History of Valipac

From WikiStates

Prehistory

Tribes started emerging on the land that now comprises Valipac somewhere around the 1st century BC. Although the land had been inhabited for some time before, this was the first emerging signs of civilization in the area. To the far northwest was a noticeably small Gaelic tribe, probably related to the Gaelic tribes emerging in Arran at roughly the same time. Meanwhile, around the Bay of Jazli, the tribes that would eventually form the Valipacian ethnicity began to settle down for the first time.

Unification

In 820, Alfred I of Callow began to conquer the surrounding countryside. For each settlement he took, his army grew in numbers due to the feudal system of loyalty he established. By late 824, the majority of modern Valipac had been incorporated into his kingdom, which he called Valipac, Latin for strength through peace. Battles continued to rage with other growing kingdoms on the island, but Valipac was generally able to retain her own borders. This event marked the beginning of the Empire of Valipac.

The Empire of Valipac

Despite the newfound strength in the unification of the Valipacian tribes, threats persisted on all fronts. From the South, germanic predecessor states to Wilsonna would raid the villages established in the midst of the marshes, and all southern expansion was as a result halted. To the East, natural barriers such as the Plyto River established borders between the Valipacians and their neighbors. To the Northwest, intermittent wars raged with the Kingdom of Manx. Meanwhile, a naval power restricted Valipac's contact with the outer world, blocking her off with a chain of islands. The Kingdom of Staarvi, as it would come to be known, incorporated all but the West Staarvi's in the Staarvi Islands.

Defeat of the Staarvi's

In 1570, the Staarvi Unification War began.

Conquest of the Manx

Manx War of 1412 - capture of most Manx regions
War of Manx Aggression - 1477, manx tribes launch attack to recover most of what was lost in 1412
Manx War of 1581 - caputures maybe 50% of manx regions
Manx War of 1622 - final conquest

17th Century

Partisans Revolt

In the Fall of 1647, a shortage of food was present in most Valipacian villages. Although this was due to a lack of modern farming techniques, such as crop rotation, which had not been invented yet, the monarchy was the common source of blame. A group of influential partisans gathered together in Lagrina and wrote what is known today as the Declaration of Grievances. The document was issued to the King, George IV, who rejected the claims made within the document. The document demanded that in times of needs the government must provide food, shelter, and other basic necessities for its people, but George IV was unwilling to accept the challenge to his command. He ordered the immediate arrest of Declan Nicholson, who was seen as the ringleader of the group.

As time passed, however, and Nicholson sat in jail, things did not improve. To better their own lifestyles, peasants began refusing to pay taxes to the king in order to be able to afford to feed themselves. The army received little funding as a result, and the gaunt frames of the soldiers told a sad story of neglect from the King. In the early Spring of 1648, army commanders sprung Nicholson from jail and held a secret meeting with the partisan leaders who had issued the Declaration of Grievances. At this meeting, the army broke their oath of allegiance to the King and swore to help the partisans gain control of the government and set up a republican government in its place.

Constitution and the Beginning of Democracy

On 5 May, 1648, the army marched on Callow, the traditional seat of the monarchy. George IV was caught attempting to flee, and was forced to sign a new constitution. As a result, he was allowed to keep his seat in Callow as well as his title as King, but was no more than a figurehead, as the Constitution effectively stripped him of all power and gave it to the parliament. Elections were held for the first time in that May, and Declan Nicholson became the first Prime Minister, taking office on 16 June, 1648.

18th Century

The Battle Against Slavery

Throughout the 18th century, the merits of slavery were a hot topic for debate. In 1782, Parliament introduced the Valipacian Convention on Slavery. The Convention did not ban slavery, but it did ban the slave trade in Valipac and all it's possessions. It also forbade anyone from emigrating to Valipac with slaves. It did not, however, ban the right of current slave owners to have slaves. Despite this, the last slave owner in Valipac died in 1841, effectively ending slavery in Valipac forever.

19th Century

Abolition of the Monarchy

A small crisis occurred in the spring of 1821 when the reigning King of Valipac, James VI contracted Cholera. His only child was a young girl who was three years of age, and his wife had passed away in labor. Valipacian law dictated that a woman could not receive the throne, and the next closest male on the line of succession was nearly three generations removed from the family. The parliament called a special session to determine the future of the monarchy, and although naming the baby girl queen was discussed, the final decision was to abolish the monarchy. Thus, after 1821, the official title of Valipac was no longer the "Royal Commonwealth", but was now solely the "Commonwealth".

The Collapse of Labor

Throughout the history of Valipac, her politics had been dominated by two parties: the Conservatives and the Laborites. Following the abolition of the monarchy, the Labor party had begun to show signs of a divide. Numerous Labor members had voted to retain the monarchy, but others had voted along with the Conservative MPs to end it. This was just the beginning of their tensions. In a debate about womens suffrage at the annual Labor party meetings, former Prime Minister Benjamin Scott walked out after the party leadership rejected his plan to allow women the vote. He founded a new party, the Democratic-Republicans, who appealed to moderate Conservatives and Laborites alike. The party grew in strength, and eventually ousted the Labor Party from their position of power in Parliament. Benjamin Scott became the first Democratic-Republicans Prime Minister in 1850, and remains the only MP to ever serve as Prime Minister for two parties. After his successful venture as Prime Minister, the Labor Party was crippled. Although they remained around in small numbers until the birth of the Social Party, they would never again hold the position of Prime Minister.

Assassination of the Minister

Peter Glover, the 39th Prime Minister of Valipac, was the first Conservative Prime Minister since Zachary Farmer had left office in 1867. It was under Glover's ministership that the External Valipacian Intelligence Directorate (EVID) was founded in 1879. Manx separatists worried that this new directorate would be used to search out revolutionaries, and formed a plot to kill the Minister. While he was touring the countryside near Moddey Andreays, a dissenter shot him twice in the chest. He was rushed to see a doctor, but died before he could arrive. As a result, the following Prime Minster, Lucas Wright, granted EVID considerably more rights within the country than Glover had initially given them. They hunted down the large majority of the separatist leaders, and to this day Valipac has never had another Manx freedom movement.

20th Century

Late Shift of political power

Liberal-Conservative Split

In December of 1984, following the annual Conservative Party Forum, the Liberal Party decided to officially break away from the Conservative Party. Citing irrefutable differences in ideology such as Conservative isolation versus Liberal interaction, several notable Conservatives joined the ranks of the fledgling Liberal Party, including a young Edward Atlee. The split forced the ruling conservatives to call for a new General Election, where they lost to the Democratic-Republicans.

Collapse of the Democratic Republicans

In September of 1996, the Valipacian News Network published a story with revealing photographs showing a number of high-ranking Democratic-Republicans MPs making use of taxpayer-funded brothels. Among the compromised MPs were Chancellor of the Exchequer the Rt Hon. Lewis Kennedy and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families the Rt Hon. Archie Chadwick. The scandal ended with the resignation of some 54 Democratic-Republicans MPs, and Edward Phillips, the Prime Minister, stepped down in shame. Elliot Armstrong took his place to oversee a new General Election, and served as Prime Minister for a little under a month. He retains the distinction of being the shortest termed Prime Minister in Valipacian history, as well as the only Social Prime Minister in history.

After the scandal, the Democratic-Republicans public name was ruined. Many members of the old party chose to join the new Social Party, started by Armstrong, but some opted to join the Conservatives or retire from Parliament altogether. The political fallout allowed the Conservative Party to regain control of the government, despite their own troubles.

21st Century

Final Collapse of the Conservative Party

In the 2009 General Election, the Conservative party finally succumbed to the growing pressure from the Liberal Party. Many members of the Conservative Party saw this as the death of the party, and defected to the Social Party. The decline of the Conservative Party from a bastion of Valipac's politics for over 300 years to political irrelevance has been documented by many political experts and is a subject for great debate. It is commonly agreed, however, that specifically the Conservative parties commitment to isolationism is what doomed them to failure.

Foreign Policy and Reform under Atlee

With the election of Edward Atlee as Liberal Prime Minister in 2009, the nation had committed to move forward. The admission of Valipac into ODECON was one of Atlee's projects. Atlee decided that in order for a small nation to sustain itself on an international stage, it needed to have a selection of allies it could turn to in a time of need. After in-depth investigations into other alliances such as LION, AMNAT, and the ISTO, it was decided that Valipac would join ODECON. Despite not exactly meeting the economic regulations specified by the ODECON charter, Valipac was admitted anyways. To bring Valipac in compliance with the Charter, as well as to liberalize the market in general, Atlee introduced the Taxes and Tariffs Bill of 2010.

Atlee worked hard to secure the passage of the Taxes and Tariffs Bill of 2010, which helped define the national budget for the fiscal year of 2010-2011 and set a precedent for the increase of free market tendencies in Valipac. The bill received scathing reviews from notable MPs such as Leader of the Opposition Gale Winthrop, and faltered on the brink of not passing. Numerous Liberal MPs switched benches during the debate in the first time the act of switching benches had occurred since the historic Parliamentary Reform Act of 1904. In the end, heated debate between Atlee and Winthrop was not able to prevent the bill from passing. With a final vote tally of 447-434, the bill was the most contested of the Atlee administration to this point.