Leasath Civil War

"We, the Nationalists of Leasath, will win liberty for Leasath! Sadly, our kin are blinded by their belief that our status as a member state of the Union is a good thing, they cannot see that our little nation is ignored and abused by the oppression of the Union! We must take up arms against them, for the good of our home! The free people of Leasath have made our voice heard! We will not give up our national sovereignty and our freedom without a fight!"

- Supreme General Diego Navarro, commander of the Leasathian Nationalists, in a speech to his supporters

The Leasath Civil War (Sometimes known as the Great Nationalist Uprising, albeit rarely) was a highly destructive civil war fought between the Leasathian Unionists, who remained loyal to the government of Leasath and the Union of Earth States, and the anti-Union Leasathian Nationalists, who desired to overthrow the pro-Union government of Leasath, replace it with a Nationalist government and withdraw Leasath from the Union. The Unionists were led by Head of State Miguel Terrajo, Leasath's leader since 27 BBY, the Unionists believed that they were fighting to preserve unity, peace and liberty, as well as the Union. The Nationalists were led by Supreme General Diego Navarro, formerly the commander-in-chief of the Leasath Army, who believed that they were fighting against an oppressive Union and the treacherous government of Head of State Terrajo, who was selling out Leasath to the Union, the Nationalists believed independence from the Union to be the best thing for Leasath, so Leasath could take back her national sovereignty and independence, which the Nationalists believed had been given away by successive governments ever since Leasath had joined the Union in 70 BBY.

The war began with the Leasath Coup in 23 BBY, in which Navarro made his first attempt to overthrow the government, the coup failed when not enough of the Armed Force of Leasath answered Navarro's call to rebel against the government, as a result of the failed coup the forces still loyal to Terrajo's government and the forces who had decided their loyalties lied with Navarro geared up for war, quite a significant amount of the Leasath Army supported Navarro, who was their commander-in-chief, Navarro's Nationalist faction also received significant amounts of ships and planes from defecting Leasath Air Force and Leasath Navy personnel, which greatly helped the Nationalists wage war against the government forces and the government's Unionist volunteers.

Two clandestine armies also took part in the war, making the war something of a proxy war between the Union of Earth States and the Traditionalist Faction, a faction of the Union Senate which largely opposed the decisions of President Richard Williams' government, and was the predecessor to the Confederate States of Earth, the Union decided to send forces and supplies to the Unionists, but believed that openly sending such support would result in the world's governments, in particular, those of the Traditionalist Faction, to condemn the Union as an aggressor and an invader, sending forces to directly dictate and influence the national politics and governance of a sovereign nation, as a result the Union sent the "Leasath Freedom Army" (LFA), a secret army supposedly made up of "volunteers" (in reality, the "volunteers" were largely serving personnel in the Union Army who were given new uniforms).

As a result of the creation of the LFA Navarro and the Traditionalist Faction colluded to create a secret army of their own, the "Volunteer Army for the Liberation of Leasath" (VALL), the purpose of this army was largely to assist the Nationalists, and to directly oppose the LFA, the Traditionalist Faction also secretly leaked the truth of the LFA, and used the information released in the "anonymous leak" to accuse the Union of subverting the national politics of one its members and attempting to directly influence its government, and began calling for the end of Union involvement in the war, the Union was discredited and public anger forced it to dissolve the LFA, all Union Army personnel being returned to the Union, leaving the relatively few actual volunteers to more or less fend for themselves.