Austro-Hungarian Empire and World War I

Beginning in the seventeenth century, the various duchies, principalities, and kingdoms that would later comprise Transemilia began to fall under Habsburg control. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire was formally created in 1867, it included all of what is now Transemilia. The Duchies of Kyldir (Эхюлда "Echulda") and Sipkiria (Цімкра "Tsimkra") and the Free City of Dyrtan (Дёртандал "Dyortandal") were all in Austrian territory, while the Counties of Vulliam (Вулям "Vulham") and Bitelia (Біцла "Bitsla"), the Principalities of Stivia (Щіво "Shtshivo") and Stichia (Стічу "Stitshu"), the Kingdom of Sparginia (Зборгэн "Zborgen"), and the semi-autonomous city Stinte (Зѕінтэр "Zdzinter") were all under Hungarian jurisdiction. The languages spoken in all these localities were mutually intelligible, and collectively referred to as the "Transemilian languages", after the Emila Mountains which ran through Kyldir, Stichia, and Sparginia.

Kyldir and Sipkiria were the most populous of the jurisdictions, but the most politically powerful was the Kingdom of Sparginia. In 1918, as Austria-Hungary was crumbling, local governments began unification talks. Meanwhile, various nationalist revolutionary forces fought to achieve their respective independences; most sought either republican or socialist government. On October 1 (now commemorated as Unification Day), the leaders of Sparginia, Stivia, Stichia, Sipkiria, Vulliam, and Kyldir signed the Unification Accords, creating the Kingdom of Transemilia. Though most power lay in the national legislature, and local governments had considerable autonomy over internal affairs, the King of Transemilia (King Michael I, formerly King Michael VI of Sparginia) had veto rights on national legislation, and was in charge of the newly united Transemilian military. Almost immediately after unification, these powers were put to the test, as King Michael declared the cities of Stinte and Dyrtan and the County of Bitelia to be crown territories and sent in troops to enforce these claims. The two cities' police forces were no match for the combined armies of Transemilia and capitulated immediately, while the small Bitelia held out for six weeks before ultimately conceding. Dyrtan was incorporated into Sipkiria, becoming the most populous city in the duchy, although the capital remained Selshow (Сэлшоу "Selhshou"); Stinte was absorbed into Stichia. Bitelia became part of Sparginia, where in the face of continued resistance it was designated a special military district; though Bitelians were able to vote in national parliamentary elections, the district had no representation in the Sparginian provincial legislature, and was essentially under military rule.

Kingdom of Transemilia

King Michael I was a calculated leader who shrewdly outmaneuvered attempts to curtail or circumvent the power of the throne. However, he died in 1926, and his eldest son Michael II was crowned king. Michael II initially played a much smaller political role than his father, instead using his time and power to enrich himself with investment in various domestic industries and small-scale colonial projects. Following a failed assassination attempt by anarchists in 1929, however, King Michael became vitriolic in denouncing the left, and began supporting Transemilia's burgeoning fascist movement, a position almost certainly influenced by his association with several reactionary Transemilian industrialists. In 1931, the White Guards, the paramilitary wing of the fascist Transemilian National Unity Party (TNUP), stormed a session of the national parliament and began attacking left-wing PMs; dozens were wounded before the White Guards were forced from the building by soldiers, and three victims later died of their injuries. When several of the White Guards were charged with a litany of crimes including murder and treason, King Michael pre-empted their trials by issuing full pardons. Emboldened, the White Guards used intimidation and attacks to ensure a National Unity victory in the 1931 parliamentary elections, and the TNUP began pushing through harsh laws against workers, unions, immigrants and ethnic minorities, which the king dutifully signed into law.

World War II

When the Nazis rose to power in Germany, the king began fostering a pro-German business climate, including making secret deals between business leaders in Germany and Transemilia. When it became clear that war was coming to Europe, Transemilia publicly declared its neutrality, but aided the German war machine, as well as the Francoists in the Spanish Civil War. In 1941, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, King Michael officially declared war on the USSR and entered the war as allies of Germany. The declaration was coupled with conscription of military-aged males. Around the country, people began to revolt. Uprisings were put down by the military in every major city, and thousands were jailed under wartime loyalty laws. By far the most successful revolt was that of Gretsel (Грэцэл), a large city in northern Kyldir. In Gretsel, the local army battalion rebelled against their officers and joined with forces from the underground Communist Party of Transemilia (CPT) to repel other battalions, a situation aided by Gretsel's location on the opposite site of the Emilas from the other Kyldir military bases. The Gretsel uprising—calling itself the Gretsel Socialist Republic—defended the city from both loyalist forces and troops from other Axis countries called in to suppress the domestic insurgency. The success of Gretsel led to renewed resistance in other parts of the country as well, and by the time the Red Army entered Transemilia in October of 1944, a third of the country was already controlled by the Communists. King Michael abdicated the throne in August of that year and attempted to flee the country, disguised as an auto mechanic; he was caught by Communist volunteers at the eastern border, given a public trial, and shot.

People's Republic of Transemilia

After the deposition of the king and the end of the war, the CPT easily filled the power vacuum. The Transemilian National Unity Party was outlawed, its leaders imprisoned or executed, and its members banned from public service. The Communists immediately began implementing land reform and setting up wide-ranging social services, and a national referendum in January of 1946 repealed the former constitution, which had been in place since 1918, and replaced it with a constitution that declared a People's Republic of Transemilia. This new constitution guaranteed universal access to work, healthcare, housing, and education, and mandated legal equality for women and ethnic minorities (later amendments extended these rights to religious minorities and LGBT communities). The counties, duchies, principalities, and the Sparginian kingdom were all converted to provinces with equal power, and the former royal families stripped of their titles. A 1945 act of parliament recognized the contributions of the Gretsel Socialist Republic, and designated the portion of Kyldir lying north of the Emilas (roughly contiguous with the areas defended by the Gretsel uprising) as a new province, also named Gretsel. In 1948 a referendum was put on the ballot in the district of Bitelia regarding the status of that district; about a third of voters opted for independence, but most favored remaining in the People's Republic; the district remained a semi-autonomous district within Sparginia.

Geographic reforms

Nestled on the edge of a lake high up in the southeastern Emilas, Djonkum (Жџонким "Zhdzhonhcim") had been the capital of Sparginia since before the formation of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and became the capital of the Kingdom of Transemilia in 1918. Now that World War II was over and the king had been deposed, Djonkum's association with the previous regime tainted its reputation in the new political order. It stood as a symbol of the Sparginian dynasty, and on a practical level was relatively remote and inaccessible. The new government began construction of a city where the provinces of Kyldir, Sipkiria, and Stivia bordered each other. The city, which incorporated smaller towns that were already in the vicinity, was named Jholkmazhdi (Ғёлкмажді), literally "People's City", and officially became the capital in 1951. The exact spot where the three provinces once met is now marked by the imposing monument "Liberation", the centerpiece of Revolutionary Square. The city was admitted into the republic as its own province, to prevent any one province from dominating national government the way Sparginia had; in this capacity it is often referred to simply as the Capital Province.

In 1966, Transemilia undertook a significant internal reorganization. Most provinces gained and lost territory. The former military district of Bitelia was transferred from Sparginia to Vulham, and a large portion of Stichia centered around the city of Stinte became a new province, Dridza (Дріѕа). The complicated internal divisions of the provinces, left over from the days of royalty, were done away with completely, replaced by districts whose borders were determined by population and natural features. Coinciding with this internal reorganization, the Transemilian government began using standard romanizations for the names of provinces and cities when publishing works for international audiences, rather than the traditional names. Thus, the provinces formerly known to the outside world as Sparginia, Stivia, Stipkiria, Kyldir, Vulliam, and Stichia are now referred to as Zborgen, Shtshivo, Tsimkra, Echulda, Vulham, and Stitshu; the cities once known as Djonkum, Selshow, Dyrtan, and Stinte are now Zhdzhonhcim, Selhshou, Dyortandal, and Zdzinter; and the region formerly called Bitelia is now known as Bitsla. Western writers now follow this same pattern as well. The most recent territorial change was in 1996, when by referendum the northeastern portion of Zborgen voted to form a new province called Ayênko (Аєнко).

Communism today

Like most of Eastern Europe, Transemilia signed the Warsaw Treaty in 1955, but politically remained relatively independent of the USSR. It maintained relations with Yugoslavia and with China after those respective countries split with the Soviet Union. Still, the Soviet-Transemilian relationship was friendly, and a Transemilian cosmonaut flew with the Soviet "Interkosmos" space program in 1980. The memory of the war and of the successes of the homegrown Communist movement during wartime contributed to the general lack of a dissident movement relative to other Communist countries. Significantly, Transemilia managed to avoid the general tide of liberalization and reintroduction of market economies that swept through the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s. While Gorbachev's privatization policies had serious ramifications for countries such as the German Democratic Republic, Transemilia's independence from the USSR helped insulate it from these "reforms". A 1986 attempt by certain ministers to begin semi-privatizing key industries (the most prominent of which were the natural gas industry and the nation's railways) was soundly defeated when it was revealed that the ministers had secretly received payments from US government agencies. Despite the hardship of losing many of its key trading partners in the early 1990s when most Communist governments were overthrown, Transemilia persevered and was able to rebuild its economy by the late 1990s. It continues to serve as a shining light to the Communist movement worldwide, and to all who seek a path towards liberation.