An Introduction
The Oceanic Republic of Heirosoloa is a centrist republic of reasonable respect and influence. Its proud citizenry is an amalgamation of various cultures and ethnicities that have, at some point, maintained influence over the strategically placed archipelago. The fact that Heirosoloa is a cultural melting-pot is a fact held dear to the Republic, and for decades the nation has maintained equality and balance within the archipelago with a strong pro-Civil Rights stance. One of the greatest possible insults within Heirosoloan Culture is to declare someone to be "backwards" or "reactionary," as one of the main principles of the Oceanic Republic is a constant focus on the future, on being modern, and on leaving the past in the past.
This viewpoint of endlessly progressing into the future, which has played into the hands of the leaders of Heirosoloa's free-market system, has created a sense of superiority over other nations that maintain traditions and archaic systems. In numerous cases the citizens of the Oceanic Republic have supported efforts by Heirosoloa to bring other nations "into the future," often using the might of the Republic to "modernize" nations. The largest perceived enemies of Heirosoloa are, for the moment, extremists. Communism and Fascism, as well as other "extremist" political ideologies, are banned from the Senate elections on the grounds that they present a threat to Heirosoloan values. Furthermore, Heirosoloa, although not a majority-atheistic nation, has a firm stance against religious extremism, as trying to force religion upon another person is taken as a massive violation of personal rights.
There is a strong focus within the Oceanic Republic on personal rights. Forged by years of mistreatment and colonialism by foreign powers operation within the archipelago, civil rights are the most important possessions of the Heirosoloan citizen. Civil Rights do not stem from, and thus cannot be retracted by, the government, but rather from merely existing. Violating the basic civil rights of an individual is seen as the most extreme felony in Heirosoloa, and punishment for doing so is usually swift and harsh. As such, Heirosoloa frowns strongly upon imperialism and has dedicated itself numerous times to the preservation of sovereignty and self-determination in foreign countries (the main objective of the Third and Fourth fleets).
Heirosoloa is, above all, centrist (but not neutral). Extremism is banned as well as thoroughly frowned upon as "clinging to the past," and it is widely accepted that the future lays in the hands of the those who weigh all sides of an argument equally. As such, the various political parties within Heirosoloa do not often vary extremely, and agreements and informal alliances between parties are frequent and approved of by the populace. An average Heirosoloan will always try to seek the "middle path," (as a result of similar ideologies, Buddhism is also a major religion within Heirosoloa). The middle path, however, is usually not the easiest and not always peaceful. Heirosoloa does not shy away from using violence to achieve its goals. While it certainly looks down upon it as a less efficient medium, the Heirosoloan government has only ever been described as "pacifistic" by nations who fail to understand Heirosoloan culture.
This viewpoint of endlessly progressing into the future, which has played into the hands of the leaders of Heirosoloa's free-market system, has created a sense of superiority over other nations that maintain traditions and archaic systems. In numerous cases the citizens of the Oceanic Republic have supported efforts by Heirosoloa to bring other nations "into the future," often using the might of the Republic to "modernize" nations. The largest perceived enemies of Heirosoloa are, for the moment, extremists. Communism and Fascism, as well as other "extremist" political ideologies, are banned from the Senate elections on the grounds that they present a threat to Heirosoloan values. Furthermore, Heirosoloa, although not a majority-atheistic nation, has a firm stance against religious extremism, as trying to force religion upon another person is taken as a massive violation of personal rights.
There is a strong focus within the Oceanic Republic on personal rights. Forged by years of mistreatment and colonialism by foreign powers operation within the archipelago, civil rights are the most important possessions of the Heirosoloan citizen. Civil Rights do not stem from, and thus cannot be retracted by, the government, but rather from merely existing. Violating the basic civil rights of an individual is seen as the most extreme felony in Heirosoloa, and punishment for doing so is usually swift and harsh. As such, Heirosoloa frowns strongly upon imperialism and has dedicated itself numerous times to the preservation of sovereignty and self-determination in foreign countries (the main objective of the Third and Fourth fleets).
Heirosoloa is, above all, centrist (but not neutral). Extremism is banned as well as thoroughly frowned upon as "clinging to the past," and it is widely accepted that the future lays in the hands of the those who weigh all sides of an argument equally. As such, the various political parties within Heirosoloa do not often vary extremely, and agreements and informal alliances between parties are frequent and approved of by the populace. An average Heirosoloan will always try to seek the "middle path," (as a result of similar ideologies, Buddhism is also a major religion within Heirosoloa). The middle path, however, is usually not the easiest and not always peaceful. Heirosoloa does not shy away from using violence to achieve its goals. While it certainly looks down upon it as a less efficient medium, the Heirosoloan government has only ever been described as "pacifistic" by nations who fail to understand Heirosoloan culture.
A History
The Heirosoloan Archipelago was first settled in ~30,000 BCE by migrants who crossed the East China Sea to reach the archipelago. Although most historians agree that the first settlers arrived from the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese Archipelago, the origin of these travelers is still disputed. Heirosoloans progressed at a roughly equal rate to other neighboring sites of early civilization, with the first signs of organized culture, in the form of a small rice farming settlement, appearing at around ~7,000 BCE on the main island of Dao.
Being so close to the main Eurasian continent, the Heirosoloan Archipelago was, for the majority of the Classical and Postclassical Eras, firmly under the thumb of the Chinese dynasties. While the archipelago was granted limited autonomy under the rule of a puppet regime, the archipelago was economically bound to its much larger neighbor who was, for many years, the sole foreign contact of the islands.
While still considered an extension of the Chinese state, the Heirosoloan Archipelago had its own established internal politics. Dao was the largest island and its superior resources, including manpower, made it the dominant faction, with its rule enforced militarily over the surrounding islands. However, it was also the farthest island from the mainland. In 123 BCE, the surrounding islands united in opposition to Dao rule and, using their combined naval might, defeated the Daoi fleet in the Battle of Four Angry Navies. Following the sound defeat of the Daoi navy, the rebelling islands set up a permanent naval encirclement of Dao to prevent a Daoi reprisal, and established a new capital on the central island of Kaihua in the city of Gangkou, which had been a major trading port with the Chinese for decades.
However, with the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 CE trade between China and the Coalition government was disrupted. Without the steady income coming from the mainland, the Coalition faltered and Daoi rule was soon restored. As the romance of the three kingdoms played out on the mainland, the Heirosoloan archipelago was granted independence. With Dao back on the throne, sweeping reforms and centralization occurred within the Second Dao Dynasty, as the archipelago was turned from a loosely tied proto-state dependent on the Chinese to an independent, modern empire.
Emboldened by the continuing lack of Chinese interference in Heirosoloan politics, the Dao government began to send emissaries and trade fleets to fully explore the non-Chinese surroundings. Heirosoloa quickly established contact with states in the Japanese and Filipino Archipelagos, and on the Korean Peninsula. As Heirosoloa began to emerge from the shadow of China, the first Trade Dynasty was established, as Heirosoloan traders became a dominant influence from Japan to as for west as modern-day Vietnam. The first Expansion began as well, as Heirosoloan settlements were established on the nearby island of Formosa and in the Ryukyu Islands.
An emerging Japan soon presented a threat to Heirosoloan trade and co-dominance of the East China Sea with a re-emergent Tang China. Japanese and Heirosoloan fleets engaged in minor skirmishes numerous times, with no clear victor. The East China Sea was soon divided between an allied Japan and southern Korea and the combined forces of Tang China and Heirosoloa. During this period of "Cold War" known in Heirosoloa as the "War of Frozen Waters," Buddhism spread extensively throughout the Heirosoloan Archipelago from China, becoming one of the dominant religions within the islands.
The Frozen Waters period ended with the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the feudal era of Japan. Heirosoloa returned to peace with the rise of the Second Trade Dynasty that spread further southwards to interact with Malaysia and Indonesia. The Second Trade Dynasty gradually collapsed under increasing domestic pressure, as Heirosoloa succumbed to a period of intense civil war, known as the Red Seas period, between ever-shifting factions. Heirosoloan Formosa was also dragged into the wars, and was even briefly the dominant island. Throughout this era, the island were united multiple times against Mongol invasions, which failed repeatedly to maintain significant control over any of the islands. A major factor during the Red Seas period was control over trade with foreigners, as the islands fought over dominance of the trade routes to China, Japan, Korea, and the nations to the southwest.
As the Red Seas period came to a close, the Heirosoloan archipelago was again united, this time under joint rule by Dao and Kaihua. With the appearance of the Europeans and the massive Ming Chinese trade fleets dominating the seas, the Heirosoloan archipelago once again became a second-rate nation. Heirosoloa, for the most part, "piggy-backed" on the Chinese trade routes, battling for economic dominance in the markets of the Southeast Asian satellite states. Unlike China, however, Heirosoloa took the opportunity to begin modernizing their fleets with a fusion of Chinese, Arab, and European technologies, gradually giving the Heirosoloan fleets the advantage over the Chinese in smaller engagements.
Heirosoloan politics was soon flipped on its head, however, with the discovery of the Americas by the Chinese explorer Zheng He. Heirosoloan and Chinese trade fleets soon crossed the vast Pacific to establish remote colonies on the western coast of the new continent. These initial settlements were the beginnings of the Heirosoloan Colonial Empire, as the two East Asian powers, only vaguely aware of the Europeans establishing similar connections on the other side of the continent, consolidated their grasp over the western coast of America. While China quickly came to dominate the western coasts of Central and South America, it was Heirosoloa that grabbed North America, establishing settlements from the North Coast to San Diego BayOTL.
The East Asian states soon came into violent contact with European explorers, as the Chinese battled the Spanish for control of Latin America and the Heirosoloans negotiated with the Russians over control of Alaska and northern North America. In contrast with traditional China, that preferred its own technology to the then-superior European firearms and ships, the Heirosoloan Empire gladly took the Western technologies and improved upon them when possible. Heirosoloan Galleon-trade ship hybrids took gold and silver from the colonies back to the main islands, where they traded with European, mostly Dutch and French, merchants. Heirosoloan merchants had spices, silks, silver, and gold; while European traders carried guns and ships.
The Europeans were not content with just trading with the East Asian states, however. The early eighteenth century was marked by numerous conflicts between the Heirosoloans, sometimes allied with the Chinese, against European aggressors. Whereas the Chinese navies, which had failed to modernize, were soon routed by the European fleets, the Heirosoloans held their own in combat. As a result, the eighteenth century was marked by the complete dismantling of the Chinese Empire, as the American colonies took advantage of the weakened Chinese presence to establish their independence.
In contrast, Heirosoloa instead integrated the colonies further, granting them equal rights to any of the various islands and establishing the basis of the pro-self determination and anti-colonial stance of the Heirosoloan culture. However, as the Chinese collapsed they were replaced by an industrialized Japanese. The Heirosoloans watched in shame as their former allies collapsed, now friendless against the rising Japanese. Throughout the nineteenth century the Heirosoloans, surrounded on all sides, waged numerous minor wars against the Japanese. Control over the Ryukyu islands and trade routes with Chinese-America traded hands repeatedly, with the larger, better trained Heirosoloan navy able to avoid heavy losses against the better-equipped Japanese navy. With each engagement, however, the Japanese steadily gained the upper hand.
As the Heirosoloans continued to survive, alone, they also continued to modernize. The Imperial monarchy transitioned into a constitutional monarchy in the bloodless Liberty Revolution, using both the French and Chinese-American revolutions as precedent. Furthermore, Heirosoloans continued to improve upon the European designs, although they refused to allow Europeans to directly train the Heirosoloan armed forces. Recognized as a modern power and an equal by the Europeans, the Heirosoloans allied themselves with the Russians and the French, in opposition to the British and the Japanese.
Heirosoloan expansion peaked during the late nineteenth centuries, as colonies (referred to as satellite provinces) flourished in North America, northern Australia, and Formosa. Heirosoloa also used her colonial might to divvy up continents between herself and her allies, as the republic supported Russian colonization of Alaska and French colonization of Canada and eastern Australia and New Zealand.
The dawn of the twentieth century had the Heirosoloans co-dominant over the East China Sea with Japan, and maintaining territories on the western coast of North America, the northern coast of Australia, as well as on Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands. However, as Europe collapsed into chaos it threatened to drag the rest of the world with it. Nations began nervously double-checking their arsenals and consolidating their rule over their satellite states and colonies.
The explosion in Europe of the first Great War was chaotic and vastly confusing. Great Britain refused to assist France against German aggression despite declaring war on the German Reich, Italy and Spain declared themselves neutral, and Japan immediately took advantage of the situation to attempt to expand into the weaker Korean and Chinese states. Heirosoloan troops travelled across the world, fighting for the first time in Europe, to assist the Russians and the French against the Central Powers. Meanwhile, Heirosoloan fleets smashed into unsuspecting Japanese forces invading the unsuspecting Chinese and Korean, taking heavy losses in the process. Korea and Manchuria soon fell to the Japanese, despite Heirosoloan intervention, and Heirosoloa resorted to raiding Japanese trade routes and supply lines.
The Great War ended with a Heirosoloan-French force racing the English to Berlin at the same time that Russian forces began to slice through the Ottoman Empire and an exhausted Austro-Hungary collapsed upon itself. It was a pyrrhic victory for the Allied Forces, colloquially known as the "Non-Germans" because of the divisiveness of the allied front. Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Austro-Hungary were shattered. China and Korea were annexed by the Japanese, who were still technically at war with the Heirosoloans. The post-war era was almost as confusing as the war itself, as nations tried to sort out their alliances as they dusted themselves off and tried to return to the pre-war efficiency.
The tension in the world was palpable, as the furious victors squabbled over what to do with the former Central Powers. The tension nearly exploded with the Communist Revolution in Russia. Red forces swept through the nation and forced the "White" Army to small pockets of resistance. Veteran Heirosoloan troops soon landed in eastern Russia and began pummeling their way through the exhausted Red Army forces, re-taking control of the nation with assistance from France. In return for Heirosoloan-French support, the few remaining members of the Russian nobility pledged to bring democracy to the mighty Eurasian nation.
Heirosoloan forces were also stationed in China, acting as a stabilizing, pro-democracy force in an otherwise divided and anarchic nation cut up by numerous warlords. Heirosoloa troops were, most notably, stationed along the Chinese-Japanese border, deterring further Japanese expansion.
In what would be known as the "first shots of the second Great War," Spain was soon torn by its own civil war, between a failing republic and a rising fascist power. "Volunteers" from resurgent Germany, Italy, and North Africa clashed with Russian, French, Heirosoloan, and American forces dedicated to defending the republic. As it became clear that forces were evenly matched, Germany initiated a lightning strike against the low countries, pummeling through Belgium and Holland and nearing France. With the war in Spain at a standstill, the intervening nations stationed token forces in Iberia and focused on central Europe. Germany, assisted by the Italians, soon pierced the Maginot Line and flooded France. As Heirosoloa prepared to again send troops to Europe, she found herself in grave danger from the Imperial Japanese Army. Heirosoloan forces in China were soon overwhelmed and began to fall back, assisted by the Chinese. The IJN, at the same time, struck the Heirosoloan homeland. In one of the longest and bloodiest battles in the war, Heirosoloan forces barely managed to repel the Japanese navy, but with heavy casualties and extreme damage to infrastructure.
With the Heirosoloans fighting for their lives, the war in Europe was left to the Europeans. As combined allied forces began holding the Germans and Italians, and slowly pushing them back, Heirosoloans found themselves hard-pressed to defeat the Japanese. With both navies mostly obliterated in the initial engagement, the majority of the war was fought in China, where the superior Japanese infantry had the advantage. As the Japanese slowly pushed further into China, a dedicated Heir-Chinese force, assisted by guerrillas led by Mao Tse-tsung, fought extensively, with the front lines "vibrating" from how fast each nation pushed and was forced to retreat. Eventually, with the collapse of the Axis in Europe, Japan found itself surrounded. Heirosoloa to the south and east, Russia to the north, and allied forces closing in.
The tide turned extremely quickly on the Empire of the Rising Sun, and Japanese forces seemed to disintegrate on the mainland, as first China and then Korea were liberated by a multinational force. However, the exhausted allies were hesitant to invade the Japanese islands, which had been turned into a fortress unwilling to yield. As allied forces focused on rebuilding China and Korea, the heads of state met repeatedly to decide the plan of attack for Japan. Heirosoloa's fleeting control over the southern Ryukyu Islands was pivotal as allied forces moved from both the north and south. The Japanese, unable to rebuild their pre-war fleet quickly enough, were wide open to naval invasion.
The long, bloody Japanese campaign ended the Second Great War as allies made a slow push from all sides. Despite having lost significant numbers during the Chinese campaign, the Japanese managed to inflict large casualties on the Allied forces. Eventually, with the coalition in sight of Tokyo, Emperor Hirohito was forced to yield. The Japanese archipelago was divided between Heirosoloa, Korea, China, and Russia occupation zones and slowly rebuilt. Japan had exhausted itself as a nation, and its determination to fight to the last man was its ultimate downfall, as the former empire became entirely dependent on foreign assistance for reconstruction, and forced to cooperate with foreigners for decades afterwards.
Being so close to the main Eurasian continent, the Heirosoloan Archipelago was, for the majority of the Classical and Postclassical Eras, firmly under the thumb of the Chinese dynasties. While the archipelago was granted limited autonomy under the rule of a puppet regime, the archipelago was economically bound to its much larger neighbor who was, for many years, the sole foreign contact of the islands.
While still considered an extension of the Chinese state, the Heirosoloan Archipelago had its own established internal politics. Dao was the largest island and its superior resources, including manpower, made it the dominant faction, with its rule enforced militarily over the surrounding islands. However, it was also the farthest island from the mainland. In 123 BCE, the surrounding islands united in opposition to Dao rule and, using their combined naval might, defeated the Daoi fleet in the Battle of Four Angry Navies. Following the sound defeat of the Daoi navy, the rebelling islands set up a permanent naval encirclement of Dao to prevent a Daoi reprisal, and established a new capital on the central island of Kaihua in the city of Gangkou, which had been a major trading port with the Chinese for decades.
However, with the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 CE trade between China and the Coalition government was disrupted. Without the steady income coming from the mainland, the Coalition faltered and Daoi rule was soon restored. As the romance of the three kingdoms played out on the mainland, the Heirosoloan archipelago was granted independence. With Dao back on the throne, sweeping reforms and centralization occurred within the Second Dao Dynasty, as the archipelago was turned from a loosely tied proto-state dependent on the Chinese to an independent, modern empire.
Emboldened by the continuing lack of Chinese interference in Heirosoloan politics, the Dao government began to send emissaries and trade fleets to fully explore the non-Chinese surroundings. Heirosoloa quickly established contact with states in the Japanese and Filipino Archipelagos, and on the Korean Peninsula. As Heirosoloa began to emerge from the shadow of China, the first Trade Dynasty was established, as Heirosoloan traders became a dominant influence from Japan to as for west as modern-day Vietnam. The first Expansion began as well, as Heirosoloan settlements were established on the nearby island of Formosa and in the Ryukyu Islands.
An emerging Japan soon presented a threat to Heirosoloan trade and co-dominance of the East China Sea with a re-emergent Tang China. Japanese and Heirosoloan fleets engaged in minor skirmishes numerous times, with no clear victor. The East China Sea was soon divided between an allied Japan and southern Korea and the combined forces of Tang China and Heirosoloa. During this period of "Cold War" known in Heirosoloa as the "War of Frozen Waters," Buddhism spread extensively throughout the Heirosoloan Archipelago from China, becoming one of the dominant religions within the islands.
The Frozen Waters period ended with the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the feudal era of Japan. Heirosoloa returned to peace with the rise of the Second Trade Dynasty that spread further southwards to interact with Malaysia and Indonesia. The Second Trade Dynasty gradually collapsed under increasing domestic pressure, as Heirosoloa succumbed to a period of intense civil war, known as the Red Seas period, between ever-shifting factions. Heirosoloan Formosa was also dragged into the wars, and was even briefly the dominant island. Throughout this era, the island were united multiple times against Mongol invasions, which failed repeatedly to maintain significant control over any of the islands. A major factor during the Red Seas period was control over trade with foreigners, as the islands fought over dominance of the trade routes to China, Japan, Korea, and the nations to the southwest.
As the Red Seas period came to a close, the Heirosoloan archipelago was again united, this time under joint rule by Dao and Kaihua. With the appearance of the Europeans and the massive Ming Chinese trade fleets dominating the seas, the Heirosoloan archipelago once again became a second-rate nation. Heirosoloa, for the most part, "piggy-backed" on the Chinese trade routes, battling for economic dominance in the markets of the Southeast Asian satellite states. Unlike China, however, Heirosoloa took the opportunity to begin modernizing their fleets with a fusion of Chinese, Arab, and European technologies, gradually giving the Heirosoloan fleets the advantage over the Chinese in smaller engagements.
Heirosoloan politics was soon flipped on its head, however, with the discovery of the Americas by the Chinese explorer Zheng He. Heirosoloan and Chinese trade fleets soon crossed the vast Pacific to establish remote colonies on the western coast of the new continent. These initial settlements were the beginnings of the Heirosoloan Colonial Empire, as the two East Asian powers, only vaguely aware of the Europeans establishing similar connections on the other side of the continent, consolidated their grasp over the western coast of America. While China quickly came to dominate the western coasts of Central and South America, it was Heirosoloa that grabbed North America, establishing settlements from the North Coast to San Diego BayOTL.
The East Asian states soon came into violent contact with European explorers, as the Chinese battled the Spanish for control of Latin America and the Heirosoloans negotiated with the Russians over control of Alaska and northern North America. In contrast with traditional China, that preferred its own technology to the then-superior European firearms and ships, the Heirosoloan Empire gladly took the Western technologies and improved upon them when possible. Heirosoloan Galleon-trade ship hybrids took gold and silver from the colonies back to the main islands, where they traded with European, mostly Dutch and French, merchants. Heirosoloan merchants had spices, silks, silver, and gold; while European traders carried guns and ships.
The Europeans were not content with just trading with the East Asian states, however. The early eighteenth century was marked by numerous conflicts between the Heirosoloans, sometimes allied with the Chinese, against European aggressors. Whereas the Chinese navies, which had failed to modernize, were soon routed by the European fleets, the Heirosoloans held their own in combat. As a result, the eighteenth century was marked by the complete dismantling of the Chinese Empire, as the American colonies took advantage of the weakened Chinese presence to establish their independence.
In contrast, Heirosoloa instead integrated the colonies further, granting them equal rights to any of the various islands and establishing the basis of the pro-self determination and anti-colonial stance of the Heirosoloan culture. However, as the Chinese collapsed they were replaced by an industrialized Japanese. The Heirosoloans watched in shame as their former allies collapsed, now friendless against the rising Japanese. Throughout the nineteenth century the Heirosoloans, surrounded on all sides, waged numerous minor wars against the Japanese. Control over the Ryukyu islands and trade routes with Chinese-America traded hands repeatedly, with the larger, better trained Heirosoloan navy able to avoid heavy losses against the better-equipped Japanese navy. With each engagement, however, the Japanese steadily gained the upper hand.
As the Heirosoloans continued to survive, alone, they also continued to modernize. The Imperial monarchy transitioned into a constitutional monarchy in the bloodless Liberty Revolution, using both the French and Chinese-American revolutions as precedent. Furthermore, Heirosoloans continued to improve upon the European designs, although they refused to allow Europeans to directly train the Heirosoloan armed forces. Recognized as a modern power and an equal by the Europeans, the Heirosoloans allied themselves with the Russians and the French, in opposition to the British and the Japanese.
Heirosoloan expansion peaked during the late nineteenth centuries, as colonies (referred to as satellite provinces) flourished in North America, northern Australia, and Formosa. Heirosoloa also used her colonial might to divvy up continents between herself and her allies, as the republic supported Russian colonization of Alaska and French colonization of Canada and eastern Australia and New Zealand.
The dawn of the twentieth century had the Heirosoloans co-dominant over the East China Sea with Japan, and maintaining territories on the western coast of North America, the northern coast of Australia, as well as on Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands. However, as Europe collapsed into chaos it threatened to drag the rest of the world with it. Nations began nervously double-checking their arsenals and consolidating their rule over their satellite states and colonies.
The explosion in Europe of the first Great War was chaotic and vastly confusing. Great Britain refused to assist France against German aggression despite declaring war on the German Reich, Italy and Spain declared themselves neutral, and Japan immediately took advantage of the situation to attempt to expand into the weaker Korean and Chinese states. Heirosoloan troops travelled across the world, fighting for the first time in Europe, to assist the Russians and the French against the Central Powers. Meanwhile, Heirosoloan fleets smashed into unsuspecting Japanese forces invading the unsuspecting Chinese and Korean, taking heavy losses in the process. Korea and Manchuria soon fell to the Japanese, despite Heirosoloan intervention, and Heirosoloa resorted to raiding Japanese trade routes and supply lines.
The Great War ended with a Heirosoloan-French force racing the English to Berlin at the same time that Russian forces began to slice through the Ottoman Empire and an exhausted Austro-Hungary collapsed upon itself. It was a pyrrhic victory for the Allied Forces, colloquially known as the "Non-Germans" because of the divisiveness of the allied front. Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Austro-Hungary were shattered. China and Korea were annexed by the Japanese, who were still technically at war with the Heirosoloans. The post-war era was almost as confusing as the war itself, as nations tried to sort out their alliances as they dusted themselves off and tried to return to the pre-war efficiency.
The tension in the world was palpable, as the furious victors squabbled over what to do with the former Central Powers. The tension nearly exploded with the Communist Revolution in Russia. Red forces swept through the nation and forced the "White" Army to small pockets of resistance. Veteran Heirosoloan troops soon landed in eastern Russia and began pummeling their way through the exhausted Red Army forces, re-taking control of the nation with assistance from France. In return for Heirosoloan-French support, the few remaining members of the Russian nobility pledged to bring democracy to the mighty Eurasian nation.
Heirosoloan forces were also stationed in China, acting as a stabilizing, pro-democracy force in an otherwise divided and anarchic nation cut up by numerous warlords. Heirosoloa troops were, most notably, stationed along the Chinese-Japanese border, deterring further Japanese expansion.
In what would be known as the "first shots of the second Great War," Spain was soon torn by its own civil war, between a failing republic and a rising fascist power. "Volunteers" from resurgent Germany, Italy, and North Africa clashed with Russian, French, Heirosoloan, and American forces dedicated to defending the republic. As it became clear that forces were evenly matched, Germany initiated a lightning strike against the low countries, pummeling through Belgium and Holland and nearing France. With the war in Spain at a standstill, the intervening nations stationed token forces in Iberia and focused on central Europe. Germany, assisted by the Italians, soon pierced the Maginot Line and flooded France. As Heirosoloa prepared to again send troops to Europe, she found herself in grave danger from the Imperial Japanese Army. Heirosoloan forces in China were soon overwhelmed and began to fall back, assisted by the Chinese. The IJN, at the same time, struck the Heirosoloan homeland. In one of the longest and bloodiest battles in the war, Heirosoloan forces barely managed to repel the Japanese navy, but with heavy casualties and extreme damage to infrastructure.
With the Heirosoloans fighting for their lives, the war in Europe was left to the Europeans. As combined allied forces began holding the Germans and Italians, and slowly pushing them back, Heirosoloans found themselves hard-pressed to defeat the Japanese. With both navies mostly obliterated in the initial engagement, the majority of the war was fought in China, where the superior Japanese infantry had the advantage. As the Japanese slowly pushed further into China, a dedicated Heir-Chinese force, assisted by guerrillas led by Mao Tse-tsung, fought extensively, with the front lines "vibrating" from how fast each nation pushed and was forced to retreat. Eventually, with the collapse of the Axis in Europe, Japan found itself surrounded. Heirosoloa to the south and east, Russia to the north, and allied forces closing in.
The tide turned extremely quickly on the Empire of the Rising Sun, and Japanese forces seemed to disintegrate on the mainland, as first China and then Korea were liberated by a multinational force. However, the exhausted allies were hesitant to invade the Japanese islands, which had been turned into a fortress unwilling to yield. As allied forces focused on rebuilding China and Korea, the heads of state met repeatedly to decide the plan of attack for Japan. Heirosoloa's fleeting control over the southern Ryukyu Islands was pivotal as allied forces moved from both the north and south. The Japanese, unable to rebuild their pre-war fleet quickly enough, were wide open to naval invasion.
The long, bloody Japanese campaign ended the Second Great War as allies made a slow push from all sides. Despite having lost significant numbers during the Chinese campaign, the Japanese managed to inflict large casualties on the Allied forces. Eventually, with the coalition in sight of Tokyo, Emperor Hirohito was forced to yield. The Japanese archipelago was divided between Heirosoloa, Korea, China, and Russia occupation zones and slowly rebuilt. Japan had exhausted itself as a nation, and its determination to fight to the last man was its ultimate downfall, as the former empire became entirely dependent on foreign assistance for reconstruction, and forced to cooperate with foreigners for decades afterwards.
