Gnome Islands Conflict
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| Gnome Islands Conflict | |||||||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||||||
Coalition: San Fredlando Zedoljev COMECON Nogo-Nogo  Pyrexonia Testalicious Resistance  Burning Flame Sargus (late)
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Gnome Island League:  Philips Head Sargus (early)  Urallia (suspected)  Cybrania (Suspected)
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| Commanders | |||||||||||
| Lionel B'Astard Abrahim Tarkovsky
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Pehnski †
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| Strength | |||||||||||
| Numerical, technological and personnel quality supremacy | Local knowledge, guerrilla tactics, superior strategy, large-scale mercenary aid. | ||||||||||
| Military Casualties | |||||||||||
| 31,753 killed 85,509 injured 1,752 captured |
76,400 killed 150,000 injured 12,736 captured | ||||||||||
| Civilian Casualties | |||||||||||
| 26,736,637 killed 3,770,509 injured |
190,120 killed 270,000 injured | ||||||||||
| Both military and civilian casualty figures for Gnome Island League are estimates. | |||||||||||
The Gnome Islands Crisis was a bitterly fought conflict that originated in territory that once belonged to Philips Head but was now claimed by San Fredlando in the Gnome Islands. The crisis started with a series of civil uprisings against the Fredlandian rule, and partially against Zedoljev which also had troops stationed in the country. On June 20th 2045, local militia stormed an arms depot belonging to the Sovereign Military Order (SMO) killing 17 soldiers and taking a large amount of personnel weaponry. Over the coming weeks, further attacks on SMO and People's Army of Zedoljev (NAZ) occurred, escalating with an attack on the territory's main power station, which killed 70. Zedoljan Premier, Aleksei Zvyevonyev, was fierce in his staunch support of the San Fredlandian leadership - even if they tried to downplay the situation.
Contents
The Background
Tensions in the region had been high. Some years prior, the country of Philips Head had collapsed, and San Fredlando, as honorary member of MuDeAl through Zedoljev as well as a crippling small country with an overly-large population, was allowed to take control of the land. However, their governance was not without controversy, including what many have called a massacre of a large group of revolutionaries by SMO after they had attempted to create what they called New San Fredlando. But during the 40s many countries experienced terrorist insurgencies. The Urallians were a constant worry for all civilised nations, and now the Cybranians had come into play, and had set up a refuge very close to the territory. What no one knew at that point was that the ancient Sargusians were lying in wait, poised to reclaim former sacred land.
The War
Early Stages
San Fredlando looked to play the uprisings as an internal affair, but this changed after the crash of San Fredlandian Airways Flight 771 over Zedoljev on July 8th followed by a series of bomb blasts in the City of San Fredlando which killed, among dozens of others, the Fredlandian and Zedoljan foreign ministers, Zedoljev decided to deal with the situation personally and rapidly increased their numbers in the country. Soon after, Nurdbotia requested that COMECON also send a detachment to the islands to help "long time partners" and oblige long-standing protection pacts.
From there on the conflict spiralled largely out of control, with more and more Coalition forces, made up by forces of the SMO, Zedoljev, Burning Flame as well as Nurdbotia and her Colonies being sent to the area. At first, despite the sluggish progress of the Coalition, the rebellion looked as though it was manageable. However the situation changed dramatically around the beginning of November as the rebels suddenly increased in size and manpower, and were able to drive the Coalition forces back out of much of the territory. After this success, the rebels claimed victory and declared full independence from San Fredlando on the 4th of December and the reformation of Philips Head. Coalition forces regrouped to the north east of the country but fell under a massive and sudden assault by Sargusian forces as part of their declaration of their partnership with the Philipian rebels - thus forming the Gnome Island League (GIL). As part of the agreement, Sargus, who had ancient territorial claims to the area, would be given a share of the territory captured from San Fredlando. Their crushing and unexpected attack on the Coalition forces killed and wounded thousands, and destroyed countless pieces of equipment. Premier Zvyevonyev recalled his forces from the island and encouraged San Fredlandian President Williams to follow suit. Nurdbotia retreated to neighbouring Testalicious and attempted to hold on while Philipian forces started attacks on that country too. However this was not before a pack of Zedoljan attack submarines tracked a group of Sargusian submarines that had been used in the assault. The Zedoljan Anya-IIIs were able to follow the Sargusian subs to the large marine settlement of Amberton. There, unaware of the precise nature of the settlement, the Anyas proceeded to destroy the Sargusian defences and laid waste to the settlement, assuming it to be a large naval base. Instead, tens of thousands of Sargusian civilians were killed. This event shook Sargus, which up until that point had considered its campaign a complete success.
Unknown at the time was that Premier Zvyevonyev had deliberately ordered his forces out of the country to pave the way for a truly devastating "act of retribution" that would have likely obliterated the territory (according to hearsay from former personnel tied to the San Fredlandian President) - however after meeting secretly with his Nurdbotian and Fredlandian counterparts, their horror at the very suggestion dissuaded him from carrying out any such attack. The details of what he had planned, and what means he was going to use, remain a secret till this day.
The Strike on San Fredlando and the fall out
However, things took a truly horrifying turn when a nuclear device was set off in the City of San Fredlando on December 28th. The explosion flattened much of the densely populated city and killed over 26 million people. Philipians were largely accepted as being behind the blast - something that the Sargusians had not known about or approved of. This act soured the relationship between Sargus and Philips Head, and provoked outrage from across the region. Pyrexonia declared war on Philips Head and joined the Coalition forces as they were returning to Testalicious to build up for a large scale assault on Philips Head. In the meantime Sargus sought to sign a ceasefire with San Fredlando, but President Williams did not trust them enough, despite their assurances that they had nothing to do with the nuclear strike on the City and their intentions to sever ties with Philips Head. Instead, bombers of the SMO and the People's Air Force of Zedoljev (NVSZ), continued to bomb both Philipian and Sargusian targets.
In the meantime, COMECON forces, lead by Nurdbotia and smaller Zedoljan contingents, were embroiled in a large and bloody battle in Testalicious to prevent GIL forces from pushing them off the island. Their fortunes were boosted when an additional taskforce from Nurdostroiksa arrived. Around this point, Nurdbotia appealed for help from MuDeAl - significantly, only Nogo-Nogo agreed to send direct military aid. However, Nurdbotian commanders were angered when SMO, Pyrexonian, Nogotian and Zedoljan forces launched a massive assault directly into Phillips Head, without giving much support to the beleaguered Nurdbotian forces. Indeed this was a sign of the relationship between the three key members of the Coalition being slightly unstable. President Williams argued on several occasions with his Nurdbotian counterpart. Furthermore, Zedoljev heavily criticised the Nurdbotian military after Philipians were able to punch their way through Nurdbotian lines and threaten Coalition supply lines.
The Gnome Island League falters
However, with Sargus entering peace negotiations with Nurdbotia, support for the Philipians was drastically slashed and their fortunes fell quickly. While Nurdbotian forces slowly made gains in the north, the rest of the Coalition made lightning advancement through the south, finding that much of the local population supported the Coalition's cause. SMO, NAZ and Nogotian forces were in the suburbs of Braga in a matter of months and overran resistance by the 26th of May, 2046. Following on from the collapse of the regime, Zedoljan and Pyrexonian units swung north to crush the remaining Philips Head Forces. Most Philipian forces remained to fight until the very end - choosing to ignore an amnesty to surrender given to them by Zedoljev. However, the Coalition was ultimately completely successful in securing the territory, despite heavy losses.
The Aftermath
Perhaps the most drastic effect caused by the conflict was seen at the 2046 MuDeAl Summit, when the actions of members Zedoljev and Nurdbotia came under heavy condemnation, in particular from New Cyberia. The summit quickly became dominated by a war of words between Zedoljev and New Cyberia, which resulted in the Zedoljan contingent storming out of the Summit and effectively storming out of the Alliance. Fearing the backlash this may have caused on the ever-decreasing relationship between Socialist and Plutocratic nations, Zedoljev then decided to withdraw from COMECON as well, deliberately to "weaken it, thus make war against it unjustifiable".
San Fredlando made peace with Sargus, and allowed a part of the territory to become part of Sargus. The remainder was reorganised into the nation of Acker - a country that would have strong ties with both San Fredlando and Sargus. However the experiment did not last long. Perhaps unsurprisingly - Acker initially swept in a Socialist government. But within a few years, the people had grown resentful and disillusioned, and voted the Socialist government out. Within months, a further referendum saw the full territory become part of Sargus.
San Fredlando arguably still hasn't recovered from the war, and has not been in a position to be as bold and independent, having largely been completely eclipsed by Zedoljev after the formation of the Union of Soviet Tschazanovite Republics. Sargus has also faltered recently, with its Royalty largely in disarray and its Government unstable. While the Soviet Union did not contest the loss of Acker, it was significant that after a critical government catastrophe struck Sargus, the Soviet Union was, perhaps uninvited, one of the first to send "stabilising" troops into the country.
