Great Micronational Antarctic War

Great Micronational Antarctic War (part of Black March)
Date January 29, 2009 - June 1, 2009 (de jure) January 29, 2009 - September 24, 2010 (de facto) Location Siple Island, West-Antarctic Sector Result Stalemate Belligerents recognized each other on September 24, 2010 Westarctica joined the AMU.
Belligerents
Flandrensis Side	Westarctica Side
Commanders
Niels I of Flandrensis Petrus Máximus of Finismund	Jon-Lawrence Langer
Strength
N/A	N/A
Casualties and losses
0	0

The Great Micronational Antarctic War, also known as the Siple War was a micronational conflict between the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis, Finismund, Marie State and the Grand Duchy of Westarctica that began on 29 January 2009 and was declared over by Flandrensis and Finismund on 1 June 2009, though an official and final end was not reached until the West-Antarctic treaty was signed on 24 September 2010. The conflict was even mentioned in a Dutch travel magazine.

The conflict was sparked by a controversy over territorial claims, with both nations claiming sovereignty over Siple Island and West-Antarctica and neither being willing to recognise the other's claims. The conflict has been characterised by the support of the Grand Unified Micronational, which has lead to a massive increase in diplomatic support for Flandrensis & Finismund - despite this, GUM withdrew it's support on 27 May 2009, a few days before the conclusion of the conflict.

History

In January 2008, Westarctica appeared to have become an inactive micronational entity, due to it letting its .com domain lapse. On 4 September 2008, the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis was founded and, as it noticed that the absence of Westarctica made it's territory unclaimed, he proclaimed the small Antarctic island of Siple as the official territory of the Grand Duchy on November 28, 2008. Two other micronations, Finismund and Marie State claimed land in West-Antarctica earlier.

After the settlement of several new Antarctic micronations, on 31 December 2008, Westarctica revived its online presence, and claimed all of its former territory, which included Siple Island (claimed by Flandrensis) and the claimed territory of Finismund and Marie State. Following this, Flandrensis' Officials tried to negotiate peace with Westartica, but were referred as usurpers.

Following their statements of refusal of negotiating with Flandrensis or Finismund, the leader of the Flandrensis, Niels I of Flandrensis requested help from the Grand Unified Micronational, which at the time, already had about a dozen of members. In the beginning, the intermicronational organization became very involved in the matter, and most, if not all of its member states, started protecting Flandrensis in its symbolic war for Siple Island. This side was also known as the Flandrensis Side (including Finismund & Marie State).

Foundation of the GAMA

Flandrensis, Finismund and Marie State formed an alliance to protect their territory better. They founded the GAMA (Grupo Del Acuerdo Micronational Antartico), also the FSA and Keep Watch joined the GAMA, now the current Antarctic Micronational Union.

Studying Maps

Grand Duke Niels I of Flandrensis, Premier Terry Schultz of Marie State and King Petrus Maximus of Finismund tried in different ways to find proof that could have lead them to victory. On 25 March 2009, Officials of Flandrensis, while observing the maps published on Westartican websites, discovered that Siple island was not highlighted in yellow, and was arguably not officially claimed. As a way to justify this proof, Flandrensis claimed that the map was also previously used several years ago by founder and former leader of Westarctica, Grand Duke Travis McHenry. These maps contradicted the initial claim by Travis McHenry on 30 October 2001 which stated:

"I...claim for myself all land between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west and south of 60 degrees south to include all sea and ice shelves."

In response to their charge that the map usage invalidated the claim to Siple Island, on 29 March 2009 Grand Duke Jon-Lawrence of Westarctica answered Flandrensis' Officials (If your anti-social behavior stems from a medical issue, it is my sincere hope you find the treatment you need) and effectively concluded all peace talks with Flandrensis. Formerly, both Finismund and Flandrensis concluded that the ‘symbolic war’ against Westarctica was no longer necessary and even started discussing about the sharing of the sovereignty of Byrd’s land.

Unilateral ceasefire

Because Jon-Lawrence of Westarctica indicated no desire to negotiate, it was decided by other relevant parties that there was no way to formally conclude hostilities. Therefore Flandrensis and Finismund elected to simply ignore Westarctica's territorial claim. They declared an end to the conflict on 1 June 2009 and chose to simply ignore Westarctica, who by that point had entered another period of inactivity. Finismund and Flandrensis recognised, as sign of good will, the sovereignty of Westarctica on Peter I Island. However, it was their stated intention to ignore the rest of Westarctica’s claim. They believed that micronations on Antarctica can and should live together, and Finismund had offered twice to share the territories with Westarctica. Flandrensis and Finismund asked to all micronations involved in this conflict to ignore the claim of Westarctica.

Restarting negotiations

In June 2010 Westarctica's Minister of Defense, the Count of Waesche, had returned to the scene after several years of confusion over how to communicate with the absentee Westarctican leadership. He contacted Grand Duke Niels I of Flandrensis, who was at that moment serving as the Secretary-General of the Antarctic Micronational Union. Count Waesche and Travis McHenry overthrew Jon Lawrence as Grand Duke of Westarctica in a bloodless coup, and re-opened negotiations with Flandrensis and the AMU, as Finismund had ceased operations by that time.

Final end of the conflict

On 24 September 2010 Westarctica and interested parties representing the AMU reached an agreement, called the West-Antarctic Treaty.

During the negotiations Marie State was declared as a defunct nation and removed from the AMU, following the AMU-Treaty the territory of defunct nations goes to the AMU. The AMU offered the formal territory of Marie State, together with the former claim of West-Antarctica to Westarctica. Count Waesche of Westarctica accepted the offer and declared that Westarctica would recognize all West-Antarctic micronations and would join the AMU.

Countries Involved

Flandrensis side

• Grand Duchy of Flandrensis
• Federated States of Antarctica
• Ohio Empire
• New Scientopia
• Camuria
• Finismund
• Federal Republic of St.Charlie
• Kingdom of Buenos Aires
• Cheslovian Federation
• Imperio Destroy
• Estado de Marie
• El Dorado
• Huetar de Occidente
• Valumar
• Kingdom of Cantabria
• Petrossia
• El Pueblo Simariense
• Principallity of Brisgovia
• Republic of Patetopia

Westarctica side

• Westarctica

Intermicronational response

• Federal Republic of St.Charlie: Declared as a protest against the way Westartica had been dealing with the issue, and chose to not recognize Westartican claims. This made St. Charlie the first nation to officially recognize Siple Island as a territory of Flandrensis.
• Federated States of Antarctica: An ally of Flandrensis since within a week of its inception, the Federated States supported Flandrensis and Finismund in the conflict. President David Powell stated: "We believe that Westarctica has made an illegal claim to the territory in question based on an incorrect interpretation of the Antarctic Treaty. Much of the contention revolves around whether Westarctica became inactive, and, if so, whether this period of inactivity constitutes a relinquishment of any claims. We contend that this matter is not relevant, since Westarctica's original claim was illegal to begin with." It has been noted that this statement would likely imply that the claims of Flandrensis and Finismund would also have been illegal.
• Democratic People's Republic of Erusia: Initially established complete neutrality in the matter and refused to involve itself in the affair. After becoming elected Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational, Erusia became highly critical of the conflict and in particular the conduct of both sides. Erusia accused Westarctica of being unprofessional and extremely offensive, but also condemned Flandrensis' side in the conflict for appearing to "have adopted the same dictatorial territorial policies it has criticised West Acrtica [sic] of having", asserting that neither side was acting in the interests of peace. On May 27 2009, even though the war appeared to be coming to an end, the GUM Chair officially condemned the conflict and called on all GUM members to instead adopt a neutral foreign policy and work towards a balanced peace, ending nearly four months of official GUM support.
• Kingdom of Neutralia - Minister of Foreign Affairs Timmy W. Edwardson asked that the Grand Duchies of Flandrensis and Westarctica end the war and negotiate during the ongoing session of the North American Micronational Congress (which did not limit itself the affairs of North American micronations)