Republic of Kunkenga

National Flag of the Republic of Kunkenga

*This article is entirely in-character.*

The Republic of **Kunkenga** is a socialist state in Central Europe. Its history can be traced back to 1733 when a lose confederation of Bavarian lords came together under the banner of the Kingdom of South-Eastern Kungen. In 1806 the Kingdom split from the Holy Roman Empire, then after the acquisition of Baden-Wurttemberg in 1820 it unified into the Kingdom of Kunkenga. Unrest in the first decade of the 20th century led to a social democratic revolution in 1919 which saw the dawn of the country in its current form as a democracy. The Nation presently operates under a federal parliamentary system with its current Chancellor, **Christoff Hurtz**, serving as both Head of State and Government. Kunkenga is unique among the "Pre-War" Nationstates as it technically did not exist during the Third World War, its territory was annexed by the German government during the early months of the conflict and only regained independence after the war was over.

Kunkenga is an unaligned state. It maintained close relationships with many countries but never declared open alliances with any except the African nation of Brakaaw.

## **Pre-Role Play History**

### Rise and Unification of the Kunkengan Kingdom (1733-1820)

Kunkenga's origin begins with the Proto-Germanic states of central Europe however, its distinct cultural identity is determined to have risen sometime in the mid 14th century with the formation of the Kingdom of Kunkeng. While this kingdom was short lived, records indicate the pressures of the Black Plague were too much for the crown to handle, it helped establish many of the cultural aspects that would eventually come to define the Kunkengan idea of statehood. The culture persisted, but it would be another 400 years until a group organized around it. In 1733 a group of powerful Bavarian lords, impressed by the Iroquois system of confederation decided to cooperatively govern their land under the banner of a single kingdom, with each lord's fiefdom operating as a quasi state. The idea was quick to anger the Holy Roman Empire, however, masterful negotiation by Lord Andres Krom rallied other neighboring lords to the cause of the confederated kingdom. Eventually its size became enough to offer a serious challenge to the HRE and its independence was peacefully declared in 1806. The first ruler of the new Kingdom of Kunkenga, crowned on January 1st 1808, was the first son of Lord Andres Krom, King Andres Krom II.

In 1810 a massive peasant revolt against the HRE broke out in the neighboring state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The Kunkengan crown offered assistance to the break away state and was spread extremely thin, having to focus on providing defense for both their own homeland and the revolt. The uprising was a success and Kunkengan troops seized the area shortly after. By 1820, after nearly a decade of Kunkengan occupation, an agreement was reached with the provincial government in Baden-Wurttemberg that saw Kunkenga annex the state into its own territory. The taxing efforts of protecting Baden-Wurttemberg were among the many formative tasks that forged the Kunkengan military tradition. In the coming years the Kunkengan crown developed close ties with surrounding Prussian kingdoms and eventually the unified German Empire when it rose in 1871. With their help the Kunkengan army was dramatically reformed and modernized, eventually joining the world in setting its sights on Africa.

### The Golden Age of the Kingdom of Kunkenga, to the First World War and the Fall of the Kingdom (1871-1919)

Kunkenga had already made contact with the peoples of the Braka river nation (precursor to the Armed Republic of Brakaaw.) Without a navy or army of comparable size to the other major colonial powers at the time, Kunkenga initially had no intention of laying claim to any land in Africa. Rather, the kingdom decided to spend all its resources cultivating influence in the Braka River Basin with hopes of reaping its rich resources as a result. Surveyors sent to central Africa in the mid-18th century realized that the Braka river nation were the strongest of the many tribes in the area. Cultural research indicated that by the time of the country's unification in 1820, the Braka river nation had already consolidated much of the land in the area.

To further assist the Braka in the hopes of cementing an alliance, the Kunkengan Royal Army formed a unique branch in its ranks, the "Kolonialtruppen" or "colonial troops." These units were the first special branch in the nation's armed forces formed since the Karpass Guards, and were tasked with supporting the Braka as they fought to seize as much land as they could between the Braka River and the Atlantic. By 1848 the Braka and Kunkengans reached the Atlantic. The Kunkengan's garunteed the independence of the Braka nation against any external colonial forces. Andersswhal sent fresh troops to provide defenses, engineers to build infrastructure, and assisted in the formation of the first Braka government in the former headquarters of the joint Braka and Kungengan armies. But shortly after the completion of many of the cooperative projects, the First World War broke out.

With historically close ties to the German Empire, the Kingdom of Kunkenga, under the rule of Wilhelm Krom I (the great-great grandson of the king that had unified the nation), entered the First World War on behalf of the Central Powers. Despite the pleas of the public, Wilhelm mobilized many of the kingdom's institutions towards the war effort. Kunkenga engaged the Entente on both fronts of the war, and remaining colonial troops in the Braka nation fought the British and French in Africa. After the German capitulation, the crown found its prestige utterly destroyed, and with the near collapse of the government at the hands of communist and reactionary agitators, King Wilhelm abdicated the throne and the parliament abolished the monarchy. On January 2, 1919, social democrat Kristoff Hubderschmiel declared the establishment of the first Democratic Republic of Kunkenga and was selected to be the first chancellor in the nations interim legislature.

### The Dawn of the Democratic Republic and the Second World War (1925-1945)

After a few years of intense violence, the Republic of Kunkenga entered the 1920s as one of the most progressive nations on the planet. The rise of fascist political parties after the end of WWI forced the liberal parliament to side with the communist elements of the government, which had also been growing in number and popularity. This ushered in a new wave of progressive leftist policies, and blazed the trail for Kunkenga's present ideological path.

With abundant access to the resources exported by the Brakaawians, the Kunkengan economy (while not entirely protected from the grip of the great depression) was largely spared from the breadlines and rationing that afflicted their European neighbors. However when WWII began the Kunkengans were quick to turn their backs on their former German allies, largely out of moral opposition to the new government. The Nazi's excluded Kunkenga from their European expansion, but the Republic knew that their annexation would come eventually. During this time the Kunkengan government began a massive arms production program both at home and abroad with factories that even ran day and night in the jungles of Brakaaw. These weapons were provided to British colonial troops via Brakawwian outposts in East Africa and despite public indifference, the Kungengan government privately supported a joint British and Kungengan front against the Nazis in North Africa. The end of the war saw a shift in Kunkenga's foreign policy, balanced economic relations with Brakaaw were established and modern reforms were made, and the Kungenan National Army (KNA), which had gone without many needed updates since its formation in 1919. The formation of the United Nations also called for the establishment of a new diplomatic corps which was sent to assist newly liberated colonial states adjust to their newfound independence and not be preyed upon by the developing East vs West power dynamic.

### The Cold War, Modernization and Assistance to Global Leftist Movements, and A New Millennium (1945-1991) (2000-2033)

As a socialist nation, Kunkenga was unique among its neighbors in western Europe that stuck close to the United States after the war. Having been spared from much of the carnage, Kunkenga was able to focus its attention in the post-war years on radically optimizing its economy. It spearheaded a broad infrastructure program to help European nations rebuild, nowhere near the scale of the American Marshall Program, but large enough to firmly establish itself as the economic powerhouse on the continent.

The post-war years also saw Kunkenga seek to reestablish itself as the preeminent military power on the continent. In the face of American attempts to suppress leftist revolutions across the globe, Kunkenga was forced to develop closer ties with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. It was through this cooperation that Kunkenga received the technology to develop their first nuclear bomb in 1958. The Kunkengan Air Corps (KAC) was dramatically expanded in coming years to incorporate its growing nuclear arsenal into the nation's defense apparatus. KNA was also dispatched to support communist guerrilla fighters across the globe, first in the shadowy nation of Mbusui in 1961, then in Cuba in 1962.

The Kunkengan government would slowly begin to distance itself from the Soviet government in the early 1960s as their adventurism became more detached from the ideological tenets of socialism. However they continued to support leftist military movements including the Sandinistas during their revolt in the 1970s, and the MPLA during the Angolan civil war in the 1980s. After the collapse of the USSR, and the seeming failure of the global socialist experiment, the country would focus most of its military action towards international peacekeeping operations, like the oversight of the Lubumbashi Peace Agreement that ended the Brakaawian Civil War in 2000. Kunkenga's interest in maintaining leftist sympathy across the globe did not end after the fall of the USSR however, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dawn of the information age would see Kunkenga adopt more classical liberal attributes in the late 1990s, perhaps reaching its zenith with Kunkengan participation in both the NATO operation in Bosnia and Operation Desert Storm. However, after a rousing speech given by incoming Red Bloc chancellor Eric Keller at the turn of the millennium, there was a renewed faith in the socialist cause. The "Red Banner Speech" helped reignite the nation's support of internationally oppressed classes and dismantling of imperial adventurism of any kind. As such Kunkenga was one of the strongest opponents to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Exploratory Wars (or Petro-Conflicts) of the 2020s, and the Third World War in the 2030s.

### German Annexation, Kunkenga During the Third World War and Rise of the Second Democratic Republic (2033-2046)

The beginning of the Third World War saw Kunkenga take a largely similar path as the second one. Neutrality was the official line of the country, then under the administration of Red Bloc chancellor Richard Wolff. However, Germany took this neutrality as a pretext to invade the country. Their annexation was done under the pretext of concerns regarding "regional allegiance" considering Kunkenga was one of the few neutral parties in the conflict. After the invasion, Germany controlled Kunkenga as its own private fiefdom, retrofitting almost every apparatus of the state to serve the war effort on behalf of them and their allies. But after the destruction of what is now called the "Old World" Kunkenga reformed itself to pre-war status, declaring the formation of the Second Democratic Republic. Reestablishing parliament came first, then rebuilding the KAF, and finally setting out to build new relationships with the emergent powers of the post-war world. It is where we find Kunkenga today, still slowly wading through the waters of history and set on a uncertain trajectory into the future.