War to end all empires, The 6 Year War

## The 6 Year war

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> ‘‘The maelstrom of bullets, the screams, blood, disease. I shiver seeing it before me again.’’
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- Runick veteran

The Six Year War, also called the war to end all empires, was the single largest conflict ever occurring in Æths' history. taking place between 28th, 1920 and November 12th 1926, the Six Year War was between two main coalitions, the Quadruple Alliance and their allies, and the Immunity Coalition and theirs. The most important belligerents were Northland, the Runick Republic, the Ozogian Empire, The Munzig Reich, The Ardeliman Empire, The Shuanghan Dynasty and the Osconian Empire.

## Setting the stage.

> *‘‘We all saw it coming... I know we did, yet we did nothing. Ignorant’’*
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- Achille Cotorne

It is difficult to pinpoint where such a conflict finds it roots, but its' best to start at the end of the previous great war, the Third Sargonic War. Most of the continent of Eneric lay in ruin, Sargons' legacy having been brought to an end by Oscar Ødenberg, much had changed. After a bloody civil war which lasted a whole year and resulted in hundreds of Northic casualties, the victorious Northic supported 2nd Runick Empire chose to reform into the Runick Republic, as democratic and liberal as a nation could be at that time.

Contrary to popular belief the Northic government didn't solely focus on bringing down the Runick Republic as they saw a new threat rise from Sargon's ashes. The Ozogians had long been in the shadow of the much more powerful Montablancen Empire and the Kingdom of Beetaly; however the Third Sargonic war had left many nations with an after shock which would last for at least a decade. This was the only chance the Ozogians ever had at world dominance and they took it expanding into one of the biggest mainland empires the world had ever seen in the blink of an eye.

This Quick rise of the Ozogians didn't go unnoticed however as Northland and their protectorate in Skogland started to worry about this sudden development in the west. And with their old ally Runick in the North having taken a passively hostile position towards Northland they had no where else to go then the eastern and southern empires in the form of Munzig, The Osconians and the Ardelimans. These great empires together formed the last great imperial holdout, which would be viewed with distrust by the Republican Runick.

And thus began a sort of cold war between the Runick Republic and its' allies, and the Quadruple Alliance. The Republic was led by one Georges Sparre Arholte, a man who was described by many as arrogant and having a large ego, who blamed the entire Third Sargonic War on the royalties of Eneric. He saw a world led not by the top one percent, but seeing to the needs of the people, a truly free world, he thought. His reforms were not necessarily to the liking of Enerics' other nations, especially the Northic government, under Nora I, saw that the Republic was modernizing quicker than they were, and that needed to change. Northland too began modernizing to out weigh the Republic but more importantly to win the ongoing arms race between them and the Ozogians. However Georges saw this as a direct threat to his republic, and as everybody knows, a cornered animal is a dangerous one. And so started the arms race between the Runick Republic and Northland.

In Northland, Nora had a son, Fældor Ødenberg, he would grow up to become among the greatest leaders of Northland, parallel in skill, ambition and legacy to his grandfather, Oscar Ødenberg. Around the same time, Georges made his final decision as a chancellor and offered a coalition between the Runick Republic and the Ozogian Empire, which was the main reason for the formation of the Quadruple alliance. The coalition also invited the Shuanghan Dynasty, one of the two dominant powers of Achia, and the Kingdom of Pruenaz, which was already an ally to the Republic, though a deeply pacifist one at that.

The Runick Republics' chancellors came and went, among them were Achille Cotorne, a cautious man more interested in the diplomatic aspect of politics rather than the military and competitive one. He did, however, keep himself to the warnings of Georges, those being *‘‘When they sense weakness, that's when they strike, i warn you, do not get too trusting of them.’’*. Followed by him was Alexandra Trasarde, the first female leader of the Runick Republic. She took more to Georges' teachings than Achille, taking a more aggressive and competitive standpoint, especially in the techological and military aspects.

Lastly came Vincent de Grande, a striking, ambitious young man. He knew all too well that in the time between the Sargonic War and the current time, tensions had risen to a boiling point, the two coalitions were pinned against one another, and it all came to a head when the Ozogian Empire wanted an island owned by Skogland, a Northic protectorate. When Skogland kept denying the Ozogian requests, the Ozogians began mobilizing, the war had now effectively begun.

Meanwhile, a serene evening in Artus, all is silent except the chirping of birds, conversations between people and humming cars. Suddenly a gunshot is heard on the street, screams and chaos ensume as an ambulance rushes a man to the hospital. The doctors say nothing can be done, and before Vincent de Grande walks out of the room, the man utters the words: *‘‘Give these bastards hell, Vincent.’’*. And with that, Georges Sparre Arholte is dead.

The mobilizations spread form nation to nation, as anyone who isn't ready when the fighting starts is effectively doomed. Such is simply the way warfare worked, anyone who wasn't ready, whilst another was, can practically already wave the white flag. A final attempt is made as Northic ambassador Jarle Egmondsen meets up at the house of Ozogian ambassador Yugov Antoniki. Jarle pleads for the Ozogian mobilization to be called off.

*‘‘Call of the general mobilization.’’* he says. Yugov answers: *‘‘No.’’* *’’You need to listen to me, call off the mobilization,"* Jarle responds *"this war brings no winner.‘‘* Yugov says: *"I can't."* Jarle pleads to him, saying: *‘‘This war won't give any of us anything, there is no reason to-.’’* Yugov cuts him off: *‘‘No, I can't, alright? I simply can't.’’* Jarle falls to his knees. *‘‘You're saying you can't save millions of damn lives?!"* he stares at Yugov *"I beg you, in the name of humanity, i beg you to call of this mobilization. This war will be the death of you, me, **EVERYONE!**’’* Yugov looks down, his blank stare conceals his inner conflict, he utters the words: *‘‘I can't...’’* As Jarle stands up, processing all that is to come, he grabs a paper out of his pocket, and says: *‘‘Then it is done... im sorry to tell you, Yugov Antoniki... but our empires are at war.’’*

Note: this is where, because of the sheer size of the war, the page splits up to detail all the different fronts, so there is not a singular timeline from here

## The Skoglandic Front

### The Grand Opening

> *‘‘Yep... That does it.’’*
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- Benjamin Esgarssen receiving news that the war had begun

The Skoglandic front opens with the Battle of Joenska, which was the first of multiple Ozogian victories. Steamrolling through, the sheer size of the Ozogian Army nearly takes the capital of Skogland, but this is where the Skoglandic forces fought most fiercely, and Northic supplement troops were underway. Thus came the famous battle of Elsnic, at the outskirts of the Skoglandic capital. Both sides fought extremely heavily, with the Skoglandic forces being pushed further into the city center, which got decimated in the fight. The Skoglandic troops held out long enough for The Northo-Skognic Foot guard battalion to arrive, who pushed back the Ozogian army. The battle witnessed 51.000 Ozogian, 19.000 Northic and 36.000 Skoglandic casualties, being the bloodiest battle in the opening parts of the war.

Eventually, a few dozen kilometres from the city, the Ozogians digged trenches and their enemies did so too. This started the horrid trench warfare of the Skoglandic front, some of the worst suffering occurred in these trenches due to the shear cold as many froze to death and it'd go on for nearly the end of the war.

## The Runick Fronts

### No more negotiating

> *‘‘You will fight for our democracy, our nation, our beliefs and our folk! The time to pick up arms has come, and you will not let our people down!’’*
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- Vincent de Grande

Initially, the Runick Republic did not involve itself in the war, after all, the Immunity Coalition was a defensive pact, and members were only meant to declare war if another member was attacked, not for if said member began conflict themselves. But then again, if the Ozogian Empire loses this war, the Republic would lose a vital ally, which they couldn't afford. Additionally, all evidence for the assasination on Georges Sparre Arholte pointed towards the culprit being NIA agent Matthias Nortalmer. The assasination of Georges was never fully proven to be the work of the Northic Government though it is very likely it was; The assasination thus turned the public's view of Northland sour as many Northic immigrants were sent back. This eviction of Northic immigrant didn't go as swimmingly as the Runick goverment had hoped however as on the 2nd of May a Northic family was lynched by the Runick populous causing the Northic Government to officially call back all direct Northic civilians from Runick and declare them a state rival.

Meanwhile Runick was lending money and selling war material to the Ozogians which angered Northland as it halted their advance, this combined with the allegations and hostility of the Runick people, built tension between Northland and the Republic. This tension boiled over when on Juli 25th Runick submarines sank a Northic civilian ship in international waters that with 312 Northic citizens on board, believing it to be a warship within the Runick restriction zone. 2 days later on Juli 27th Northland officially declared war upon the Runick Republic.

Runick reinforced their sea line as they expected a sea borne attack which would never come. Instead 10 Northic army corps enacted a Surprise invation of Fjellgica where they blitzed through the country in 2 days opening the Ragnar, Thorian and Rødan Corridors through Fjellgica which were heavily defended allowing for Northic supply lines to march through uncontested and splitting up fjellgica into 4 isolated zones. When they finally reached the border they initially ran their way through finding gaps in the ageing Runick defences. This advance stoped however when they met two Runick field armies waiting for them which pushed them back into Fjellgica where Northland eventually dug in in the mountains.

However, they didn't dig trenches, instead, a brutal foxhole war began. An enemy foxhole usually no less than 30 meters away Northic and Runick soldiers fought a brutal war where moving could mean death. This close combat resulted in soldiers trying to throw grenades in the general direction they believed the enemy was in without peaking as that would be suicidal, This grenade warfare however resulted in dozens of friendly fire incidents as grenades were thrown in the wrong direction or friends were presumed to be foe. this initial attack and following Foxhole warfare resulted 75.000 Runick and 79.000 Northic casualties.

Not long after this foxhole warfare was first implemented the Northlanders were able to hold their ground as the Runick armies fell back over 2 kilometers to re group Where they dug in with trenches. Following the Runick retreat the Northlanders strengthened their Mertelheim line and started a new type of war where individual squads and platoons were sent into the dense forests to capture key points and sometimes even carry out full assaults on enemy defences. Runick realizing Northland wasn't directly keen on advancing did the same sending thousands of men to secure the no mans land in between the defensive lines, leading to the trench campaigns in Fjellgica.

In response to the attack by Northland, the Shanhuangese declared war on Northland and the Munzig Reich attacked from the east it declaring war alongside the Ardeliman empire and Osconian empire who already were at war with the Ozogians, however, the Hegdolms line turned the Munzig assault into an iron stalemate, as the hundreds of bunkers, well built-trenches and underground passageways of the lines brought their invasion to a halt. For now, it looked like the Republic was on its' way to victory. After all, their plan was to weaken Northland enough so that the Ozogians could bring them to surrender, then they could turn to Northlands' weaker allies, beat them, and come out victorious.

### The Changing Wind

* *‘‘What are they..?’’*
* *‘‘Inquisitors, and they're not here to negotiate.’’*

- Runick officer and sergeant looking out from their trench

Unfortunately for the Republic, their lines were not impenetrable, the day the Runick defences faultered came on the 23d of august, 1921. The Munzigian army, supported by 60.000 Northic troops launched a set of practically suicidal charges at the Runick defence lines, and holes began to appear in the Hegdolms line until Munzigian and Northic soldiers began spilling into Runick territory. The Runick forces were forced to retreat to the outskirts of the town of Barlonnè, where they too digged trenches. Whilst it was a Munzo-Northic victory, the Runick Republic lost only 19.000 men whereas the Munzigian and Northic armies lost a combined total of 62.000, which was casualty gap of over 3 to 1.

The following Runo-Munzig/Northic trench campaigns were slow and painful, trenches were always filled with muddy, cold and infected water, Unlike the Ozogian front however artillery shells were less of a problem as the heavy machinery proved to be a challenge to get through the dense forests of Fjellgica. The total death toll of the trench lines on the Runick mainland add up to a whopping 1.200.000, and about 20 percent of said deaths were due to horrible infections like Trench Foot, Swamp Rot Illness and Phantom Convulsion. The Inquisitors were used to sniff out trenches and instill fear in the hearts of Runick troops, their legendary reputation (which was kinda boosted by Northic propaganda), made enemy soldiers shiver in their boots, that is if they didn't already from the cold.

A multitude of new weapons were used during this period of trench warfare, among them were the Northic Larssen Jeger Modell LHR 1887, a shotgun used for close combat trench warfare. Chemical weapons like phosgene and mustard made their debut by on the side of the Runick army as they were used to kill Northic soldiers in trenches, thus troops were equipped with gas masks to protect them from suffocating. The Northic military also produced the first operational military-grade Flamethrowers back in 1908, also know as the Mark 1 or the Dragon by its victims...

Another new invention of the Runick army was the VAC (*véhicule d'assaut à chenilles,* aka *tracked assault vehicle*) Tonnere (thunder). The first of many Runick tank designs that would go on to be used during an after the Six Year War. To say it wasn't that great would be an understatement as it ran no quicker than seven kilometres an hour and it was commonly stuck inside trenches. However, the later models terrorized the Northo-Munzigian armies to an extent no other vehicle could. These models included lumbering giants with massive cannons like the PAC Coup Mortel, and smaller troop carriers like the TTBL Hérisson. Which were copied and improved versions of the Northic Aslaksen tractor. These Tank designs later inspired Northic engineers to create a light tank being the Kampvogn II Lett tank.

## The Achian Fronts

### Wrath of Seihon

The Arvorian Fronts opened when the Runick Republic and Shanghuan Dynasty entered the battle. The Imperial Seihonese army was quick to attempt an invasion of Arvora whilst holding off the Shanguanese in East Chungnam and islands in the North-Achian seas. Their Arvorian invasion didn't go swimmingly, the densest jungles on Æth are naturally not the most traversable for a large scale army like the Seihonese, especially against the guerilla fighters and camoflauged snipers of the Runick and Arvorian kind. This problem, however, was tragically fixed when the Akumatiers were sent into Arvora killing over 2.025 civilians and military personnel and burning down over 81 villages in 2 weeks alone, while losing only 12, after which the Arvorian resistance subsided.

The coastal city of Port Greatwing was the only holdout the Runick and Arvorian army had, with it they could receive troops from the mainland whilst keeping their lines across Arvora in one piece. With the Rapharans now also attacking from the south, the Arvorian army pushed desperately against the Seihonese, but their enemies were among the most ferocious troops in Achia, and their assault halted, leading to a standstill in the dense bamboo jungles.

Meanwhile, East Arvora and New Ryggholm had fallen to the West Chungnamese and Shanguanese forces. El Khabir was also on its' knees and if it fell, the Shanguanese had free range of invading Imperial Seihon, which would likely mean victory for the Runick and Shanghuanese armies in Achia. Thus came the harshest battle of the entire Achian front, the battle of Rivershorn. Where the battle resulted in a Seihon-El Kabhirian victory, albeit at a heavy price, as they suffered over 220.000 casualties against only 83.000 Runo-Shanguanuese casualties.

Then came the unexpected but fully predictable collapse of the Runick Republic, after which Arvora became an independent nation and chose to sign a peace treaty with the Seihonese and Rapharan armies. The Rapharans got a bunch of land in the south of Arvora whilst the Seihonese gained a few islands and pieces of the north of Arvora. Chungnam would be united under one flag and El Khabir was forced to give up land to the Shanghuanese. After the war the Akumatiers were also deemed too uncivil and many of them were trialed in the international court, where many of the higher-ups were sentenced to prison or even death.