It was said that when the dust finally settled all the way in 1927, at the end of the Second Oster War, that nearly 5 million men had lost their lives. I do not believe these figures, because they only show the poor men sent to fight. The cost of civilian lives caught in the crossfire between the dominant powers of Gael number well past 10 million, maybe even close to 20. When reflecting on these years, we can only describe it as the most dramatic tragedy ever played on the world stage ...
The Great Gael War
Welcome one and all! This is the Great Gael War, a new pet-project of mine that intends to finally fill the hole that is World War One!
Now I bet you're wondering "Why a Great War in Gael? I thought Gael was super peaceful?", and yeah (mostly). Modern Gael is the most peaceful sub-region of TWI, but this peace typically if not always comes from a source of great tragedy, and this is meant to be it. How did I come to this conclusion? Well as I was (shameless plug) writing my modern history, I recalled a point made by Oste on the Gael Historical Collaboration Thread to the following effect
When Verdon invaded, Dormill and Stiura saw this as an opportunity to both block Verdonian expansion in the area and gain more influence for itself. Dormill and Stiura therefore invaded as well, from the opposite direction, in an attempt to disrupt the Verdonian advancement. That was one of the reasons (beside a prolonged war) that Verdon couldn't advance further to north Ostehaar, and had to sign a truce, occupying the south-eastern areas. The south-western areas then remained under the control of Dormill and Stiura. In the 1920's, when Ostehaar liberated the southern areas - it liberated all of them and drove out both Verdon and Dormill and Stiura.
In between (1890's - 1920's), the Verdonian-D&S frontline was practically a "no man's land" and an attrition war was fought there, on-and-off. During WWI, Dormill and Stiura fought Verdon along that frontline, but no significant advancements were made.
So, put two and two together and I decided that why not blend WW1 with this conflict Verdon and I would have over Southern Ostehaar, thus the seeds of the Great Gael War were planted. Soon after I figured that out, I realized something else, that Verdon and I at that time had massive empires, and equally large spheres of influence throughout the eastern half of TWI.
This is where I want to start the discussion, with a timeline of possible events:
- 1893: Verdon Invades Ostehaar by sea, catching the young nation off-guard and undefended. A brief battle opens up nearly all of Southern Ostehaar to Verdonian conquest.
- 1894: Dormill and Stiura, seeing the invasion as an open invitation to follow suit, invades Ostehaar and forms a three-way front between itself, the Osters, and the Verdonians.
- 1895: The Treaty of Sertomir and the Treaty of Waalwijk are signed establishing Verdonian and Republican zones of control in Ostehaar respectively, no treaty is signed between the United Republics and Verdon, starting an unspoken war between the two over makeshift trenches.
- 1901: The Peace of Rio Pena effectively ends Dormill-Stiuraian dominion over eastern Argus, this devastating political defeat drives President Nicholas Favre to double his efforts against Verdonian occupied Ostehaar, to little avail as the nation lacks the finances to start another war as soon as the last one.
- 1905: The Canal War begins, with Dormill and Stiura fighting Wellsia for control over the South Argus Canal. Verdon (likely) intervenes in the favor of Wellsia, forcing the Dormill-Stiuraians to focus their efforts in Gael rather than in Argus, eventually resulting in yet another peace.
- 1908: Revolution stirs in Dormill and Stiura as President Favre tries everything he can to assert the power of Dormill and Stiura, and again initiates new operations in Ostehaar to much the same lack of success as before, this however pushes the Verdonians far enough to declare war on Dormill and Stiura soon afterwards.
- 1909: The Great Gael War begins in earnest in the early days of the spring, with offensives by Dormill and Stiura in both Ostehaar and Verdonian lands somewhere that would be defined as its 'mainland'.
- September, 1909: The Revolution against Favre begins, causing turmoil along the Dormill-Stiuraian lines, little progress is made by the Republicans over the winter as Verdon reinforces itself in better positions.
- 1910: Dieudonne Blaise is elected President, and chooses to prosecute the war further, this is when the allies of both sides of the war become involved.
- 1911: Another year of war yields nothing but more dead men, only one operation of note takes place over the summer by the Verdonians in an attempt to break a Dormill-Stiuraian salient.
- 1913: Two years come and go, the situation in Ostehaar has turned to the advantage of Verdon while the Verdonian heartland are coming under the bombing sights of Dormill and Stiura's new air force.
- 1915: With even less movement on the front, the two sides begin to consider peace, and talks begin in the presence of a ceasefire.
- 1925: By now, although no permanent peace has been reached, the ceasefire between the two sides of the Great Gael War has held for 10 years, rendering the war over in all but name. Later on, just before the Second Oster War begins, a new round of talks gains significant ground, but its members are killed by Osters disguised as each other's bodyguards, beginning the Second Oster War.
- 1927: After significant losses on all three sides, a permanent peace of status quo ante bellum is adopted, restoring the borders of Ostehaar and Verdon, additionally levying reparations from both Verdon and Dormill and Stiura to Ostehaar. Separate settlements are made between the allies of the three powers are made through 1930.
And now, I leave things to the rest of Gael. What do you think of this? What do you want to do with this? Let me know and we can work on some very good history.
Thanks for reading!
- Dormill
