Unkerlant has always been a secluded place, protected on all sides by either swift rivers or steep mountains. Indeed, until the publication in 1883 of "The Hidden Kingdom, a Definitive History of Unkerlant", by noted historian Sir Archibald Standpipe, Unkerlant was unknown to most of the world. Most European countries have had some dealings with this angry little kingdom over the centuries, but not on equal terms.
Unkerlant is missing from almost all Napoleonic era maps, and though a small contingent of dragoons served along side German troops during the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck refused to include Unkerlant in his plans for a greater Germany. Although Unkerlant and Germany share some cultural and language similarities, Unkerlant has always been treated as a poor relation. The uneven 1902 Treaty of Koenigstadt, left Unkerlant tied to Germany's fate in the upcoming Great War.
Many Unkerlantan soldiers fought and died in the bloody fields of Flanders. Even more would die on their own home soil fighting their ancestral enemies Transbalkania, when that country invaded in 1915.
Ultimately, Unkerlant would sign a separate and early peace in 1918. The resulting treaty proved disastrous for Unkerlant. They lost all of the territory gained in the 1835 Transbalkan-Unkerlant War.
The 1920s found Unkerlant destitute. A generation of young men were gone, and an already poor nation was somehow even poorer. Empty bellies soon fueled unrest. Regional differences turned into open hostility. In 1931, The Prime Minister placed King Ludwig in protective custody, and dissolved the States Assembly under pressure from the Minister of War and Foreign Affairs. Unkerlant was on the brink of war. Again.
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