Charlottesborg Mutiny: Difference between revisions
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| commander1 = {{flagicon image|DuchyFlag.png}} Auro Panariello
| commander2 = {{flagicon image|DuchyFlag.png}} Louisa Reitz
{{flagicon image|CryriaFlag.png}} Ludvig of House Leidensen
| commander3 =
| units1 = {{flagicon image|DuchyFlag.png}} Ducal Guard
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{{flagicon image|CryriaFlag.png}} 100 Flygbasjägarna
| casualties1 = {{flagicon image|DuchyFlag.png}} 300+ rebels
| casualties2 = {{flagicon image|DuchyFlag.png}} 200+ Ducal Guard
{{flagicon image|DuchyFlag.png}} 100+ Gendarmerie
{{flagicon image|CryriaFlag.png}} 9 soldiers killed, 40 wounded
| notes = <nowiki>*</nowiki>Majority of 55,000 strong Ducal Guard remains nominally loyal
| campaignbox =
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<p><strong><em>Brigadgeneral Auro Panariello, </em></strong>21 October, 2002</p>
}}The Committee for Justice and Salvation was formed as a provisional government in Sargos immediately after the declaration, with Panariello as its President. Despite the invocation of the Volscine Confederation, Panariello never requested assistance from outside the Duchy. It is believed that he sought to strengthen his own position by capturing Charlottesborg himself before negotiating a favorable reentry to the Confederation.
==== Capture of Charlottesborg International ====
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On the afternoon of October 22nd, an envoy claiming to represent the Committee arrived at the Consulate. He identified himself as ''Kapten'' Gösta Edström and demanded that the Consulate staff surrender themselves to rebel custody. Edström claimed that members of the diplomatic mission would be escorted to Charlottesborg International Airport and placed on flights back to Cryria - Though at this time the airport was still cut off from other rebel forces. The Consul General further noted that Edström had offered little evidence that he actually represented the Committee's wishes, and that the Consulate would effectively be surrendered into the hands of an unknown party which was already in considerable disarray. Maravel pressed for time in order to contact Leidenstad for orders, and according to surviving eyewitnesses Edström "Departed in a fury" at the rejection.
Approximately half an hour later, a full company of soldiers was seen arriving and encircling the consulate. The demand to surrender was reiterated, but shots were heard soon afterwards. These likely originated from another skirmish that had broken out nearby, but the Mutineers quickly opened fire on the Consulate with their armored vehicles. A building fire broke out with catastrophic consequences due to how packed the Consulate had become. The assailants were slow to cease their fire and the Cryrian
The sight of the burning Consulate set off a frenzy in both Charlottesborg and Leidenstad. Initially the Committee released confused and contradictory statements, first claiming that the Consulate had been used to support the Loyalists and later claiming that the attack had been the result of an accidental escalation by local commanders who had overstepped their boundaries. The deaths of so many Cryrian nationals and the destruction of a diplomatic outpost caused a outrage, condemnations, and calls for action in Cryria which the Duchy quickly sought to capitalize on.
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An emergency National Security Committee meeting was held in Karsholm Palace on the 22nd, and by the 23rd it had been all but decided that the CDF would launch a limited operation to retrieve remaining Cryrian citizens in Charlottesborg. However, this plan was quickly faced with stark obstacles.
The situation in Charlottesborg had become increasingly complicated and confused, in no small part due to the large numbers of poorly disciplined and often desperate territorial forces that filled the ranks of the Ducal Guard. The mutineers had further found their command decapitated and were struggling to reorganize, while the loyalists themselves were still struggling to regain control of the situation in the city. Neither the Cryrian
It is known that Leidenstad also reached out to remnants of the Volscine Confederation and the newly forming Volscine Empire in order to offer assurances that it would not seek to involve itself further in the conflict beyond the evacuation. The Confederation rejected any notion of Cryrian involvement on what it still considered to be sovereign Volscine territory, while the Empire agreed to provide its approval. This ultimately led to Leidenstad recognizing the Empire as the legitimate Volscine government, thus legitimizing the operation.
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The Cryrian General Staff also decided to move in a third Foreign Legion battalion starting on the 27th. By this point the majority of the Legion's combat arms were engaged in Charlottesborg, albeit without any of the supporting elements needed to operate beyond the airport.
The actual evacuation from the University went relatively smoothly, and was overseen by CIDDAG operatives and the remaining Flygbasjägarna units. By the end of the 27th, Charlottesborg International was home to a steady stream of flights bringing in arms, reinforcements, and supplies while flying out the evacuees. In Cryria however, the requisition of so many civilian aircraft led to a state if disarray in the nation's transportation system. By now many of the requisitioned aircraft had effectively been out of circulation and on standby for nearly a week. Royal Cryrian Airways' cargo line had effectively ceased to exist in a civilian capacity, while many of its passenger flights were also now canceled. RCA was also an important provider of domestic flights within [[Älemsi Negdel]] which relied heavily on air travel to connect its vast and underdeveloped interior. Many of the aircraft dedicated to this role had been diverted to Operation Caroline in order to reduce the impacts on Cryrian travel. While this decision did serve to protect the Kingdom's own flights, it had a disproportionate impact on Älemsi Negdel and damaged ties between Leidenstad and Amrakh Gazarv. Between Operation Caroline and the Second Yeralik Crisis, RCA was effectively driven out of the Älemsi market by the end of 2002.
===== October 28-31 =====
While the University had been evacuated, CIDDAG and FBJ units continued to conduct operations to track down and extract scattered Cryrian civilians in Charlottesborg and beyond. Political pressure in Leidenstad led to the "No Empty Seats" policy, where every flight departing the airport was required to use any spare capacity to evacuate Charlottesborgers regardless of their citizenship status. Any evacuees would first need to be authorized by the Ducal government as well however, and many continued to be turned away.
Thus, the situation at the airport remained tense. Panic had spread among the gathering crowds as it became apparent that many would not be offered a chance to escape, particularly those deemed "Militarily fit" by the Duchy. Many people attempted to climb the airport's perimeter walls starting on the 28th, and CDF, Ducal Guard, and Gendarmerie personnel used smoke grenades and fired warning shots to disperse them. Two armed individuals were shot when they opened fire on a Cryrian checkpoint, and three bodies were later found of people who likely died during a stampede.
===== November 1-3 =====
By November 1, Charlottesborger forces had regained control over most of the Duchy with the surrender of the besieged rebels at the Tellale Barracks. Surviving Committee members were found to have fled the territory, and the remaining Mutineers had surrendered. Despite several high profile executions, numerous amnesties were quietly offered by the Duchy. Controversially, it is also thought that the Duchy actively sought to approve the evacuations of potentially disloyal Charlottesborgers in order to effectively offload them on the Cryrian government.
Regardless, the Cryrian presence itself was beginning to wrap up, in part because of the mounting pressure at the airport, and in part because those Cryrian citizens willing to evacuate had by now departed. The FBJ, who had been the first ones into Charlottesborg Airport, were also the last to depart on November 3, though it is thought that CIDDAG units remained within the Duchy throughout the Civil War.
== Aftermath ==
=== Charlottesborg ===
Although the Duchess prevailed in quelling the Mutiny, her government was left badly shaken by it. Many of Charlottesborg's best military forces had either rebelled or been damaged in the fighting, and it was not until November 20th that the Loyalists proclaimed a complete victory. Over the course of the fighting, the Loyalists had suffered over a three-hundred casualties and claimed to have inflicted similar losses on the Mutineers - A for cry from what many had expected to be a bloodless coup. Over 1,200 civilians are also believed to have been killed, many of them during the later stages of the fighting as both sides had become increasingly incapable of maintaining control or discipline of their troops.
The Mutiny would effectively end the Duchy's policy of neutrality in the Volscine Civil War. Despite mutual cooperation with Cryria both during and after the Mutiny, relations between the two government had badly soured over the conflict, and any hopes of unification with the Kingdom were abandoned. Similarly, the Confederation was no longer viewed as an acceptable option. The Duchess formally recognized the Volscine Empire as the new legitimate government, and continued to support it for the remainder of the conflict.
=== Cryria ===
Operation Caroline was by far the largest overseas military operation conducted by the Kingdom since the end of the Great War. At its height, over 2,000 Cryrian personnel had been deployed in Charlottesborg, and it is believed that Leidenstad continued to provide both aid and advisors to the Guard for the remainder of the Civil War.
The operation was ultimately successful in evacuating some 1,200 individuals who either held Cryrian citizenship or residency, or were direct familymembers of Cryrian citizens or residents. Additionally, by November 20th, Cryria had also received some 39,000 asylum seekers from Charlottesborg, either through the evacuation or by separate, independently sponsored sealifts. After the 20th, the Duchy reimposed its draconian exit bans, likely with the quiet approval of the Cryrian government whose floundering economy would continue to struggle with ever rising numbers of Volscine refugees over the coming years. Many of those who fled Charlottesborg would be resettled in southern Talvere, where thousands would ultimately be granted permanent residency or citizenship. The rebel soldiers captured at Charlottesborg International were ultimately returned to the Duchy, and their ultimate fate remains unknown.
While generally considered a success, Operation Caroline shed light on serious flaws and deficiencies in the Cryrian military. Despite its large size and funding, the CDF had displayed the severe limits on its ability to project force, and its reliance on small numbers of expeditionary units to protect Cryrian interests abroad. The need to contend with a difficult economic situation at home and the Second Yeralik Crisis in the north meant that these issues could not be contended with, and the political impetus to transform the CDF into a more capable regional force evaporated with the end of the Volscine Civil War. Operation Caroline also faced heavy criticism for poor planning and high degrees of risk. The Operation relied heavily on allies within the Ducal Guard who ultimately proved to be either lacking or nearly hostile, a fact which left Leidenstad rushing to reinforce what should have been a small deployment to assist the Guard. The last minute change towards a larger evacuation of Charlottesborgers has also been scrutinized, and the chaos which erupted towards the end of the evacuation is frequently attributed to this decision. Defense Minister Lindgren later described the operation as "Running on a shoestring" and claimed that Cryrian forces had been "Incredibly lucky that the enemy had not been more prepared and that other Volscine factions did not choose to destroy them."
The Marlberg Government also undertook several inquiries regarding its failure to evacuate Cryrian citizens prior to the outbreak of hostilities, but this was ultimately blamed on both the paralysis of the previous Schauman Government and the obstinacy of the Duchy. Domestically, Operation Caroline served to restore badly shaken faith in the Marlberg Government. This, along with the progressively less uncertain economic situation following the first months of the Volscine collapse provided Prime Minister Marlberg with the political capital needed to later make concessions in the Second Yeralik Crisis. Despite behind-the-scenes tensions, Operation Caroline served to heal public perceptions of both Volscina and Charlottesborg, particularly as the Marlberg Government actively sought to create an narrative of Cryrian-Charlottesborger cooperation against dangerous revolutionaries. Images of the future Duchess Saga Tynam drinking coffee with an unknown Volscine officer at a [[Royal Rodokan Coffee Company|Royal Rodokan]] in the ruined airport terminal quickly became the unofficial face of the operation. Operation Caroline also saw the single largest distribution of knighthoods since the Great War. Ten such titles were awarded, mostly to members of the FBJ who were injured in the initial assault.
The Charlottesborg Mutiny and Operation Caroline proved to be a pivotal moment in Cryrian policy towards the Volscine Civil War. By its conclusion, the Kingdom had formally denounced the Confederation as illegitimate and recognized the new Empire as the sole Volscine government.
[[Category:Cryria's Pages]]
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