Ardo-Arashin War (1866 - 1868)

The Ardo-Arashin War of 1866 - 1868 was a military conflict between the Ardian Empire and the Empire of Ikhan. The war, while relatively minor in comparison to those fought between the great powers of the age, served to instill a sense of revanchism within the Arashin people, whose homeland had been cut in twain as a result.

While by all means a defeat for the technologically inferior (at the time) Empire of Ikhan, the war served in a way as a wakeup call to it's leaders that they had to modernize or else be conquered by foreign powers. While it worked, it led to civil war in the 1880s and the nation's involvement in the Great War (1914 - 1945). In a way, it can be argued that just about every decision taken since then has stemmed from the war, if tenuous in most cases. Whatever the case may be, if it weren't for the war, Modern Ikhan would've been a far different place than what we know.

Background
It had been nearly 370 years since the death of Arkan I, who following the reunification of Ikhan, waged a series of wars against the Nirai and other peoples west of the Feltasi mountains, bringing a large part of it under the state's control. While his successors failed to hold onto the outermost edges of the realm, which often proved to be disadvantageous to hold, they nonetheless were able to maintain a sizeable part of these conquests. However, soon enough they would come into conflict with another power— The Ardian Empire.

While initially, they were able to maintain peace, by the 1860s, this peace became impossible to maintain, leading to war in 1866.