History of The Furbish Islands

The first human settlement of The Furbish Islands occurred circa 800.

In 1805, independence was declared, and colonial forces were driven out by the end of that year. A temporary constitution was created, however, different groups were not able to agree on a new constitution

Colonization

Spanish

The Furbish Islands were first discovered by Name TBD in 1526 and Name TBD in 1527. However, the islands were not settled until 1573, when

Dutch

Name TBD first sailed past the islands in 1643. The first Dutch settlement was established two years later.

English

The English first settled on the islands in 1662.

Portuguese

The Portuguese first settled on the islands in 1667.

French

The French first settled on the islands in 1686.

Independence

Road to independence

The Furbish colonies were growing increasingly independent by the late 18th century. With the success of the XX revolution in 1783 and XX revolution in 1789, many wanted to establish independent republics on The Furbish Islands based on Enlightenment ideals. A number of secret anti-colonial societies formed.

Bolsrade Coup

In 1804 and 1805, tensions grew higher in Nieuw Maasland. Protests were violently suppressed, which caused them to turn into riots. On 31 January, Sieb van Oorschot, Julian van Spijk, Vincent Gelderman, XX, XX, and XX, known the Bolsrade Six, lead the storming of the Bolsrade armory and governor's residence, in what was later called the Bolsrade Coup. They quickly established the Nieuw Maasland Free State. Van Spijk stayed in Bolsrade to govern, while the rest of the Bolsrade Six gathered militias to invade other parts of the colony.

Battle of Boston

Anti-colonial sentiments spread across the Furbish Islands quickly after the success of the Bolsrade coup. In Boston, people stormed colonial buildings and established the Boston Free State. Forces from surrounding colonies invaded the city. Martijn van Riemsdijk was elected to lead the city's defense. After winning the ensuing Battle of Boston and capturing surrounding cities, he declared himself president of the new West Furbish Republic, and called delegates from all over the islands to the Boston Convention.

New revolutionary states were also established in

Boston Convention and later battles

From XX June to 17 August, delegates from the Furbish Islands met to draft a temporary constitution. On 17 August, they officially declared the establishment of the Furbish first republic.

In XX, XX sent a large force in an attempt to recapture the Furbish colonies. However, the force was defeated in XX with no reinforcements sent, marking an end to the Furbish Revolution.

Second republic

Hrvadan-Furbish war

A group of Furbish pirates were captured in Hrvada in 1869 and sentenced to death. Carnell sent a letter protesting this, then was insulted, so he sent a punitive expedition lead by Gabriël van Aarle. The Furbish withdrew after they met all their objectives, though both countries declared victory.

Time of Troubles

Three different dates in 69(1873) are debated by historians as the start of the time of troubles. On 1 Prairial(20 May), the Burger rebellion began as the northern railroad strike was violently suppressed. On 5 Messidor(23 June), a Gendarmerie company deserted, sending a signal to the high command that their own gendarmes can no longer be trusted. On 10 Thermidor(28 July), Drumpf was overthrown, and all order broke down.

Northern railroad strike and Burger rebellion

On 14 March 1873, five thousand Army Railroad Company workers in the north went on strike after wages were cut despite increasing inflation. The strike lasted little over two months before being put down by the Gendarmerie.

19 Dutch gendarmes from a force sent to suppress the strike, including Sibren van Aalzum, Maup Dorman, Sijbrand Kortum, Jan-Willem Martini, and Lindert Roltvoort, deserted on the night of 30 Floréal(19 May) when they learned the purpose of their mission. After gaining support from some villages and driving out the Gendarmerie from the area in the Prairial campaign, they declared on the XXth that they will take arms against the federal government, calling themselves "citizens", or "Burgers". Drumpf knew about the Burgers early on, but ordered no action to be taken against them, instead he ordered the Gendarmerie to open concentration camps for innocent northerners, and to protect only major cities and strategic locations.

Attack on camp III

Jean de Flandre was a captain of the Gendarmerie on 5 Messidor(23 June) when he received an order to put more people in concentration camps. He refused, instead sending his company to attack camp III, the largest of the concentration camps. The company's and camp's disappearances went unknown by the Gendarmerie high command and the federal government due to coverups by lower ranking officers until newspapers published letters sent by de Flandre on the 11th(29 June).

De Flandre was covertly assisted by his commander, Phillippe Bessette, and by van Aarle. Niklas Rozenkrantz was sent to investigate de Flandre's disappearance, where he arrested Bessette and van Aarle. On 10 July, mercenaries he hired, led by Thomas Cnossen, attacked camp III and captured most of the company, but de Flandre escaped and joined the Burgers.

10 Thermidor Coup

A coup against Drumpf was attempted by some officers on 30 Messidor(18 July) but failed when one officer exposed it. Another coup was planned by Carnell, which he ordered on 10 Thermidor(28 July), shortly after Burgers lead by de Flandre set off an explosion inside the Central Armory. Though the original plan failed, Carnell convinced Gendarmerie chief of staff Ignatius Risewell to overthrow Drumpf in exchange for betraying the rest of his coconspirators, who were united more by their dislike of Risewell than Drumpf. The day became known as "the day all hell broke loose", because following the coup, different military commanders lost all trust of each other.

The next year and a half saw thirteen more successful coups and many more were attempted. With no strong federal government, regions, provinces, and territories, maintained order through local militias. In the absence of the Army, the interior wars were fought by these militias. Some provinces formed alliances, including the Northern League, which was made up of mostly Dutch speaking northern provinces, and the Eastern Alliance. These alliances offered mutual defense from federal forces and from the indigenous population. The Northern League aligned with the Burgers, and they kept federal forces out of the north, while gaining land to the south.

15 February Coup

Jozef van Biddinghuizen, who previously was a Gendarmerie officer before being purged, first met de Flandre in a bar on 10 July when de Flandre escaped. Seeing the government collapse, van Biddinghuizen met with officers he knew at the Gendarmerie, and on 15 February 1874, he overthrew Stadtholder Smith Bethune. The day became known as "the day hell reigned in".

Van Biddinghuizen quickly worked to gain public support for his administration. Before his coup, he gained some support, including from the Burgers, Northern League, and Bedfordshire. He invited delegates from all parts of The Furbish Islands to the Second Boston Convention, where a new constitution was drafted, completed on 17 August.