Liderland War

The **Liderland War** or **Drecan-Lider War** was a war fought between 1853 and 1855 primarily between Drecy and Liderland with support from Selucia and eventually Vineland.

## Background

In 1850, the Drecan Republic was born after the Révolteurs, a group within the Drecan government, finally convinced the Emperor to abdicate and give power to a democratic government after decades of declining power. Newly elected Drecan President Marc Martin was a staunch Expansériste, believing that the only way to protect Drecy was to expand as far as possible to rival the other Euronian powers. This began "Politique de Grandeur", the Drecan foreign policy of aggressively expanding to match the power of their neighbors.

Part of the early policy was the incorporation of French-speaking territories of Liderland. Liderland's government was beginning to suffer political strain as the Drecan democracy spread. Liberals were urging the government to begin democratizing the country that had long been ruled by an absolute monarchy. Liderland's government lead by King Wilhelm Plessner was strongly neutral and preferred keeping the status quo in terms of both government and diplomacy with it's neighbors.

In May of 1853, the Bürgerliche Partei, led by Rayko Sonnenfeld, organized a protest in the city of Slozaal where around 15,000 democratic supporters rallied. On the 5th day of the protest, police attempted to lightly disperse the crowd with rifles firing blanks. However, one of the rifles was accidentally loaded with a live round which wounded a protestor. Upon the realization someone had been shot, the protestors suddenly overran the police and forced them to withdraw their attempts to suppress the protest that had evolved into a riot. On May 24th, the Lider military surrounded the city and began political negotiations with Sonnenfeld and his staff. A temporary party headquarters was established in the city hall to organize the protestors.

Plessner and Sonnenfeld met on May 26th to discuss reforms in the government to end the protests and riots as protests began to spread to other German-speaking cities in Liderland. The Drecans had been watching and began planning an invasion to "liberate" Liderland. By June 1st, a force of around 100,000 Drecan soldiers of the new reformed Revolutionary Army were mobilized on the border with Liderland.

## Invasion

On June 3rd, while the government was meeting with Sonnenfeld's party, Drecy launched a surprise invasion. Most of the Lider army were deployed across Liderland to manage the riots and protests, especially around Slozaal, leaving only around 30,000 in place to defend against the initial attacks by Drecan forces. Drecan general Isaac Héroux's army of 20,000 crossed the border north of the Lider city of Arnshan where Lider and Drecan forces met for the first time. At around 3pm, a small border guard of around 2,000 stationed around the town of Sauris were the first to report Drecan forces. A Drecan invasion wasn't expected but was prepared for so when the Drecans came within engagement distance, it was decided to defend against them. The defenders of Sauris held out for about three hours until they withdrew to Arnshan, giving enough time for the Lider army in Arnshan to position themselves to repel the Drecans. Héroux's forces made it to Arnshan later that night and camped outside the city as night began to fall.

Meanwhile, two Drecan armies numbering 30,000 each under command of generals Georges Baume and Serge Levasseur converged from the north and south of the Lider city of Molfendria. While traversing the Lider countryside on their ways to the city, many French speaking Drecans living in Liderland began celebrating as they passed, waving flags from the old Drecan Kingdom instead of the new Republican flag. Drecan Army officers arrested those found with the older flags and distributed the black and white lotus flags to the populace instead, leaving most of them confused as they weren't familiar with the new flag or government. The Drecans finally met Lider forces numbering around 3,000 and 4,000 at the towns of Darmbor and Oprus in the north and south. Superior Drecan artillery dislodged the defenders by sunset who withdrew to the outskirts of Molfendria. Drecan cavalry converged from both directions to cut off the city from Slozaal and the majority of the Lider army. The last communication to the forces in Moldendria, numbering around 20,000, was made in the early morning of June 4th.

The final Drecan army, numbering 20,000, under general Moïse Rémy, were tasked with taking the coastal city of Tolha, only a few miles from the Drecan border. Tolha was captured entirely after the garrison of around 1,000 men surrendered only an hour after the Drecans crossed the border. The small Lider navy of only 6 gunboats left the port once the Drecans arrived and sailed to the Selucian port of Carradine where they took refuge. Unlike in other parts of Liderland, the locals of Tolha instead flew Selucian flags in protest against the Drecan soldiers, throwing tomatoes at them in the streets, sometimes pouring entire crates of tomatoes onto Drecans from windows. This began the Selucian and Lider tradition of throwing tomatoes at Drecan soldiers which would continue for the next half century.

Immediately following the invasion, the Lider army was in disarray scrambling to take defensive positions and move to the east. Ludwig Hecker, the Lider Army's Commander had been warning the king that an invasion was possible, but serious preparations were never made, however Hecker still had a plan in place that relied on the Vinnish and Selucian armies intervening. Hecker planned to hold a defensive line between Arnshand, Slozaal, and Piasso, long enough for the allied armies to arrive and repel the Drecans. The following day, news of the invasion spread to Vineland, Selucia, and Auriroux. The three governments mutually petitioned the Drecan government to stop the invasion, threatening intervention. In response, the Vinnish embassy in Puroux was evicted by the Drecan Army and the diplomats told to walk back to Vineland. A few days later, the Vinnish government had a meeting in Vorline to discuss intervention.