Fourth Succession War

Lasting from 3028 to 3030, the Fourth Succession War was the largest offensive since the Second Succession War, over a hundred years prior. The war gave the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns a common border so that they could eventually have one contiguous nation, the Federated Commonwealth.

Pre-war

Planning for War

The planning for the Fourth War came after Federated Suns First Prince Hanse Davion signed the Federated Commonwealth Alliance document with the Lyran Commonwealth Archon, Katrina Steiner, in 3022. Secretly included in the document was a provision that called for the marriage of Hanse and Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner, which would (eventually) result in the union of those two realms in the person of Hanse and Melissa's eldest child. In order to join their realms together, they needed to create a common border. This could only be done through the conquest of intervening planets.

Hanse Davion also had a score to settle. In 3025, Chancellor Maximilian Liao had attempted to replace Prince Davion with a body-double. This double certainly would have delivered the Federated Suns into the Capellan Confederation's hands, but the plot was discovered and foiled by Hanse's best friend and closest adviser, Ardan Sortek.

Hanse began by staging military exercises close to the Capellan Confederation border on a yearly basis starting in 3026. The so-called "Galahad tournaments" not only gave his troops exercise, but it got the Capellans used to large troop movements near their border.

Hanse had also instituted an elaborate spy game. The son of Quintus Allard, the director of the Federated Suns civilian spy agency (the Ministry of Information, Intelligence, and Operations or MIIO for short), Justin Allard, was publicly ridiculed and exiled. After Justin Allard publicly embraced his Capellan heritage, started calling himself Justin Xiang (his mother's maiden name), and won the Solaris VII championship, Chancellor Liao welcomed him into his intelligence agency. Unbeknownst to all but Justin, Hanse, and Quintus, Justin Xiang Allard was actually a double agent working for his father. In addition, another deep cover agent, Alex Mallory, had also infiltrated the Maskirovka (the Capellan spy agency). By the time the war started, these two men were the #2 and #3 men in the Maskirovka.

Hanse was also aware of a traitor in his midst. His half-stepbrother, Duke Michael Hasek-Davion, nursed a bitter grudge against Hanse because he wanted to be Prince (for a more detailed analysis, see this article) and had been covertly passing information to Maximillian Liao. Hanse was able to use Duke Michael to feed false troop information to the Capellans, who were left woefully out of position for the assault.

Prince Davion had also signed an independent truce with Candace Liao, heir to the Chancellorship and Duchess of the St. Ives Commonality (roughly one-fifth of the Capellan Confederation).

On the Lyran side, Archon Katrina made contacts amongst the Rasalhaguian resistance. The conquered people of Rasalhague had maintained an organized resistance for centuries, even though the majority of it had been stopped by the mid-24th century. The Lyrans used this resistance in exchange for the promise of freedom.

In response to the F-C alliance, the leaders of the other three Successor States, the Capellan Confederation, Free Worlds League, and Draconis Combine came together under a loose alliance known as the Kapteyn Accords. This alliance, which was overseen by ComStar, lacked the uniting features of the FedCom alliance. Indeed, negotiations were almost derailed when Janos Marik and Maximilian Liao were informed that the other party would be involved. The Accords were signed, but did not overcome long years of distrust.

Forces Overview

DRACONIS COMBINE MUSTERED SOLDIERY 3025

Sword of Light
1st Sword of Light
2nd Sword of Light
5th Sword of Light
7th Sword of Light
8th Sword of Light

Dieron Regulars 02nd Dieron Regulars 03rd Dieron Regulars 08th Dieron Regulars 09th Dieron Regulars 12th Dieron Regulars 15th Dieron Regulars 18th Dieron Regulars 22nd Dieron Regulars 24th Dieron Regulars 27th Dieron Regulars 36th Dieron Regulars	Rasalhague Regulars 05th Rasalhague Regulars 08th Rasalhague Regulars 09th Rasalhague Regulars 13th Rasalhague Regulars 17th Rasalhague Regulars 20th Rasalhague Regulars 22nd Rasalhague Regulars 25th Rasalhague Regulars	Galedon Regulars 02nd Galedon Regulars 05th Galedon Regulars 08th Galedon Regulars 12th Galedon Regulars 16th Galedon Regulars 17th Galedon Regulars 19th Galedon Regulars 21st Galedon Regulars
Pesht Regulars 3rd Pesht Regulars 4th Pesht Regulars 6th Pesht Regulars 7th Pesht Regulars 9th Pesht Regulars 10th Pesht Regulars	Benjamin Regulars 02nd Benjamin Regulars 03rd Benjamin Regulars 06th Benjamin Regulars 09th Benjamin Regulars 11th Benjamin Regulars 15th Benjamin Regulars 17th Benjamin Regulars	Legion of Vega 02nd Legion of Vega 11th Legion of Vega 14th Legion of Vega
Night Stalkers Johiro’s Regiment; Night Stalkers McGavin’s Regiment: Night Stalkers	An Ting Legion 2nd An Ting Legion 4th An Ting Legion	Altenmarkt Militia
Sun Zhang Academy Cadre 1st Sun Zhang Academy Cadre 5th Sun Zhang Academy Cadre 9th Sun Zhang Academy Cadre 12th Sun Zhang Academy Cadre	Amphigean Light Assault Group 1st Amphigean Light Assault Group 2nd Amphigean Light Assault Group 5th Amphigean Light Assault Group
Proserpina Hussars 1st Proserpina Hussars 4th Proserpina Hussars 3rd Proserpina Hussars	Arkab Legion 2nd Arkab Legion 4th Arkab Legion 6th Arkab Legion	Mercenary Brion’s Legion 2b Helmut’s Hermits Kingston Caballeros Lone Star Regiment McGee’s Cutthroats St. Cyr Heavy Assault Group Tooth of Ymir Vandelay’s Valkyries Alpha Regiment, Wolf’s Dragoons Beta Regiment, Wolfs Dragoons Delta Regiment, Wolf’s Dragoons Gamma Regiment, Wolf’s Dragoons Epsilon Regiment, Wolf’s Dragoons

Confederation Capella Armored Forces 3025

Capellan Hussars Red Lancers Prefectorate Guard Blandford's Grenadiers	Northwind Highlanders Marion's Highlanders McCormack's Fusiliers 1st Kearny Highlanders 2nd Kearny Highlanders	Chesterton Reserves 1st Ariana Fusiliers 2nd Ariana Fusiliers Ariana Grenadiers 1st Chesterton Voltigeurs 2nd Chesterton Voltigeurs 3rd Chesterton Voltigeurs Hamilton's Highlanders Lothar's Fusiliers Sung's Cuirassiers Kingston's Legionnaires
Liao Reserves Trimaldi's Secutors Vincent's Commandos	Blackwind Lancers	St. Ives Armored Cavalry 1st St. Ives Lancers 2nd St. Ives Lancers St. Ives Cheveau Legers Justinia's Cuirassiers Devon's Armored Stapleton's Iron Hand Cochraine's Goliaths Shepard's Mounted Fusiliers
Confederation Reserve Cavalry 1st Confederation Reserve Cavalry 2nd Confederation Reserve Cavalry 3rd Confederation Reserve Cavalry 4th Confederation Reserve Cavalry 5th Confederation Reserve Cavalry	Preston's Lancers	Capellan Reserves Justine's Grenadiers Stapleton's Grenadiers
Sian Reserves Kamakura's Hussars Ishara's Grenadiers	Sarna Reserves Hurloc's Hussars Freemont's Cuirassiers	McCrimmon's Light Cavalry McCrimmon's Light Cavalry MacGregor's Armored Scouts
Tikonov Reserves Kincade's Rangers Kerr's Intruders	Mercenary McCarron's Armored Cavalry The Nightriders Barton's Regiment The Wild Ones Leo's Demons Rob's Renegades Hampton's Hessens 1st New Hessen Irregulars 2nd New Hessen Irregulars New Hessen Armored Scouts 15th Dracon 4th Tau Ceti Rangers Laurel's Legion Bullard's Armored Cavalry Ambermarle's Highlanders Marshigama's Legionnaires Rivaldi's Hussars Lockhardt's Ironsides St. Cyr's Armored Grenadiers	Special Military Unit Death Commandos
Warrior House House Imarra House Kamata House Hiritsu House LuSann House Daidachi House Fujita House Matsukai House Ijori

Lyran Commonwealth Armored Forces

Arcturan Guards 08th Arcturan Guards 11th Arcturan Guards 15th Arcturan Guards 17th Arcturan Guards 19th Arcturan Guards 20th Arcturan Guards 23rd Arcturan Guards 24th Arcturan Guards 25th Arcturan Guards	Skye Rangers 04th Skye Rangers 10th Skye Rangers 17th Skye Rangers (House troop of Duke Aldo Lestrade) 22nd Skye Rangers	Donegal Guards 02nd Donegal Guards 03rd Donegal Guards 04th Donegal Guards 05th Donegal Guards 06th Donegal Guards 07th Donegal Guards 08th Donegal Guards 10th Donegal Guards 11th Donegal Guards 12th Donegal Guards 13th Donegal Guards 14th Donegal Guards 17th Donegal Guard
Lyran Regulars 01st Lyran Regulars 03rd Lyran Regulars 04th Lyran Regulars 05th Lyran Regulars 05th Lyran Regulars 07th Lyran Regulars 08th Lyran Regulars 09th Lyran Regulars 10th Lyran Regulars 11th Lyran Regulars 15th Lyran Regulars	Royal Guards 1st Royal Guards 2nd Royal Guards 3rd Royal Guards	Lyran Guards 03rd Lyran Guards 06th Lyran Guards 10th Lyran Guards 11th Lyran Guards 14th Lyran Guards 15th Lyran Guards 19th Lyran Guard 24th Lyran Guard 26th Lyran Guards 30th Lyran Guard 32nd Lyran Guards 36th Lyran Guards
Mercenary 7th Regiment, 12 Star Guards 3rd Regiment, 12 Star Guards 1st Regiment, 12 Star Guards 2nd Regiment, 12 Star Guards Always Faithful Barrett’s Fusiliers Blackhearts Cranston Snord’s Irregulars (1 company) Dragon’s Breath Grave Walkers (2 regiments) Gregg’s Long Striders Hansen’s Roughriders Mobile Fire Narhal’s Raiders (2 regiments) Richard’s Panzer Brigade Stealthy Tigers The Bad Dream The Filthy Lucre The Hsien Hotheads The Knights of St. Cameron (2 regiments) Waco Rangers Winfield’s Brigade

Free Worlds League Military 3025

Free Worlds Guards 1st Guards 2nd Guards 3rd Guards	Atrean Hussars Atrean Hussars	Atrean Dragoons 1st Dragoons 11th Dragoons 12th Dragoons
Marik Militia 1st Militia 2nd Militia 4th Militia 5th Militia 6th Militia 9th Militia 10th Militia 13th Militia 15th Militia 18th Militia 20th Militia 23rd Militia 25th Militia 30th Militia 31st Militia	Marik Guard	Fusiliers of Oriente Ducal Guard 1st Brigade 2nd Brigade 3rd Brigade 4th Brigade 5th Brigade
Protectorate Guard Iron Guards Steel Guards	Sirian Lancers 1st Lancers 2nd Lancers 3rd Lancers	Silver Hawk Irregulars Falcons Gryphons
Oriente Hussars 1st Hussars 2nd Hussars 3rd Hussars 4th Hussars 5th Hussars	Defenders of Andurien 1st Defenders 3rd Defenders 4th Defenders 5th Defenders 6th Defenders	Stewart Dragoons Home Guards Juggernaut
Orioff Grenadiers 1st Grenadiers 6th Grenadiers 8th Grenadiers	Regulan Hussars 1st Hussars 2nd Hussars 4th Hussars 5th Hussars 9th Hussars	Hunters Langendorf Lancers Martian Cuirassiers Smithson's Chinese Bandits

Federated Suns Armored Forces 3025

Crucis Lancers 1st Crucis Lancers RCT 2nd Crucis Lancers RCT 3rd Crucis Lancers RCT 4th Crucis Lancers RCT 5th Crucis Lancers RCT 6th Crucis Lancers RCT 7th Crucis Lancers RCT 8th Crucis Lancers RCT	Deneb Light Cavalry 04th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT 05th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT 08th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT 10th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT 12th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT 15th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT	Avalon Hussars 11th Avalon Hussars RCT 17th Avalon Hussars RCT 20th Avalon Hussars RCT 22nd Avalon Hussars RCT 33rd Avalon Hussars RCT 39th Avalon Hussars RCT 41st Avalon Hussars RCT 42nd Avalon Hussars RCT
Single Units 1st Aragon Borderers 1st Argyle Lancers 1st Capellan Dragoons 1st FS Armored Cavalry 1st Kestrel Grenadiers 1st Kittery Borderers	Syrtis Fusiliers 5th Syrtis Fusiliers RCT 6th Syrtis Fusiliers RCT 8th Syrtis Fusiliers RCT	Ceti Hussars 1st Ceti Hussars RCT 2nd Ceti Hussars RCT 3rd Ceti Hussars RCT
Robinson Rangers 1st Robinson Rangers 2nd Robinson Rangers	1st New Ivaarsen Chasseurs 2nd New Ivaarsen Chasseurs	1st Chisholm's Raiders RCT 2nd Chisholm's Raiders
NAIS Cadet Cadre 1st NAIS Cadet Cadre 2nd NAIS Cadet Cadre 3rd NAIS Cadet Cadre	Training Battalion 1st Bell Training Battalion 1st Brockton Training Battalion 1st Conroe Training Battalion	Albion Training Cadre 1st Albion Training Cadre 2nd Albion Training Cadre
Davion Guards 1st Davion Guards RCT 2nd Davion Guards RCT 4th Davion Guards RCT 5th Davion Guards RCT Davion Assault Guards RCT Davion Heavy Guards RCT Davion Light Guards RCT	Mercenary 12th Vegan Rangers (4 regiments) Blue Star Irregulars (3 regiments) Dismal Disinherited (3 regiments) Eridani Light Horse (3 regiments) Greenburg's Godzillas Grim Determination Harlock's Warriors Illician Lancers (4 regiments) Kell Hounds (1 battalion) Lexington Combat Group (3 regiments) Lindon's Company (1 battalion) Markson Marauders Miller's Marauders (2 battalions) Redfield Renegades Screaming Eagles (2 regiments) Team Banzai The Crater Cobras (2 regiments) The Dioscuri (2 regiments) The Fighting Urakhai (3 regiments) Waco Rangers Wylie's Coyotes
Capellan March Militia Alcyone Capellan March Militia Kathil Capellan March Militia New Syrtis Capellan March Militia Ridgebrook Capellan March Militia Sirdar Capellan March Militia Warren Capellan March Militia	Crucis March Militia Anjin Muerto Crucis March Militia Islamabad Crucis March Militia Kestrel Crucis March Militia Marlette Crucis March Militia New Avalon Crucis March Militia Remagen Crucis March Militia Tsamma Crucis March Militia	Draconis March Militia Addics Draconis March Militia Bremond Draconis March Militia Bryceland Draconis March Militia Clovis Draconis March Militia Dahar Draconis March Militia Kilbourne Draconis March Militia Mayetta Draconis March Militia Milligan Draconis March Militia Raman Draconis March Militia Robinson Draconis March Militia Valexa Capellan March Militia

Uniting Two Families

Perhaps the most important social event until that time occurred on Terra. On 20 August 3028, six months after her eighteenth birthday, Hanse Davion married Melissa Steiner. The leader of every Successor State was there, including their aides, heirs, and other VIPs. At the wedding reception, Hanse Davion uttered one of the most quoted lines in Inner Sphere history, "My dear... I give you the Capellan Confederation." To the leaders of the Inner Sphere, it seemed like this touched off the 4th War, but, in fact, troops had already invaded the day before.

Federated Suns

The Capellan Front

The most damage during the war was done to the Capellan Confederation. Davion's stated goal was to ensure that the Capellan Confederation was no longer a threat by depriving it of its heavy industry. Under the cover of war games, the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns (AFFS) used sheer numbers to overwhelm the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces (CCAF).

The AFFS exploited a strategic weakness in CCAF structure. The Capellans lightly garrisoned border worlds and relied on a strategic reserve to intervene quickly to achieve local superiority. The Capellan Confederation Armed Forces were outnumbered by nearly four to one by the AFFS, however. Their strategy was well-suited to dealing with the constant raiding of the Third Succession War, but left the Capellans unable to respond when multiple planets were hit at the same time as Hanse Davion brought the entirety of his army to bear. Coupled with overwhelming force and an infiltrated command structure, the Capellans were overrun.

Chancellor Liao also had to deal with a high-ranking traitor. Pavel Ridzik, Maximilian's chief military adviser decided to seize power for himself. The Tikonov native returned to his homeworld and announced that he was forming his own nation, the Tikonov Free Republic. The Republic signed an independent alliance with House Davion and attacked the Free Worlds League. In retribution, Chancellor Liao had Ridzik assassinated. Ardan Sortek, who had been in the Republic as an adviser, took temporary control of the Republic. After the end of the war, the Tikonov Free Republic voted to join the Federated Suns in 3031.

The truce that Hanse Davion had struck with Candace Liao paid off. Amid a romance with Candace, Justin Xiang Allard outed himself as a FedSuns agent to her and returned to FedSuns space with her. She brought the St. Ives Commonality with her and formed her own independent nation, the St. Ives Compact. This decision left her younger sister Romano as the heir-apparent to the Celestial Throne.

ComStar

ComStar also took an interest in the course of the war. The supposedly neutral power desired smaller, more fragmented nation that would be easier to manipulate, but the 4th War seemed to promise a mighty Federated Commonwealth. ComStar decided to slow the AFFS' progress by imposing a communications interdiction. They faked an AFFS attack on the HPG on Sarna and used the "incident" as the excuse they needed. Unbeknownst to ComStar, Hanse Davion had changed the units he used to assault Sarna at the last minute, alerting him to ComStar's duplicity. Despite that, Hanse could not afford to openly challenge ComStar, so he made no public statement about it. The interdiction effectively stopped all interplanetary communication within the Federated Suns, as well as any communication in or out. Hanse still had another trick up his sleeve. The New Avalon Institute of Science had recently duplicated the ability to send communications between worlds with their fax machines, but they were much slower than what ComStar could manage. These so-called "black boxes" were pressed into service, but Hanse found it increasingly difficult to coordinate his military.

ComStar showed their perfidy once more towards the end of the war. In order to set back the technological progress of the Successor States, ComStar executed a raid on the New Avalon Institute of Science. They disguised themselves as the Death Commandos, the elite commandos of the Capellan Confederation and personal bodyguards of Chancellor Liao. During the battle, Prince Hanse Davion took to the field himself in his BattleMaster. The attack did only superficial damage to the university, but did great damage to ComStar in Hanse Davion's eyes. His spies in the Capellan Confederation later reported to him that the Death Commandos were on the planet Kathil during the time of the raid, so there was no way they could have pulled it off. Coupled with the knowledge of the supposed HPG destruction on Sarna, Hanse came to the only logical conclusion.

The Combine Front

In order to find the forces for his massive assault on the Capellan Confederation, Hanse Davion had to strip away large quantities of troops from the border with the Draconis Combine. Far from leaving himself open to attack, Hanse contracted the mercenary unit Wolf's Dragoons to defend his border. Jaime Wolf, the commander of the Dragoons, and Coordinator Takashi Kurita held a deep personal dislike of each other, so Jaime was able to goad Coordinator Kurita into throwing everything he could spare at his Dragoons.

By the end of the war, Wolf's Dragoons had been reduced from over five regiments to one reinforced regiment. In gratitude, Hanse Davion granted Jaime Wolf and his Dragoons the conquered planet of Outreach in perpetuity.

Lyran Commonwealth

The Combine Front

The Lyrans had many things going for them. They had the Rasalhague rebels fomenting insurrection and providing them with intelligence. They had Takashi Kurita's distraction with Wolf's Dragoons. They used these advantages to push the Draconis Combine back along a very broad front. They took a number of traditionally Rasalhagian worlds from the Combine, though their successes did not match what the Federated Suns managed to achieve against the Capellans.

Lyran military doctrine was significantly different than that of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. Whereas the AFFS executed several different "waves," effectively leapfrogging each other, the Lyrans used their wall of assault 'Mechs and pushed into the Draconis Combine on a very broad front. This was not a tactic that had served the Lyrans well in the past, but circumstances conspired to make it a feasible strategy for the 4th War.

The Lyran offensive was stalled when the Combine struck back and scored a couple of worlds that put them within one jump of Skye, a regional capital. Unwilling to continue pressing forward, but unable to reclaim their lost worlds, the Lyran assault ground to a halt.

The League Front

Rather than face the onslaught of the Lyran military, Captain-General Janos Marik made the decision the execute a "strategic withdrawal" of forces along the Lyran front, essentially handing over dozens of worlds without a shot fired. Focused on the Draconis Combine, Archon Katrina made no moves to penetrate any further into the Free Worlds League.

Free Worlds League

Both Maximilian Liao and Hanse Davion had sponsored a rebellion in the Free Worlds League. Anton Marik, in an ill-advised revolt, attempted to wrest power away from his brother, Captain-General Janos Marik. The anti-climatic end of battle occurred when he turned on the mercenaries that Liao had provided him, so Natasha Kerensky's Black Widows killed Anton. With the Free Worlds League Military back up to strength, Janos decided to take advantage of Capellan distraction and attack. Hanse, however, did not want the Free Worlds League to strengthen, so he declared an end to the war.

Aftermath

The Federated Suns conquered roughly a third of the Capellan Confederation, while two commonalities seceded from the realm. While the Tikonov Free Republic joined the Federated Suns, the St. Ives Compact continued to remain politically independent, though dependent on AFFS military aid to avoid being conquered by the Capellan Confederation. The conquered worlds were incorporated into the Federated Commonwealth as the Sarna March.

Maximilian Liao went stark-raving mad. His younger daughter, Romano Liao, ran the nation until his suicide. With her military shattered, and much of her nation's industry under foreign control, Romano struggled to ensure the Capellan Confederation's survival. It would be decades before the Capellan Confederation would be a threat once more.

ComStar and the Federated Suns negotiated a settlement to restore communications to the Suns that included stationing ComGuard troops within FedSuns space to protect their HPGs from further attack. Secretly, ComStar's intelligence agency, ROM, and MIIO fought a shadow war for years.

When the Lyrans failed to retake every Rasalhague world, they declared that they could not give the Rasalhagians their independence. Not content with that, the Rasalhagians grumbled until ComStar negotiated a settlement with the Draconis Combine that allowed for Rasalhagian independence. Shamed by the Draconis Combine's willingness to grant the Rasalhagians independence, the Lyran Commonwealth had no choice but to cede their conquered worlds to the new Free Rasalhague Republic.