Knootoss
26-07-2004, 14:50
((OOC: Now approved by TB, this thread is about the historic "police actions" that Knootoss held in its colony in Tanah Burung, as well as the independence war from the Knootian East Indies that led to the rise of the United Provinces of Tanah Burung. TB will add a bit more later about the role of Rumbiak. This is IC, but it has already taken place in the past. Please enjoy the story, comment, whatever.))
Insurrection
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Burungi independence movement began to gain momentum. In Knootoss, the idea that Tanah Burung would become an independent state was thought of as preposterous. There was a notion, however, that Tanah Burung could get its own position within a Knootian Federation. There was a passage cautiously referring to ‘more independence’ in the 7 December speech in 1931 by the Prime Minister, who spoke of a people growing up slowly, and the responsibility of the Republic to nurture the people of the East Indies to adulthood “like is the responsibility of a good parent towards its children.”
But despite some efforts to install a ‘Volksraad’, an advisory ‘peoples council’ with native Burungi’s as members, there was little progress and after decades of flaring unrest here and there, the flag of independence was raised in the capital Nieuw Hoorn and in the Matebian mountains. Keeping with that idea of a slow pace towards more independence, the Knootians believed that order had to be restored to the colony to get rid of what a political majority considered a collection of rampokkers (disturbers of the peace). The general idea was that Knootoss had to “rush to the aid” of the beleaguered colony as soon as possible. Referring to ‘7 December’ the government appealed to the high-minded assistance ideas by which it had been inspired.
For this purpose, war volunteers were drafted with posters on which the Knootian guinea pig was displayed wearing a soldiers-uniform, with a trumpet on top of the globe stating: “See the world, pack for the Knootian East Indies.” Additionally, the poorly maintained Knootian East Indian Army (KEIA) was rebuilt. This army primarily consisted of native fighters armed, trained and led by Knootian officers. Where possible, local nobility had been drafted to serve a ceremonial leadership role in the KEIA, with the Knootian officers in “advisory” functions. After about a year of chaos in the colony, the first fresh Knootian troops arrived on the island of Tiga Burung to engage the fledgling independence movement. The first division had been named after the speech of the Prime Minister: “7 December division” to again reflect the high-minded ideals that had brought Republican forces halfway across the globe to the Emerald Heights.
In the same period the Knootian governor-general Vogels signed a treaty with loyalist Burungi nobility that declared an armistice. The Knootians, in turn, promised a Knootian Federation in a decade. Playing different sections of the nobility and the different tribes against each other had always maintained Knootian hegemony in the region and this time, Vogels believed, would be no different. The vast majority of the Burungis, however, now desired full independence which is what this agreement did not confirm. New ideologies were sweeping the nation - ironically often spread by Burungi’s who had been educated at Knootian universities. Nationalism, socialism and communism inspired the resistance to go on regardless of the wishes of old, artificially propped-up, nobility whose traditions had since long been maintained with Knootian protection. Despite the treaty with the nobility, the revolution gained the support of the Liurai of Loro Sae and the Sultan of Burung Paradis who actively sabotaged the treaty. The agreement thus provided the rebelling Burungi’s with the breathing space they needed to garner more strength. For the Knootian right wing in parliament, it was totally unacceptable but the document was still signed in the palace district of Nieuw Hoorn in a ceremony involving many ancient and complicated Burungi diplomatic rituals.
The first police action
Gradually the “armistice” situation escalated as the rebels targeted Knootian economic targets such as lone plantations and warehouses where spices were stored for transfer to Europe. When the economic interests of the Knootian ventures on the mainland started to get in serious danger, the cabinet of Prime Minister Oud decided to start a campaign to protect those interests. This became the first police action, a wild jungle-campaign which lasted one long summer. "Police" is a fantastic description for the troop power available: including the KEIA there were more than 124,000 men under the command of General Webermann.
‘Operation Market’ had a limited aim, namely to secure Knootian economic interests and stop the attacks. That limited scope had certainly not been the wish of the military commander, general Webermann, who had advocated extensive actions which would have to lead to the complete elimination of the rebel powerbase. For a short time these plans circulated, but the soldiers got did not get their way. Military action remained limited to ‘Market’
Operation Market achieved - with limited loss of men - the security for Knootian economic interests, but it had not established order and rest the politicians had hoped for. It left Knootoss patrolling Tanah Burung with an enormous troop force and with a frustrated army command which had the feeling that the job had not been finished.
The second police action
Back in Europe, the Right was displeased that the Burungi independence movement still existed, and since the beginning of ‘Market’ the conservatives put strong pressure on the government for more action. The coalition government however, continued to be violently divided on the issue after the first police action was finished, and it feared that the UN and other nations would sympathise with the rebels if an all-out war was undertaken.
Although Prime Minister Oud was initially against renewed military action, he radically changed his of point of view when in September, one year after the first police action, a communist insurrection broke out in Loro Sae, which quickly spread to Burung Paradis. A ‘Peoples Government’ was declared and ‘peoples representatives’ were appointed. Oud feared a recognition of the ‘Peoples Government’ by communist and socialist countries now that a large chunk of the colony was no longer under Knootian control and the liberal strongly insisted on military action. This all took place during a cold war: If Knootoss were to take action in ttember, one year after the first police action, a communist insurrection broke out in Loro Sae, which quickly spread to Burung Paradis.ndnd the liberal strongly insisted on military action. This all took place during a cold war: If Knootoss were to take action in ttember, one year after the first police action, a communist insurrection broke out in Loro Sae, which quickly spread to Burung Paradis. A ‘Peoples Government’ was declared and ‘peoples representatives’ were appointed. Oud feared a recognition of the ‘Peoples Government’ by communist and socialist countries now that a large chunk of the colony was no longer under Knootian control aThe primary military objective of the Knootians, to retake New Hoorn, was accomplished quickly and Burungi leaders in town were handed over to local Knootian-approved nobility and were subsequently publicly executed on the main square. But the guerrilla raged on. Considerably more losses were suffered by the Knootians and slowly but surely it became a military and political catastrophe. Instead of gaining international support for the fight against communism, the world saw images of burning villages and piles of corpses on their black-and-white televisions. Attacks on economic targets continued, making all entrepreneurial efforts in the Knootian East Indies unprofitable.
Back home, public support turned against the war and the once popular Prime Minister Oud was losing strongly in the polls. An election in the second year of ‘Operation Burungi Liberty’ brought a critically weakened liberal party back to power. But Oud, now a politically broken man haunted by images of mass graves and atrocities, had gotten the message. For one more bloody year the Knootian East Indian army struggled to restore order in its colony but it was impossible to guard all the villages and jungle roads. Oud finally made the painful decision to abandon the Knootian East Indies altogether, leaving it to become Tanah Burung. The move was described in the press as the Republic ‘cutting its losses’. With that came an end to Knootoss as colonial world power and to the most extensive military operation which that country had ever undertaken entirely on its own strength: a police action, an order measure.
The new Burungi government was never officially recognised by Knootoss as legitimate, and the Knootians more or less collectively ignored the painful episode until a treaty was signed with Peoples Representative Violetta Bi Bere many decades later.
Insurrection
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Burungi independence movement began to gain momentum. In Knootoss, the idea that Tanah Burung would become an independent state was thought of as preposterous. There was a notion, however, that Tanah Burung could get its own position within a Knootian Federation. There was a passage cautiously referring to ‘more independence’ in the 7 December speech in 1931 by the Prime Minister, who spoke of a people growing up slowly, and the responsibility of the Republic to nurture the people of the East Indies to adulthood “like is the responsibility of a good parent towards its children.”
But despite some efforts to install a ‘Volksraad’, an advisory ‘peoples council’ with native Burungi’s as members, there was little progress and after decades of flaring unrest here and there, the flag of independence was raised in the capital Nieuw Hoorn and in the Matebian mountains. Keeping with that idea of a slow pace towards more independence, the Knootians believed that order had to be restored to the colony to get rid of what a political majority considered a collection of rampokkers (disturbers of the peace). The general idea was that Knootoss had to “rush to the aid” of the beleaguered colony as soon as possible. Referring to ‘7 December’ the government appealed to the high-minded assistance ideas by which it had been inspired.
For this purpose, war volunteers were drafted with posters on which the Knootian guinea pig was displayed wearing a soldiers-uniform, with a trumpet on top of the globe stating: “See the world, pack for the Knootian East Indies.” Additionally, the poorly maintained Knootian East Indian Army (KEIA) was rebuilt. This army primarily consisted of native fighters armed, trained and led by Knootian officers. Where possible, local nobility had been drafted to serve a ceremonial leadership role in the KEIA, with the Knootian officers in “advisory” functions. After about a year of chaos in the colony, the first fresh Knootian troops arrived on the island of Tiga Burung to engage the fledgling independence movement. The first division had been named after the speech of the Prime Minister: “7 December division” to again reflect the high-minded ideals that had brought Republican forces halfway across the globe to the Emerald Heights.
In the same period the Knootian governor-general Vogels signed a treaty with loyalist Burungi nobility that declared an armistice. The Knootians, in turn, promised a Knootian Federation in a decade. Playing different sections of the nobility and the different tribes against each other had always maintained Knootian hegemony in the region and this time, Vogels believed, would be no different. The vast majority of the Burungis, however, now desired full independence which is what this agreement did not confirm. New ideologies were sweeping the nation - ironically often spread by Burungi’s who had been educated at Knootian universities. Nationalism, socialism and communism inspired the resistance to go on regardless of the wishes of old, artificially propped-up, nobility whose traditions had since long been maintained with Knootian protection. Despite the treaty with the nobility, the revolution gained the support of the Liurai of Loro Sae and the Sultan of Burung Paradis who actively sabotaged the treaty. The agreement thus provided the rebelling Burungi’s with the breathing space they needed to garner more strength. For the Knootian right wing in parliament, it was totally unacceptable but the document was still signed in the palace district of Nieuw Hoorn in a ceremony involving many ancient and complicated Burungi diplomatic rituals.
The first police action
Gradually the “armistice” situation escalated as the rebels targeted Knootian economic targets such as lone plantations and warehouses where spices were stored for transfer to Europe. When the economic interests of the Knootian ventures on the mainland started to get in serious danger, the cabinet of Prime Minister Oud decided to start a campaign to protect those interests. This became the first police action, a wild jungle-campaign which lasted one long summer. "Police" is a fantastic description for the troop power available: including the KEIA there were more than 124,000 men under the command of General Webermann.
‘Operation Market’ had a limited aim, namely to secure Knootian economic interests and stop the attacks. That limited scope had certainly not been the wish of the military commander, general Webermann, who had advocated extensive actions which would have to lead to the complete elimination of the rebel powerbase. For a short time these plans circulated, but the soldiers got did not get their way. Military action remained limited to ‘Market’
Operation Market achieved - with limited loss of men - the security for Knootian economic interests, but it had not established order and rest the politicians had hoped for. It left Knootoss patrolling Tanah Burung with an enormous troop force and with a frustrated army command which had the feeling that the job had not been finished.
The second police action
Back in Europe, the Right was displeased that the Burungi independence movement still existed, and since the beginning of ‘Market’ the conservatives put strong pressure on the government for more action. The coalition government however, continued to be violently divided on the issue after the first police action was finished, and it feared that the UN and other nations would sympathise with the rebels if an all-out war was undertaken.
Although Prime Minister Oud was initially against renewed military action, he radically changed his of point of view when in September, one year after the first police action, a communist insurrection broke out in Loro Sae, which quickly spread to Burung Paradis. A ‘Peoples Government’ was declared and ‘peoples representatives’ were appointed. Oud feared a recognition of the ‘Peoples Government’ by communist and socialist countries now that a large chunk of the colony was no longer under Knootian control and the liberal strongly insisted on military action. This all took place during a cold war: If Knootoss were to take action in ttember, one year after the first police action, a communist insurrection broke out in Loro Sae, which quickly spread to Burung Paradis.ndnd the liberal strongly insisted on military action. This all took place during a cold war: If Knootoss were to take action in ttember, one year after the first police action, a communist insurrection broke out in Loro Sae, which quickly spread to Burung Paradis. A ‘Peoples Government’ was declared and ‘peoples representatives’ were appointed. Oud feared a recognition of the ‘Peoples Government’ by communist and socialist countries now that a large chunk of the colony was no longer under Knootian control aThe primary military objective of the Knootians, to retake New Hoorn, was accomplished quickly and Burungi leaders in town were handed over to local Knootian-approved nobility and were subsequently publicly executed on the main square. But the guerrilla raged on. Considerably more losses were suffered by the Knootians and slowly but surely it became a military and political catastrophe. Instead of gaining international support for the fight against communism, the world saw images of burning villages and piles of corpses on their black-and-white televisions. Attacks on economic targets continued, making all entrepreneurial efforts in the Knootian East Indies unprofitable.
Back home, public support turned against the war and the once popular Prime Minister Oud was losing strongly in the polls. An election in the second year of ‘Operation Burungi Liberty’ brought a critically weakened liberal party back to power. But Oud, now a politically broken man haunted by images of mass graves and atrocities, had gotten the message. For one more bloody year the Knootian East Indian army struggled to restore order in its colony but it was impossible to guard all the villages and jungle roads. Oud finally made the painful decision to abandon the Knootian East Indies altogether, leaving it to become Tanah Burung. The move was described in the press as the Republic ‘cutting its losses’. With that came an end to Knootoss as colonial world power and to the most extensive military operation which that country had ever undertaken entirely on its own strength: a police action, an order measure.
The new Burungi government was never officially recognised by Knootoss as legitimate, and the Knootians more or less collectively ignored the painful episode until a treaty was signed with Peoples Representative Violetta Bi Bere many decades later.