England

England is an imperial state in the European Empire, comprising of the countries of England and Wales. Scotland and Ireland were part of the state when it joined the Empire, but later seceded after the War of Scottish and Irish Independence in 1862.

The capital of England is London.

England was reached by Kaiserbahn via the Channel Tunnel as a part of the Bronze stage and further expanded into as part of the Copper stage.

## History

### Pre-Statehood

Before being a state, the territories were ruled over by the Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, who was also the Monarch of the Royal Netherlands. The British and Dutch thrones were united after the invasion of William of Orange, who later ruled as King William III with his wife Queen Mary II, until their daughter, Queen Beatrice, inherited both throne in her own right and ruled the two nations as separate kingdoms with a united foreign policy.

### Succession Crisis

In early 1848, Queen Beatrice's health began to decline, after her only surviving child, Prince Charles, died of yellow fever on an expedition to the colonies. As her health continued to falter, the British government began to worry for the possibility of an invasion by the Queen's grandfather's son from his marriage. However, under closer inspection, it was revealed that, if taken completely literally and not allowing for any converts, the succession laws of Britain dictated that the next inline to the throne was Emperor Maximilian I of Europe.

The revelation led to a lot of trouble in Britain, and an act of parliament was attempt to be passed to bar Emperor Maximilian from taking the throne and subsuming the kingdom into his own. However, before the law could be passed, Queen Beatrice died, so the law could not receive ascent. Hence, the Emperor was the next in line, and quickly marshaled his armies to defend his right to the throne.

Emperor Maximilian sailed to London the day he received news of Queen Beatrice's death, having already prepared to take the throne, and demanded to be crowned King of Great Britain. Parliament had little choice, especially with the armies of Europe waiting for them, and so they crowned him. And because the King controlled foreign policy, he was allowed to bring his armies into the country and quashed any anti-imperial rebellions.

Over the course of the next two years, the kingdom was slowly imperialised, with the Emperor appointing ministers and rigging elections to add pro-imperial ranks to the British parliament. In 1850, a vote was held, and parliament voted to become a state of the European Franco-German Empire, rather than remaining an increasingly less relevant semi-independent country.

### War of Scottish and Irish Independence

In the years following statehood, unrest continued to grow in the Scottish and Irish regions of the British state, eventually culminating in an agreement between the Scottish and Irish assemblies of mutual support in any wars of independence.

Scotland were the first to declare their independence, with King James VIII as their king, who would have been King of Great Britain if he had been born protestant rather than Catholic, even though he had converted. Ireland followed suit two days later, pledging support to Scotland to form an independent kingdom together.

However, lacking the manpower and industrial capacity to wage war against the Empire, the war was one less of battles and more of attacks. The guerilla fighting went on for ten years, with the Empire imposing heavy restrictions on the region.

However, after ten years of no gains on either side but no reprieve from the freedom fighters, the Empire was presented with a decision. To either intensity their attacks and pressure the Scottish and Irish into an uneasy surrender, or to yield the territory which was worth very little to them in anything but prestige. And given how much the war had cost the Empire, the decision was made to cut the regions free.

Scotland and Ireland were allowed to become the independent Kingdom of the Scottish and Irish, and the Empire washed their hands of any responsibilities in the region.

### Post-Partition Boom

With the War of Independence over and the subsequent First Franco-Russian War drawing much of the European army away from England, the state was allowed to recover from the decade of fighting with little imperial oversight. The state began to boom once again, becoming a centre for culture, technology, and learning.