Akitsukunese Armed Forces

The Akitsukunese Armed Forces (: 秋津国軍, Akitsukuni-gun) are the military service of Akitsukuni, established after the Imperial victory in the Akitsukunese Civil War. On August 8th 1848, Hiromasa Ikeda signed an executive decree with a threefold purpose; combining the Imperial forces into a single coherent body, dissolving the defeated Republican Army, and placing all former Republican Army troops under the newly-formed Akitsukunese Armed Forces.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is the Prime Minister of Akitsukuni. The Armed Forces are divided into five services; the Army, Navy, Air Force and Strategic Missile Force, with an additional branch, the Akitsukuni Special Naval Landing Force, nominally subordinate to the Navy. Additionally, two Army reserve formations exist, the Akitsukuni Defence Force and the Mainland Defence Force.

As of 2016, the Akitsukunese Armed Forces number around 725,000 active troops and 2,000,000 to 3,100,000 reserve troops, the majority of which are Defence Force personnel and discharged former active-duty personnel. The Prime Minister may approve conscription in accordance with the Akitsukunese constitution.

Akitsukunese Civil War and formation
The Akitsukunese Armed Forces find their heritage in the State Militia of Akitsukuni, the state militia force accorded to the State of Akitsukuni by the federal government of the Republic of Akitsukuni and Sadamisaki. A separate entity from the Republican Army, the Militia existed as a reserve force and was largely used to combat natives during the Akitsukunese Wars of Expansion in the southern interior of the State of Akitsukuni.

Upon the formation of the Empire of Akitsukuni and the secession from the Republic, the State Militia became the de facto military force of the new nation. It was then deployed to oppose the Republican Army, which was marching on the Empire in the interest of maintaining the union. Both forces met in combat for the first time at the Battle of Mogamigawa, starting the Akitsukunese Civil War, the first conflict the Akitsukunese military would be involved in.

During the war, the bulk of the land fighting forces were the State Militia, and wartime concerns prevented it from being reorganised into the Imperial Army until after the war. Instead, the first "Imperial" service was the Imperial Akitsukunese Navy, formed close to the start of the war to combat the Republican Navy. Shortly after, the Imperial Akitsukunese Marines were established to carry out expeditionary attacks across the Sea of Akitsukuni at Republican strongholds on Sadamisaki.

In the initial months of the war, the Akitsukunese military was at a disadvantage against its foreign-equipped and trained enemy. However, Meisaan soon came to support the Imperial side due to the Republican side's allegiance with Fusen, proving weapons, funding, training and much of the materiel basis of the early Akitsukunese Armed Forces. With Meisaani aid and mercenary troops, the Akitsukunese defeated the Republican forces at the decisive Battle of Shiroyama, ending the Civil War in May 1852. In the same month, the State Militia was officially reformed into the Imperial Akitsukunese Army, and all Akitsukunese services absorbed the materiel, bases, and whatever willing troops from the Republican Army.

Growth and Greater Empire era
The post-Civil War Akitsukunese military was aided greatly by Meisaani support and training. The first indigenously-produced Akitsukunese rifles were little more than copies of Meisaani designs, and military tactics and doctrine were clearly influenced by Meisaani military schools of thought. Meisaan was not the only benefactor of Akitsukuni, however, and the Imperial Navy's first three steel-hulled screw-driven warships, the Akitsukuni, Sadamisaki and Echizen, were purchased from Jeongmi.

Things began to change by the 1870s, when Sinjun wars and militarisation led the Imperial military began to look inwards towards domestic production, supply and training due to an increasing mistrust of Sinju and a perceived need to independently catch up to the Sinjun military standard. After the 1891 Cherry Blossom Revolution and the transformation of Akitsukuni into the Greater Empire of Akitsukuni, almost all foreign supply of arms had been halted, replaced by domestic arms such as the long-serving.

With militarists dominating the government of the now-absolute monarchy, and a pervading sense of nationalism and militarism on the rise, the Akitsukunese military experienced a surge in weapons development, arms buildup and phenomenal manpower gains even prior to the enactment of the draft. The Akitsukunese military proved itself to be a potent, modern and powerful fighting force in the (War before Eulhae). Subsequently, the military became viewed as one of the most powerful non-colonial armies in Uju, buoying the confidence of the Akitsukunese government in the inevitable wars to come under the Kūkan Policy that had been adopted.

Eulhae War
Akitsukuni invaded (Light Greyistan) in 1933, with the full might of the Imperial Army demolishing any resistance by the poorly armed locals. Subsequently, the Imperial military experienced great gains during the invasions of the Meisaani colonies of Elwha and Sisimut upon the start of the Eulhae War, though this was largely due to their technological and numerical superiority over the less-well-armed colonial troops stationed in these areas. The bulk of the Meisaani - and Allied Forces' - troops were elsewhere, fighting Fusen and Kang Lâm. However, upon the invasion of Elwha by the Allied powers, the Akitsukunese military faced enemy forces on equal footing or superior to themselves, and slowly began to be pushed back.

The Imperial Navy, which had not been an especially well-developed force when the war began, was almost destroyed entirely in the various battles in the Arctic Sea, and the Akitsukunese defensive blockade was soundly defeated in the Battle of Airaku, severely damaging the Senbonzakura super-battleship. This paved the way for the Allies to launch an amphibious invasion of Sadamisaki, outflanking the Imperial Army. On the southern front, the devastating Battle of Hakone and the subsequent loss led to a coup of the government by Imperial Army officers led by Genbu Kururugi, who negotiated the Akitsukunese surrender and the end of the war.

Under wartime production and conscription conditions, Akitsukuni soon grew to have the single largest armed force in the world with some 13.5 million troops at its peak, though a large number of these troops were end-war "desperation" auxiliary forces formed from the infirm, elderly and underage and poorly equipped. Technological and weapons development progressed in leaps and bounds, including the invention of the world's first assault rifle, the Type-39 rifle. On the other hand, around 5.3 to 6 million Akitsukunese military personnel would be killed during the war.

Post-war and the Cold War
The post-war Allied occupation and surrender terms weighed heavily on the military as it was forced to disarm and demobilise, though the Allies soon reversed these policies on the behest of Meisaan due to the Elwhan Civil War, in which Akitsukunese troops were deployed as emergency peacekeeping forces. They were withdrawn without making a great impact on the war, however, and Elwha fell to the communists shortly after. The collapse of the industrial complex and the cost of maintaining large numbers of troops, however, led to inevitable downsizing of the military regardless.

Post-war Akitsukuni found the military participating greatly in political affairs, especially after the April 16 Coup by Nariakira Okabe, a general in the Imperial Army. Okabe went on to make various changes to the armed forces after his rise. The first major change enacted by Okabe was the split of the Imperial Akitsukunese Air Force from the Imperial Army. Various operational and organisational changes were made in order to place the military in a stance ready to combat aggressive communist expansion and defend the nation against such threats, such as the enactment of military districts. Later on, this mission was expanded to the containment and direct combat of communist forces across the globe, often in tacit collusion with Sinju.

Swept up in the global arms race of the Cold War, Akitsukuni soon became a rapid developer of weapons and later the world's largest arms exporter, competing with Sinju and Namju for the global market. The Imperial Army grew to become the most powerful force in North Uju, while the Imperial Navy's submarines became famous worldwide for breaking numerous records. The Cold War Imperial military also saw the arrival of nuclear weapons into the Akitsukunese arsenal, and the development of the Akitsukunese Strategic Missile Force. The military would later be involved in a brief border war with Elwha, the 1987 Mountain War, the first conflict Akitsukuni fought on its own soil since the Eulhae War.

Naval fleets
The Navy consists of four fleets, the Sea of Akitsukuni Fleet, Northern Fleet and its subordinate Arctic Fleet, and the Unhae Fleet.

The Sea of Akitsukuni Fleet is responsible for the defence and operations within the Sea of Akitsukuni, including the Kenai Strait.

Nuclear weapons
Main article: Akitsukuni and weapons of mass destruction