The Prince Régent made his way to the window and smiled. He moved over to the glass doors that lead out to the balcony and opened the doors and stepped out onto the balcony. He waved his hand and the balcony was completely light up by flood lights. He smiled and waved his hand. Below him the troops saw him and bursted into cheerful cries. They all yelled.
"Viva le Prince Régent!"
He continued to wave, but said nothing. There was nothing to be said. They were going to war, or rather they were fighting an undeclared conflict. And he was determined to win.
The year is 2073 and the Celestial Empire of Derita is on the path to war.
Derita
In Derita, the nation is ruled by André, the Prince Régent of the Celestial Empire, serving on behalf of his father King-Emperor Christopher II. Around him served the Régency Council, lead by Prime Minister Variés. While Derita prospers and continues to act as the superpower in the region under the Volonté Dynasty and their Hegemony over the rest of the world that has so far lasted seven decades. The King-Emperor has lead the nation through three great wars, though never declaring war official, finding victory in all of them, the Nine Years War (2020-2029), War of Spanish Succession (2023-2029) and the Great Northern War (2049-2052). With the end of this last war, the King-Emperor has imposed on the world, a period of relative peace for the last twenty one years, with only three minor wars being fought between only two nations, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Spanish-Dutch Wars that lasted from 2063 to 2064, 2067, and 2067 to 2068 respectively. Despite his military genius, the King-Emperor has taken the role of peacekeeper for the last forty years, acting only to preserve the peace that he has worked so hard to create. As if to contrast his father, the Crown Prince of Derita, named André has made himself a military man. Joining the Amperiale Army in 2055, he became a General the next year and won a stunning victory in the brief peacekeeping conflict, the Spanish Campaign of 2056 and lead Deritain Expeditionary Forces to victory in 2064 to save the Empress of Dutch, Anna Charlotte during the Battle of the Royal Palace. Closest to the Crown Prince is his friend and cousin, the Duke of Angoulême, Marshal of Derita and leader of the Amperiale Army. At the side of the King-Emperor is the peacekeeper Prime Minister Magnus Variés. For the last six years, since Variés became Prime Minister, the four men, two old and two young, have held the empire and the world in peace with a dominating military force acting as a sleeping dragon. Now, that careful balance is collapsing. With the absence of the King-Emperor, for he has left for his new extrasolar colony of Andoraan with a team of colonists, construct workers, architects, artists, sculptors, authors, astronauts, scientists and engineers to oversee the construction of his new colony. To lead the government, he has placed his son and heir as Regent of the Empire. Prince Régent André has already made a splash as he has relied more on the Duke of Angoulême rather than Lord Variés. Despite the Régency Council put in place to help govern the nation, the Prince Régent has taken power for himself, leading the empire like that of his father, as an absolute monarch.
But this has proven perhaps a dangerous move.
Dutch-Empire
Meanwhile, as the sleeping dragon of Derita has sat on their golden throne ruling the world, a small nation to the north has been growing, rapidly becoming the Sixth Empire on the continent. The Dutch-Empire.
In 2059, with the death of King Willem-Alexander II, the rise and fall of Queen Marie and the arrival of Empress Anna Charlotte say the rise of the Royal House of Wessex take power in the Dutch-Empire. Under Empress Anna Charlotte and her family, the Dutch-Empire had seen many changes and progression. A proud woman, she has taken the symbol of the Golden Rose, her power growing ever strong as she stood strong against Charles II of Espana in his attack against her capital in Amsterdam, only to be saved by Crown Prince André during the Battle of the Royal Palace (2064).
Fighting two more wars against her Archenemies Charles the Mad King and Marie of Wied (former Queen of the Dutch-Empire), she rooted herself deeply in her empire and propped herself up as the Golden Rose of the Dutch Empire, beautiful in her petals and deadly and protective with her thorns. In 2067, she finally defeated her enemies, sending Marie of Wied fleeing to the Dutch East Indies and then to Portugal and then seeing her outlive the villainous King Charles II who died of a heart attack.
Encouraged by her victory, Empress Anna Charlotte moved forward, attaching Espana and overthrowing her husband's nephew, Charles III and helping to place her husband on the throne as King Henrique II, united the Dutch Empire with that of the Royal Republics of Espana. While at first seen as usurpers, which they were, Anna Charlotte and Henrique II as both monarchs in their own right, have finally reached a state of peace and stability. Under the Dutch Prime Minister, war hero and former general, Augustus Aucgate the Dutch Empire has reached an impressive size, conquering the Gran Colombiana Canal and reconquering the Dutch East Indies. But with the progressive and imperialistic views of the growing Dutch-Empire, the Sixth Empire on the continent has become at odds with Derita, the Celestial and First Empire on the continent.
Crisis to Conflict
Shortly after André became Prince Régent of the Empire, Anna Charlotte invited André to Amsterdam, who promptly refused. Insulted by the Prince Régent's rude refusal to visit, the Empress demanded he visit and again the Prince Régent refused. Infuriated by her rudeness and arrogance, André reminded her of the fact that he is the acting monarch of the Celestial Empire. Seeing this as a threat, Anna Charlotte reminded the Prince Régent and the world that she was a descendant of Emperor Antoine of Derita, who was made to abdicate in 1899 for his younger brother Kenyatta of Derita, ancestor of Christopher II and André and that it was her father who was the rightful Emperor of Derita as the eldest most direct descendant of Allan the Great of Derita.
This claimant of the Deritain throne suddenly made Anna Charlotte and the House of Wessex a threat to the Volonté Dynasty and the Prince Régent.
With the fuel set for fighting ready, all that was needed was a match, and that match came in the form of Beliany. A small country acting as a buffer between Derita and the Dutch-Empire, Beliany began a search for a new monarch. The situation was made worse when Anna Charlotte, seizing an opportunity, placed her son, Prince Henry, on the vacant throne of Beliany. Crowned in the port city of Adelaide as Henry III of Beliany, the eighteen year old king was clearly seen as a puppet of his mother and quickly challenged by the Duke of Angoulême. Ordered by the Prince Régent, the Duke invaded Beliany and soon took the southern half of the country and was declared Louis I, King of Beliany.
Ongoing Conflict
The conflict, named the Régency War by the Deritain press, started with the Battle of Uss, a dangerous and deadly battle which ended in a stalemate. As the Amperiale Armed Forces look to cross the Uss River, prevented to do so by the Dutch Army, in Espana their king has declared support for the Dutch and their longtime prime minister, Dante Pantellria resigns in protest. Could this lead to a two front war? Now the world looks to see what will happened.
18 April 2073:
•Prince Henry of the Dutch-Empire is declared Henry III of Beliany
•Adelaide is Occupied by Dutch Forces
19 April 2073:
•Louis Antoine II, Duke of Angoulême invades Beliany under the Prince Régent's orders
•Magnus Variés, Prime Minister of Derita gives a speech defending the invasion of Beliany
•The Duke of Angoulême is declared Louis I of Beliany
20 April 2073:
•Battle of the Uss begins on the eastern banks of the Uss River
•Battle of the Uss ends in a stalemate
•Dutch Army retreats west of the Uss River
•Henrique II, King of Espana orders a Declaration of Support for the Dutch Government
•The 3rd Army of Espana is Mobilized in Northern Espana
•The 4th Army of Espana is mobilized in Northern Espana
•The 9th Army of Espana is mobilized in Northern Espana
21 April 2073
•Dante Pantellria resigns as Prime Minister of Espana in protest of the conflict
•Galvan Armendáriz replaces Pantellria as Prime Minister of Espana
2 May 2073
•The Duke of Angoulême's army arrives in Doisburg
•Baron de Aalst gives his "Royal Choice Speech" in Bleugate
3 May 2073
•Lord Jeremy leads troops in Osteend
•Battle of Hofstade begins
•Battle of Osteend begins
•Battles of Hofstade and Osteend end
5 May 2073
•Battle of Doisburg begins
6 May 2073
•Battle of Doisburg ends
•Prince Henry flees Tervuren
7 May 2073
•Prince Henry is captured in Saint-Pierre
•The Duke of Angoulême is coronated as King Louis I
8 June 2073
•Viscovian Fleet is launched into the North Atlantic
9 June 2073
•King Louis I calls for a National Assembly
•Battle of the North Sea begins
•Viscovian assualt on Nieuwedge
•Battle of the Panama Canal begins
Battle of the Uss
Location: Eastern Bank of the Uss River at Kentaykee
Causalities:605 injured
Deaths:221
Duration: 5:54 am - 12:06pm 20 April 2073 (6 hours 12 minutes)
Result: Stalemate
Battle of Hofstade
Location: Hofstade, Beliany
Causalities: 333
Deaths: 165
Duration: 6:43 pm - 7:03 pm 3 May 2073 (20 minutes)
Result: Deritain Victory
Battle of Osteend
Location: Osteend, Beliany
Causalities: 505
Deaths: 196
Duration: 5:15 pm - 7:50 pm 3 May 2073 (3 hours 35 minutes)
Result: Viscovian Victory
Battle of Doisburg
Location: Doisburg, Beliany
Causalities:249
Deaths: 1,977
Duration: 12:05 pm 5 May - 6:23 am 6 May 2073 (18 hours 18 minutes)
Result:Deritain Victory
Battle of the North Sea
Location: North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean
Causalities: 16,826
Deaths: 10,280
Duration: 11:37 am 9 June - 6:36 pm 13 June 2073 (4 days 7 hours 59 minutes)
Result: Dutch Victory
Battle of the Panama Canal
Location: Panama, Derita
Causalities: 62
Deaths: 10
Duration: 11:09 pm 9 June - 10:29am 10 June 2073 (11 hours 20 minutes)
Result: Dutch Victory
Battle of Bruges
Location: Niuewedge and Bruges
Causalities:96,210
Deaths: 71,266
Duration: 6:45 am - 1:37 pm 11 June 2073 (5 hours 8 minutes)
Result:Dutch Victory
Battle of the Stars
Location: Orbit
Causalities: 10
Deaths: 0
Duration: 11 June - 13 June 2073 (2 days)
Result:Stalemate
Derita
Dutch-Empire