Ruttland

Free State of Ruttland Ruttish: Nemokama Ruttųijos Valstybė Weranic: Freistaat Ruttland
Constituent Free State
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Atgims jauna tėvynė A young homeland will be reborn
■ – Ruttland ■ – Werania
Country	Werania
Status	Free state within a federal monarchy
Annexation into Werania	1850
Free State	1986
Capital	Lipliškės
Government
• Type	Devolved parliamentary republic in a federal monarchy
• Body	Seimas
• Minister-Chairman	Žygimantas Navikas
Population  (2018)
• Total	10,792,847
Demonym	Ruttish
GDP
• Total	$399,140 million
• Per capita	$36,981
Area code	+893
Official languages	Ruttish Weranic

The Free State of Ruttland (Ruttish: Nemokama Ruttųijos Valstybė) is a constituent state within the Weranian Confederation. It borders Cislania to the east and has an international border with Kirenia to the west. It has a population of 10,792,847 and its capital is Lipliškės whilst its largest city is Šilokrautė.

The presence of Ruttish people in the area dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Under the Solarians Ruttish tribes were never conquered rather existing as tribal, pagan societies that were not united under any single authority. In the 1000's Ruttland was united under the Kingdom of Ruttland which existed as one of the last major pagan sites in Euclea across both parts of modern day Werania and Kirenia. In 1254 King Vilimas I defeated the Rudolphine Confederation becoming its Emperor, but his dynasty would prove short lived. Parts of Ruttland would subsequently ruled both by the Kirenian Maritime League and Gallic North Sea Empire.

Ruttland continued to exist within the confederation as its most important non-Weranic member, even maintaining a small colonial empire, Aucuria. Fiscal mismanagement, and governmental instability weakened Ruttland over the 1700's. During the Ten Years' War Ruttland was one of the leaders of the anti-Cislania coalition but ultimately lost the war being annexed into Kirenia. Under Kirenian war Ruttland became one of the wealthier parts of the nation with a distinct Rutto-Kirenian culture emerging as a result.

After the War of the Triple Alliance the province of Ruttland ceded to Werania where it became the Kingdom of Ruttland which was in personal union with the Kingdom of Cislania, the main component of the Weranic state. Ruttland was ruled in an authoritarian manner in a period known as "Reichsstatthalter rule" which saw a programme of Weranicisation being carried out. This ignited the Ruttish national revival which at first attempted to secede Werania in the Jurgaitytė rebellion before focusing on cultural nationalism and attempting to achieve autonomy. An unrepresentative voting system that benefited ethnic Weranics compounded this sentiment, making the "Ruttish question" one of the defining political issues of the 1800's and early 1900's in Werania.

During the Great War Ruttland was the site of the collaborationist Lipliškės Government. Following the war the Weranic dominated landtag was dissolved being replaced with the seimas which subsequently implemented policies reversing Weranicisation instead emphasising religious conservatism to combat left-wing ideologies. The Kirenian-Ruttish War saw Ruttland lose the majority Weranian Zinngebirge Basin making the region more homogenous Ruttish as a result. The province would continue to agitate for a strong regional identity leading to in 1986 a successful push by the central government to devolve more power to the region and formally end the monarchy in Ruttland, with the province becoming a free state.

Famed historically for its large steel industry, since deindustrilisation Ruttland has suffered from higher unemployment and lower living standards than the rest of Werania. Ruttland has however undergone a cultural revival in recent years with its largest city Šilokrautė being considered one of the most vibrant cities in the country.

History

National Revival

Nida Jurgaitytė led the unsuccessful Jurgaitytė rebellion from 1861.

As part of the Congress of Torazza that ended the War of the Triple Alliance Ruttland was annexed into Werania in February 1856. The annexation was of the entire "Greater Ruttland" region including the modern day free state and the majority Weranian Zinngebirge Basin. The region was at the time ethnically diverse with a weak national identity, with the upper landowning classes tending to speak both Kirenian and Ruttish, the middle commercial classes Weranian and peasantry Ruttish.

The new Ruttish state was officially made a kingdom in a personal union with Cislania. The 1856 constitution of the kingdom was highly illiberal; the kingdom was to be ruled by a representative of the king known as a reichsstatthalter who would effectively rule by decree. The centuries old seimas was replaced by a landtag that would be appointed by the reichsstatthalter whilst Weranian was made the sole language of administration. The first reichsstatthalter Hans Wilhelm von Weikersthal embarked on a policy of Weranicisation that intended to wipe out the Ruttish language and integrate Ruttland as a fully Weranian province of the confederation. However Weranian rule soon became unpopular when the abolition of protectionist tariffs in line with integrating Ruttland into Werania's industrial free market economy caused Ruttland's agrarian economy to collapse causing a rise in banditry and discontent with Weranian rule. This culminated with the Jurgaitytė rebellion led by Ruttish noblewomen Nida Jurgaitytė to break out in June 1861 which initially saw Ruttish revolutionary forces beat back the larger, better armed Weranian army - however by the autumn of 1861 the rebellion had declined and in October 1861 where defeated.

The defeat of the Jurgaitytė rebellion would see changes in the province. Rather then rely on Cislanian bureaucrats to run the province the Weranian government increasingly relied on the Weranian bourgeoise in the province to govern it. The landtag was elected rather then appointed and the position of reichsstatthalter filled by Weranians from the province. Land reforms passed by the new provincial government encouraged rural-to-urban migration and the growth of urban industrial centres with the intention of sponsoring "soft Weranicisation". As a result the 1860's saw Ruttland go through a high period of growth with the city of Šilokrautė (Bereheim) becoming Werania's largest port city. The economic boom of the 1860's and 1870's saw for the first time significant migration from Ruttish rural regions to the cities where an increasing number became literate. This spurred a new generation of Ruttish people to increasingly embrace Ruttish nationalism, starting the Ruttish national revival.

The national revival was mainly based in standardising the Ruttish language, overcoming historical regionalism between eastern and western Ruttland and rejecting Kirenian and Weranian influence in the Ruttish language or more broadly culturally. This led to a decline in the notion of "Rutto-Kirenian" identity and increasing exclusionary attitudes to Weranian people. The national revival was concentrated around students in the University of Lipliškės, notably Kazimieras Sprangauskas and Vytautas Vilkelis. The revival was augmented additionally through the so-called "Andavalia Connection" between linguistic nationalists in Aucuria's National University of Saint Isidore and the University of Lipliškės. However the national revival was a limited phenomenon concentrated mainly amongst small nationalist groups with the majority largely coexisting with the Weranians in the region. The Aucurian nationalist Tymonas Ulys lamented in 1875 that "it is no exaggeration to state that the idea of a "Ruttland for the Ruttish" is stronger in Kalnaspilis then in our ancestral capital Lipliškės".

Politically the national revival found voice in the creation of the Young Ruttland Party in 1876 after premier Ludwig Gustav von Middendorff tried and failed to abolish the position of reichsstatthalter and grant Ruttland more autonomy within the confederation. The Young Ruttland party came from the new urban Ruttish middle classes although gained support from the old nobility who were increasingly favouring Ruttish nationalism. The national revival reignited the Ruttish question politically but mainly was focused around the concept of attaining more autonomy ("home rule") and linguistic equality between Ruttish and Weranian. The first Ruttish premier, Rutto-Kirenian Ažuolas Kuzmickas, attempted to implement both home rule and linguistic equality but his government fell when his own parliamentary supporters opposed his linguistic proposals.

Great War

Main article: Liplisqués Government

The early 20th century saw the emergence of socialism in Ruttland which would quickly become popular. Many members of the Weranic Section of the Workers' International (OSAI) supported the notion of the national personal autonomy system over ethnofederalism. This combined with the "long boom" from the 1890's-1910's led to an upsurge of optimism in Ruttland surrounding the existing political arrangement particularly as Weranian governments increasingly accommodated Ruttish civil rights into the political agenda. However the Great Collapse would end this renewed optimism as Ruttland suffered high unemployment. The worst affected by the recession were urban-based Weranians which helped increase ethnic tensions between the two. The failure of the 1918-1920 Popular Front government further led to disillusionment with the establishment and led to the creation of the National Resurrection Party (TPP) led by Zydrunas Biržiška which promoted the independence of Ruttland. The TPP was close to the Ruttish clergy and intellectual circles that opposed the secular Weranian state in favour of a clerical-nationalist regime with Biržiška becoming more sympathetic to Gaullican functionalism over time. The TPP ascribed to the Gallo-Ruttish thesis which rejected Weranic and Marolev influence on Ruttland historically instead believing Ruttish people to be descended from the Verliquoians.

Zydrunas Biržiška with the army of the Liplisqués Government in 1930.

The start of the Great War was initially greeted with enthusiasm in Ruttland with many joining the Weranian army. However this soon turned to apathy due to the Weranian governments mistreatment of Ruttish soldiers, the exclusion of the Young Ruttland Party from the national unity wartime government and the imprisonment or exile of several pro-independence politicians. The Gaullican offensive in 1929 rapidly changed the situation as several nationalists saw the Gaullican advance as an opportunity to agitate for independence with Biržiška declaring a provisional Ruttish government in Lavelle in August 1929 framing the war as a fight between Gallo-Ruttish and Marolev-Weranic civilisations. Gaullican forces entered Ruttland in October 1929 with the subsequent Battle of Ruttland lasting for four months. Gaullica would occupy the entirety of the province in February 1930 after Weranian forces were pushed back to the Kiire river. In November 1929 Biržiška returned to Ruttland where he formed a provisional government in Lipliškės - the Gaullican occupation forces supported this move as Biržiška assembled a volunteer force centred around his colleagues in the TPP.

The Liplisqués Government was soon recognised by Gaullica which demanded Ruttland become a Grand Duchy under Élisabeth, Duchesse de Maredoux although she would never be enthroned. The new government was de facto a single-party state underpinned by the Gaullican occupation with Biržiška as prime minister styling himself the tautos vadas (national chief). The regime was more radical then the Gaullican occupiers favouring an ethnically homogenous Ruttland repressing Weranians and Amendists. The most famous repressive act was the Karijodas massacre which saw 15,000-25,000 Weranians and Amendists massacred by Ruttish and Gaullican forces. Nevertheless the Biržiška regime never had the support of the entire Ruttish population many of whom joined predominantly left-wing partisan groups that resisted the occupation.

The Gaullican invasion of Kirenia would ultimately provide the downfall of the Biržiška regime with Kirenia liberating the Zinngebirge Basin and Werania lesser Ruttland. The region was placed under a temporary military administration under generalfeldmarschall Osker von Pflanzer. Von Pflanzer stated that the Lipliškės Government was an illegitimate regime and begun a process of Weranicisation, dismissing Ruttophone bureaucrats who had cooperated with the Gaullicans and replacing them with Weranians. Additionally von Pflanzer attempted to dissolve partisan groups although many went underground often with Kirenian support.