Reopening of Hostilities - 1982 - 1984 W.E.

"There are those who already forget, and maintain that Shinyen would never have any desire to conquer our nation. I, however, have not forgotten: this is the same form of wishful thinking that has destroyed the powers of resistance of the Skell, and of the Ameki, and of so many other subjugated peoples. The experience from the past era has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the western tiger." Emperor Severius III in his first address to the nation, Fall 2 1983.

At the same time that diplomatic negotiations were successfully ongoing at Okkaido, a new crisis of unprecedented scale was boiling in the waters of the Thalassan ocean. During the past years of war, the prestige and influence of each of the four nations navies had grown disproportionally, to the point that they often acted independently of central political or military command.

Thus, when by sheer chance a flotilla of Ameki frigates and an Itharian battleship chasing one another encountered the Qianlong, a secret illegal treaty battleship that Shinyen was transferring to a more secure shipyard for refitting off Cape Heiling, a skirmish ensued. As each of the three navies admiralships received news of this, more and more squadrons were sent to the point of contact. After several days of skirmishing, all three sides had deployed very powerful fleets that were near equal on power.

For two weeks, the admirals of the three forces schemed and negotiated behind closed doors, trying to secure an alliance to crush the third power, only to then turn on their ally. When finally the battle was engaged by an overly eager Itharian squadron, on Summer 84 1982, any plan broke down as the battle devolved into a chaotic free for all. The Itharian fleet suffered very heavy casualties, losing 12 Aguila Superbattleships which had cost years of investments, while the Ameki battle squadron was virtually destroyed. By contrast, either due to a more cautious admiralty or by sheer luck, the Shinyeni navy suffered relatively light casualties. Even before the last wreck had touched the shallows water of the coast, the news spread across all four nations, and the propaganda machine of Shinyen worked behind the Shoguns back, claiming that an outnumbered Shinyeni fleet had destroyed a combined Ameki-Itharian armada.

The nascent military-industrial complex of Shinyen held unprecedented power over the government. When they finally deemed that war was more profitable than peace, and they joined political forces with the Shinyeni military, they were able to overthrow the civilian government of the Shogun. The Council of Daymios was, after many decades, re-empowered while a puppet Shogun, Kaishek Jiu was enthroned. Negotiations between the four powers immediately broke down, and before any of the powers could reorganize, the first Shinyeni offensives against Amek and Skelengard had begun.

Shinyen was now fighting on equal footing, with its own armadas of landships, a powerful force of airships, and even temporary naval superiority over the other three nations. Again, the outnumbered Skell armies broke before the advance of the Shinyeni motorized armies. The invaders pushed deep into Skell territory, reconquering coal rich Juemenko, which was essential to maintain the new modern style of war that Shinyen now operated. Yet, before a repeat of the first invasion could happen, the Shinyeni were stopped at the gates of Hrawskard by fierce Skell resistance - the Shinyeni gamble that Skelengard could be defeated in a quick campaign in a repeat of 1962, had failed. Soon enough, the same happened in the north, where the Ameki doctrine of Attritional Containment successfully stopped the Shinyeni invasion in its tracks. The political class of Shinyen which had pushed for a sudden reopening of hostilities, believing that a quick and effortlessly victory could be achieved, now realized that they had united the others three powers again, and were now forced to fight an industrial war of attrition that they could not possibly win. Already in 1963 Itharia had remobilized its vast economy, and rebuilt its lost battlefleet threefold, while Skelengard conscripted an additional 3 million reservists, thus now achieving numerical parity with the Shinyeni army.

The Shinyeni admiralship decided that the only way to win the war was to defeat Itharia before the giant could wake and crush Shinyen through its sheer industrial superiority as it had happened fifteen years ago. A decisive engagement was what was needed, and in 1983 both sides prepared for such a battle, trying to outmanoeuvre the opposing navy into a favourable engagement. Finally, on Spring 11 1984, on the 28th anniversary of the war, two vast armadas, unequal in history, met near the small coastal village of Shiindeng. The following was the single largest clash of gunline battleships the world had ever seen, a naval battle eclipsed only by the Harvarad of Skell mythology. More than 300 battleships, and many times that battlefrigates were engaged in a three phases naval action. After three harsh days of fighting, Itharian admiral Guy Leoguzzi had masterminded a naval victory so complete, that it ensured Itharian naval supremacy for the following era. More than a hundred Shinyeni battleships sank beneath the waves: a force that Shinyen could never afford to replace. With its high seas fleet, the shield that protected Héde, destroyed, Shinyen had effectively lost the war: now it was only a matter of the Shinyeni leadership understanding this.

Conflict Type

War, Theatre