The War of the Caucasus

* Kazakh Invasion of the Caucasus Prevented
* Kazakh Empire is humiliated and stops their Expansionism
* An Astrakhan Demilitarized Zone is created to separate the Kazakh Empire from the Caucasian Nations
* The Kazakh Empire pays war reparations to all Alliance Nations

Combatants| 5 Nations Alliance

* Nationalist State of Kalmykia
* The Crimean Empire
* Stavropol
* Republic of Chechnya
* The Greater Georgian Empire

Supported By:

* Union of West Russian States
* Russian Empire
* Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
* Khivan Islamic State
* Bukharan Islamic State

**The War of the Caucasus** (14th September 1998 - 8th January 1999) was a Russian Conflict in the wake of both the Great Collapse of 1998 and The West Russian War ,which was in the final stages when the War of the Caucasus started. The War was declared by the Kazakh Empire against the Nationalist State of Kalmykia as an attempt at expanding the Kazakh borders amid the confusion and chaos of The West Russian War. However, several southern Caucasian states allied with the National State of Kalmykia in order to prevent a Kazakh Invasion of the Caucasus. After the West Russian War's closure, the Russian Empire and the Union of West Russian States would both support their fellow Russian States.

## History

### Background

Since the Destabilisation of Russia in 1994, the political landscape of Russia has changed drastically. In the 1994 Imperian withdrawal from the lands west of the Urals, the Kazakh Empire would be one of the larger warlord states to rise up. With the 1998 Great Collapse and establishment of various smaller Russian States in the West, the Kazakh Empire sought to expand into the Caucasian Region. The West Russian War and the destabilisation it caused was a prime opportunity for the Kazakh Empire.

The Closest Nation to the Kazakhs was the National State of Kalmykia, it was assumed that the NSK would collapse rather quickly. They had also hope that their biggest worry and threat ,The Union of West Russian States, would not join the war because of the damage from the West Russian War. The Kazakh "Army" ,which consisted of levies from various warlord bands, invaded across into Astrakhan on the 14th of September 1998 and declared war on the Kalmykians.

### Political Situation

The Kazakh and Kalmykian Forces would clash on the 15th in the City of Astrakhan, as the surprised Kalmykian Army attempted to respond to the Kazakh threat. During the Siege of Astrakhan, the Caucasian States began pledging support for the Kalmykian cause as they recognised the threat the Kazakhs posed and that they would be better off facing the Kazakh Empire united together than being picked off one by one. Representatives of the Crimean Empire, Stavropol, Republic of Chechnya and the Greater Georgian Empire approached the Kalmykians and proposed an Alliance. The Kalmykians accepted very quickly and on the 19th, the Alliance declared war on the Kazakh Empire who were now supported by their Allies in Asia. The Alliance ,despite varying political beliefs, began mobilising forces to break the Siege of Astrakhan and relieve the front.

### The Siege of Astrakhan

By the 23rd of September, the Alliance had mustered a force of 530,000 Troops to assist the 65,000 Strong Kalmykian 2nd Army in Astrakhan with a remaining 50,000 Strong force holding the line across the Volga. The Kazakh Army numbered over 600,000 with 100,000 surrounding Astrakhan. These Alliance Forces moved swiftly along the Volga and sent a taskforce of 10,000 Stavropoli, 50,000 Crimean, 12,000 Chechnyian and 23,000 Georgian Soldiers to break the Siege of Astrakhan.

On the 24th, the Taskforce moved into Astrakhan. The Kazakh Warlords had predicted this and began heavily shelling the city and the Alliance Forces. Astrakhan became a hellish wasteland and the Alliance Forces were being weakened and on the verge of collapse. The Artillery stopped on the 27th and the defenders breathed a sigh of relief, but this was to be a mistake. On the 28th, a Kazakh Warband pushed South across the Volga in the North and secured control of the Western City, encircling the majority of the defence force on the other side of the Volga. Over 130,000 Alliance Troops were now trapped in Astrakhan.

The Alliance began rapidly moving troops South to deal with the crisis while a Kazakh warband closed in on the Alliance Defence. An assembled rescue force was gathered by the 31st and the rescue force managed to recapture the western city by the 2nd of October but over 80,000 of the Defenders in Astrakhan had been killed and the remaining survivors were in no position to fight, they withdrew across the Volga on the 3rd and eastern Astrakhan fell to the Kazakh Forces.

### Kazakh Assault

Due to the focus on the rescue of the Astrakhan Forces, the Kazakh Northern Warbands were able to push across the Volga and from the 2nd to the 5th of October, over 230,000 Soldiers crossed the Volga and began forcing the Alliance back and the forces were in full retreat. The Alliance Forces were pushed back to the state borders of Kalmykia and the Kazakh Force was near Elista , the capital of the NSK. The Kazakh Warbands began a full assault on the 8th of October and expected that the Alliance would fall and the line would collapse. However by the 10th, the Kazakhs' had not made any significant progress. This was largely because of the work of the Russian Empire and Union of West Russian States' Military Advisors who had begun training the Alliance Forces and the presence of Russian Empire and UWRS volunteer troops who had entered on the 6th. The Russian Empire began supplying the Alliance with weapons and the Union provided financial support and training personnel. The Russian Empire also moved in a Detachment of their Elite Special Forces to assist the Alliance.

The Kazakhs had realised this by the 12th and stopped their assault. This would lead to a break period which would allow the Alliance to further strengthen. The War would however continue in the air with the weaker Kazakh Airforce ,which was a handful of heavily outdated prop aircraft and were not organised effectively, desperately fighting the combine air forces of the alliance and Volunteer Airwings of the UWRS.

After the failed assault, Nazarbayev made a decisive move which was to reorganise the Kazakh Warbands into a unified Army under a General Staff and directly under the control of the Premier. This greatly upset the warlords which led to several mutinies within the New Kazakh Army but Nazarbayev appeased some of these warlords by establishing them as Generals within the new army.

### Alliance Advancements

On the 26th of October, the war had completely switched. From the 12th until then, conflict on the ground was very limited. However on the 26th , The Russian Empire declared war on the Kazakh Empire, fully siding with the Alliance. Over 200,000 Russian Troops reinforced the Alliance Front as the rest of the Russian Military ripped into the Kazakh Northern Border. With this new found strength, the Alliance pushed the Kazakh Armies back to Volga and on the 1st of December, they crossed the Volga and began assaulting into Kazakh Land. On the 19th, Russian Troops from the north reached the Kazakh Capital and began threatening to siege the city if a ceasefire was not declared. Premier Nazarbayev accepted a ceasefire. From then on, peace negotiations took place. Putin wanted to destabilise the Kazakh State and the UWRS supported this move. The peace deal was dictated by the winning powers. With Russian guidance, they established the Astrakhan DMZ and Putin also forced the Kazakhs to pay heavy war reparations which absolutely destroyed the Kazakh Economy and Political Climate.

On the 8th of January 1999, the war ended.