50 Years Civil War

War / Conflict

Written by Fulma02

Introduction

The 50 Years' Civil War (349–201 BCE) was one of the last military conflicts involving the Mosran Empire. It started up as a series of political and military coups in the Mosran-controlled northern states against occupying forces from Mosra. Initially, no side was recognized to have officially won the civil war but nevertheless, the conflict was resolved and concluded with a peace treaty that forced the Mosrans to end their control over the Northern states.

Background

Before the war, King Zangane II, the ruling king at that time, had led a military mobilization to the northern states for almost ten weeks. A build-up of tensions started in mid 350 BCE, with both King Zangane II and his military commanders negating to back down, however, to the outbreak of civil war. Eventually, Zangane's commanders and his allies attempted to soft-soap the Mosran Senate to demand Zangane approve an end of Mosran military presence in the northern states. Zangane refused and instead marched on the north.

Process

The war was a fifty-year-long civil and military struggle, battled in the lands of Tuals, Oorstan, and Feenikoiz. The Tuals defeated a portion of Zangane's army in 341 BCE at the Battle of Hakia, but were defeated themselves at the Battle of Savalas by Mosran soldiers toughened with Armataran volunteers. Many former Tualsers, surrendered after numerous decisive battles, while others, fought on. Many Tualser divisions fled to neighboring Oorstan, where they were strengthened by a more experienced Oorstanian army. Zangane's army interfered and directed multiple plans to exterminate any escaping Tualser soldiers and deter them from regrouping. Nonetheless, the plans were inefficient and the Mosrans were confronted with no choice but to fight a more capable force. During the first confrontations with Oorstanian forces, Zangane's forces assigned soldiers to cross into Feenikoiz territory, ignoring the neutral condition of the country. Nevertheless, Mosran soldiers began crossing into southern Feenikoiz territory before attacking Oorstanian forces head-on, where the Mosrans were defeated in 336 BC at numerous battles. Two Mosran commanders leading the aforementioned attack committed suicide shortly thereafter. In the following years, Zangane overpowered the last of the Tualsers alongside his former commanders in the Battle of Mutar. Receiving news from messengers that Mosran forces have indiscriminately crossed into Feenikoiz territory, in 335 BCE, the king of Feenikoiz proclaimed that his country will be engaging in the conflict, which attracted the Irystonystans to do the same as well. This news frightened Zangane II. And as a result, Zangane urged assistance from neighboring countries but his request was immediately dismissed. After Zangane's request was dismissed, and following his death in battle in 335 BCE, the Mosran military's structure started to fracture. With the demise of Zangane, and that of his daughter in 334 BC, the balance of power between the northern coalition and the Mosrans collapsed, and "a stalemate between [the two] may, therefore, have seemed inevitable". From that year on, the conflict continued via battles fought by offshoots of the main faction, but the rise of anarchic political violence and deliberate killings of civilians from 305–302 BCE finally pushed the Mosran Senate to offer a truce with the Northern Coalition to restore order which ultimately ended the war altogether for both sides.

Zangane's Death

Zangane's mysterious death during the civil war, along with his de facto and likely indefinite monarchical rule, led to a theory and hypothesis which was directed to the aforementioned military commanders that opposed Zangane's mobilization to the Northern states in 349 BCE. It is suspected that these commanders were conspirators who had rendered excellent service during the civil wars, and were very close to Zangane personally. These unique relationships proved vital for the conspirator's agenda to murder Zangane.

Aftermath

Some scholars view the civil war as the inciting event for the eventual collapse of the Second Mosran Empire. From this perspective, the civil war – triggered by miscalculation rather than techniques – caused the collapse of the Empire by setting into motion a long-term disruption of functioning Mosraic political culture. The crumbling power of Mosra led to various other previously controlled Mosran states (including the Pagan states in the west) to initiate their civil wars.