Scramble for Arborses

The Scramble for Arborses has by many been called a last-ditch effort from a defeated alliance and some have, looking back criticized the alliance leaders for not going to the negotiation table before this campaign and that way saved multiple lives.
The campaign would last almost two years and most of what today is the border region between the Empire of Dercia and the Principality of Clifia would experience the war at close hand.
The Kingdom of Dercia had, to begin with, the thought that the alliance was more or less done for and while the preparations for finally putting an end to the war was underway they decided to send an army to Arborses to take control over the areas large production of wheat, but also to take control over the highly strategic city because to the east the State that would become known as the Principality of Clifia was taking form and would proclaim itself just 10 years after the wars end.

The Conflict

Prelude

At the end of the First unification war the Alliance of City-states. as a last ditch efford to defeat the Kingdom of Dercia the alliance would assemble the largest army they could gather and send it towards the area.

Deployment

For the Alliance, they were sending all the soldiers they could levy at this point in the war and their force was mostly made up of soldiers from already defeated city-states and mercenaries, the alliance managed to scrape 125.000 soldiers together and formed them into 3 armies who all had different purposes.
1st army: capture the major city Arborses.
2nd army: capture the surrounding area and secure the 1st army. 
3rd army: the largest of the 3 armies and had the purpose of seeking battle with the Dercian armies coming towards them.

The kingdom of Dercia was sending one of their armies towards the area to take the city-state of Arborses and secure the corn supply from that area. At this point during the war, they were able to raise a 130.000 strong army mainly made out of citizens but also city-states that had gone over to their side.

Battlefield

The area that the battles during the campaign took place is slightly hilly with most of the area covered in wheat fields only broken up by a few but larges areas of forests. 

by Jardoz

Conditions

While the conditions during the campaign varied depending on the time of year, the campaign as a whole was said to have been completed during good conditions.

The Engagement

The first engagements during the campaign were mostly limited to small skirmishes between scouting forces and from time to time larger units.
The first major engagement during the campaign took place near the village of Caerfyrddin and was a battle between the 3rd army of the alliance and a section of the Dercian army where the Alliance army at first seemed to be the victor of the battle but they failed to follow up on the victory and when the sun rose the next day they found out that the entire dercian army had relocated to a position west of them and could if they wanted to, attack the Alliance army in the flanks and possible cause a devastating loss, a loss that the alliance at this point in the war would not be able to replace.
The second major engagement during the campaign came when the main section of the Dercian army reached their target, the city of Arborses. The city itself surrendered quickly after a short period of negotiation where the city was given special rights and would be able to maintain some degree of autonomy. The following battle is also known as the Siege of Arborses even though it was not a siege but more a battle taking place in front of a city where the loss of the defending army would likely result in a siege.
The battle that would mark the ending of the campaign was the Battle of 5th of Kasdard and would be the only battle of this size to take place entirely during the night. Towards the evening when the sun was about to set and a Dercian patrol was out doing their last round before the guard shift spotted a similar patrol from the alliance and decided to engage it, the sound from the following engagement would Ecco towards the two nearby armies that had camped only 10 kilometres from each other and with the skirmish taking place in the middle, the sound was picked up by other scouts who told their respective armies about the engagement and slowly but steadily the battle grew from only a handful of scouts to two entire armies crashing into each other in the dark.

by Bartolomeo Fenice (Fénis)

Outcome

The last-ditch effort by the alliance is said to have been the thing that drained the last professional soldiers of the alliance.

Aftermath

The loss of close to 100.000 of their most professional and veteran soldiers and the removal of these soldiers from other parts of the remaining alliance territory is by scholars said to have been what made it possible for Dercia to conquer the remaining city-states later that year.
With so many of the people in the fighting age gone, it also made it easier for Pearlhal through its kingdom to extend its will on the newly conquered lands given that there was no one able to probably take up arms towards the governors and pro-Pearlhal governments installed in the new lands.
Because of the defeat by the Alliance of City-states. some of the leaders who had escaped when their state was conquered had moved to some of the city-states further away who had decided that this was a northern Dercia war and would not get involved, the leaders of the defeated northern city-states would use the next 30 or so years to convince the southern city-states that they had to stop the growing power coming from the north because it would only be a question of time before they would attack them and if they were not united they would be easily taken apart and by doing this would set up the foundation for the Second unification war

Historical Significance

Legacy

The military campaign would, later on, be known as the scramble for Arborses and would be the last offensive military campaign carried out by alliance troops during the First unification war.
For the kingdom of Dercia, it showed the growth of their kingdom by the number of troops they were able to field for the campaign while at the same time carrying out other campaigns in other areas of Dercia.

Included under Conflict

First unification war

Conflict Type

Military Campaign

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

2nd of Athyer 562

Ending Date

7th of Kasdard 563

Conflict Result

Kingdom of Dercia takes control over what will become the borderregion between the Kingdom and the Principality.

Location

Arborses

Belligerents

Kingdom of Derica

• Kingdom of Dercia

Alliance of City-states

• Alliance of City-states

Strength

130.000

125.000 at the beginning  31.000 in the end

Casualties

Unknown but minimal

Unknown but above 100.000

Objectives

Having seen the strategic and economic value of the city Arborses and by extension the area the city was located in, the kingdom rush to secure it before the advancing Principality from the east and the alliance from the south could.

One objective was to prevent the area falling into the hands of the enemy but another objective was also to secure the fertile area for the alliance.

Maps

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  Mirateia