Veikan Civil War

The Veikan Civil War was a multifaceted Civil War in the former Veikan Kingdom between government forces, the Ignatovist Communist People's Red Front (PRF) and the Democratic Democratic Action Movement (DAM) with later involvement of the League of Free Nations. Several minor factions sprung through the war but never managed to reach a major position in the conflict and were eventually defeated by the Red Front and Democratic Movement. The war began in 1972 after a series of pro-democratic riots and revolts threw the country into chaos and the Army's state of disarray allowed for the Red Front militias to take several key positions along the country's highlands. By 1978 a multinational force composed of several League of Free Nations-member nations officially intervened in the war in favor of the DAM forces struggling to secure their hold over Southern Veikaia and facing a serious threat of invasion from the PRF.

The exiled Veikan Kingdom has not officially signed a peace treaty with either side, turning the Veikan Civil War into one of the longest military conflicts in history lasting over 30 years.

Background
Through the 20th century the Kingdom had suffered large amounts of dissent and an exponentially growing communist movement led by the Ignatovists with several large scale revolts rocking the country and slowly destabilizing it further. The power of the state had been already waning for at least a century and the newly ascended Oroket Anton III's liberal attitudes fueled the pro-democratic movement's strength and greatly increased discontent among the Veikan Old Guard; A group of high ranking military officers and important political figures that had great power in the Veikan Political System and were decidedly conservative.

In the other hand, the communist movement in Veikaia had been steadily growing since the 1940s, sometimes unhindered by an archaic military force and inefficient bureaucracy but remained somewhat contained only engaging in sporadic combat with government forces across the northern Veikan Highlands. Filipe Iesuvak was chairman of the illegal Communist Party of Veikaia and the Voika Council; The head of the revolution. The man had led several Communist insurrections since his election as head in 1965.

Riots of '72
Through the early 1970s the political situation in Veikaia had begun to sour as King Bronislav's more liberal policy on the matters of the state had tremendously backfired. Lighter censorship and oppression of liberal movements in Veikaia had led to the noticeable radicalization of the democratic movements in the nation from a policy of slow reformation into open revolt. Through the early 70s the country started to experience mounting tensions as protests slowly escalated into open riots and terrorism.

This escalated until the September 21st 1972 when the largest riot in Veikan history erupted in the largest city in South Veikaia, Biratov. After an unsuccessful and bloody attempt at dissolving an ongoing protest, the riot raged and continued for several days as rioters barricaded themselves inside buildings and cut off entire roads, building makeshift tank traps across roads and slowing the advance of the severely outdated Veikan armor. The King's slow reaction and aversion towards violence caused the riot to escalate to a point where most of the major parts of the city were under the control of the rioters, now declaring themselves part of the Democratic Action Movement and under the orders of their leader Vlas Zelenko. For a period of at least a month military incompetence, low morale and uncertainty led to a standoff between the military and members of the Democratic Action Movement who were reportedly armed and ready to engage in open combat.

The extreme escalation and the outright refusal of the King to engage in open combat with the dissidents caused an uproar among the conservative elements of the military and government, who composed a large portion of it. This group of important members of the country's elite was eventually named the "Old Guard", as they defended the views of the older members of the Royal Family and refused to accept the new King's more liberal policy.

Across the country several more riots and protests sprung almost in unison while the standoff raged in Valopole with varying success, declaring themselves in allegiance to the DAM; The regional capitals of Samil and Biratov eventually becoming strongholds of the Democratic Movement after successful revolts in 1973.

December Uprising
December 1973 saw the largest communist uprising in the country's history take place in the city of Rozkva. Due to the armed forces' shift from defending against the ongoing insurgency in northern Veikaia, the city of Rozkva was left mostly undefended from nearby communist insurgents, which took the opportunity to attack the city and seize control of its apparatus of government. The city was declared a "Freed Proletarian Territory" and armories were attacked and seized. The swift action by the People's Red Front left the poorly prepared royalist forces reeling and scattered, allowing the communist forces to barricade the city's streets and prepare for any government attack. The nearby military base of Rozkva was also attacked and several armored vehicles were seized and used to further protect the city from attack. From 1973 until the capture of Oztov and the end of the civil war the city of Rozkva was the base of operations of the PRF.

Through 1973 and into 1974 the PRF forces recruited many new members into their forces both in the city of Rozkva and across the outskirts of the nation's city, using the general disdain for the monarchy among the rural population of the country, a population that suffered greatly due to famines and other disasters that struck the country in the past few decades and felt the monarchy was to blame. The PRF quickly bolstered its already rather large forces with the victory in Rozkva and repelled several attempts by royalist forces to retake the city. The December uprising of 1973 had been a resounding success, but the PRF desired to expand further and capture more territory, as the situation became clearer and a civil war became an unavoidable reality.

In 1974 several other military bases, airfields, armories and small villages and towns were captured by the PRF, which had started to receive support from other communists states across Anterra such as Teutonenland and Albaterra among others. The International Brigades were shortly created, accommodating a large number of international volunteers which desired to fight for the cause of the communist forces.

Fall of the Monarchy
In 1973 the King was forced to abdicate and go into exile in Tiperyn by members of the Old Guard Government. This caused division among the conservative government members of the royalist faction, but was eventually accepted as the best way forwards. The country was temporarily without a monarch until the end of the war, when Oroket Anton II was re-established as monarch of the government in exile by the opposition of the then defeated and exiled Old Guard Government.

The fall of the monarchy and rise of the Old Guard Government meant a complete shift in the royalist forces' strategy. As the communists grew in strength and the democrats continued to fight government forces in the south, the situation was deemed too volatile and dangerous to continue the Oroket's more liberal appeasement campaign. The royalist forces became more aggressive in their fighting against the communists and democrats, effectively stopping the northern expansion of the communists and putting the democrats between a rock and a hard place for most of the war prior to LFN intervention. The Old Guard Government employed the fascist militias of the National Unity Brigades in their campaign against communists and democrats.

The Old Guard also began a campaign of military imprisonment of anyone believed to be a supporter of either the Democratic or Communist forces, a move that further hurt their legitimacy in the eyes of the dwindling supporters of the monarchy and further fueled the ongoing mass desertions. The mass imprisonments caused the deaths of many thousands of innocent civilians under the Old Guard Government's rule, many of the imprisoned were freed by advancing communist forces and joined, willingly or not, the communist campaign.

Communist Expansion
As the months passed, a campaign of harassment and hit and run tactics were employed by communist forces to bleed the royalist forces dry, a campaign that had great impact on the enemy force's morale. Pickup trucks were used to a great extent by communist forces as hit and run vehicles. They were armed with machine guns and even artillery, mortars and canons and their great speed and maneuverability were used to a great advantage. Territory was quickly gained and the cities of Rotika and Baska were captured, giving communist forces access to the sea and therefore easier access to foreign military equipment and support. The northern areas of the country were deemed a lost cause by royalist forces, which proceeded to try and contain the PRF's advance while suffering losses in the south from the increasingly more aggressive democratic forces, which were too receiving foreign support from the League of Free Nations.

Many minor factions rose up through the Veikan Civil War, primarily on the Communist side. Examples include the Veikan Black Army, an anarchist organization working together with while still being separate from the People's Red Front. The Veikan Peasants Army, the Red Rotika Brigades, Oberlandscheid Brigades and many others.

The advancing communist forces were eventually contained and their advance halted in 1975, but much territory was lost and the royalist forces found themselves reeling from an aggressive and fast advance from enemy forces. The combat zones were mostly static in the middle of the war, as forces from neither side found themselves ready to push forwards and attack. Royalist forces found themselves relentlessly harassed by insurgents on light vehicles armed with a wide range of captured or foreign military equipment. This period of the war is generally believed to be the bloodiest, as many lives were lost (primarily on the royalist side) while little to no territory was gained.

The forests of Veikaia became home to fierce insurgent cells, some of them not directly connected to the PRF but still fighting alongside them. Anarchist forces managed to briefly capture the city of Valopole before being repelled by royalist soldiers. The cities of Sernicaba and Nambrosi also experienced open revolts that were crushed at a great loss of manpower. Communist forces continued to harass the tired royalist forces.

Into 1976 communist forces managed to break the eastern side of the front and push into the cities of Ecekva and Iakaetzadrag, which were promptly captured and barricaded. The cities of Voikadrag and Kurusk were briefly captured but royalist forces managed to recapture them a few weeks later. The front became mobile again as fresh volunteers joined the communist ranks and royalist troops started to experience mass desertions. Into 1977 the war was already tipped in the communists' favor as they started to push further and further into royalist territory.

Siege of Oztov
1977 saw the beginning of the siege of Oztov, which lasted for 2 more years until the end of the war and the capture of the city in 1979. The siege was fierce and very violent, the city was bombarded from several sides simultaneously for most of the war and infested with infiltrated communist snipers, which became infamous for their attacks on civilians. Civilians were forced to stay indoors through most of the day, as the fighting and bombardment was the most fierce. At night the city became mostly safe to explore and looting and scavenging became common. The city descended into anarchy as royalist forces in the city ignored the plight of civilians and concentrated on maintaining control over the city from Communist forces. Skirmishes became commonplace, with communists relentlessly trying to capture the city through most of 1977.

The siege slowed down in 1978 when the communist forces directed their attention towards securing the rest of the country, but the bombardment continued albeit at a much smaller scale. Sporadic firefights continued but mostly at the outskirts of the city. The city was in ruins, homes were bombarded and civilians forced to either escape the city or move underground where they were the safest. Even when at its most calm, the siege was still brutal and violent, and many lives were lost through 1978.

Into mid and late 1979, as the communist forces seized the vast majority of the country and the LFN had already intervened into the war and stopped their advance south, the fighting became fiercest. Attention was shifted from across the country entirely into the city, which was the last bastion of monarchism in the whole country. The city was fiercely bombarded, constantly attacked and harassed and communist forces slowly and at a great cost managed to advance into the heavily mined and barricaded city. In November of 1979 most of the city had already fallen except for the coastline, which was being used to evacuate members of the Old Guard to Tiperyn as the war was already deemed to be lost. Finally, in November 28 the entire city was captured and the war was finally declared over, with the communist and democratic forces successful and the monarchy finally abolished.

Democratic expansion and LFN Intervention
In the south of the country the war was much less violent than the north, with the democratic forces spending most of the fighting in static lines. Up until the intervention of the League of Free Nations the democratic forces struggled to expand their control over the south of the country, being mostly confined to the border regions with Litania, which offered much support to the fighters.

As the war carried on in 1978 and the northern communist forces approached the southern regions of the nation, the LFN launched an intervention in an effort to save the democratic forces from complete decimation and ensure the containment of communism in the region. The intervention did not target the communist forces, as there was an unspoken cease-fire between communist and democratic forces, but instead declared war upon the completely desolated royalist forces, which were quickly pushed back by the far superior LFN forces.

The intervention lasted a few years and ended with a complete victory and the formation of the Veikan Republic in South Veikaia. Peace was formally declared between the remaining two sides in the civil war in 1979, although this was a shaky peace with neither side fully recognizing the other's sovereignty. Overall the intervention's purpose other than seizing the southern area of the country for the democratic forces was to be a show of force against the communist north, showing the LFN's military capabilities and their ability to quickly and efficiently mop up the remaining royalist forces.

Aftermath
After the war the country's infrastructure in the north was completely destroyed due to the heavy fighting. The city of Oztov was almost completely destroyed by the heavy artillery bombardment and several other cities in North Veikaia suffered a similar fate. The south saw less intense fighting and therefore suffered significantly less damage, but suffered considerable damage nevertheless. A period of reconstruction was required to return the nation back to a certain level of normalcy after the war, a reconstruction that costed much money and effort and ultimately changed the landscape of many North and South Veikan cities, which had been extensively damaged.

The LFN's occupation lasted only one year before the declaration of the Veikan Republic in 1980. The Veikan Republic became the newest member of the LFN at the time shortly after, and received extensive reconstruction funding from Litania and other nearby LFN members. Meanwhile the North received funding from nations such as Teutonenland and Albaterra, which had supported the nation through the civil war, as a reconstruction fund. Both sides raced to put the nation back on a fighting stance due to tensions between North and South that to this day still remain.

The Civil War left a mark on the civilian population of all sides of the conflict. Most families in the country lost family members either during the war itself or during the famines and droughts that happened shortly after it due to the extensively damaged infrastructure of the country. The north specially suffered the most as the fighting was the most fierce in the region, and humanitarian aid was more scarce than in the south. The civilian psyche of the country was damaged too, with many civilians to this day surviving the civil war with physical and mental scars that have not yet healed.