Last War
The Last War was a global conflict fought between the Three Continents Coalition, the Licosian Entente, and Khahlanong le Lehodimo, between |1335 and |1342. At its peak, the war had twenty-seven national participants, as well as numerous non-state actors. Over 80 million soldiers were mobilized to fight, and around a fifth of them died during the conflict, most from disease and infection. Beyond the immediate effects of the war (mass death, disease, famine, genocides, and the annihilation wrought by Doomsday Engines), the Last War is credited with ending the Générations de Paix, a period of relative international peace and stability, at least at the state level, and contributing to a period of political upheaval across most of Duurn.
Some time between the Month of Sun and the Month of Family, |1342, around twelve weapons of mass destruction, retroactively referred to as Doomsday Engines, were set off. Collective memory loss marks the weeks surrounding this event, making a historical record nearly impossible to recreate, but the result was unmistakable. Millions were killed, civilian and military alike; the Nameless Emperor vanished, along with the Umbraki mechanurgist that supposedly prototyped the weapons; and the militaries of Duurn were left in disarray. On the 13th of the Month of Family, |1342, the factions of the conflict came together to sign the Woeful Concordat, ending the war. While the Woeful Concordat was framed as a mutual agreement to end the hostilities, concessions were made to the Three Continents Coalition, including the transfer of significant colonial territory in Eaorma.
The Conflict
Prelude
The decades preceding the Last War were marked by a colonial scramble in Eaorma and, to a lesser degree, in Welduk. As territory was divided, it became increasingly concentrated within the grasp of a handful of powerful Jiderani nations. As new world powers began to form out of the steam revolution, tensions between the new and old players on the world stage began to grow. The People did its best to smooth relations between the states, but they could do nothing more than slow the inevitable tumble. Over the decade before war, increasingly stratified webs of economic and military alliances began to form. On one side, the young Jiderani National Union and Halar formed the core of a economic development agreement with a mutual defense clause, called the Three Continents Coalition. On another, Emberek, Kaisa, Licosia, and Laaglandt came together in the city of Licosia to sign a mutual defense pact, called the Licosian Entente. In Umbraki, Khahlanong le Lehodimo was building weapons of war and amassing the best equipped military force Duurn had ever seen. The few years before the war saw a series of bush wars and proxy conflicts in Eaorma and Welduk, as well as trade disputes and minor skirmishes between airborne forces of the Three Continents Coalition and the Licosian Entente. The People continued to mediate these disputes, and successfully prevented war from breaking out until |1335, when a Halaran merchant ship over Gi Petromata (the Kaisan colonial territory in Eaorma) was shot down by Kaisan anti-air batteries. Kaisa claimed the ship was delivering supplies to indigenous rebels in the hinterlands, while Halar claimed they were trading with noncombatants only. In recompense, Halar demanded that Kaisa cede the colonial city of Akrotirio, which Kaisa refused. Halar declared war the next day.
Deployment
None of the nations of Duurn had fought a war anywhere near the scale of the Last War. Even the Three Generations War paled in scope. The colonial wars and proxy conflicts of the decade before prepared the combatants for a fast-paced, mobile war against comparatively weaker opponents. As a result, the first few months were a bloodbath, as mobile infantry and cavalry were thrown against machine guns and artillery. Eventually, the fighting settled into a war of attrition. Battle lines were drawn across Jideran and Eaorma, and over most of Duurn, air battles of a previously unseen scale were waged.
Khahlanong le Lehodimo did not enter the war until |1340, and before then, Halar enjoyed relative security from the immediate effects of war. When they did, however, they quickly overtook most of southern Halar, before their advance was slowed to a crawl at the Glimmering Peaks. Some of the most devastating battles of the war were fought during the Teshoyan Expedition.
Outcome
By |1342, the war had dragged on for seven years, and there was no end in sight. Each side had sunk too much into the war effort to back down, but as war exhaustion mounted, each faction was desperate to strike a decisive blow. Nevertheless, such an opportunity did not seem forthcoming, and the stationary trench warfare dragged on.
From the 6th to the 10th of the Month of Family, |1342, came the Third Break. Four days went completely missing from the collective consciousness of Duurn, and when the fugue state ended, the world awoke to find that annihilation had come while it slept. At twelve spots across the fronts of the Last War, miles and miles of land had been rendered anathema to natural reality, ruptures in the Veil. Few unfortunate enough to be within the ruptures emerged, and those that did were changed by the experience, rendered mad. They babbled of unintelligible and impossible things. Further investigations, in the days and weeks after, found traces similar to those left by infernal machines pioneered in Khahlanong le Lehodimo. By that time, fortunately or unfortunately, there was no Khahlanong le Lehodimo left to point a finger to, as the Nameless Emperor himself had disappeared during the same time, and their empire was splintering, before the throne was even cold.
Five days after the Third Break, the Licosian Entente, the Three Continents Coalition, and the hollow remnants of Khahlanong le Lehodimo met in Ohrica and signed the Woeful Concordat, ending the Last War.
Aftermath
The Last War completely overthrew the established order of Duurn. When the Woeful Concordat was signed, large swathes of colonial territory in Eaorma were transferred to the hands of Calguri, Halar, The Hallowed Lands, and the Jiderani National Union, and the members of the Licosian Entente were forced to pay hefty reparations. Khahlanong le Lehodimo entirely collapsed with the disappearance of the Nameless Emperor, leaving behind a fractured mess of nations, most vying for the Crimson Throne.
For most of the Licosian Entente, the war left their economies in ruins and the public faith in the hegemony of the state broken. Some splintered under their own weight, while others entered periods of social upheaval and hardship.
The Three Continents Coalition had won a pyrrhic victory, at best. They did not escape the devastation wrought by the Third Break, and while their economies were booming, fresh off their new colonies and a victorious war, the bubble was already straining and ready to burst. It was only a matter of time.
The colonized people of Eaorma, some of whom had sided with the Coalition in hopes their victory would break the bonds of colonialism that held much of Eaorma, watched as the occupied territory simply swapped masters, with no real change in the dominance of empire. Temitagua, the only Eaorman state to join the Coalition, became an object lesson in trusting the colonial powers, as their erstwhile allies turned and began to undermine their stability, supporting national movements within their borders that began to erode their territory and control.
Conflict Type
War
Start Date
1335
Ending Date
1342
Conflict Result
Most participants were devastated by the aftermath, though the Coalition were favorably treated in the Woeful Concordat.
Belligerents
Strength
The Three Continents Coalition had a combined military force of about 31 million soldiers. With the backing of Teshoyan manufacturies, especially in Ras Tamura, the Coalition had a significant edge in air combat and deployment. Through the course of the war, the Coalition was victorious in every major air battle they participated in, that didn't end in a total loss for all sides.
Casualties
Through the course of the war, the Coalition lost just over 6 million soldiers, with around another 11 million wounded in action.
Objectives
The Coalition's goal, from the start, was to grasp what they saw as their rightful place on the world stage. The big three; The Hallowed Lands, Halar, and The Jiderani National Union; all saw the spoils that the major world powers were reaping from the colonial projects in Eaorma and Welduk and wanted a piece of the pie. On top of this, these nations felt that they were being intentionally isolated by other members of The People and were being choked by back-room trade dealings and by proxy wars intended to cut off vital trade routes.
Strength
Khahlanong le Lehodimo fielded an expeditionary force of around 15 million soldiers, in addition to around 4 million partisans and sympathetic rebel groups, throughout Welduk and Eaorma. Their mechanurgists were near-mythological, and their soldiers were renowned for their discipline on the field.
Casualties
Through the course of the Teshoyan Expedition, Khahlanong le Lehodimo lost nearly 3 million soldiers, with another 6 million wounded.
Objectives
The motives of Khahlanong le Lehodimo in the war are unknown, and the Nameless Emperor seemed to have little interest in colonial expansion, before.
Licosian Entente
Led by
Strength
The Licosian Entente fielded about 39 million soldiers, during the war. Throughout the war, the strong manufacturing centers of the Union allowed them to place much larger numbers of mechanized infantry and armored divisions on the battlefield and replace them more easily than their enemies. Their well-established colonies and greater population also allowed them to more easily replaced wounded and killed soldiers with fresh conscripts, though this backfired for many of these nations, after the war was over.
Casualties
The Union lost about 8 million soldiers throughout the war, with another 15 million wounded.
Objectives
The Union's objective, from the start, was to maintain their hegemony. They saw the Coalition as potential usurpers of their power and were willing to do whatever was necessary to protect the status quo. As for Khahlanong le Lehodimo, they feared that the Umbrakian nation would soon turn its attention to them, should Halar fall, and the Umbraki nation's strategy of undermining the colonial powers by brazenly supporting decolonial partisans in their territory was less than appreciated.
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