Years: 1995-1996: Smashing the Vacuouan Empire
In January 1995, a new king of Vacuo arose to power. He secretly held nothing but contempt for Gris Manchette and his Authoritarianist Party. Within a month of his reign, he decided to hold secret talks with Allied leaders, giving them insider information about the inner workings of Vacuo's government. By now, the royal family and Governing Council were mere figureheads, and Gris Manchette and his inner circle held all power and say in government. He also revealed war plans Manchette had authored. This proved to be a huge help for the Allies, and it allowed them to plan for the breaking of the long and bloody stalemate at the Vale-Vacuo front. In exchange for this, the Allies agreed to exonerate all Vacuouan royal family members of any involvement in war crimes perpetrated by Gris Manchette's government.
Unfortunately, he would pay for this with his blood. On June 18, 1995, he, his 3 siblings, and their 4 spouses were executed by decapitation, and the 12 children and 4 grandchildren of them fled the Kingdom to Vale, who was more than happy to take them in. Crown Prince/King Philippe IV began building a new Vacuouan government-in-exile.
On July 22, the skies above the Vale-Vacuo front lit up as bombs, missiles, and artillery strikes pounded Vacuouan trenches for a continuous 6-hour bombardment from 02:00 to 08:00. At 08:30, a force of 5 million Allied troops charged at the enemy lines. Faced with poor supply lines and low morale, Vacuo's troops soon collapsed and surrendered in droves. By August 1, the Allies had marched over 53 miles into Vacuo, breaking the stalemate. Contrary to what Gris Manchette had said in propaganda that his citizens would welcome Allied forces with bullets, many of them welcomed Allied forces with open arms and cheers.
On September 3, shooting broke out in Port Vacuo as a contingent of 100 soldiers and 1,500 civilians suddenly took up arms against the government. For the next 15 days, Vacuouan forces battled with rebels across the capital city before the short revolt was finally crushed on September 18. Gris Manchette ordered the executions of over 8,000 in response, wanting to scare his subjects into obedience. These executions were completed by October. After this, the Allies, who at first cared little for any sort of Vacuouan resistance, began actively supporting it.
By November 1, the Allies had marched 168 miles into Vacuo. Many leaders optimistically expected the war to end by December. This would prove to be false, because on November 16, Gris Manchette ordered an offensive on loosely-guarded Allied lines near the city of Allois. On November 24, a force of 750,000 Vacuouan troops charged at the Allied lines. At first, the offensive was successful, pushing the Allies back over 40 miles. However, Vavuouan civilians who had recently been conquered by the Allies did not want to be brought under Gris Manchette's rule again, so they often greeted the Vacuouan troops with bullets.
On December 22, an Allied counter-offensive recaptured all of the land the Vacuouans had recaptured, and had pushed Vacuouan forces back another 22 miles, ending the last offensive by Vacuo. For the rest of the war, Vacuo would be on the retreat.
On January 18, 6,500 Atlesian paratroopers landed in the city of Var, about 38 miles southwest of Port Vacuo, and began fighting to capture the city. The next day, another 3,000 Atlesian paratroopers were dropped in. On January 20, Atlesian forces captured the airport. On the same day, the citizens in the city took up arms against their government. Supplied by Atlesian forces, the city was fully liberated on January 26 by the rebels and the Atlesian paratroopers. Once the city was liberated, Atlas began shipping in more troops through the city's airport. These troops were from Atlas and Atlas-supported governments in Dragonica, North Dragonica, Volos, Hachure, and Stadia. By February 1, a force of 75,000 Allied troops were in the city, completely surrounded by Vacuouan troops.
By April, Allied forces had reached Var and were only 33 miles from Port Vacuo. By now, Gris Manchette was going mad. He began preparing cyanide pills for the occupants of his bunker deep in the city to use when the Allies came.
On May 3, Allied forces reached Port Vacuo and took the suburbs. On May 4, an uprising took place in the city, further destabilising the area. It was only a matter of days before the city was captured.
On May 10, Valeanian special forces launched a daring helicopter raid on the bunker Gris Manchette was staying in. After a 3-hour gunfight, Manchette was captured alive and had the cyanide pills he carried confiscated. The next day, the commander of Vacuouan forces in the city, General Yi Song, ordered all troop in the country to surrender, and announced the following:
"TO MY FELLOW VACUOUANS,
After pondering this decision for the past week, and after many great battles, we hereby communicate the following message to the governments and militaries of Vacuo, Atlas, Mistral, Stadia, Hachure, Volos, Dragonica, North Dragonica, Meridia, Azimuth, the Menagerie territories, and Alidade.
In the best interests of the people of the Kingdom of Vacuo, we sent forces to the Menagerie territories to put down an uprising by the local population. After that, we declared war on the other countries of the world to ensure our self-preservation.
However, that was 10 years ago. Now, this war is detrimental to our future as a nation, and it is in the current best interests of Vacuo that we end our involvement.
As of today, the 11th of May, 1996, at 0730 hours, the war is over for Vacuo. We order all forces loyal to the Vacuouan government to lay down their arms and surrender peacefully to the Allied Powers and Vacuouans that have allied with them.
Additionally, the government of Chancellor Gris Manchette has hereby been dissolved per the order of King Philippe IV and the current government-in-exile will take effect immediately."
The war was finally over.