Day of Infamy
All Hell Breaks Loose as General War Becomes Reality

LINDSHOLM - Without warning on the morning of January 12, 2001, the Supreme Viceroy of Lindsholm announced his intention to abdicate by the end of the month. The news generated shockwaves throughout the Mapp as the news reached people on the street. Further confusion arose when the Supreme Viceroy made it clear that the C.E.O. of Miketon would receive control of Lindsholm following his abdication. Immediate panic hit Lindsholm allies while certain individuals within the Phoenix Confederacy saw an opportunity.

Coinciding with the news of abdication, the Confederacy received a new member – the Republican Empire of Samchorage. The organization had been newly reformed into three power blocs each consisting of a ministry – economics, foreign policy, and war. Economics became the domain of Miketon, Kamograd, and Rattanjeetland; foreign policy belonged to El-Hussaq; and war became the realm of Samchorage. Apparently, an inherent plan to invade Lindsholm was accelerated and preparations were feverishly underway.

Meanwhile in Marcusburg, the Prime Chancellor took immediate action to counteract the potential power struggle coming from the loss of Lindsholm to the Confederacy. In the Fletplase, the Marcusburg Parliament, the Prime Chancellor proposed a motion that would give him “temporary emergency powers to rule by decree”. In a shocking move, the Conservative-controlled Parliament agreed with around 60% support. Directly following the pause in Marcusburg democracy, the Prime Chancellor, now already the Minister of Finance in Bendover, requested permission to become temporary ruler of Bendover with emergency powers from the Bendover Council. The Council agreed and when the Emperor of Bendover was notified, he fully accepted the temporary rule of the Prime Chancellor in his Empire.

The Confederacy saw the Marcusburg “takeover” of Bendover as a sign of approval in their secret attack plan. In previous meetings with Marcusburg, the Confederacy had speculated about war with Lindsholm. Marcusburg was cool and unreceptive to the idea but acted with an overall indifference. This attitude was interpreted by many within the Confederacy that in a general war with Lindsholm, Marcusburg would not intervene and remain entirely neutral. However, as attack preparations were underway, Marcusburg revived the vestigial Phalanx Treaty Organization (PTO) and successfully recruited two powers – Gorditas and Matthewopolis.

At noon of that day, the Confederate attack on Lindsholm and his protectorates in the United Commonwealth of Lindsholm (UCL) began. The surprise attack was swift and deadly. Five Samchoragean electromagnetic pulses obliterated a Lindsholm grand base and all active missile batteries in the Republic. Simultaneously, Kamograd launched a northern invasion into Lindsholm Prime with its elite forces. Being able to mobilize its army in time, Lindsholm successfully repulsed the invasion. In the south, meanwhile, Kamograd troops stormed into Pauldelphia, Jared, and Jangstown – all three members of the UCL fell swiftly. With the protectorates secured, Kamograd invaded the heavily militarized Lindsholm colony, and failed.

Following the failure of both invasions into Lindsholm, Rattanjeetland launched a widescale missile attack and destroyed LSIS – the Lindsholm spy agency. Since it was Kamograd that had made all incursions into UCL territory, the Lindsholm Armed Forces focused on that nation as its primary target. Receiving permission to transport troops through Marcusburg, the Supreme Viceroy was able to successfully invade Kamograd. The invasion was long and arduous as Kamograd put up a valiant fight. However, when elite forces from Lindsholm joined the invasion and stormed past a front which had developed in Kamograd, the latter fell.

Flushed by success in Kamograd, Lindsholm began a counter bombing campaign of Samchorage. A portion of the Samchorage-Rattanjeetland superbase sustains heavy damage. In response, Samchorage destroys the Lindsholm Naval Forces. El-Hussaq entered the foray by destroying another Lindsholm grand base. Meanwhile, to free up troops in preparation for liberation of the motherland, Kamograd withdraws from Pauldelphia. Back in Lindsholm, another missile attack from El-Hussaq destroys the other grand base in Colony One. Faced with a shortage of military facilities, Lindsholm uses Kamogradian military installations for its own purposes. Nevertheless, being attacked from four nations at once, Lindsholm was on the verge of collapse – its protectorates had fallen, its military installations were being picked off one at a time, and its army was spread thin over a large area.

By this time, night had fallen on the Mapp and a temporary eerie silence descended over the landscape. A secret envoy from the Riksholm, including the Supreme Viceroy, traveled from Lindsholm to Marcusburg in order to meet with the Prime Chancellor in his official residence, the Yachtfew. During the entire surprise attack, the PTO had quietly begun to mobilize its armed forces and war strategists were furiously debating whether or not to enter the war. When the Supreme Viceroy formally asked for Marcusburg assistance in the war, the Prime Chancellor agreed in accordance with the Xironclad Nexus and requested that the PTO to launch an immediate surprise attack. The two actively militaristic powers, Bendover and Gorditas, agreed with Marcusburg.

PTO spies captured the Samchoragean electromagnetic turret and disabled it so no other nation may use the weapon. Marcusburg then targeted El-Hussaq installations with missile attacks since it was missiles from this nation that had devastated Lindsholm grand bases. In response, El-Hussaqi troops launched a continuous invasion of Marcusburg Adonf Province. The first two attacks from the west were defeated easily. A successive two-pronged attack from the north and the south also proved fruitless. Meanwhile, Kamograd withdrew from Jared, further freeing up troops for its mission to liberate the motherland. Kamogradian troops from Pauldelphia and Jared met in Jenneva, from which they launched their uprising – it failed.

Marcusburg continued its use of missile attacks in an effort to disable the offensive capabilities of the Confederacy and stop the war in its tracks. Meanwhile, El-Hussaq and Rattanjeetland were able to devise a common attack strategy on Marcusburg. El-Hussaq would invade from two directions in Adonf while Rattanjeetland would launch a massive invasion force from the south. The two Adonf invasions failed while the Rattanjeetland invasion force in the south met a smaller Marcusburg defensive force, as its troops were put on standby. In a turning point in the war, Marcusburg forces defeated the Rattanjeetland forces even though outnumbered. The defeat devastated the Rattanjeetland army.

The blow in the south forced the Ethnarch to conscript citizens throughout the Confederacy. Conscripts from Miketon, Natharctica, and Jenneva were sent to El-Hussaq while Wendorra la Vellan conscripts were sent to Rattanjeetland south in light of the defeat on the southern front. Meanwhile, Rattanjeetland troops successfully rebelled against Marcusburg control in its northwest superbase – the installation had been shared by both powers as stipulated by the Marcusburg Accords of August 2000. Military commanders had urged the base remain neutral but desperate times called for desperate measures.

While distracted at the southern front, El-Hussaq, now replenished with Confederate conscripts, charged forth into Marcusburg in another two-pronged attack. The northern attack failed but the southern attack succeeded and El-Hussaq had control of the newly constructed International Airport in Adonf province. In Rattanjeetland, using the freed B-69 Star Destroyer in the joint northwest superbase, the Ethnarch destroyed the Marcusburg EJCMS/ECCM in Portalto province. Ignoring the destruction, the Prime Chancellor ordered a massive invasion of occupied Adonf territory and liberated it. Another attack from the Rattanjeetland B-69 finished off the other EJCMS/ECCM in Marcusburg Victorius province.

Violating the economic embargo imposed by Congressional Parliament, Kamograd successfully transferred all assets to El-Hussaq as its attempt to liberate the motherland failed. Enraged by the destruction of the EJCMS/ECCM’s, Marcusburg launches an invasion of the northwest joint superbase and succeeds in wrestling away control of the B-69 Star Destroyer from Rattanjeetland. With the weapon in friendly hands, Bendover joined the war and launched an unsuccessful full-scale invasion of El-Hussaq. Meanwhile, Gorditas followed the Bendoveral invasion and launched a surprise attack of its own – Gorditas succeeded in controlling El-Hussaq. Lindsholm, on the other hand, dealt with another uprising in Kamograd that resulted in the decimation of Kamogradian armed forces and conscripts. As resistance was snuffed out in Kamograd, a massive Samchoragean bombing blitz destroyed four out of seven missile battery installations in the Marcusburg superbase.

The President of Kamograd fled to Jenneva as his country formally surrendered to Lindsholm. Again in the north, Rattanjeetland launched another invasion of Lindsholm Prime and met a larger defensive force – the invasion fails. Frustrated by Marcusburg involvement in the war, the Ethnarch sends spies who successfully planted high-energy explosives in the Marcusburg superbase and crippled its strength.

With daybreak, Lindsholm troops begin a daring invasion of Rattanjeetland North from Lindsholm Prime. The attack surprisingly succeeds and the tide of the war is turned towards the side of the Allied Coalition. In El-Hussaq, a revolt overthrew Gorditan control and a ring of fire is set around all El-Hussaq territory, hindering any further invasion of that country. Meanwhile in the south, Pauldelphia successfully contributes its population for purposes of defense. The fall of Rattanjeetland North to Lindsholm raised the ire of the President of Samchorage and the latter sends a full-scale invasion force to liberate the territory. Outnumbered 3 to 1, Lindsholm forces were defeated and retreated to the Lindsholm-Rattanjeetland border.

With a ring of fire safely guarding its territory, the President of El-Hussaq sends aid to Rattanjeetland in the form of 17,615 conscripts. Infused with new troops, the Ethnarch is emboldened to missile Marcusburg targets, some of which succeed in destroying a grand base. Lindsholm came to the aid of Marcusburg and took out a Rattanjeetland air base. Bendover, which had refrained from any military attack after its unsuccessful invasion of El-Hussaq, regained control of its B-69 star destroyer left over from the Great War in Denisia and destroyed another portion of the Rattanjeetland-Samchorage superbase. In response, the Ethnarch sends a missile blitz straight into the heart of Marcusburg and severely cripples the grand base in downtown.

Enraged, the Prime Chancellor ordered missile attacks on Rattanjeetland targets and launched a suicidal helicopter attack on the Samchorage-Rattanjeetland superbase. Although 90,000 Marcusburg troops and nine helicopter squadrons perish in the invasion, effectively nullifying Marcusburg helicopter capability, the superbase is annihilated. A last ditch attempt by Gorditas to invade elite forces bases in Rattanjeetland and Samchorage failed.

With casualties running in the hundreds of thousands for all sides and Great Powers reduced to using nothing but brute manpower, Marcusburg ordered its ambassador, in hiding in Rattanjeetland, to personally speak with the Ethnarch. After a trade of words, the Ethnarch and the Prime Chancellor agreed to a ceasefire in hostilities. As word spread, guns, tanks, missiles, aircraft, and torpedoes slowly silenced themselves. The ceasefire received official support from El-Hussaq, Bendover, Pauldelphia, and Samchorage. Although other nations have not revealed their official stance, all armed forces are abiding by the temporary ceasefire.