Second Pallisadan War

The Conflict

Prelude

In 1953 East Ilandia, Moltevino, Galliennes and Remava united their colonies in what is now Pallisade and granted them independence. Unlike many other newly formed countries Pallisade appeared to be quite stabile and prosperous. Economically things seemed to be going well, mining in the mountains was flourishing and agriculture also had some good years. Politically Pallisade was one of the most democratic former colonies in the world. But the Rikau, Pallisade's second largest ethnic group (21.8%), who lived mainly in the mountains, had no say at all in the governance, and after some minor conflicts they declared independence in June 1960.   In mere weeks they seized control over large parts of the country, and with the Pallisadan military defeated President Michael Shako saw no other choice but to ask the East Ilandians for help. East Ilandia sent over their army and after two weeks of heavy fighting they forced the rebels to retreat to the mountains. The East Ilandians had no desire to fight further for a few useless mountains and instead decided to leave a garrison of 23,800 East Ilandian soldiers at the mountain border, trapping the rebels there. Pallisade was now dependent on Eat Ilandia for its protection, but everything went fine in the following years.   But in 1962 the Fourth Ilandian War broke out, and East Ilandia had to retreat its men from Pallisade to Ilandia. The Rikau rebels soonly noticed the East Ilandians had retreated most of their men and attacked (backed by West Ilandia). While the Rikau were advancing rapidly, there was a serious leadership crisis in Pallisade, and the President was criticised for being too concerned with the economy, which was still going well at the time, while neglecting the army. The crisis continued until President Michael Shako resigned. The new president, Jacob Foliri, was not like Shako, he was more incompetent. In the month following Jacob Foliri's appointment, the Pallisadan army lost one battle after another, which led to the army gradually turning against the president. On 13 July, after two months of civil war, some senior military officers tried to stage a coup, but failed. After it became clear that the coup had failed, they fled to the south of Pallisade, where they regrouped and from where they attacked both the government forces and the Rikau rebels. Over time, government forces gained the upper hand over both the renegade soldiers and the rebels, but still failed to deliver the final blow. The civil war could only be ended in 1963, with the help of the East Ilandian army. Although the civil war had ended, Pallisade was still very unstable, more unstable even than before the civil war. President Foliri was also taking more and more power, silently undermining democracy. Not to mention the economy, Pallisade's once thriving economy was in shambles and the once so fertile lands were destroyed. Pallisade was ruined.   In the following years, communism gained strength in Pallisade while the right-wing capitalist dictatorship lost power and prestige. Minor conflicts between supporters of the dictatorship and communist freedom fighters became more frequent in the period from 1964 to 1967, and eventually one of these minor conflicts, in the town of Birabas, led to an all-out communist uprising in 1967. Details are scarce and tainted by propaganda, but it is certain that after communist riots and strikes in Birabas, the police opened fire on protesters, after which the protesters attacked and killed all the policemen and proclaimed the People's Republic of Pallisade. Communists from all over the country revolted, and quickly they received weapons and support from communist countries such as East Lebatuck. The dictatorship however too received weapons and support from capitalist countries, such as East Ilandia and UFO. The conflict deteriorated into a proxy war between the Capitalist Bloc and the Communist Bloc, known as the First Pallisadan War. In the beginning of the war the communists had the upper hand and they controlled 70% of Pallisade's territory; thousands of Pallisadan soldiers mutined or joined the communists while the remaining Pallisadan forces retreated to the mountains and the biggest cities. The communists even attacked Bahitrà, the capital city of Pallisade and seat of the president, who was wounded and lost a leg during this attack, which was eventually repelled. But the tide turned after the capitalist King-Fuharr Coalition, consisting of the UFO, East Ilandia, the UST, Senaland and, oddly, the King Fuharr Islands, landed in Pallisade and defeated the communists multiple times, reconquering vast amounts of land. After a while the war stagnated and the two Pallisades signed a cease fire in January 1972.   Eventually the First Pallisadan War ended in a stalemate in August 1972, after 5 years of war.     After the First Pallisadan War, peace returned to both North and South Pallisades, the nearly neo-fascist right dictatorship and the Stalinist dictatorship constantly distributed negative propaganda about each other but refrained from war, which they nevertheless prepared well for. And so it went, from 1972 until 2003.   In 2003 President Foliri of North Pallisade suffered a stroke and died after a reign of 43 years. Altough Foliri was quite incompetent he was surrounded by competent advisors and his reign therefore was pretty succesful. Foliri had appointed Mibushitu Minara, one of his closest allies, as his successor but Foliri's most influential advisor, Rulimu Opata, claimed the succession rights. Mibushitu retired shortly after, rumours say he was bribed by Opata.   Opata saw, and sees, it as his devine mission te re-unite Pallisade and as soon as he came to power he started militarising his country. He attracted various military corporations to make factories in his country, gave them funding and funded military research himself. Then he just waited for the right moment, and that right moment came in 2008 when a North Pallisadan civilian died at the hands of a South Pallisadan airstrike in Brazilistan. Opata made quite a game out of it, and demanded the South Pallisadans to retreat their forces from Brazilistan, which they of course did not do. On the 7th of September 2008 North Pallisade declared war on South Pallisade, and the same day North Pallisadan forces attacked the demilitarised zone between the two countries.   War...