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Discovered by the Portugese in the late 1500s by the navigator Henri Leirião, the islands became known as the Leiria Isles. Occupied my a mix of Arabic, Indian, and other inhabitants, the islands remained under Portugese rule, until they were lost to the Dutch, who handed over administration of them to the Dutch East Indies Company. (VOC) The VOC attempted to grow spices there, but the temperature and the soil made the project a failure, which in turn lessened the company's interest in the islands.
This interest was lessened even further by the same Smallpox Epidemic of 1645 that had proved so devestating to Pallamara, another VOC territory in the region. The depopulation was even worse in the Leiria Islands than it had been in Pallamara, and VOC was about to wash their hands of the whole place, when one of the directors hit upon the idea of resettling the islands with German refugees from the Thirty Year's War. Since few Dutch were anxious to settle there, it seemed to be the solution the VOC was looking for, and in 1650, the first shipload of German settlers arrived. These first German inhabitants decided to call their home Neustaat. Until the disolution of the VOC, the islands were administered from the VOC offices in Pallamara, at which time both lands passed to the Dutch in 1796. The Pallamarans refused to recongnize the Batavian Republic, or the United Netherlands Republic, and fought against the French in the Indian Ocean. As a reward, they were granted their independance under a European monarch, at the Congress of Vienna, and the islands were placed under direct Pallamaran administration.
While some were unhappy with this state of affairs, for most of the population, it was business as usual, as the Pallamarans administered the isles seperately. From the 1820s through the 1850s, additional German settlers arrived, preferring the islands to Pallamara, for its more Germanic heritage, while Pallamara was a mixture of German, Dutch, and French. Deposits of coal and iron were discovered in the hills on the islands, and this formed the basis for light industrialization, and made Neustaat a vital coaling port.
By the early 1860s, Neustaat outstripped Pallamara in population, and there were increasing calls for independance from Pallamaran administration. The Von Ravensburg Monarchy agreed in principle, but demanded that before independance would be granted, that there must be a stable government agreed upon by the majority of the populace, and that provisions for its own defence be made. A constitution was drafted, mandating a loose federal government, with each of the three main islands constituting a freistaat, or "free state". Each state elected members to the Federal Diet, or Bundestag. In the beginning, the powers of the Bunderstag were limited to taxation, national defence, and dealing with foreign powers, with everything else being relegated to the different Freistaaten, however, the complexities of running a modern nation, caused the powers of the Bundestag to be broadened several times through constitutional amendment.
By World War I, Neustaat was on its way to becoming a modern, if small nation, however, the upcoming war would bring hard times. When the fighting broke out in Europe, the British were very suspicious of Neustaat with its German populace, and presumed Central Powers supporters. To an extent, Pallamara also suffered from this as well, though the British tended to think of the latter as more Dutch than German, perhaps due to its mixed population, or simply because of the racially ambigious name. (Pallamara is dervived from the name of an Italian navigator, Piccolo Palamara). The result was most British vessels tended to avoid Neustaat, while the RN kept a close eye on anyone else's who entered the area. Throughout the war, there was always suspicion that Neustaat was indirectly or otherwise giving aid to German merchant raiders, but no evidence of this has ever been found. This lack of mercantile traffic hurt the islands' economy, as did the loss of several markets for Neustaat's products, brought about by the war, leading to a sharp downturn of the economy, and a corresponding rise in unemployment.
While postwar, the economy started to bounce back to its previous peacetime levels, the Great Depression would deal it a further blow. During this time, the Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei, the Socialist Democratic Worker's Party or SDAP was formed, under the inspired leadership of Hans Becker, A charismatic orator, Becker had a gift for being able to rally the masses, and transmit fairly complex ideas in simple form. In 1932, the SDAP controlled 23% of the seats in the Staatstag, and by 1937, controlled a majority, which resulted in the election of Becker as Staatskanzler in 1938.
Three days after assuming office, Becker and three members of his newly formed cabinet were assassinated. His lieutenant, a noted German communist named Willi Münzenberg, also a brilliant propagandist took over for the assassinated Becker. Münzenberg very much believed in a "bread and circuses" approach to dealing with the masses, and additionally was a master of distraction. Playing on the fears of the small and rather insular populace was an easy matter for one such as Munzenberg. Evidence of a capitalist conspiracy was created, implicating various business interests with Pallamaran backing. The more cosmopolitan Pallamarans had, admittably, always looked down on Neustaat, as sort of backward cousins, and it didn't take much for a gifted indivdual like Munzenberg to fan the flames of resentment. The Von Ravensburg monarchy was an easy target--the Neustaat populace had always found them pretentious, and were willing to believe practically anything about the house. The Grand Duchy had suffered rather less from both the war and the Depression than Neustaat, so it was easy to paint an entirely false picture of how Pallamara had deliberately orchestrated this at Neustaat's expense, with the goal of weakening it internally in preparation for either an invasion, or a simple reestablishment of sovereignity over the islands. Concerned over Japanese intent in the area, Pallamara had recently expanded its navy, which SDAP claimed was clearly aimed at Neustaat.
In the wake of the assassinations, Staatkanzler, now Volkskanzler Munzenberg took emergency powers, "To defend the Peaceful, Socialist people of Neustaat, and its lawfully elected government." For the duration of the crises, all other parties were forbidden political activity, until the danger was over. It never was. On November 22, 1938, the Demokratische Republik of Neustaat was announced.
The relationship between Stalin and Munzenburg is complicated. Though his prewar propaganda benefitted the USSR and the Comintern enormously, by 1936 the pair had fallen out, with Munzenburg widely denounced, and probably facing assassination. This is thought to be one of his motivations for joining Becker in Neustaat, as a relative safehaven far away from Stalin's easy reach. Following his ascension to Volkskanzler, however, there was a public reapproachment, even though archival evidence shows the pair loathed each other. Munzenburg, was announced as being "redeemed", and the Demokratische Republik of Neustaat formally recongnized by the USSR, legitimizing the SDAP in the communist world. Evidence indicates that Stalin didn't think too highly of either, but saw potential in the DRN as a useful pawn, to be cultivated.
WWII would see the DRN declare war on Germany and Italy in 1941, but not Japan, thus keeping out of the fighting in the Pacific. For the most part, the nation was still organizing itself internally, cleaning up the last opposition and strengthening its hold. There were no Stalin style purges in the DRN. While there were some individuals that simply had to go, the SDAP found it more convenient to simply allow its enemies to leave--they were more valuable to the Party alive than dead, as it was useful to have actual, breathing enemies mixed in with the imaginary ones. Many of the individuals who found it neccessary to flee the country ended up in Pallamara, or, in some cases, Nazi Germany, which further confirmed what SDAP propaganda already said.
Much of the wartime activity involved modernizing the military, which compared with Pallamara was relatively backwards. The army was more of a standing militia, while the navy consisted of a small handful of coastal patrol vessels. The reason for this disparity was Pallamara was a European style monarchy, which insisted on the full trappings of a modern state, while Neustaat was more pragmatic about its actual needs. Not only did a constant, standing army need to be raised and maintained, but it also had to be properly indoctrinated as an insturment of the party. Issues with the Luftstreikrafte and Volksmarine were even worse. The states of both services were primative enough that not only did ships and aircraft have to be procured, and crews trained, but suppport facilities, and their technical staff also had to be trained. While during the war, a trickle of Allied Lend-Lease equipment was recieved, for technical assistance, the DRN was largely dependant on the USSR, which until late in the war had its hands too full to spare such valuable personnel for a backwater such as the DRN.
Postwar, however, the role of the DRN in area politics would grow rapidly. In return for military assistance, the DRN granted the Soviet Union basing rights, much like those granted to the USA by Pallamara. The first vessels to be based there were Soviet submarines, but later, aircraft and surface vessels would also operate from Neustaat. With the formation of East Germany in 1956, very close ties would grow between the two nations, with many former East German officials and military personnel, along with their families, immigrating after the reunification of Germany.
Relations with Pallamara would continue to deteriorate over such issues as resources, and fishing rights. While never as prosperous as Pallamara, large natural gas deposits, first uncovered in the 1960s would even the playing field somewhat, setting the stage for potential future conflicts between the two nations....
_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!
If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.
Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.
"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."
Last edited by Obsydian Shade on September 27th, 2011, 4:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
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