History of Mascylla

The area of what is now Mascylla was originally inhabited by a collection of Telmerian tribes, most notably the Therunds (Terunder), Falians (Fahlier), Aldens (Aldier) and Adhuins (Adhuiner) since classical antiquity. Following ill-fated attempts by the Cambran Empire to expand northward beyond modern-day Dulebia in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, and its subsequent collapse in the aftermath of the Migration Period by 300 AD, the newly founded Albarian Kingdom annexed southern Mascylla while introducing Cambran innovations and customs to the region and developing a distinctive culture and language as the basis for modern Mascyllary culture.

The presence of the Albarians prompted the slow creation of duchies and states from the Mascyllary tribes, and by 1000 AD most of Mascylla had been organized into a patchwork of petty kingdoms and duchies. Soon after, religious disputes and a prolonged series of dynastic disputes dominated Mascyllary politics in the Middle Ages, increasingly influenced by growing predecessors to the First Cuthish Empire and Loxstedt-Hoeveden Monarchy.

After the Adwhinish Wars and War of Kalaphay Succession in 1569 and 1603 respectively, two nations had emerged as regional powers, Aldia and Adwhin, vying for hegemony over the remaining Mascyllary states, with Aldia rapidly rising with a colonial empire it had acquired from Cuthland in the 1700s. The hostilities between both nations began to grow and, following the gradual dwindling of power of the Cuthish Empire in the latter 18th century that left a power vacuum in Mascylla's central provinces, three consecutive wars of unification were fought in the 1740s, 1760s and 1770s respectively. The epitome of violence would be reached in the War of the Five Kings from 1789 to 1793, with Aldia, leading a confederacy of states against Adwhin and ultimately emerging victorious. The subsequent Treaty of Langquaid negotiated the unification of Mascylla into a nation state with a continuation of the Aldian monarchy through Lukas I at its helm. The collapse of Cuthland and its slow periods of partition enabled Mascylla to vastly expand its Berean as well as Pamiran and Alvinian influence. Moreover, Mascyllary culture and commerce flourished by the turn of the 19th century, and the Aldian colonial system expanded into a global colonial empire that was the second largest by the 1830s. However, with the rise of the Second Cuthish Empire under Edwin III and following the Second Cutho-Mascyllary War (1839–41), Mascylla was utterly defeated and forced to cede pre-1758 Cuthish territories in Mascylla as well as a portion of its colonial possessions.

The ensuing antagonization by the Mascyllary populous and the mutual hateship between both countries that had developed over the last two hundred years was a decisive factor in the causing of the Great War (1911–16). As a major participant and ultimately victor of the war with the Armala Coalition, it set the terms of peace, crippling Cuthland's military, economy and territorial extent, as well as reshaping the geopolitical order through the establishment of the Assembly of Nations in 1917. War-torn conservative Mascylla however succumbed to increasing calls for reform by the worker class, with the Mascyllary Revolution overthrowing the to this point de facto absolute monarchy and instituting a democratic republic with a constitutionally regulated monarch in 1924. An unprecedented economic boom in the 1920s and 1930s quickly recovered the damaged economy while solidifying the recently introduced democracy.

The enmities left by the Great War proved to be pivotal in the later course of the 20th century, when a re-organized Cuthland leading the Mageiros League and X rivaled the western democratic nations united by the BDTA after 1944. While Mascylla kept clinging onto its colonial possessions, the Melasian Crisis from 1941 to 1943 triggered the slow decolonization of its empire as well as the beginning of the Great Game (1944–1990). The 1960s and 1970s saw civil unrest and dissatisfaction with the country's policies, and additional terrorist movements and scandals further coalesced into a national insurgency, culminating in the July 20 1991 terrorist attacks. After numerous attempts of reconciliation by the democratic and communist blocs and following the 1987 stock crash and financial crisis, the X collapsed, leaving Cuthland and Mascylla as the two remaining rivals of the former Great Game. Recent reapproachment with post-communist states beginning in the 1990s however kept diplomatic tensions between the two at bay.

Prehistory

The Sky Disc of Halie, an astronomical tool and religious object from the Bronze Age

The Lion Man (Löwenmensch) figure discovered in the Storch Cave in the Dahle Valley and created approximately 44,000 to 40,000 years ago

The oldest evidence of the presence of the species Homo on Mascyllary territory date back atleast 500,000 years, and permanent presence to the south of the country is exptected to have begun 390,000 years ago. Homo geisahlensis is named after the city close to the site of its discovery. The atleast 200,000 years old Storßener Speere und Messer (Storßen Spears and Knifes) are the oldest entirely preserved hunting tools of humans yet discovered and marked a radical shift in the understanding of neolithic social development in the 1990s. The arrival of Homo sapiens, the anatomically modern human, having immigrated from Caphtora, marked the sudden dissapearance of all humans in Telmeria 14,000 years ago, though recent studies suggest all human species had joint descendants; this era also saw the zenith of the Upper Paleolithic revolution.

Coming from the Middle East and migrating through Dulebia to Telmeria, Neolithic farmers with their domesticated animals and plants slowly displaced the hunters and gatherers of the Mesolithic period in southern Mascylla by 5,500 BC. The cultures of hunters, collectors and fishermen to the north of the country remained resilient, but ultimately adopted the methods of the now sedentary, agricultural Western Linear Pottery cultures to the south in approximately 3,800 BC. With over 500 years of delay, the Bronze Age in Mascylla started 4,700 years ago and produced a wide range of artifacts and tools, most famously the Sky Disc of Halie discovered in 1990. The begin of the X period in 2000 BC marked the gradual end of Proto-Dentrian inhabitation and the rise of iron as the preferred working material. By 600 BC, the first considered modern Hesurianic cultures had already formed in northern Mascylla, and towns such as Falkenhall, Dalbeck, Rothnau, Bützow and Augusthal became the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in Mascylla. Ancient authors first used "Hesurians" as a ethnographic collective term in the 1st century BC.

Telmerian tribes and antiquity

Map of the states, tribes and marches located in modern-day Mascylla in 600 AD

The Cambran Empire organized and attempted numerous actions of expansion up the northern Telmerian peninsula between 100 BC and 300 AD, mainly from its positions in modern-day Dulebia on the River Dnistr. Provisional legion camps were initial seeds in the establishment of early centres of administration and society in southern Mascylla, namely Lannbrück (originally founded as Laneaum), Konreid (Conria) and Südhaven (Hamentum). After the incursions of the Aldens and Welbarians in 320 AD the Migration Period put an end to the Cambran Empire, constituted the dramatic change from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages and helped shape several historic tribes in Mascylla such as the Aldens, Chenians, Therunds, Warnons and Adhuins.

In the wake of the end of the Triumvirate of Cambra, numerous Hesurianic Cambran successor states formed on its territories, the most influential of which in Telmeria was the Welbarian Kingdom. While the centre of power and population was located in Dulebia, it had a significant influence on the Mascyllary tribes present, as it introduced late Cambran culture, judiciary and artwork and prompted them to merge into several proto duchies. From approximately 450 AD until the early 7th century AD, the areas west of the Lanne and south of the Blaugold belonged to the Welbarian Kingdom, and from 580 to 620 AD also parts of modern-day Elpsland (Nordmark) as well as most of today's Holnia. Cities such as Konreid, Pehlgau, Lannbruck, Lubbernau, Steglitz, and Sudhaven, which are among the oldest cities in Mascylla, date back to the Welbarians.

After 700 AD, the Welbarian Kingdom dwindled in power following the separation of the Kingdom of Aldena and left a vacuum of power by which feudalism became the dominant policy and five principal tribal duchies Adwhin, Fahnicht, Folneria, Falia and Wenilia were formed. The following three centuries saw the rise of territorial fragmentation of Mascylla ("Kleinstaaterei") and decisive defeats of the invading Pomorians, largely with the Battle of Moosfeld in 903.

Middle Ages

Regnum Cheniaticorum

The Mascyllary states in the early 14th century after the Peace of Westmarke 1297 and the ascension of Rudolph III of Warnia

In the 9th century AD, Pomorian groups migrated up to the Lahr-Lanne-line into the disputed settlement areas of Hesurianic tribes. The prestige win of Adwhinish duke Adalbert II following the successful retalation against the Pomorians in 903 boasted a new Mascyllary dynasty of now kings which ruled over the individual duchies of the 1000s, named the Adalbertian dynasty (Adalbertanierdynastie). Though it gained enough traction to reign as sovereign of Mascylla, the Semitar church in Cambra awarded the entity the title of regnum Cheniaticorum ("Kingdom of the Mascyllary") but refrained from referring to it as an empire (Imperium) in order to relativize the claims of sovereignty from its Cambran successors. The title and kingdom was preserved until the 12th century and is generally seen as the origin point of the "modern" Mascyllary history.

Otto II of Mascylla claimed the royal dignity of Welbaria in 1020 and forcefully tried to unite his regnum Cheniaticorum with Imperial Rovina (Reichsrovinen) to the south, in hopes of establishing a western "Cambran" empire (Kämbrisch-Hesurisches Reich). Briefly, this empire grew to encompass a hegemonious position in Telmeria from 1000–1030. His military campaign proved disastrous however, and was forced to dissolve his kingdom in exchange for his ducal title of Adwhin by Aldena in 1039, ending any hopes of a unified Mascyllary empire of Cambran descent.

Fracturing and competition

Georgus Dilisme of Warnia as self-proclaimed Emperor of Mascylla (Kaiser von Reichsmaskillien) bearing a crown, globus cruciger and sceptre, with his sons Heinrich IX and Rudolph III (miniature from the 1290 Historia Regnolia)

Numerous feudal rulerships came at the cost of a regal imperial power in the form of territorial states, and thus made consensual rule impossible for much of the 12th and 13th centuries: Duke Richard II of Adwhin failed with an attempt to rule as Mascyllary emperor de iure uxoris as hereditary monarch of the Markiner dynasty. The gearing of worldly and spiritual power prohibited his actions through the imperial church system (Reichskirchensystem) which triggered the Regal Contest of 1217 between church and state. The devisive nature of the debate led to Richard's downfall and further diversitification of Mascylla's countdom after the interregnum of Adwhin's dukes. However, visions of a joint federation of states under an elective monarchy never ceased to infest policies of several influential dukes throughout the Middle Ages. The most notable conflict surrounding that debate arose when in 1262 King Dilisme I of Warnia attempted to force the Archbishop of Langquaid to concede to his claim on the imperial crown; the war left the lasting impression of Mascyllary familiarity and the Concord of Rothenthur in 1306 formally defined Mascylla's territories as an ambiguous "empire" or "Reich". Coinciding dynastic disputes expanded the conflict to Dilisme's War which ultimately ended in stalemate and was partially resolved with the Peace of Westmarke in 1297, which pardoned Dilisme of his actions, forced him to surrender his imperial crown, and ensured his kingdom would serve as regal protector of all of Mascylla (Reichsprotektor) as compromise throughout the 14th century.

The ensuing rivalry among Mascylla's major royal houses, the Salzlowers, Sohlnarers and Welsbachers, kept tensions between Mascylla's states high and provided for intricate plays of power. The 14th and 15th centuries Late Middle Ages were dominated by crises such as the Black Plague, agricultural mass mismanagement (Famines of 1339 and 1401) and the gradual rise of the bourgeoisie which led to the formation of free merchant cities (Freie Reichsstädte).

Social changes and Renaissance

The transition to the Renaissance marked the end of the Salzlowers as paramount Mascyllary monarchs, the rise of the Welsbachers as Grand Dukes of Welsbach and the entry of the House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden via the emerging First Cuthish Empire derivings its origins from Aldena and Dulebia of the 16th century. Through delicate maneuvering, it gained expansive territories in Mascylla as Berean great power and eventually gained the legitimacy as Imperial Protector, putting the struggle of achieving unity under a Cambran Hesurianic sovereign to rest.

The 16th century saw efforts by Cuthland to sustain a universal monarchy with its holdings in Mascylla, descendance from Aldena and Dulebia and a large colonial empire, and the transition of several Mascyllary states to Berean powers, most notably the Kingdom of Aldia and Duchy of Adwhin, with their own colonies and political ambitions. Conflicts of dynastical interest intensified and occured more often, including the War of the Eustrian Succession 1588–1605 and the Delcian War 1642–1653, and the effects of the Enlightenment of the 18th century was tromendous for Mascylla's politics and society.

Early modern Mascylla

Aldian and Adwhinish rivalry

Territorial expansion and acquisitions of the Kingdom of Aldia, 1297–1789

For much of Mascylla's history, it remained divided into numerous principalities and states on the basis of its frequent warfare and battle of pre-dominant royal dynasties vying for eventual unification. The rivalry between its two most powerful and influential states, the Kingdom of Aldia and Electorate of Adwhin, was largely derived from a strategic enmity following the collapse of the First Cuthish Empire and the partition of its Mascyllary and broader Telmerian territories by them. The states ruled by members of the House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden became irritated over their political future, and large territories were ceded to either Aldia and Adwhin, which nurished considerable debate and discussion. The conclusion of the War of Cuthish Succession in 1740 predetermined the future rivalry of Aldia and Adwhin.

The rivalry first surfaced belately when Albert I of Adwhin subsequenly assumed control over the Duchy of Phalagay and crowned himself king in 1710. While Leopold of Phalagay, a member of the House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden-Kingsham, left no male heirs before his death, Albert brought forth his distant kinship to Leopold and succeeded him as Duke of Phalagay. However, not every Mascyllary state was compliant with this dramatic shift in power, and among those Wilhelm II of Aldia. In exchange for his recognition, Adwhin was expected to cede Dorsace, which it had just acquired from the Cuthish Empire with the beginning of the War of the Cuthish Succession, to Aldia on the basis of dated treaties. On 5 August 1710 he therefore proposed an ultimatum to Albert I. Without awaiting a response of the ultimatum, Aldia invaded Dorsace on 8 August 1710 after brieftly besieging Saarow, igniting the Dorsace War and additionally War of Phalagay Succession. The Adwhinish were not successful in prohibiting Aldia from annexing Dorsace, but retaliated through major military engagements in Eustria. The indecisive Battle of Heiseln on 14 October drove Albert I to initially seek a truce with Aldia, also in order to win the War of Phalagey Succession to the south. The Diet of Seifritz and Peace of Augusthal of 1711 ensured Aldia's gains of Dorsace as well as the County of Herrshausen, but in turn its acceptance of all of Dorsace's debt.

The war left political disputes largely unresolved, and spurred territorial expansionism of Aldia, enboldened by their recent acquisitions. It embarked to marry its relatives to other states and join them with Aldia, which saw a gradual transition from a lesser power to a Mascyllary gargantuan, backed by its colonial possessions. Coincidentally though, Adwhin rose as well when Albert I's sucessor and brother, Karl IV, implemented radical reorganizations of his army and administration to bolster its strength as a Mascyllary power. Adhwin also spurred efforts to justify its objective as "a right to unite Mascylla", implementing the legacy and myth of Mascyllary unification as an inevitable fate.

Elbgau Confederacy and unification

Slow coordination

Main article: Elbgau Confederation

Merchant and war ensign of the Elbgau Confederation (1757-1793)

Albrecht Frederick II "the Great", King of Aldia, was an influential political figure and advocate of Mascyllary unification

With the amplifying tension between Aldia and Adwhin following a row of conflicts in the mid-18th century that left the political dispute of Mascyllary nationalism unresolved, Albrecht II of Aldia envisioned a new political unit to coordinate customs, integrate the states' economies as well as boasting friedship among its members in order to efficiently tackle Adwhin together. The Congress of Rehnern in December 1757 concluded with the establishment of the Elbgau Confederation, of which 12 states were initial members. Greatly upsetting Adwhin's plans of expanding its influence through dynastic ties in central Mascylla, it quickly orchestrated a move to deepen relations with its close neighbours such as the Kingdom of Holnia or Tudonia through the marriages of Princess Claudia of Merich-Karlsburg to the heir, Friedrich, of King Julian of Holnia, and Prince Theodor to the daughter of Grand Duke Joseph of Tudonia.

While unionists and nationalists saw the recent solidification of two large blocs as a victory and step towards unification, sovereign rulers repressing national beliefs were increasingly frustrated they would be eventually in the midst of a conflict between both sides; the fear of loosing significance or independence triggered a series of new inclusions to the Elbgau Confederacy which inadvertibly sped up Mascylla's unification. The additional creation of the Nordmaskillischer Zollverein (customs union) would further encroach on the division of Mascyllary states.

Nationalist actions and Revolutions of 1769

The Flussmund Uprising in July 1769, a revolution that overthrew the duke and established a republic as the first of its kind in Mascylla. The intense fighting and high casualties elevated the insurgency as martyrdom for the revolutionary movement

The convention of the Elbgau Confederacy states and movement leaders in Langquaid to draft the prototype of the Mascyllary constitution, September 1773

The results of the Congress of Rehnern in 1757 gave new motivation to the long existing movement of Mascyllary nationalism and single statehood. Various student movements and groups, most notably Junges Maskillien of the University of Tilchingen, sought to promote their belief of Mascylla's "right to be united", while heavily denouncing the Cuthish Empire's political and economic influence in Mascylla by the 1760s. While the states did not support nor represent the ideals of the growing movement, they allowed it to be distributed to the public without foreign intervention from authorities. However, numerous radicalizing groups attempted revolutions in Phalya in 1759 and Shwesia in 1765 respectively, to directly push for unification processes in broader politics, but also to establish representative government and in some cases the introduction of enlightened absolutism to its monarchies, in tandem with calls for reform and change in Cuthland and Falland.

While the movement remained a fringe group of activists, their goal conincided with the political ambitions by both Aldia and Adwhin, who exploited their public popularity to bolster their vision of a united Mascylla under the leadership of their respective monarchies. Aldia emerged more sucessful with this approach however, when Aldish king Albrecht II promoted an influential leader of the movement in Aldia, Franz Kohlner, to the status of consultant to the government. While alienating the conservative members of the nobility and government, Albrecht amassed the support of the educated middle class, and following the institution of numerous reforms that brought Aldia towards a monarchy with enshrined enlightened aspects, it used its image as leverage and justification for its future leadership of Mascylla.

The social and politial discontent by reformists in other parts of Mascylla led to attempts by them to duplicate the success in Aldia. Subsequently, the July Revolutions of 1769 led to the occupation of military forts and the collapse of a number of small duchies reformed into representative democracies, the most notably of which the Republic of Konreid in 1769 and the Lorenz Republic in 1773. A council of representatives from the new states, members of the Elbgau Confederacy and other activists was assembled in Langquaid in September 1773 to draft a constitution for a unified Mascylla (Langquaider Reichsverfassung), later implemented as the charter of the Confederacy itself. In the south of the country, the revolutions were largely repressed by military force, and most of the movements were initially dissolved and exiled, with many of them fleeing north into Aldia.

War of the Five Kings and Mascyllary unification

Main article: War of the Five Kings

The destabilizing effect of the attempted revolutions throughout the state further increased tension between the two coalitions led by Aldia and Adwhin. The economic integration of the two blocs additionally led to a sharp increase in economic prosperity and wealth, but on the cost of the Elbgau Confederacy needing natural resources and vital trade routes to continue its expanding economy, thus making a conflict due to the geopolitical and strategic importance of central Mascylla inevitable. The death of the aging Albrecht II and the ascension of his son and heir, Lukas I, who was vehemently in favor of national unification due to his father's efforts, was the turning point in Mascylla's history.

The Battle of Auserburg in May 1790 marks the height of military action and turning point in the War of the Five Kings

Lukas I of Aldia was Mascylla's first monarch and one of the most influential Berean politicians of the 19th century

Feldmarschall Wilhelm von Stenreck was the first elected Prime Minister of Mascylla and a renowned military tactician and statesman

In March 1789, the Grand Duke of Phalya, Karl IV, suddenly died but left no apparent heir and the throne vacant. Aldia quickly suggested an Ahnern candidate, Lukas's brother Leopold, as Phalya's successor, but Adwhin, recognizing the topographical importance of Phalya, aggressively objected and pushed for King Theodor's nephew, Prince Maximilian, to succeed Karl IV. The issue quickly evolved into a diplomatic fiasco, and on 4 September 1789, Adwhin issued to resolve the conflict through war. While Adwhin quickly invaded Phalya, the Elbgau Confederacy was able muster a larger standing army under the command of Feldmarschall Wilhelm von Stenreck, supported by a growing number of civil militias trained and equipped by Aldia. The conflict quickly escalated into a full-scale war and it became apparent the Elbgau Confederacy and its allies would emerge victorious. After numerous victorious battles in Eustria and Phalya over the course of two years, the Battle of Austerlitz in May 1790 was a decisive blow to the Adwhinish armies protecting the fortress of Austerlitz, completely eradicating the bulk of its land army and capturing King Theodor himself. While Aldia continued to advance further south, Franz Kohlner and a trail of thousands of petty soldiers, peasants and activists, collectively known as the "Expedition of the Thousands" (Zug der Tausenden) marched onto and invaded Breisgau, Adwhin's seat of government.

Shortly thereafter, Adwhin capitulated without any peace terms and representatives of 32 Mascyllary states and free cities gathered in Langquaid to decide the political fate of Mascylla. Lukas I of Aldia was chosen to ascend the title of King of Mascyllla, the Elbgau Confederacy dissolved, and its member states as well as the defeated nations merged into a Mascyllary state. A rigorous debate erupted as to how the political system of Mascylla would actually be structured; a majority of states from the south who had a conservative point of view advocated for an enlightened, but absolute monarchy, while the peasantry, middle class and a number of northern states favored a democratic republic with a monarch as its figure head.

Fearing the southern states would rebel and eventually secede from Mascylla, Lukas I drafted a compromise betweeen both parties, in which the monarch would have considerable power but be advised and kept in check by elected members of government. While this compromise resolved the ongoing dispute of Mascylla's governance, Lukas had own personal aspirations as a leader of power and therefore detested being removed political powers. Franz Kohlner as an influential political figure first strongly opposed his proposal, but reluctantly agreed later on, burying the nation-wide hopes of a democracy for a century. The treaty itself was signed and ratified on 18 May 1793 after months of negotiation. Subsequently, Lukas I was officially coronated in Langquaid to the largest audience of nobility in Mascylla's history.

While the war itself was short, it left a devastating toll on the civilian population and southern economies who suffered from taxation and looting during the conflict. The government was largely composed of war veterans, such as Wilhelm von Stenreck being elected as Mascylla's first Prime Minister, though former Adwhin and other southern states were deeply in debt, inpoverished and virtually politically unrepresented, culminating in a series of strikes and riots in 1795 which were quickly put down by Aldian military forces. However, Mascylla witnessed an unprecedented economic rise, and Lukas I massively grew in public popularity with the introduction of a new row of statutes that satisfied the expanding middle class of classical liberalists and nationalists who continued to rise in influence in national politics and commerce, while the country's separate monarchies were slowly replaced by constitutional systems.

Mascyllary Kingdom

Main article: Mascyllary Kingdom

The Mascyllary Kingdom after its establishment in May 1793, with Aldian territories before 1793 (dark blue) and acquisitions after 1794 (light blue) depicted

Stenreck era

The Mascyllary Kingdom was the brainchild of King Lukas I and his Prime Minister, Wilhelm von Stenreck, upon its foundation in 1793. While the government of the new state was intended to establish the rule of the people under the supervised reign of a monarch, in reality both collaborated in splitting political duties and exchanging policy proposals and ideas, which as a matter of fact greatly bolstered Mascylla's political efficiency and rapid rise in international power. However, Lukas' impulsive actions were checked and regulated by Stenreck, who relied on more expertise in being a statesman and later constituted an intricate foreign policy that would ensure Mascylla's security as a unified nation while exercising its geopolitical ambitions, commonly known as his Ruhe, aber graulen policy ("Be calm, but growl" policy).

While considerably unpopular due to his hardline domestic conservative policies, he signed into law universal healthcare and education, boasted the country's war-torn economy and was able to command enough respect in his government for him to largely shape Mascylla's political landscape throughout the first half of the 19th century.

Lukanism and political ambitions

With the deterioration of Stenreck's health by the 1820s, Lukas I assumed a more significant portion in the country's policymaking, while increasingly relying on the Reichsrat as an advistory body alone, which further alienated his former liberal and reformist allies in the elected components of government. When he finally died in 1832 however, his more ambitious and impulsive son, Lukas II, ascended the throne and redefined a large number of Stenreck's previous delicatly introduced policies. Aspiring to expand Mascylla's foreign and economic powers, he abandoned Stenreck's foreign policy, pursuing colonialist ambitions primarly in Pamira and Caphtora, which at this point were largely absent of Berean colonial presence. While at first unilaterally approaching Berean politics, his successors sophisticated the expansionist ideals of Lukas II, while embarking on approaching other powers it saw fit to combat its primary political enemy, the Cuthish Empire, that ultimately became a major factor leading to the Great War.

File:Allegory of the partitions of Cuthland in the 18th century.png

The Cuthish Cake, an allegory of the partitions of Cuthland throughout the second half of the 18th century

Cuthish Revolution and rise in power

Main article: Partitions of Cuthland

A caricature from March 1864, Mascane, the national personification of Mascylla, dresses herself with a hat in the shape of a warship bearing the word Weltmacht (meaning 'world power'). The illustration is a symbol of the imperialist attitude of Mascylla's politics and view of exceptionalism by its upper class in the early 19th century

Mascylla at first had a resentment towards intervening in other Telmerian conflicts concurrently with its unification, the most notable rejecting such ambition being Wilhelm von Stenreck. Lukas I at first remained reluctant as to whether it should intervene in the Cuthish Revolution at first, but the bulk of representatives of parliament foremost denied any involvement with foreign wars if Mascylla's own countryside had not been rebuilt and its political unity settled.

When the deposed Algar III of Cuthland however offered his restoration as Cuthland's monarch in exchange for a portion of its Berean and overseas territories, Lukas I pushed for a more prominent stance in Berean affairs, and with solidifying his rule and Mascylla's legitimacy especially in the country's south, he convinced Stenreck to overrule the Reichsrat and ratify the Ulich Agreement in February 1798, which saw the Mascyllary Kingdom entering the Cuthish Revolutionary War as its first military campaign and recognizing the Cuthish king's legitimacy in deposing its young democracy, which was widely seen as a threat to its just established monarchy.

While the war was at first successful with territorial gains in northern Cuthland for much of the conflict, Mascyllary cities such as Birchau and Vogtburg were sacked by Cuthish republican forces in 1799. Nevertheless, the republic was overthrown and the war concluded with the Cuthish monarchy's victory. The Treaty of Swithtun in 1800 saw Cuthland's third and last partition, with Mascylla annexing large territorial cessions by Cuthland, including the northern Cuthland regions and all of its remaining Alvinian and most of its northern Pamiran colonial possessions. The war elevated Mascylla to a great power in an instant and motivated imperialist politicians and nobility to argue for continuous colonial expansion and dominance of Telmerian politics, to the dismay of classical liberalists who advocated to consolidate Mascylla's pre-existing power and limit its interventionist attitude, in line with Stenreck's policies.

Second colonial empire and the Gründerjahre (1800–1840)

Main article: Mascyllary colonial empire

The Mascyllary colonial empire and its protected mandates at its territorial peak after the Great War in 1917

The Hohnersche Maschinenfabrik in Pehlgau, Holnia, in 1859

Over time, the political legitimacy of the monarchy and government had hardened and politicians began to experiment with numerous courses for domestic and foreign policy. With the worsening health of Stenreck, his power withered and was slowly taken over by more ambitious statesmen, supported by the too eager Lukas I who aspired to expand Mascylla's bulk of power in Berea and overseas in order to cement his legacy. His son, Crown Prince Lukas II staunchly rejected Stenreck's reserved approach to Telmeria and favorited to continue what he described to be a "continuous expansion of the Mascyllary nation" most notably in Pamira and Caphtora. Around this developing political objective, a group of conservative and monarchist politicians established the first political party of Mascylla, the National Democrats, a predecessor to today's National Democratic Union, which dominated Mascyllary politics for well of the 19th century. The reign of Lukas II was shaped by the introduction of loyal statesmen who he thought to be able to project his political ambitions, restore the war-damaged economy and consolidate his father's legacy to bolster support for the monarchy.

The Mascyllary colonial empire, formerly under Aldian control, developed from numerous attempts and stepstones: Caphtoran and Pamiran trade outposts and towns with little territorial extent and vaious Alvinian islands which had been explored and settled to establish plantations and mines. In the early 19th century, the colonies had almost no domestic political value and furthermore little economic importance; however, the accelerating growth of local populations (more than triple by 1850 than in 1810) soon challenged the weight of the metropole within the empire. Political interest also rose with an increased rivalry among Berean colonial powers over yet unclaimed territories which were further fueled by the aftermath of the Karsk Sea War and Conference of Aniarro in the 1860s, including the expansion of the Mascyllary colonial empire at the cost of collapsing Cuthland.

A series of small-scale wars and skirmishes with other colonial powers, most notably Lavaria and Sarrac, and numerous colonial tribes and petty kingdoms in Caphtora and Pamira dempered romanticism and prestige of an emerging colonial power, but were quickly compensated through successful and expansive campaigns in Cunucca and Mavronesia, which gave rise to the largest Mascyllary colonial possession, Melasia, in 1830 and 1832 respectively. Falland emerged as the primal colonial enemy in the mid-19th century, frequently exchanging hostile actions and souring relations between it, Mascylla and Lavaria.

Although exerting a large strain on Mascylla's home economy and political capital, it soon acquired enough resources in natural wealth and man labour to bolster its economy, which steadily grew by half in the next twenty years from 1830 to 1850. The emergence of the Second Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century also transformed Mascylla's economy to this point: the sharp increase in manufactured goods led to an explosion of the upper class' consumption and a larger gravance for raw resources, which enabled Mascylla to use its colonies as trade ports to buy and sell their goods while exerting influence on regions and territories with a wealth of resources desperatly needed in the metropole.

In the following ten years, Mascylla rapidly grew to the second-largest economy on the planet thanks to its expansive colonial system and trade agreements with native states abroad. The colonial empire had exceeded Mascylla's expectations and ambitions in catapulting the country to the status of a great power of Berea within thirty years.

Cutho-Mascyllary enmity and 1847 revolution

Main articles: Cuthish–Mascyllary enmity, Second Cutho-Mascyllary War, and Mascyllary Revolution of 1847

The Battle of Wittsee near Lensrau on 16 May 1840 between Cuthish forces and the Third Mascyllary Army led by Prince Wilhelm of Karlsweil

War and tactical map of the Second Cutho-Mascyllary War in 1839-41

After the partitions of Cuthland and the increasing agrivation of Cuthish and Mascyllary leaders greatly disturbed their relations in spite of a massive shift in power by the Cuthish collapse and rise of Mascylla, which was further deepened following Mascylla's aggressive foreign policy and expansion brought about by Lukas II and Friedrich von Gäste. Stenreck and his political adversaries were deeply concerned about the abolition of the delicate policies set in place to ensure Mascyllary sovereignty which was now endangered. Ultimately, that proved to be true when Cuthland under the rule of Edwin III and the ensuing Ahlstead Wars signaled the now Second Cuthish Empire's stance on recovering its territories lost to mainly Dulebia and Mascylla.

The resulting Second Cutho-Mascyllary War in September of 1839 was quickly decided as Cuthland scored a row of military victories, dispersing a Mascyllary army and encircling another one at Augusthal. The bulk of Mascylla's standing army was defeated in Vogtburg a month later and opened the opportunity to encircle and besiege Königsreh in spring of 1840. The hastily organized counter defences were however able to force the besieging army to disperse and capitulate after a crop failure and unrest in the Cuthish armies, but to no avail as Königsreh was forced to capitulate in summer and a provisional government willing to sign a treaty of surrender at Marienfelde. As a result of the negotiations, and formally declared by the Treaty of Alderport, Mascylla was forced to pay reparations and indemnities of 4 billion karnings and cede Elpsland and Dorsace to Cuthland, as well as a number of colonies primarly in Alvinia.

Ludwig I, King in 1892-1923, was a controversial figure instrumental to the creation of Mascylla's Berean alliances, the reorganization of his military and an advocate of the Cuthish–Mascyllary enmity

Revolutionary troops proclaim the coup at the Königsreh Stadtschloss on 28 October 1847, instituting the October Revolution

Following the desastrous outcome of the war, the current political establishment and the monarchy under Lukas II in particular earned growing criticism and unfavorable review for the rising influence of the middle and lower class, anticipating a class conflict. The discomfort of the fiercly nationalistic populous, paired with a government that grew more authoritarian and conservative, led to the rise of an insurrectionist movement originating in Königsreh, later known as the Cornflower Uprising of 1847. The bloody revolt, though ultimately unsuccessful at last, prompted other riots, especially within the country's military, to rise up and seek the overthrow of Lukas II.

The 28 October coup d'état, largely supported by the peasantry and rogue military factions, deposed Lukas II as King, and despite fierce resistance by the government and elements of the coup originally seeking to overthrow the monarchy entirely, elected Sophia I as Queen. The Reichsrat of 1847 was suspended by her and a new government later formed. The revolution, later known as the October Revolution in Mascylla, primarly introduced further protections and rights for the socialist peasantry, and bolstered support in the existing administration after the coup.

The war left Mascylla, its political administration and military deeply humiliated, which was previously considered to be one of the most well equipped and organized Beream armies. Reluctance over accepting the conclusion, revanchism and already significant popularity of an expansionist Mascylla further exacerbated the Cuthish–Mascyllary enmity and became a key factor in Mascylla's foreign policy going from 1842 onward. Therefore, Mascylla underwhent a dramatic transformation from an isolated and humiliated power, to the centre of a system of Berean alliances intended to counter the growing influence and friendship of Cuthland and the Dulebian Empire by the turn to the 20th century. It established the Otimo Acordo with Lavaria in 1900, subsequently with Sarrac in 1901, and four years later normalized and eased tensions with Falland through the Fallish-Mascyllary Alliance. Its colonial empire also gave way to a more federated version with the establishment of the Federated Melasian States in 1904 as a Dominion of the empire.

Neuzeit

The Neuzeit (lit.: 'new age') was a product of the renewed strength and prosperity from its alliances and continued peace in the late 19th century. Due to prolonged economic growth, relative peace and cultural, political and scientific innovation by its populous, Mascylla reinstituted a state of wealth and being a Berean leader in not only military, but also societal and commerce affairs. Simultaneously, the invention and introduction of popular amusements brought about by scientists and innovative artists, most notably the cinema and art styles of Impressionism and Art Nouveau, aided in Mascylla preserving its place as a centre of arts and expression. Additionally, events such as the Universalausstellung of 1891 hosted in Königsreh was an opportunity for the country to present its most recent scientific discoveries, inventions and research. These and other developments, often sponsored by the government itself, were attempts at constituting the bulk of soft power for the Mascyllary state in solidifying its influence not only in its colonial empire and political power, but also culture and technology.

Nervertheless, Mascylla remained deeply divided on terms of ideology, foreign policy, regionalism, economic growth and distribution, and the classes, which became a more frequently addressed subject with the introduction of the emancipation of the worker class in political process through the Proletarian Party under Georg Schmidt in the 1890s and the increasing polarisation of the debate on women's suffrage, the bourgeoisie caste and the political legitimacy of the states' monarchies.

Great War and Revolution of 1923

Great War (1911–1916)

Main article: Great War (Aurorum)

Mascyllary soldiers advance with a Kettenkampfpanzer, the first mass produced tank in history, during the Battle of the Rohrn in 1914

Mascyllary soldiers confront a Cuthish civilian in Alderport in 1919

Mascylla did not expect war when the Great War came about, as Prime Minister Hermann von Martinsen began attempts of reconciliation and political détente with the Lindenau Accord in 1904, albeit with fierce resistance from a majority of the Reichsrat and King Ludwig I himself, who opted to resort to warfare if necessary as soon as possible. While Mascylla remained divided as to whether to anticipate a war with Cuthland or begin negotiations to ease relations, it became very active in international affairs with politically intervening in the Third Dulebo-Gurkhan War in 1899-1902 and the X, to the dismay of Martinsen who witnessed a counteracting movement in foreign policymaking while undermining the government's policies.

When the X triggered a complex network of alliances and treaties, it drew every Berean power, including Mascylla, into conflict within the first few weeks. While Mascylla was militarly superior in 1911, Cuthland was more efficient and effective at organizing its armies and planning a decisive strike on Mascylla's western defences in Aldia. In September of 1911, Cuthish forces under the command of X swiftly defeated the armies garrisoned at Saarow and Geißdorf, which prompted the Mascyllary Kingdom to hastily muster their defences without prior tactical decisioning. Therefore, the Cuthish was able to penetrate Mascyllary defences at their border and sweep into the Fanian Plain, quickly gaining military control over important industrial regions in Mascylla, in hopes of forcing a quick defeat on Mascylla. While the campaign was very successful within the first four months in curbing combat opportunities of Mascylla such as in the First Battle of Augusthal in late 1911 and the Battle of Winden in 1912, the decisive Battle of Lückwalde proved the Mascyllary forces under Friedrich von Gabig and Ehrhard von Belau could resist the Cuthish advance and save the capital from a siege. Following that and Mascylla fully mobilized, the Northern Front began to solidify with the emergence of trench warfare and increasing war-weariness. The less intense fighting along the southern frontier to Valimia and Cuthland also became static in late 1913.

In 1915 to 1916 however, after the assassination of Hermann von Martinsen by a Cuthish nationalist, the utilization of the tank and improved war tactics were finally able to break the stalemate of the front, and swift but often intense fightings caused tromendous casualties and costly victories. The Mascyllary were able to push beyond its borders and well into Cuthland near Kingsham and Alderport by spring of 1916, before the Cuthish signed an instrument of armistice on 29 May 1916 and Mascylla ended effective fighting three days later.

Interwar period

Cuthish diplomat X signing the Treaty of Lehpold together with Allied delegates in Liechtenwald Palace, Lehpold, 10 March 1917

The Armala Coalition posed their terms on primarly Cuthland in the Treaty of Lehpold, hosted by Mascylla, in 1916-17, in which they intended and forced Cuthland to pay huge sums of war reparations, demilitarize heavily and abolish its monarchy. Mascylla had the prevailent say in the treatment of Cuthland in the negotiations, and opted to treat it harshly. It regained the territories of Elpsland and Dorsace lost in the Second Cutho-Mascyllary War, received reparations in form of war material, financial assets and industrial goods, and occupied Cuthland's Lake Sigismund region, while carving up Cuthland's northern territories into the independent state of Temaria under Mascyllary supervision, the Mandates of Konreid and Alderport, as well as Lilienburg in the east.

Mascylla also received the Mandates of Northern Alvinia and Pandalam in Alvinia and Cancapore from the remains of the Cuthish colonial empire as well as the Mandate of Transappiria of the former Gurkhan Empire and Kenlong itself. The treaty layed out the framework of a genuine Berean peace under the established Assembly of Nations in 1917. Mascylla continued to remain active in foreign affairs though, such as intervening in the Cuthish Civil War or establishing an elaborate system of alliances with the newly founded Berean states, called the Kleinbund.

The conclusion of the war was propagated as an enourmous success and evidence of Mascylla's position as a world power, but came at the cost of entirely devastated rural and industrial regions in Aldia and Folnery and enourmous civilian and military casualties. The war effort left the war-torn economy crippled, and was only sustainably supported by the taxation of its empire and Cuthish war reparations. Only by the 1920 did Mascylla's economy begin to recover from the war, but at the expense of the worker class who were further exploited to retrieve the country's economic growth. Civil strife for reform and the re-introduction of the welfare state cancelled due to financial issues in 1918 further undermined Mascylla's stability and heated up debates for political transformation.

Revolution of 1923

Main article: Mascyllary Revolution

Crowds witness the proclamation of Louis' arrest and the May Republic by Leo Baeck outside the Reichsrat building on 23 May 1923

Peter Zeschtemann, revolutionary figure and first Prime Minister of the Crowned Republic in 1924–1940

Maximilian I of Mascylla, first King of the Crowned Republic (1924–1976) and liberal statesman

The revolution was ultimately brought about by previous criticism towards the conservative policies of monarchism and nationalism, calls for reform mainly by the politicized worker class as well as the bankruptcy of the government, the war devastation increasingly attributed to the aristocracy itself and recent political instability in Cuthland spilling over into Mascylla. The boiling point came when in March 1923 soldiers and military personnel resisted and eventually revolted against the amounting pressure by the government to restore civil order and much of the destruction of western Aldia despite lacking funding and resources. The garrisons of Augusthal and Weidenau mutineered on 12 March and inspired their civil counterparts in the police and worker councils to protest as well. The government shortly after constituted its resignation and stated its loss of confidence in the monarchy on 8 May, which quickly collapsed when the Mascyllary Supreme Command under Ehrhart von Belau and Karl Georg von Pritnitz announced its neutrality on 13 May.

Ludwig I and most of his subordinate nobility abdicated on 15 May and attempted seeking exile in Valimia, but was apprehended on crossing the border, transported to Königsreh and publicly executed in front of the Reichsrat building simultaneously with the proclamation of the May Republic by Leo Baeck on 23 May 1923.

A hastily assembled council of representatives from the SDP and sovereign worker councils led by the GAV was gathered in Marlau the following day on May 24 in order to seek recognition by the Assembly of Nations and international community. Negotiations with the desparatly needed Reichswehr for their military support and political influence in the upper class culminated in the Zeschtemann-Gabig Pact on 2 June, which granted the Supreme Command to partake in a set of political decisions albeit limited, under a constitutional monarchy but in exchange for supporting the social democrats of the provisional government.

The Freikorps, independent but Reichswehr-loyal soldier councils, intervened in the revolution and successfully pushed back the growing movements of far-left socialists under Werhner Pehring, Henriette Zeiner and Emil Hiebert having already established short-lived attempts at carving out soviet republics such as the Proletarian Republic of Mascylla. The eventual crushing of the insurgencies and solidification of the government as a compromise between the conservative military and liberal social democrats ended the revolution when the first election of the Reichsrat was held and the first government under Peter Zeschtemann was inaugurated on 26 January 1924.

Crowned Republic (1924–present)

Post-revolution period and Goldene Zwanziger

The skyline of Flussmund in 1933 with the public Zeppelin Südstern hovering over the city. The city evolved into a pulsating world metropole due to the unforeseen global economic growth of the 1920s and 1930s

After the Great War and preceding revolution, the Mascyllary populated saw politics as tiresome and instead favored private freedoms and lifestyle granted by the introduced democratic system. New cultural innovations and suffistication of the cinema, dance, music styles and most notably alcoholic consumption as well as the introduction of a cultural dynamism and common lifestyle defined the era for Mascylla. The stimulation of economic growth resulting from the readiness and ability of the worker class to consume led to drastic increase in the country's economy previously unseen: within the 1920s the economy grew by more than a fourth of its original size; the ecomomic prosperity witnessed is famously referred to as the Goldene Zwanziger or Roaring Twenties. Corraborating economic policy reforms and co-operation with Lavaria and Falland solidifed the young democracy's legitimacy at large. Mascylla internationally rose as a economic powerhouse and political power thanks to its heavy say in the Assembly of Nations and foreign post-war affairs.

The slow crumbling of Mascylla's colonial empire became more evident with the post-war taxation and exploitation of its colonies while neglecting their development, domestic rights or political autonomy. Growing voices in the successor states to the previously defeated Central Alliance in the Great War called for an end of colonialism which were temporarily balanced with Mascylla's and other Berean empires' importance in the organization. Internally, the excessive consumption of beverages evolved into a national debate and was outlawed nationally from 1925 to 1931 until being revoked under public pressure. The development of organized crime also coincided with the economic prosperity of Mascylla and trafficking of alcoholic products. Furthermore, the question as to whether Mascylla should continue its approach of a major power of the world or rather stipulate a state of isolationism polarised the political landscape of the young democracy, and formed the basis of two blocs of political parties opting for continued imperialism (Weltblock) or domestic preference (Heimatblock).

Melasian Crisis (1941–43) and decolonization

Main article: Melasian Crisis

This iconic photograph depicts six Mascyllary Sturmtruppen raising a ceremonial flag of Mascylla atop a mountain in Melasia in late 1941. The Melasian Crisis was ultimately a military disaster for Mascylla and marked the beginning of the Great Game

The economic prosperity enjoyed by Mascylla in the decade following the Mascyllary Revolution eased tensions within the colonial realm temporarily, but were resumed quickly following the gradual end of extraordinary commerical growth in the metropole by 1935, to the neglect of colonial territories heavily depending on foreign export and a stable common market. Among those, Melasia grew increasingly self-righteous, and with a nationalist spirit and identity acquired in the war efforts of the colonial empire in the Great War and post-war Mascyllary military. The staunchly conservative policies of the colonial administration largely retrieved from the Mascyllary Kingdom after the war were unable to implement reforms that would weaken segregational laws and racial inequality in its empire, which directly helped mitigate the popularity of and association with Mascylla's rule.

At the Cambra Conference of 1946, Mascylla presented its three-phase plan of gradual decolonization on behalf of the AN (Ernest Rähner third from the right, middle row)

The 1941 revolt and subsequent Melasian Crisis in Melasia was the culmination of these tensions and issues, and was further agitated by Cuthland developing it into a proxy war between both nations. Despite the combined effort of the Mascyllary military and supporting economic wealth, its actions were ill-fated in that the gruesome guerilla warfare of Melasia's native population and deployments of Mascyllary soldiers costly in war material and human loss were ineffective in successfully regaining control over all of Melasia.

Cuthland's direct intervention in the conflict through border skirmishes and preparations for a large-scale offensive pushed the Assembly of Nations to seek truce negotiations and a subsequent peace treaty in 1943 in the face of rapidly rising tensions, which forced Mascylla to withdraw and grant Melasia its independence. The inhabitants of Melasia supporting Mascylla were massively forced to flee and pursue immigration to Mascylla, sparking a fiery political and civil debate. The brutality witnessed in the Melasian Crisis transformed the public perception of colonialism and Mascylla's moral conscience, and dealt a heavy blow to the country's view of exceptionalism. The awareness brought about by the war not only affected society and cultural views, but also foreign policy and the military, who introduced or consolidated the usage of aircraft carriers, strategic bombers and researched means of asymmetric warfare, having learned from its tactical mistakes and issues faced.

The crisis was a devastating blow to Mascylla's prestige as a world power and humiliation of its prowess. The majority of the Assembly of Nations approved Melasia's sovereignty and called for the begin of decolonization of Berea's colonial empires. Under pressure from the AN and the signing of a new coalition government under Ernest Rähner in 1946, Mascylla presented its plan to disband its colonial holdings in three stages beginning in 1950, 1960 and lastly in 1970; the empire was almost entirely dismantled by 1980.

Great Game (1944–1989)

Main article: Great Game (Aurorum)

The Ace test of Operation Whitehorse, a joint project with Falland, was the first nuclear weapons test in history

While the Treaty of Königsreh of 1943 resolved the initial disputes and tensions of the Melasian Crisis through compromisional negotiations, in reality it further deepened the enmities between Berea's leading powers in the status quo of the Great War and its direct aftermath. Owed to reactionary policies after the crisis, Mascylla, along with its closest allies Lavaria and Falland established the Berean Defence Treaty Association in 1944 in response to Cuthland's Mageiros League founded two years later rapidly rising in influence with the accession of independent Melasia to the alliance. A third party emerged from the communist states of the east dominated by the X, and the world's geopolitics became divided on the ideological and political lines of authoritarianism, western democracies and socialism. The ensuing Great Game was therefore the dominant factor of international politics and ultimately that of Mascylla.

An unprecedented economic boom succeeded that of the 1920s, but with increased stability and continuous wealth brought to the Mascyllary economy, state and new middle class; the rise of mass-consumerism and awakened interest in politics can be attributed to this era.

The prioritized development of nuclear weaponry as a method of counter-balancing the powers of the other blocs respectively culminated in the 1950 Ace test of Falland's and Mascylla's Operation Whitehorse, the first nuclear weapons test in history. The introduction of mutually assured destruction to the larger conflict significantly contributed to the prolonged peace between the sides, albeit under the existential threat of nuclear warfare, which became a major point of debate by a counterculture movement developing from other criticism on society and politics in the early 1960s. Criticism on Mascyllary politics have temporarily been publicly discredited and persecuted in fear of the ideologies of the respective blocs settling in the country, which has lead to a significant ailing of its democratic values, to the dismay and concern of much of its youth and citizenry.

The 1967 oil crisis was a major shift in the Great War, marking the end of authoritarian rule in Melasia, civil unrest in Cuthland and the downfall of the Mageiros League as one of the world's three major blocs. While Mascylla initially survived the economic recession, it showed symptoms of the onset of resulting stagflation beginninng in the late 1960s and ending a decade later. Efforts to contain economic damage and lower persistently high unemployment rates after the crisis have been extensive, but often miscalculated or not sustainably conceptualized. The SDP and Wolfgang Behrest achieved major electoral victories, promising social justice and implementing wide-spread economic programs of nationalisation; Behrest was integral in implementing the model of the social market economy to great effect.

Counterculture movement and Great Game détente (1966–1981)

The Königsreh student demonstration of 19 June 1967 on the Landherrenallee

Between 1966 and 1981, Mascylla was witness to tromendous social and political change, civil upheaval and general instability fueled by political scandals and economic stagnation suffered from the 1967 financial crisis and increased foreign competition. Beginning in March 1966, controversial education reforms implemented by incumbent Prime Minister Ulrich Werner on the matter of university and school curriculum regulations and payment for access to these institutions prompted thousands of students to protest in opposition to the law, but quickly expanded beyond its original intention and encompassed an umbrella movement of various political ideologies, sub-cultures and countercultures. The demonstrations grew in size, while it had adopted characteristics and intentions of other demands by the public, such as civil rights for colored citizens and the acceptance of homosexuals (commonly referred to as the Sexual Revolution), and feminists. On 13 June 1966 the movement merged into the activist organization Außerstaatlich-Völkische Opposition (ASVO) with Benno Gruhner and Eduard Malch as its figureheads.

The student protests of 1966–68 dominated national media attention and polarized the political debate, considerably by the government itself who sought to discredit and weaken the movement under suspiction of them being sponsored and motivated by third foreign parties. Major episodes of riots and protests in Mascylla's cities continued to escalate, and the shooting of student Alexander Schmitt by Königsreh police forces on 11 September 1966 infuriated the members of the ASVO and seeking retaliation against the government, now having declared the ASVO as a "communist cell".

Prime Minister Ulrich Werner signs his resignation following the Kornbach scandal, 11 April 1968

Activist Eduard Malch and other student leaders of the APVO in his "Ich will nicht, ich hoffe" speech during a press conference in the Königsreh City Hall in 1967

Under amounting pressure on the government by the ASVO and spreading general strikes of workers demanding higher wages, the government issued a state of emergency while envoking to use its military. On 28 February, 1968, media agencies were informed and revealed the short-coming Kornbach affair to the public, accusing Ulrich Werner to have rigged the choosing of the Highest Judge of the High Court to oppose further support to the movement and legal change. Twenty co-perpretators were sentenced and jailed, and Werner forced to resign by his own party (the NDU) and after loosing a vote of no-confidence to the Reichsrat. The succession of liberal Konrad Dierck as Prime Minister and the implementation of new reforms eased tensions and led to the ASVO being fully disolved in 1969. However, other points not met were still rigorously defended and demonstrated with protests and riots throughout the country, and political instability in the aftermath shock of the scandal remained glaringly apparent until the 1980s.

Trust had been completely lost in the government, and mediocre achievements in supplementing change and reforms meagerly advanced Dierck's administration. Furthermore, the assassination of the ASVO's leaders a year later continuously disrupted the social order briefly returned after Werner's resignation.

A splinter group of the ASVO, the Revolutionary Garrison founded in 1970, continued to brutally oppose the Mascyllary state, and conducted a series of terrorist attacks, kidnappings and hijackings in light of forcefully establishing communism in Mascylla. Various politicians and public figures fell victim to or were injured by the RG, and its crimes, leaders being sentenced and motivations captivated the nation. The developments of the 1960s and 1970s thoroughly split the Social Democratic Party and essentially deprived its function as a government party while the NDU had to reconcile with the Kornbach scandal and the Centre Party suffered internal fighting. David Gehlgen of the SDP significantly improved relations with the X in his Südpolitik policy, pushed ahead the Lambsdorff Declaration of 1975 to abandon the party's socialist ideals in favor of a welfare state, market economy, and social corporatism.

Mayn era and transformation of the Great Game (1981–1991)

Charlotte Mayn as Prime Minister, 1985

Its economic downturn, social insurgency and weakened administration were largely resolved, however, with the election of Charlotte Mayn of the Centre by a landslide in 1981, noted for her cunning political maneuvering and skill, economic reforms and keen charismatic appearance. Though not re-elected, she made a lasting impression on Mascylla's interior policy, most notably its pragmatic economic and foreign policy; her term in office is generally referred to as the "Mayn Era" of 1981–1989. She continued to downsize government spending, taxation, and market regulation, and spearheaded a strict economic policy of stock market liberalisation and industry privatisation, known collectively as Maynism.

Lukas Brennzer, Aleksandr Sahalinov and Walther Gählen (both behind the camera) became the first humans to walk on the Moon with the 1981 Sigma 5 mission of the MAOA and DSA

The development of ICBMs and initiation of a more aggressive foreign policy ("Rückdrängen", or Mayn doctrine) disturbed the détente of the Great Game and temporarily resurfaced tensions between the powers, albeit with a more close association with the X. Mayn pursued a build-up campaign of the armed forces, and vastly increased its defense budget. The launch of X triggered the Space Race, by which a collaborative effort by Mascylla and Dulebia succeeded in first landing humans on the Moon in 1981. Mascylla, Lilienburg, and Temaria became the founding members of the Telmerian Union (TU) in 1984.

Mascyllary Prime Minister Michael Meilke (left) and Dulebian General Secretary Nikita Kamanev (right) at the Harkulinn Summit, 1989

The subsequent years experienced renewed ease in tensions and with the collapse of the X, abruptly triggering the 1987 financial crash, the Great Game is generally considered to have ended in 1989. The weakened socialist world and Cuthland's allies paved the way for a brief era of Mascyllary and BDTA global unipolarity. The sudden economic downturn suffered in 1987 put in jeopardy much of Mascylla's successful but fragile industries, culminating in the miners' strike of 1988. Most of the nation's major heavy industries, most notably coal and steel, suffered and were directly threatened by bankruptcy. The neoliberalism MDP of Michael Meilke implemented a subsequent model of modernization ("Aufbau Land"), overhauling transport infrastructure and renovating plants. Affected industries were handled by the Treuhandanstalt which liquidated unsaleable or unprofitable businesses if needed; the success varied regionally, and unemployment rates spiked dramatically from 1988–1995. The concentrated efforts and financial transfers that were used to equalize the living conditions in rural and de-industrialised areas brought with it a reform backlog that had meanwhile become apparent. Several reform projects by the national government were struck down by a SDP-Greens majority in the Reichssenat in the 1990s.

Contemporary history (1991–present)

The ruins of the former Martinsen Center in Königsreh after the July 20 attacks of 1991 by an iteration of the far-left militant Revolutionary Garrison. It was the most deadly and destructive terrorist attack in Mascyllary history

The turning point came when in 1991 Königsreh was struck by a series of terrorist attacks of the Revolutionary Garrison on July 20, 1991. The attack left 504 people dead and devastated the functions of the government in a constitutional crisis after which members of the Reichsrat and state parliaments of Eustria and Folnery had been killed, while the collapse of the Martinsen Center gravely damaged Königsreh inner city. The proclaimed state of emergency gave away to the largest man hunt in history, lasting nine years in total, in pursuit of the attack's perpretators. While the emergency right retained by the government had been revoked in its aftermath and after the death of Pascal Schneidmühl, the initial mastermind of the attacks, by Mascyllary special forces in Pereuth in 2002, it constituted a keen sense of threat by society itself as well as controversial efforts to counter-act terrorism through mass surveillance and advanced rights of the national DSA intelligence agency to access law enforcement information. Numerous allegations of human rights abuses have also been brought forward and repeatedly investigated by Reichsrat committees in 2003, 2004 and 2012 respectively.

In the wake of the Great Game, the BDTA remained the world's sole powerful political bloc. Political stability and economic sturdiness established by Mayn's administration was continued after the election of Michael Meilke, and further rose in prominence with the aftermath of the financial crisis of 1987 and solidification of economic liberalism of the country in the 1990s. However, underlying social issues such as stoic unemployment rates and uneven local economic development plagued the sense of confidence in the government which had struggled to emerge from the crisis period of the 1960s and 1970s. Efforts to bridge the gap of trust in Mascylla's future after the conclusion of the 20th century have been introduced, such as expanded healthcare services, a sophisticated space program of the Raumfähre and continued international diplomatic interventionism.

The Assembly of Nations Security Council seating on 20 April 20X on establishing economic sanctions for Cuthland after its intervention in the X

The assassination of Michael Meilke on March 19, 2000, left the country in a profound state of shock, still recovering from the July 20 attacks. The disillusionment of Mascyllary invulnerability transformed domestic and foreign policy, and evolved as a vocal point of dispute by the nation's right and left politics, while also coinciding with the official end of the Mascyllary colonial empire with the release of X into independence in 199X.

Furthermore, the new rise of Cuthland as a second-coming emerging world power with the Ochoccola War of 1994 and stregthened political players in Pamira, namely the Pamiran Federation and Yudong, challenged the privileged position of the BDTA. The Akawhk Crisis during the Ochoccolan War and its immediate fallout shaped Mascyllary foreign policy in the 1990s, as well as the coincidental establishment of the Telmerian Union (TU).

Reconciling foreign policies were introduced with Prime Minister Konrad Folln to combat that issue, but preserved its dominant attitude in international affairs, such as imposing sanctions against Dulebia with continued allegations of election fraud and autocratic governance of Alexey Volodin in 2010. The recent decade saw a significant revival of interest in international politics and preservation of Mascyllary importance in Telmeria and by a broader perspective, Berea. While the relations between Cuthland and Mascylla remain neutral, both have aspired to strengthen their respective allies and alliances, and were the cause for multiple incidents and long-term tensions at common points of interest, namely the Strait of X and economic integrity with southern Telmeria and Dentria.