2023 Desert War (Pacific Sunrise)
| 2023 Desert War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of California-Deseret Tensions | |||||||
| File:Mojave freeway.jpg The Mojave Freeway (Former US Interstate 15) was a major corridor for Deseret Forces | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Deseret |
 Cascadia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
David Price |
 Jeffrey Nelson | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
Deseret Armed Forces 25,000 mobilized for the operation |
Californian Forces 7,500 in the desert, 20,000 in coastal California | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
Estimated: 1,500 |
Estimated: 2,500+ | ||||||
The 2023 "Desert War" was a brief armed conflict between the California Republic and the State of Deseret over control of the territory of the Mojave Desert and southern Nevada.
The war was started by the State of Deseret under an expansionist pretense to assert control over the Mojave desert and southern Nevada. California previously controlled this territory and was particularly only vested in maintaining a presence in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Early advancements saw large swaths of empty desert territory fall quickly and Californian forces in the area consolidated for a defensive operation in Las Vegas. More empty desert around Las Vegas fell and supply routes between the city and the main part of California became cut off. By July a seige was laid to Las Vegas and Deseret forces stopped advancing westward at the present day border. The seige lasted until late October when California agreed to surrender the desert and Las Vegas and withdraw any remaining troops from the area.
Background
Prior to 2023, Deseret had been known to be aggressive towards its neighbours, particularly California. Elected officials in Deseret were promising to assert dominance over their region as part of a new nationalist policy. Given the region's attitudes, support for the nationalist government was strong and and in mid 2022, Deseret saw a large expansion of its armed forces to over a 100,000 personnel total amid continued declarations of assertion of regional dominance. California on the other hand had previously been known to not maintain a significant military, notable particularly for the size of the nation. The majority of California's comparatively small military of around 30,000 personnel was not present in the desert at the time of the invasion.
Initial Invasion
With an the government of Deseret pursuing an agressive foreign policy, war was declared by Deseret on California on the 26th of April 2023, with a stated goal of taking vast swaths of territory in the Mojave Desert and securing the city of Las Vegas to "put Deseret on the map". First movements of the Deseret military were along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada and securing routes towards Las Vegas. Following the initial offensive against those fronts, Deseretian forces swept through the largely empty Mojave Desert, cutting off Las Vegas from potential reinforcements from Californian bases to the west. Huge swaths of territory fell within weeks due to the lack of any sort of defenders, which had been ordered by the regional commander to rally at Las Vegas in order to defend the city.
Seige of Las Vegas
After the major portions of the former US state of Nevada along with parts of California east of the Sierra Nevada were secured by Deseretian Forces with next to no resistance, Californian troops that were stationed in the region were found by Deseretian Forces to have rallied their forces in the City of Las Vegas. Californian defenders numbered roughly 7,500 at the time that the city was cut off by Deseretian Forces. The seige lasted for a number of months and escalated into violent exchanges of fire at times, including artillery bombardments on Californian defensive positions by Deseretian forces, and excursions of Californian tactical units outside of the city to eliminate observation encampments and firing positions for light artillery and snipers.
Halting of Deseretian Advance
As the majority of the Deseretian forces involved in the invasion of California were dedicated to holding a seige over Las Vegas, only a comparatively small number of troops pushed west. Californian forces managed to hold off advancing troops from Deseret at the town of Baker, a truck stop town along Interstate 15.
End of Active Conflict
Ultimately, the commander of the Californian defenders surrendered the city of Las Vegas on the 15th of October, just over six months after Deseret declared war to secure the largely empty desert. The Baker Treaty, named for where the Deseretian advance stopped, was signed on the 29th of October to establish a new border between California and Deseret, with large swaths of empty desert east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains being given to Deseret, along with the region of Nevada including and surrounding Las Vegas. Relations to this day remain tense, with a number of high-ranking Californian military personnel expressing a desire to build a stronger Californian military and retake lost territory.