Written as if in the style of a television program filmed hundreds of years after the events. There are two presenters. Anyone that appears like this: "name" is suppose to be an actor acting as a person from the time who has left a diary or written a letter to someone in order to give first person accounts. Its a bit like the 21st Century battlefield series shown in the UK by Dan and Peter Snow. I plan to do a series. I've written the first episode here... The second should come tomorrow...
Episode One - The England - Maya War
Presenter 1: In 1026 the whole of the ynys enfawr continent was in complete turmoil. A power struggle ensued on who would be the world leader for the next five hundred years. Three sides with very different agendas, strategies and military assets faced each other for the control of the whole continent. In this episode we find out how the first part of this war happened.
Presenter 2: In 1026 the map of the ynys enfawr looked very different as it does today, Nowadays England rules the entire continent, but back then, England was just one of three nations on the massive land mass. Occupying the east side of the island, they controlled the large dye fields to the north of the continent and the gold reserves in the centre. Along with their overseas territories England was a very wealthy nation, much as it is today. In those days it was lead by a man named Churchill; a very stubborn and strong man who brought a more military appearance to the peaceful isolationists. When he came to power he began to be more open to dialog with the other world leaders and also upgraded the military to the country. His most impressive achievement was a new type of soldier the Redcoat riflemen.
Present 1: Just west of the English, lay the nation of Maya, their main settlements; of the Mutal, Mayapan, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Lakamha and Calskmul were fantastical placed to take advantage of several natural defences and rich soil. Though they had access in dye, just north of the Mayapan settlement, they weren't as wealthy as the English. Their leader, Pacal II was a tyrant based on tradition. His army was even heavily traditional. Most of it was chariots, swordsman or a special unit he had devised himself, the Holkan. The army was also relatively large, according to history records they had twice as many soldiers per citizens as either the Arbians or English and was more manoeuvrable. Pacal was extremely jealous of the British and made no attempt to hide his desire to annex the cities of Leeds and Liverpool from the English to gain a better economy.
Presenter 2: Saladin was the leader of the Arbian nation, just west of the Maya. They had no land connection to the English and were resource poor. Saladin was very aware of the precarious position he was in and constantly tried to find ways in order to keep his small nation at peace. He even set up a small colony to the south of the islands on what is now known as the Kufah peninsular. His army was more modern than the Maya main forces and had several longbow men. But his army was small and wasn't very manoeuvrable, making him unable to really launch as offensive. If there was a war, he would have to sit back and destroy the enemy at his gates.
Present 1: By 1026 the border of the English - Maya ran along the English cities of Oxford, Leeds and Norwich; with Newcastle close to their rear. Leeds was a gold mining town, but it in 1020, something else was discovered by complete accident by an explorer. Uranium. Suddenly Leeds became a focus point of diplomatic discussion. It could be used as a massive weapon, even though England did not possess anywhere near the technology needed to build the weapon. Still Maya went into talks about joint administration of the area. Talks broke down after just hours when the Arabians insulted the Maya delegation and walked out of the negotiations. It was a disaster for the Maya, they had hoped the Arabians would support their efforts.
Presenter 2: What happened next amazed the world and brought attention to the continent for the first time in nearly a thousand years.
Presenter 1: Pacal II went back to his war ministers and asked them how long they could get the army ready for war. They replied "with one word from you we can take Leeds in days". The Maya leader was dismissive of his generals, he had other plans.
Presenter 2: He knew that if he attacked England, Saladin would declare war on him attempting to make sure the Uranium mine didn't fall in the Maya hands.
Presenter 1: Saladin knew the English were about honourable battle and facing the enemy. But the Mayan's, they had been found spying on both the English and the Arabian nations for decades, they couldn't be trusted.
Presenter 2: Pacal threw his hand on the map and pointed to the Arabian nation. "I want them to be taken out."
"General Juyan Poiltic": We were amazed at his move. We could have taken Leeds and forced the English to back down, but to attack the Arabians was nonsense, there was nothing there but poor land and crabs.
Presenter 1: The Generals were furious, they protested and refused to march their troops on such a pointless war. Pacal executed three generals the next day. The day after that; Maya went to war with Arabia.
Presenter 2: Pacal's hope was to achieve two distinct objectives. First of all was to eliminate the threat to his west and prevent a war on two fronts, which he knew his army couldn't fight.
Presenter 1: The second was a little more subjective. Certain parts of the Arbian people were Maya sympathisers and would sign up to the Maya army as longbow men if Pacal would rescue them from Saladin. That would have given Pacal a boost in his defence against the English army.
Presenter 2: The English did nothing; even when Saladin asked for support, Churchill turned him away.
Presenter 1: But at this time the English army was still small. On the frontline the English only had six regiments of redcoats. This faced nearly 25 regiments of Maya troops. It was the only way to give English soldiers a good chance of living to retirement. But Churchill knew England would soon be involved in this war and new regiments were being formed all the time.
Presenter 2: Pacal's plan was to attack in one large army and take the Arbian capital Mecca within months of the war. But Pacal forgot two important positions, there were military positions in between his army and Mecca and on their way there Pacal forces got slaughtered by these forces. Pacal's forces retreated.
Presenter 1: What followed was a few months of quick skirmishes on the border with neither side gaining any ground or having any major victory. Pacal was furious, he blamed his generals and his troops. Three more Generals were executed in order to set an example.
"General Juyan Poiltic": We were all afraid in the higher echelon of command that we would be next. Every day we heard rumours. Most were incorrect, but others were not, it was those latter ones that made you think if you were going to be a rumour or an example.
Presenter 1: Across the border in England, Churchill watched patiently. He now had 7 regiments that he could use in the attack, but he felt that it wasn't enough. He wanted at least twice that but something was about to change his minds.
Presenter 2: In a little town called Hastings a foreigner was caught stealing a loaf of bread. He was brought to the tower of London for questioning. In his interrogation it was revealed he was a Major in Maya military who deserted. What was of more interest was the reason he deserted. His unit had been sent to the English border, in was hinted to attack Leeds. Churchill was furious and decided to launch a pre-emptive strike.
Presenter 1: The Major was wrong. Pacal knew a war with the English now would not go their way. He would be fighting a war on two fronts and would be killed off quickly. The movement of the Major's unit was to replace a defensive regiment that was more experienced and wanted on the front line with the Arbians.
Presenter 2: The British plan was to send four regiments to attack on the north and three on the south, while re-enforcements came to help them as soon as they were available. The southern army group met heavy resistance in the first weeks of the war and was forced to retreat back to Norwich. It was not surprising as this was where the gap between the Arbians and the English was smallest going through the Maya empire and it was the highest concentration of enemy troops. However the northern army suddenly gained a large area of land. In three weeks they gained the cities of Uxmal and Mayapan in a short space of time. But then they hit a snag. Even with the re-enforcement of a fifth regiment, the 22nd Redcoats, the English were heavily outnumbered. The Maya capital was just south of their position and it kept enough counter attacks going up and Mayapan kept on rebelling that with the exception of the 13th Redcoats, who were in Uxmal, they were relatively pinned down in Mayapan.
Presenter 1: Meanwhile a large Maya force headed for their ultimate goal; Leeds. In the attack force; it twelve regiments of crack troops. In Leeds; one redcoat regiment and one explorer regiment resting. But help was on hand; the 38th regiment was nearby and raced to Leeds. It got there just in time. While the 56th regiment held its positions the 38th went on continuous attacks against the Maya force dislodging it from its strong positions and forcing the army to retreat in shambles. It was a momentous day.
"Private Julian Campbell": It was a pleasure to be with the 38th. Yes we were tired, yes were hungry. At one point we hadn't eaten for three days and were in battle for probably longer, but we kept on shooting the enemy with all our might. When we returned to barracks in Leeds, the people in the street cheered us on. There was talk that we would end the war, the 38th all on our own. I have to admit, we thought we could.
Presenter 2: Then on the tenth week, the 22nd Redcoats tried a daring counter offensive on the northern sector and while on their way back to base were caught out in the open and completely destroyed by five regiments of chariots. Still it was a pyrrhic victory for the Maya. They lost three regiments in the process and were forced to retreat to the capital and fortify.
Presenter 1: Still the northern army was pinned down by constant rioting in their captured city. It was up to the southern area. The 38th was weakened by the Leeds offensive and in serious need of rest and the southern army had been supplied with six new regiments. They marched at once and over run the border position, they turned their attention to the little settlement at Calskmul. The city was almost deserted and was easily taken. Then the army marched up the most fortified and defendable place on the whole continent; Lakamha. Surrounded by mountains on the west and east of the city and a river to the north, the only feasible way to assault the position was to attack from the south. Not only that it was the headquarters for the whole army fighting the way with Saladin and was extremely fortified.
Presenter 1: Worse for the English soldiers was news that Arbian forces would not cross the Mayan border and that some of the Arabian forces had switched sides to fight with the Mayan. They now had longbow men.
"Captain Harry Ingram": I told the men not to worry. There was nothing that could beat the English rifle. But thoughts went to the wives and children of the 22nd regiment. The men were worried. They wanted the 38th.
Presenter 2: The long march gave the troops time to think and some wanted the war to be over. But as they reached the outskirts of the city news from Leeds arrived. The 38th had left the city and was marching south to the northern end of Lakamha.
"Private Julian Campbell": There was no way we weren't going to fight in that important battle. If we had lost that area, we could have lost the war. No the 38th had to fight, we were back to full strength and still singing songs from the Leeds offensive. We knew we struck fear into the hearts of out enemy.
Presenter 1: The news alone gave the southern army a huge boost to their moral and suddenly they attacked the city. The Mayan army could not resist well enough, even if they killed a few English, it was not enough.
Presenter 2: When the 38th joined the battle, they crossed the river to attack. It was a daring move that could have cost them. But they took the city without losing a single man.
"Private Julian Campbell": We secured about 100 POWs that day. I heard them call us the Ghost regiment, because no matter what they fired at us, it passed straight through us.
Presenter 1: England had secured a major victory and with the 38th in tow the southern army quickly secured the Chichen Itza settlement just west of their positions and south of the capital. Then the final battle was coming up. The northern army was freed up when re-enforcements came and they placed themselves just east of the capital on a hill. The southern army came up and positioned themselves just south of the capital. The 38th was poised to attack again. Pacal was angry, but he refused to surrender. He knew he had 15 regiments in his capital, the English faced him with only seven.
"General Juyan Poiltic": In those last days he was madder than ever. Said we would win a large victory and take the land by force. We knew our only option was to settle diplomatically but what could we do, we were loyal servants. What could we have done?
Presenter 2: On the 20th week of the war, the 38th forced the last of the Mayan forces to surrender. The Capital was taken. English losses were estimated to be around the 1000 mark, while the Mayan losses were even higher around the 5000 mark. Pacal was shot by a Private Julian Campbell when the 38th went to arrest the leader in his Palace.
"Private Julian Campbell": The palace guards stood down as soon as they saw us, but Pacal, he was crazy, he grabbed a spear and threw it at our small party. I shot a warning to stop him throwing the second in his hand. I didn't mean to kill him, but he did mean to kill us. I had no idea he had hit my best friend Ian Tucker. He died on the spot.
Presenter 1: Corporal Ian Tucker was the last man to die in this war. But not the last to die in this series of wars, find out next episode what happened in the next episode as a direct result of these events.
Episode One - The England - Maya War
Presenter 1: In 1026 the whole of the ynys enfawr continent was in complete turmoil. A power struggle ensued on who would be the world leader for the next five hundred years. Three sides with very different agendas, strategies and military assets faced each other for the control of the whole continent. In this episode we find out how the first part of this war happened.
Presenter 2: In 1026 the map of the ynys enfawr looked very different as it does today, Nowadays England rules the entire continent, but back then, England was just one of three nations on the massive land mass. Occupying the east side of the island, they controlled the large dye fields to the north of the continent and the gold reserves in the centre. Along with their overseas territories England was a very wealthy nation, much as it is today. In those days it was lead by a man named Churchill; a very stubborn and strong man who brought a more military appearance to the peaceful isolationists. When he came to power he began to be more open to dialog with the other world leaders and also upgraded the military to the country. His most impressive achievement was a new type of soldier the Redcoat riflemen.
Present 1: Just west of the English, lay the nation of Maya, their main settlements; of the Mutal, Mayapan, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Lakamha and Calskmul were fantastical placed to take advantage of several natural defences and rich soil. Though they had access in dye, just north of the Mayapan settlement, they weren't as wealthy as the English. Their leader, Pacal II was a tyrant based on tradition. His army was even heavily traditional. Most of it was chariots, swordsman or a special unit he had devised himself, the Holkan. The army was also relatively large, according to history records they had twice as many soldiers per citizens as either the Arbians or English and was more manoeuvrable. Pacal was extremely jealous of the British and made no attempt to hide his desire to annex the cities of Leeds and Liverpool from the English to gain a better economy.
Presenter 2: Saladin was the leader of the Arbian nation, just west of the Maya. They had no land connection to the English and were resource poor. Saladin was very aware of the precarious position he was in and constantly tried to find ways in order to keep his small nation at peace. He even set up a small colony to the south of the islands on what is now known as the Kufah peninsular. His army was more modern than the Maya main forces and had several longbow men. But his army was small and wasn't very manoeuvrable, making him unable to really launch as offensive. If there was a war, he would have to sit back and destroy the enemy at his gates.
Present 1: By 1026 the border of the English - Maya ran along the English cities of Oxford, Leeds and Norwich; with Newcastle close to their rear. Leeds was a gold mining town, but it in 1020, something else was discovered by complete accident by an explorer. Uranium. Suddenly Leeds became a focus point of diplomatic discussion. It could be used as a massive weapon, even though England did not possess anywhere near the technology needed to build the weapon. Still Maya went into talks about joint administration of the area. Talks broke down after just hours when the Arabians insulted the Maya delegation and walked out of the negotiations. It was a disaster for the Maya, they had hoped the Arabians would support their efforts.
Presenter 2: What happened next amazed the world and brought attention to the continent for the first time in nearly a thousand years.
Presenter 1: Pacal II went back to his war ministers and asked them how long they could get the army ready for war. They replied "with one word from you we can take Leeds in days". The Maya leader was dismissive of his generals, he had other plans.
Presenter 2: He knew that if he attacked England, Saladin would declare war on him attempting to make sure the Uranium mine didn't fall in the Maya hands.
Presenter 1: Saladin knew the English were about honourable battle and facing the enemy. But the Mayan's, they had been found spying on both the English and the Arabian nations for decades, they couldn't be trusted.
Presenter 2: Pacal threw his hand on the map and pointed to the Arabian nation. "I want them to be taken out."
"General Juyan Poiltic": We were amazed at his move. We could have taken Leeds and forced the English to back down, but to attack the Arabians was nonsense, there was nothing there but poor land and crabs.
Presenter 1: The Generals were furious, they protested and refused to march their troops on such a pointless war. Pacal executed three generals the next day. The day after that; Maya went to war with Arabia.
Presenter 2: Pacal's hope was to achieve two distinct objectives. First of all was to eliminate the threat to his west and prevent a war on two fronts, which he knew his army couldn't fight.
Presenter 1: The second was a little more subjective. Certain parts of the Arbian people were Maya sympathisers and would sign up to the Maya army as longbow men if Pacal would rescue them from Saladin. That would have given Pacal a boost in his defence against the English army.
Presenter 2: The English did nothing; even when Saladin asked for support, Churchill turned him away.
Presenter 1: But at this time the English army was still small. On the frontline the English only had six regiments of redcoats. This faced nearly 25 regiments of Maya troops. It was the only way to give English soldiers a good chance of living to retirement. But Churchill knew England would soon be involved in this war and new regiments were being formed all the time.
Presenter 2: Pacal's plan was to attack in one large army and take the Arbian capital Mecca within months of the war. But Pacal forgot two important positions, there were military positions in between his army and Mecca and on their way there Pacal forces got slaughtered by these forces. Pacal's forces retreated.
Presenter 1: What followed was a few months of quick skirmishes on the border with neither side gaining any ground or having any major victory. Pacal was furious, he blamed his generals and his troops. Three more Generals were executed in order to set an example.
"General Juyan Poiltic": We were all afraid in the higher echelon of command that we would be next. Every day we heard rumours. Most were incorrect, but others were not, it was those latter ones that made you think if you were going to be a rumour or an example.
Presenter 1: Across the border in England, Churchill watched patiently. He now had 7 regiments that he could use in the attack, but he felt that it wasn't enough. He wanted at least twice that but something was about to change his minds.
Presenter 2: In a little town called Hastings a foreigner was caught stealing a loaf of bread. He was brought to the tower of London for questioning. In his interrogation it was revealed he was a Major in Maya military who deserted. What was of more interest was the reason he deserted. His unit had been sent to the English border, in was hinted to attack Leeds. Churchill was furious and decided to launch a pre-emptive strike.
Presenter 1: The Major was wrong. Pacal knew a war with the English now would not go their way. He would be fighting a war on two fronts and would be killed off quickly. The movement of the Major's unit was to replace a defensive regiment that was more experienced and wanted on the front line with the Arbians.
Presenter 2: The British plan was to send four regiments to attack on the north and three on the south, while re-enforcements came to help them as soon as they were available. The southern army group met heavy resistance in the first weeks of the war and was forced to retreat back to Norwich. It was not surprising as this was where the gap between the Arbians and the English was smallest going through the Maya empire and it was the highest concentration of enemy troops. However the northern army suddenly gained a large area of land. In three weeks they gained the cities of Uxmal and Mayapan in a short space of time. But then they hit a snag. Even with the re-enforcement of a fifth regiment, the 22nd Redcoats, the English were heavily outnumbered. The Maya capital was just south of their position and it kept enough counter attacks going up and Mayapan kept on rebelling that with the exception of the 13th Redcoats, who were in Uxmal, they were relatively pinned down in Mayapan.
Presenter 1: Meanwhile a large Maya force headed for their ultimate goal; Leeds. In the attack force; it twelve regiments of crack troops. In Leeds; one redcoat regiment and one explorer regiment resting. But help was on hand; the 38th regiment was nearby and raced to Leeds. It got there just in time. While the 56th regiment held its positions the 38th went on continuous attacks against the Maya force dislodging it from its strong positions and forcing the army to retreat in shambles. It was a momentous day.
"Private Julian Campbell": It was a pleasure to be with the 38th. Yes we were tired, yes were hungry. At one point we hadn't eaten for three days and were in battle for probably longer, but we kept on shooting the enemy with all our might. When we returned to barracks in Leeds, the people in the street cheered us on. There was talk that we would end the war, the 38th all on our own. I have to admit, we thought we could.
Presenter 2: Then on the tenth week, the 22nd Redcoats tried a daring counter offensive on the northern sector and while on their way back to base were caught out in the open and completely destroyed by five regiments of chariots. Still it was a pyrrhic victory for the Maya. They lost three regiments in the process and were forced to retreat to the capital and fortify.
Presenter 1: Still the northern army was pinned down by constant rioting in their captured city. It was up to the southern area. The 38th was weakened by the Leeds offensive and in serious need of rest and the southern army had been supplied with six new regiments. They marched at once and over run the border position, they turned their attention to the little settlement at Calskmul. The city was almost deserted and was easily taken. Then the army marched up the most fortified and defendable place on the whole continent; Lakamha. Surrounded by mountains on the west and east of the city and a river to the north, the only feasible way to assault the position was to attack from the south. Not only that it was the headquarters for the whole army fighting the way with Saladin and was extremely fortified.
Presenter 1: Worse for the English soldiers was news that Arbian forces would not cross the Mayan border and that some of the Arabian forces had switched sides to fight with the Mayan. They now had longbow men.
"Captain Harry Ingram": I told the men not to worry. There was nothing that could beat the English rifle. But thoughts went to the wives and children of the 22nd regiment. The men were worried. They wanted the 38th.
Presenter 2: The long march gave the troops time to think and some wanted the war to be over. But as they reached the outskirts of the city news from Leeds arrived. The 38th had left the city and was marching south to the northern end of Lakamha.
"Private Julian Campbell": There was no way we weren't going to fight in that important battle. If we had lost that area, we could have lost the war. No the 38th had to fight, we were back to full strength and still singing songs from the Leeds offensive. We knew we struck fear into the hearts of out enemy.
Presenter 1: The news alone gave the southern army a huge boost to their moral and suddenly they attacked the city. The Mayan army could not resist well enough, even if they killed a few English, it was not enough.
Presenter 2: When the 38th joined the battle, they crossed the river to attack. It was a daring move that could have cost them. But they took the city without losing a single man.
"Private Julian Campbell": We secured about 100 POWs that day. I heard them call us the Ghost regiment, because no matter what they fired at us, it passed straight through us.
Presenter 1: England had secured a major victory and with the 38th in tow the southern army quickly secured the Chichen Itza settlement just west of their positions and south of the capital. Then the final battle was coming up. The northern army was freed up when re-enforcements came and they placed themselves just east of the capital on a hill. The southern army came up and positioned themselves just south of the capital. The 38th was poised to attack again. Pacal was angry, but he refused to surrender. He knew he had 15 regiments in his capital, the English faced him with only seven.
"General Juyan Poiltic": In those last days he was madder than ever. Said we would win a large victory and take the land by force. We knew our only option was to settle diplomatically but what could we do, we were loyal servants. What could we have done?
Presenter 2: On the 20th week of the war, the 38th forced the last of the Mayan forces to surrender. The Capital was taken. English losses were estimated to be around the 1000 mark, while the Mayan losses were even higher around the 5000 mark. Pacal was shot by a Private Julian Campbell when the 38th went to arrest the leader in his Palace.
"Private Julian Campbell": The palace guards stood down as soon as they saw us, but Pacal, he was crazy, he grabbed a spear and threw it at our small party. I shot a warning to stop him throwing the second in his hand. I didn't mean to kill him, but he did mean to kill us. I had no idea he had hit my best friend Ian Tucker. He died on the spot.
Presenter 1: Corporal Ian Tucker was the last man to die in this war. But not the last to die in this series of wars, find out next episode what happened in the next episode as a direct result of these events.