Confederate States of America

CSA Flag

United States Flag

Confederate States at Greatest Extent prior to Treaty of Albany

The Confederate States of America, often abbreviated as CSA, is a military union of states acting as a replacement for the destroyed Federal Government in the Southeast United States. The largest unified set of states past the Great Collapse, the CSA serves to restore the United States back to the original fifty states prior to the Jinanvirus.

Following the collapse of the Federal Government, lead military officials and many government leaders who had not been sought out and executed by Seaboard joined in secret. In their efforts to restore central power quickly and effectively, the Confederate States of America was initiated in Norfolk, Virginia. The influence quickly spread to Richmond and much of the rural regions of the state, before efforts to centralize began once more. The CSA was created with the sole intention to recover the United States of America, particularly in fear that other nations might use the opportunity to take advantage.

## Inception

Following the final collapse of the Federal Government in July, 2018, the US was without leadership. In Norfolk, Virginia, many remaining military officers began to take measures to reinforce Norfolk as a beacon of order in a post-Jinan country. Codenamed Operation Tampere Heights, the goal of the military leaders was to restore cohesion in the United States in a timely manner and do so in a way that stopped something like the Great Collapse from occurring again.

The military leaders of the early CSA believed a lack of Communism, Anarchism, and other forms of leftist philosophy among youth to be a major reason for the country's fall in the Great Collapse. On top of this, it was also cited that a lack of faith and Christianity in the country made recovery difficult.

In 2018, the CSA started to grow by hoarding federal reserves of food, oil, and other resources, and strategically withholding them or distributing them in ways that helped legitimize their power. The CSA military commanders also understood that their reserves, if spread among the southeast, would only last a couple of months at most. Because of this, CSA leadership sought to locate persons of high value, particularly those with skillsets that made them a worthwhile investment. Those who were found and transported back to Norfolk were guaranteed food, shelter and safety, along with their immediate families. All others, at first, were left to fend for themselves.

## Spread of the Confederacy

In 2019, the CSA began to experience a rapid growth. This was mostly attributed to the desperation of the neighboring regions. Virginia and North Carolina were first unified, being tied into a power and communications grid. Surrounding cities and counties, without infrastructure and resources, looked to the CSA for help. The Confederacy proceeded to ration and distribute their resource reserves to certain areas, as long as they became net-positive producers for the territory.

In Tennessee and Georgia, many autonomous regions began, many of which who traded with and supplied one another. Seeing these autonomous zones as a threat, the Confederacy began to blockade trade routes and seize shipments, requiring licenses for any transports despite the territory being debated. With supply lines shattered, most of the recovering counties and cities in these zones lost their autonomy. Most were forced to join the CSA due to this, being supplied the bare minimum of requested resources. As like before, the trade was honored so as long as incorporated territories were generating a net-positive in terms of exports, effectively acting as taxes.

By the fall of 2019, the CSA began attempts to expand northward. They saw danger in Seaboard and their territories, fearing they might overpower and absorb the Harrisburg Committee, both being considered illegitimate territories by Confederate authority. However, the Confederacy had begun to deplete their major oil reserves, which meant most of their military power was being depleted and couldn't be mobilized. As an emissary, the CSA sent Douglas Haynes to Cleveland, Ohio, with the intention of brokering relations with both the Harrisburg Committee and the Great Lake territories. The latter was immediately deemed non-viable as Haynes began interactions by engaging with their air units, helping defend Harrisburg-controlled Cleveland. CSA leadership still saw value in Pennsylvania, hoping to find a way to incorporate it into their own union. However, this proved to be difficult. The Harrisburg Committee was operated on a system of governance that conflicted with the Confederacy's, and without control of the surrounding regions, they had no way of holding supplies or resources at ransom. Instead, the Confederacy decided it was best to support them for the time being and keep them as a buffer zone to prevent Seaboard spread and contact with their own border in Virginia.

## Interactions with other Territories

After the Battle of Harrisburg, many of the counties in the Harrisburg Committee were absorbed into Seaboard's territories, being controlled locally by Levi Sherman Frazier. The Confederacy considered pushing northward and invading the territory, but it was quickly determined that they did not have the power to overcome Seaboard's limited presence, especially while dealing with their own internal power and resource struggles.

Fearing the spread of Seaboard's ideology, and potential fall of territory to their expansion, a few measures were taken. Firstly, Grand General Melvin Hill, the leader of the CSA, reached out to Seaboard's General Sherman to peruse a non-aggression pact. Sherman and Hill met in Hagerstown, Maryland, where they made concessions with one another. It limited their expansion to the 39th and 40th parallelly north, also known as the Mason-Dixon line. The two agreed not to disrupt eithers trade in their respective latitudes.

Secondly, new legislation under the CSA's martial law was formed to limited Seaboard-aligned ideology. Literary works related to far-left ideologies were banned and destroyed, and citizens aligning with such principles began to be victimized, especially after avenues to report them were created. This effectively created another red-scare, although it was far more dangerous due to the military-controlled government ruling under martial law.

## Confederate Armed Forces

Salvaged from the United States Armed Forces, the Confederate Armed Forces were the military forces of the Confederate States of America. Almost identical to their predecessors, the Confederate Armed Forces were vastly funded and had a more prominent role in government positions, as well as policing.

### Commander in Chief

The Commander in Chief of the Confederate Military is the president, and during the events of the Seaboard Element, CSA President DeAngelis.

### Chief of the Army

The Confederate Army Chief of Staff is the commander of the CSA armed forces. The position was held by Arnold McGrath.