Federated Melasian States

Federated Melasian States Föderierte Melasische Staaten
1904 - 1929
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Stärke und Einheit" "Stength and Unity"
Melasia in 1910, with the Kingdom of Kenlong ruled under a mandate following the Great War between 1919 and 1950 (shown as disputed area)
Status	Federal Dominion of the Mascyllary Kingdom
Capital	Jurgenshafen
Common languages	Hesurian
Religion	Semitarism
Monarch
• 1904 - 1923	Ludwig I
• 1924 - 1929	Maximilian I
Governor-General
• 1904 - 1912 (first)	Wilhelm von der Groeben
• 1926 - 1929 (last)	Friedrich Leo von Hohenlohe
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	Council of States
Historical era	Colonial rule
• Federated	31 January 1904
• Fleicher Accord	13 May 1929
Area
1905	1,228,267.1 km2 (474,236.6 sq mi)
Population
• 1905	18,842,950
Currency	Mascyllary gold mark (1904 - 1907) Melasian frank until 1929
Preceded by Succeeded by Mascyllary Melasia Republic of Melasia Kenlong
Today part of	Melasia Kenlong

The Federated Melasian States (Hesurian: Föderierte Melasische Staaten) is the name of a federation of 36 protected states in Southeast Pamira and Melasia, that existed between 1904 and 1929. The state was formed as a successor to the Mascyllary colonial administration of Melasia and comprised all 24 former princely states and three direct-rule states of the so-called Empire of Melasia. The state was formed in 1904 after the Melasian Uprising in 1901-1903 and the resulting reorganization of the colonial rule in the area. Despite formally receiving a degree of autonomy within the Kingdom, the federation was still heavily dependent on its former metropole, as it could not sign trade agreements, declare war or even possess its own armed forces and a command structure, and the Governor-General of Melasia served as de-facto head of government of the federation.

Before the formation of the federation, the Melasian colonial possessions of Mascylla were administered as a separate realm that shared a head of state with the Mascyllary Kingdom and consisted of three states directly controlled by Mascylla and 24 feudal states ruled by indigenous rulers. Formally, the country was called the Empire of Melasia, with the monarch of Mascylla bearing the separate title Emperor of Melasia. The Mascyllary head of state ruled the country via a viceroy, known as the Viceroy of Mascyllary Melasia. This status gave the state the ability to perform on the international arena separately from its formal metropole. Despite its autonomy, however, the state gave very little representation to most of its native peoples. The princely states, despite being based on feudal formations that were present before the Mascyllary colonization, were often very diverse, and as a result tended to be very unstable.

Following a number of attempts of the Mascyllary metropole to enact social reforms in the country via the Viceroy of Melasia, a wave of public unrest escalated into a full-scale uprising, known as the Melasian Uprising of 1901-1903. The main outcome of the uprising was the full reorganization of the country: the former colonial institutions were liquidated on par with the feudal system of princely states; the country was separated into 36 states that represented the ethnic diversity of Melasia. The country received its first constitution and a bicameral parliament, and its status was changed to a Dominion of the Mascyllary Kingdom. The Federated Melasian States participated in the Great War on the side of the Armala Coalition together with Mascylla, and Melasian soldiers fought on every front on which Mascyllary troops were present.

After the Great War, the country experienced another wave of nationalistic uprisings, this time started and actively supported by its own ruling class as an attempt to increase the country's autonomy from Mascylla. After multiple years of protests and engagements between 1922 and 1929, the country signed the Fleicher Accord with Mascylla, further increasing its autonomy, and restructuring itself into a unitary republic. Formally, this accord gave the country complete independence from Mascylla, with the federal structure and the last Mascyllary institutes being disbanded in 1929.

History

Mascyllary expansion in Melasia

Main articles: Mascyllary colonial empire and Mascyllary Melasia

Dissolution and outcome

Main article: Fleicher accord

Economy

Initially, as a Mascyllary colony, the Empire of Melasia was severely limited in its economic activity on the international arena. Due to the fact that it was very rich on various natural resources, especially coal and rubber, Melasia was used as an exporter of raw materials for its metropole in Mascylla. Simultaniously, the Mascyllary administration established an aggressive trading policy with its colony, heavily rising the tariffs for all non-Mascyllary importers of goods while also suppressing the country's own industry that had slowly developed prior to its full colonization. This policy led to the complete degradation of the Melasian industry, making it unable to cover even half of the domestic needs by 1890. Mascylla invested in the construction of a developed network of paved roads and railways, but only to assist the natural resources extraction.

Rubber cultivation farm in Pulau, circa 1904

Following the establishment of the Federation, the former Mascyllary metropole tried to keep its former colony in its economic sphere. Despite the formal change of status, Melasia yet again could not form its own import tariffs, and could only trade with Mascylla. However, in order to increase the economic development of its former colony, Mascylla allowed the country to form its own immigrational policy, and also encouraged some (although limited) foreign investment into the almost nonexistend industry. In the first decade of the 20th century Melasia experienced a wave of immigration from Berea, mostly from Mascylla itself but also from various underdeveloped regions in other countries. Immigrats came to the country in a search for a better life. The Melasian government tried to encourage the immigration finanially, by paying all immigrants a fixed sum of money even if they remained unemployed. In order to achieve this, the country had to take numerous credits from Mascylla, making it even more dependent on its former metropole. By 1910, the external debt of the country had reached 386% of its GDP, with the number continuing to grow. The massive investment in the economy of the country, however, also showed some positive results prior to the Great War. Apart from the already developed resource extraction sector, the agriculture of the country saw a rapid growth, on par with the industry. By 1910, the country showed almost 5% growth per year.

The Colonial Line connecting Jurgenshafen and Neukirch was the first passenger rail in Melasia, opened in 1907

With the outbreak of the Great War in Berea, Melasia saw a further growth of investment from Mascylla. The developed Melasian agriculture helped supply the Mascyllary army after the first unsuccessful months of the conflict, while its natural resources fueled the Mascyllary economy throughout the war. The important geographical position of the country, on par with initial Dulebian activity in the area in the opening months of the war, saw the formation of the Mascyllary Melasian fleet and the increase of investment into the military industry of the country, a sector that was close to non-existent prior to the conflict.

Following the end of the Great War and the economic crisis in Berea, the Melasian economy received several crushing blows. The war-torn Mascylla was initially forced to conduct protectionist economic policies to restore its own economy. Being the single main export market of Melasia, this quickly led to the collapse of the Melasian industry. The agricultural sector was also hit by a crisis following two years of bad harvest and an exceptionally hot summer in 1920, which led to numerous forest fires in the north of the country. The crisis became so severe that Mascylla was forced to allow the country to open its markets for all foreign countries. Despite the drastic measures undertaken by both Mascylla and its own government, the crisis in Melasia remained severe throughout the 1920s. The country experienced a wave of civil unrest due to the rapid inflation, rising poverty and unemployment and the occassional famines. This period of recession saw the rise of various far-right political groups that urged to break all economic ties with Mascylla, as they viewed Melasia's foreign metropole as the source of all problems in the Melasian economy.

See also

• Mascyllary Melasia

• Melasian Republic

• Melasian involvement in the Great war