History:
Birth:
The area that is now The Federation of Collosea was once three separate states: Titania, Korinthion, and Kritarchy. Aramis LII (52), the king of Titania in 966 AD, was proclaimed king of the state of Korinthion when his legitimate father passed away. While pregnant, Aramis's mother left the king of Korinthion and ended up marrying Aramis LI (51). When Aramis LI passed away, the illegitimate son took the throne.
Titania comprised of what are now the provences of Salamis, Boetia, Scythia, Lysander, and Pheidias. Korinthion comprised of Chaeronea, Miletus, Korinthion, Plutarch, and Malgatia.
With Aramis LII being king of both Titania and Korinthion, the two countries merged into the Titan-Korinthion Union. The name did not last long, and the Kingdom of Collosea was accepted nation-wide as the new name. It's derived from A Collose which in Salamin means "to combine."
Krits Entry into the Kingdom
Kritarchy had a culture that was distinct from that of the countries that would form Collosea. The island nation of Kritarchy had been at odds with Collosea over trade routes and access to prime fishing locations. In 1569, Kritarchy began to employ the service of pirates to raid Collosean fishing vessels and sea ports. When Collosea discovered this, they demanded that they put an end to it. Kritarchy could not stop the pirates from acting on their own, so the plundering persisted. Since it continued, Collosea invaded Kritarchy. Initially there were set backs on the sea, but once troops land on Kritarchy proper, it was smooth sailing for Collosea. The name was shortened to Krit. Krit would be given territory status until following the Collosean civil war.
Establishment of a Democracy and the Collosean Civil War:
In the later 1700's and early 1800's, the provence of Malgatia had seen a string of exceptionally bad princes, and one exceptionally bad King of Collosea, King Zeugma LX (60). They took land from the peasantry, tortured those critical of the government, and were generally bad leaders.
They thought that if they could have chose their leader, it could have been avoided, Malgatians began to revolted in 1836. The Malgatian senate authorized the use of the Paramilitary to put down the revolt, but most in the Malgatian Paramilitary were sympathetic towards them, and most refused to fight. Some had even joined their side.
The rebels overthrew the Malgatian Provencial Government, forcing the Collosean Defense Forces (CDF) to enter Malgatia and put down the rebellion. However, once the Malgatian government fell, citizens in the other provences were inspired to rebel also. What was once a conflict confined only to Malgatia, spread to all of the provences and had become a true civil war.
The federal forces were not strong enough to counter the nation wide rebellion, and was forced to withdraw to Titania allowing the rebels to take over everything around it. The stubborn King Dyme LV (55) launched a propaganda war to attempt to create a "counter rebellion," which would weaken the rebel forces enough for the federal forces to take over again. This did not happen, and the federal forces were wore down enough to were they were finally routed, and Dyme LV deposed.
In Krit, a separate government had take control after Dyme LV's fall. The Malgatian rebel leader Acheron XIX who started the civil war, took command of the new CDF and hastily invaded Krit before their grip on power there could be solidified. Because of his quick actions, little resistance occured as Krit was retaken.
War lasted for 11 years, ending in 1847.
After the war ended, the new system of government was established that still exists to this day. Krit was also given provencial status allowing them to participate in the federal government and become full citizens.
The Industrial Revolution and the Ionian Ecological Crisis
The Collosean Industrial Revolution began in full swing in 1855. The economies of the southern provences of Korinthion, Miletus, and Chaeronea boomed when the demand for coal sky rocketed. Citizens began crowding into tight metropolitan areas looking for work in factories when their farms were forced out of business by the "industrialization" of other, larger farms.
With the revolution came trains. A national rail road system was established allowing for quick and easy transportation of not just raw resources, but people as well. Tourism across the country rose as people were now able to easily get out of their small towns to see the sights Collosea offered them.
As the economy boomed, so did the population. With more people living in the country, the farm owners had to expand their farms. They were forced to expand their business by purchasing additional land to farm. However, what land that was cleared and suitable for farming large quantities of crops had already been bought. They had to purchase parts of the Ionian Jungle to clear and later farm.
This is what initially began what we now call the Ionian Ecological Crisis. As factories grew, more industrial waste was dumped into rivers which passed through the Ionian Jungle, which covered most of the country. The waste and farming killed off many acres of the forests. As much as 90% of the Jungle was wiped out by 1930. It wasn't until then that the government took interest in preserving the Ionian Jungle, and passed legislation to prevent the waste from being dumped into the rivers. Even today, very little of the forest has grown back. What's left of the Jungle is in Boetia Provence.
The Collosean Heritage Party and Second Collosean Civil War
In 1955, the Collosean Heritage Party took power. Since taking power in all three branches, they made various constitutional amendments and passed acts designed to keep them in power. Examples of this include outlawing certain political parties and extending the term of the Prime Minister.
After ensuring their power, they began separating the provences from one another by prohibiting each other's Paramilitaries to come to the aid of one another and limiting intra-provencial trade. According to their party's view, Collosea should only exist as a loose confederation of states and by ensuring their stay in power, they could keep it that way.
In 1966, the Expatriates (a political party named so because they claim to have been expatriatised by the Collosean Heritage Party) garnered much support and made a strong run for Prime Minister and other offices. They were outlawed, and the Collosean Heritage Party's candidate Azotus IX became Prime Minister.
Loopholes in the legislation allowed Expatriates to take over and completely dominate the local and provencial governments of Korinthion. Following this coup, Azotus IX ordered to have the special forces assassinate their leaders. Expatriates responded by raising a militia trained in guerrilla warfare and kept it seperate from the provence's Paramilitary. This militia's objective is too defend the Expatriate leadership, similar to the Executive Forces. After several gun battles, Azotus IX backed off.
Expatriates has been countering the Collosean Heritage Party by ignoring their legislation. Not wanting to spark a second civil war, Expatriates' actions have largely been ingored.
The army has been gathering intelligence on Expatriates since their take over in Korinthion. Intel had shown that a large number of the members were foreignors. Their central leadership includes a supreme leader, an Armed Branch overseer named Lycena XI and a Political Branch overseer named Philonexus II. Underneath the branches are various sub-branches which mostly provide services to the people. Unknown to the Collosean Heritage Party, the current Minster of Commerce, Osafune II, is the Supreme Leader of the party.
Based on these facts they have uncovered, Azotus IX and his generals have considered the possibility that Expatriates is a terrorist organization and created plans to combat them, should the time ever arise that military force would be necessary. That time came in 1998 after Expatriates launched a daring attack on the Presidential Palace that resulted in the death of Deputy Prime Minister Volos.
It was determined that Expatriates was the source of the attack, therefore total war was launched against them. The initial attack into Korinthos, a force of about 6,000 men, was soundly defeated by Expatriates forces. After this defeat in the First Battle of Korinthos, Azotus IX began bombing the city. Precision bombings gave way to carpet bombings when they saw they weren't getting anywhere. Thousands of civilians and an unknown number of Expatriate militants died in the bombings. A second attempt was launched to take the city in the Second Battle of Korinthos. The larger force managed to evict Expatriates from the city.
CDF began fanning out to cover more of the provence and was met by road side bombs that severely hindered their advance. This allowed Expatriates to regroup. Supplies were brought in to the Expatriate militants from Xyrael, providing them the means of eliminating armored vehicles. They managed to lure the leaders of the Korinthion Paramilitary to joining their side and leaving the service of CDF. Expatriate members slipped back into the city and initiated the Third Battle of Korinthos. After fierce fighting, CDF was forced to retreat. At the same time, the Korinthion Paramilitary occupied an important base in Korinthion. CDF was forced to completely withdraw by February, 1999. The new force composed of the paramilitary and Expatriate militants was dubbed the Collosean Armed Forces (CAF).
The success of the attack, and the ability of Expatriates to spread the word of the massive numbers of civilians killed in the bombings, drove millions nation wide to protest and rebel. The Collosean Heritage Party quickly lost support everywhere and soldiers were going AWOL at an alarming rate. Expatriates went on the offensive and fought the Heritage Party all the way back to the capitol of Titania. A bloody battle insued there where the remnants of the CDF made their last stand. Azotus IX had escaped however, but as Expatriates began to spread out across the entire country, he was found hiding in Krit.
The war ended on November 23, 2000 with atleast 40,000 people dead.
Osafune II took control of Collosea and announced a temporary cabinet which would act as the executive, legislative, and judicial branches until new elections were held at the end of the month. It was so soon that no second party was able to make a real run for office, and Expatriates swept the elections.
Osafune II was elected as Prime Minister and rebuilt the country in his seven year term and signed a Mutual Defense Pact with Xyrael. He decided not to run for a second term in 2008. Instead, his son, Osafune III ran and was elected. Osafune III's platform was to raise the status of Collosea and establish it as a real world power.
