Wolfgar E.R. Godfredson

His Excellency Wolfgar E.R. Godfredson Father of the Nation
Inaugural presidential portrait of Wolfgar Godfredson, 1938
1st President of Estmere
In office 27 August 1938 – 27 August 1953
Prime Minister	Laurence Montgomery Hugo Gilbert Vincent Holmes Richard Moore Theodore Spencer
Succeeded by	Louis de Neville
Chairman of the Transitional Authority
In office 2 October 1934 – 27 August 1938
Deputy	Laurence Montgomery
Preceded by	Richard XIII (King of Estmere) Laurence Montgomery (Prime Minister of Estmere)
Personal details
Born	Vulfgar Eadvyn Riċard Godfriþsunu (1892-03-11)March 11, 1892 Rothgarsted, Estmere
Died	August 25, 1979(1979-08-25) (aged 87) Longwood, Swerdia, Estmere
Citizenship	Estmere
Political party	Independent
Military service
Allegiance	Estmere Fighting Estmere
Branch/service	Estmerish Army Estmerish Liberation Army
Rank	Marshal
Battles/wars	Kireno-Estmerish War Great War

Wolfgar Edwin Richard Godfredson (born Vulfgar Eadvyn Riċard Godfriþsunu; 11 March 1892 – 25 August 1979) was an Estmerish army officer and statesman who led the Estmerish resistance to Functionalist Gaullica as part of Fighting Estmere in the Great War. He then chaired the Transitional Authority from 1934 to 1938, and served as the inaugural President of Estmere for three terms from 1938 to 1953.

Born in the hamlet of Rothgarsted in rural Swarbergshire to a large Swathish-speaking family, Godfredson attended the prestigious Royal Military Academy in Kingchester, graduating in 1914. He served in the Kireno-Estmerish War, and was highly decorated for his actions in the Battle of Salchester, which became a turning point in the conflict. After the war, he was promoted and was involved in the Estmerish response to the Dellish and April revolutions. In this period he began his long-lasting advocation for combined arms tactics, in particular the use of armour and aircraft.

At the outbreak of the Great War and the invasion of Estmere, Godfredson commanded regiments on the Kirenian border. After the Battle of Damesbridge, against the orders of his superiors, he maneouvered his divisions into a counterattack which was partially successful in halting the Gaullican advance. After the Fall of Morwall, and the retreat of the Estmerish government to Spálgleann, Godfredson remained in Estmere. He was the highest ranking officer to do so, and led the Estmerish Liberation Army as Marshal for the remainder of the war. As leader of the ELA and the resistance, Godfredson acquired mythic status in Estmere as a folk hero and became respected as a national leader, eventually being recognised as such by the government-in-exile. He was present at the Liberation of Morwall alongside Laurence Montgomery.

In the aftermath of the war, Godfredson was unanimously elected to chair the Transitional Authority. As chair, he oversaw the elections to the constitutional assembly, and with the support of the Weranian government, ensured that Estmere was made a permanent member of the CNSC. He also worked to prevent the splintering of the Grand Alliance by enacting the Godfredson Plan to divide Miersa. His tenure as chair was defined by referenda on Borish independence and the monarchy, and by the 1937 mutiny by Swathish socialist officers. Godfredson is credited with resolving the mutiny amicably by ensuring the adoption of a federal constitution, with protections for the Swathish language. Godfredson was then elected President as an independent, and presided over the governments of five prime ministers.

Through his fifteen-year tenure as President, Godfredson oversaw the defeat of the Neo-Functionalist Etruria in the Solarian War, the foundation of the Euclean Community, the decolonisation of the Estmerish Empire, and the foundation of the Estmerish Community. Godfredson was a reserved statesman, and generally avoided involvement in domestic politics outside of facilitating compromise. Godfredson retired from politics at the end of his third term in 1953. In retirement he wrote and published his memoirs, which were best sellers and became classics in post-war Estmerish literature. His death in 1979 was widely mourned, resulting in a state funeral which was the largest in Estmerish history, attended by 10,000 people, including representatives from 62 countries, and witnessed by over 500 million people through mass media.

Godfredson's legacy in Estmere is profound. He is the namesake of countless streets, monuments, and institutions in Estmere, and his precedent of a non-partisan presidency was eventually enshrined into law. He is considered the Father of the Estmerish Nation, and was officially granted this title posthumously. His role in securing trilingualism and federalism are widely seen to have helped preseved Estmere as a united country. He is ranked highly by historians in lists of Estmerish national leaders, and consistently tops ranked lists of Estmerish presidents.

Name

Wolfgar's birth name was Vulfgar Eadvyn Riċard Godfriþsunu, as rendered in Swathish, his first language. This is how his birth name was rendered on church documents, local government records, and in letters to family. Due to the anti-Swathish policies at the time, however, on his birth certificate and most government documents his name is rendered Embrianised as Wolfgar Eadwin Richard Godfrithson.

His name was again changed in 1908 as part of his efforts to attend the Royal Military Academy at Kingchester. He adopted the name Wolfgar Edwin Richard Godfredson, comprised of Estmerish cognate names as opposed to simply Embrianised names. He used this as his official name, and name in public, until his death, though in letters to family still rendered his name in Swathish orthography. In later life, in official correspondence he almost exclusively referred to himself as Wolfgar E.R. Godfredson.

Legacy

Cultural depictions

• Godfredson is depicted in all four games of the Civitas series, as a leader of the Estmerish civilisation. He is featued in the first and second games as the sole Estmerish leader, and as one of two potential leaders in Civitas III and Civitas IV.

Honours and awards

Estmerish

• Grand Cross with Special Class of the Order of Estmere (1954)
• Grand Master of the Order of the Resistance (1931)
• Member of the Order of the White Wyvern (1962)
• Order of Merit of the West Counties (1967)

Works

• The Marshal Memoirs
  • Volume I – The Trenches, 1927–1929 (1954)
  • Volume II – The Occupation, 1929–1932 (1956)
  • Volume III – The Liberation, 1932–1935 (1957)
• The Presidential Memoirs
  • Volume I – Saving the Nation, 1934–1943 (1959)
  • Volume II – Winning the Peace, 1943–1948 (1961)
  • Volume III – Facing the Future, 1948–1953 (1964)