Hundred Days War

The Hundred Days War (百日戦役), was the name given to the invasion of Erebonia into Liberl in S.1192. The Erebonian invasion and occupation took two months, after which Liberl fought back and liberated itself in the following month. As the war lasted approximately three months, it was retroactively named the 'Hundred Days War'.

The Hundred Days War is an important historical event in as it affected the lives of both protagonists, Estelle and Joshua Bright. The war also had a profound impact on changes in the Imperial government.

Outbreak
The Hundred Days War originated in Hamel, a small town in south Erebonia near the border with Liberl. One morning in the spring of S.1192, a band of invaders, garbed in black and armed with Liberlian weaponry, suddenly encircled the village and slaughtered everyone in sight. After the raid, the provincial army found the Liberlian weapons and reported their findings back to the Imperial government.

This was in truth revealed to have been orchestrated by Georg Weissmann as part of his schemes and long term plan. He whispered the name of 'Hamel' into the assailants and preyed upon the Noble families wanting to make a name for themselves through war such as Rudolf Arundel who sought an expanded fortune and change to his circumstances. The Erebonian Curse also had an effect.

A single cannon shot from the Imperial Army of Erebonia shook the Haken Gate, situated in the northern part of Liberl. During this time, the Haken Gate was little more than a reinforced medieval rampart. It easily succumbed to the round fired by one of the Reinford Company-built orbal tanks, leaving a section of the aged barrier fractured beyond repair. Liberl's other defensive walls were hit in succession by a fusillade of cannonballs and fell under the explosive impact. Soon, Liberl's defences were reduced to a mountain of rubble.

Declaration
At about the same time that the first cannon shot was fired, a single letter from the Erebonian Embassy located in Grancel was delivered to Queen Alicia. It was a writ containing a declaration of war by the Imperial government upon Liberl.

In terms of diplomatic wisdom, the propriety of the declaration was established by being handled prior to the preemptive strike, but in this instance, there was hardly a difference in time between when the two occurred. In short, firing the first shot at the exact moment war was declared on Liberl made it possible for Erebonia to guise their preemptive strike as one of legitimacy when the first bombshell hit. This could be referred to as a new diplomatic war tactic, though one incapable of being employed without a meticulous level of planning used in concert with an orbal communication system.

Erebonian occupation
After the destruction of the Haken Gate, the Imperial Army began its invasion of Liberl in earnest. Overall, its troop strength was made up of thirteen divisional units. This proved to be roughly half of the Empire's entire military force, and was such a massive deployment that it was easily three times the size of Liberl's entire Royal Army. Rudolf Arundel was part of this assault, taking command of the 13th Division.

Within a month after the outbreak of war, the Imperial Army had occupied nearly all of the Liberl territory. Only the Grancel region and Leiston Fortress, situated just off the shore of Valleria Lake, remained in opposition. These blitzkrieg tactics were carried out so rapidly that even Calvard, allied with Liberl and long-time rival of Erebonia, never had the opportunity to dispatch auxiliary forces to aid its partner.

However, in a following attempt by the Imperial Army to take direct control over the Zeiss Central Factory and Malga Mine, they instead found themselves on the verge of being forced to surrender to Queen Alicia, who remained entrenched within Grancel.

Liberlian counterattack
Two months following the outbreak of war, the battle situation was altered in a way which no one could have previously anticipated. Unbeknownst to the Imperial Army, three patrol ships were quietly being developed behind the walls of Leiston Fortress. Upon completion, they were put under the direction of veteran commander, General Morgan, and a large scale counterattack was launched.

These patrol ships, shielded by armor far superior to the tanks of their Imperial counterparts and mounted with a substantial amount of high-performance orbal weaponry, had also managed to boost their speed to over 1800 selge per hour. Using these crafts, as an independent mobile force lauded as the elite of elite, Liberl's forces mounted an attack and quickly recaptured the checkpoints connecting the various regions. As this strike went underway, they simultaneously launched an amphibious attack from Leiston Fortress and, one by one, defeated the remaining isolated Imperial divisions.

Liberation
After just three months following the outbreak of war, the larger part of the Imperial Army's remaining divisions surrendered. However, as capitulation was at hand, there were indications of a surge of further reinforcements from the Imperial homeland, a move which galvanised other continental nations to follow suit and join Calvard in supporting Liberl. Together they lambasted Erebonia, and a formidable group of allied forces began to materialise.

Amidst all the chaos the Septian Church, in cooperation with the Bracer Guild, called for an armistice, and after approximately one hundred days from the start of the war the hostilities came to an end. In the following year of S.1193, in the Erbe Royal Villa on the outskirts of Grancel, a peace treaty was signed by both the Liberl and Erebonian governments. Although no indemnification was made, an official apology was offered up by the Imperial government as they expressed that they had "made a grievous error attributed to a tragic incident occurring within (their) borders".

Aftermath
After the war, the ruse was discovered and the Imperial court was thrown into a panic. After his return to Erebonia, Rudolf was forced to reap what he had sowed. In an secret court-martial, he was charged with the employment of jaeger dropouts to carry out the massacre of Hamel. That was the conclusion of Brigadier General Giliath Osborne, who was tasked with the investigation on authority of Emperor Eugent III and had confidential negotiations with Alicia von Auslese, the queen of Liberl. Rudolf was found guilty and executed in S.1192. Giliath Osborne selected his son, Lechter as one of his Ironbloods. They conceded to a comprehensive peace and had nearly everyone involved in the plot executed.

Former soldier Giliath Osborne assumed office as Chancellor of Erebonia. Shortly thereafter, Imperial authorities announced that Hamel had been destroyed in a landslide, and all roads leading there were to be closed completely and the village removed from all maps. This turn led to the events of Hamel's survivors being key parts of Weissman's plan, and Ash Carbide becoming a pawn for the Erebonian curse later on in life.