The War of the Wall that Wasn't

The War of the Wall that Wasn't is an event that may or may not have occurred in Zwangzug in approximately 1965 CE.

Causes

Some hypermodern Ketrians claim to have provoked the war. Since Ketrianism did not exist until thirty-five years later, that theory would prove the possibility of time travel. However, there is no support for their claim. Other than that, the causes of the incident remain unknown, though the combatants were presumably significantly beyond Zwangzug's capacities, as the normal technique of "symbolic negotiations" was unsuccessful. For this reason, "war" is considered a misnomer by the Historical Society of Zwangzug (which, incidentally, does not exist, citing the famous quote "Happy is the nation that has no history" as motto). Veterans such as Martin James, however, are proud of their service.

War

Assuming that extraordinary events did occur in the given time period (1453, binary time), they occurred as follows:

Constantinople, at the time, was a walled city. The north wall inexplicably became suspect to what were called "quantum voids": infinitesimal fissures potentially leading to other universes. While most popped in and out of existence taking no time at all (indeed, new theory suggests that only the collective force of infinitely many infinitely small ruptures could have kept the wall standing at all), one grew to an unhealthy size. It became possible, then, to use it as a means of transport into an entirely different world, a byproduct of fractal reality.

Some Zwangzug natives may have moved there permanently: since there has been microscopic (if, indeed, any) interest from that world in returning to Zwangzug, the Historical Society has concluded that the time that most of the peons entered was relatively open to those claiming what could otherwise have been seen as outlandish origins.

The opposite was unequivocally not the case. Those who entered Zwangzug spread rumors that their native world was somehow more "real" than the one they were currently in, and that Zwangzug did not exist and only could as a simulation, forty-two years later to boot. This caused widespread paranoia and depressive malaise.

A few courageous people of Constantinople rallied against them however: presumably, all were killed, and what was left of the city was saved.

Aftermath

The site previously occupied by Constantinople was totaled. Though it would have been at least the third most populous city in the area now claimed as Zwangzug before, nothing remained but the other three walls. They in turn were destroyed to build the Ziggurat, a structure that serves as Zwangzug's seat of government.

The "veterans" (killers of the invaders) dispersed, assembling once to ask for a pension, which they were granted.

The government that was in place to grant them, however, could largely be construed as a byproduct of the war itself. Following the incident, as much national pride as there ever was emerged, and the people of Constantinople spread out across the current nation, reminding the residents (who were mostly apathetic as to which country they belonged to anyway, Merano being the most extreme example) of their (theoretic at least) common heritage. The land became united as a nationstate, with Constantinople as its capital (and no permanent residents, though the sprawl of government officials that surrounded it may be more Constantinople than unclaimed suburbia). Socialist ideals forced the government to coalesce into an actual entity with taxation power.

Controversy

The incident would have been consigned to Zwangzug's history textbooks (two out of four pages, perhaps), and indeed was. However, the nature of fractal reality flared up again, following a trip by the national football team to the Archregimancy that may have distorted players' memories of learning about the event. New interpretations, then, would classify it as a metaphor for the dissolution of another sort of wall.

Ironically enough, while the physical location of the fissure was never in doubt (at least on the Zwangzug end), its temporal status may have varied widely, allowing transmission of ideas between the worlds at different times. Considering the fact that symbols as important as the country's flag and anthem have no historical precedent in their own reality (then again, historical precedent isn't valued very much anyway), that would account for concepts that potentially did not exist in the time the fissure opened to have influenced Zwangzug culture. The natural parallel, then, would be that some crucial element of life on the other side was derived from Zwangzug, but that can never be proven...