Amaris Civil War
Sarna News
The Amaris Civil War (also referred to as the Amaris Crisis, the Amaris-Kerensky Civil War, the Star League Civil War, the Hegemony Campaign, Operation Liberation and the Amaris Coup) was the series of events that led to the dissolution of the Star League. The Civil War, fought in both the Periphery and the Terran Hegemony, occurred between (December 26th 2766 and 2780). The Amaris Civil War also resulted in destruction of the Rim Worlds Republic, and Operation Exodus, the departure of Aleksandr Kerensky and the three-quarters of the SLDF from the Inner Sphere.
Leading to War
The chain of events leading to Stefan Amaris's destruction of both the Star League and the Rim Worlds Republic began in 2751. Then First Lord, the fair and just Simon Cameron, died in February as he toured a mining complex on New Silesia. This left 8-year old Richard Cameron as First Lord, ruler of the entire Human Sphere. Aleksandr Kerensky was named "Protector", but Stefan Amaris quickly penetrated the Terran Courts. The young Richard became paranoid and megalomaniacal under the tutelage of the Terran courtiers, including Stefan.
By 2762, when Richard came of age, Stefan Amaris was already a close confidant. Richard began by ordering all house armies disbanded, and forced to join the SLDF. When the Great House Lords refused, Richard accepted the refusal, but disbanded the Star League High Council, ruling the Human Sphere unilaterally. Richard then issued the Taxation Edict of 2763, a steep increase in taxes from throughout the Human Sphere, but especially upon the Periphery. As the tax increase was a clear infraction on the Reunification Treaties, the Periphery governments quickly became militarized, and prepared for another Inner Sphere invasion.
The Crisis, highlighted by the secession of 18 worlds within the Taurian Concordat in 2765, forced the SLDF and Aleksandr Kerensky to garrison the Periphery and prepare to suppress the uprising. The absence of SLDF troops within the Terran Hegemony was compensated by the deployment of the Rim Worlds Republic Military. By December, 2766, Stefan was ready. Stefan presented The First Lord with a ceremonial, jewel-encrusted laser pistol in the Star League High Council chamber, Unity City, Terra, and then shot the First Lord in the head. Stefan Amaris proclaimed himself First Lord of the Star League.
Civil War
Stefan's first act was to order Aleksandr Kerensky to maintain operations (against the Taurian Concordat), which Kerensky refused. Both sides then requested aid, which was flatly refused by each Territorial State and each Inner Sphere State. Thus started the Amaris Civil War (2766 - 2780). Though the SLDF was the most powerful fighting force in the Human Sphere, it faced a gigantic Republican war machine, number more than 100 regiments of BattleMechs alone.
Kerensky began his operations by conquering the Rim Worlds Republic, led by Stefan's regent, the patriotic Mohammed Selim, an unambitious administrator Stefan could trust. The SLDF took Terra Prime by 2769. Upon completion of military operations within the Rim Worlds Republic, the SLDF took a couple of years to prepare, then Kerensky began a campaign to liberate the Terran Hegemony in 2772. The SLDF landed on Terra by 2777, and by 2779, the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion. On 30 September, 2779, Stefan Amaris was taken captive by the SLDF after Aleksandr Kerensky himself personally knocked down the palace doors in Unity City in his Orion BattleMech.
Aftermath
Stefan and his accomplices were held humanely until enough evidence was found to confirm Stefan's atrocities. Stefan Amaris was executed by firing squad; the order came from Aleksandr Kerensky himself. After the execution of Stefan, a long campaign was conducted, both officially and through vigilanteism, to end the Amaris/Wong/Siever lines - anyone with a claim to the Amaris throne was executed or lynched.
Despite the end of House Amaris, the Rim World Republic might have endured. However, the loss of the core of the Republic to annexation by the Lyran Commonwealth, as well as the the power vacuum left by the death of the Amaris family and the Rim Worlds Republic Military, meant the remaining independent worlds, literally more than 24 systems, were left to fend for themselves. Dozens of small bandit kingdoms arose in the vacuum of the collapse of the Republic, financed by privateering and de facto mercenary deals; the rest persisted as Periphery independents or disappeared.
In the wake of the death of the Cameron line, each Great House Lord coveted the possibility of becoming the next First Lord. General Aleksandr Kerensky was summarily stripped of the title "Protector" by the House Lords in 2780. By this time, Kerensky had had enough. As the House Lords bickered over succession, Kerensky made ready to depart the Inner Sphere. By his (sound) reasoning, the succession to the First Lord's throne was going to be a bloody affair, and he would not let humanity's defenders become pawns of the ambitions of petty jealousies. Most of the SLDF gathered at New Samarkand, and departed on 8 July, 2784. The descendants of the Star League Defense Force would not be discovered for ~260 years.
In the military power vacuum left by Kerensky's departure, the Star League High Council dissolved, and Coordinator Minoru Kurita unilaterally declared himself First Lord of the Star League. The announcement touched off the First Succession War and the decline of the known Human Sphere.