Hraunborg War
| Hraunborg War | |||||||||
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 The Second Battle of Fort Hraunborg (1840) | |||||||||
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 Creeperopolis | Western Hemisphere Trade Company | ||||||||
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| 18 civilians killed | |||||||||
The Hraunborg War (Creeperian: Guerra de Harunburgo; Reykani: Hraunborgarstríð) was fought by Creeperopolis and the Reykani Western Hemisphere Trade Company (VVJ) between 1670 and 1672 resulting in the company ceding the trade port of Fort Hraunborg to Creeperopolis.
In 1667, the Creeperian parliament passed a new taxation law which led to the VVJ illegally taxing the residents of Las'Pilas, the town where the company had a large sugar cane plantation. After an incident in September 1669 when the company unlawfully arrested a resident of Las'Pilas resulting in a standoff between the town's law enforcement and VVJ security forces, public opinion called for the government to do something to resolve the ongoing situation between the VVJ and the government. The Conservative Party won the succeeding 1670 general election and Prime Minister Alexander Carpio Maroto ordered the arrest of the plantation's administrators in March 1670.
The VVJ condemned the arrests made by the Creeperian government and demanded the administrators' immediate release. On 2 April 1670, a Creeperian man was murdered just outside of Fort Hraunborg and the government blamed the fort's administration for the murder. On 3 April 1670, Creeperian soldiers attacked the fort, capturing land on the fort's exterior but failing to capture the fort itself, and the following day, a naval blockade of the city was implemented. In March 1671, three VVJ warships arrived at Fort Hraunborg but were attacked by the blockading warships before they could make contact with the fort. The warships were defeated, and at the same time, the army attacked the fort for a second time but again failed to capture the fort. On 9 April 1671, the army attempted a third attack on Fort Hraunborg, and this time, the army breached the fort's walls and General Reinar Williamsson surrendered the fort to the Creeperian forces.
On 3 April 1672, the Creeperian government, the Reykani government, and the Western Hemisphere Trade Company signed the Treaty of Salvador which ceded Fort Hraunborg to Creeperopolis. The treaty also resulted in the Las'Pilas plantation's repossession by the Las'Pilas municipal government and the VVJ agreeing to return the amount of money illegally taxed on the residents of Las'Pilas.
Background
In 1557, Creeperian King Alfonso III sold a portion of the city Coruña and ceded it to the Reykani Western Hemisphere Trade Company (VVJ). Alfonso III sought money to help solidify his rule shortly after his ascension to the throne to suppress nobles loyal to the assassinated King Miguel V, while the VVJ wanted to establish a trade outpost to export sugar cane from Creeperopolis.
The land purchased by the Reykani company was established as Fort Hraunborg as a trade outpost of the larger Reykani overseas colonies. Further inland, Reykanes purchased lands to build a sugar cane plantation further inland in Las'Pilas, however, the lands were not ceded to Reykanes. As the land remained Creeperian territory, the VVJ had to pay taxes to the Creeperian government, and as the VVJ was a foreign company, it paid a higher tax rate that other Creeperian companies.
Prelude
VVJ illegal taxation practices
In 1667, the Creeperian parliament led by Prime Minister José Moreno Dávalos implemented a new tax law which increased the amount of taxes the VVJ had to pay to the Creeperian government for its usage of the land in Las'Pilas. In 1668, to recuperate the lost revenue to the new tax law, the Las'Pilas plantation began to tax the Creeperans living in Las'Pilas. The VVJ's illegal taxation practices went unreported for several months until mid-1669 when the town's mayor reported the illegal taxation to the Xichútepa departmental government, which then informed the national government.
After learning of the illegal taxation practices being done by the VVJ, the parliament ordered the company to cease taxing the people of Las'Pilas, but the company ignored the parliament's order. On 2 September 1669, the parliament passed a law to further increase taxes on the VVJ which only resulted in the company collecting more illegal taxes from Las'Pilas. In October 1669, the VVJ unlawfully arrested a resident of Las'Pilas for failing to pay taxes to the VVJ which resulted in a standoff between the local police force and the plantation's security force. After a few hours, the police negotiated the resident's release in exchange for paying the tax the resident owed the plantation.
The October 1669 incident resulted in nationwide discontent with the Liberal Party (PL) which seemed to be unable to resolve the issue with the VVJ's illegal taxation practices, and to take advantage of the growing discontent with the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party (PC) began to promise ahead of the 1670 general election to resolve the situation with the VVJ within two years. In the 1670 general election, the Conservatives retook control of the parliament for the first time since 1600.
Arrest of sugar plantation owners
On 9 March 1670, the day after after taking office as prime minister, Alexander Carpio Maroto ordered the arrests of the VVJ's Freymann Marrason, the plantation's owner, and other plantation administrators in Las'Pilas. General Reinar Williamsson, the administrator of Fort Hraunborg, condemned the arrests and demanded their plantation administrators' immediate release. Carpio Maroto responded to Williamsson demanding that the VVJ cease its illegal taxation practices in Las'Pilas in exchange for releasing the plantation administrators. Williamsson responded by stating that the VVJ would only cease its illegal taxation practices if the new taxation law implemented in 1667 was revoked, but Carpio Maroto told Williamsson that the law would remain in place so that the government could recuperate the tax revenue lost to the VVJ.
In late-March 1670, Williamsson informed the Creeperian government that it would communicate with the Reykani government to resolve the situation, but the Creeperian government refused and told Williamsson that the dispute was between Creeperopolis and the VVJ and that the Reykani government would not need to be consulted. Regardless, Williamsson told the crew of a trade ship leaving Fort Hraunborg to inform the Reykani government of the ongoing situation and to determine what to do next.
Course of war
Declaration of war
On 2 April 1670, a Creeperian was murdered just outside of Fort Hraunborg. Although no perpetrator was identified, the Creeperian government accused the Fort Hraunborg administration of committing the murder in retaliation for arresting the sugar plantation administrators. Williamsson rejected the Creeperian accusations and demanded an apology. The following day, Carpio Maroto presented a law to parliament to formally declare war on the VVJ. The law passed with support from the Conservative majority while the Liberal minority abstained to vote, and at 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, 5,000 Creeperian soldiers under the command of Brigadier José Yagüe Monterrosa marched towards Fort Hraunborg from Puerto Francisco to militarily occupy the Reykani trade outpost.
First Battle of Fort Hraunborg
Creeperian and Reykani forces clashed just outside of Fort Hraunborg on 3 April 1670. As Fort Hraunborg was fortified and had a garrison of around 1,200 soldiers, the Creeperans were unable to simply capture the outpost unopposed. After several hours of fighting, the Creeperans had only managed to capture the town outside of the fort itself and the infrastructure in and out of the town. Yagüe Monterrosa ordered his soldiers to halt the attack and to being preparations for a siege.
Yagüe Monterrosa sent a request to the Creeperian Navy to initiate a naval blockade of Fort Hraunborg to prevent any ships from entering or leaving the fort. On 4 April 1670, the navy mobilized two warships from Puerto Francisco to participate in the naval blockade of the fort. The two ships were later joined by ten more warships which arrived from Salvador on 11 April 1670. The blockading warships were commanded by Rear Admiral Nicolás Durán Sánchez who ordered his warships to capture or sink any Reykani ship which attempted to enter or leave the port.
Second Battle of Fort Hraunborg
The ship which departed Creeperopolis for Reykanes in mid-March 1670 arrived in Hafnir in October 1670. The ship's crew told the VVJ's administrators about the ongoing situation occurring at Fort Hraunborg and that Williamsson asked for help resolving the situation. Bergur Haukvaldsson, the owner of the Western Hemisphere Trade Company, ordered the preparation of three warships to be sent to Fort Hraunborg as he feared that in the six months since they ships left the fort, the Creeperian army had already attacked or captured the fort. After two weeks of preparation, three VVJ warships commanded by Captain Loðmundur Ísbjörnsson left Hafnir with 600 sailors to help the outpost.
The three warships arrived at Fort Hraunborg on 24 March 1671 and encountered the Creeperian blockading warships. The Creeperian warships saw the Reykani warships and engaged in battle. In the succeeding battle, one of the Reykani warships was sunk while the other two were damaged and surrendered to the Creeperian blockade. One Creeperian warship was sunk and three more were damaged. Ísbjörnsson and around 400 Reykani sailors were taken as prisoners of war by the Creeperans.
At the same time as the naval battle, the Creeperian forces besieging the city were ordered by Yagüe Monterrosa to attack the fort. The Creeperans intended to catch the Reykanians off guard while the relieving ships were being attacked by the blockade. The Reykani forces were able to respond to the Creeperian attack, and eventually, Yagüe Monterrosa ordered his soldiers to abandon the attack and continue the siege.
Third Battle of Fort Hraunborg
On 9 April 1671, Yagüe Monterrosa ordered a third and final attack of Fort Hraunborg with direct support from the blockading warships. After several hours of fighting, the Creeperans were able to break through the fort's western wall and began to storm inside. Shortly after the western wall fell, the northern wall also fell and Creeperian soldiers now entered the fort through two breaches. Twenty minutes after the walls were breached, Williamsson surrendered the Fort Hraunborg to Yagüe Monterrosa. Creeperian soldiers occupied the fort and around 1,050 Reykani soldiers were taken as prisoners.
Aftermath
Casualties
In total, around 830 people were killed and around 850 more were wounded during the war. Of the casualties, VVJ lost around 350 soldiers and a further 300 were wounded, meanwhile, over 460 Creeperans were killed and over 550 more were wounded. Additionally, 18 civilians were killed during the First Battle of Fort Hraunborg. One VVJ warship was sunk and two more were damaged and captured by the Creeperian Navy; one Creeperian warship was sunk and three more were damaged. Around 1,450 Reykani soldiers were captured during the war.
Treaty of Salvador
On 26 April 1671, five Creeperian warships commanded by Durán Sánchez sailed to Reykanes to demand a peace treaty and the ceding of Fort Hraunborg to Creeperopolis. The warships took Marrason, Williamsson, and Ísbjörnsson as prisoners to Reykanes to verify to the Reykani government and the VVJ that the Reykani soldiers at Fort Hraunborg and the three warships sent to the outpost were indeed defeated by the Creeperans. The Creeperian warships arrived in Hafnir on 29 September 1671 and demanded that both Haukvaldsson and Reykani President Amos Eyríksson boarded the Creeperian warships and returned with them to Creeperopolis to sign a peace treaty. After threatening to execute all 1,450 Reykani prisoners of war, both Haukvaldsson and Eyríksson agreed to travel to Creeperopolis to sign a peace treaty.
The Creeperian warships, as well as three Reykani merchant ships, arrived at Salvador in March 1672 and the Creeperian and Reykani delegations began negotiating a peace treaty. The Treaty of Salvador was signed on 3 April 1672, the two year anniversary of the start of the war. The treaty resulted in Reykanes ceding Fort Hraunborg to Creeperopolis, the repossession of the VVJ's sugar plantation by Las'Pilas municipal government, and returning the amount of money illegally taxed on the residents of Las'Pilas, part of which was paid off by transferring the two captured Reykani warships to the Creeperian Navy. One week later, Haukvaldsson, Eyríksson, Marrason, Williamsson, Ísbjörnsson, and the 1,450 Reykani prisoners boarded the three Reykani merchant ships and returned to Reykanes.
Political ramifications
The war proved to be very popular among the Creeperian population and led to a wave of Creeperian nationalism across the country, and as a result, the Conservatives won the succeeding four general elections, holding power until Carpio Maroto's retirement in 1695. Although the people supported the war, many Liberal politicians and some military officers criticized how many soldiers died during the war, with Liberals arguing that the entire war could have avoided through diplomatic means.
The Reykani government was angered by the loss of Fort Hraunborg and the Las'Pilas plantation but was ultimately unable to resist the terms of the Treaty of Salvador. In an effort to recuperate its losses, the government invested more resources into the VVJ's other overseas possessions to make up for the loss of revenue from Creeperopolis, though some in government began to grow some distrust towards the VVJ and in their abilities to maintain their possessions. Additionally, the loss of Fort Hraunborg led to a small resurgence in piracy around Reykanes.
Fate of the fort and plantation
After Fort Hraunborg was occupied by Creeperian soldiers in April 1671, the Creeperian Army utilized as a fort of its own. After the fort was formally ceded to Creeperopolis in April 1672, the fort was renamed to Fort Harunburgo, the Creeperianized form of Fort Hraunborg. The fort received renovations in the 1710s and was the site of a battle during the Republican War of 1729 to 1741. In 1899, the Creeperian government retired the fort as it was deemed to be obsolete and was converted into a storage facility. The fort received minimal damaged during the Creeperian Civil War of 1933 to 1949, and in 1953, the Creeperian government converted Fort Harunburgo into a naval museum.
The Las'Pilas plantation was officially repossessed by the Las'Pilas municipal government in April 1672 following the signing of the Treaty of Salvador. The plantation was used by the Las'Pilas municipal government as form of revenue until 1695 when it was donated to Carpio Maroto as a retirement gift. In 1730, the plantation burned and destroyed by Liberal supporters of President Orlando Moreno Hidalgo during the Republican War to show their opposition to Carpio Maroto's 25 years of government. The municipal government determined that the plantation was "destroyed beyond meaningful repair", and instead of rebuilding the plantation, the municipal government decided to reuse the land to build a church, a theater, and new houses.
See also
 Creeperopolis portal Terraconserva portal |
