The Conoilithian Civil War

The Conoilithian Civil War was a war fought in the Conoilithian Empire between the years 2687 to 2689, in the aftermath of the First Conoilithian Revolution. Fought on an enormous scale throughout the empire's entirety, the Conoilithian Civil War was the most devestating conflict to ever be fought on Conoilithian soil, with many millions of deaths from combat, collateral damage, war crimes, starvation and illness.

THE CONOILITHIAN PUBLIC ARMY
The Conoilithian Public Army was the name given to the military of the Conoilithian Public, the revolutionary state headed by the Fraternity during the civil war. It was made up of two main groups, the Peasants and Citizens' Militia and the Capital Army.

The Peasants and Citizens' Militia
The Peasants and Citizens' Militia was the military branch of the Fraternity, founded and raised in the years leading up to the First Conoilithian Revolution.

The Capital Army
The Capital Army was made up of the Imperial Conoilithian Army regiments which deserted and went rogue during the revolution. Although they served the Conoilithian Public, as they needed weapons and supplies from them in order to maintain themselves, their intentions were almost always self-serving, and they would break off from the Conoilithian Public Army if the situation demanded them to do so. As the only professionally trained and equipped force of the Public Army, the Capital Army were the best of the revolutionary forces.

THE CONOILITHIAN PACIFICATION CAMPAIGN
The Conoilithian Pacification Campaign was the name given to the movement involving the Imperial Conoilithian Army, Imperial Conoilithian Navy and the Conoilithian nobility to restore the imperial family and Imperial Diet to power, and destroy the revolution.

The Imperial Conoilithian Army
The Imperial Conoilithian Army was the main land force of the Conoilithian Pacification Campaign. Well-trained, well-equipped and experienced compared to the Peasants and Citizens' Militia, and many times more numerous than the Capital Army, the Imperial Army far outclassed the Conoilithian Public Army in all regards.

MERCENARY TOWNS
In the chaos of the Conoilithian Civil War, some towns broke off forming their own independent city-states, with local garrisons and militias being transformed into mercenary armies. In order to survive, these towns offered their services to both sides of the war, fighting for either the revolutionaries or the Imperial Army, sometimes swapping sides. Usually these mercenary-towns were fortified cities that had their own sizeable and well-armed garrison, which would be able to keep them from being absorbed by one of the two larger belligerents.

BACKGROUND
In 2687, following growing discontent, the Conoilithian imperial government in the capital of Ankorien ān Riarond was overthrown during the First Conoilithian Revolution, and the Imperial Family, along with many officials, were massacred by the Peasants and Citizens' Militia. The Capital Army had defected to the side of the rebels during the revolution, and together with the militia, formed the Conoilithian Public Army that autumn. When news of this had spread throughout the Conoilithian Empire, many more revolts and uprisings broke out through Conoilithian cities; some succeeded and became territory of the new revolutionary Conoilithian Public, and others were put down with force by local garrisons. The Conoilithian nobility and the Imperial Conoilithian Army immediately began making preparations to crush the revolution and reinstall the imperial government, and during the Azeranen Conference in the winter of 2687, the Conoilithian Pacification Campaign was planned and announced. On the same day, the Public Army captured the fortified town of Rikkor, seizing weapons, including muskets and cannon from the garrison armoury, and adding the town's population to their cause.

Led by Lord Marshal Arcon of Azeranen, the Imperial Army and also troops raised by the nobles were mobilised, and by the end of the year amassed a force numbering over 56,000 men. The Public Army, on the other hand, had only around 48,000 men, although their numbers were increasing as the Fraternity, the revolutionary government, spurred recruitment efforts.

Einanen Campaign
The mining city of Einanen, where much of the steel used for the Imperial Army's weapons and equipment was produced, had been one of the first towns to proclaim itself as territory of the Conoilithian Public. As it was crucial for the war effort, Lord Marshal Arcon prioritised its recapture, and before the end of the year, a force of 6 regiments of Imperial Army troops were advancing towards it. Imperial Army columns were subject to frequent ambushes as they travelled along the roads to Einanen; however, they didn't suffer severe losses from these, and continued to approach the city. On the last day of the year, Public Army units in the city made the grave mistake of attempting to stop the Imperial Army regiments in the field. At the Battle of Einanen, held outside the city, the comparatively poorly trained, disciplined and equipped Public Army troops were overwhelmed and completely destroyed by the Imperial Army, as their lines broke when faced by a charge of pikes after a volley of musket fire.

The Einanen Campaign ended quickly, as the Imperial Army soon assaulted the almost completely undefended city. The Einanen militia was annihilated, and the mines, along with all the forges and armouries in the city, were recaptured. However, having almost wiped out the working male population of Einanen during the battle and also the taking of Einanen, the Imperial Army was faced with a new problem; they had nobody to work in the mines or make weapons for them, making the Einanen Campaign a frustrating victory; although they had recaptured the city, they were unable to use the resources and infrastructure within. Desperate, the Imperial Army resorted to forcing thousands of civilians, including women and children, into working in the mines, using their own armourers to try and teach troops or civilians how to produce weapons. The new equipment produced was of a markably lower quality, however, and the whole endeavour ended in failure.

The Liberation of the West
On the same day Einanen was recaptured by Imperial Army forces, the revolutionary government in Ankorien ān RIarond declared their plan to 'liberate the west'; a massive campaign undertaken by the Public Army to put the entirety of western Conoilith under the Conoilithian Public. The Public Army spent the rest of the winter preparing and increasing its numbers for the campaign, raising their number to 53,000 men at the beginning of spring; the vast majority of these were poorly trained and equipped militia. Lord Marshal Arcon had wanted to march the entire Imperial Army westwards through the winter and destroy the rebels while they were still preparing, despite there being forecasts for blizzards in the region; however, his generals objected, citing the terrible conditions and the need for their troops to rest and resupply over the winter. In Einanen, extortive taxes were levied on the local population in order to pay for the Imperial Army's troops, supplies and the new weapons they were producing; families who could not pay within a certain period of time had their males press-ganged into service as either labourers or militia.

By the time winter ended, both armies were ready for combat. The Public Army moved out from their powerbases, capturing the majority of the cities which were labelled as objectives by the end of summer. Surprisingly, the revolutionary forces did not capture this territory through Phyrric victories; General Elein, the commanding officer of the Capital Army, made extensive use of agents and propaganda to infiltrate cities and strategically important countryside communities, in order to incite rebellion against the Imperial Army among the locals, or even convince the entire settlement to defect without a fight. Most iconically, at the Battle of Pulcrond, which controlled much of the Conrond river, Elein's spies and propagandists had successfully made the city found its own secret revolutionary militia. When Public Army troops began laying siege to the city, one half of the Imperial Army garrison sent to the city walls were ambushed in the streets by the militia, and the other half of the garrison defected completely, helping the militia subdue the imperial troops, firing cannons meant to defend the city citadel at the governor's palace, and opening the gates to let in the Public Army.

As a result, the Public Army had achieved most of their goals with less casualties than expected, and General Elein was praised for this, gaining the Capital Army prestige and influence; very few of the cities were captured by the Peasants and Citizens' Militia alone without some sort of control from the Capital Army.

This reached the ears of Peasants and Citizens' Militia war leaders, who were worried that General Elein and the Capital Army would use their newfound power to launch a coup and turn their captured territory into a warlord clique. On the last day of summer, militia leader Krālulf Krālkor secretly went to convince the Fraternity that General Elein was a threat to the revolution. The next day, when he returned to Ankorien ān Riarond on leave, General Elein was placed under house arrest and official command of the Capital Army was transferred to Krālkor, who chose one of Elein's rivals to command the Capital Army in the field. This severely damaged relationships between the Capital Army and the militia, and the revolutionary government as a whole.

Imperial Counterattack
By now autumn had arrived in the Conoilithian Empire, and much of the revolutionary militia took leave in order to bring in the autumn harvest. Fully aware of this, and how it would decrease the number of troops he had to face, Lord Marshal Arcon launched his major counteroffensive. Throughout the summer, the Imperial Army had consolidated its position, establishing their forces in the eastern half of Conoilith, while sending a handful of regiments to recapture territory bit by bit. Militiamen conscripted earlier had completed their training to a satisfactory standard, and Arcon had amassed a massive stockpile of pikes, and ammunition for his musketeers and cannons.

A week before the 2nd month of autumn, when most of the revolutionary troops had arrived home and begun gathering the harvest proper, the Imperial Army launched its counterattack. Arcon advanced his forces westwards in 3 prongs; the 1st and 2nd Legions moved along the centre, the 2nd and 3rd in the north, and the 4th in the south. All together, these legions amassed just under 50,000 men, as their numbers were thoroughly bolstered by conscript militias. Another reserve force, the 5th Legion, was moving further behind in the centre, while the 6th Legion maintained the Imperial Army's holdings in the east.

The Imperial Army's advance went as planned, advancing quickly and facing little resistance. Rebel forces could not be mustered fast enough in sufficient numbers, and they lost much of their recently captured territory. For the settlements which willingly defected to the rebel side, Arcon's retribution was swift and merciless. The ones which were more fortunate had their populations forced into working for the imperial war effort, and had to pay exorbitant taxes in money and food. The less fortunate cities and towns were completely sacked as 'punishment', and the Imperial Army left dozens of villages burnt to the ground in their wake as an example to other settlements.

WAR CRIMES
The Conoilithian Civil War was forever made infamous by the acts of wholesale brutality committed by all sides throughout its course. Revolutionary and Imperial Army commanders both made intense use of press-ganging, in order to bolster their forces with more much-needed manpower. The methods practiced by some units of the revolutionary army, which grew increasingly desperate towards the end of the war, were especially brutal. Public Army militiamen would often kidnap any male between the ages of 15 to 60 from their homes, subjecting to abuse their families and other civilians if resistance was shown.

'They were not treated as fellow man, as the Brotherhood had declared all citizens ought to be when the Imperial Palace was seized in the glorious revolution; they were treated as animals, driven off on the march like cattle,' an unknown chronicler from Ankorien ān Riarond wrote in 2689, on the subject of men being press-ganged into service.

Due to the collapse of the Conoilithian Empire's economy, both the Public Army and the Imperial Army struggled at many times to properly pay their troops; as a result, a vast majority of soldiers turned to looting. Discipline was better-kept in the Capital and Imperial armies, but the militia were notorious for stealing from the civilian populace in cities and villages captured, especially members of the upper class, who would often be massacred and their possessions and wealth redistributed among militiamen. The participation of mercenary units in looting would often vary depending on how well they were paid, from reasonably well-behaved if they were paid fairly, to being some of the most savage perpetrators of war crimes if they fell on hard times.

Although they did not participate in as much looting as Public Army and mercenary forces, the Imperial Army under the command of Lord Marshal Arcon was notorious for committing massacres in retribution for revolutionary activity. At the very beginning of the Civil War, after news that the Imperial Family had been captured and murdered by revolutionaries reached Azeranen, Arcon had ordered for all political dissidents in the city - both confirmed and suspected - rounded up by the local garrison and dragged through the streets behind horses, where they would be constantly beaten and harassed by Imperial Army soldiers along the way. After this treatment went on for 2 hours, the prisoners were then beheaded in the city square, and their remains were thrown into the harbour; this was a massive breach of the usual Conoilithian custom of executing criminals by hanging, and then cremating the corpses.