The Grand Campaign

The Grand Campaign/The Great War
The Grand Campaign, also known as "The Great War" or the "Human Invasions" was a war fought on a continental scale and encompassed armies consisting of peoples from all across the continent of Falgranen. This was the first major war to utilize industrialization to it's greatest extent which allowed for battles to be fought on a scale never before seen. Because of this the amount of devastation and death brought about by the war is far greater than any ever fought by mortals. According to some sources as many as 15 million were killed as a result of the war, a large portion of which were non-combatants.

The war began as an agreement between the five Human nations which would see the continent split up between spheres of interest, in which Humanity would act as the ultimate governing force of the world and the five nations would prosper as all the lands resources was being consolidated into a single state. The motivations of the leaders who signed this agreement (known now as the Hemway-Kemelver Agreement) is disputed, leaving only a few statements from world leaders to be interpreted:

''"It is with heavy heart that I would see hundreds of thousands of our fine men and women sent off to battle, but the time to strike is now. Our neighbors to the North and West have for centuries fought with us over territory, resources, power, and we finally have the chance to once and for all settle these disputes. Let us go to war one last time, to ensure our safety for all time." - ''Archduke Alexander Hemway in his speech proposing invasion to the Noble Council.

''"So what if we cause the suffering of savages. We've done it to [the Dragonborn] for a hundred and fifty years, how are the Dwarves any different? I'll hear none of this peace talk, our Cossacks ride north starting tomorrow, and either you will lead this invasion or I'll find someone else to do it." ''- Tsar Kemelver IV to Tselchi field marshal Edgar Slavaskov

The war would rage for years, being fought on three fronts by four of the Human nations who would see massive initial success but resistance grow as time went on. Technological advancement stunned the Dwarves at the Battle of Gyr Crossing, and crushed the Elsarians in the Jarivak Offensive, but as months raged on their enemies adapted. New tactics turned the Western Front into a slow and barely moving offensive through rough terrain, and paramilitary groups in Elsaria caused the UAD to sign an armistice after the failed Siege of Akum. Eventually in April of 1985 three separate peace treaties were signed, marking the end of the war. Elsaria lost half of it's territory to Aldrian and Esterian demands, and ended up finding itself in a bloody civil war immediately afterwards. The Dwarves were humiliated by Tselchi forces, and lost 70% of their territory, containing 80% of their population, causing an immediate refugee crisis in the few remaining Dwarven city-states. The combined forces of Wood Elves found themselves in the best condition, losing a large chunk of land in the west, but the heartland of their territories were left completely untouched by the treaty.

August 1979 - November 1980
The first year of the war saw a massive amount of success for the Human Alliance, in nearly every major engagement they found themselves at this point in time, they won decisively. Declarations of war were sent out two weeks before actual invasion, mostly due to unforeseen problems with mass mobilization, however the first fronts opened were the Northern Front and Elsarian Front. In the Northern Front Aldrian and Esterian forces made a push to take the counties of Jarivak and Tellivak while in the Northern Front Tselchi forces rushed for the Dwarven cities of Caher'Sulan and Dun'Volkhar.

Battle of Gyr Crossing
The Battle of Gyr Crossing began on the 31st of August and was the first major battle of the Northern Front. Though minor engagements were had between skirmishers, the Tselchi Cossacks found themselves across the Gyr river from a large Dwarven army. Initially the Cossack division leader Peter Slizad hesitated to make an attack, as at least 10,000 Dwarves were arranged against his 1,500 Cossacks. However, with definite orders received by high command along with an assurance that backup would arrive within two hours, the attack began. The attack began at 10 AM and initial barrages of arrows, ballista shots, and boulders impeded attempts at crossing, however a breakaway group of a hundred Cossacks made their way across the river and charged down the Dwarven siege weapons and archers, the gunfire combined with the speed of cavalry breaking the less mobile siege units nearly immediately. By 11:30 the entirety of the unit had crossed the river, and the Dwarves were slowly but surely pushed back, only to fully break and retreat at 1:00 PM as 3,000 Tselchi infantrymen arrived.

Siege of Caher'Sulan
Once the defenses across the Gyr river were neutralized, the Tselchi armies were able to spread across the open plains of the Dwarve's southern territories, the jewel of which was the large city of Caher'Sulan, which field marshal Edgar Slavaskov saw as necessary to take. Armies first reached the city on the 24th of September and were quick to surround it.

Initial frontal assaults of the city, even with modern equipment, proved difficult. In only the first two hours of the assault, the Tsels took over 2,000 casualties. Seeing such numbers as unacceptable, field marshal Slavaskov ordered a siege to begin. Towed artillery began a heavy bombardment of the city and the Tselchi armies made camp just outside of the city wall's cannons range. This began a three-month siege in which, aside from the occasional exchange of spells between Human and Dwarven casters, little action occurred. City garrison commander Havgar Anvilser hoped that eventually, an army would come to relieve them, but once food stores ran out it became clear that was no longer an option. Havgar prepared a counter-attack, and on the 4th of December had his soldiers set out under cover of heavy snowfall. Initially the counterattack saw success, and heavy casualties were caused to the Tselchi, but eventually, the Dwarves found themselves surrounded and forced to surrender. The next day the city was taken.

The Jarivak Offensive
The Elsarian Front would begin in a manner similar to the Northern Front, as any initial attacks across the border were met with a resounding success against an enemy unprepared to face a modernized enemy. The Jarivak Offensive was an offensive tasked with taking the most southern counties of the Elsarian kingdom, and began on the 4th of September, 1979. Elsarian military commander Satiel Arintak stalled the enemies he faced for as long as he could, using gryphon riders, units of wizards and sorcerers, and well-built defenses, but was pushed back to a second defensive line by the 1st of October.

The first real challenge for the Aldrians and Esterians came after they succesfully took Tollinn, the county capital of Jarivak, as engineer companies at the third defensive line had built up massive earthworks which stretched for miles and posed a massive challenge for the invaders. The Aldrian and Esterian armies took very different approaches to this problem; Esterian field marshal Douglas Tanner firmly believed that the fortifications wouldn't mean much if defended by enemies with inferior equipment, while Aldrian field marshal Duke Lorache believed slow and methodical bombardment would be necessary to pass the earthworks. The first assaults on the earthworks began by the Esterians on the 12th of October, 1980. Artillery fire and magical projectiles rained down upon the fortification for hours, though most of it was rendered useless by magical barriers created by elite groups of Elven sorcerers and wizards working together. When the assault actually began the Esterians saw some success, pounding into the first lines of defense and ascending the earthworks, but as the day dragged on they found their momentum slowly halted. A stalemate ensued for five days after this, but Elsarian wizard Agelinde of Varalinn caused a magical storm which would rain down fire and lightning upon the Esterian ranks, causing them to break, then go into full retreat as the Elsarians counter attacked.

Several days later the Aldrians began their attack, with a much more meticulously created plan that accounted for air attacks, magical barriers, and the depth of the defenses in question. The Aldrian attack proceeded smoothly but slowly, and on the 1st of November, 1980, the Elsarians were forced to retreat all along the western line of the earthworks.

December 1980 - January 1982
From 1980-1982 the Human alliance would continue with steady gains on all fronts, but with increasing numbers of casualties. December and January 1980 would become slow months for the war as a brutal winter swept across the entire continent, leaving no side eager to make major offensives. Due to this only minor operations could be conducted, and only trace amounts of ground were gained. The war became active again in March, as with a newly mobilized army the Kingdom of Latia invaded Elsarian islands which were off the coast of the mainland, opening up a new but much smaller front on the eastern islands.

Operation Sparrow
Sparrow was the name given to the Tselchi planned Spring offensive on all of the city-states within the more eastern mountain ranges, with the primary goal being the city of Dun'Volkhar. The offensive began on March 21st, 1981, and the Tselchi armies dominated the Dwarven armies in every encounter they met. Unlike the High Elves, the Eastern commander of the Dwarven armies, Patriarch Kasta Jombrough, insisted upon meeting the Humans in open battle in which through superior numbers a crushing defeat could be delivered. This crushing defeat for the Humans never came though, and the Dwarves were over time chased into Dun'Volkhar. On May 3rd, a massive assault was made on the city, something Commander Jombrough thought impossible due to the city being built into a mountain. The assault went on for five days, and ended in Commander Jombrough personally being forced to surrender to Tselchi field marshal Slaviskov.

Battle of Pranu
On March 29th, 1981, a Latian fleet including ironclad, steam powered vessels ambushed and assaulted an Elsarian fleet defending the large island of Pranu, which the Elsarians knew was the primary target of Latian invasion. Though the Elsarian ships were impressive in their time, the wooden vessels and cannons had next to no effect on the metal ships, and every Elsarian vessel was destroyed.

A week later, on April 5th, Latian amphibious forces landed on Pranu and began operations. Defenses on the island were lacking, and the local garrisons lacked sufficient amounts of casters, so by May 9th the entire island was conquered. In celebration King Emmanuel I renamed the island's capital of Rjalnalinn to Ramano.

Assault on Caltun
After total defeat in the earthworks and no more defensive lines to retreat to, the High Elves were pushed further back and divided. Agelinde of Varalinn, the same wizard who took command of the situation against the Esterians and turned the tides against them, took a band of soldiers and deserted. Among them was Virran Faelogran, a lesser officer who became Agelinde's right hand man and eventually chief tactician. This group of deserters turned guerilla fighters spent months stocking up on stolen equipment and recruiting new men to their cause, and on June 12th their first major attack went underway. Aldrian soldiers were resting behind the front lines in the occupied Elsarian village of Caltun, this is as well where a large stockpile of supplies was being kept as it was only five miles from the front. At midnight the group made a full-on assault and wiped out any resistance the Humans could muster. Once this was done and the stockpiles were looted, Agelinde and Virran made a large scale assault on the reserve lines only 1 mile from the front. Once again major success came of it, and the reserve lines broke.

Seeing the chaos ensuing in the Human back lines, the Elsarian forces positioned on the front opposing this group made a daring charge forwards, leaving the main Human line encircled with no reserves to come and save them.

General Retreat Called
One of the few things keeping the Elsarians from being completely overwhelmed were their well trained, elite gryphon riders, who could rain devastation down upon enemies from a position high in the sky. However, on August 6th, 1981, Esterian flying machines began operations on the Elsarian front. In their fist engagements on grpyhon riders they were able to down the riders at a ratio of 5:1, giving them effective air superiority across the entire front as gryphon riders could now only fly in extremely limited operations. Given the new situation, King Talimar II called for a general retreat from the south of Elsaria to the newly constructed Censki defense line. Despite this though, the now exponentially growing group known of Agelinde's Raiders would remain and claim themselves to be the defenders of a kingdom that cannot defend itself.

Battles of Qu'charho
On August 20th, as part of their planned offensives for the Grand Campaign, the Latian government established a small unit of jungle infantry known as the Jaguars, and prepared them for an assault on the Lisankhandii alliance, a political union of many tribes of Wood Elves and Halflings. Command of this assault was given to Georgios Gambina, and on August 29th the assault began. The first objective was to take the region known as Qu'charho, a province rich with natural resources that bordered Latia. The First Battle of Qu'charho is widely regarded as one of the greatest military disasters in Latian history, as while Georgios was only expecting a small force of primitive warriors to oppose him, 25,000 warriors, druids, sorcerers, and rangers ambushed his unit. Battle was waged for two days, and despite causing significant casualties to the enemy they didn't break. Georgios and the Jaguars fled the region after this, taking time to regroup and re plan.

The Second Battle of Qu'charho was far more succesful than the first, Georgios brought far more machine guns and casters with him this time around enabling his units to be able to more effectively combat their enemy in smaller groups, but even with this ,the Lisankhandii brought even more soldiers than last time. The battle ended with a stalemeate and only minor gains being made into the Qu'charho region. By October 9th a victory would be secured during the Third Battle of Qu'charho, and the region was fully occupied by Human forces. However, it became clear to Latia that the entire Lisankhandii Alliance couldn't be conquered at this time, as even in this battle Georgios reported losing 30% of his men. After this ,he was instructed to simply garrison the region and make no further offensives.

Assault on Asyralun
With the general retreat the Esterians had been able to proceed north at a slow yet steady pace, yet the Aldrians were halted, Agelinde's Raiders put up fierce resistance at every turn and to even take half a mile of ground seemed to mean losing hundreds of men. Aldrian general Harry Baramyr drew up a plan to encircle and destroy most of the army in the still standing Elsarian city of Asyralun. On October 14th the offensive began, and though with high casualties the Aldrians were able to push the Esterians back to Asyralun, and General Baramyr ordered his men to prepare for a seige. However, only an hour in and they found their flanks assaulted.

High Elven commander Virran Faelogran had secretly made deals with a band of Orcish mercenaries, and gotten an army of 40,000 of them on his side. Now this sizable war band had thrashed into the Aldrian line and caused chaos, breaking the seige immediately. The battle waged on for over a week as General Baramyr kept calling in more and more re-enforcement. On October 23rd the combined High Elven-Orcish forces retreated back and allowed the Aldrians to take the city without a fight, though escaped total destruction.

Sieges of Akum Castle and the Aldrian Armistace
Keeping his armies moving through the night, General Baramyr trapped the majority of Agelinde's Rebels inside of the large fortress known as Akum Castle. Those trapped inside included Agelinde of Varalinn, Virran Faelogran, and Orcish chief Ur'mak. Agelinde and the casters under his command created a magical barrier that was nigh impenetrable, even to the best spells and explosive shells Baramyr's army could throw at them. The Seige carried on until the 29th of November. With no end in sight, and overwhelming numbers on his side, General Baramyr ordered a general assault.

Aldrian forces stormed Akum castle from all directions; breaking down doors, blowing holes into the walls, using ladders to climb onto the walls, over 75,000 men were involved in the attack against only 38,000 defenders. As the day went on it became increasingly clear though that the forces inside were not going to surrender, and they were inflicting casualties at a rate much higher than the Aldrians. At exactly 7:35 PM, Aldrian paladin Asimov Agrus laid a fatal blow upon the Agelinde of Varalinn. Only twenty minutes later the assault was called off, and though the Aldrians failed, the Raiders leader was dead.

Virran Faelogran took command and quickly reogranized his men though, and stood firm as the next week the Aldrians made a second assault. With Winter looming nearby, General Baramyr offers to negotiate with Virran. On December 15th, an armistace between Aldria and Elsaria was approved by the Ducal Council in the UAD.

February 1983 - April 1985
With soldiers now available with their front with the Elsarians closing, the UAD ordered most of them repositions westward, as an assault on the Isquaho confederacy was being planned. On the Esterian side though, no armistace was made, and King Edwin III remained confident that all of Elsaria could be conquered. In the Northern Front the Tsels had spent the last two years mostly just freely occupying Dwarven lands and cities, as effective resistance was rendered impossible due to incompetent leadership, however plans to attack into the heart of the Dwarven territories will prove much more difficult.

Battle of Rampart Ridge
Tselchi field marshal Slaviskov has led his armies into the high cliffs of the northern mountain ranges which the Dwarves consider the heart of their territories. Beginning their ascent the Tselchi found problems immediately. Horseback combat was not suited to the mountainous environment, and hauling large guns up steep cliffs became a constant setback. This all came to a head when the Tsels reached Rampart Ridge, which was defended by the elite Dwarven Mountaineer core. Beginning on February 23rd heavy fighting began on the ridge, and it would wage for a whole two months on a front that extended out to be miles wide. Though the Tsels had superior firepower the Dwarves knew the terrain, and were using superior tactics. Eventually the Dwarves retreated after holding the Tselchi armies off until the 27th of April.

The Great March Westward
Archduke Alexander Hemway tasked the newly appointed Field Marshal Caim Wessington to cut off the southern Isquaho Confederacy of Wood Elven tribes and the northern Gallic Tribes via marching his units across the sparsely populated land between the two and cutting them off. This became known as the Great March Westward and was a huge Aldrian success. Only encountering Wood Elves of either side on a few occasions, Wessington was able to establish forts and outposts quickly and declare the land conquered, garrisoning the land with newly conscripted soldiers and preparing for a larger offensive.

Battle of Caelona
The Esterians would begin the Battle of Caelona on July 7th, 1983, though the battle would rage until the end of the war in 1985. The Elsarians set up elaborate and deep defense lines and earthworks all across the country in efforts in protecting the High Elven capital city of Caelona. For the next two years the entire region would become a bloodbath, and quickly gained a reputation as the worst front to be on in the war. Elsarian attacks stretched as wide as fifteen kilometers in width and the Elsarians met them at every possible point.

The closest the Esterians would come to victory was on the 20th of December, 1984, when an assault going forwards reached the last line of defense before the city itself. However, the units that made so much ground were not supported and were eventually cut off and encircled. From then until April of 1985, when a call to armistace was agreed upon, the battle raged as a stalemate that claimed over a million lives on its own.

Operation Final Victory
Final Victory was the name given to the planned Tselchi offensive to finish off the Dwarves by taking their capital and largest city, Magher'Darough. Months were spent retraining soldiers to the mountanious environment and shipping north equipment more suitable for mountain warfare on the request of field marshal Slaviskov. The offensive began in the March of 1984, and saw the first major Dwarven victories of the war. The Tsels, though now far more effective in mountain combat, could not chase down enemy armies effectively enough to truly pursue and break them, and thus they could just reform and return to fighting.

The cities of Gor'maron and Tehrun'Vato were surrounded and put under seige, though it seemed they wouldn't run out of food for what could possibly be a year. Slaviskov decided the offensive was a failure and called a general retreat out to his armies, ordering them to consolidate their gains within the mountains rather than make any further offensives.

The Western Offensive
The last major offensive of the war, the UAD attempted a full on assault on the Wood Elven Isquaho Confederacy. This offensive began in June of 1984, and was led by field marshal Caim Wessington. Among the units taken were the elite Aldrian "Lumberjacks" who were trained specifically for fighting in a heavily forested environment. The offensive was immediately met with harsh resistance, but with small battles being won consistently Wessington was confident his armies could make it to the Isquaho capital of Onandae. Heavy fighting continued through all of 1984, and on January 16th 1985 the Aldrian armies conquered the Isquaho capital of Onandae. However, even with this they found their situation dire. The Wood Elves didn't seem intent to surrender just because they lost their administrative capital, and fighting continued into spring. On April 1st, 1985, an Isquaho counter offensive managed to retake Onandae, and seeing the tides of war turning the Aldrians reached out and offered peace talks.

Results
The Aldrians entering negotiations with the Isquaho prompted others to do the same, and soon the entire Human Alliance was negotiating with the powers they invaded. From this came the treaties of Onandae, Aldria, and Perun.