Stalemate and Détente - 1974 - 1982 W.E.

"We must put an end to this war before it puts an end to us all." Raja Jaunpur the Pious of Amek, Winter 20 1980.

On Spring 15 1974 Shogun Shoku Kato, de-facto dictator of Shinyen and the man that directly cause Great War, died of natural causes. His successor, Shogun Daijin Kato, recognizing immediately the predicament of his inherited war, began a sudden policy of appeasement with the United Front with the goal of retaining some of the conquests of the hard won conquests. During 1974 Shinyeni forces abandoned all of Skelengard with the exception of Juemenko and the westernmost provinces. On the following year, after suffering a disastrous defeat at Ak-len Phu, all of continental Amek was handed to the enemy. In late 1975 Shinyen and Itharia agreed to a treaty of partial disarmament, which put Itharia in a position of great strength over Shinyen.

This diplomatic rapprochement finally paid off in 1976, when Shinyen and Itharia concluded a preliminary armistice that would see the end of military action between the two powers. Being betrayed by their largest ally, Skelengard and Amek broke relations with Itharia and decided to continue the war on their own. The Ameki and Skell steampower program had delivered great successes, reproducing even better versions of the Itharian steam battery, which allowed the two allies to continue the fight against Shinyen despite the lack of Itharian support. Having been greatly weakened by the previous demobilization, and being forced to split its forces on two fronts, the remaining Shinyeni garrisons in Amek and Skelengard were destroyed in a series of combined arms offensives. In Spring 1978 the Skell United Directorate capitulated to the loyalist Skell armies and High King Horbarad proclaimed the final phase of the Great Fatherland's War - the liberation of Kafgard and the destruction of Shinyen was nigh.

Sensing that a total Shinyeni defeat would destroy the carefully built balance of power, Itharia finally decided to intervene. On Winter 90 1978, an Itharian surprise airstrike on Chawrin Naval Base destroyed large parts of the Skell high seas fleet. Immediately after Honorius III announced the declaration of war to Skelengard and Amek.

With each side having to divide its resources on multiple theatres, the war ground to a halt. Initial Itharian naval supremacy was contested by the Ameki navy, which now fought on equal footing with its own flotilla of battleships. The Itharian battlefleet suffered a humiliating defeat at Ambredor Point, where the Ameki, despite counting on an inferior battleline, sank many battleships and many more battlefrigates. On land, the experienced Skell armies were able to defeat each invasion attempt by Itharian forces, while in the North Amek launched its own offensive into Itharia which was held only after many Itharian casualties. Shinyen in the meantime stayed in the defensive, rebuilding its forces, catching up on the arms race by creating its own imitation of the steam battery and reorganizing the defensive perimeter. Shinyen still held Kafgard and Lytia, both very rich lands now colonized by Hédean colonists, and that the Shogun was intent on defending.

By the time the 80s rolled the war had devolved into a complete stalemate: Itharia lacked the resources to face both Skelengard and Amek, which in the meantime failed to crack the unbreakable Shinyeni defence. The conflict drag on and on, with neither victors nor defeated. An attempt by Raja Jaunpur to settle peace in 1980 succeeded in beginning negotiations between all four powers, for the first time since the war had begun. A demobilization clause proposed by the Shogun was accepted by all combatants and beginning in 1981 the four powers began to disarm themselves. A policy of diplomatic Détente was followed by all four sides, as fighting in the frontlines slowly died down. It thus seemed that finally war exhaustion and the human cost of the last decades had caught up with the belligerents. By 1982 final peace talks began in Okkaido, Shinyen, which were hosted by the Shogun in person and included diplomats and ambassadors from more than 50 national polities.

Conflict Type

War, Theatre