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Overview
The Calptionion-Michiganian war was a large, regional conflict between the Republic of Calption and The New Michiganian State, with other powers having a minor role in the conflict. The conflict was mostly over the disputed territory of the Limitrophelands, which was an industrialized region centered around the river Sein, in which lived large amounts of both Calptionions and Michiganians. Fighting took place all across the region, with bombing campaigns and naval bombardments stretching its influence to across both nations. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it claimed the lives of over 5.65 million people, with many more wounded, and tens of millions displaced. It was also one of the largest conflicts up to that point, with both sides utilizing the full strength of their nations to wage a total war against each other, which resulted in almost every adult who was in serving age having fought in the war at the time. This war is also notable for resulting in the near complete depopulation of the Limitrophelands, as the shear brutality of the war resulted in civilians fleeing from the area, and the near complete destruction of the region's industrial capacity.

The war lasted from August of 1985 to September of 1991, and is infamous for it's gridlock, with both sides having limited gains, at a high human price toll. This is due to the heavily urbanized and industrialized region along side with it's hilly terrain made taking territory without large losses effectively impossible. Both sides also committed various atrocities during the war, such as the massacre of ethnic minorities and the deployment of chemical weapons. This war would result in an entire generation of young men from both sides being slaughtered, and would cripple the economies of both nations. There would also be various insurgent groups aligned with either the Calptionions or Michiganians who operated in enemy territory, which were known as the CLA and the MLF. They would fight a guerilla war against their enemy, and would also be responsible for many terrorist attacks across both nations. The CUF, a Crossian insurgent group would also get involved in the war fighting their own guerilla campaign in the East of Calption. Alongside this, the Kingdom of Crossia would also help the Michiganians in their war against Calption, by providing them with weapons, ammunition, and increasing the amount of imports from them. By 1991, with the war seeing no evident victor, and with both sides wanting to preserve what little power they had left, they signed the Treaty of Flint, which ended the war, and set the border of both sides the river Sein. Along with this, there were population transfers from both sides which resulted in both the Calptionion and Michiganian minorities of both sides leaving to immigrate to their respective countries.

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Background

The Limitrophelands is a region that was split nearly evenly between Calption and Michigan. It is centered around the river Sein, and became heavily industrialized due to its abundant coal deposits. The region was controlled by various small Calptionion and Michiganian republics and kingdoms, which were absorbed by both Calption and Michigan in series of diplomatic treaties, wars, and schemes, that resulted in the region being fully integrated into both nations by 1921. It was also notable for containing large amounts of both Calptionions and Michiganians, giving both countries a claim to the entire region, that they did not press, as both countries were relatively peaceful, and had good relations. Though there were a few people who pushed for the conquest of the region by their nation, they were irrelevant and had little power until the 1970s. However, relations were beginning to strain between both democracies in the 50s, as several tariffs and embargos were placed on each others good by both sides, and relations between the Calptionion and Michiganian communities were starting to sour, which laid the foundations for both Calptionion and Michiganian nationalism in the 70s.

In 1973, High Ranking General Pershing Smith saw an opportunity to seize power as the previous 1972 presidential election failed to produce a result. So he launched a coup, and installed an authoritarian dictatorship in the place of the formerly democratically elected government. In order to distract the populace and maintain control, now Glorious President Pershing Smith decided to oppress the Calptionion minority, hopping to both create a Calptionion insurgency and antagonize the Calptionion Government so he could rally the populace around a common enemy. In response to several massacres, along with other policies designed to repress the Calptionion people, the Calptionion Liberation Army, or CLA was formed to secede the Michiganian Limitrophelands from The New Michiganain State, and to join Calption. They started to fight back against the Michiganian army, and also began a series of bus bombings and terrorist attacks all across the nation. The Glorious President and his government would use these terrorist attacks in various forms of propaganda to justify what they were doing in the region, and continue building up a sense of Michiganian Nationalism.

Meanwhile in Calption, the overthrow of the once democratic and friendly Michiganian government, along with the oppression of their fellow kin resulted in an extreme radicalization of the Calptionion voter base. This resulted in an explosion in popularity of the once politically isolated Greater Calptionion Party led by Philip Poincare, which was a hyper-nationalist party who wanted to take complete control over the Limitrophelands, along with advocating for the "Calptionization" of all minorities. They ended up winning the election of 1976 in a landslide vote, and quickly put their policies to work. Philip Poincare would enact the "Calptionion Defense Act" in the same year, mandating that all Calptionions who reach 18 years of age would be conscripted in the military, and forced to serve for one year. The next year, the "Calptionion Unity Act" was passed, which banned the use of all non-Calptionion languages in schools, and also restricted where non-Calptionions could live, buy, and go to. With this, along with agitation and funding from Pershing Smith's nationalist government, the Michiganian Liberation Front was formed to secede the Calptionion Limitrophelands from Calption and join The New Michiganian State. This also resulted in the Crossian minority in the East of Calption to form their own, unrelated insurgent group called the Crossian Unification Front, which was also funded by the Kingdom of Crossia, whos relations with Calption were greatly soured by this act.

There would also be many border skirmishes between Calptionion Michiganian forces before the war, mostly to prevent shipments of supplies to the insurgent group that the other side supported, but also due to both sides hating each other due to rampant nationalism and jingoism on both sides. A massive military buildup had occurred on the shared border, and both sides and banned shipments of goods from one side to the other. Large fortification systems were erected, as both sides knew that a war between the two powers was inevitable, and this made potential offensive incursions into enemy territory even more difficult than it already was. Both the CTA and MLF would construct large tunnel systems to store supplies and to hide against Michiganian and Claptionion security forces respectively, and the intensity and severity of terrorist attacks by both groups would increase from 1980-1985. In late July of 1985, a small group of 50 Calptionion soldiers were sent into Michiganian territory to aid the CTA in blowing up an apartment which was suspected to be the residency of several leaders of the MLF. While they were successful, they ended up being caught in the act. This resulted in a tense month of negotiations, as both sides knew that a war between both of them would be absolutely devastating. Unfortunately, cooler heads did not prevail, and finally, after years of military buildup and tension, Calption and the New Michiganian State declared war on each other, marking the start of the brutal conflict.