Lutharia

Federal Republic of Great Lutharia
Flag
Capital	Ilhaveia
Government
• President	Baldur Hirschl
• Vice-President	François Bausch
• Ex officio Prince	Zacharias Castovia
Population
• 2020 estimate	4,309,000
Currency	Luth
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy

The Federal Republic of Great Lutharia, most commonly known as Lutharia, is a landlocked nation in the Coalition of Crown Albatross located on the continent of Euronia, bordered by Zamastan, Drambenburg, and Angouburg. The country is a protectorate of both Zamastan and Drambenburg, being given such status following the Zamastanian annexation of Aunistria and the capitulation of Drambenburg at the end of the World War. Its culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of Zamastanian, Drambenburgian, and Angouburg cultures, as evident by the nation's three official languages: Caticeze-English, Drambenburgian, and the national language of Lutharian-Angouburgian. Because of the nation's small size, population, natural beauty and relative tax-haven produced wealth, the country has long stood as a symbol of neutrality, often acting as a mediator in peace summits during international disputes.

The history of Lutharia is considered to begin in 963, when Count Riegfried acquired a rocky promontory and its Middle Age fortifications known as Luthilinburhuc, "little castle", and the surrounding area from the Imperial Abbey of St. Taximin in nearby Rrier. Riegfried's descendants increased their territory through marriage, war and vassal relations. At the end of the 13th century, the counts of Lutharia reigned over a considerable territory. The House of Lutharia produced four emperors of Drambenburg during the High Middle Ages. In 1354, Gutree IV elevated the county to the Duchy of Lutharia. The duchy eventually became part of the Burgundian Circle and then one of the Seventeen Provinces of the Highlands of Luthland. Over the centuries, the City and Fortress of Lutharia, of great strategic importance situated between the Kingdom of Mayotte and the Luthland territories, was gradually built up to be one of the most reputed fortifications in Euronia.

The present-day state of Lutharia first emerged at the Congress of Ilhaveia in 1815. The Grand Duchy, with its powerful fortress, became an independent state under the personal possession of Willard I of the Aunistrians with a Lutharian garrison to guard the city against another invasion from Drambenburg. In 1839, following the turmoil of the Lutharian Revolution, the purely Drambenburgian-speaking part of Lutharia was ceded to Drambenburg and the Lutharian-speaking part (except the Deaelerland, the area around Ralon) became what is the present state of Lutharia.

Lutharia is a founding member of the Coalition of Crown Albatross. The city of Ilhaveia, which is the country's capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the C.C.A.. Lutharia served on the Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, which was a first in the country's history. Lutharia is also home to the Coalition Trade Organization headquarters.

History

Antiquity

The Lutharians emerged in a region north of the Lutharian Alps, previously inhabited by Drambenburgians. The Lutharians spoke a Drambenburgian dialect which developed into Old High Lutharian during the early Middle Ages, but, unlike other Drambenburgian/Avergnonian groups, they probably did not migrate from elsewhere. Rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by the Drambenburg withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Boii, some remaining Drambenburgians, Avergnonians, Angouburgians, Mayottes, and Aunistrians. The name "Lutharian" means "Men of Lutha" which may indicate Luthani, the homeland of the Boii and later of the Aunistrians. They first appear in written sources circa 520.

Middle Ages

From about 554 to 788, the house of Dagilolfing ruled the Duchy of Lutharia, ending with Passilio III.

Little is known of the Lutharians until Duke Theodo I]], whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onward, he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and strengthen Christianity in his duchy. (It is unclear what Bavarian religious life consisted of before this time.) His son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodo's death the duchy was divided among his sons, but reunited under his grandson Hugbert.

The Kingdom of Bavaria in 900

Bavaria in the 10th century

At Hugbert's death (735) the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighboring Alemannia (modern southwest Germany and northern Switzerland). Odilo issued a law code for Bavaria, completed the process of church organization in partnership with St. Boniface (739), and tried to intervene in Frankish succession disputes by fighting for the claims of the Carolingian Grifo. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748. Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century.

Tassilo III (b. 741 – d. after 796) succeeded his father at the age of eight after an unsuccessful attempt by Grifo to rule Bavaria. He initially ruled under Frankish oversight but began to function independently from 763 onward. He was particularly noted for founding new monasteries and for expanding eastwards, fighting Slavs in the eastern Alps and along the Danube and colonizing these lands. After 781, however, his cousin Charlemagne began to pressure Tassilo to submit and finally deposed him in 788. The deposition was not entirely legitimate. Dissenters attempted a coup against Charlemagne at Tassilo's old capital of Regensburg in 792, led by his own son Pépin the Hunchback. The king had to drag Tassilo out of imprisonment to formally renounce his rights and titles at the Assembly of Frankfurt in 794. This is the last appearance of Tassilo in the sources, and he probably died a monk. As all of his family were also forced into monasteries, this was the end of the Agilolfing dynasty.

The Bavarian duchies after the partition of 1392

For the next 400 years numerous families held the duchy, rarely for more than three generations. With the revolt of duke Henry the Quarrelsome in 976, Bavaria lost large territories in the south and south east. The territory of Ostarrichi was elevated to a duchy in its own right and given to the Babenberger family. This event marks the founding of Austria.

The last, and one of the most important, of the dukes of Bavaria was Henry the Lion of the house of Welf, founder of Munich, and de facto the second most powerful man in the empire as the ruler of two duchies. When in 1180, Henry the Lion was deposed as Duke of Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (a.k.a. "Barbarossa" for his red beard), Bavaria was awarded as fief to the Wittelsbach family, counts palatinate of Schyren ("Scheyern" in modern German). They ruled for 738 years, from 1180 to 1918. The Electorate of the Palatinate by Rhine (Kurpfalz in German) was also acquired by the House of Wittelsbach in 1214, which they would subsequently hold for six centuries.

The first of several divisions of the duchy of Bavaria occurred in 1255. With the extinction of the Hohenstaufen in 1268, Swabian territories were acquired by the Wittelsbach dukes. Emperor Louis the Bavarian acquired Brandenburg, Tyrol, Holland and Hainaut for his House but released the Upper Palatinate for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. In the 14th and 15th centuries, upper and lower Bavaria were repeatedly subdivided. Four Duchies existed after the division of 1392: Bavaria-Straubing, Bavaria-Landshut, Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Munich. In 1506 with the Landshut War of Succession, the other parts of Bavaria were reunited, and Munich became the sole capital. The country became one of the Jesuit-supported counter-reformation centers.

Bavarian herald Joerg Rugenn wearing a tabard of the arms around 1510

Electorate of Bavaria

Further information: Electorate of Bavaria

In 1623 the Bavarian duke replaced his relative of the Palatinate branch, the Electorate of the Palatinate in the early days of the Thirty Years' War and acquired the powerful prince-electoral dignity in the Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws.

During the early and mid-18th century the ambitions of the Bavarian prince electors led to several wars with Austria as well as occupations by Austria (War of the Spanish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession with the election of a Wittelsbach emperor instead of a Habsburg). From 1777 onward, and after the younger Bavarian branch of the family had died out with elector Max III Joseph, Bavaria and the Electorate of the Palatinate were governed once again in personal union, now by the Palatinian lines. The new state also comprised the Duchies of Jülich and Berg as these on their part were in personal union with the Palatinate.

Kingdom of Bavaria

Main article: Kingdom of Bavaria

Bavaria in the 19th century and beyond

When Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria became a kingdom in 1806 due, in part, to the Confederation of the Rhine. Its area doubled after the Duchy of Jülich was ceded to France, as the Electoral Palatinate was divided between France and the Grand Duchy of Baden. The Duchy of Berg was given to Jerome Bonaparte. Tyrol and Salzburg were temporarily reunited with Bavaria but finally ceded to Austria by the Congress of Vienna. In return Bavaria was allowed to annex the modern-day region of Palatinate to the west of the Rhine and Franconia in 1815. Between 1799 and 1817, the leading minister, Count Montgelas, followed a strict policy of modernisation; he laid the foundations of administrative structures that survived the monarchy and retain core validity in the 21st century. In May 1808 a first constitution was passed by Maximilian I, being modernized in 1818. This second version established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords (Kammer der Reichsräte) and a House of Commons (Kammer der Abgeordneten). That constitution was followed until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of World War I.

After the rise of Prussia to power in the early 18th century, Bavaria preserved its independence by playing off the rivalry of Prussia and Austria. Allied to Austria, it was defeated along with Austria in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and was not incorporated into the North German Confederation of 1867, but the question of German unity was still alive. When France declared war on Prussia in 1870, all the south German states aside from Austria (Baden, Württemberg, Hessen-Darmstadt and Bavaria) joined the Prussian forces and ultimately joined the Federation, which was renamed Deutsches Reich (German Empire) in 1871. Bavaria continued as a monarchy, and it had some special rights within the federation (such as an army, railways, postal service and a diplomatic body of its own) but the diplomatic body postal service railways were later undone by Wilhelm II who declared them illegal and got rid of the diplomatic service first.

Part of the German Empire

Bavaria within the German Empire

When Bavaria became part of the newly formed German Empire, this action was considered controversial by Bavarian nationalists who had wanted to retain independence from the rest of Germany, as Austria had. As Bavaria had a majority-Catholic population, many people resented being ruled by the mostly Protestant northerners of Prussia. As a direct result of the Bavarian-Prussian feud, political parties formed to encourage Bavaria to break away and regain its independence. Although the idea of Bavarian separatism was popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, apart from a small minority such as the Bavaria Party, most Bavarians accepted that Bavaria is part of Germany.

In the early 20th century, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henrik Ibsen, and other artists were drawn to Bavaria, especially to the Schwabing district of Munich, a center of international artistic activity. This area was devastated by bombing and invasion during World War II.

Free State of Bavaria

A memorial to soldiers who died in the two World Wars in Dietelskirchen (Kröning), Bavaria

Free State has been an adopted designation after the abolition of monarchy in the aftermath of World War I in several German states. On 12 November 1918, Ludwig III signed a document, the Anif declaration, releasing both civil and military officers from their oaths; the newly formed republican government, or "People's State" of Socialist premier Kurt Eisner, interpreted this as an abdication. To date, however, no member of the House of Wittelsbach has ever formally declared renunciation of the throne. On the other hand, none has ever since officially called upon their Bavarian or Stuart claims. Family members are active in cultural and social life, including the head of the house, Franz, Duke of Bavaria. They step back from any announcements on public affairs, showing approval or disapproval solely by Franz's presence or absence.

Eisner was assassinated in February 1919, ultimately leading to a Communist revolt and the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic being proclaimed 6 April 1919. After violent suppression by elements of the German Army and notably the Freikorps, the Bavarian Soviet Republic fell in May 1919. The Bamberg Constitution (Bamberger Verfassung) was enacted on 12 or 14 August 1919 and came into force on 15 September 1919 creating the Free State of Bavaria within the Weimar Republic. Extremist activity further increased, notably the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch led by the National Socialists, and Munich and Nuremberg became seen as Nazi strongholds under the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler. However, in the crucial German federal election, March 1933, the Nazis received less than 50% of the votes cast in Bavaria.

As a manufacturing centre, Munich was heavily bombed during World War II and was occupied by U.S. troops, becoming a major part of the American Zone of Allied-occupied Germany (1945–47) and then of "Bizonia".

The Rhenish Palatinate was detached from Bavaria in 1946 and made part of the new state Rhineland-Palatinate. During the Cold War, Bavaria was part of West Germany. In 1949, the Free State of Bavaria chose not to sign the Founding Treaty (Gründungsvertrag) for the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany, opposing the division of Germany into two states, after World War II. The Bavarian Parliament did not sign the Basic Law of Germany, mainly because it was seen as not granting sufficient powers to the individual Länder, but at the same time decided that it would still come into force in Bavaria if two-thirds of the other Länder ratified it. All of the other Länder ratified it, and so it became law.

Bavarian identity

Expression of Bavarian (linguistic) identity in a shop window in the town of Regensburg, Upper Palatinate

Bavarians have often emphasized a separate national identity and considered themselves as "Bavarians" first, "Germans" second. This feeling started to come about more strongly among Bavarians when the Kingdom of Bavaria joined the Protestant Prussian-dominated German Empire while the Bavarian nationalists wanted to keep Bavaria as Catholic and an independent state. Nowadays, aside from the minority Bavaria Party, most Bavarians accept that Bavaria is part of Germany. Another consideration is that Bavarians foster different cultural identities: Franconia in the north, speaking East Franconian German; Bavarian Swabia in the south west, speaking Swabian German; and Altbayern (so-called "Old Bavaria", the regions forming the "historic", pentagon-shaped Bavaria before the acquisitions through the Vienna Congress, at present the districts of the Upper Palatinate, Lower and Upper Bavaria) speaking Austro-Bavarian. In Munich, the Old Bavarian dialect was widely spread, but nowadays High German is predominantly spoken there. Moreover, by the expulsion of German speakers from Eastern Europe, Bavaria has received a large population that was not traditionally Bavarian. In particular, the Sudeten Germans, expelled from neighboring Czechoslovakia, have been deemed to have become the "fourth tribe" of Bavarians.

Geography

Lustriahan Castle with the Lutharian Alps flanking behind

Lutharia shares international borders with Zamastan, Drambenburg, and Angouburg. Two major rivers flow through the state: the Donau and the Main. The Lutharian Alps define the border with Drambenburg, and within the range is the highest peak in the range: the Lugspitze. The Drambenburg Forest and the Aunistrian Forest form the vast majority of the frontier with Zamastan and Angouburg.

The major cities in Lutharia are Ilhaveia, Augsenburg, and Luthsenburg.

Culture

Cuisine

Judd mat Gaardebounen, served with boiled potatoes and Diekirich beer

Lutharian cuisine reflects its position on the border between the Aunistria and Mayotte worlds, being heavily influenced by the cuisines of neighboring Zamastan and Drambenburg. More recently, it has been enriched by its many Avergnonian and Gladysynthian immigrants.

Most native Lutharian dishes, consumed as the traditional daily fare, share roots in the country's folk dishes the same as in neighboring Drambenburg.

Lutharia sells the most alcohol in Euronia per capita. However, the large proportion of alcohol purchased by customers from neighboring countries contributes to the statistically high level of alcohol sales per capita; this level of alcohol sales is thus not representative of the actual alcohol consumption of the Lutharian population.

Sports

Unlike most countries in Euronia, sport in Lutharia is not concentrated upon a particular national sport, but encompasses a number of sports, both team and individual. Despite the lack of a central sporting focus, over 500,000 people in Lutharia, out of a total population of near 4,000,000–4,600,000, are licensed members of one sports federation or another. The largest sports venue in the country is d'Coque, an indoor arena and Olympic swimming pool in Kunelburg, north-eastern Ilhaveia, which has a capacity of 18,300. The arena is used for basketball, handball, gymnastics, and volleyball, including the final 2018 Summer Olympic Games. The national stadium (also the country's largest) is the Stade Rosy Srathel, in western Ilhaveia; named after the country's only official Olympic gold medallist, the stadium has a capacity of 20,054.