Eurasian occupation of Zackalantis

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The **Eurasian Occupation of Zackalantis**, also known as **Provicia Saqualantiae**, was a Eurasian colonial province in present day Zackalantis during the 1830's. The Eurasian Occupation of Zackalantis is widely viewed as one of the worst human rights atrocities in the pre-modern world, and it still affects relations between Eurasia and Zackalantis today.

The occupation began in the early 1830's, when Imperial Eurasian military forces seized outlying islands near Zackalantis in the interest of "protecting trade routes", which in reality was an excuse to intimidate the Zach government into allowing Eurasian ships unhindered access to trade routes along the coast. In 1832, the Eurasian Government issued an decree stating that native ships trading along the coast were to be seized and their goods confiscated. Finally, in 1833, the Eurasian Government launched an all-out invasion of Zackalantis, abandoning all pretenses of protecting trade interests.

With the majority of the country secured, Eurasian Imperial Authorities quickly dissolved the government that had existed, imprisoning the monarch and establishing martial law. Religious groups, predominantly Christian, protested this, and in response the Eurasians tore down their churches and arrested the priests and pastors. The Eurasians also began to use the villagers in the more rural areas as forced laborers, with many of them dying in Eurasian work camps.

The occupation officially ended in 1837, when Eurasian forces left the destroyed nation after much of its natural resources dried up. The occupation left almost 1,200,000 dead, either from direct execution or from man-made starvation. The Eurasian Government has never officially apologized for the invasion, and has occasionally denied a genocide ever took place.

## Pre-Occupation

The culture of Pre-Occupation Zackalantis is often described as "largely agrarian", with the only substantial city being Cair Paravel, which was known at the time as *"सर्कस के सिटी"*, (Zach: *"City of Circuses"*). It was also just beginning to trade with the outside world, and as such many world powers saw an opportunity to expand their empires. The Eurasian Empire was the first to begin trade relations with Zackalantis, and during this time began to aggressively expand its markets into the fledgling nation, which at the time was ruled by a monarch. This lead to increased tensions, and the Zach Throne demanded in 1829 that Eurasia end a trade war it had began with the natives in an effort to stabilize the price of grain, the staple of the pre-industrial Zach economy. Eurasia flatly refused, and instead seized the islands of Maurisa and Doshura, which were trading outposts for Zach merchants.

This angered the Zach Monarchy, who declared in 1831 an embargo on Eurasian goods in an effort to bring the Eurasian Government to negotiate. Instead, the Imperial Government responded by seizing Zach merchant vessels and moving a naval flotilla into the region to intimidate the Zach Crown, who increased their anti-Eurasian rhetoric. This culminated in the Eurasian invasion of 1833, which toppled the monarchy and secured Zackalantis under Eurasian control.

## Early Occupation

The initial occupation of Zackalantis was over in less than three weeks, with the Royal Army unable to put up a significant fight, both due to overwhelming Eurasian manpower and technology, as well as general disorganization. The Royal Army had not fought a major conflict in decades, and was accustomed to fighting brush wars with villagers, not a highly trained, professional fighting force. Thus, Zackalantis quickly fell under Eurasian control. Initially, plans were laid out to allow the Zach king to nominally keep power, however this was quickly abandoned when it became apparent that the King refused to bow to Eurasian demands. He was imprisoned on a Eurasian Prison Ship, where he remained for several months.

The initial focus of the invasion was on stripping Zackalantis of material resources and wealth, and indeed it can be questioned whether the Eurasians even planned on staying in Zackalantis permanently at all. The diary of the Imperial Commander, Gaius Crescius Marius, says that "*I shan't wish to remain in this backwater any longer than I must,*", indicating the Eurasian goal was to take as much from Zackalantis as was possible before they left the country to its own devices.

However, the initial focus of the Eurasian involvement was to use Eurasian workers to extract the country's natural resources. This changed in 1834 when, following an uprising in Cair Paravel by a group of angry Christians, the Eurasians began to use forced labor to work the quarries and fields.

## 1834-1836

The years of 1834 to 1836 are viewed by historians as the true beginning of what can be today considered a genocide, as the Eurasians began to arrest Christians  *en masse* for largely farcical crimes and force them to work in fields, mines, and other hazardous jobs. This began when the Eurasians outlawed the use of Churches, and arrested any who attended services there. It was not unusual to find armed Eurasian soldiers outside Churches on Sundays, ready to arrest any who attempted to enter. Christians were arrested and sent to the countryside, where they worked in brutal conditions with little food in mines, extracting gold, iron, and coal.

Thousands died from disease or poor working conditions, and in 1835 the Eurasians outright banned Christianity, declaring it a "*subversive, cannibalistic cult*". Any who resisted were given public executions in Cair Paravel, which became known for almost ubiquitous gallows. The Eurasians also displaced farmers from their fields and forced them into "*coetae*", or collectives, whose purpose was to produce as much grain as possible to be exported to Eurasia. This lead to widespread famine, which killed hundreds of thousands between 1835 and 1837. The Eurasians also instituted what were called "*detentio castrae*, or "detention camps", which housed rebels and other dissidents. They were worked to death, and often died also from disease or mistreatment by the guards.

In 1836, the Eurasians instituted a policy called "*obtrectatio*", or "defamation", in which people who divuldged any dissidents they knew would receive special treatment by the Eurasians. This caused a wave of false accusations, which the Eurasians seemed largely indifferent to, as they arrested all the reported rebels the same. Finally, in late 1836, there was a massive revolt, which lead to one of the worst massacres of that decade.

## The Cair Paravel Massacre

In late 1836, the population of Cair Paravel revolted agains the Eurasian occupiers, demanding that their city be freed from the Imperial Eurasian authorities who controlled it. The Eurasians responded by burning the entire city to the ground and abandoning it, killing approximately 50,000 in the process. Reports of Eurasian soldiers setting buildings with Zachs inside alight are widespread, and any who tried to flee the burning city were shot on sight.

This marked the decline of Eurasian rule, as they seemed to grow disinterested with the occupied province as a whole, as around that time the mines had begun to dry up. However, the Cair Paravel Massacre is often decried as the worst single act undertaken by the Eurasian Empire in that decade, and it affects relations between Zackalantis and Eurasia to this day.

## Eurasian Withdrawal

Finally, in the summer of 1837, the Eurasians suddenly abandoned Zackalantis, in some cases leaving whole cities overnight. They left no contingency plan for local governments, and quickly the nation descended into chaos. Historians theorize that the withdrawal came when the cost of maintaining control over Zackalantis became more than the profits the Imperial Government was receiving. Thus, after four brutal years of occupation, Eurasian control came to an abrupt end.

The deathtoll from the invasion is viewed at a minimum as 700,000, with most historians believing it to be around 1.2 million dead. The majority of these came from the famine caused by forced collectivization, which Eurasian Imperial Documents refer to as "*an unintended and unforeseen consequence*". Indeed, it is likely the famine was totally accidental, although it was of little concern to the Eurasian authorities.

After the invasion, it took Zackalantis decades to recover its lost wealth and population, and it is theorized that the Eurasian occupation set Zackalantis, developmentally as a democracy, back decades. However, the Eurasians also built roads and railwasy where there had not been any before, some of which are still in use today. Eurasia effectively modernized parts of Zackalantis without intending to.