Hraunborg War
| Hraunborg War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Creeperopolis | Western Hemisphere Trade Company | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| |||||||||
The Hraunborg War (Creeperian Spanish: Guerra de Harunburgo; Reykani: Hraunborgarstríð) was fought by Creeperopolis and the Reykani Western Hemisphere Trade Company between 1670 and 1671 resulting in the company ceding the trade port of Fort Hraunborg to Creeperopolis.
Contents
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 San Romero departmental government, which ten 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 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. 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 within 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 ships from Puerto Francisco to participate in the naval blockade of the fort. The two ships were later joined by eight more ships which arrived from Salvador on 11 April 1670. The blockading ships were commanded by Rear Admiral Nicolás Durán Sánchez who ordered his ships to capture or sink any Reykani ship which attempted to enter or leave the port.
