Mittelrijk

Mittelrijk is a kingdom south of Conoilith and north of Virgandia, dominating and occupying the majority of the Middle-Lands. Although overshadowed by its northern neighbour, the Conoilithian Empire for much of its history, Mittelrijk is nevertheless a wealthy, powerful and proud rival to Conoilith. Initially a confederation of independent nobles and their territories, Mittelrijk grew throughout its history from a vassal of Conoilith to one of the strongest factions in the continent of Eithlith.

### **TERRITORY AND GEOGRAPHY**

Mittelrijk's landscape is quite diverse, but is nevertheless made up largely of grassland and deciduous forests, with relatively gentle and low-lying hills and very fertile farmland. It is in these areas where the majority of the population lives. In the north-western part of the country, near the border with Conoilith, the landscape gets more hilly, although the land directly marking the border is a valley. Here, between the hills of Mittelrijk and Conoilith, the Bren River runs through the Normark Valley; which regularly floods, due to runoff from the uplands on either side of the border.

The western coast of Mittelrijk was once made up largely of low-lying wetlands, which have been drained over time by the Kingdom of Mittelrijk with canals and dams.

### **PLACES OF NOTE**

**KARLERBURG**

Karlerburg is the capital city of Mittelrijk. Originally consisting of the Duke of Karlerburg's castle and the small town around it, it grew into one of the most densely populated cities in Eithlith. As Mittelrijk's seat of power, Karlerburg is the site of many of Mittelrijk's more famous architectural works, such as the Royal Palace and the Royal Opera House.

**SUDHAM**

Sudham is the second largest city in Mittelrijk, sitting on the western coast. It was built on top of the marsh there, which throughout the years had been dammed with the land reclaimed.

### **HISTORY**

#### **FOUNDING**

The lands now part of Mittelrijk were once separate, fragemented and completely independent counties and duchies ruled by local nobles. These factions would often fight in skirmishes with each other, until the Treaty of Sudham in 2080 was signed, establishing a common set of laws and a non-aggression pact among the nobles. The Middle-Lands would however still remain disunited, until, with the Kingdom of Conoilith's rise to power in the north, and the recognition of the threat which the Virgandian Empire posed in the south, they came together to form the Confederation of Mittelrijk. Their fears would be proven to be correct, as the Virgandian Empire attempted to annex territory belonging to the southern nobles in 2124. However, now united, Mittelrijk was able to defeat the Virgandian army at the Battle of Grenberg. The Duke of Karlerburg, who led the forces of Mittelrijk against the Virgandians, was quickly hailed as a strong leader among the nobles of Mittelrijk, and was crowned King that year, officially establishing the Kingdom of Mittelrijk. This event coincided with the death of Emperor Balos II, who had ordered the Virgandian invasion of Mittelrijk; Balos' son had no interest in continuing Virgandia's expansion northwards, and Mittelrijk was left in peace.

#### **THE 2850 COUP**

In the year 2848, dissatisfied with Mittelrijk's relationship with Conoilith as a simple buffer and tributary state, a movement began forming among the nobles and military officers of Mittelrijk, along with some zealous members of the public. The 'Mittelrijkian Rejuvenation Movement' (MRM) called for a strong, independent and patriotic Mittelrijk, which would break loose from Conoilith's sphere of influence, and form a military powerful enough to resist the will of their northern neighbour. Prince Gustaf III, King Henrik IV's younger brother, was persuaded to join this movement, becoming its figurehead, and they quickly began plotting a coup to seize power. In 2850, members of the Mittelrijkian Rejuvenation Movement marched on the capital, and held rallies and started riots outside the Royal Palace. When the palace guards were deployed to stop the rioters, the army, now firmly supportive of the MRM, turned on the King and his guards, along with anybody who opposed them; fighting broke out in the city between the MRM and those loyal to King Henrik, which lasted for a full 3 days. In the end, the Royal Palace was stormed by the MRM, and Henrik IV was exiled, with Gustaf III becoming king in his stead.

#### **SECOND WAR AGAINST VIRGANDIA**

In 2854, when the Second Virgandian Empire was founded, Emperor Balos V began another invasion against Mittelrijk. The Virgandians hoped to capture some of Mittelrijk's southernmost border territories, which had originally been part of the Virgandia, and were occupied by Mittelrijk when the First Virgandian Empire collapsed. However, as soon as it became apparent that the Virgandians were intending to mobilise their army to the border, Gustaf III quickly mobilised his forces, and started the war pre-emptively while their southern neighbour was still mustering their troops. As a result, the Virgandians were completely caught off guard when thousands of Mittelrijkian troops rushed over the border into the south at the beginning of spring, quickly capturing forts and villages along the frontier. The Mittelrijkian forces blazed a trail through the Virgandian countryside, moving extremely quickly with little rest, until the summer came, when the hot Virgandian climate took its toll on their hard-pressed troops.

Nevertheless, the Mittelrijkian troops were advancing dangerously close to Virgandia's major cities; however, by now, the Virgandian forces had mustered in sufficient numbers, and were able to halt the Mittelrijkian advance with the usage of heavy artillery, inflicting serious casualties. Eventually, Mittelrijkian units were forced to withdraw back to the border as the full power of the Second Virgandian Empire's military was finally brought against them. Spooked by the high quality of Mittelrijk's army, however, and making the correct assumption that by now a Mittelrijkian force many times larger than the one which started the invasion had been assembled on the border, Balos V chose not to continue the war, and by winter, peace had been restored. Although the war was a short one, throughout its course, Mittelrijk would show its potential as a military power.

#### **INDUSTRIALISATION**

Aware of its position surrounded by two larger powers, which were vastly greater in size than Mittelrijk, there was a push to maximise the efficiency of what Mittelrijk could produce with its territory. As a result, Mittelrijk became a hotspot of industrialisation in Eithlith, industrialising faster than both of its imperial neighbours. Although they had less raw materials at their disposal than the Conoilithian Empire, the Mittelrijkians proved to be ingenious and talented metalworkers, producing some of the strongest steel in the world within their foundries to compensate for their lack of iron compared to Conoilith. The Mittelrijkians pioneered technological advances for much of the century, developing large observation balloons, torpedoes and submarines for their military, and inventing the automobile, along with wireless radio communication and electrical trams. With conscription and advances in its military technology, Mittelrijk was able to field a large and relatively powerful army for its size.

#### **ATTEMPTS AT COLONIALISATION**

Confident with its miiitary power, and therefore its ability to easily fight its way through more vulnerable and less technologically advanced countries, the Kingdom of Mittelrijk made forays into colonialism in the 2870s.

#### **THE CONOILITHIAN-MITTELRIJKIAN WAR**

After several border skirmishes in the north, along with the Mittelrijkian navy beginning to assert their dominance over traditionally Conoilithian-dominated trade waters, tensions rose between the Kingdom of Mittelrijk and the Conoilithian Empire. In 2912, an attempt on the Conoilithian Emperor's life was traced back to Arjentrian rebels, who were allegedly found to be funded and supplied with Mittelrijkian weapons and money. Although Mittelrijk denied its involvement in Arjentrian terrorist activities, Gustaf VI's public support of the Arjentrian ethnicity against oppression by the Conoilithians further strained relations. Eventually, after a second failed attempt on the Emperor's life, and by now convinced that Mittelrijk was plotting and preparing its downfall, the Conoilithian Empire declared war on Mittelrijk in 2913, starting the Conoilithian-Mittelrijkian War.

As they had done against Virgandia in 2854, the Mittelrijkian army mobilised much faster than the Conoilithians anticipated; once more, Mittelrijk was well-prepared and practically waiting for war to be declared. Only a day after the declaration of war, after massing on the southern side of the Normark Valley during the night, 3 Mittelrijkian frontier regiments crossed the Bren River at dawn, and quickly broke through the Conoilithian border, invading their imperial neighbour. However, these regiments quickly found themselves overextended and too thinly spread out as they moved further northwards, and soon were defeated by vastly numerically superior Imperial Conoilithian troops, ending up back at the Bren River where they had started after heavy losses.

Conoilithian forces soon amassed for a counteroffensive; however, this process was slowed down by their heavier artillery pieces and the arrival of other logistical necessities. By the time Conoilithian troops charged into the valley, the Mittelrijkians had already dug trenches and machine-gun nests, and set up barbed wire, inflicting serious losses on the attackers, who continued hurling wave upon wave of soldiers towards the defenders, until eventually the Mittelrijkians were overpowered and their trenches overrun.