The Polish-Lithuanian Crisis and its main leaders
(sadly my computed continues being incapable of loading files over a certain size and so I can't upload the conflict box in it's original size and resolution)
The
Polish-Lithuanian Crisis (also majorly known as the
Polish-Lithuanian Civil War, the
Great Trouble, the
War of National Liberty, and the
Great Patriotic War for Freedom depending on the person and allegiance) is the ongoing military conflict that has marked the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the past 3 decades fought between the commonwealth, currently led by King Sigismund V and High Chancellor Radonil Żebrowski, along with domestic and foreign allies, and various domestic separatist or revolutionary forces opposed to the government in Warsaw and each other in varying combinations.
Caused by a great array of problems within the Commonwealth that had been festering for decades if not centuries, major ones being the position of the Polish components of the Commonwealth’s position as
de facto controlling the entire nation and various attempts at ethnic assimilation if not outright cleansing made during the 20th century, the crisis started in 1989 with the beginning of the 3rd Ukrainian Uprising, kickstarted by a bombing attack on Kiev following the execution of several politicians who were believed to harbor nationalist leanings.
The war, which only has worsened over its course (outside of the stalemate between 2006 and 2015), is being fought by several factions: the Royal Government and its national (the Free Ruthenian Army) and international allies; the Grand Duchy of Ruthenia, which is currently recognized by over 50 states; the Popular Liberation Front, which started from various minor army uprisings among Royal and Ruthenian ranks; the various Ukrainian Militias, of whom the major ones are the “Ukrainian Kingdom” and the “Obukhiv Horde”; and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which after a short period of
de facto secession between 1998 and 2001 has officially declared independence following a controversial referendum in January, 2020); with a number of countries in Eastern Europe and beyond being either directly involved or providing support to one or another faction.
Marked by widespread devastation across the country (with the Commonwealth’s population having being in a downward line for the past 22 years), international organizations and neutral powers have criticized virtually all sides involved for war crimes and massacres, with civilian deaths comprehending over four fifths of the war’s total causalities. The conflict has caused a major refugee crisis. Over the course of the war, a number of peace initiatives have been launched, including the July 2015 Manaus peace talks, whose failure directly resulted in the All Hallows’ Eve Bombings and the reignition of fighting.
Widely classified as a part of one of the various conflicts that occurred on Eastern Europe in the late 20th century (or, in this case, were started during it), the Crisis is also classified by some as a part of the Silent War between the Birmingham Agreement and the Moscow Compact, being considered a mutated kind of proxy war. Others consider it a unique mess on itself, as allegiance to a power block or the other have not stopped countries from supporting sides that are technically enemies of their allies
Although there are many leaders within the conflict of factions major and minor, there are those who command (de facto or de jure) the six major forces within the conflict, them being...
The current head of the Commonwealth,
Sigismund V inherited the throne from his father in 1998 (Wladyslaw VI having been since 1992 sole ruler of the commonwealth following the death of his wife, third-cousin and co-monarch) already nearly a decade after the start of the crisis, his own slightly contested ascension causing the first, short-lived, secession of Lithuania, and has for the past 22 ruled over it mostly as a symbol for the Royal Government, being known for his small involvement on government, which is mostly centered on his sons and ministers. Married twice, Sigismund’s main achievement for the war effort were his and his children’s marriages, which were used mostly as a manner of attracting supporters (even if Aragon withdrew its own support following the death of the Princess of Kiev under suspicious circumstances), and he nowadays rarely appears in public, suffering from a severe case of Alzheimer that has been kept under wraps for the past 6 years
The second and current ruler of Independent Ruthenia (recognized by 51 countries, majorly Russia), Grand Duke
Victor is probably one of the more capable leaders in the war, if also one of the most brutal, having inherited the Ruthenian throne from his father (whom established the state after years as a major ruthenian politician, even though he was from one of the most prestigious Polish noble families of the Commonwealth) after he used a false-flag attack to murder his older brother and nephews, together with incapacitating his father who was bedridden for his last few years (reason why his title is contested by his niece, whose husband has been supporting the Royal Government monetarily mostly out of spite). Directly supported by Russia, his wife being an aunt to the young emperor, Victor’s rule has been a successful, if bloody, one, as he has managed to conquer over half of the territory of Ruthenia still under Royal or PLF control over the course of two long campaigns
The most recent and probably most unexpected of the leaders among the crisis,
Prince Mykolas Astikai is the current First Minister of Lithuania, who, after years serving firstly as a member of the Lithuanian Papegiai, then as a cabinet minister and finally as the executive ruler of Lithuania for nearly a decade under royal administration, suddenly made a drastic change in allegiances since 2018 (although earlier signs of his true opinions were present since the start of his political career, as he was known for defending a more federalized stance in government before being accused of corruption in 1982, retracting his “unloyal” opinions shortly before the charges were dropped a year later) and became increasingly independent from Warsaw, until finally using the 15 January Referendum to declare Lithuania’s secession from the Commonwealth. Lithuania’s
de facto absolute ruler (as the chosen new Grand Duke, Prince Eric Hedwig of the Baltic, is a figurehead), Mykolas’ main backer has been a mix between the United Baltics (who have consistently backed almost all separatist groups in the Commonwealth since 1995 due to the two nation’s historical hatred of each other)
The contentious current Grand Marshall of the Popular Liberation Front (following the death of his predecessor in a drone strike in 2018),
Zytomir Lysenko is currently considered one of the most complicated figures in the war, just like the faction he has commanded, as although having since its beginning declared its “unwavering desire for the liberty of the people under the royal tyranny”, the PLF has become increasingly infamous for their increasing internal tyranny, as the position of Grand Marshall now completely overshadows that of the Civilian Administrators, and for their “take no prisoners” in the war, which together with their lack of international support and waning popular support have placed the faction on a terrible position as it looses soldiers to desertion and territory to other factions, controlling only a third of the lands it held at its apex in 2004. Born on a middle-class family from Brest, Zytomir served firstly on the military of the Commonwealth as a part of the Third Ruthenian Army, then switched sides to the Grand Duchy of Ruthenia, during which he fought in the Siege of Vilnius, and became a soldier of the PLF in 2002, rising through its ranks until he controlled one of the four cardinal armies
One of the various Ukrainian leaders within the conflict,
Zynovij Stasyuk is the current head of the Ukrainian Kingdom, having assumed the position following his brother’s execution after being captured by Commonwealth forces in 2004, and, all-around, a complicated figure on the conflict. Ruling over a patchwork of territories in the south of the Commonwealth (as his faction lost its northern territories over time, including his own home city of Pripyat, built in the 1960s and entirely depopulated in 1992 after the uprising and nuclear disaster), nowadays his “kingdom” has become basically a client state of Russia (event though one of the national monarchies also claims overlordship over Ukraine), with most of Zynovij’s family (including his heir) currently living in Azov while his state’s army is funded by the Russian State Treasury
The last leader of the major factions is
Leonid Kolomiyets, founder and khan of the Obukhiv Horde (who has not, in fact, controlled the city of Obukhiv for the past 12 years), the major Cossack militia that was named that way due to the growing (if misguided in some parts) belief among Cossacks that their hosts became nothing more than government organs for the Commonwealth’s oppression, together with some possible historical nostalgia of the great horselords of the steppes of Eurasia. A trained officer of the military even before becoming one of the first leaders in the crisis when its simply an Ukrainian Uprising, having lead men during the Odesan War of Independence, Kolomiyets’ horde (of which he still denies being a monarch of, even if he most certainly is) is, for all matters, a remarkably successful faction, supported by the Caliphate due to its large number of Muslim members (of the 20.000 soldiers in its army, around a third are of some Islamic denomination) and not showing any signs of being close to ruin, ruling over a quite large patch of territory on the southeastern borders of the commonwealth
(and, as an honorable mention)
In the past, another major player in the war was the Lviv Autonomous Government, headed by Prime Minister Stanislav Ponomarenko, which for a time controlled most of Galicia before bad luck in the early 2000s caused the faction’s collapse and destruction after Ponomarenko’s death in 2003 on a bombing attack, with most of its various splinter groups having nowadays having either died, absorbed into other factions or fallen into irrelevancy