[quote=@Bright_Ops]
[@Aristo] We would have spared revolutionary forces if they didn't keep trying to attack our forces for being lead by magic users.
[/quote]

Neither of us truly clarified whether they attacked first, only that you launched an attack against both. 
Heck, the rebels probably would have been open to friendly intervention on their behalf, provided your role of magic within the government structure was not as domineering. 
The rebellion was originally targeted at the sorcerer elite, and the fact that mundanes had no power whatsoever, but as the new government took hold, propaganda and radical movements extended that hostility toward offensive magic in general. 
Some outside assistance against the mageocrats, even from rival mages, perhaps, would have been appreciated.