Endwar

The Endwar, also known as the Amphian War or the Great War, was a major war in Amphia that lasted from 1934 to 1940. It involved almost all countries on the continent—including all of the regional great powers —forming two opposing military alliances, the Imperial Compact & the Arapis Entente. The Endwar was the deadliest conflict in human history, and resulted in 45 to 50 million casualties, a majority being civilians.

The war began on August 25th 1934 when Zusea invaded the states of Lakaria and Ossintoria. The collectivist republics of Valourium, Arshavat and Redon subsequently declared war on Zusea on the 26th. After the successful Zusian invasion and occupation of its breakaway states, there was a lull in conflict until March 1st 1935, when Zusea, aided by Imperial Kyrossia and the Hyspanic New State, launched simultaneous assaults into Valourium and Redon. In retaliation, Arshavat and Redon launched a counteroffensive into Kyrossia, known as Operation Pausanias, aimed at swiftly knocking the Empire out of the war and establishing access to Kyrossi oil, while also opening a route of supply to Redon.

Despite a determined resistance, by March 1936 the Valourian armed forces and government were forced to flee into exile, and the nation was fully occupied by the Vahrmacht, which proceeded to continue its advance west into Arshavat. In response to a growing oil shortage, Zusea also invaded and occupied neutral Meriad in April. Meanwhile, over half of Redon had been occupied by the Compact, though their advance was decisively halted following crushing defeats at the Battle of Aven and the Battle of Senon, and the mass redeployment of Redonian forces to the east after the Fall of Kyrossia in June. Redon however lacked the strength to go on the offensive, and so the fighting on the southern front became a.

The Zusian invasion of Arshavat also began to stall from late 1936, as supply difficulties for the overstretched Vahrmacht were compounded by the onset of winter and an explosion of resistance activity in occupied territories. The Battle of TOTALLYNOTSTALINGRAD in 1937 is widely regarded as the ultimate turning point of the Arshavati campaign, and was the bloodiest battle of the war, with over 2 million casualties. The Compact failed to regain the initiative, and on December 16th 1937 Basilikar Arkadius ordered a general retreat on the Arshavati front, though the Zusians would suffer further defeats at XX and XX that disrupted this redeployment, leading to the Vahrmacht being pushed back entirely into Valourium by Summer 1938, while Redon - with the aid of a reformed Kyrossic army - finally went on the offensive in the south. Though rapidly making gains, the Entente took immense losses; 7 million were lost from 1938 - 1939 as Valourium and Redon were liberated, and the collectivist alliance began to push into Ossintoria and Lakaria, as well as western Hyspania.

Enthusiasm for the war began to dwindle on both sides from mid-1939 onwards, with anti-war and draft-related riots breaking out in Zusea and Redon, and a counter-insurgency against the newly imposed socialist government developing in occupied Kyrossia. The Zusian government, wary of foreign breakthroughs and building internal unrest, began to secretly make towards the Entente nations. Though these were initially rebuffed, the Entente side was soon pressured to come to an agreement when Kuiju and Yamatai launched an invasion of Arshavat on August 30th 1939. Arshavati forces pulled back from the front in Ossintoria around January 1940, and the Zusians swiftly reestablished a perimeter on the prewar Valourian border. An armistice was finally signed at 5:00 PM on 5th of May, however hostilities technically continued between Hyspania and Redon until the 7th, when all Hyspanic units were finally ordered to cease combat on account of Zusian pressure. As part of the armistice agreement, both the Compact and Entente retreated from all occupied territories, save for Kyrossia, Ossintoria and Lakaria, to their prewar territories.

The Treaty of Elburg was signed in 1941. Neither side was technically victorious; though Zusea had secured the annexation of Ossintoria and Lakaria, it was at the cost of almost all its other gains in the war, over 13 million military & civilian casualties and equally massive losses of war and industrial material. Hyspania lost several border territories to Redon and was severely destablised - in 1945, with the death of dictator Eutanasio Rodriguez, the New State was dissolved and a new constitution was established. On the Entente side, Redon and Valourium were both thoroughly devastated, with almost no major population centers escaping damage, either from ground fighting or aerial bombardment. Kyrossia, now an Arshavati, was crippled and quickly fell into civil conflict as ethnic seperatism and resistance against the new regime erupted. Arshavat itself meanwhile suffered comparable casualties to Zusea, and now immediately faced a second threat from the Niihama Pact in the west.

The Endwar had a wide-ranging geopolitical impact; it established Arshavat as a great power in Amphia, and along with the outcome of the Second Escar-Varunan War, boosted the influence of collectivism globally. Though weakened for a time, Zusea was soon also reestablished as a major power with the recovery of its breakaway territories, while the Imperial Compact survived as a defensive alliance against the collectivist states. The strength of the Zusian and Hyspanic colonial empires was severely reduced, and the war contributed to the momentum of the movement in Osova and Valeya from the late 1940s onwards. The devastation wrought by the war led to a growing interest in international law and institutions to regulate interstate disputes and discourage military aggression; most notably exemplified by the foundation of the Ordic League in 1951, of which all Endwar combatants were founding members.

Terminology & Chronology
The term 'Endwar' is thought to have first took hold in Zusea during the 1950s, as writers and scholars looked back on the period. The writer most often credited with the coinage is Parsifal Scholz, who in 1948 published a novel under the title Endekrieg, regarding a hypothetical late 20th century where military conflict has entirely died out, and all national disagreements are resolved via an international 'Chamber of Dispute'. The book was successful and widely translated, and by 1955 'Endekrieg' and 'Großer Krieg' (Great War) had overtaken the generic 'der Krieg' in Zusian scholarship, soon also spreading internationally. Nonetheless, several nations have their own names for the conflict and no single name is universally agreed upon.

The exact date of the war's end is also a matter of some disagreement. At the time it was generally accepted that the war ended with the armistice of May 5th, 1940, though the Treaty of Elburg that formally settled the terms of the peace would not be signed until 1941. The Treaty of Bauxal, signed by Redon and the newly democratic government of Hyspania in 1945, renegotiated parts of the Elburg settlement.

As the war overlaps chronologically with the Second Escar-Varunan War (1937 - 1945) and the Valeyan Wars (19XX - 194X), the three regional conflicts are sometimes considered to be a singular, global war or series of wars. There were also overlaps in terms of the nations that participated in the wars; Arshavat played major roles both in the Amphian and Escaric conflicts; while Achtotlan, Zusea and Hyspania all had some minor involvement globally.

Besides chronology, the three conflicts were also all, in which the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the , blurring distinctions between civilian and military resources. Many revolutions in military technology & theory took place in this period, from developments in and aircraft, to sweeping changes in operational theory & tactics.

Opening hostilities (1934)
On 25 August 1934, Zusea invaded Ossintoria and Lakaria. The first Zusian attack of the war came early in the morning against Ossintori fortifications at Ryiyelbá, thirty-two minutes prior to Zusea's formal declaration of war. Valourium, Arshavat and Redon subsequently issued a joint ultimatum demanding the complete withdrawal of Zusian forces by the end of the day, which was disregarded. The three nations declared war on Zusea the following morning.

Nonetheless, the Collectivist powers failed to provide substantial support to the beleaguered nations, as they had heretofore refused to station any significant forces on their borders to avoid provoking a war. Lakaria surrendered only four days after the start of the hostilities, following the encirclement and destruction of the bulk of its army during the Battle of Johannesburg. This quick collapse critically undermined Ossintoria, as Zusian panzer forces rushed across the Kala river at Kalorös and swung south, outflanking the Ryiyelbá defensive line. At the same time, an aggressive Zusian air campaign, making use of advanced dive bombers and other aircraft, destroyed much of the Ossintori airforce on the ground, leaving only obsolete reserves and the slow trickle of Arshavati and Valourian expeditionary squadrons to shoulder the burden of the air war. This new tactic employed by the Zusian Vahrmacht, combining rapid offensive thrusts of dedicated tank divisions with devastating close air support, came to be known as, or "lightning-war," and has traditionally been credited with Zusea's rapid early success.

By 11 September, Zusian forces had reached the suburbs of Shynka and Kiszpaskelar. An Ossintori counteroffensive along the northern Lakarian border briefly stalled the advance, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Vahrmacht after a few days. On 14 September the Redonian 1st and 2nd armies invaded southern Tarmory and southwestern Nerotysia, taking advantage of relatively light Zusian defences. However, the advance proceeded extremely slowly, due in part to overcaution in the Redonian command and a lack of sufficient manpower, and it was soon blunted at the Battle of Penforth.

After only a month of combat, nearly all operational Ossintori and Lakarian forces had been destroyed, and Zusea announced the re-integration of the formerly independent states into the Vordic Empire. Basilikar Arkadius VIII formally offered peace terms to the Entente powers on 1 October, demanding reparations for alleged atrocities against Zusian civilians and territorial concessions from Redon and Valourium. Predictably, the overture was rejected, and Arkadius authorized an immediate invasion of Valourium, against the advice of the Zusian high command, known as the Hofka. However, a long stretch of bad weather delayed operations into winter, forcing the Basilikar to postpone the invasions until the next spring.

Southern Amphia (1935–36)
1935 - Zusea and Hyspania blitz Redon and Valourium

Operation XXX
1936 - Valourium falls, Redon is pushed to the Aven, Zusea pushes into Arshavat

Entente counteroffensives
1937 - Zusea and Hyspania stall in Arshavat and Redon, very late Zusea pulls back from Arshavat

1938 - Redon pushes Zusea and Hyspania back with Kyrossian help, Arshavat pushes Zuss to the border and then breaks through right at the end

Kuijuan intervention & peace process
1939 - Arshavat pushes into Ossintoria and Lakaria, Kuiju invades Arshavat

1940 - Arshavat pulls back from Ossintoria and Lakaria, Zusea pushes back towards Valourium