1950 War

The 1950 War was a civil war in Unkerlantum between the ethnic western Traxans and eastern Unkers. The war was the largest the nation has ever experienced and resulted in a complete upheaval of the government.

Background

The seeds that eventually bore the fruit of the war were planted during the Steppe Wars. As an increasing number of settlers continued landing on the eastern shores of Unkerlantum, overcrowding pressured the people into moving westward. This began a series of skirmishes with the native Traxans and ultimately culminated into an official war under the commands of the two monarchies. The superior armor, weaponry, and organization of the Unkers finally resulted in the Traxans surrendering control of the entire continent in 1180.

The Traxans remained oppressed and treated as second-class "residents," forbidden from holding titles of nobility and denied access to certain careers, until the 1930s. By that time Unkerlantum had become sufficiently weakened from war and internal strife that the Traxans began reasserting control. In 1939, they revived the dissolved Tribal Council and elected their first Chieftain since 1180. In the following decades they began forming their own Traxan-dominated city governments, establishing foreign relations with Unkerlantum's traditional enemies, and developing a stronger western military. The government in Kuzov voiced its displeasure with the westerners, but was for the most part powerless to act.

Causes

On February 8, 1949, the US Peak (Unkerlantum Ship Peak), a Traxan-operated cruiser, was on route to the island of Malachor III carrying a Traxan ambassador. The purpose of the voyage was to establish a trade agreement with the islanders that would give the Traxan merchants a monopoly on all trade with the Malachorians. However, as the ship steamed into harbor, it suddenly burst into flames, killing the ambassador along with most of the crew.

An Unker investigation showed the cause of the fire to be an engine malfunction, but because the study was financed by the eastern government, the Traxans considered the ruling biased. When they sent their own experts they were denied access and sent back west at gunpoint. Infuriated, the Traxan chieftain froze all incoming taxes to the Unker government. In response, Kuzov declared this an act of treason and executed several Traxan nobleman. Embittered Traxans assassinated Unker nobles in retaliation.

Tempers reached their height as lynchings and bar-room brawls took place on both sides of the continent. Finally, on August 1, a riot in a border-town between the traditional Traxan-Unker ethnic line resulted in chaos; an eastern official called in a nearby Unker division, while at the same time a western military force was sent in as well. Rather than cooperating together to end the rioting, the two sides only escalated the conflict by firing on the civilians and (supposedly) each other.

Under pressure from its overseas allies, and due to the age-old Traxan desire to regain the land lost to the eastern invaders, the Traxan government officially declared its independence from Unkerlantum on April 16, 1950. Roughly 40% of the total continent's landmass became the Republic of Traxa. However, these were only the areas that were demographically Traxan; the lands of their forefathers still laid under Unker control in the east. Furthermore, the chieftain feared that if they did not deal Unkerlantum a quick and decisive blow, the easterners would be able to overwhelm the much smaller republic. And so, on May 25, 1950, Traxa invaded Unkerlantum.