Koenwitz
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| Flag of Koenwitz | |
| Motto: "Ubique" | |
| National Map, Regional Map | |
| Region | Europe |
|---|---|
| Capital | Koenburg |
| Official Language(s) | German (English taught, but not widely spoken) |
| Leader | Field Marshal (Feldmarschall) Jurgen Kaen |
| Population | 120 million |
| Currency | Maychuck |
| NS Sunset XML | |
The Armed Republic of Koenwitz is a virtually land-locked nation of approximately 12,000km² with a temperate climate, similar to that of Northern Europe. Its landscape is a mixture of steep hills, wide plains and thick oak and spruce forests. The nation’s only major watercourse, the River Elz, runs from south to north across the centre of the country and has formed a small peninsula/delta in the northernmost point of the country, which provides Koenwitz with its only section of coastline. The highest point of the country is Mount Gurz, which rises in the southern valleys to a height of approximately 6,000m. The wildlife of the nation is particularly rich: over 100 species of birds (notably a large population of the national animal, the blackbird), wolves roaming freely in the forests, butterflies flourishing in the spring and the rivers filled with salmon and trout. There are large oil reserves in the central regions of the country and ore deposits in the south.
Koenwitz has two major cities (Koenburg and Elzstadt), two larger towns (Karentan and Harabszk) and myriad smaller towns and villages. The capital city, Koenburg, lies in the far west of the country and is populated by some 400,000 citizens. The port city of Elzstadt lies on the peninsula and has several large docks for freighters and cruise liners.
The current national population is 120 million persons, 90% of which are ethnic Germans. The Army of Koenwitz is roughly 1 million men strong, with half that number made up by conscripts. There is a large police force that is fully-armed and visible everywhere, and intelligence services, both internal and external, are provided by the SD (Sicherheitsdeinst). Although there is a parliament of elected representatives, the country is run by the military under the President, Field-Marshal Jurgen Kaen, who assumed power after the Great War of Koenwitz.
Contents
A History of Koenwitz, 1766-1840
Koenwitz was originally known as the "Disputed Territory" that separated two warring states. On one side, the vast Kingdom of Turingenland, on the other, the Germano-Polish province of Pruszikia. Between 1400-1700 the "Disputed Territory" was the battlefield of the Three Hundred Years War between Saxony and Pruszikia that went on intermittently during this period. Both sides claimed the territory as their own at various points, but by and large were too busy fighting each other to establish anything other than military camps in the area. The 1702 Peace of Bayerlein finally brought a fragile peace between the two powers, leaving the territory as a buffer zone between them. However, in the 1760s there was a resumption of militarist rhetoric in Turingenland and the Pruszikian Army began to rearm.
King Fritsch of Thuringen, worried by the situation, called upon his friend Crown-Prince Eugen Koenwitz of Coblenz. Eugen was looking to expand his holdings in the region, and arrived in the Disputed Territory with his entourage, militia and 500 civilian settlers. He quickly established a small working port, which became Elzstadat, to allow for expansion. As the incoming settlers explored deeper into the country they found a stunningly beautiful land of rolling hills, lush forests and fertile soil. Soon, settlers were pouring into Elzstadt and the country grew exponentially. By 1772 there were already 30,000 people in the territory. Also in that year, Crown-Prince Eugen formally renamed the Disputed Territory the Grand Duchy of Koenwitz. Eugen quickly set about allaying Pruszikian fears about his presence in the territory, and soon there was a peace between the nations, who concentrated their efforts against the raiding bands of Uhrs and Ehres from the wild west.
In 1773, Crown Prince Eugen began the ‘Great Expedition’, a two-year journey around the interior with the company of his finest cartographers and militiamen. In 1775 he established Koenburg, the national capital, in an area of flat, open ground in the Western Forest. He returned home in 1776 following a popular uprising against his rule. Despite a brief military campaign, Crown-Prince Eugen was forced to abandon his assets in the fatherland and he returned with his entire family in 1777. Though heartbroken by having to leave his home, the Crown-Prince quickly set about the task of making his new nation great. In 1778 he created the Koenwitzian Parliament (staffed by barons who had come over with him from the Fatherland) the Law Courts, the Police Force, and most importantly the Royal Rights. These ensured that successive generations of the Koenwitz family would have direct rule, and that parliament would only advise on policy issues.
Crown-Prince Eugen died in 1782. His son, the 27-year old Willi (1755-1801), continued his work, promoting Koenwitz abroad to attract more settlers, strengthening the Catholic Church in the country and also ensuring that the Koenwitz Militias (East, Central and West) were well-equipped. He also introduced the blackbird into the forests, which was his favourite songbird.
Expansion
The period between 1790 and 1840 was relatively quiet, with the country expanding rapidly – by 1830 there were 2.5 million citizens, occupied mostly by agriculture and the coal and ore mining of the southeast. In 1842, Crown-Prince Thomas (1822-1898), successor to Crown-Prince Udo (1771-1838), encouraged a programme of industrialisation. Factories producing clothing and utilities opened in Harabszk and the town became the centre of the Koenwitzian manufacturing industry. The munitions works at Spreelow, in the east of Koenburg, were opened in 1849 and equipped the militias with modern rifles and cannon. Elzstadt expanded dramatically under Thomas, with the ramshackle jetties being replaced by three large docking areas, an extensive waterfront and one dry-dock. Soon, foreign exports were pouring into Elzstadt and continued to fuel Koenwitz’s industrial revolution.
However, a brief period of unrest occurred in 1864 when the first oil reserves were discovered near the Central Forest. The Crown-Prince wanted to have national control over the output, but the citizens of Havel, the village near the pithead, wanted control for themselves. The Eastern Militia were sent to enforce the Crown-Prince’s wishes, but the villagers resisted. Around half of them were killed in a weeklong siege that was the first indication of trouble in the country.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Koenwitz was a comparatively prosperous nation of 8 million. Crown-Prince Theodor (1878-1947) wanted the country to move away further from its still strongly agrarian economy and towards a more consumerist, capitalist type, and he further encouraged industrialisation. However, the concession was that at least 50% of all profits went to him, the so-called “Royal Tax”. This did not stop things going his way, for because no foreign companies wished to invest due to the tax, indigenous entrepreneurs were allowed to flourish freely. Thousands flocked to Koenburg and Elzstadt.
In 1910 the Crown-Prince strengthen his military power by forming a national army- the Royal Army of Koenwitz. This move was perhaps his least popular, as the people wondered what the need was for a large, organised armed force in such a peaceful, neutral country. When the Crown-Prince began pouring vast sums of money into the creation of a Navy of some twenty battleships, elements of the populace revolted. While the dock workers in Elzstadt were happy of the trade, when Army troops called in to control a riot in Harabszk shot several protestors on October 5th 1912, the dockworkers scuttled the first Koenwitzian Battleship, HMS Prinz-Eugen. The Crown-Prince finally relented and cut back his defence spending, though maintaining the national army.
During the First and Second World Wars, despite his militaristic tendencies, Theodor decided to remain neutral. In the First War this presented no obstacles. However, during the Second World War the country faced incursions by Nazi and Soviet special forces groups who sought to overthrow the prince and establish a puppet government. There were elements of the Army who supported both sides and this lead to some infighting. However, the majority of the troops supported the Crown-Prince and both incursions were beaten off. The traitors in the Army were executed in 1945.
The Buildup to Civil War
Crown-Prince Theodor died in 1947 and was replaced by his 19-year old son, Reinhardt. Reinhardt was a headstrong boy with a vicious temper, and was a committed atheist. The new Crown-Prince lavished his wealth on expanding his cities and his armies. By 1960 the Royal Army of Koenwitz was one of the best equipped in the world, with modern weaponry designed with the help of German and American advisors.
By the late 1970s, however, frictions and resentment were beginning to brew. The new corporations were becoming increasingly hamstrung by the Royal Tax, the people fed up with the squalid conditions in some of the urban areas. To make matters worse, the large influx of the rural populace was both creating slums in the towns and leaving the fields unploughed. The country was becoming increasingly reliant on imports for essential goods. Furthermore, Reinhardt’s virulent secularism had led to the closing of 85% of Koenwitz’s churches, including the great Cathedral of St Ilse in Koenburg. There had been many violent incidents relating to the closure of churches and the army had to be called on several occasions.
One of the worst examples of this violence occurred in the small village of Tierfratz in March 1984. Despite a royal order, the villagers refused to close their church and continued to worship, much to the anger of the Crown-Prince. He sent in troops from the elite 76th Jäger Regiment to force the villagers to comply, but as the soldiers entered the village they were fired upon. It later transpired that in the final service, where tempers were naturally high, the padre had exhorted his flock to defend the church against the “Barbarian Prince”. The soldiers responded with heavy fire, decimating the church and killing 76 civilians – three quarters of the tiny village’s population.
By 1986 the effects of Reinhardt’s reckless policies were becoming difficult to contain, and there was a growing movement of citizens who desired a completely democratic state, with the Crown-Prince reduced to a figurehead. In April, to try and stem the tide that was rising against him, Reinhardt ordered that all rural migrants who had arrived in the cities between 1970 and 1986 were to return to the land, in order to restore the agricultural power of Koenwitz. However, most migrants were happy where they were, as the prospects were far better than in the countryside, and they refused the Crown-Prince’s order. In a temper, he sent the Army to forcibly remove them. All hell broke loose. On 2nd May 1986, the first shots of what was to become the Great Patriotic War were fired in Harabszk.
The "Great Patriotic War"
The combatants of the Great War were divided between those who sought a democratic monarchy, and those who wanted to keep the status quo. The Army was also split between these two causes. During the remainder of 1986 the fighting was centred in the East of the country and there were a series of highly inconclusive battles. In January 1987, however, pro-democratic forces forced the royalists back in a lightning strike when the Army’s 3rd Armoured Division switched sides and seized Elzstadt and all the country east of the River Elz.
On 16th February 1987, Field-Marshal Jurgen Kaen, Chief of the Royal Army, launched his famed offensive that gradually forced the rebels back into a pocket in the east. In July 1987, after a ferocious battle for the city, Elzstadt’s docks were destroyed by the royalist troops, isolating the nation completely but also cutting of the rebel’s supply lines. By 1988, however, vast portions of the country had been completely devastated, and many of the people were starving because of the destruction of agricultural land. Rebel forces infiltrated positions on both sides of the river and both Karentan and Koenburg were shelled. The period 1988-1989 was the most dismal of the war, with both sides in a stalemate that was punctuated only by the vicious reprisals of Reinhardt against the church, who ordered his troops to demolish all churches in Royalist-held towns and in rebel locations the Royal Army captured.
In December 1989, however, the war began to turn against Reinhardt when Field-Marshal Kaen became so sick of killing for the corrupt prince that he turned against his leader. As Kaen was (and still is) hugely popular with his troops, virtually the entire Royalist army followed suit. This left the Crown-Prince with only 15,000 troops to defend him. In February 1990, Kaen laid siege to Koenburg with the aim of forcing the Crown-Prince to abdicate (he had been asked throughout the war but staunchly refused). The battle for the city was extremely bloody and fierce and lasted until October 14th. On that day, troops from the 1st Armoured Division finally broke through the defences around the city centre and poured into the Royal Palace. Kaen personally took the Crown-Prince prisoner. He eventually persuaded the Crown-Prince and his family to leave the country, with Kaen replacing him as President. On 15th October 1990, the Armed Republic of Koenwitz was formed.
The war continued for another year, as the army hunted down remaining Royalist rebels and new forces who wanted a complete democracy, not the military presidency. These forces were concentrated in the east of the country, but were slowly pounded into oblivion. In September 1991, the war finally drew to a close when the Army finally seized the rebel stronghold of Harabszk. The decimated rebel forces either surrendered or fled to exile in foreign lands. Violence continued for some weeks, however, as Army troops secured towns and villages and executed any collaborators.
On 6th November 1991, Field-Marshal Kaen declared the war officially over. In a speech to the nation from his headquarters in the Koenburg citadel, he announced that the military would assume control of the government, to ensure that peace was enforced. The following years have seen a massive effort by the government to restore the nation to its former glory. There were still many difficulties however, with several small insurgencies by royalist forces (Reinhardt is currently in exile in Switzerland) and pro-democratic forces. The government clamped down on civil liberties, with a massive police force and army, but so far this has not lead to uprisings or anger that could lead to a second Civil War.
2007: The Year of Battle
By 2007, the Army had restored much of Koenwitz. Elzstadt had been completely rebuilt and the port extended to house more transport vessels and to give space for a Koenwitzian Naval Force. Despite a brief recess in May, the economy was growing, and the people were happy.
However, 2007 was also the year when war began to creep back into Koenwitzian affairs. In June, Field-Marshal Kaen dispatched an expeditionary force to the war-torn United Socialist States of Boico in order to help the government fight a civil war. This turned out to be a disaster, and after a month of inconclusive but very bloody fighting, the Expeditionary Force withdrew, leaving Boico in flames and in the grip of the rebels.
In July, following months of bitter diplomatic exchanges and accusations of support for the continuing insurgency in the east, the government launched an invasion of the neighbouring nation of Urscreenhere. Although the ground war was over in a few weeks, a very deadly insurgency sprang up in its place. Terrorists used biological weapons which caused severe casualties to their own population and a large number of Koenwitzian civilians living in the east. By October, however, the situation seemed to be stabilising, though a significant portion of the Army was now deployed in Urscreenhere. At the same moment, in Northern Koenwitz, Cyonist Boico launched its invasion of Koenwitz in reprisal for its involvment in the Boicoian civil war.
