Five Families of the Asterias
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• Early revolutionaries
• Chistovinalia
• Nuvanosatavia
• Continental gaullophones
• Arucians
Black represents territories still under Euclean sovereignty.
The Five Families of the Asterias (Ruttish: penkios Asterijos šeimos) is a historical and political theory, developed by Aucurian historian Jurgis Sileika, which seeks to explain the variations in when and how the countries of Asteria Superior and Asteria Inferior declared their independence from Euclean colonialism. The theory was first described in a 1983 journal article published by Sileika, and further expanded upon in his 1987 book The Birth of the Asterias.
The theory posits that the countries of the Asterias can be divided into five "families" which obtained independence at similar times, for similar reasons, or in similar ways. These families are the early revolutionaries, which declared & obtained independence between 1764 and 1813 and were broadly motivated by the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment and, towards the later end of this period, the Etrurian and Weranian revolutions; Chistovinalia, Soravian colonies which remained under Soravian rule until the First Soravian Civil War; Nuvanosatavia, Hennish-founded but Estmerish-run colonies which were granted substantial autonomy after early revolts and ultimately obtained independence peacefully; the continental Gaullophones, who were given sufficient autonomy by Gaullican authorities to remain at least nominally under Gaullican control until the Great War; and the Arucians, small island colonies which proved easy to keep under Euclean control and were thus the last to obtain independence.
[reception, use, legacy]
Background
Jurgis Sileika is an Aucurian historian specializing in 18th- and 19th-century Asterian history. Having spent much of the 1970s teaching at the University of San Andreas, Fremont in Rizealand, he returned to Aucuria to become a professor of Asterian history at the National University of Saint Jerome in Kalnaspilis in 1981, following the overthrow of the Sprogys regime in the 1980 Velvet Revolution, itself a part of the broader Asterian Spring.
Sileika has stated that, while he had been planning to write about colonial society in the Asterias, the Asterian Spring - which saw authoritarian right-wing governments overthrown in Gapolania, Adamantina, Belmonte, and Aucuria, and a far-right insurgency defeated in Satavia - shifted his focus towards the history of revolution in the Asterias. This shift in focus came as the result of a conversation with a Rizealander colleague shortly before he returned to Aucuria:
As I was preparing to return home, a Rizealander colleague approached me to discuss the then-ongoing events in Asteria Inferior, what we would now call the Asterian Spring, and asked me two questions: firstly if the Asterias had seen such a coordinated wave of revolutionary activity since the original anti-colonial revolutions of the late 18th and early 19th century, and secondly why such a wave of upheaval had arisen now... this discussion inspired me to change the focus of my research to trying to answer the question of why revolution and independence came to the countries of the Asterias when they did.
— Jurgis Sileika, 1989 interview
Overview
In both his original journal article and The Birth of the Asterias, Sileika divides the countries of the Asterias into "five families": the early revolutionaries, Chistovinalia, Nuvanosatavia, the continental gaullophones, and the Arucians. In The Birth of the Asterias, Sileika continues to refer to these groups as the "five families", but additionally notes a sixth group—those territories in the Asterias which remain under Euclean control.
Sileika argues that each of the five families is connected by when they obtained independence, if and why they sought independence, and how they sought independence. He also emphasizes that membership in a particular family does not always result in the same post-independence outcomes, which he attributes to the diversity of economic, social, and political factors between various Asterian countries:
The factors which led to (or stifled) calls for independence and the factors which shaped national trajectories after independence was obtained are undeniably connected, but they are not necessarily synonymous. A litany of social rifts, economic factors, political decisions, cultural divergences, and ideological movements set the countries of the Asterias apart from one another; therefore, two countries which happen to share the attributes that led to their independence from Euclea in the same way, at the same time, and for the same reason can end up in vastly different places in the present day on account of the many attributes which are unique to each.
— Jurgis Sileika, The Birth of the Asterias (1987)
Early revolutionaries
The early revolutionaries (Ruttish: pradžios revoliucionieriai) are the largest of the five families, consisting of Arbolada, Ardesia, the Asterian Federative Republic, Aucuria, Belmonte, Eldmark, Gapolania, and Rizealand, all of which declared and obtained their independence in a string of contemporaneous and consecutive wars of independence between 1764 and 1813.
Ideologically and politically, the wars of independence of the early revolutionaries were heavily inspired by Enlightenment ideals such as liberalism and rationalism, by the rise of local identities distinct from those of the colonizing powers, and by the efforts of Euclean colonial powers to exert direct control over their colonies at the expense of local authorities and elites. These revolutions were also driven by similar social and economic tensions, such as the imposition of mercantilist policies which stifled inter-Asterian trade, high taxes and tariffs on the import of finished goods from Euclea, and a sense of exploitation at the use of colonial resources to enrich Euclean motherlands.
Sileika also wrote that the early revolutionaries were "a web of inter-connection and inter-inspiration", with the outbreak or success of revolution in one country emboldening revolutionary leaders in other countries; as proof, he points to the outbreak of the Arboladan War of Independence in the same year as the recognition of AFR, Rizean, Belmontese, and Eldmarsk independence by the Treaty of Vicalvi, the outbreak of the Aucurian War of Independence the year after the recognition of Arboladan independence by the Treaty of San Felix, the outbreak of the rise of revolutionary and separatist sentiment in Adamantina and Gapolania following the beginning of the revolution in Ceneria.
Sileika further divided the early revolutionaries into two subgroups:
- The stepchildren (Ruttish: povaikai), consisting of the Asterian Federative Republic Rizealand, Belmonte, and Aucuria. In these countries, an important factor in the push for independence was the replacement of the country's original colonizer (Estmere in the case of Rizealand, Paretia for Belmonte and the AFR, and Ruttland for Aucuria) by a different colonial power (Gaullica for Rizealand, the AFR and Belmonte, the Rudolphine Confederation for Aucuria) as a result of the Ten Years' War and the Gaullico-Paretian War of 1721. These transfers were followed by efforts to encourage settlement by the citizens of the new colonizer and to impose the language & culture of the new colonizer upon the existing settler population, which sparked fears of marginalization and oppression for the original settlers, ultimately leading to the outbreak of their wars of independence.
- The opportunists (Ruttish: oportunistai), consisting of the other countries in the family. These countries remained under their original colonizer, but nonetheless sought independence due to the ideological, socioeconomic, and political factors mentioned earlier. Sileika referred to these countries as the "opportunists" on the grounds that they timed their declarations of independence to coincide with other colonial revolts in the Asterias - such as Eldmark revolting during the Asterian War of Secession - or with instability in their colonial overlord - particularly the chaos emerging from the Etrurian and Weranian revolutionary wars.
Chistovinalia
Chistovinalia (Ruttish: Čistovinalija) consists of two countries, Chistovodia and Vinalia. These countries were both colonies of Soravia until the 1860s, when the outbreak of the First Soravian Civil War and the subsequent collapse of Soravian authority led to a Chistovodian declaration of independence; Vinalia was under Chistovodian union until 1885, when tensions between the two led to the separation of Vinalia from Chistovodia.
Sileika argues that Soravia successfully forestalled the independence of Chistovodia and Vinalia until the 1860s by granting local authorities a substantial degree of autonomy, keeping economic ties between Soravian and Chistovinalian elites relatively strong, and promising to intervene should conflict break out between its colonies and their neighbors. This cooled the tensions between motherland and colony which led to the wars of independence of the early revolutionaries, averting such revolts in Chistovinalia.
As Chistovodia developed economically, however, the Vinalian economy retooled itself to focus on exporting raw goods to Chistovodia, allowing Chistovodia to build up its own industrial and commercial base, in turn allowing both to become economically independent of Soravia. With the outbreak of the First Soravian Civil War in 1857, Soravian authority and power projection imploded, and any perceived security benefits from remaining loyal to Samistopol vanished for its Asterian colonies. No longer economically bound to their colonizer, having long been granted autonomous local authorities, and with the benefits of remaining under Soravian rule vanishing, Sileika states that it was relatively easy for Chistovinalia to subsequently declare independence.
Nuvanosatavia
Nuvanosatavia (Ruttish: Nuvanosatavija) consists of the countries of Nuvania and Satavia. These countries were both originally Hennish colonies that were subsequently seized by Estmere in the 1747 Hennish-Estmerish War. Sileika notes that, given these circumstances, it would be expected to see Nuvania and Satavia within the "stepchildren" subcategory of the early revolutionaries, but that they obtained their full independence in 1886 and 1936 respectively - much later than the early revolutionaries and later even than Chistovinalia, which remained under its original colonizer.
Sileika explains this by noting that there were indeed revolts in Nuvania and Satavia contemporaneous with those of the early revolutionaries - the 1771 Pienaar Revolt in Satavia and the 177X tbd1 Revolt and 1806 tbd2 Revolt in Nuvania. However, due to a mixture of factors - failure to coalesce, incompetence by rebel leaders, the competence or ruthlessness of Estmerish officials and generals, and sheer bad luck - these rebellions were ultimately suppressed even as similarly-motivated revolutions succeeded in neighboring Belmonte and Aucuria.
Crucially, according to Sileika, Estmere responded to these revolts by granting Nuvania and Satavia the status of dominion and, by extension, home rule, in 1811 and 1816 respectively. This decision forestalled further rebellion against Estmerish rule by alleviating the concerns of cultural and political marginalization that gave animus to stepchild-style rebellions against Euclean rule, as well as the broader socioeconomic tensions that fueled many of Asterian wars of independence. With these issues addressed by the extension of home rule, Estmere successfully forestalled the independence of Nuvanosatavia for decades; nonetheless, as Nuvania and Satavia steadily developed their own economic bases, political systems, and national identities, they drifted away and ultimately peaceably obtained independence.
Continental gaullophones
The continental gaullophones (Ruttish: žemyniniai galofonai) consist of Cassier, Satucin, and the Azure Coast. These three countries were all Gaullican colonies settled primarily by Gaullicans, and remain gaullophone into the present. Sileika writes that
...while the Gaullicans were often unreceptive - or actively hostile - to the wants or needs of their non-gaullophone colonial subjects, such as the Rizealanders and Belmontese, they were deeply receptive to those Cassiens, Satucines, and Azurennes who sent requests back to the motherland in the mother tongue.
— Jurgis Sileika, The Birth of the Asterias (1987)
Accordingly, Gaullica extended autonomy to its gaullophone colonies, empowering and collaborating with its local elites through arrangements such as the Monbec Accords. Sileika states that this autonomy went far enough that colonial Cassier, Satucin, and Côte d'Azur were more able to define their own relationship with their colonial overlord than any Asterian colonies had been since the destruction of the United Kingdom of Ruttland and Aucuria in the Ten Years' War; as proof, he notes the fact that Cassier was able to remain largely uninvolved in the Great War, in spite of pressure from the Duclerque regime, at the same time that Satucin enthusiastically committed itself to the Entente.
As a result, while there were some rebellions against Gaullican rule - most famously the Patriote Rebellion in Cassier - the extreme devolution of authority to the colonies themselves by Gaullica reduced tensions between the colonies & the metropole, dampening the appeal of revolution and allowing them to remain within the Gaullican Empire until the end of the Great War. Following the devastation wrought by Gaullican functionalism upon Euclea and the world, the Grand Alliance was unwilling to allow Gaullica to retain a substantial colonial empire in the Asterias, and compelled the continental gaullophones to sever their remaining political ties - however loose - to Gaullica, pushing them to full independence.
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Arucians
The Arucians (Ruttish: aruku valstybės, "Arucian states"), consisting of Sainte-Chloé, Imagua, Carucere, Bonaventure, and Île d'Émeraude, were the last of the five families to obtain independence, and remained under comparatively direct Euclean rule until this independence. Sileika attributes this to three reasons. Firstly, as small islands, the Arucians were relatively easy for Euclean colonizers to garrison and control. Secondly, they were strategically important given their location in the Arucian Sea, which incentivized colonial powers to retain tight control over them. Thirdly, the economies of the Arucian islands were dependent upon the use of slave or indentured labor - typically Bahian slaves and gowsas - to produce cash crops; as a result, local white elites and settlers had reason to remain aligned with the colonizing powers, fearing that a revolution against rule from the metropole would be overtaken by the marginalized, and much larger, non-white population of the islands.
Accordingly, these islands remained under Euclean rule until after the Great War and Solarian War made it clear that the age of Euclean empire was coming to an end, after which they transitioned to independence through the Arucian Federation and United Provinces of the Golden Isles, which ultimately collapsed into the smaller independent states of the contemporary Arucian.
Remaining colonies
While Sileika did not address those territories which remained under Euclean control into the present - George Ruset Land, the Iles des Saints, and St. Robert's and Fleming - in his initial paper on the five families, they are discussed - if still comparatively briefly - in The Birth of the Asterias. He states that the Iles des Saints fall into largely the same historical trends as the Arucians and states they would join that family; that St. Robert's and Fleming is too small to viably survive as an independent state, or to have a particularly noteworthy independence movement; and that George Ruset Land was too sparsely populated and underdeveloped to escape Soravian rule when Chistovinalia did, and is currently kept placated by the autonomy provided by Samistopol.
Reception & legacy
Praise
[provides a cohesive, comprehensive understanding of two continents' worth of independences]
Criticism
[oversimplification with broad categories]
[okay, it's cool you've done this grouping, but why does it matter? by your own admission their post-independence paths are all over the place regardless of the group, so, why do we care about the families?]
Later developments
[iterations on the theory by later authors and authors from other asterian countries]
[possibly efforts to create similar "families" out of coian nations by other authors?]
[connections drawn by tbd arucian theorist to the "gaullican noose" idea, itself derived from the Euclo-Coian Transition Zone of subercaseaux, in why countries sought to retain arucian states]
[A proposed 'sixth family' of AFR successor states]