History of Barmenistan

Ancient history
Barmenistan originally gained its name from the Proto-Rhaetans who inhabited all of northern Majatra in prehistoric times. Little is known about them except that they were gradually displaced to southwestern Artania by Majatrans migrating from the south. Their final expulsion probably occurred in the fourth and fifth centuries when Vanukuese from eastern Dovani invaded Majatra causing displaced Majatrans to settle on the northernmost part of the continent. The language of these Majatrans gradually became distinct from that of the southern Majatrans.

For centuries western Barmenistan was the scene of fierce Majatran fighting against the Vanukuese, though some mixing took place giving rise to the Aotearoan minority along the border, and the powerful Majatran states of Sisula and Uthena emerged as a result of it. In the sixth century Jews from southeastern Majatra settled among the northwestern Majatrans and converted many of them to their faith and Semitic language, thus causing a linguistic split between Barmenian south and Pontesian east of them. The Christian faith sprang from among the Jews in the eights century but Judaism remained by far their majority religion, and in 908 they were united in the Jewish kingdom of Beiteynu.

Fearing domination by the latter Sisula and Uthena made peace with the Vanukuese, banned Judaism and invited Christian settlers as its counterweight. Attempts by Uthena to conquer the still independent tribes to its east proved largely unsuccessful when they united as the state of Arakhim to face the threat. Soon after Hobratz traders introduced it to their orthodox Christian faith which became the official religion of Arakhim in 955.

Emergence of Islam
In 1154 Beiteynu disintegrated due to disagreements regarding the royal succession and the independent states of Ikegaru and Murdhild emerged in the south as a result. Consequently Judaism was gradually tolerated in Sisula and Uthena and the Islamic faith soon emerged in the latter as a syncretism of Christianity and Judaism. In 1186 Islam became the official religion of Uthena and the Islamic Caliph its ruler, and in 1216 an Islamic rebellion in Sisula led to the latter being invaded and conquered by the Caliphate.

A re-establishment of Beiteynu began in the late 15th century, but before Ikegaru and Murdhild were directly involved it was invaded by the state of Pontesi in 1492. The Caliphate quickly joined the invasion, officially to protect the growing number of Muslims in Ikegaru and Murdhild, and the following year agreed with Pontesi to divide the spoils with Ikegaru and Murdhild falling to the Caliphate. Jewish opposition to Caliphal rule reversed completely when soon after Pontesi massacred a large portion of the Jews they had just conquered and the Caliphate welcomed many of those who managed to escape.

Unification of Barmenistan
The Caliphate next set its sights on uniting all Muslims in Barmenistan under its rule and so in 1495 invaded Arakhim. Victory was achieved in just a few months, which was unexpectedly quick and easy, so in 1497 the Caliphate invaded the principality of Ylrith on the island of Cildania where there was also a growing Muslim population. However, this time the Caliphate was faced with much stronger resistance as the other Cildanian principalities of Akildar, Akinawa, Gilzon, and Hebilon all came to Ylrith’s aid. The Caliphate therefore ordered the Muslim sultanate of Al’Badara to join the invasion but was politely rebuffed as Al’Badara worried it might be next. Consequently the Caliphal army departed from Ylrith in 1498.

Duntrekkers & religious tension
In the 17th and 18th centuries many Protestant Christians from the state of Dundorf, called Duntrekkers, found refuge in the Caliphate from persecution by Catholic Christians. They were invited to settle in Ikegaru and Murdhild to decrease the proportion of Jews there and quickly prospered as they were granted many privileges otherwise only granted to Muslims.

When the World Jewish Council was established in 1864 to re-establish a Jewish state some persecution of Jews began in the Caliphate, causing many Jews in Ikegaru and Murdhild to convert to Islam. In 1966 Pontesi withdrew its forces from Beiteynu and forty years later the independent Beiteynu retaliated by persecuting the growing number of Muslims in its southern region of Padrilka. Many were massacred and more fled to the Caliphate, thus halving the Muslim population in Padrilka. The Caliph was however unwilling to commit his troops to defending his religious subjects despite massive Muslim demands in both the Caliphate and abroad to do so. Instead he put Christians, mainly Duntrekkers, in charge of the security forces to safeguard his rule against disgruntled Muslims, and under his successors the Duntrekkers managed to expand their political and economic influence greatly.

End of the Barmenian Caliphate
In 2150 the Caliphate and Pontesi jointly invaded Beiteynu, officially to force its retreat from the state of Darnussia which it had invaded 26 years earlier. With most of the army fighting in Beiteynu the Socialist Guild in November 2142 managed to overthrow the Caliph and instead proclaim the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan and soon after the Sultan of Al’Badara proclaimed himself Caliph.

Groundwork for a republic
Immediately on taking power the Socialist Guild proclaimed English as the official language of the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan and in October 2143 the Socialist Guild began nationalising most of the country’s industry. The following month William Morriss of the Socialist Guild became the first democratically elected head of state in Barmenistan when he was elected president, though the Barmenistan Nationalist Unity became the largest party in parliament. The first coalition government was appointed in December 2145 which with one exception became the norm for almost 138 years.

The nationalisation of industry was abandoned in May 2146 but social reforms continued none the less such as introducing compulsory primary and secondary education, welfare payments, public higher education and public housing. In December 2147 homosexual couples were granted the same rights as heterosexual couples and in February 2148 foreigners were allowed to apply for citizenship.

Barmenian liberalism
In August 2148 the Barmenistan Liberal Party won the Presidency and the Barmenistan Freedom Party became the largest party in parliament. This signaled the beginning of a long era in Barmenian politics dominated by laissez-faire liberalism as opposed to the socialist ideals which had brought down the Caliphate. Foreign investments were allowed and in April 2151 the requirement that all businesses be run by democratic worker’s councils was abolished. The Barmenistan Liberal Party triumphed in the elections of August 2151 when it also became the largest party in parliament and in November of that year it formed a government on its own.

Immediately after its election victory the party set in motion a massive liberalisation programme by privatising the public health care system and soon after even subcontracting law enforcement to private companies. Also minimum wages and welfare payments were abolished. Beiteynu was finally defeated in 2154 and while Pontesi and Darnussia occupied the rest of the country the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan occupied Padrilka and the neighbouring region of Quo’gün.

In December 2153 a factory in Uthena belonging to the HHP medical corporation was closed and thousands of workers suddenly found themselves without jobs despite the government’s pro-business policies. Combined with the lack of welfare payments for the unemployed the government was faced with harsh criticism and in June 2154 acceded to the demands for a new line. The Progressive Democratic Party and the Left-Labor Party were admitted to the government and soon welfare payments were restored, state-owned businesses were established and law enforcement was returned to the state. However, the elections of October 2156 showed continued popular support for the Barmenistan Liberal Party so in charge of varying government coalitions it resumed its previous line. The state-owned businesses were again privatised and in the fall of 2158 the compulsory state pension was abolished. Public housing followed in October 2162.

Just three months later the Modern Intellectual Party managed to push through legislation re-establishing public healthcare and another four years later the compulsory state pension. In January 2168 the Barmenistan Liberal Party’s more than 16 years in government finally ended when the Modern Intellectual Party, the Libertarian Communists, the New Era Party and the Free Collective Party formed a new coalition government which re-established public housing in July 2169. Public health care was abolished in December 2170 but restored in May 2172 along with the minimum wage.

An official language
For many years the issue of which should be the official language of the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan had been debated. English achieved that status during the democratic revolution so that all of the country’s ethnic groups were equal in that respect and because it was the predominant international language. However, the Barmenian nationalists did not support English as the official language and the libertarians, conservatives and some progressives wanted to give Dundorfian equal status with English. Other progressives wanted Dunnish as an official language, though disagreed on weather English should remain so.

Fearful of a Barmenian national revival which could threaten their political dominance the Duntrekkers never seriously considered giving Barmenian status as an official language but with few exceptions agreed that English should remain as such. However, romantic ideas of the Welsh struggle against colonialism in the late 15th and early 16th century flourished among most progressives at the time as they were sympathetic with the independence struggles of the western Dovani colonies, so an otherwise unlikely proposal to give Welsh equal status with English won enough support among most progressives and even some conservatives to become law in July 2171. Simultaneously English was confirmed as an official language and both Dundorfian and Dunnish were overruled while Barmenian was not even voted upon.

Beitenyu
In 2173 the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan, Pontesi and Darnussia all withdrew their forces from Beiteynu as they failed to agree on a strategy to fight the Free Beiteynu! Organisation which had carried out frequent terrorist attacks against them since the 2160s, and in November 2174 the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan and Beiteynu recognised each other when the latter ratified the Barmenistan Free Trade Agreement.

Political machinations
The Modern Intellectual Party, the Cydweith Rhydd (formerly the Free Collective Party) and the Plaid Comiwnyddol Rhyddiaeth (formerly the Libertarian Communists) formed a new coalition government in November 2175, and two years later the Plaid Comiwnyddol Rhyddiaeth even won the Presidency. However, the Barmenistan Liberal Party remained the largest party in parliament, managed to abolish the minimum wage in March 2179 and regain the Presidency in November the following year. In May 2182, after more than 14 years, the party returned to government by forming a coalition with the Bastiat Party.

The new government quickly resumed the massive liberalisation programme. In September 2182 the compulsory state pension was abolished and in April 2183 public health care and public higher education followed. However, a change of election laws that same month from proportional to equal representation of the regions, ironically proposed by the Bastiat Party, meant that in November the Modern Intellectual Party won both the Presidency and became the largest party in parliament. For the next several decades the Barmenistan Liberal Party led a number of coalition governments but the Presidency and status as the largest party in parliaments frequently shifted making further liberalisations in effect impossible. On the contrary public higher education and public health care were re-established and compulsory pensions reintroduced during these years, and in April 2206 the Modern Intellectual Party formed a coalition government with the Marx-Lenin Communist Party and the Pseudocentrists. By then Welsh had lost its popularity even among progressives and was no longer used as an official language of the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan.

The changing back of the election laws in May 2211 to proportional representation did not change the political situation in general. The Presidency and status as the largest party in parliament continued to shift between several parties and by March 2217 state-owned businesses and the minimum wage had been re-established. The following month the Popular Democratic Party was admitted to the government, now led by the Marx-Lenin Communist Party, but in February 2221 public health care was again abolished and in April 2225 the Barmenistan Liberal Party formed a coalition government with the Pseudocentrists and the Barmenistan Tory Party.

Relentless in its desire for a laissez-faire government the Barmenistan Liberal Party managed once again to abolish the minimum wage and welfare payments in the fall of 2228 but had to accede to the re-establishment of public health care in 2229. In November 2232 the Popular Democratic Party formed a coalition government with the Communist Refoundation Party and continued the socially oriented policy by re-establishing the minimum wage in June 2234. The Pseudocentrists joined the communist-led government in January 2237 but the minimum wage was none the less re-abolished in December 2240.

The elections of March 2241 marked a significant shift in Barmenian politics when the Barmenistan Communist Party (formerly the Communist Refoundation Party) became the largest party in parliament and remained so for more than 15 years. It could not prevent the abolishment of public health care and public higher education in May and June 2243 respectively, the Barmenistan Liberal Party’s formation of a coalition government with the Barmenistan Tory Party in November 2244, or the abolishment of compulsory pensions and public housing in September 2246, but in April 2248 it formed a new coalition government with the Nationalist Party (formerly the Barmenistan Nationalist Party) and the New Democratic Initiative of Barmenistan which began a comprehensive socialist programme. Over the next five years the defence industry and energy sector were nationalised and the compulsory state pensions, minimum wage, public housing and welfare payments were re-established.

In October 2256 the Barmenistan Liberal Party once again became the largest party in parliament and in April and June 2258 respectively the Nationalist Party and the New Democratic Initiative of Barmenistan resigned from the government due to disagreement over a new cabinet. The Barmenistan Liberal Party also won the following month’s elections and in January 2259 formed a coalition government with the Barmenistan Tory Party. By September 2260 the government had privatised most of the state-owned businesses, including the energy sector, and once again abolished the minimum wage, welfare payments and public housing.

Aotearoan unrest
In October 2259 the Insurgent Tendency, demanding radical socialist autonomy for the Aotearoans, began a campaign of terror against both government and civilian interests in Uthena and Sisula. Three month later the Barmenistan Communist Party, which supported the cause but not methods of the Insurgent Tendency, became the largest party in parliament but in August 2262 the liberal-led government accepted military advisors from the state of Kafuristan to help defeat the Insurgent Tendency. Dundorf responded in November by sending its own military advisors to assist the Insurgent Tendency and in July 2264 the Barmenistan Tory Party disintegrated over internal disputes about the government’s handling of the crisis. This allowed the socialist parties to re-establish welfare payments and public housing and in February 2265 see the Kafuristani military advisors off, but in February 2265 the Barmenistan Liberal Party again became the largest party in parliament. Seven months later the Barmenistan Communist Party too disintegrated over internal disputes, though about its position regarding the Insurgent Tendency.

In December 2265 the Barmenistan Liberal Party formed a new coalition government with the Nationalist Party and the New Democratic Initiative of Barmenistan and in the following November resumed its privatisation programme. However, in June 2269 the Barmenistan Liberal Party ushered in a new era in Barmenian politics when it replaced its government coalition partners with the Barmenistan Traviscist Party which primarily opposed religion and male homosexuality.

The government launched a major military offensive against the Insurgent Tendency in May 2270, almost immediately forcing Dundorf to withdraw its military advisors from the country, and in October 2272 the Insurgent Tendency was finally defeated in a battle north of Sisula City.

Traviscist dictatorship
In June 2274 the Barmenistan Traviscist Party managed to withdraw the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan from the International Gay Rights Treaty and in January 2277 outlaw homosexuality outright. Bans on public sex and nudity soon followed and in May 2280 the party formed a coalition government with the Barmenistan Nationalist Party (formerly the Nationalist Party) and the Barmenistan Republican Party.

The United Liberal Movement (formerly the Barmenistan Liberal Party) formed a new government on its own in November 2283, and although religious schools were banned three month later the bans on homosexuality and public sex were abolished in June 2284. Welfare payments and public health care were abolished in April the same year and in November the United Liberal Movement formed a new coalition government with the Barmenistan Traviscist Party. However, in April 2286 the United Liberal Party disintegrated over internal disputes regarding the coalition partner and the Barmenistan Traviscist Party formed a new government on its own.

In the June 2287 elections the Barmenistan Traviscist Party won both the Presidency and absolute majority in parliament, the first party to do so in the country’s history. From May 2288 to January 2290 the government withdrew the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan from all international agreements, banned open homosexuality in the military and homosexual marriages, barred anyone without specific qualifications from settling in the country, introduced the death penalty and torture, and banned sports clubs. In January 2289 the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan was renamed the Traviscist Dictatorship of Barmenistan and in December of that year the title of the President was changed to Emperor. These were just some of the changes made during those 19 months.

In January 2290 the capital city Kathura was renamed Travtopia and in June religious evangelisation was outlawed and the number of legislative and treaty proposals a party could make in parliament was reduced from 15 to five per year, the latter making opposition in parliament very difficult.

Though the Traviscist Party (formerly the Barmenistan Traviscist Party) lost its absolute majority in parliament in the June 2290 elections it remained the largest party there and retained the Empire. In the June 2296 elections it regained absolute majority in parliament and in February 2299 increased the election terms from 36 to 72 months. In the June 2302 elections the Traviscist Party won the Empire with 99.91% of the popular vote and the majority in parliament with 100% of the popular vote, a feat which it would largely repeat in the elections of June 2308 and June 2314.

In May 2308 the government re-established welfare payments and in October 2309 allowed slavery, though not slave trade. In April 2312 foreigners were barred from citizenship but in June 2320 the re-emerged Liberal Democratic Party (formerly the Barmenistan Tory Party) won the Empire and became the largest party in parliament. The Traviscist Party remained in government on its own, though, until after the Liberal Democratic Party in May 2324 repeated its elections success and the following month formed a new government on its own.

Democracy restored
In November of that year the likewise re-emerged Barmenistan Liberal Party (formerly the United Liberal Movement) won both the Empire and status as the largest party in parliament and in May 2325 was admitted to the government. From July 2335 to November 2337 most of the Traviscist reforms were abolished and some new changes made, e.g. merging the Empire with the Chancellorship in June 2326. Travtopia was given back its pre-Traviscist name in July 2325 and in January 2326 the Traviscist Dictatorship of Barmenistan followed suit.

In November 2327 the minimum wage was again abolished but public health care was re-established. Although it had retained the chancellorship and remained the largest party in parliament the Barmenistan Liberal Party once again disintegrated in September 2330 over internal disputes regarding its responsibility for the rise to power of the Traviscist regime, and the elections of that month resulted in the Liberal Democratic Party winning both the Chancellorship and becoming the largest party in parliament. In December the party formed a coalition government with the Epiphyte Party.

The minimum wage was re-established in December 2332, but there were great concerns about another dictatorship when in March 2333 the Liberal Democratic Party won both the Chancellorship and absolute majority in parliament and two months later formed a government on its own. However, the concerns never came to pass even though the party also won absolute majority in parliament in September 2335 and in September 2338 even received 95.95% of the popular vote for the Chancellorship and 95.85% of the popular vote for parliament.

Barmenian revival
In April 2338 the last of the major Traviscist reforms were abolished when religious evangelisation and religious schools were again allowed, and in September 2341 the Islamic National Congress (formerly the Liberal Democratic Party), though remaining the largest party in parliament, lost its absolute majority. Simultaneously Siraaj Zaraincheh of the Muslim National Congress became the country’s first Muslim head of state and government since the democratic revolution 199 years earlier and soon after initiated proceedings to finally give Barmenian equal status with English as the official language of the country. Compulsory pensions were re-abolished in July 2345 and in the following May the Democratic Republic of Barmenistan was renamed the Brmék’oék Nrzipntakmojad (Democratic Government of the Barmenians) and the title of the Chancellor was changed to Pntak’o (Governor).