Gaste War

Gaste War
Part of the Long War
Colourised picture of Savamese troops taken during the Autumn Offensive (1955-56); a CAS-6 tank is visible to the left
Date 3 Ediface 1954 - 24 Animare 1958 Location Messenia Result Allied victory Treaty of Ostari Retrocession of Odannaigh province of Trasmardúinn to Elland Independence of Laora and Fiobha
Belligerents
Savam Zeppengeran Elland (1955–58)	Emilia (non-combattant, occupied by Savam)	Odann Brolangouan (co-belligerent, 1955–58)
Commanders and leaders
		Beach Stróiceoir an Dhámhridh

The Gaste War was a conflict fought in northern Messenia from 1954 to 1958 between an alliance of Savam, Zeppengeran and Elland against Odann (later with Brolangouan as a co-belligerent). It is considered to be the closing act of the Long War in Messenia, and the only real total war to take place on that side of the continent. The war marked the end of the Crossed Alliances period of the Messenian geopolitics and the beginning of the Bielle Era.

The culmination of thirty years of cold war between Savam and Odann, and more generally a century of opposition as part of the game of the Crossed Alliances, the Gaste War resulted directly from Savamese plans to destroy the Ceresoran-Odannach alliance following the collapse of Ceresora in a civil war.

The official casus belli related to the claimed oppression of Embute minorities in the Marduine region and Odann's obstruction of free navigation on the Upper Gaste, but Savam's prime objectives were directly related to the Ceresoran Civil War, in which Quesailles was planning a major intervention with the aim of dictating conditions for its resolution. This would allow Savam to make Ceresora at least a neutral power, at best an ally, and thus end its own encirclement by the Ceresoran-Odannach alliance. Odann would never have allowed this, and started to prepare for an invasion of Emilia and Brex-Sarre so that it could gain access to Ceresora via Cantaire. The Odannach government understood clearly that Savam would not allow this move, either; both sides were acutely aware that a major war was inevitable, and prepared for it accordingly.

The Savamese government, wishing to start the war on its own terms, enacted a pre-emptive assault against Odann. Savamese diplomacy brought Elland onside under the secret Hemperth-Loiseau Agreement, which promised the retrocession of Trasmardúinn to Elland. The agreement was also essential in allowing Zepnish troops to move easily to the northern front-line. Savam opened hostilities on 3 Ediface 1954, overrunning and occupying neutral Emilia, and thus opening the way to Odann's eastern border. Two days later, Zeppengeran declared war on Odann and initiated major naval operations.

Name

The war is known as the "Gaste War" in Elland in reference to the occupied territories of the Marduine region which lie to the north of the Gaste river. However, most of the fighting took place in the basin of the Marduine, a tributary of the Gaste, which flows through most of the industrial southern regions of Odann and is considered to be the traditional northern boundary between Odann and Elland.

Background

The Savamese liberal government started to work on a mass invasion of Ceresora in mid-1953. Viceroy Antoine de Mert was adamant upon launching a major military intervention to protect the Reformer population there and to secure Savamese interests; a pro-Savam united government in Ceresora was the long-term objective of Quesailles, who finally saw the opportunity to permanently end the Ceresoran-Odannach alliance.

However, it was obvious that Odann would not allow this intervention. Intelligence reports also suggested that Ráth was drafting plans for an invasion of Emilia and Brex-Sarre which would allow it to gain direct access to Ceresora (via Cantaire); obviously, the Odannaigh knew that Savam would not let this happen and were planning on a war. As war seemed inevitable, for the Savamese government the question became one of how to start it as fast as possible on their own terms; an intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic ballet ensued.

In Nollonger 1953 a meeting took place in occupied Novigrad with representatives from the Federalist alliance. This grouping had come together in Metrial 1953 in Tania as an alliance of the remaining Terecotists, some Tanian separatists, and disenchanted moderate elements of the Legitimists who rejected the puritan extremism of Massimo di Bragoni-Opagna; the new faction had agreed to a compromise solution that would preserve the unity of Ceresora by replacing the monarchy with a federal respublican union. Savam threw its support behind the Federalists, who counted many reformer militias in their ranks, and started to ship weapons to them via the Védomagne.

As this continued, Chancellor Hoste Loiseau was sent to Etherley to initiate a further rapprochement between Savam and Elland, playing on the anti-Odannach revanchist sentiment there; this diplomatic effort would eventually result in the secret Hemperth-Loiseau Agreement in 1955, promising the return of Trasmardúinn to Elland in exchange of its support against Odann. The Savamo-Zepnish Alliance was activated, and the Zepnish government started its own preparations. Interestingly, Savam's own revanchism against Odann was somewhat muted, with no plans being made for the reconquest of territories lost after the Embute War (although revenge against Orthodoxist Odann for the troubles of the previous years fostered by Ceresoran puritan extremists was a significant element in gathering public support for the war).

By the middle of 1954, the Savamese government was ready, and final preparations for the war began in earnest. Public diplomatic gesticulations increased in the early autumn about the supposed mistreatment and persecution of Reformer Embute minorities in the Marduine region, and incidents on the Marduine river (officially subject to free navigation since the 1937 Feijerpoort Convention) were escalated, providing the official casus belli.

Operations

The Gaste War can be broadly divided into four or five phases. At first, the Savamese launched an initial offensive (through occupied Emilian territory) along the course of the Marduine from Ediface 1954 to Fabricad 1955. The initial Savamese momentum pierced the Piasún Line (thanks to the systematic usage of chemical weapons) and took Mucais, but was stalled by resistance east of Cairn, the unofficial second capital of Odann.

Following Elland's entry into the war on Savam's side in Dominy 1955 and the deployment of Zepnish forces, the massive Autumn Offensive took place from Sation 1955 to Floridy 1956 with forces from the three allied countries. Major objectives in southern Odann were taken as part of the offensive, including Cairn. As part of a secondary branch of the Autumn Offensive, Savamese forces entered neutral Brolangouan, as they had previously done with Emilia. Brolangouan did not fold as Emilia had done and offered some stiff resistance, but its forces were nonetheless rapidly overwhelmed by the Savamese offensive and most of the country was occupied, save for the south-western region where Odannach troops managed to stabilise the front-line.

The front line ground to a halt during most of 1956, especially at Gárran.

A combination of staunch defence and over-extension of the allied armies' supply lines ended the allied advances. With the Odannaigh entrenching themselves on the southern outskirts of the Odannach Uplands, the front-line remained quite static for eight months until Petrial 1957. During the summer allied forces were repelled at the Battle of Gárran, but Odannach will to fight started to falter as the country's industries were cut off from their colonial supplies, the clergy's leadership took a clear anti-war stance, separatist forces became emboldened in Laora and Fiobha, and Rónán II was forced to assume autocratic control over the state to limit internal troubles.

Savamese forces marching through the Sligeach valley on their way to Ráth in the spring of 1957.

Finally, the last phase of the war started with the allied offensive in the spring and summer of 1957 which broke through defences around Gárran and culminated with the siege and Battle of Ráth in Dominy-Empery 1957. Odann mounted a frantic defence of the capital and its industrial hinterland, but could only delay the more numerous allied forces. The Battle of Ráth led to the most extensive use of chemical weapons - by both sides - seen in Messenian history to that date, with casualties numbered in the hundreds of thousands: 170,000 people perished in just two months in Ráth due to the usage of sarin and cyclosarin.

Following the fall of Ráth, combat lingered on for four months until Conservene as allied forces tried to push for Biorra in the uplands and further to the north-western coastal regions and the major port city of Clachán. However, last-minute resistance by the Odannach army and renewed exhaustion of allied supply lines caused those offensives to peter out. The allies were also unable to join with the front in Brolangouan, which had remained much more static.

Peace talks opened in the Siursk capital of Ostari in early Conservene 1957.

Aftermath

The resultant Treaty of Ostari was, for the Odannaigh, harsh bordering upon brutal. Trasmardúinn was restored to Elland as promised, and the western territories of Fiobha and Laora were detached from Odann and granted independence, a move deliberately intended to reduce Odann's capacities as a maritime power and, from the Savamese viewpoint, in large part as a retaliation for the similar excision of Emilia and other territories after the Embute War. A late change to the original proposals meant that the newly-independent Laora was restricted to that part of its lands west of the Daugh, and did not include its traditional capital at Clachán. Savam itself received some colonial territory from Odann, including the Dombalte Bay territory in south-eastern Serania Major, which was merged into Grand-Sud, and a coastal strip on the island of Ainfhial, off the coast of Diothún, where the Savamese would later build the military and relay-port of Port-des-Vents.

Militarily, Odann was hampered by the enforced scrapping or mothballing of a sizeable part of its fleet, aimed at allowing it only the minimum capacity required to service its remaining overseas territories in Serania Major and outports in Lestria and Ascesia. Provisions within the treaty allowed for Odannach shipyard activity to be audited to ensure that merchant ship construction could not be altered to circumvent these limitations. The country's treasury was also struck by reparation claims, ostensibly for the families of Savamese troops killed or severely injured by Odannach use of chemical weapons, although in actuality these claims were well above what would be considered reasonable.

In the eyes of the general public, the perceived unfairness of such action when Odann had not initiated the war was seen as a calculated insult, although internal recriminations and the need to deal with the devastating effects of the years without summers muted any projection of Odannach grievances outside the country until well into the 1960s. This feeling contributed to an argument which presented Odann as essentially the victim of unprovoked aggression; this would be a particular issue for elements within the country's armed forces, and would factor in substantial part into Odann's foreign and military policy under Defender Ultan II.

In Zeppengeran, the Gaste War quickly became a controversial topic following the Treaty of Ostari. While a severely weakened Odann was as much in Zepnish interests as in those of Savam, the country did not seem to make any immediate gains compared to Savam and Elland, other than a percentage of the war reparations. Politicians and journalists compared the recent conflict with the Embute War, which was increasingly judged to have been a waste of effort, resources and manpower to the Zepnish at the time. Today, it is widely believed that the end of the Gaste War marked the beginning of a rising resentment against the Savamese within Zeppengeran's political class, in particular in the anti-Meyerist camp of Bernhardt von Prost. This sentiment would eventually lead to the breakdown of Savamese-Zepnish relations and the fifteen-year-long suspension of their alliance in the 1970s and early 1980s (although the latter point was largely kept from the wider public).

Controversy

The Gaste War is known for one of the most widespread use of chemical weapons ever seen in Messenia. Both sides used these weapons, but Savam is credited for the first strike. Savam made extensive use of chemical weaponry during the initial offensive in 1954 (after its forces crossed Emilian territory), and then again in the winter of 1956-57 when it pushed to break through Odannach defences and access the Odannach Uplands and the capital at Ráth. Odann used them for defensive purposes, especially as it grew increasingly desperate in 1957 with the advance of allied forces to encircle their capital. The Battle of Ráth saw deployment of nerve gases (sarin and the even deadlier cyclosarin) by both sides, leading to horrific casualties amongst combatants and civilians who could not be evacuated in time. Casualties are estimated at about 150,000 soldiers (both sides included) and about 15,000 civilians, of which a significant proportion can be blamed on nerve gases.