First Balkan War
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The First Balkan War was a conflict in Southeastern Europe which began when the Turkish Congress voted to declare war on the Hellenic Republic. It ended on August 2, 2008, when an armistice was signed by new Presidents Phaedrus Lidox of Turkey and John Daker of Greece. The Balkan War was the single bloodiest war in eRepublik History (as determined by total fights) until World War I surpassed it on August 30, 2008.
Background
Following a coup in Greece that removed President Capelli King from power and elected Rathen Holton to the Presidency, a small but vocal group of Greek citizens began rioting in protest of the Turkish government. Their two major grievances with Turkey were the Turkish invasion of Israel and the Turkish government's refusal to acknowledge or apologize for the Armenian genocide. The Greek government assumed a neutral stance and did not officially support the protests, and in the interests of free speech did not take any further action than to quell the violent rioting.
While the protests continued, the Turkish government accused the Hellenic Republic of supporting the protesters after the subject of protests turned to the founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Rumors of War
As the Greek protests wore on, a group of Turkish citizens began calling for a Turkish invasion of the territory of the Hellenic Republic. The Turkish government was silent on the issue for days before President Selcuk1907 came before the Congress and officially proposed a declaration of war on July 15, 2008. The Congress shot down the idea almost unanimously, and it appeared as though war would be averted.
However, when a large number of Turkish citizens sympathetic to Greece began vocalizing their support for Greece, the Turkish President again went before Congress, asking for war. Congress resoundingly passed the second proposal on July 19, 2008, and war was declared against the Hellenic Republic and her allies, Bulgaria and Romania.
Bulgarian Neutrality
Bulgaria declared its intentions to remain neutral in the conflict, having military pacts with both Greece and Turkey. However, Turkey ignored the Bulgarian stance and attacked Bulgaria in a two-front war. Bulgarian citizens and politicians protested the war vehemently, asking for peace in the Balkans and with Turkey. The Turkish military continued their operations in the Bulgarian theater for a full day before Turkish President Selcuk1907 ordered a full recall of forces from the Bulgarian-Turkish border and for articles of peace to be drawn up. By that time, many Bulgarian, Greek, and other citizens and politicians had condemned the Turkish attacks and called for a quick peace.
Operations
Bulgarian theater of operations
War Statistics
| Battles Fought | 2 (Turkey 0 vs Bulgaria 2) |
|---|---|
| Fights Won | Turkey 49 vs Bulgaria 47 |
| Draw Fights | 28 |
| Total Fights | 147 |
Greek theater of operations
On July 21, 2008, Turkish troops spilled into Western Thrace and the Aegean Islands. The city of Alexandroupoli fell overnight to the attacking Turks, and Greek soldiers pulled back into Macedonia. Throughout the following week, Greek lands were slowly whittled away by the combined Turkish and mercenary forces. Macedonia and Crete fell on July 23, and Epirus, Peloponnese, the Aegean Islands, Attica, Thessaly, and the Ionian Islands fell to Turkey over the next two days. The Turkish Army was bolstered by support from mercenaries from around the world, whose exploits were financed by the Turkish treasury. By comparison, the Greek military suffered from low wellness and a shortage of weapons, and the Greek treasury could not support a mercenary force.
On July 23, in an effort to save Greece, the then-Vice President John Daker approached Pakistani President Senor Schlong and proposed an emergency amendment to the FIST Treaty that would enable Greece to join. The measure was passed by a majority of the Founding Members of FIST and Greece became eligible for defensive aid from FIST states. Turkey heavily criticized the decision and attempted to take FIST to trial to block the ascension of Greece, but the trial never moved forward and FIST states began sending aid to Greece through Romania.
The combined Romanian, Greek, FIST, and international troops were eventually pushed to Lamia in Central Greece. The coalition successfully defended that city through the August 1 elections which saw elected Phaedrus Lidox in Turkey and John Daker in Greece. The two new Presidents quickly signed an armistice which brought what was then the bloodiest war in history to a close.
War Statistics
| Battles Fought | 33 (Turkey 0 vs Greece 33) |
|---|---|
| Fights Won | Turkey 1601 vs Greece 223, Romania 1350 |
| Draw Fights | 521 |
| Total Fights | 3695 |
Conclusion and aftermath
Peace rumors and elections
On July 29, 2008, Turkish Minister of War nevugila posted a comment in a Greek newspaper saying "Turkey ... sent a peace treaty to [Rathen Holton, the President of Greece]." President Holton was quick to deny the rumors, saying that no treaty had ever been sent to Greece, but Greek foreign affairs ministers stayed in contact with Turkish President selcuk1907 and War Minister nevugila over the next few days. Eventually, with the elections looming, Turkey broke off all contact with Greece.
On August 1, the major parties in Turkey formed a coalition that sought to elect onrche of the Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti party to the Presidency. Hundreds of false votes were cast by the Turkish coalition to try to shift the elections in onrche's favor as Phaedrus Lidox and the Turkish Liberation Front dominated the polls, gaining over sixty percent of the vote by the end of the night. The World Court closely monitored the Turkish elections and discarded nearly 500 fraudulent ballots.
Treaty of Athens
The Treaty of Athens was drafted in the days leading up to the elections by John Daker of Greece and Phaedrus Lidox of Turkey. It was not been released to the public and was not been signed by either party, but the treaty was designed to return all Greek lands to Greece. It was submitted to the World Court for review on August 4, but it was decided that the treaty was not feasible.
Status of Greek lands
Most former Greek lands remained occupied by Turkey following the war. Presidents John Daker and Phaedrus Lidox were in talks with Cristian Badea, the eRepublik Community Manager, to try to return Greek lands, but the admins decided that it would take too much time to manually move everything back to the way things were.
I tried my best, talked with all the devs but unfortunately we cannot help you on this matter. It would be a lot of work for our devs, moving all the entities, creating GRR accounts for the new ones and so on and mostly it is manual work. After we launch v1, we will have the resistance module ready for you guys.
Really sorry I couldn't do much, but I really hope you understand the situation. Believe me, I did my best (that's why it took so much in order for us to come with an answer).
- Cristian Badea, in an email to John Daker
Despite this course of events, John Daker has continued to assert Hellenic sovereignty over all Greek lands.
War erupts again
On December 4, 2008, Turkey again declared war on Greece in what became known as the Second Balkan War.
