The Pasha War (1693-1703)

The Pasha War was a proxy conflict in central Erisia, fought in tandem with the Anitkabir War of 1693-1700 and the Firocco-Liotain War (1701-1707). The war resulted in central Erisia's incorporation into the Kingdom of Liotain as the Grand Duchy of Pietu Erizjia.

### Background

Prior to the 1690s, central Erisia (Lio: Erizjia) was ruled by a number of small petty barons, counts, and dukes. These fiefdoms paid tribute to either Liotain or Anitkabir as the situation demanded, being largely autonomous. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Erisian nobles turned increasingly toward Liotain for assistance, as Anitkabir demanded the suppression of the Theophanite and Erisian religions and forcible conversion to Hishelma. Ethnic Remans living in the area adopted the Liotine language, religion, and culture, while their Erisian neighbors often did the same for purposes of trade.

By the 1680s, three duchies (Maleikenai, Kursenai, and Kybartai) emerged as dominant amongst the seven provinces of central Erisia. These three duchies, known as the Liotine Houses, declared allegiance to the Liotainian crown in exchange for promises of protection from foreign invasion.

### Anitkabir War of 1693-1700

In 1693, Anitkabir launched an invasion of southeastern Liotain, besieging the major Liotainian city of Trakai at the mouth of the Sirvinta River, and a major port on Lake Sirvinta. The Liotainian Army eventually broke the siege after several inconclusive battles over the course of 1694 and 1695.

With open war declared between Liotain and Anitkabir, the various Erisian nobles found themselves pressed to take sides. With religious issues still pressing, many nobles chose to remain aligned to the Liotainians (as Theophanite co-religionists) rather than supporting the Kabirites. Others supported the Kabirites, as the Liotainian army's initial response to the siege of Trakai was haphazard and did not inspire much confidence.

As the main Kabirite army besieged Trakai, a Kabirite general, Bey Shakan Mundzuk, requested the Sultan's permission to raid central Erisia, with the goal of punishing the nobles who continued to resist Kabirite rule - principally the dukes of the Liotine Houses.

### Great Raid of 1694

For his expedition, Mundzuk gathered approximately thirteen hundred mercenaries and three thousand Kabirite janissaries. They were supplied, somewhat covertly, by Firoccan merchants who sold them inexpensive flintlock muskets and bronze cannon, significant improvements on the military technology of the day.

The raid was carried off with minimal opposition. Mundzuk sacked the ports of Rabat and Kirkop, sending five thousand prisoners as slaves back to Anitkabir. He avoided the fortified city of Maleikenai, but marched across the Erisian Hills to ravage the southern bank of the Sirvinta, easily defeating a small force that tried to defend Birzi. The raid proved quite profitable for Mundzuk and he returned with the conviction that Erisia was ripe for Kabirite conquest.

### The Pashaluk of Erisia, 1696

Returning to Anitkabir in November 1694, Mundzuk paid off his mercenaries and petitioned the Sultan for a larger force, with the goal of subduing the territory. Mundzuk noted the relatively poor defensive preparations of the Erisian nobles, some of whom openly supported the Kabirites.

Mundzuk's planned campaign met with general approval, but the Kabirite army had just withdrawn from the Siege of Trakai, and the Sultan wished to focus his campaign in the north, against the city of Telsai. In order to enable further campaigns, the Sultan declared Mundzuk as Pasha of central Erisia. This formalized Anitkabir's claim as the suzerain of Erisia, and gave Mundzuk authority to 'suppress rebellion' in the region.

Mundzuk's promotion was heavily influenced by court politics. The Sultan feared Mundzuk's popularity and used this opportunity to send him to a remote border area where he could establish what was basically his own petty kingdom. Mundzuk's army, however, would not be reinforced: the Sultan hoped Mundzuk would become bogged down in the new **Pashaluk of Erisia**, weakening his political standing.

Mundzuk spent most of 1695 trying to organize a campaign in Erisia, having only a mixed force of 3,200 janissary infantry and 1,500 cavalry. A number of Erisian nobles offered their support, but refused to act openly until Mundzuk's army arrived. In March 1696, covert funds provided by Firocco allowed Mundzuk to hire five thousand foreign mercenaries, which he added to his own force.

Crossing the border in February, Mundzuk scored an immediate victory with the capture of the fortified city of Maleikenai. The duke of Maleikenai was quartered, although some members of the duke's family escaped by ship to Kybartai, where they sought refuge with Duke Mykolas Ozolins.

In May, flush with success, Mundzuk launched another campaign to capture the duchy of Kursenai. Duke Mykolas Ozolins of Kybartai and Duke Darius Vitols of Kursenai brought 14,000 men to the Battle of Vestiena. The Erisian dukes won a pyrrhic victory against Mundzuk's army of eight thousand men, but Darius of Kursenai was killed during the battle. The Duchy of Kursenai fell to his younger brother Julius, who in October 1696 negotiated terms with the Kabirite sultan, following the advice of his advisors, who had been paid off by Mundzuk's agents.

Mykolas Ozolins resolved to fight on alone. At the beginning of the conflict, he petitioned for help from the Liotainian king Kazimieras II, who had several years prior agreed to provide protection in exchange for tribute. Kazimieras, heavily involved in his own war in the north, sent minimal aid before his death in 1695. His heir, Kazimieras III, continued to promise assistance, but did not divert men from his own war against Anitkabir's larger armies on the Liotainian border. Kazimieras's younger brother Karolis traveled to Erisia during 1697, where he experienced the proxy war firsthand and fought in several minor skirmishes.

Having suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Vestiena, both sides avoided open battle during 1697. In January 1698, however, Mundzuk received reinforcements Anitkabir. With this new force, he marched to Kursenai, where Duke Julius had threatened to defect. Arriving unexpectedly with six thousand janissaries, Mundzuk deposed Julius, impaled him on the steps of the ducal palace, and allowed his troops to sack the city, at that time one of the wealthiest in Erisia.

While Mundzuk returned in triumph to Maleikenai (renamed Adrasan and serving as the capital of the Pashaluk of Erisia), Duke Mykolas launched an unexpected ambush on the rear-guard of the Kabirite army near the village of Lazdona, rescuing most of the slaves Mundzuk had taken from the sack of Kursenai.

### Stalemate of 1698 - 1701

The war stagnated once again through the remainder of 1698 and most of 1699, as the Kabirite sultan withdrew many of the troops he'd sent for the subjugation of Kursenai. Mundzuk made an abortive attempt to besiege Kybartai in early 1699, but was frustrated by his lack of troops and very limited siege artillery, which was unable to overcome the city's fortifications.

Despite the casualties they'd taken at the Battle of Lazdona, Mundzuk's forces still controlled most of Erisia, with the exceptions of Ramla (surrounded by Liotainian territory in the north) and Kybartai, which continued to resist as they called for Liotainian aid. The fortified towns of Gribzinai and Morkiskiai, which thought of themselves as Liotainian enclaves rather than Erisians, also openly resisted the Pasha's rule.

In practical terms, however, Mundzuk controlled very little territory outside what was occupied by his army. The native Erisian and Liotine populace increasingly feared the Kabirites, who plundered whenever they pleased. Several groups of bandits, remnants of destroyed ducal armies, hid in the hill country and raided Kabirite supplies, although they also turned their ire against native Erisians who aided the Kabirites. Small bodies of janissaries risked disappearing into the countryside, their bodies never to be found, victims of Erisian rebels and bandits.

In January 1700, Mundzuk further alienated the population by declaring that anyone not converting to Hishelma by the close of the year would be declared slaves under Kabirite law.

### Liotainian Intervention

In 1700, the war between Anitkabir and Liotain ended, although in December, King Kazimieras III was mortally wounded by a Kabirite musketeer and died of sepsis. Before his death, he declared war on Firocco in the intention of retaking the treaty port of Svyturys, thus initiating the Firocco-Liotain War (1701-1707).

The death of the Liotainian King Kazimieras III resulted in major changes to the Liotainian government as well as the war in Erisia. Kazimieras's younger brother Karolis became king. Karolis faced a crisis in the north against Firocco, which handily defeated the Liotainian galley fleet at the Five Days Battle (1701), while the attempted ground assault on Svyturys failed as well. The war rapidly became a standoff as Karolis rebuilt the Royal Liotainian Navy from scratch, and laid siege to Svyturys.

The treaty ending the war between Liotain and Anitkabir was an imperfect peace. The poorly-written treaty made no provision for ending the situation in Erisia. The Sultan, uncomfortably aware that Mundzuk had proven victorious where the Sultan himself and his most loyal generals had been defeated, did not want the Pasha to return from Erisia, and refused to recall him - although he provided secret assurances to King Karolis that no further money or troops would be sent to Mundzuk's aid. Indeed, Anitkabir could not do so even if the Sultan wished - they had unrest on other borders, and the Kabirite army had suffered badly from plague during the final year of the war with Liotain.

Even though Anitkabir withdrew their support for Pasha Mundzuk, the war between Firocco and Liotain brought another player into the proxy war. Although previously content to support Anitkabir with cheap weapons and support from mercenaries, the Firoccans now openly endorsed Mundzuk's campaigns. In 1701, to help blockade the stronghold of Kybartai, Firocco transferred a number of armed merchant ships and modest warships. The Kabirite sultan sent one of his own admirals, Zagan Reis, to assist Pasha Mundzuk in Erisia, as well as transferring two Kabirite ships-of-the-line.

In Liotain, Karolis differed from his father and elder brother by making significant efforts to aid Duke Mykolas in Kybartai. Elements of the Liotainian army captured Tal Pieta, on the upper Sirvinta River, in November 1701, and liberated Birzi in February of the following year.

### Proxy War

Supply of Firoccan arms and supplies bound for Mundzuk increased through 1702, even as the Liotainian army pushed southward. Karolis employed one of Liotain's best generals, Adomas Kairus. The Liotainian situation was precarious, with the need to besiege Svyturys against the Firoccans, defend their coastal cities, garrison the border with Anitkabir, and still send troops to aid Mykolas.

In July 1702, General Kairus laid seige to Kursenai. The garrison was composed of a thousand of Pasha Mundzuk's janissaries along with two thousand Draken mercenaries, paid for with loaned Firoccan money. Toward the end of December, General Kairus and his small Liotainian army of seven thousand forced a breach in the fortifications of Kursenai, and the garrison inside asked for terms. The Draken mercenaries were allowed to depart with their arms intact, while the janissaries withdrew into the central citadel in the belief that Pasha Mundzuk was bound to their aid.

Mundzuk did, in fact, march to raise the seige of Kursenai, but was delayed by a reappearance of plague among hist main force of janissaries. The halting movement of his army allowed Duke Mykolas to harass his advance, eventually forcing him to withdraw to Adrasan.

Plague also affected the Liotainian Army during the course of late 1702, but they continued to hold the seige of the Kursenai citadel, which resisted until January 1703, when Liotainian sappers exploded a mine under one side of the citadel. The surviving janissaries, now some seven hundred in number, were overwhelmed in the fighting, with only two hundred surrendering to the assault force.

### Naval Conflict

At sea, the Liotainians launched a separate campaign. The Liotainian-born pirate Gvidas Dirgela, hailing from the Ozokalniai Islands, fought on behalf of both Duke Mykolas and the Liotainians, raiding both Kabirite and Firoccan shipping. In 1701, Dirgela took a Liotainian letter-of-marque, and then in January 1702 a naval commission. However, Dirgela spent most of his time and resources raiding Firoccan ships headed to Karindah rather than advancing Liotainian war aims. In November 1702, Dirgela sailed to the Cerulean Sea to raid Firoccan shipping, where he was killed in battle with a Firoccan trading ship.

Even before Dirgela's demise, the Royal Liotainian Navy worked to replace him with a more regular naval force, sending Commodore Tautvydas Maldeikis to purchase four small ships-of-the-line from Celtica and the Draken princedoms. Manning them with a mixed crew of Liotainian and foreign sailors, Maldeikis scored a major victory in January 1703 by seizing the Firoccan treasure ship Ponceano off the coast of Dengfeng. In April, Maldeikis clashed inconclusively with Zagan Reis off Turkalne, and in May they dueled again near Vizkuzu Island, again without result. Commodore Maldeikis defended his base in the Ozokalniai Islands against a Firoccan attack in June, and faced Zagan Reis in a final inconclusive battle off Azuraistis in August. While Maldeikis never won any resounding victories, his small fleet posed a consistent threat to Pasha Mundzuk's flank, as well as Firoccan movements to Karindah.

In November 1703, with nothing further to be gained in Erisia, the Sultan ordered Zagan Reis to return to Anitkabir, and Commodore Maldeikis moved on to raiding Firoccan merchant shipping everywhere from Lyria to the Cerulean Sea.

### The End of the War: Kirmuskiai and Mureikai

After both sides suffered from the onset of plague during late 1702, campaigning restarted in spring of 1703. The Liotainian Army of six thousand men, after many delays, marched to link up with Duke Mykolas. As this threatened to put him at a numeric disadvantage, Pasha Mundzuk marched swiftly cross-country to ambush the Liotainians near the village of Kirmuskiai. Warned by his uhlans of Mundzuk's approach, Kairus tried to beat the janissaries to the defensive high ground south of Kirmuskiai. Delayed by muddy spring roads, the Kabirite janissaries caught the Liotainians in the act of crossing the Svetupe River.

Wasting little time, and seeing an opportunity to destroy the Liotainian army in detail, Mundzuk ordered an immediate attack. His janissaries pushed forward and split the Liotainian force. The Liotainian vanguard, some 1,500 men of the Trakai and Tvirtoves Kalnas Regiments of Foot, withdrew to the hill overlooking the bridge, and dug in on the high ground behind a stone wall. Mundzuk attempted to wipe out this isolated force only to suffer heavy casualties from the stubborn infantry. In the meantime, Liotainian uhlans rode to a ford a mile upstream, crossed without opposition, and swept into the rear of Mundzuk's force, capturing much of Mundzuk's gunpowder stores and artillery train. Mundzuk eventually withdrew from the battlefield, having taken heavy casualties, particularly amongst his limited and precious artillery.

Regathering his scattered force, General Kairus marched in pursuit. Duke Mykolas, with three thousand men, swiftly moved to block Mundzuk's retreat. Mundzuk attempted to brush aside the Erisians at Mureikai, but the left wing of his army simply bypassed the blocking force and kept marching, leaving Pasha Mundzuk with only three thousand janissaries of the right wing and center. The Liotainians closed in, led by the uhlans. The trapped janissaries lost morale and cohesion, breaking into smaller groups as the uhlans closed in. With the men running low on powder, the army was doomed.

As the uhlans closed in, Pasha Mundzuk drowned in a lake, either in a failed attempt to escape, or committing suicide in order to prevent his capture. Very few prisoners were taken, with only five hundred janissaries of Mundzuk's main body surrendering to Duke Mykolas and General Kairus. However, the left wing of Mundzuk's army escaped intact with twelve hundred men.

### Aftermath

The Kabirite janissaries who survived and escaped the Battle of Mureikai fell back on Adrasan, where they could be supplied by sea by Zagan Reis. The Liotainian army arrived outside the city in July of 1703 and began setting up siege works, but the garrison commander negotiated to turn over the city in August; the Liotainians changed its name back to Maleikenai. Adrasan's garrison was withdrawn by sea first to Rabat and then Uktu, in Anitkabir proper. Rabat and Kirkop, ruled by local barons installed by the Kabirites, surrendered to the Liotainian army in October.

The war resulted in significant changes in the government of Erisia. Many of the regional Erisian nobles had either cooperated with the Kabirites or been killed during the course of the conflict. The House of Ozolins was the only one of the three Liotine Houses to emerge from the conflict with their political power still intact, and they held their allegiance to the Kingdom of Liotain.

With the end of fighting, Karolis and Mykolas restructured the Erisian political landscape. Mykolas was named Lielhercog (Grand Duke) of Pietu Erizjia, replacing the prior patchwork of minor fiefdoms that had been decimated by the war. The Grand Duchy, in turn, became a formalized part of the Kingdom of Liotain.