Azazian-Novikovian War

The Azazian-Novikovian War, also known as the Novikovian War, was a military conflict that occurred during mid 2005 involving the United Kingdom of Azazia and Novikov. By the end of the war, the entire territory of the Novikovian Islands and the distant island of Saint Bedric’s Harbour came to be under Azazian, now Oceanian, sovereignty.

Causes

Agricultural Inequity

By 2005, the United Kingdom had begun to acutely experience shortages in supplies of foodstuff, with the rising costs of imports creating shortfalls in inventories, especially in the poorer northern and western regions of the Home Islands. The government of the UK, led by Alistair Tetley, subsequently responded to an offer put forth by the Novikovian government, led by Fredric Ulyanov, to expand the Novikovian economy through exports of its available commodities, which included substantial replies of foodstuffs from its agricultural-dominated economy. Within a few months, the trading relationship between the two states developed into a state of near mutual dependence with acceptable consumer prices in the UK dependent upon a comparatively cheap and reliable stream of imports from Novikov.

Cultural Distrust

Some historians regard the differences in economic theory between the two powers as another potential ultimate cause. On the surface, the two systems of government seemed remarkably similar as both based their governance in a democratically elected parliament, each led by a prime minister. However, the Novikovian government endorsed a state-planned and controlled economy in strict contrast to the largely laissez-faire policies of the UK. Incidentally both countries were ruled by parties that identified themselves as socialist.

As recently unclassified UK government documents indicate, throughout the trade negotiations that ended with a treaty formalizing diplomatic relations and trade between the two states, Prime Minister Tetley and his Minister of Trade and Industry felt wary about engaging in trade with states that had such high levels of state management. On the Novikovian side, documents seized and made public by UK forces during the war display a similar wariness on the part of the government increasingly led by the fervent socialist Monika Kacnerova. By the start of hostilities the level of discord and distrust between Kacnerova and Tetley would reach a crescendo.

Economic Collapse

Owing to the tightly managed and regulated Novikovian economy, three economic and financial shocks proved too much for a largely stiff economy. An explosion at the Putlov Ironworks in Duma served as the catalyst for the slow shutdown of the Novikovian industrial economy, as previous fires in Zvolen had shut down the lucrative natural gas industry; and as Putlov provided spare parts and machinery for the massive industrial works in Grozny, Zvolen, and Prostéjov the official Novikovian estimate put a complete shutdown of industrial manufacturing in two weeks time.

More damning to the situation was the low reserve of cash in the Novikovian treasury. The decision to continue a large behind-schedule and over-cost Kveta industrial project had sapped the country of most of its discretionary spending. With the natural gas trade removed the sole source of large revenue for the government remained its newly important agricultural exports – most of which fed the UK. According to the terms of the treaty negotiated earlier between the two countries, Novikov would be allowed advanced cash considerations for anticipated market fluctuations in the price of food from UK markets. The poorly worded clause in the treaty led Kacnerova, by now acting Prime Minister upon the rapidly declining health of Ulyanov, to believe her in the right to demand an enormous cash sum from the UK Treasury with the intent to rebuild the Putlov Ironworks.

Diplomatic Rebuff

Concurrent to the worsening situation in Novikov was an impending general election in which the government of Alistair Tetley was not necessarily expected to win, owing to a strong showing in pre-election polls by the leader of the Conservative Party, Daniel Collins. When word of the Novikovian request for several billion Commonwealth Credits was received from the Novikovian ambassador, in fear of granting the Conservatives further ammunition of economic and financial hardships - in part because of the declining productivity of the UK’s agricultural and manufacturing industries – Tetley refused the request, citing that the increase in price was not due to any part of the UK consumers but to problems on the Novikovian supply. Technically, according to the vaguely worded clause, both Tetley and Kacnerova had legitimate grounds for their actions.

The War

War Upon the UK Merchant Marine

In the immediate aftermath of the United Kingdom’s refusal to fund the rebuilding of the Putlov Ironworks, Acting Prime Minister Kacnerova ordered the large and well-trained Novikovian Submarine Force to engage in undeclared warfare on Azazian merchant shipping. While the original orders pertained only to freighter and container ships departing Novikovian ports and then en route to UK ports, the orders later expanded to a more general attack on all UK commercial shipping.

The well-trained Novikovian forces successfully began to sink freighters, most without warning and most out of range of Royal Navy patrols or rescue vessels. Many ships simply ‘disappeared’ or were ‘presumed sunk’ after encountering stormy weather across the ocean. Within the UK cabinet, however, the rapidly rising number of sinkings and disappearances caused significant alarm. Soon, Prime Minister Tetley and his official counterpart, the now extremely sick Ulyanov, began carrying out discussions at how best to resolve the deepening crisis that threatened to end both governments, as Ulyanov’s – and thereby Kacnerova’s – government held only a very small majority in the Poldi’sk Parliament.

With UK shipping losses mounting, Ulyanov passed away and thus ended any real chance of a peaceful resolution to the crisis, with Kacnerova openly declaring Tetley and his government as having abrogated the trade treaty. A day after Ulyanov’s untimely death, a Royal Navy submersible investigated a sinking close to the UK coastline and found an unexploded torpedo buried in the hull of a grain-carrying freighter, inspections quickly revealed the country of origin as Novikov.

Diplomatic Rebuff Again

With food costs spiking sharply across the whole of the United Kingdom, along with smaller but still noticeable rises on other imported consumer goods, polls conducted throughout the UK indicated a massive upset of the ruling Democratic Socialist Party and thus ending Tetley’s government. Against this backdrop, Kacnerova demanded once more large sums of money from the UK Treasury per her interpretation of the treaty.

Coming at the same time as the findings of the Royal Navy, Tetley found himself with two politically suicidal choices: cave to foreign pressure and practically give the Novikovian government money for what many in the UK considered a result of inept Novikovian economic management, or two refuse and allow food prices to continue to rise to record levels. The UK government chose the second option.

War Declared

Several days before her declaration and all-but-ultimatum, Kacnerova had ordered elements of the Novikovian submarine force into waters just outside the Home Islands, beyond the ordinary patrols of the Royal Navy. Upon word of Tetley’s second refusal, Kacnerova ordered the Novikovian strategic bomber force into the air, their targets being Royal Air Force and Royal Navy bases throughout the United Kingdom, but principally the naval base in Philadelphia and the small garrison force on St. Bedric’s Island.

On a bright and sunny afternoon throughout the southern Home Islands, the Novikovian ambassador handed to the UK Prime Minister a declaration of war. The declaration came amongst a debate between the Cabinet as to whether or not the UK would declare war on Novikov. However, before any decision could be reached the Novikovian ambassador delivered his message. Within a half hour the Novikovians struck first.

Early Stages

A Kingdom Attacked

On the day of the declaration, the only attack by an armed military force upon the Home Islands had been the invasion of Japanese forces during World War II. Arguably, during the Lindemese civil war the forces of Tre had unleased a nuclear horror upon the city of Carthage (see The Carthage Incident for more details) but as a terrorist action conducted by disguised forces many discount Carthage as an action of an organised army.

Regardless, the actions of Novikov in the first hours of the war consisted of a scope, if not a size, of lethality that far surpassed Carthage and in many respects the Japanese invasion. From the submarines stationed off the coast, Novikov launched a barrage of cruise missiles that struck both military and civilian targets in the Home Islands including the naval bases at Breningrad, Philadelphia, and Devonport. Additional targets included numerous RAF bases along the southern coast and large commercial complexes and skyscrapers in the cities of Breningrad, Philadelphia, Portsmouth, Artega, and Imperium. A series of cruise missiles intended for the Citadel, the residence and office of the Prime Minister, was defeated by the capital’s small air defence grid. A much larger and significant success for the UK included the successful defence of the Breningrad Unified Military Services Complex, which at the time contained the headquarters for all four branches of the Royal Armed Services.

Despite the few UK success, the bulk of the Novikovian barrage succeeded in hitting their targets to varying degrees of damage. Hardest hit were the civilian buildings and infrastructures, including bridges, motorways, docks, communication towers and skyscrapers. The Novikovian submarine force also scored fatal blows on 12 Royal Navy capital ships docked in Philadelphia and Devonport as well as 42 smaller escort ships. Fortunately for the UK, the attacks on RAF bases proved largely ineffective given the preponderance of hardened bunkers.

The Siege of St. Bedric’s

One of the most heroic episodes of the entire war was that of the ongoing struggle on St. Bedric’s Island, a volcanic rock that had at one point housed a small Novikovian Navy and Air Force garrison. As part of the trade treaty signed between the two states, Novikov leased the bases on St. Bedric’s to the United Kingdom for cash considerations. Located halfway between the two states, roughly 1000 kilometers of open ocean surrounded the island and left it situated as a potentially valuable staging ground for the side that controlled the island.

In the first hours of the war, with UK improvements on the island not yet complete, the Novikovian Air Force attacked the Royal Air Force aircraft stationed on the island, allowing for the deployment of a Novikovian airborne unit. In two days of bloody, often hand-to-hand fighting, the Royal Army garrison lost all but 27 of its original number of 153 soldiers. Novikovian forces quickly garrisoned the island and began to undertake repairs to the airfield and the docks, both of which had sustained heavy damage.

A week into the war, a small Royal Marine force was dispatched with orders to take the island. Four days later the tiny island hosted elements of two elite divisions. By the end of the war, the conflict on the island remained unresolved having cost both sides near six thousand men and women on the island alone. Throughout the war, the strategic value of the island was never realised as neither side was ever able to utilise the island’s airfields or docks. Some consider this a Novikovian victory; although UK forces never really needed the island while others consider it a UK victory in denying the Novikovians a staging ground for airstrikes upon UK targets – although within two weeks the Novikovian Air Force was all but destroyed.

The Air War

During the initial air and cruise missile strikes levied against the United Kingdom, Tetley ordered the RAF to launch its alert strategic bombers and aircraft and follow Novikovian aircraft on their return flight. Given the long distances between the two landmasses, the Novikovian aircraft required refueling in-flight and RAF fighters attacked refueling parties while bombers flew towards the Novikovian islands and struck airfields and air defences while Novikovian bombers landed, refueled, and re-armed.

For the first week, UK forces largely struggled to regain the aerial initiative, although initial retaliatory missions began to impact the size of Novikovian raids. By the second week, with Novikovian air defences beginning to crumble under constant RAF attack, the Novikovian airfields were left vulnerable to near 24-hour attack by RAF bombers and strike aircraft. After two weeks, the Novikovian Air Force had been all but eliminated, its aircraft and pilots either outright destroyed and killed or hidden from RAF attacks and thus removed from the fight.

The Orbital War

Another of the almost immediate reactions by UK forces was the systematic elimination of Novikovian satellites – both civilian and military. Anti-satellite missiles and satellites were ordered to take out the observation and intelligence assets operated by Novikov, although as soon as the attacks were registered in Poldi’sk several UK assets were taken out – although within several hours the control of outer space remained firmly in UK hands.

UK Special Operations

One of the long-standing concerns of the United Kingdom had been the development of a Novikovian intercontinental ballistic missile force capable of landing nuclear warheads upon UK cities and military installations. Accordingly, after control of space had been completed, the UK utilised its orbital space station and nascent Royal Star Marines to land and execute a preemptive strike against hardened silos located throughout Novikov.

While much data remains classified by the UK government, anecdotes point to an orbital insertion of UK troops near Novikovian missile installations. This information comes from the few surviving Novikovian soldiers who witnessed the surprise assault by UK ground troops on the missile installations, ground troops reportedly highly trained and spectacularly lethal.

Both Novikovian and UK troops tell stories, however, that indicate that the missions were not entirely successful, while almost all of the Novikovian ICBM stations were knocked out of commission within two days of the start of hostilities, very few UK soldiers reportedly survived – most being mopped up by massive Novikovian search and destroy missions launched after the silos and their missiles were destroyed.

Middle Stages, Calm Before the Storm

After the first three weeks of aggressive attack and counter attack, fighting between the two sides largely settled down and with the Novikovian Air Force all but eliminated and the ICMB threat neutralised two of three largest threats to the United Kingdom had been all but erased. The most significant threat remaining was that of the Novikovian submarine force, far larger and more capable than the comparably small surface fleet, and hardened to battle in the first hours of war.

In the United Kingdom, much government talk centred upon the desired outcome of the war: whether or not to engage in a total war that would result in the subjugation of Novikov and territorial acquisition. The Conservative Party clamored for a quick and decisive end to the war and the bloodshed, in essence calling for a negotiated settlement and redressing of grievances. Tetley and the government, however, saw a negotiated peace as a half-measure that would not solve longer term issues that divided the two countries and would leave the UK as a losing party.

In any negotiated settlement, the UK would likely be forced to look otherwise for the fulfillment of cheap foodstuff imports – something that would likely have proven expensive and politically costly. And with a sharp rise in consumer prices that would follow, the UK would have little to gain economically and financially from the war especially as the UK was, by this point, looking at the need to invest heavily in rebuilding key parts of its infrastructure. Thus, on the 17th day of the war, Tetley announced the intention of the UK to completely destroy the Novikovian military and create a situation in which Novikov could no longer threaten the United Kingdom and its people.

During the same period, the Novikovian armed forces, specifically their heretofore lethal submarine force, rearmed and refueled although this time they set sail with a far more lethal payload than before. During the same time, Kacnerova became convinced, and rightly as it turned out, that Tetley was not the timid and easily coerced man she thought but a person who would now seek a bloody revenge upon Novikov. Despite her changed opinion, Kacnerova, as declassified memos and communiqués reveal, thought she could force the United Kingdom to change its course if the war became far too bloody and so she ordered the submarine force to set sail with nuclear and chemical weapons.

Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, the Admiralty had hatched a plan that would involve the massive staging of what would become known as the Grand Azazian Fleet, which would then set sail with a massive invasion force that would, according to plan, invade and conquer the whole of Novikov. Part of the deception included using a prescheduled Royal Fleet Review, due to commence a month after the hostilities had started. Instead, the Admiralty moved the review forward and used it as an opportunity for the Crown to inspect the Royal Navy taskforce that would be setting sail to Novikov.

Secretly, the Royal Navy cancelled the review and used the time to gather a fleet of near 1000 combat vessels instead of the few hundred planned for the initial review. During this same period, the Royal Marines and Royal Army rapidly began preparing its ready divisions for a massive invasion. All of this remained largely unknown to Novikovian military commanders due to the massive and systematic elimination of their electronic means of surveillance and information gathering.

26 days after war was declared, over 1000 warships set sail along with transports carrying ten UK ground divisions. Almost at the same time, Novikovian forces sailed under orders to attack the UK coastline and civilian population centres.

Escalation to the End Stages

Adarton and the South Coast

Adarton, through this point in the war, had played no true part despite being a small island halfway from St. Bedric’s to the United Kingdom. The city of Adarton had grown into a popular resort city with the citizens of the UK and in turn had attracted the attention of the Royal Navy, which had begun three years before to construct a small naval base on the island, another of volcanic origin.

On the 29th day, Novikovian submarines launched a coordinated and simultaneous cruise missile barrage upon the southern coast of the Home Islands once more, though this time they included the militarily unimportant city of Adarton. Unlike the first day of the war, however, the southern coast proved ready for a missile barrage and RAF interceptors and air defence units shot down most of the inbound cruise missiles. Those that landed, however, unleashed not conventional explosives but lethal chemical gasses. Adarton, however, received what would become the most infamous of all weapons used by Novikovians in the war: a nuclear warhead.

An airburst devastated the city, current estimates hold some 80 thousand individuals dieing in the city within the initial strike and the first week afterwards. With the island’s main city gone, few emergency service personnel remained to care for the wounded and injured and by the end of the war most of the island had been evacuated and deemed unsuitable for habitation. Along the southern coast, estimates are of some 150,000 people dying in the densely-populated cities and metropolitan centres – although this attack caused far less damage to the urban infrastructures and medical aid and care was offered and offered quickly, severely lessening the ultimate death toll.

Preparation for the Invasion

As part of the Royal Navy’s plan, a small taskforce escorting a division of Royal Marines broke off from the Grand Azazian Fleet and made its way for the north coast, pulling up slowly and bombarding the northern coast in preparation for its landing. The bulk of the fleet, however, sailed further down the eastern coast of Novikov towards the capital of Poldi’sk and the main Novikovian army headquarters.

By most accounts the diversion worked and the bulk of the Novikovian Army began to move north, away from Poldi’sk to counter the Royal Marine landing force. In so doing, however, they exposed themselves to airstrikes from Royal Navy fighters tasked to the Grand Fleet as well as fighters and bombers from the RAF standing by near Novikov for just such opportunities. Much of the Novikovian Army’s armoured fighting vehicles were destroyed on the move, although most of their infantry units survived as would prove fatal to the later UK movements.

Destruction of the Novikovian Navy’s Surface Force

Heretofore, the Novikovian Navy’s surface units had played almost no real role in the war, the Navy opting to keep its fleet near the capital of Poldi’sk. With word of the landings in the north, the fleet made an attempt to sail out of its protected position in the Poldi’sk harbour to assist in defending the north. However, the Royal Navy fleet commander, Admiral Lord Richard Atkinson, had positioned his fleet beyond range of Poldi’sk and just to the south, so as to approach the Novikovians from the south and cut off any retreat to a safe harbour.

Caught in the open, the Battle of Poldi’sk turned into a slaughter, the near 900 ships of the Grand Fleet utterly wrecking the entirety of the Novikovian surface force, which had nowhere to which it could retreat.

The vast majority of the UK landings occurred to the north and south of Poldi’sk, avoiding urban combat entirely. By now, the UK forces had been informed of the destruction of Adarton and the gassing of the southern coast and plans for the invasion of Poldi’sk had been altered – UK troops would land to the south and move westward, cutting off the Novikovian units stationed in the south from linking up with the remnants of the northern units. Units in the north would cut off Novikovian command and then attack the Novikovian units in the north from the rear while they engaged the diversionary force.

The Siege of Poldi’sk

With the landings relatively unopposed, the Royal Navy moved its super-dreadnought the HMS Prince of New Britain into position off the coast. While UK troops began to rapidly cross the Novikovian islands, the Royal Navy began a week-long barrage of the Novikovian capital. At the end of the week, the Royal Navy extended the bombardment for another seven days – by the end of which it is estimated between three and four million civilians perished. Much of the city was leveled, except the docks which were saved so as to provide UK troops with a port for their supplies and ammunition. Almost a year later, much of Poldi’sk remains in ruins, redevelopment largely occurring on the outskirts of the ruined city.

The Ground War

In large part, the ground war witnessed rapid progress by armoured UK units, quickly overrunning and defeating Novikov units who had lost much of their armoured support in the weeks of constant aerial attacks by RAF and RN fighters and bombers. Urban areas proved the toughest for UK troops, as their modern but ill-equipped vehicles proved poorly designed for the rigors of urban combat and instead the UK resorted to archaic sieges of major cities and towns.

Where combat did become intense, it became truly vicious. With news of Poldi’sk’s near absolute destruction reaching Novikovian troops and with news of Adarton and the southern coast fresh in the minds of UK troops no quarters was given, despite official press statements and orders to the contrary from both sides. One instance includes a KBC television crew secretly filming the surrender of a decimated platoon of Royal Marines, a surrender that then included the summary execution of the surviving 36 men and women. Instances of similar massacres by UK troops are equally proflicate.

Novikovian Counteroffensive

The most serious attempt by Novikovian ground forces to stave off complete disaster and defeat came upon the 44th day of the war as the lead elements of the UK’s northern forces began to engage the remnants of the Novikovian Army in the north. With most UK operations headquartered on the RN flagship HMS Prince of New Britain, the Novikovian Navy launched a suicide attack on the main UK battlegroup, and while the submarines involved were almost all sunk they scored several successful strikes with cruise missiles upon the super-dreadnought. Though again, the Novikovians opted for chemical weapons – throwing the Grand Fleet into enough chaos to allow Novikovian ground forces to stage a series of attacks.

Taken by surprise, the Novikovian counteroffensive stalled UK advances for as many as five days in some locations, particularly in the south near Grozny, which was quickly becoming encircled with the bulk of the surviving Novikovian Army’s southern group. These counteroffensives also made use of chemical and increasingly biological weapons, although they served in the end only to heighten the growing hatred between the two countries and their soldiers.

Endgame

By the 55th day of combat, Novikovian resistance had been pushed back primarily to Grozny in the south and Vyšniy-Voločëk in the north. Until this point, the surviving government of Novikov – as Kacnerova and most of her cabinet had fled the country just days after the invasion – had been heading north to Vyšniy-Voločëk, where they quickly found themselves trapped. On the 60th day of hostilities the siege of Vyšniy-Voločëk began, and for eight days UK artillery from the ground, sea, and air would punish the historic city, the former capital of the five kingdoms of Novikov, in much the same way as Poldi’sk.

Slowly, UK troops began to push into Vyšniy-Voločëk and on the fourth day of the siege capturing the surviving government including Prime Minister Milos Borovic. On the 68th day of combat, Lieutenant Pierre Roland of the 19th Royal Essington Rifles Regiment accepted the surrender of the Novikovian armed forces and state in the city of Vyšniy-Voločëk, thus ending the war.

Treaty of Poldi’sk

The Treaty of Poldi’sk formally surrendered the Novikovian state and its sovereignty to the United Kingdom, which accepted the territory and its population as the Royal Crown Colony of Novikov. For more information on the complex treaty, see the appropriate article.

Aftermath

Although the United Kingdom had been impacted by Novikovian cruise missiles and bombs, the massive UK economy quickly marginalised the effects and within months the United Kingdom had effectively rebounded, although it would take almost a year before the entire infrastructure could be repaired. Novikov, however, remains under much rubble and ruin despite proactive efforts by both Imperium and Poldi’sk to rebuild the islands.

After a year, much of the tensions between the two peoples had passed after concerted efforts by the UK to allow for a thorough integration of the colony into the greater United Kingdom, eventually achieved through a 55.8% vote by Novikovians in favour of complete integration into the United Kingdom as a home country into a new United Kingdom of Oceania where Novikovians now represent a significant minority in Parliament.

Internationally, Novikov’s former status as a sovereign state deeply influenced Oceanian international relations. Many nations that had formerly maintained alliances and relationships with Poldi’sk found the former country as part of what many saw as an expansionist imperial power. Such fears came to a head when the United Kingdom, with its colony of Novikov, applied for admission into the Union of World Powers with Pacitalia supporting the UK’s admission, along with Euroslavia. Most prominently, Sarzonia bitterly opposed the admission of a state that had absorbed a former ally. In the end, the United Kingdom was accepted over Sarzonian objections, leading to the Incorporated States resignation from the organisation. Ever since relations between Sarzonia and the United Kingdom have remained extremely cool.