Difference between revisions of "War of Insolence"

Revision as of 12:09, 7 February 2005

The WAR NAME was fought between Pantocratoria and the United Provinces of Knootoss from 1665 to 1667.

Prelude

• Christmas Conjuration massacre in New Constantinople which took place on Christmas Day 1590

• Manuel III Comnenus might even have started a war to prove that he wasn't a weak, powerless man, even though his muscle wasting disease made him physically weak

Previous relations

• There was great hope to end the Knootian dominance in world trade. Privateers began to attack Knootians ships, capturing about 200 of them. The Knootians declared war in January 1665; the Pantocratorians declared war on the United Provinces on March 4, 1665.

The Knootians were at the zenith of their power, and well prepared. During the war they greatly extended their navy by ordering eighty new warships. Pantocratoria could only build a dozen which were technologically inferior especially due to their lack of modern navigation techniques until 1703. The outbreak of war was followed ominously with the $Disaster in Pantocratoria

The War

The first encounter between the nations was at sea. The war started with the Battle of $NAME, where the Pantocratorian main fleet hunting for a homebound convoy of the Knootian East India Company stumbled right into the mainstay of the Knootian fleet heading for their homeland. They achieved complete surprise, and gained a great victory and ruled their part of the Atlantic around their for over a year. They failed to take advantage of this however, and the Spice Fleet from the Knootians East Indies that they had been hunting for managed to return home safely. For every warship the Pantocratorians built, the Knootians wharfs turned out seven. Manuel III Comnenus attempted to fund a Catholic uprising in the southern province of Brabant, bribing Knootians into rising up against their Dutch Reformed masters in the north. But the ragtag peasant army was more of a nuisance than a real threat and it was quickly crushed. In the spring of 1666 the Knootians had rebuilt their fleet with much heavier ships. A new confrontation was inevitable.

This huge $BATTLE in 1666 was one of the shortest major naval engagements in history, yet it ended up in both sides claiming victory; Knootians admiral Johannus Hendrykxx led a massive Knootian fleet to harass the Pantocratorian coast with the objective to destroy the Pantocratorian fleet in the port of Adrienople. After engaging at long range he retreated quickly, causing $HIGH LOSSES for the Pantocratorians and leaving parts of Adrienople burning while losing only two ships himself.

Administrative difficulties in the Pantocratorian Navy continued whilst a fleet of 80 ships under General/prince $FANCY_INCOMPETENT_OFFICER set sail at the end of May 1666 for a retaliatory strike. He was detached with 20 of these ships to intercept a Knootian squadron on the 29th May, known to be passing through Pantocratorian-controlled parts of the Atlantic, presumably to join the main Knootian fleet of Admiral Hendrykxx.

Leaving New Constantinople, $NAME came upon Hendrykxx with a fleet of 85 ships at anchor near Zeeland. Eager to achieve glory he immediately engaged the nearest Knootian ship before the rest of the fleet could come to its assistance. The Knootian vanguard under Hendrykxx set upon a starboard tack, taking the battle toward their own shoals, compelling $NAME turn about, to prevent being outflanked by the Knootians rear and centre, culminating in a ferocious unremitting battle that raged until nightfall.

At daylight on 2nd June, $NAME's strength was reduced to 44 ships, but with these he still renewed the battle, eager for glory, by tacking past the enemy four times in close action with the intention to board and capture Knootian ships. With his fleet in too poor a condition to continue to challenge he finally retired towards the coast with the Knootians in pursuit. The following day he ordered the damaged ships forward to cover their long retreat to Pantocratoria. He finally returned with his 20 remaining chipsships, joined him. On the 4th the undamaged ships attacked in line together in an attempt to drive off their pursuers but they got heavily damaged and almost encircled. Gradually they fought windward through the Knootians, finally managing to break off the action as the Knootian fleet had to return home for lack of gunpowder.

After this, due to financial problems Pantocratoria was forced to reduce their operations. Manuel III Comnenus laid up his fleet and sued for peace. The Knootians however, still enraged by the destruction of over 150 merchant ships in the Atlantic during the earlier year, decided to repay their insolence first.

Medway

In June, 1667, Hendrykxx launched the Knootian "Raid on New Constantinople". After capturing the fort at $PLACE, they went on to break through the massive chain protecting the entrance to New Constantinople harbour and, on the 13th, attacked the Pantocratorian fleet which had been laid up there. The daring raid remained Pantocratoria's greatest military disaster since the $DISASTER. Many of the Imperial Navy's remaining ships were destroyed, either by the Knootians or by being scuttled by the Pantocratorian to block the entry into the city. Three ships of the line were burned: the $NAME', the new $NAME' and the '$NAME'. The Pantocratorian flagship, $NAME, was abandoned by its skeleton crew and captured without a shot being fired, and towed back to The United Provinces. Its coat-of-arms is now on display in Noordeinde Palace.

The Knootians success had a major psychological impact throughout Pantocratoria, with the capital feeling especially vulnerable just a year after the raid. This, together with the cost of the war meant that the Pantocratorians were keen to sign a peace treaty -- and so were the Knootians as they had to deal with another war at the same time.

Peace

On July 31, 1667, the Treaty of Den Helder sealed peace between the two nations.

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