First Romano-Columbia War

First Romano-Columbia War
Comraderick just before being pearled at Tday
Date 4 may 2020 - 12 may 2020 Location Columbia, Wheatistan Result Signing of the the Treaty of Serenity, involving the partition of Columbia between Meridia and The Roman Empire.
Belligerents
Columbia	The Roman Empire Meridia Arelat Savaguard
Commanders and leaders
Shadedoom ComradeRick Incentives Kaloa_HG	Tremerus Marino ScandinavianTaco Matanic Saren_Solaris
Casualties and losses
3 pearled before Tday, casualties during Tday unknown	1 pearled

The First Romano Columbian War was a military conflict involving the Empire of Columbia and an alliance of its neighboring nations, primarily led by the Roman Empire.

Background

Columbia's move to CivRealms

During the Great CivClassics Migration of 2020, Columbia was one of the nations that decided to move to Civrealms. On April 15th, 2020, Columbia officially announced that they had negotiated the transfer of a piece of land from Moloka. Due to Columbia not immediately releasing their claims publicly, there was some confusion regarding the island of Christianada, which had been settled in the period between Columbia getting the land from Moloka and Columbia officially announcing their claims. This was quickly resolved and Columbia officially recognized Christianada's ownership of the island.

Partitioning of ICOR

In the weeks after Columbia's official founding, multiple incidents occured that raised tensions between Columbia and some of its neighbours. The first one major incident was during the partitioning of I.C.O.R., where Shadedoom888, the leader of Columbia, made demands for land, which were criticized by some of the other countries at the conference.

Greater Columbia

Another incident in the pre-war period was when Shadedoom888 posted a map showing his plans for a "Greater Columbia". On the map, Columbia had claimed over the territories of multiple neighboring nations. Shadedoom888 later claimed that this map was posted as a joke, and that he never intended to create Greater Columbia.

Declaration of war and initial fighting

On May 5th, 2020, the Roman Empire, Meridia and Arelat formally declared war against Columbia, citing "[The prevention of] current and future Columbian aggression" as their reason for their pre-emptive invasion. At the very start of the war, Shadedoom888 was pearled in his bunker in Columbia.

On May 7th, NotAnAlt69 (Incentives) and YourAverageClick (ComradeRick) attempted to dig a tunnel from Incentives' bunker at his farm in Moloka into the Roman Fort in the Roman Empire. While digging the tunnel, they were discovered by Tremerus, and Incentives was pearled, while ComradeRick was killed, but not pearled.

International Reactions

The invasion of Columbia was very controversial at its time, with multiple countries and players publicly denouncing the invasion, citing what they believed to be insufficient grounds for an attack. One of the examples cited by the Roman Empire, Meridia and Arelat, when justifying their invasion, was the fact that Columbia had recently bought around 200 stacks of obsidian. This was used to claim that Columbia intended to use this Obsidian, either to make a Vault, or for other military purposes. This claim disputed by MCSPenguin, who made a post where he argued that there were many legitimate uses for 200 stacks of obsidian. It later became a meme among those critical of the Roman invasion to jokingly ask people if they had an "Obby License".

T-Day

On May 10th, Tremerus was pearled while returning from his beet farm. His pearl was moved to Incentives' Vault, which was located on the Wheatistani part of the Eastern Mushroom Island. Later that day, the Roman Empire and Savaguard, along with help from Risunsky and Sons, launched an attack on Incentives' Vault, which was being defended by Columbia along with some volunteer soldiers from a handful of other countries. The attack resulted in a total victory for the attackers, with all pearls being freed, and shortly thereafter, the Treaty of Serenity was signed. The entire battle was filmed and uploaded to youtube by Saren, and can be watched here.

The Treaty of Serenity

On May 13th, it was officially announced that the Treaty of Serenity had been signed. The full treaty can be read here.

Contents

The Treaty of Serenity saw the lands of Columbia being completely annexed by the Roman Empire, with Columbia pledging not to take any future military action against the Roman Empire. The treaty also stated that after a week, all pearled players, except for Incentives, would be released.

Aftermath

Columbian Diaspora

After the Conclusion of the War the former citizens of Columbia emigrated to other nations forming a diaspora. The Columbians primarily moved to Wheatistan, and the IWW.

Christianada Crisis

Concurrent with the war, tensions had started to grow on the island of Christianada between its two main active residents Gus and Ringstone. On the 4th of June Ringstone with the backing of mercenaries from Risunsky and sons performed a coup d'etat of gus and took control of the name layer. After short negotiations with the IWW he officially withdrew and a few days later join TRE. The island was renamed Wulfkhaine and was united with former Columbia as the province of Judea.

The Second Romano-Columbian War

Main Article: Second Romano-Columbian War