War of the Seven Provinces
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| War of the Seven Provinces | |||||||
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 Bethune provincial militia skirmish with Maximusian regulars near Forlare, in a painting by Maurice Caillaux | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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| Strength | |||||||
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45,000 regulars 6,000 militia |
42,000 regulars 12,000 volunteers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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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 in the Albarine Peninsula 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
Initial Mobilization
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.
Laeralian military mobilization was hindered by the structure of the Laeralian government at the time, in which individual Laeralian provinces maintained armies, while the national government maintained a navy. The prospect of war with Libertas Omnium Maximus was controversial in Laeral and split largely along sectional lines: southern provinces, particularly Bethune and Arquien, located on the Albarine Peninsula, were fervently in favor of supporting the Lematre claim, while northern mercantile interests were opposed. In debates in the national parliament, which saw both major parties split on the issue, supporters of the war, known colloquially as Pugilists, were unable to force the passage of a declaration of war, although they did successfully topple the government of Benjamin de Cariés in June 1875.
As the central government was locked in debate on the issue, six further provinces followed Bethune's lead in mobilizing their armies. The quality of these armies varied greatly: some were well-disciplined and equipped with the latest breech-loading rifles, while others were unruly and lacked even proper uniforms. In Corday province, many soldiers were recruited with the promise of free land in Lematre, an offer which the First Minister had little authority to grant. By early summer, troops of the Seven Provinces were being ferried across the Xianhai Strait by boat and barge.
[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 a brief skirmish at Ribot's Bridge saw the Maximusian cavalry retreat.
War at Sea
The Maximusian leaders quickly realized that a blockade of the Albarine Peninsula would be crucial in order to stem the flow of weapons and troops from the allied provinces in mainland Laeral, and the naval blockade and Laeralian efforts to circumvent it would become a major theater of the conflict. Without the regular navy to call upon, the allied Laeralian provinces called upon privateers to challenge the Maximusian grip on the key harbors of Lyrene, Corday, and Galline, alongside blockade-runners to bring in critical supplies to these cities.
