian coast although this was a very loose blockade prior to 1890.

#### **Battle of Danghangpo**

In 1890, a number of intelligence reports convinced Admiral Baek that the Aukustians were planning to "leapfrog" the Joseon Army's defensive line in Chungbuk Province. The exact details remained a secret, but Joseon noticed the gathering of merchant ships suitable as troop transports, and major preparations for the Aukustian navy's warships. This allowed Admiral Baek time to prepare and gather his own fleet, advising the captains of his intentions, and .

The Aukustians hoped to swiftly overwhelm the garrison of Danghangpo and set up their own coastal artillery, allowing them to prevent the Joseon fleet from counterattacking.

The landings went poorly for the Aukustians due to weather and lack of experience. The troops were very slow to disembark and very poorly organized once they reached shore; nearly a hundred men drowned when their landing boats overturned in the swell. The coastal artillery was loaded on a single merchant ship which broke down and returned to port, leaving the expedition without the heavy guns they'd hoped to bring along. The garrison of Danghangpo offered spirited resistance from the heights above the harbor, and the Aukustian naval guns could not elevate enough to bombard them.

*Sisak* was sent to watch the primary channel to warn the Aukustian fleet if Admiral Baek was coming; however, the *Sisak* strayed too far to the northwest and never saw the Joseon fleet, which passed in the night, arriving off Danghangpo shortly before dawn. Admiral Baek immediately pressed the attack on the anchored Aukustian ships. *Tae-joon the Great* and the torpedo-boat *Janggodo* sank the *Mihailo* while the other ships fought viciously in the waters of the fjord. The troop transports, many still loaded with troops, surrendered to avoid being sunk.

Of the major Aukustian naval units, only *Sisak* survived the action, along with some flatiron gunboats. The Joseon ships took significant damage during the battle but only two torpedo boats were lost permanently.

### **Post-Danghangpo; 90-91**

Danghangpo had caused a complete rethinking of Aukustian general strategy, as the navy had now been severely debilitated in its aftermath. Many naval officers were fired by the Aukustian government in the aftermath, as the navy withdrew to safer northern waters to try & put itself back together again. The land front remained stale, however the Joseonite troops were in substantially higher spirits following the legendary victory. By far the worse consequence of the battle was the ensuing blockade though; navally immobilized, Aukustian ports & shipping were entirely subject to the wishes of the Joseonite navy, who made haste in establishing a massive blockade over the coast. Trading was completely stopped, and support for the war in Aukustia dropped to an all-time low. Aukustian strategic generals grew nervous in regards to the country's overall ability to continue the war, with resources drying up; Monmon remained the only neutral overland supplier of resources to the war effort. Still however, the situation was not perfect for Joseon; the 6 year long war had taken a devastating toll on the relatively impoverished country's economy, & Kangwon still remained out of their grasp.

Despite the great victory in the public face, Dae-gyu was still unsure of how to actually win the war. Similarly, the political situation in Aukustia had forced Prime Minister Savićević into action; his third reelection was in 1893, and he needed a strong military victory in order to wipe away the disgrace at Danghangpo. The cross-border skirmishes continued to escalate throughout 1891, until the Aukustians would launch a full campaign aimed at ousting Joseon from the province completely in the end of the year.

### **Final Campaign & Conclusion; 91-92**

The war would resume into open field conflict again with the launching of the plan, dubbed Zaključak Operacije, when Aukustian troops suddenly struck into Chungbuk province in much the same manner in which the war began. The Joseonites were substantially more prepared with the deployment of their armies to the front, so advancement into Chungbuk was substantially harder than the initial rush which was accomplished in Kangwon. The inner highlands divided war effort into an eastern & western flank, as two distinct armies would form on each side and continually engage one another, with neither side able to gain a particular advantage. By July, the situation had only contributed to mount more bodies as opposed to actually leading to any substantial gains by either side. The last couple of months would be a sequence of combat known as the Winter Skirmishes in Chungbuk, where fighting actually continued into the harsh Akainan snow, causing an uptick in casualties in the later months of the war. By November, the Emperor had finally conceded that the odds of Joseon ever marching back into Kangwon were next to none, and peace talks began on the 1st of December, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Buhkta on December 12th, 1892, which finally relinquished the province.

### **Aftermath**

In the immediate aftermath of the war, lawlessness ran about throughout the affected regions; several Joseonite rebel sects continued fighting on even after the treaty, either remaining with their beliefs or turning their guns & hands to banditry. The embroilment of both Joseon & Aukustia's navy within the conflict lead to a massive increase of piracy actions within the region, eventually leading to the Occupation of Tok Bara (1892). Large portions of the previously industrious Kangwon province had been reduced to rubble, and many people within the province lived in absolute destitution & poverty. The Aukustian government would widely aid ethnically Aukustian relief efforts, however Joseonites were left to suffer & starve; from both this & fear of violence, some 150,000~ Joseonites would evacuate the province & move to the islands.

The war was received devastatingly back in Joseon; many men had gone off across the straight & not returned, and the 7 year long war had a devastating effect on Joseon's economy. In the aftermath of the war, Ryu Ji-chang, would honorably abdicate his emperorship in favor of his son. In addition, the loss of Kangwon had a huge effect on Joseon's cultural sphere; the province formed a sizeable part of the country's economy & national identity, holding many ancient Sindo shrines. Both during & at the end of the war, many of these areas were destroyed or repurposed by the Aukustian government, as part of a national crackdown on Sindo & Gidoggyo. Ideas of eventually returning to the province still ring strongly in the hearts of both Joseon's people & its rulers.

The war had widespread political implications in Aukustia; from the paramilitaries which had once roamed across Kangwon province arose the foundations of the eminent ethnosupremacist APIP, who in under 12 years would quickly rise from a humble regional party to the second strongest force in parliament as downtrodden soldiers returned home. The war also restored Aukustian interest in the navy, which had been largely neglected in the earlier years; Aukustia paid a devastating price for said neglect at Danghangpo. Small conflicts would rage on between the remnants of radical Joseon groups within the province, until they were eventually fully chased down with the establishment of an actual administration in the region. Administratively, the area has proven quite a headache for the Aukustian government, as much legislation had to be changed in order to ensure the vanquished Joseonites could not attempt to sway the politics of the country. Resentment between Aukusitans & Joseonites in the province is still high, especially given that some villages had once dominated another. Aukustian governmental intervention has been necessary several times to repair the province's economy, which struggled for years to recover after widespread devastation & evacuation during the conflict. Several attempts have also been made to settle more Aukustians in the area, to varying degrees of success.

#### **International Reaction**

International reactions to the war & its conclusion were largely mixed. The nearby Akainan countries had abstained from joining the war on either side, however Ji was the host of several thousands of both Joseon & Aukustian refugees who crossed south of the border during the fighting. Monmon became a neutral supplier of goods to Aukustia following the beginning of Joseon's blockade. Fusuo & Tokkaido had both briefly flirted with the idea of intervening in the war to halt Aukustian advances, however eventually decided to let the conflict play out on its own. Sympathies in the west were more tied; several humanists & moral crusaders had taken the Joseon's side on the matter, and organized relief efforts as refugees poured back in Changbuk, however many within the populace found it much easier to sympathize with the more ethnically similar Aukustians. Allegations of human rights violations commited by Aukustian soldiers during the occupation made the general population more skeptical of Aukustia & the war. Liotain had supplied Joseon's war ships during the war, & Celtica had allegedly provided them with rifles in the later years; the governments of both Celtica & Joseon deny these allegations, however. Other Bolish countries, such as Arkadyetsiya & Prem-Bol, were receptive to their fellow Bols in Aukustia, and small groups of early Bolish ultranationalists had even volunteered in Aukustian paramilitaries during the war.