Juggernaut - Recent Conflicts

Recent Volatile Diplomat Interactions


				------=====+++++=====------


PRUSSO-GAULIC WAR

On an oppressively muggy day 42 years ago, on July 16 of 1869, Gaule declared war on the Teutonic League.

This act surprised absolutely no one.  Gaule had always been at odds with the various Teutonic states and cities, and when the process of Prussian unification began, it only exacerbated the animosity already present.  Gaule, understandably, was displeased at the prospect of the continental balance of power being upset by some self-aggrandizing Teutons.  So, this conlict came to a head over a dispute over the rich iron mines on the border of Lorraine.  To further complicate the matter, the majority of the workers in those mines were Teutonic themselves--either itinerant workers or just Lorraine natives more aligned with their Eastern neighbors.

Alsace & Lorraine--historically speaking--meandering back and forth between Teutonic governance and Gaulic governance of some administration or another.  However, the past several decades had seen these valuable territories under Gaule's bailiwick, and she was loathe to surrender them to a bunch of warmongering upstarts. At the Linden Summit, Prussian diplomats met with their Gaulic counterparts to try and resolve the situation.  The summit degenerated quickly.  On the first day, the Gaulic Prime Minister, due to an error on his translator's part, erroneously believed that the Prussian embassador called his hat "dull".  After several hours of bickering, the diplomats unhappily retired for the day.  The summit proceeded to break down further until on the third day, after a fistfight broke out between Gaulic and Prussian diplomats, the Gauls withdrew from the summit.

Tensions ran high for the next two months, but it seemed like the status quo might again prevail--until the Teutonic workers in the iron mines went on strike, being thoroughly upset with the result of the Linden Summit and pining for Teutonic unification.  Gaule cracked down hard on the peaceful protest.  The Teutonic League sent a military relief across the border to alleviate the pressure on their ethnic brethren, and enough ws enough.  Gaule issued an ultimatum to the Teutonic League on the crimson morning of July 15, and after 24 hours of no reply, declared war.

Immediately, the war turned disastrous for Gaule.  Teutonic forces won a string of minor victories in northeastern Gaule and pushed towards Quinne.  The Gaulic offensive into Lorraine was also immediately repulsed, and the forces fled backwards to defend their capital.  Unbeknownst to the Gauls, the Prussians had recently perfected the distillation process for Unweight, and their new fleet of zeppelins allowed them to topple Quinne after a siege of only 5 days.

Aftet this humiliating defeat, Gaule was forced to pay great reparations, as well as surrender the territories of Alsace and Lorraine to the greedy embrace newly established Prussian Empire.  However, poor administration and harsh colonial rule on the part of the Empire has done well to alienate the neutral elements in those territories, who now yearn for reunification with their Gaulic motherland.


				------=====+++++=====------


CANAANITE WARS

Canaan, the holy land of Christianity, has been a hotbed of warfare and dispute for the past millenia.  Starting in the 800s,  Sassanid forces launches several jihads against to take the Holy Land out of Christian hands and bring it into the Moslem fold.  These continued for the next three centuries, destabilizing the region and enervating its neighbors, and the Sassanids even managed to hold Canaan for a short period of time.  Ever since, ownership of Canaan has been contested between the continental powers, causing a deep and bitter rivalry between Calabria and Iberia.  The most recent war was in 1797-1801, when Calabria repulsed an Iberian attempt to take the territory.


				------=====+++++=====------


COLUMBIAN CIVIL WAR

The Columbian Civil War has been ongoing for the past 8 years, and its gradually expanding boundaries has begun to threaten the careful continental balance of power that has been maintained since the foundation of the Prussian Empire.  The Columbian Confederated Republic developed advanced and surreal technologis of automization, rendering vast portions of the population obsolete.  Currently, guerilla forces from the countryside wage endless war against the city fortresses and armies of the robber barons.  The war has spread over to most of the Columbian continent, and navy forces from both the rebels and the barons are siezing or impressing foreign ships, causing tensions to rise between everyone.