[b][/b][h1][center][b][u]The World as We Know It[/u][/b][/center][/h1]
[center][b]Discord Chat[/b]: https://discord.gg/f6n4B8[/center]
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[i]The World, 1900[/i][/center][center][h2]August, 1900[/h2][/center]
The world, still reeling from the nearly year long conflict in the North Sea, was quickly descending into war once again. The [b][color=yellow]Itheraen Republic[/color][/b], hoping to pull Itheraens back home with it's [b][u]Itheraen Proclamation[/u][/b], drew the ire of the Tyro-Redanian government. On August 14th, the Tyro-Redanian government submitted to the Itheraen Foreign Embassy in Aetoria that these two nations were now in a state of war. The [b][color=purple]Tyro-Redanian Army[/color][/b] had ordered a partial mobilization on August 12th while on that same day the Itheraens ordered a full mobilization. The Tyro-Redanian Royal & Imperial Army would be able to mobilize over three quarters of a million men at full strength, a process that would take nearly the remainder of the month. The same army however was a radical fusion of different cultural and linguistic demographics, a fact not lost on Imperial Minister of the Army Count Dominik von Kuhler. 

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[i]Imperial Minister of the Army Count Dominik von Kuhler inspects troops in Aetoria, 1900[/i][/center]
Soldiers of the Tyro-Redanian Army were dispersed in varied and diverse units so as to promote "the national spirit." An entirety of 800,000+ soldiers were called up from their garrisons and began assembling in the necessary areas. Tyria-Redania avoided major wars in the era between 1867 and 1900 but engaged in a number of minor military actions. Nevertheless, the general staff maintained plans for major wars against neighboring powers, especially Itherae, Serona and Violette.

In the late 19th century the army was used to suppress unrest in urban areas of the empire: in 1871 and 1898 in Aetoria and notably against Karlevian nationalists at Markenburg and Voskiyan nationalists in Neumark in November 1891. Soldiers under the command of Ulrich Kunze Burmann were also used against Deltoran rioters in Eisenstadt in 1897.

In 1868, the number of active-duty troops in the army was 255,000, and the total could be expanded to 800,000 upon mobilization. However, this was significantly less than the Continental powers of Kalpia, the Empire of Oslad and Radena, each of which could field more than one million men. Though the population of the empire had risen to nearly 90 million by 1900, the size of the army was tied to ceilings established in 1889. Thus, at the start of the 20th century, Tyro-Redanian conscripted only 0.04% of its population, compared to 0.47% in Kalpia, 0.35% in Russia and 0.75% in Violette. The 1889 army law was not revised until 1899, which allowed for an increase in annual conscriptions.

The ethnic make-up of the enlisted ranks reflected the diversity of the empire the army served; in 1900, out of every 1000 enlisted men, there were 267 Tyrians, 223 Redanian, 135 Itheraen, 85 Voskiyan, 81 Karlevian, 67 Deltoran, 64 Seronan, 38 Osladians, and 14 Karumi.

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[i]Crest of the Tyro-Redanian Army, 1871-present[/i][/center]

Following the 1867 constitutional arrangements, the Imperial & Royal Diet was dominated by Tyrian Liberals, who generally regarded the army as a relic of feudalism. In Tannersburg, legislators were reluctant to authorize funds for the joint army but were generous with the Redanian branch of the army, the Honvédség. In 1867 the military budget accounted for about 25% of all government spending, but the economic crash of 1873 hit Tyria-Redania hard and foreign observers questioned whether the Dual Monarchy could manage a major war without subsidies. Despite increases throughout the 1850s and 1860s, in the latter half of the century Tyria-Redania was still spending less on its army than were other major Continental powers. While the budget continued to rise—from 262 million crowns in 1895 to 306 million in 1900—this was still far less per capita than for other major Continental states, including Itherae, and about on par with Radena, which had a much larger population. Further contributing to the monarchy's military weakness was the low rate of conscription: Tyria-Redania conscripted only 0.05% of its population annually, compared to 0.47% in Kalpia and 0.75% in Violette. Attempts to increase the yearly intake of recruits were proposed but repeatedly blocked by officials in Tannersburg until an agreement was reached in 1900.

The [b]Itheraen Republic Army[/b] on the other hand was a minutely more modernized force capable of mobilizing less than two hundred thousand men. The [b]Itheraen 2nd Army[/b] under General Krystupasr Theodoros was its primary offensive army.

The Itheraen military command issued orders for the mobilization of its armed forces on 13 August and the mobilization began the following day, 14 August. By 30 August, the mobilization was completed and the troops began to be deployed according to the war plan. Deployments would be fully completed on September 9th, when all of the troops had arrived at their designated strategic positions. During mobilization, Itherae categorized approximately 602,000 men of three age-defined classes or bans called [i]armon[/i], which comprised all able-bodied men between 21 and 45 years of age.

The operational army consisted of 10 infantry and 3 reserve divisions. Aged men of the 3rd [i]armon[/i] were organized in 15 infantry regiments with some 45-50,000 men designated for use in rear and line of communications duties, however some of them were by necessity used as part of operational army as well, bringing its strength up to around 170,000 men. Itherae was in a much more disadvantageous position when compared with Tyria-Redania with regard to human reserves and replacement troops, as its only source of replacements were new recruits reaching the age of military enlistment. Their maximum annual number was theoretically around 60,000.

Ammunition reserves were insufficient for sustained field operations as most of it had been used in the 1900 War Games. Rifle ammunition was sparse and only amounted to several hundred shells per unit. Because Itherae lacked a significant domestic military-industrial complex, its army would be completely dependent on imports of ammunition and arms from Violette and and the Continental powers, which themselves were chronically short of supplies. The shortages of ammunition, did not include a lack of artillery ammunition, which were in abundance.

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[i]General Krystupasr Theodoros, 1897[/i][/center]
The [b]Itheraen 2nd Army[/b] (125,000/125,000 Itheraen Model 99/60 1890 Field Guns) immediately moved to the Tyro-Itheraen border; a hugely mountainous area in the north where defensive operations would be easily maintained. The soldiers of the Itheraen 2nd Army marched in high spirits to the Tyro-Redanian border. The central stretch of area were mostly plains, with some forests. General Krystupasr Theodoros--trained at the Kalpian War Academy in 1887 and was a product of modern military innovation. He ordered an establishment of lines along the border, much to the chagrin of the Itheraen soldiers, who wanted a "fast, quick war" like the same one they had waged (and won) in military exercises only months earlier.

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[i]Itheraen 2nd Army on the march, August 1900[/i][/center]
[center][h2]The Memoital Monarch Abdicates[/h2][/center]

Following the end of the [b]Zello-Osladian War[/b], the Memoital Prince and a far fledged cousin of the Veletian Empress Tsirine, agreed to the end of Memoital independence following the ruin of her economy during the war. Failure to win "an easy war," Prince Bernard faced immense pressure on bringing a solution to the question of "Memoital Economic Crises." On August 19th, Prince Bernard abdicated the throne and the nation was momentarily without it's leader. On August 21st, King James Conrad of the [b][color=pink]Kingdom of Zellonia[/color][/b] was offered the throne. He took the throne on August 22nd and the "Dual Kingdom and Commonwealth of Zellonia" became that same day. The Memoital Commonwealth maiatained that the Parliament would be free to craft it's own legislation, enforce it's own laws and maintain the Memoital Commonwealth Army. Whether King James Conrad would allow these particular institutions to remain in place remained uncertain.

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[i]Prince Bernard, 1900[/i][/center]