War of the Seven Provinces

War of the Seven Provinces
Bethune provincial militia skirmish with Maximusian regulars near Forlare, in a painting by Maurice Caillaux
Date April 12th, 1875 - September 28th, 1877 Location Brissac and Lematre Provinces, Laeral Result Maximusian Victory
Belligerents
Laeral Bethune province Arquien province Corday province Felliere province Sarene province Therese province Harcour province Lematre territory Assorted volunteer units	Libertas Omnium Maximus 2nd Mountain Division 4th Mountain Division 8th Infantry Division 11th Infantry Division Assorted volunteer units
Commanders and leaders
Bethune First Minister Auguste Gosselin Corday First Minister Eugène-Denis Lamar Gen. Charles Faucher Gen. Alphonse Dupont de l'Eure Gen. Jules Dupuy	James S. Winfield Robert Conner David Blair John Robinson
Strength
45,000 regulars 6,000 militia	42,000 regulars 12,000 volunteers
Casualties and losses
3,400 killed Thousands wounded	2,950 killed Thousands wounded

The War of the Seven Provinces was an armed conflict between Laeralian and Maximusian forces, lasting from 1875 to 1877. The war began in 1875 when Laeralian settlers who had migrated southward from the province of Bethune came into conflict with settlers from Libertas Omnium Maximus. After Bethune provincial militia fired upon the Maximusian settlers, war broke out and Maximusian regulars were called in. As Laeral possessed only a limited national military at the time, and many of Laeral's wealthier northern provinces opposed the war, only the forces of seven Laeralian provinces would actually be involved in the conflict. Laeralian forces were defeated, and the areas comprising Laeral's modern-day Lematre and Brissac provinces were ceded to Libertas Omnium Maximus in the 1877 Treaty of Legrange. In 1925, an uprising by inhabitants of the Brissac region was used as a pretext by Laeral to declare war on Libertas Omnium Maximus as a means of avenging the war and restoring Laeralian national pride.

Background

Throughout the 1870s, Laeralian settlers from Bethune province had been migrating southward in search of land for agriculture and grazing, encountering Maximusian settlers who had already established themselves. The increasing number of Laeralites began to be seen as a threat by local Maximusian authorities, particularly as they began to outnumber Maximusians in the region and discuss annexing the region to Laeral. In addition, Laeralian settlers often refused to hire Maximusians, meaning that Maximusian settlers could not find jobs on the increasing number of Laeralian farms and homesteads. By 1873, Laeralian settlers numbered around 40,000 in the region.

At the 1875 Legrange Convention, a convention of Laeralian settlers declared themselves the Lematre Territory, named for the first Prime Minister of the First Allied Provinces of Laeral. The territory's flag was flown and a provisional constitution adopted, while the provisional government named Jules Dupuy, a former captain in the Bethune militia, as the commander of the Lematre Territorial Militia, with the rank of General. These developments were greeted with alarm by Maximusian settlers, many of whom began to arm themselves.

Conflict

In April of 1875, following the Legrange Convention, the Lematre Territory settlers called for the neighboring Bethune province to send forces to protect their claim. Following debate, the Bethune Parliament voted to send a force of the province's militia to support the Lematre settlers. The preliminary force of around 2000 militiamen arrived in early May, and began to establish defensive positions and confiscate arms belonging to Maximusians in the region.

[Insert paragraph here on how LOM nat'l government decided to send troops]

Maximusian cavalry encountered the Bethune and Lematre militia on May 12, 1875, when an inconclusive skirmish was fought at Ribot's Bridge.

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