Great War of the South

Great War of the South
Part of Augustan-Tokundian Wars; Ahmadi-Augustan Wars
Date 1234 - 1248 Location Cobura, Jakania, Jelbania Result Caliphate victory Creation of Turjak Empire Augustan Empire avoids complete conquest Jelbania conquered by Caliphate
Belligerents
Augustan Empire	Ahmadi Caliphate Great Empire of Turjak	Tokundian Empire
Commanders
Emperor Anthony Grand Domestic Aristoklo Ambrosio Magister Militum Sergio Diodoto	Caliph Bunjamín Sultan Mehmed I	Czar Štefan V

The Great War of the South (Classical Brmek: صنتهیك يزكنسشليوعد Tsenetaîk Yezkenesşelayûgad) was a military conflict between the Augustan Empire, the emerging Ahmadi Caliphate, and the Tokundian Empire that led to the conquest of most of the Augustan territory and Tokundian-ruled Jelbania by the Caliphate and the establishment of the latter as the largest and most powerful empire on the continent.

Background

The Turjaks were formerly a nomadic people, settling in Kafuristan, before being expelled by the Badaran Bedouins. With the demise of the Jakanians in Kafuristan, their leader Aka Turjak decided to lead them from Kafuristan and migrate to present day Jakania, which was at the time governed by the Augustan Empire. After a number of skirmishes between the Empire and the Turjaks, the latter were allowed to settle in Jakania provided they submit to the authority of the Augustan Empire and help defend its borders. Around 1050 CE Turjak and followers established a city known as Nilaka, and the Turjaks migrated en masse within the territory of the Augustan Empire.

Ahmadism

In 1186 a new faith was founded in Barmenia. Prophet Ahmad established Ahmadism, and during his lifetime the religion began to spread to the Eastern parts of the continent. The Turjak people proved to be very receptive towards the new faith, and with the growing power of the Ahmadi Caliphate, the Turjaks began demanding independence from the Hosian Augustan Empire.

War

Turjak revolt

Encouraged by the egalitarian message of the new religion and reacting to the high taxation and excessive centralization in Augustan-ruled Jakania, the Turjaks launched a revolt with the backing of the young Caliphate. In 1232 the Turjak rebels managed to expel the Augustan garrison from most of Jakania and, under the leadership of Mehmed I, proclaimed allegiance to the Caliphate in Barmenia.

Tokundian invasion

The newly proclaimed Turjak Sultanate also began a series of aggressive raids against surrounding polities, including the powerful Tokundian Empire. In an effort to eliminate the Turjak threat, the Tokundians began a punitive counter-raid into Jakania, also sensing an opportunity for southward expansion. As Jakania was formally part of the Augustan Empire, Augustan Emperor Anthony immediately ordered that they be attacked and driven back. Thus the Great War of the South began in 1233 as a three-way conflict between the Turjak Sultanate, backed by the Ahmadi Caliphate, the Augustan Empire, and the Tokundian Empire, fought primarily in modern-day Jakania.

Jelbek revolt

The Tokundian invasion of Jakania also brought it into direct conflict with the Ahmadi Caliphate, which took advantage of the turmoil by sponsoring a revolt in Tokundian-ruled Jelbania. Jelbanian territory had been conquered by the Tokundian Empire in 997, and, in spite of the Tokundian Czars' best efforts, its control over the Perimor Steppe was tenuous. Jelbek revolts against Tokundian rule took place almost each year throughout the three centuries of imperial rule, but all of them had been ruthlessly crushed. But now that the Jelbek rebels had the backing of the rising Caliphate, and inspired by its new religion, which had begun to spread around the steppe, the Tokundians had a much more difficult time containing the revolt. In 1239, while the war in Jakania was ongoing, the Jelbek rebels attacked and defeated a large Tokundian army led by the son of the Czar, Czarevich Štefan, whom they took captive and executed.

Tokundian-Augustan alliance

Later retellings of this event mention that a captive Hosian monk from Jakania supposedly predicted that Štefan's son would die a violent death within three days, and that Czarevich Štefan's death fulfilled this prophecy. The same legend also holds that Štefan V immediately accepted baptism within the Apostolic Hosian Church under the Augustan rite, and attempted to officially convert the Empire to Hosianism using all means necessary, including the destruction of temples and the torture and killing of pagan priests. However there was a much more pragmatic motivation behind the Czar's new religious policy. As the two Empires found themselves fighting against a much more powerful foreign enemy, namely the Ahmadi Caliphate, they decided to put aside their differences and enter into an alliance cemented by the adoption of a common religion. The two sides reached a peace agreement which resulted in the Tokundian Empire switching sides in the War of the South, the payment of tribute by the Augustan Empire, the promise that Emperor Anthony would marry one of Štefan's daughters, and, most importantly, Štefan's official recognition as Emperor of the Tokundians by the Patriarch of Augusta.

Augustan military reorganization

The end of hostilities with the Tokundians and the new alliance between the two empires did not manage to reverse the gains of the Turjak rebels or prevent the Caliphate from reinforcing them from the East. Realizing the desperate situation of his Empire, Emperor Anthony initiated a number of far-reaching military and political reforms that, while drastic, saved the Augustan Empire from total collapse. In 1240 Anthony made deal with local Mallans in Dilganato in order to prevent a potential pro-Turjak rebellion, by granting them a number of tax amnesties and, more importantly, ending the official policy of discrimination against the Unitarian Church, in exchange for the local Mallan troops defending the eastern border against the Turjaks.

Similarly, Anthony would negotiate the safe and speedy passage of the Tokundian column from Jakania through the south of the Empire. Mallan militias combined with regular non-Ahmadi units of the Augustan Army were able to hold the Turjak rebels at the modern border between Dilganato and Borenu. A ceasefire between the Empire and the rebels was reached in 1241 that would save the Augustan Empire and Anthony's own position, while formalising the Turjak victory in Jakania.

Crucial to the success of Augustan armies was a complete ban on travel and trade by Mallans, Ahmadis and Irkawans across Domale and Egato. By interrupting the possible flow of news, Anthony was able to maintain the loyalty of Ahmadi soldiers in the west and Irkawan and Mallan soldiers in the East. After the war, those cultural and political leaders who were unhappy with the Empire's actions were purged. The conduct of the Empire in this war would be seen as a symbol of Augustan oppression by many races until the Empire's demise over a century later. Anthony's legacy is disputed between those who condemn his initial folly and divisive conduct as spelling the beginning of the end for the Empire, and those who praise his military and political tact for saving it from near destruction.

Fall of Jelbania

Although fighting in Jakania was largely brought to an end with the withdrawal of the Tokundian forces and the ceasefire with the Turjak, the Jelbek rebellion against the Tokundian Empire would continue. After the Caliphate conquered Vanuku in the Battle of Vrkzel (1245) the Caliphate was able to directly intervene in Jelbania. Led by the Ahmadi general Sagzi Trisrmo the Caliphate inflicted a crushing defeat against the Tokundians at the Battle of Klunedomura. By 1248 all of Jelbania had been brought under the direct rule of the rising Caliphate.

End and aftermath

Majatra in the aftermath of the war

The Great War of the South drastically changed the balance of power on the continent and would have major political, cultural, and religious consequences for the entire Majatran world. While the continent had for centuries been dominated by the never-ending conflict between the Augustan and Tokundian Empires, within the span of little over a decade the War reduced the two empires to a shadow of their former selves and paved the way for the conquest of nearly the entire continent by the Caliphate. Moreover the war forced the Tokundian Empire into the Augustan political and cultural sphere and ultimately resulted into the emergence of a mixed Deltarian-Augustan culture and eventually the birth of the Terran Patriarchal Church. Elsewhere on the continent the unprecedented expansion of the Caliphate resulted in the gradual adoption of Ahmadism as the most widely practiced religion on the continent, a status which it still carries to this day.