History of England

Editor's note

As with any recording of past events, the limitations presented by sparse documentary evidence and human error can at times come together to prevent an accurate record of history. During the writing process of this history, I’ve never wavered from my goal of compiling the most accurate history of England that has hereunto been made. This goal was at times difficult, but I’m confident that the facts I present below are as accurate as may be obtained. Any inaccuracies are purely unintentional. The early history of England is based entirely off of the information I gathered during several interviews of Tyrr, Mencken, His Majesty, and Minneapolis. Given the failures of human memory, I’ve made every effort to cross reference the accounts of all these witnesses, but I admit there exists no documentary evidence to support their account. England’s history starting at around January 2004 is by contrast substantially based on recorded accounts found on the English forum. Personal recollections were only used to fill in any minor gaps. Given the many limitations, I have complete faith in the account I present below. This history is not a record of specific individual events, rather a narrative based on facts giving a detailed yet concise account of England from its inception to the present day.

N.B. References to player's deaths refer strictly to death's of nations, not real life deaths.

- Resine

The History of England

The Early Days

England as a region has existed by all accounts since the earliest days of NationStates. This period in NationStates history has been called by many, referring back to US history, the Wild West. There were no founders, and invaders and power hungry despots abounded. This was a difficult time for regions, and England was no exception.

Early in NationStates history, there existed several English and British-themed regions. The largest among these were England and Great Britain 2. These two regions would soon face off in a prolonged and bitter struggle for supremacy. The troubles stated in June of 2003 when the delegate of Great Britain 2, Unironed Shirts, a cruel and relentless lady, launched a campaign to take England and the all the remaining British regions. By using multiple UN nations, she was able to achieve some success, and efforts by her enemies to unite against Great Britain 2 met with minimal success. Through all this, England remained strong under dedicated leadership of her delegate, Scharfyville – better known today as Minneapolis. But this would not last.

Soon after being deleted by the moderators for UN rule violations, Unironed Shirts began a smear campaign against Scharfyville. From her new region, Great Britain 3 and with her new nation, Unironed Shirts II, she coordinated efforts to topple Scharfyville and install herself as delegate of England. After infiltrating England with several puppets and rallying England’s populace against Scharfyville, she had her own nation elected as delegate. Her first act was to ban Scharfyville from England. But fortunately, she had again broken NationStates rules by using multiple UN accounts in the take over. She was deleted by the moderators, thus freeing England from here terrible grasp. But the damage had been done. Scharfyville would never return to power and would soon sink into obscurity. Power in England shifted to Tyrr initiating a new era in our English history.

The Tyrr Era

After the ousting of Scharfyville and the deletion of Unironed Shirt’s puppet delegate, the delegacy passed on to Tyrr in late July 2003. It must be noted, however, that the person whom now controls Tyrr is not the same person who controled that nation in mid 2003. The nation would not change hands until August of that year. After his election as delegate, Tyrr began to build a strong government. He created a council of ministers and worked tirelessly to bridge gaps between the many British-based regions. During this time, England along with other British regions created an international alliance called the Sovereign Alliance of British Regions, SABRE for short, which last for several months before falling to inactivity. In August 2003, founders were coded into the game, and moderators began assigning founders to regions which had existed prior to the new game code. Tyrr, by near unanimous acclamation by England’s populace, was installed as the region’s founder. Tyrr would serve as delegate and founder for a short time longer and would even be offered control of the nation U-Boat, the founder of the United Kingdom. But with mounting responsibilities in real life, Tyrr decided that in the interest of democracy, England needed a new delegate and resigned shortly afterward.

The newly elected delegate of England was the minister of culture under the previous government. Mencken, who Tyrr had nominated as his successor, was by his own account a general trouble maker. In an interview given in early 2005, he was quoted as saying I generally harassed the morons that tried to settle in England. Mencken served as delegate for a period of time marked largely by un-involvement on the part of the founder and delegate. His university course work limited his dedication to England, and it was not long before he was replaced in a pseudo coup d'etat.

The Pseudo Coup d'etat

The ascension of His Majesty to the delegacy was not a smooth affair. His Majesty joined England under Tyrr, and upon Mencken's election, became minister of intelligence. Throughout Mencken's time in office, His Majesty slowly gathered endorsements. In a completely unexpected move, His Majesty replaced Mencken as delegate in November 2003. The surprise came as quite a shock to Mencken, who although he did not fight it, would remain bitter towards His Majesty for several months. His Majesty's first days and weeks in office remained rocky as he and another nation named Laurinaq battled it out for control of England in the small endorsement war His Majesty had triggered. Eventually, Laurinaq, after taking the delegacy several times but being unable to hold it, conceded defeat. With that, England’s longest serving delegate took office.

Mergers and the Forum

His Majesty took over a peaceful England. The troubles experienced earlier in the year had largely died down, and Unironed Shirts for a time even lived in England as Southern Addiscombe. His Majesty set out to increase England's population by organising mergers with other British regions. Overtures were made to Imperial Britain, United Kingdom, and Great Britain. Though some nations migrated to England, many nations in the United Kingdom did not want to move to England due a perceived ethnic exclusivity. In an effort to promote a nationally diverse population, His Majesty offered a merger to Wales, a region which had been suffering from inactivity. This effort was for the most part not successful, but the delegate, Gymru, did join. Only Imperial Britain showed any serious interest in merging with England. Her founder, Acasia, however, would only agree to a merger if he were given a meaningful position in England. His Majesty agreed, and Acasia taking the name Britains Empire came to England and became foreign minister. In under a week, nearly 20 nations moved from Imperial Britain to England boosting the regional population to just below 200.

The deal with Imperial Britain also included the establishment of a forum for England by Britains Empire. As Britains Empire had already built a forum for Imperial Britain and as England had never had one, His Majesty agreed to have a forum built for England believing it would ease communication among the population. Thus on December 1st, 2003, England’s forum was opened with sub forums for entertainment, NationStates help, regional and international events, general discussions, and in-character histories. By the end of the month, over thirty nations had registered.

A New Generation

In January 2004, His Majesty opened up cabinet positions to volunteers. Among those that stepped forward were some new members – members that would soon leave their mark on England. The new cabinet was inaugurated on the January 25th with Britains Empire as foreign minister, Section-31 as minister of defence, Simooooo as interior minister, DeQuincy as entertainment minister, and Resine as minister of information. Within days the fruits of the new cabinet were being reaped.

In February, after a month of negotiations, Britains Empire concluded England’s first written interregional treaty with The North Pacific. Later that month, Resine, over the course of two days, completed a survey of all NationStates regions with a population of 40 or greater that included present delegate, existence of a website or forum, and the number of registered users on each respective forum. With support for the cabinet, Resine laid out an honours system for the region. The order of England would be awarded for great achievements, and the order of Britain for past leaders of England. On March 1st, the cabinet eventually approved the awarding of seven Orders of England to and two Orders of Britain: one to Tyrr and one to Mencken. Minneapolis’s inactivity delayed the granting of an order of Britain for his service as Scharfyville until December 2004. Over the next year and a half another four orders of England would be awarded.

The growing number of user of the new forum spurred the new minister of entertainment to organise mass entertainment. DeQuincy’s first project was the I’m a Celebrity... Get me out of here: the Jungle Challeng competition, which pitted 10 celebrities sponsored English nations against each other in a Survivor-like challenge. The game was not very popular, however, as most of the sponsoring nations were inactive on the forum. In what would become England’s first sport competition, DeQuincy organised a football competition exclusively for forum members. Each participating nations would enter two teams and DeQuincy would regularly post the match results. After a bright start, however, the competition fell victim to DeQuincy’s increasing inactivity, and by the end of March, England’s 1st Open Football Tournament was ended without conclusion. It would not be until April of that year, before more in-character entertainment was introduced.

The Irish Scare

It had been almost a year since England had last seen war. The memories of the early wars with Unironed Shirts had been forgotten as those who experienced them died. So, when word first arrived on March 17th that Northern Ireland had been invaded by Ireland with the help of the USSR and Imperial Germany, England was surprised and outraged. Nations like Simooooo, Britains Empire, and Resine immediately went to work assessing the situation and gathering forces to liberate Ireland. Rumours of attacks on England added to the frenzy. The conquering of the United Kingdom by Ireland and her allies on March 22nd, force England to act. While Resine sought assistance from Canada and Australia, Britains Empire served as England’s liaison to the Allied States of EuroIslanders and the Allied Defence Network, an interregional defenders' organisation. Youngtung, the minister of defence, began organising a force of English UN nations to assist in the interregional liberation effort of the two conquered British regions. But due to miscommunication, English forces were alerted too late to take part in the liberations.

Even though England was not able to participate directly in the liberations of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, these events brought to light the need England had for a defence force and an intelligence service as she had had in her early days. By the end of March, Youngtung had established England’s Protectorate, an all volunteer force of UN nations willing to move in support of England and her allies. On April 4th, the English Security Intelligence Service was created with Resine as its director. The cabinet directed the service to target Ireland. The first test of England’s new intelligence service came on May 17th, when the ESIS learned of an Irish offensive a day in advance. An intelligence briefing was presented to the cabinet stating Ireland had gone to high alert in preparation for an offensive in Northern Ireland. Though Northern Ireland did fall, she was liberated the following day by a multiregional force.

The Irish scares may have resulted in the establishment of intelligence and defence services, but recruiting for these new services and for the two previous services - ambassadors and regional recruiters - remained disorganised and decentralised. Recruitment finally became structured in late May 2004 with the creation of the civil service by Simooooo. This organisation, which would be administered by the minister of the interior, was designed to recruit and manage ambassadors, soldiers, intelligence agents, and regional recruiters.

The Map and the ESE

With England’s security assured, entertainment and in-character attractions again took centre stage. Loch Fyne, DeQuincy’s replacement, tried organising a an interregional cricket tournament, while Safalra organised a rather unconventional but extremely popular pooh sticks competition that went all the way up to the final round, but ended with no winner due to real life events. In June, SurryCCC organised another very popular competition. England’s first rugby tournament went on for three months, but like all previous competitions, ended with no winner.

Competitions were not the only form of entertainment that occurred during this time. Britains Empire created a map for England on which nations could decorate their own plots of land. The map soon became extremely popular, and over the past year and a half it has become a true work of art. Britains Empire remained England’s cartographer for a few months, but due to increasing real life concerns, passed the position to Resine who lead it into 2005 before passing the responsibilities onto Disposablepuppetland.

Britains Empire then created a regional stock exchange, and a system by which nations could bye and sell shares. The English Stock Exchange opened on April 19, 2004 with companies from Britains Empire His Majesty, Poesia, Simooooo, and Resine. By July 29th when Britains Empire passed the duty of compiling ESE reports to Resine, 17 nations were buying and selling stock. The ESE would continue on under Resine and then Youngtung until October. In December, Minneapolis would try resurrect it, but to no avail. The ESE saw another glimmer of hope in September 2005 when Youngtung tried once again to restore the ESE. It last for nearly two months before falling once again into disuse.

Farewells

It had only been six months since Britains Empire and Resine first joined England, but in that period both had already created a legacy for themselves. It had been through their combined efforts that England now had a forum, a map, a stock exchange, an interregional treaty, an intelligence service, and orders of knighthood. Among Britains Empire's last accomplishments was to revise the forum to complement the civil service by adding five new ministerial offices and private offices. The forum would not be altered again for more than a year.

England had advanced much since the merger with Imperial Britain. In the first six months of 2004, the region experience the highest numbers of forum activity in history. She had gained several dedicated members. But by the summer of that year, activity was beginning to wane. On June 3rd, Resine resigned all his positions due to limited time in real life. Poesia, who had first joined the government as UN advisor on April 9th, took charge of ESIS as the new director. She had served under Resine for over a month and played an integral part the second Northern Ireland invasion earning her much admiration in England. She would lead the ESIS with distinction for the next month and a half, but her death in mid July prompted Resine back to England.

By August, activity levels on the forum were falling quickly, and the death of one of England’s most distinguished members only added to the inactivity. For eight great months, Britains Empire had arguably been the most influential member in England both at home and abroad. He had cemented alliances and promoted forum activity. His sudden death in September came as a great shock to the region, especially to his many friends in the cabinet. Few people had done so much for England and had been so wholeheartedly dedicated to her as he. His passing marked the end of a great era in this region’s history.

Growing Influence Abroad

Before his death in September, Britains Empire had drafted an extensive treaty of alliance with Eurosoviets of the Allied States of EuroIslanders. This treaty, England’s second, marked the beginning of England’s growing interest in the rest of the NationStates world. Britains Empire was replaced by Simooooo, England’s long serving interior minister. In December of 2004, Resine, England’s ambassador to Australia, was asked by the Australian government to assist in the organisation and monitoring of that region’s first democratic elections. Resine agreed and Australia’s December elections were a success.

England’s greatest success in interregional diplomacy came the following month. The Alliance of the British Isles was the brainchild of Simooooo, who after witnessing the inabilities of England and other British to protect GREAT Britain and the United Kingdom from invasion, set out to organise an interregional organisation dedicated to defending British regions. After extensive negotiations, the regions of the City of London, Eire Nua, England, the Federal Commonwealth Society, GREAT Britain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, The British Empire, the United Socialist Kingdom, and Wales agreed to the foundation of the alliance. The ABI was officially opened on January 30th, 2005 with 10 participating members. ABI, however, did not last as long was planned. Within months, regional self-interests caused the members to splinter into different factions leading to political infighting. By April, the ideological quarrelling had rendered the alliance impotent, and it was officially closed on April 18th.

Although the ABI failed, individual relations with other ABI regions led to signing of the London Accord, a treaty with the United Socialist Kingdom, in June, and soon afterward a treaty with The Proletariat Coalition. England’s growing awareness of the outside world and multiple treaties, lead to the EP participating in the defence of Urbanites in May, and the liberation of The North Pacific in June. The successes of the EP and the failure of the ABI, led England to assume a protectorate role over it fellow British regions, a role which it still plays.

Democratic Rebirth

England had always been a democracy, though she had never had a formal government structure or constitution. But by March 2005, there was a growing concern among the cabinet that England was straying from its democratic foundations. Unlike most democracies around NationStates, her cabinet members were not elected, but rather appointed by the delegate, and most regional decisions were not presented to the region’s citizenry. Adding to the concern was that His Majesty had now been delegate for nearly a year and a half, an unprecedented length. Most nations in England had never known another delegate but His Majesty. His Majesty and the cabinet agreed to hold a delegate election followed by cabinet elections.

In June, campaigning for the delegacy opened on the forum and on the regional message board. His Majesty and Simooooo, the nominated candidates, presented and debated their plans and objectives over the next few weeks. On April 9th, His Majesty was re-elected as delegate by a margin of just over 20 endorsements. His Majesty’s first act was to outline governmental structure, responsibilities, and regional election procedures for the upcoming cabinet election. A charter for England was proposed. The proposed charter had first been thought up by Britains Empire before his death, but it was determined then that the political climate of the region was not ready for a constitutional document. The proposed charter, however, was embraced by the region and adopted on June 30th.

The region’s first cabinet elections took place in early July according to the procedure outlined in England’s new charter. Though the cabinet remained largely unchanged, some new members were elected, such as the Earl of Yonkings and Adamsgrad. Cabinet members would now serve three-month terms, and elections were held again in October. The addition of cabinet elections has not gone without problems. The lack of nominations to key positions, such as that of minister of defence in the October election, presented a problem that continues to challenge to the regions new democratic institution.

The New Year and the future

England stands ready to enter into 2006 with over 250 nations calling her home. She has strengthened ties with defenders abroad, and some of her most senior members hold citizenship in some of our strongly allied regions. At home, the region’s third set of cabinet elections is set to take place in the coming month. On the forum, activity levels are higher now than they were in December of 2004. And the popular English League is the latest in-character competition in a long line of English sports competitions. Only time will tell whether it falls victim like all its predecessors to inactivity, or whether it becomes the first competition to end with a final victor.

To look back on the history of England is not just to look back on the events of old, but to see what one game has inspired in the lives of so many. Though times have changed, and nations have come and gone, England remains at its core unchanged. Her citizens remain carefree; her leaders remain vigilant, and life goes on much as it did when she first stated with good humour and fun in abundance. And I for one… would not have any other way.