Onalos Civil War

The Onalos Civil War had 2 main reasons for starting, the first being an ethnically divided society and corrupt political system. The second was a coup, headed by General Michael Wong, which occurred on June 27, 1996.

The Onalos Civil War had 2 main reasons for starting, the first being an ethnically divided society and corrupt political system. The second was a coup, headed by General Michael Wong, which occurred on June 27, 1996.

Ethnically Divided Society and Political Corruption

The ethnic problem did not arise in Onalos until later in its history. The problem arose during the late 1950's after foreign field workers, who were mostly Dameans and Alvoreemens, were forced to work for lower wages and to sign a contract that would make them work for 10 years without being able to return to their native countries. The Damean and Alvoreemen governments didn’t believe it would benefit them so they chose to pull their citizens out of the Republic of Onalos. Facing an economic crisis since there would be no one to harvest the main crops of tobacco, bananas and coffee, the government passed the Compulsory Labor and Anti-vagrancy Laws on April 25, 1953, which forced the Indigenous, Mestizo, Afronalosi (believing these races would be the best for manual labor) and other undesirables(homeless people, jailed prisoners, socialists, Buddhists, Quakers, and critics of Social Darwinism)to work on plantations on the mainland and mines on Margarita Island. For the most part the ethnic prisoners, critics and socialists were sent to the plantations while the rest of the undesirables were sent to Margarita Island to perform hard labor. The Filipindinese population became the new middle class as they took over the "better" jobs once held by the other minorities,(i.e. doctors, teachers, lawyers and soldiers). TheBlanco population kept their jobs as well as being the only ones who could own businesses/plantations and be politicians. Once the citizens were forced to work on the plantations there was no way to control them should they revolt, this compelled the plantation owners to develop a National Guard on January 6, 1954, whose sole purpose was to protect the interests of the oligarchy. In order to promote further ethnic separation only Blancos were admitted to the National Guard. The National Guard was not collectively organized however, as each of the plantation owners had their own private security forces on their individual plantations called a Guard unit which along with all the other units from all the plantation owners were known as the National Guard. Thus, a Guard unit owned by one plantation owner wasn't required to guard a plantation belonging to another plantation owner. Later the Equal Partition Act and the Mixed Marriage Act were passed which forced many Filipindinese citizens to move to Margarita Island and banned people of different races from being married, the latter was seldom enforced on the plantations and mines. These racist policies attracted many members of supremacist/racist groups and disgruntled European people fleeing newly independent colonies in other parts of the world( Mozambique, Indonesia, Rhodesia, etc.).

One of the first people forced to work on a plantation

worker toiling in field

General Wong's Coup

On June 27, 1996 a coup, headed by General Michael Wong, occurred. As the military surrounded the National Palace(presidential residence), the general ousted president Mark Silva and suspended the senate. The reason given was that the government was corrupt and its actions only benefited the oligarchs and not the populous, this for the most part was true. On June 30, 1996 the military started expelling the plantation owners, they were sent to Margarita Island since some of the owners had land there, but some secretly went to Damea to ask for aid. Once in power, the military promised that they would reform the country. The military lied.Except for them now owning the plantations everything stayed the same. Since they had nationalized the farms they started being called Nationals. It was obvious that their actions were made only to control the country’s wealth.

Tanks surrounding the National Palace

Soldiers in front of the National Palace

The Start of War

After 3 months in exile the oligarchs returned on September 30, 1996. They pledged that they would not stop until they reclaimed all of their property and re-installed the legitimate government. They had also brought with them weapons secretly purchased from the Damean government. War soon erupted between the military and the National Guard. After 5 months of fighting both sides needed more troops so they started forcing the plantation workers to fight. Those who refused to fight were attacked and killed by both the Military and the National Guard. This caused armed revolts as the plantation workers fought back against National Guardsmen in the northern departments.

Members of the Royal Guard

Royal helicopter

The OPNLF and The collapse of The Republic

This was the breaking point for the plantation workers. On June 27, 1997, a group of 40 workers organized together and led by Raphael Sebastién Marcos, formed the Onalos Peoples National Liberation Front(OPNLF) took over a tv station and declared war on the military and the oligarchy on the one year anniversary of the coup. The Alvoreemen government which had been reformed after its own revolution 4 years earlier and was opposed to both the oligarchy and the treatment of the plantation workers was sympathetic to the guerillas and chose to secretly aid the OPNLF by providing weapons and training to them. While the OPNLF was made up of mostly ethnic plantation workers there were others who joined the fight including teachers and doctors, members of the populace who were against the treatment of the plantation workers, deserters who were dissatisfied with both the military and the oligarchy and even former politicians. After 3 years of fighting the OPNLF guerillas took control of the eastern portion of the country and declared a parallel government. The next year on February 9, 2001, the OPNLF drew up a constitution which they declared valid across all of Onalos along with declaring themselves the new nation of the Constitutional Socialist Democracy of Eastern Onalos whose capitol was based in Estanzuelas. The plantation owners also organized their territory into what they called the Northern Union (which was an alliance of the 18 most riches families of plantation owners) and gave the citizens inhabiting it some rights. At this time the plantation owners each gave themselves titles of nobility and ruled the Northern Union through the Royal council. The 3 factions would hold on to most of their territory for the remainder of the war.

poster urging the plantation workers to resist the military/oligarchy

OPNLF technical

The Royals and Nationals

Since they believe themselves to be kings, the plantation owners started to be called Royals and the National Guard was rechristen the Royal Guard. Likewise, "Nationals" took on a new meaning as the military and its supporters used it to to falsely show that they were only fighting to reunite the country. The Nationals branded both the Royals and the OPNLF as traitors after they declared their sovereignty. Only Eastern Onalos was recognized as a nation and a legitimate by a foreign country (Alvoreem) however. Two years later 7 members of the Royal council were murdered and 3 other members were apprehended for their murders(these suspects were later found to be innocent and 5 other members were the ones who planed the conspiracy).

The 5th of August Incident

Moraga

At 6:30 a.m. the morning of August 5th, 2003 a small commando team headed by Colonel Jose Munro entered the National Palace and held General Wong hostage while a group of 50 soldiers surrounded the National Palace. Around 7:30 a.m. radio and tv reporters arrived at the scene and asked the soldiers what they were doing there but all the soldiers remained silent. At 8:00 am. Colonel Munro allowed the reporters inside and appeared on all of the tv and radio networks and stated "General Wong has not been harmed but he is also no longer in control of the government", at that time the transmission quickly turned off. At 11:00 a.m. the people of Moraga took to the streets and a large crowd formed around the National Palace. They demanded that General Wong be reinstated. At 2:30 p.m. Colonel Munro once again came on tv and said that he now held power, and he would do as he saw fit without anyone telling him what to do. At this time the infuriated crowd started trowing rocks at the soldiers around the Palace. Colonel Munro ordered the soldiers to open fire on the people but they refused. Instead they opened the gates to the National Palace and the crowd went inside destroying everything in their path. Once they found were General Wong was being held they set him free. Colonel Munro was no were to be found. He had barely escaped when he realized the soldiers had opened the gates. He secretly boarded a plane at 5:30 p.m. and flew to Margarita Island. He believed he was no longer in danger, but when the plane landed on the island he couldn't believe what he saw outside the airport.

Upper and Lower Northern Union Split

At 8:00 a.m. August 5th, 2003 almost two months after the massacre, the captains of the Royal Guard units of the 7 families who had been murdered went to the Royal Council and stated they no longer wanted to be part of the atrocities they were ordered to participate in. They would free the people held in their plantations and would give themselves up to the OPNLF. As second-in-commands they had the authority to do that but, the remaining 5 families were outraged and ordered their own Royal Guard troops to go in and take over the land that now belonged to the captains. The 5 Guard Units did as they were told and by 11:45 a.m. fighting ensued. The Northern Union split in two as the Royal Guard forces of the 5 families, who were in the northern part of the Union fought the forces of the 7 dead families, who were in the central part of the Union. Due to the in-fighting the Royals didn't realize what was going on in Moraga or what just had occurred in Margarita Island.

Margarita Island Rebellion

At 11:30 a.m. a group of miners rebelled against the National Guard troops in the Northern district. They took as many weapons as they could find and went to a radio station nearby. They sent a message across the air waves callin themselves the Margarita Republican Army and encouraging the miners to take up arms against the National Guard troops and to get to the Rolario Casino near the island's center anyway they could. The National Guardsmen in the Eastern District(were the signal to transmit to the Royals was located) didn't take the broadcast seriously and so didn't alert their superiors on the main land. About 2 hours later the island's power network for the Western(were the Rolario Casino and the Margarita Island Airport were located) and Eastern districts went down. One hour later revolts started in the Central and Western districts. There were scenes of violence across the whole island as National Guardsmen riding horses were shot, struck or stabbed down as they tried to contain the situation. The rebels managed to fight their way to the Margarita Island Airport, which was still working on emergency power, and detained the airport personnel to prevent them from asking for help when the only flight scheduled to land later than evening arrived. With the power network down, the National Guardsmen couldn't call in reinforcements so by 5:30 p.m. the northern district and the area around the MIA had been taken over by the rebels. As night fell their were mass amounts of people around the Rolario Casino which was about 3 blocks from the airport. Their were over 2 dozen National Guardsmen lined up in rows of 3 being shot. As an airplane came into land the whole island was dark and the only light was coming from fires that could be seen overhead. As the people saw the plane they quickly ran to the airport. By this time the airport's emergency power was almost depleted. As the plane landed the rebels rushed in capturing the flight crew and tghe sole passanger. At 8:00 p.m. the leader of the Rebels Ignacio Yu-Lee was declared the unanimous victor in informal elections, which only the 50 or so rebels participated in. He was given the title of Governor General of Margarita Island. He had no formal authorithy since the only MRA controlled are was the area around the airport and the casino. This made the Rolario Casino the seat of government. Fighting continued for 4 months as their were still some National Guard strongholds in the Southern and Eastern departments.

New Rebellion

Due to the lack of troops the neutral families which were the ones doing most of the fighting against the nationals, they started to arm the plantation workers on (_____). This proved to be a fatal mistake. The newly armed workers turned on the owners and started shooting them.

Alvoreem and Damea Enter The War

Four years after the new nation of Eastern Onalos was established a plan was set forth for it to become a protectorate of Alvoreem. If the Royals and Nationals wanted to continue the war they would now face the combined force of the OPNLF and the Alvoreemen military. Once the Nationals and Royals were defeated Eastern Onalos would regain its autonomy and be reunified with the Republic of Onalos. During the time the meetings for the plan took place the Nationals gained more territory and forced the Royals to retreat into Damea once more. With the Royals retreat to Damea and the annexation of Eastern Onalos by Alvoreem it was evident that both the Damean and Alvoreem governments were the enemies of the Nationals. General Wong professed his hatred for the neighboring governments, declared himself emperor, and with the basis that he would integrate the whole region, started attacking the, now Alvoreemen, province of Onalos. After Alvoreem sent in its military most of the fighting was concentrated around the new border(the central part of the former Republic Of Onalos). 3 months after Wong declared war on Alvoreem, the remaining Royal Guard troops returned along with the Damean army from the northwest and fought there way south until they reached the capitol. The week long Battle for Moraga was what led to the defeat of the Royals/Nationals and the re-unification of the country.

Battle of Moraga

The Royal/Damean troops clashed with the Nationals in northern Moraga. This left a manageable guard at the National Palace in the southern part of the city. Five days after the Royal Guard had entered the city the Alvoreemen air force started bombarding the capitol and OPNLF troops started attacking the National Palace. At the same time 8 OPNLF troops managed to get into the Moon City Resort and ruthlessly massacred the 25 people inside simply because they were Filipindinese. Once the OPNLF stormed inside the National Palace they apprehended Emperor Wong. The fighting ended 2 days later after OPNLF, Alvoreemen and Damean troops surrounded the city, the remaining National troops surrendered and General Wong was flown out of the country into an Alvoreemen prison. In a simbolyc act, a group of OPNLF guerrillas took down the Onalos flag and hoisted the Constitutional Socialist Democracy of Eastern Onalos flag, which was later modified and became the Democratic Republic of Onalos flag. Given the fact that continued support of the Royals would lead to more bloodshed, the Damean government withdrew its forces. With no more aid available to them, the Royals also surrendered. The next day March 20, 2006, Alvoreem granted independence to the province of Eastern Onalos and the two halves of the country were again reunited after half a decade of separation.

OPNLF troops with Alvoreemen troops near Moraga

Moraga after a bombing run by the Alvoreemen air force

The Consulate

Now that the country had been reunified it was evident that the years of war had taken a toll on the country. Many buildings in the capitol had been leveled and a fire had destroyed part of the National Palace. Two of the three bridges which linked the country together had been destroyed. The central part of the country lay in ruins. In their final retreat the oligarchs had burned a significant part of the plantation downs. Also, over 1/4th of the population had been killed during the 9 years of the war. So on March 21, 2006, a 5 member junta(3 OPNLF, 2 civilian)called the Consulate, was created to face those problems until a new leader was elected.

Namesake

The conflict has been called by many names: It has been called The Central Union War (by Alvoreemen & Damean scholars since both Alvoreem and Damea were involved), The OPNLF Revolution (by some OPNLF members), The Great Revolution (by Captain since their was a revolution within the former Republic of Onalos as well as Margarita Island, and the Northern Union), The Wars of the Former Republic of Onalos (by some international scholars since the war lead to the country initially splitting into 3 parts and later 5 and being renamed the Democratic Republic of Onalos), The Republican Revolution (by The Royals in order to earn support for themselves to show they wanted to restore the former government.) The War of the People (by Wong and the Nationals to signify they were fighting for the population's way of life). Furthermore the Margarita Island part of the conflict has been called The Margarita Island War of Independence (by some scholars as well as participants in the rebellion, since it brought about the Republic of Margarita which later was given limited sovereignty).

Timeline

Onalos gains independence from Calatia- September 15, 1825

Onalos gains independence from the Central Union- November 3, 1828

Compulsory Labor and Anti-vagrancy Law Passed- April 25, 1953

National Guard is founded by oligarchy- January 6, 1954

President Mark Willis is overthrown during a coup headed by General Michael Wong- June 27, 1996

Plantation owners start being expelled from the country- June 30, 1996

The oligarchs return calling themselves Royals- September 30, 1996

The Royals declare war on the Nationals- October 2, 1996

Both the Nationals and Royals start conscripting the local populous- March 6, 1997

The Military and National Guard massacre those who will not join either side of the conflict- March 13, 1997

Armed revolts in northern departments- April 13-20, 1997

The OPNLF is formed, takes over a TV station and declares war on both the military and National Guard- June 27, 1997

OPNLF establishes Autonomous Socialist Region of Eastern Onalos- July 18, 2000

Constitution Of the People ratified by OPNLF- January 16, 2001

Constitutional Socialist Democracy of Eastern Onalos is declared- February 9, 2001

The Royals set up the Northern Union- May 31, 2001

Royal Council Massacre- June 2, 2003

Nationals take control of the Northern Union and drive Royals out of the country, which take refuge in Catalina Island and Damea November 24, 2005

Onalos is annexed by Alvoreem- November 25, 2005

General Wong declares himself emperor- December 3, 2005

Emperor Wong declares war on Alvoreem and starts attacking former Eastern Onalos- December 5, 2005

Royals return with Damean military- March 9, 2006

National Guard reaches northern Moraga- March 12, 2006

Alvoreemen air force starts bombarding the capitol; OPNLF troops starts attacking the National Palace and apprehend Emperor Wong- March 17,2006

Alvoreemen, Damean and OPNLF troops surround city; Emperor Wong is flown out of the country into an Alvoreemen prison; Nationals and Royals surrender- March 19,2005

Alvoreem grants the province of Onalos independence; Onalos is reunified- March 20, 2006

The Consulate is formed to govern Onalos- March 21, 2006

OPNLF becomes an authentic political party- June 26, 2006

Elections are held- November, 27 2006

Principal Daniel Schafik Morales-Chavez is declared the victor- November, 30 2006

Principal Daniel Schafik Chavez is Inaugurated- June 27, 2007

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