Denshire Massacre

This article is about the Denshire Massacre of 1944. For other massacres of Denshire, see Denshire Massacre (disambiguation).

Denshire Massacre
Part of the Creeperian Civil War
Civilians with dead Deltinians the day after the massacre.
Location	Denshire, Jakiz, Creeperopolis
Date	13 June 1944 (1944-06-13)
Target	Deltinian Muslims and ethnic Deltinians
Attack type	Massacre, mass murder, mass rape, genocide, ethnocide, looting
Weapons	Firearms, machetes, flamethrowers, explosives
Deaths	25,000+
Perpetrators	Militarist Nationalist Front, Romerist Army, Creeperian civilians
Assailants	Adolfo Rivera López
Motive	Anti-Deltinian sentiment, Islamophobia

The Denshire Massacre (Creeperian Spanish – Creeperian: Մասածրե դե Դենսհիրե; Creeperian Spanish – Iberic: Masacre de Denshire), referred to by Deltinians as the Day of Sorrow (Deltinian Arabic: يوم الحزن; transliterated as: Yawm al-Huzn), and sometimes referred to by academics as the Denshire Massacre of 1944 or the 1944 Denshire Massacre, was a mass killing and mass rape committed by the Militarist Nationalist Front (FRENAMI) against Deltinian Muslims and ethnic Deltinians in Denshire, the capital city of the Creeperian department of Jakiz. The massacre occurred on 13 June 1944, symbolically the 618th anniversary of the fall of Almadinat Almuqadasa to Creeperian crusader forces during the Creeperian Crusade. During the massacre, paramilitary soldiers of the Militarist Nationalist Front, and some Creeperian soldiers and civilians which joined in the massacre, murdered tens of thousands of unarmed Deltinian civilians who were living in the city. Mass rape, looting, and destruction of mosques also occurred concurrent to the mass killing which was being committed.

An estimated 25,000 Deltinians were murdered during the massacre by the Militarist Nationalist Front, Creeperian Army soldiers, and Creeperian civilians. The massacre occurred during the Creeperian Civil War, when several other infamous massacres occurred, however, the Denshire massacre is considered to be one of the most well known and most controversial. The Creeperian government has been denounced for allowing the massacre to occur within its controlled territory and has also been denounced for the role it played during the massacre.

Despite its infamy and notoriety, the Creeperian government denies the existence of the massacre, instead, stating that "only" 64 communists and revolutionaries were executed after an attempted uprising in the city. The Creeperian government also denies any participation in the massacre. Nationalists in Creeperopolis often deny the massacre or present revisionist historical accounts of the massacre. The Catholic Imperial Restoration Council and subsequent Creeperian government have claimed that the massacre was fabricated as propaganda by the National Council for Peace and Order in an effort to gain the support of Deltinians living in their controlled territory, as in 1937, the National Council itself committed a massacre of Deltinians which killed anywhere from 3,139 to 328,000 Deltinians.

Background

Creeperian–Deltinian ethnic and religious tensions

See also: Ethnic violence in Creeperopolis and Creeperian–Deltinian Wars

Since the arrival of Deltinians in Sur in 734AD and their subsequent conquest of the Old Kingdom of Creeperopolis in 745AD, ethnic and religious tensions between the two groups have been common throughout their shared history. The first major instances of overt ethnic and religious violence between the two groups occurred during the Creeperian Crusade between 1231 and 1345, where both groups massacred the other; Deltinians massacred Creeperans and Creeperian Catholics, and Creeperans massacred Deltinians and Deltinian Muslims. Tensions culminated in the massacre of Almadinat Almuqadasa on 13 June 1326 and the massacre of Shata' Albahr on 25 December 1345.

On 14 June 1326, Creeperian King Miguel I proclaimed the Decree of La'Victoria, which outlawed the practicing of Deltinian Islam within Creeperopolis' domains. Practicing the religion was made punishable by death, beginning the First Great Persecution of Deltinian Islam which lasted from 1326 until 1600, when the decree was nullified and rendered void by the First Parliament. During the nearly-three hundred year period of persecution, an estimated "millions to tens of millions" of Deltinian Muslims were killed. The largest instance of ethnic and religious violence between the two groups between 1600 and 1839 was the 1620 Abdan race riot, during which, a race riot against Deltinians and Muslims, killing Badri al-Morad, the first Deltinian member of the First Parliament, and 1,418 other Deltinian civilians.

On 4 May 1839, Creeperian Emperor Adolfo III proclaimed the Decree of San Salvador, again outlawing the practicing of Deltinian Islam in Creeperopolis. Between 800,000 and 1.2 million Deltinians and Deltinian Muslims were killed between 1839 and 1887 in the Second Great Persecution of Deltinian Islam. The persecution was ended on 31 December 1887 when the Second Parliament nullified it and rendered it void. Because of the second persecution and the role that several right-wing politicians had in its execution, the overwhelming majority of Deltinians and Deltinian Muslims aligned themselves politically with the left-wing People's Social Coalition, mostly voting for the Creeperian Socialist Party (PSC). Throughout the Second Parliamentary Era, the party had attempted on various occasions to reconcile Creeperian–Deltinian relations and to have those responsible for the second persecution brought to justice, increasing their popularity with the people.

In 1921, the far-right Creeperian Pro-Fatherland Front was established by Carlos Hernández Videla, and throughout its "reign of terror" during the Second Parliamentary Era, the group utilized its paramilitary Camisas Negras to intimidate its political opponents. The group also, however, also targeted, attacked, and killed Deltinians and Deltinian Muslims as a part of their ultranationalistic ideological beliefs. The attacks increased Deltinian and Deltinian Muslim support for the political-left, however, they opposed the far-left and their anti-theist policies, particularly the Creeperian Social Communist Party and their Atheist Red Army.

Soldiers of the National Council holding the heads of decapitated Deltinians after the 1937 rebellion.

Upon the outbreak of the Creeperian Civil War, the Deltinians and Deltinian Muslims were unable to align themselves with either side of the war, as on one side was the far-right, fundamentalist Catholic, and fascistic Catholic Imperial Restoration Council, and on the other side, was the far-left, fundamentalist Atheist, and communistic National Council for Peace and Order. On 7 May 1937, hundreds of thousands of Deltinians, led by Muammar al-Koroma, a Deltinian imam, revolted against the authority of the National Council after the Huetapán Massacre, in which the National Council executed 24 Deltinian imams for practicing Deltinian Islam. The rebellion, which occurred in Abdan, Helam, and Jakiz, historically referred to as the "Deltinian departments," was crushed by the National Council by 17 May 1937. General Pascual Espinar Casaus reported that his soldiers killed 3,139 "rebelling Deltinian guerrillas," while Deltinians claimed that the National Council systemically massacred up to 328,000 Deltinians, mostly civilians. Modern historians believe that the death toll was somewhere around the 50,000 to 100,000 range, however, the figure of 328,000 is still the most commonly spread figure due to both anti-communist and anti-islamic sentiment in Creeperopolis.

After the suppression of the rebellion, Deltinian opposition to the National Council increased, however, the continued to oppose the Imperial Council as well. Many Deltinians came under attack from both the Camisas Negras and the Atheist Red Army in the aftermath of the rebellion, and news of the high death toll of the rebellion and massacre spread across Creeperopolis.

Military situation

The streets of Denshire after the Battle of Denshire.

When the civil war broke out on 2 January 1933, the National Council gained control of the capital city of Jakiz: Denshire. The city was held firmly by the National Council throughout the 1930s and into the early 1940s. During their occupation, on 25 April 1938, the National Council arrested 35 religious figures in the city, including 12 imams, and had them executed for being religious figures.

On 1 June 1943, the Imperial Council began the Southern Offensive of 1943–44. Commanded by Field Marshal Arturo Rawson Perón, the offensive's objective was to capture and secure the "Deltinian departments" of Abdan, Helam, and Jakiz. On 1 September 1943, the 15th Romerist Army, led by General Rafael Dávalos Villa, began the Battle of Denshire. After two weeks and three days of fighting, General Jairo Carballar Alcocer's 19th Miguelist Army was forced to retreat from the city on 18 September 1943, ending the battle in a National Council victory.

Over 4,800 military personnel were killed during the battle and an estimated 1,300 civilians were killed, however, not many civilians were displaced from the city. By the start of 1944, most of the civilians who were displaced from the city by the battle were able to return and rebuild their homes. By June 1944, most of the city had been rebuilt by those living in the city. After the battle, the 99th Romerist Infantry Battalion under Colonel José Blázquez Cuevas, consisting of 1,500 soldiers, was garrisoned in the city.

See also

• List of massacres of the Creeperian Civil War
• Deltinian Genocide