War of Chin the Conqueror


 * This article is about the war initiated by Chin the Conqueror. For other similar uses, see Chin (disambiguation).

"earth"

- In my day, Chin the Conqueror threatened to throw the world out of balance.

The War of Chin the Conqueror was a major hostile takeover of the Earth Kingdom by the tyrannical warlord Chin, who intended to overthrow the 46th Earth King and end his authoritarian rule. Almost the entirety of the Earth Kingdom was invaded during the campaign, save for Ba Sing Se and a small peninsula home to Avatar Kyoshi. The war ended when Chin died while Avatar Kyoshi separated her home from the mainland, creating Kyoshi Island.

Chin's war had a massive impact on history, as it caused a series of events that eventually led to the decline of the Earth King's power. This development resulted in a 370 year long period of weakness, conspiracy, and corruption for the Earth Kingdom that ended with the 52nd Earth King's return to power in 100 AG.

Prelude
The 46th Earth King was a strong-willed and imperious ruler, determined to establish an absolute monarchy with himself as supreme monarch. He did not care about his subjects, and his unpopular rule could thus count on little support from his people and the local authorities.

War
The resistance against the Earth King's authoritarian rule soon culminated in open revolt. Chin, a tyrannical warlord, raised a large army in order to gain power over the Earth Kingdom, effectively utilizing the King's unpopularity to expand his army to all corners of the continent.

Chin's campaign proved successful; commencing from a small island in the northwestern part of the kingdom, his armies conquered every settlement along the way. In contrast, the Earth King seemed incapable of handling the war properly and barricaded himself in Ba Sing Se, leaving most of the kingdom under Chin's control. At the height of the campaign, only the capital city of Ba Sing Se and Avatar Kyoshi's home peninsula remained unconquered.



Chin ultimately decided to face the Avatar instead of the impenetrable walls of Ba Sing Se, leading his armies out to the neck of the peninsula where the Avatar was prepared to face him. In a standoff, Chin confronted Kyoshi and demanded her immediate surrender. Kyoshi, in turn, warned him that she would not sit passively while he took her home, but Chin refused to back down and challenged her.

Kyoshi decided against fighting Chin, instead choosing to unleash a display of bending prowess in the Avatar State by creating a large fissure across the width of the neck of the peninsula to sever it from the mainland. Bending lava, she deepened the crack, and utilized airbending to completely separate her homeland. The ground shook as the newly formed Kyoshi Island slowly drifted toward the middle of the ocean, leaving Chin standing on an unstable cliff. Although the cliff started to crumble away underneath his feet, Chin, screaming in anger over Kyoshi's actions, refused to move. As a result, he plummeted to his death in the depths below, ending the war.

Immediate


Although the Earth Kingdom was freed from the threat of conquest, it remained in civil unrest. Chin's army was disbanded, but loyalists of his regime founded a settlement in the southern Earth Kingdom, fueling secessionism throughout the nation. Many citizens were furious at the Earth King's military incompetence and tyranny during the war, inciting revolts throughout the nation.

Uprisings, such as the Peasant Uprising in Ba Sing Se, nearly plunged the kingdom back into civil war. It was Avatar Kyoshi's intervention that ultimately resolved the conflict peacefully; she forced the Earth King to listen to the peasants' grievances, turning his authoritarian regime into a constitutional monarchy. In return, she created the Dai Li to protect the city's cultural heritage. Overall, the position of the Earth King was massively weakened, both in power and reputation, and the Earth Kingdom would never again become an absolute monarchy. Instead, it further decentralized, ultimately rendering the 46th Earth King's ambitions to change the nation into a centralized empire futile.

Later


During the next 270 years, the developments started by Chin's war continued; the monarchy became stagnant and corrupt, and its power declined. At the same time, the power of local rulers and bureaucrats increased, dividing the Earth Kingdom into independent provinces, local kingdoms, and city-states with their own armies and laws. This territorial division eventually increased to the point where the Earth Kingdom's monarchy had almost no control over its rural and peripheral regions.

Around 20 BG, Fire Lord Sozin took advantage of this weakness, establishing several colonies in the western portions of the continent, occupying former Earth Kingdom territory. The Earth Kingdom government did not protect its western provinces or declared war on the Fire Nation for its aggressive imperialism, unable to stop the formidable Fire Nation military. Avatar Roku was able to prevent the establishment of more colonies after he confronted the Fire Lord. Nevertheless, after his death, the Hundred Year War began, and most of the weakened Earth Kingdom was conquered by the Fire Nation. By this time, the 52nd Earth King had become a mere figurehead, while the Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se asserted control over the Earth Kingdom.



This conspiracy was eventually revealed by Avatar Aang in 100 AG, and some of the Earth King's power was briefly restored until the Coup of Ba Sing Se. During this overthrow, a Fire Nation princess usurped and abolished the Earth King's position, ending the long line of powerless puppet rulers to the Earth Kingdom. The nation itself was shattered; most of the country had been conquered by the Fire Nation, while the rest fell under the control of warlords, local authorities, and loyal remnants of the fragmented Earth Kingdom Army.

However, in 100 AG, 370 years after Chin's death, very few commoners remembered Chin's war, and the details of Chin's death became unclear despite his impact on the nation's history. The citizens of Chin Village were the only known people in that time to commemorate Chin's death; they created the Avatar Day festival to express their disdain over the Avatar's supposed murder of their leader.



The village had already celebrated the holiday on those grounds for 370 years, when Team Avatar arrived at the village in 100 AG. Upon their arrival, Avatar Aang agreed to stand trial for the "murder" of Chin the Great. While Aang was in jail, Katara and Sokka set out to investigate the true nature of Chin's death. Although he was immediately condemned following Avatar Kyoshi's admission, Aang was able to clear the Avatar's name by saving the village from an invasion by the Rough Rhinos. From that day onwards, Avatar Day became a day to celebrate the Avatar.

Before the battle at Wulong Forest, Aang summoned Kyoshi for guidance on how to defeat the Fire Lord. She reminded him that her forceful ending of Chin the Conqueror's war for dominance brought a "great era of peace". Aang pointed out that she did not actually kill him, but that Chin's own stubbornness led to his own demise. Kyoshi replied that she saw no difference in the two situations, and told Aang that she would have done anything necessary to stop Chin. Aang subsequently expressed regret over consulting with Kyoshi.

The Earth King returned to power after the Liberation of Ba Sing Se and the end of the Hundred Year War.

Trivia

 * According to Avatar Kyoshi, Chin's death brought "a great era of peace". However, this was proven to be not entirely correct, as Chin's death caused the violent Peasant Uprising in Ba Sing Se and a time of civil unrest in the Earth Kingdom, even though there was no open warfare for the next 233 years.