Guilder View of the Recent War:
In response to the ever increasing and unfair taxes for crossing the Dire Straits, some Guilder merchantmen were forced to resort to evading Florin patrols. One merchant ship, the Serendipity was discovered trying to leave the Glass Sea but was lucky enough to evade the cannons of the cliff forts. A pair of Florinese customs ships gave chase and fired upon the Guilder ship as it came within sight of a flight of Guilder airships on manoeuvre's in the Glass Sea. The Serendipity signalled for aid to the Guilderese airships shortly before it was sunk. The Airships responded by sinking one of the Florin ships, The Majestic, and badly damaging the other, The Stalwart, before it could return to the protective umbrella of the coastal batteries.
Naturally Guilder offered to pay full reparations in an attempt to keep the peace, even though the Serendipity was sunk in Guilder territorial waters. The Florin response was to invade and then declare war.
Florin pushed rapidly into Guilder, occupying much of Raganelle and Candace before the the rapid response forces could stem the tide. However it was months before the Guilder Army could be fully mobilised. By the beginning of Autumn Florin had been pushed back to the foothills of the Capstan range. Winter came early that year and Florin raiders used the cover of snow, ice and blizzard to make fiendish raids on the unseasoned volunteers. Losses were heavy and the morale of many units was low.
In the Spring, fresh units, veterans of the Galacian campaign, spearheaded the advance into Florin territory. Their attack was unexpected and made rapid progress at first until the weather improved and Florinese Ornithopters were able to blunt the power of the Armoured Zeppelins. Both sides brought warclanks to bear on the front but Guilder clanks proved more numerous and more easily repaired though Florinese snipers greatly reduced the warclanks effectiveness. Despite the many claims of imminent Guilder victory the war dragged on. By Winter Guilder had only just managed to fight their way through the heavy fortifications of the Capstan mountains North of the Cliffs of Insanity.
The Winter of 1798 AR was bitter and harsh but Guilder was able to push a new road almost through the mountains. Again Florinese snipers took a heavy toll on the Guilder forces, particularly targeting the Road engineers and supply convoys. Guilder employed specially trained Alpine troops against these cowardly raids but all too often these patrols were themselves ambushed by the dastardly raiders and the Guilder Muskets were outranged by Florinese rifles.
Before the snows could melt the warring Monarchs met in secret to discuss the war. Ferdinand and his Florin counterpart ended the war with the signing of the treaty of Ardane, so called as the site of the meeting was the in Ardane manor in the foothills of Florin, near the cliffs of Insanity. The terms called for a redrawing of the borders and for Florin to cede the Duchy of Mainspring, well known for it's ancient university, to Guilder.
Today there are many rumours about why the treaty was signed but in truth only the Emperor and the Florin King know why they ended the war.
Florin View of the Recent War:
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