Puget Sound War

The Puget Sound War (also called the Kingston War of Independence) was a military conflict between the Federal Kingdom of Lower Columbia and Mainland, a former province of Gudland, in 1889, resulting in the independence of the Republic of Mainland and the undisputed annexation of the continental Gudland provnces by Lower Columbia.

After the successful Gudland War, which Mainland did not participate in due to concerns for its own safety, Lower Columbia was keen on occupying the last province of the Federal Republic of Gudland, Mainland, where some of the Republic's representatives had fled to. On May 2, 1889, King Tristan of Lower Columbia declared war on Mainland, intending to complete the conquest of Gudland. The former Province of Mainland, now officially the last part of Gudland (and therefore fighting under the name Mainland (Province of Gudland)), agreed to this declaration of war, hoping to remain independent from Lower Columbia. Michael Yannis, Governor of Mainland, mobilized his troops and the remaining 15 naval ships to be prepared for a Lower Columbian invasion.

Origins
After the federal government of Gudland surrendered to Lower Columbia in 1887, several dissenting politicians fled Vancouver for the Province of Mainland, hoping to avoid a complete defeat at Lower Columbian hands. Initially, these dissenters remained hidden in Vancouver, as the Lower Columbian blockade of the city was not lifted until the surrender was finalized. However, once it was once again possible to leave the city, they did so, taking a ferry to Mainland. Once they had arrived, they headed straight for the provincial capital of Port Ruppert, where they told Governor Michael Yannis and his cabinet about their countrymen's surrender.

Meanwhile, the war had left Lower Columbia's military and populace exhausted. Although the kingdom was now considerably larger than it had been, the war took an immense toll on the people, as a draft had been implemented to bring the armed forces up to the size needed to achieve victory. In addition, with parliamentary elections approaching quickly, most Lower Columbians, even in the government, had other matters on their minds. The 1887 parliamentary elections gave the fledgling Progressive party its first mandate, which interfered with King Tristan's plans to invade Mainland, the one remaining independent province of Gudland. Only after a year and a half did the King finally have enough support in Parliament and his cabinet to press for war against Mainland.

In April 1889, the King convinced Lord Helge Jotunson, FA to introduce a bill to the Federal Assembly declaring war on Mainland, which Jotunson did on April 24. The debate on the bill was tense at first, with many Assemblymen from the former Gudlander provinces unwilling to declare war on their former countrymen. However, their objections were overruled, and the bill passed the Assembly after only three days of debate. The Council of States took up debate on the bill the following Monday, April 29, and passed it after another three days of debate. At last, the bill received royal assent on May 2, and the war officially began.

Departure of Lower Columbian troops
On May 29, 1889, King Tristan issued the command for his ships to set sail for the coastline of Mainland to occupy the last Gudland territory. In the early morning hours of the next day, the Royal Lower Columbian Navy established a blockade of the islands, with 30 heavy cruisers patrolling the seas around the islands. Meanwhile, Yannis successfully mobilized 82,000 men and women to fight for their land. Among them were 29,000 natives who were set to organize a guerilla war if any Lower Columbian troops successfully landed.

During the first few weeks of the blockade, Yannis and his ministers developed a plan to draw the Lower Columbian ships into a pitched battle favouring Mainland. Yannis knew that 15 ships, the remainder of the Gudland Navy, were stationed in Cape Shatt, a small town hidden behind the large Island of Shatt, invisible to the Lower Columbian ships. Giving orders to prepare these ships for battle, Yannis saw his chance to win this war by drawing the Royal Naval forces into the Shatt River, fighting them on sea and by attacks from both riverbanks.

Battle of the Shatt River


On July 8, Governor Yannis gave orders to feign activity on the islands so as to draw the Lower Columbian ships into the Shatt River, where 15 heavily armed Mainlander ships led by the RS Marie waited to welcome them. The RS Everine, a small corvette, was spotted at the mouth of the Northern Shatt River by one of the Lower Columbian ships, resulting in all Lower Columbian ships gathering there. With the arrival of the HLCMS Kristborg, the most heated part of the war began. From both banks, sharpshooters began firing on the crews of the ships. The Everine was again spotted at Port Hope, causing Captain Douglas Halliwell of the Kristborg to prepare his ship for battle. In the midst of the preparations, however, one side of the river erupted in a volley of cannonfire. The RS Juliette had been so well camouflaged that no one on the Kristborg realized they were slowly passing a battleship. When the Juliette started firing, most of the Kristborg's crew were too busy preparing for battle to quickly return fire. Within a few minutes, the Kristborg was so badly damaged that it began to sink.

Due to the many turns of the Shatt River, the ships behind the Kristborg were unaware of what was happening at Port Hope, and thus entered a battle they were not expecting. The Juliette was not the only ship to be camouflaged; the RS Helen and the RS Florence were also hidden and awaiting unsuspecting Lower Columbian ships. Once all of the camouflaged positions had been discovered, the 15 ships of the Gudland Navy organized and began to sail down the Shatt River, confronting the Royal Navy ships with a previously unknown number of enemy ships. The battle raged all that night until the middle of the next day.

Results
After the Battle of The Shatt River, the Royal Lower Columbian Navy lost 18 of its ships, 42,000 people were dead, another 30,000 were injured, many of them severely. Out of the 97,000 men sent to Mainland at the beginning of the war, only 15,000 returned uninjured. Out of Yannis' people, only 12,000 people were dead, yet 52,000 injured. The Gudland Navy lost only 4 ships. Never before had a naval battle been so one-sided in its results.

On July 11, Governor Yannis and King Tristan agreed to a ceasefire, which began on July 12. This ceasefire enabled the two leaders to meet face-to-face and negotiate a permanent treaty. After two weeks without hostilities, Yannis and King Tristan met in Port Ruppert to negotiate that treaty, which they signed the same day. The treaty granted full independence to the Islands of Mainland and their surroundings. In return, Yannis gave up all claims on the Gudland continental territories, thus agreeing to the Lower Columbian annexation of the country that had been negotiated two years earlier in Vancouver.

In 1943, the Republic of Mainland reformed into the United Kingdom of Kingston and Boyce.