History of Abelden

History

Pre-Empire and the eventual establishment

In late 2012, Stephen Freayth and Elizabeth Legata started the foundations to Militarmia, the de facto predecessor of Abelden. On August 2012, Militarmia was formed and Freayth eventually became the Emperor whilst Legata became the new Prime Minister. It remained relatively low-key during its early years and did not show any presence within the MicroWiki community until late 2013.

Trystan Cline, the former Emperor of Militarmia.

Throughout its history, it remained an absolute monarchy whilst the Emperor appointed a Prime Minister, who would be responsible for the daily affairs of the government. It remained relatively peaceful for most of 2012 till 2013. Emperor Stephen abdicated in favor of Trystan Cline during April 2014 but then requested for the administration rights of the group. The new Emperor refused and handed it over to Miles of Sorrenia, who would eventually take over. At this time, the influence of Sorrenia was evident within the Empire that it had become a de facto puppet state of it. Recognising this, Stephen immediately decided to abandon Militarmia and proceed on planning a new micronation.

The original declaration of independence.

On the night of 5 June 2014, the former Emperor started planning and laying out plans for a new micronation. At 01:00 in the morning on 6 June 2014, Abelden was established. Almost all the former citizens of Militarmia became citizens of Abelden. Soon after its establishment, the Abeldane Commownealth was established and saw two new nations join it: Alenshka and the newly renamed Legabelden.

Abelden established a semi-constitutional monarchy with a unicameral parliament. The Monarch became the head of state, and the Prime Minister became the head of government along with the Emperor. Two months after its establishment, Abelden ratified its first constitution.

Legatia joined the Abeldane Commonwealth, founded by Elizabeth Grotdrot and Emperor Stephen. Grotdrot briefly disestablished Legatia, only to have it rejoin the Abeldane Commonwealth as a kingdom later on.

Reign of Rachel I to 2015 Abeldane crisis

In late summer of 2014, Stephen abdicated in favor of Rachel. He abdicated in order 'to focus on his studies and spend more of his time on real life activities' and indicated that he wouldn't return to micronationalism unless it was important. Remaining as the founder of Abelden, Stephen retained powers to be used only during coups and wars as prescribed by the constitution and thus Rachel became Empress on 24 September 2014 after signing his abdication document.

Donald of Abelden, who was Emperor of Abelden from 16 December 2014 until 25 December 2014.

There was much inactivity during Rachel's reign. From September till December, there was no activity other than people asking "why are there no activities or posts in the group?". Rachel abdicated in favor of Donald on 16 December 2014 stating her reason for abdicating was that she needed to focus on her studies. Henceforth, Donald became Emperor on 16 December 2014 at 16:13 in the evening.

Donald stated that he would remain as Emperor until Emperor Stephen comes back. The first order of Donald was to appoint a Prime Minister, Andrew Janiszewski. Emperor Donald would reign until 25 December 2014, when Emperor Stephen returned to the throne, taking the same name.

On 27 December 2014, the Kingdom of Darmania was abolished as the nation had descended into deep inactivity. All titles and all governmental positions were abolished with this effective act.

Abelden held its first general elections from 8 January 2015 until 10 January 2015 with the voting held in the group lounge of Abelden. Andrew Janiszewski won the position as Prime Minister, defeating HM King Michael I and the Duke of Pleston. The Emperor also introduced new positions, which were voted on for the first time in this election.

The second general election commenced on 28 February 2015. Duke of Pleston won the majority of positions, but at that time, an individual could only hold a maximum of three positions. Emperor Stephen appointed other citizens to the rest of the positions. The end of the elections saw the start of the 2015 Abeldane crisis.

The 2015 Abeldane crisis was a series of events that happened between 1 March 2015 until 8 March 2015. Newly elected Deputy Prime Minister Michael Thomas Brazeau was criticized for his views about opposing certain liberal ideas. The Prime Minister, Andrew Janiszewski, then started a petition on impeaching the Deputy Prime Minister and Brazeau promptly resigned as Deputy Prime Minister. A series of Prime Ministers were also appointed and the decision making of Emperor Stephen was criticized. Emperor Stephen then stepped down from the throne and enacted Act 6 (Election terms) and 7 (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) as his last decrees. On 8 March, he ended the conflicts and reappointed Andrew Janiszewski as Prime Minister again and abdicated the throne for the second time and the throne passed to Emperor Donald.

The crisis saw an increase, then decrease, in citizenship and loss of interest within the Empire. It was the first time that the reserved powers of the Emperor were ever used. Brazeau and Benjamin Norris were expelled from Abelden following the crisis. The position of Prime Minister was abolished from 4 until 5 March 2015, when the Duke of Pleston, who was the Emperor Donald, became the Prime Minister as well.

Emperor Stephen then became the Emperor of Munkkia from 6 March 2015 until 9 March 2015. The former Emperor stepped down from the throne after realising that he held dual micronational citizenship: Munkkia was exclusively for Munnkians only.

Intermediate period

Stephen I & II was the Emperor of Abelden for a third time between 24 March 2015 and 24 March 2018.

On 24 March 2015, Emperor Stephen became Emperor for the third time following the abdication of Emperor Donald. The third general election was held on 15 July 2015, with all citizens running for election. The general election saw the first use of an online voting system. A group of people were called to vote online as a test from the Imperial Government. On 4 August 2015, the Federal Republic of Demirelia joined as the fourth member of the Commonwealth, but under slightly different provisions than the other three: Demirelia was to continue as a full member of the Commonwealth for two and a half months, after which it would gain full independence.

On 7 August 2015, Emperor Stephen enacted Act 9 (Neutrality), a law that protects Abelden's neutrality in all cases. The act also describes that the Abeldane people may only declare war if the majority of the citizens agreed to do so.

A new Abeldane Constitution was enacted on 5 October 2015 after a referendum was held on the same day, with the majority of voters agreeing to the constitution. The Constitution was officially enacted and promulgated throughout the Empire and the Commonwealth through an Act of the Parliament. Llewelyn Lawton was re-elected as Vorsitzender on 24 December 2015 and Harry, Duke of Johnstown was elected as Stellvertreter for the first time. Emperor Stephen also dissolved the first Reichsversammlung and opened the second Reichsversammlung on the same day to pave way for a new government under Llewelyn Lawton.

On 24 March 2016, Emperor Stephen celebrated his Paper Jubilee, his first year of reign as Emperor of Abelden and Monarchs of the other Commonwealth nations. This was celebrated with a commemorative banknote issued by the Imperial Central Bank and a grant of personal arms by the Instürwappadel. The titles of the Abeldane Monarch were altered and peerages were granted to citizens in commemoration of the occassion.

Federalisation

In June 2016, Emperor Stephen completed perhaps the largest reform in all of Abeldane history, by annexing most of the member states of the Abeldane Commonwealth. A referendum was announced on 26 June 2016 throughout the Empire and the Commonwealth which was to be held on 30 June. The referendum ended with 92.9% in favour of a federal monarchy and 7.1% in favour of retaining a unitary state. He reformed the Empire's structure to be like that of imperial Germany. Abelden's population was greatly expanded and diversified due to this. Notable states include Sinoland and the Kingdom of Morgannwg. New federal monarchs were appointed, while some continued in their respective thrones such as Patrick Renwick as King of Demirelia and Llewelyn Lawton continuing as King of Morgannwg.

That same month, Stephen wrote a twenty-page constitution to replace the former one, due to the large changes in the empire. From late June to early July, Stephen reformed the Reichsversammlung, thus appointing a new Vorsitzender and Stellvertreter, as well as new members of parliament from each state. Emiel Hardy became Vorsitzender, and Isaac Reuel became Stellvertreter.

The Empire oversaw several changes during its federalisation, one of which was the abdication of King Dallin I as King of St. Castle because of his retirement from the micronational community. Emiel Hardy replaced him as King and Nuri van Dijk replaced Gunderson as Grand Prince of Sinoland. The regency, which had begun since September 2015, finally ended on 31 August 2016 and on its replace established the Reichsräte, the Council of State, which composed appointed members to take over the Emperor's state duties while he was away.

During the first 4 months of the federal Empire, Abelden saw 3 federal states, Glaciania, Leganisberg, and Deoter, become part of Alenshka. East Nedland seceded from the Empire on September 2016 after a referendum and request by the Prince Edward I. Abelden oversaw the creation of the Grand Principality of Teodoria as the 13th federal state, headed by Grand Prince Lars. Two more states soon joined the Empire: the Duchy of Raonheim and the Landgraviate of Satirno, thereby making up the present number of states in the Empire.

On 26 October 2016, a referendum about the Monarchy was held which asked voters if they had confidence in the Monarchy and the Emperor. The vote, which was open to registered and non-registered voters, passed easily with a majority of 90.2% in favour of supporting the Monarchy and the Emperor.

Patrick Renwick, Marquis of Bessatre, who was elected as Vorsitzender for a second term on 5 June 2017 with a landslide.

Henry Twain, who was elected as Vorsitzender on 27 February 2017 and garnered most of the seats in the Reichsversammlung, formed the first grand coalition in Abeldane history and has been a precedent to successive governments after him. Twain resigned on 29 March 2017 following his elevation as Acting Chair to the Grand Unified Micronational.

On 5 June 2017, Patrick Renwick was reelected for a second term as Vorsitzender and won the largest landslide since Horatio Eden's victory in the October 2016 general election. The election also set a record for having the largest turnout as well in Abeldane electoral history, where a turnout of 95% of the registered voters voted.

Transition to democracy

As activity continued to increase, calls for pro-democratic reform began to surface. The reform movement was spearheaded by Abeldane Social Ecology, a left-wing party which received many appointments to the Reichsversammlung following its establishment in June 2017. Abelden held its first-ever legislative elections on 20 August 2017, in which the Abeldane Social Ecology won most of the seats and votes. The legislative elections followed the single-transferable voting system and two days after, the Vorsitzender and Stellvertreter elections were held using the same system and in which Newton von Uberquie and Ava Neasa, both from the Abeldane Social Ecology, won the positions respectively. This was the first time since John Smith wherein both the two highest elected offices in the Empire both came from the same political party. Following the election, von Uberquie formed a coalition government between the Abeldane Social Ecology, the Abeldane National Party and the Independence Party and presented his cabinet appointees to the Emperor.

By December 2017, federal elections were due to occur again. There was a constitutional concern with the Elections Act, changing the voting system to a party list system. However, after a constitutional plebiscite, the elections occurred from the 15th to the 20th of December in 2017. Shiro of the newly formed United Rhinoceros Party was elected Vorsitzender and Patrick Renwick of the newly merged Abeldane National Independence Party (formerly the Abeldane National Party and Abeldane National Independence Party) was elected Stellvertreter. The election was quite controversial, as electoral fraud causing the first result of the executive election returned Newton von Uberquie incorrectly as Vorsitzender. However, this was overturned by the Reichswahlkommission which led to a revote of the Vorsitzender/Stellvertretar race. Investigations into the fraud are still ongoing, and the government has yet to name a suspect, though has confirmed that the suspect is one of the citizens of the Emperor's state of Alenshka. Soon after, on 24 December 2017, the 28th Ministry was announced, comprising of members of ANIP, URP, and NFP (as well as Tarik Karjasari of ASE).

Reign of Nicholas and inactivity

On 10 January 2018, Emperor Stephen decided to go on a long term hiatus from Abelden, and thus Nicholas Kaos, heir to the Abeldane throne was designated Prince Regent and began leading the micronation on 12 January 2018. Two months later, on 24 March, Stephen abdicated the throne, and Kaos ascended to the throne as Emperor Nicholas I. The acclamation ceremony before the Reichsversammlung for the new emperor took place later that same day.

The April General election resulted in the election of Alejandro Whyatt of the National Federalist Party to the Vorsitzendership. Shortly after the elections however, activity had plummeted to levels not seen since 2015 and the Whyatt government became known for its inactivity and inability to realize its election promises.

On the 18th of May 2018, the Landgraviate of Satirno seceded to become a federal state of the Nordkavn Federation.

In June 2018, following a period of personal and national inactivity, Emperor Nicholas announced his intention to abdicate in favor of the then-Prince Regent Newton, who was first in line. On 16 June 2018, Newton officially ascended to the throne as Emperor Newton I. Among his first actions were declaring a snap election on June 21, and appointing the former Emperor Stephen, who had returned to Abeldane politics, Ervecysarich and first in line to the throne.

Reign of Newton

Following Emperor Nicholas’ abdication, Ervecysarich Newton acceded to the throne as the second monarch after Nicholas to not come from one of the three founding houses. The snap election on June 21 was one of his first acts as emperor, together with his appointment of former Emperor Stephen to the position of Ervecysarich and heir to the throne.

Tarik Kârjasary, elected Vorsitzender in December 2018, oversaw major reforms government reform.

Freayth ran for the Vorsitzendership under the Die Rechte (the renamed National Federalist Party) ticket, winning handily with 91,3% of the vote against Ava Neasa, running for Abeldane Social Ecology. Max Pollack, also of Die Rechte ran unopposed for the Stellvertretership. In the legislative elections, Die Rechte won all 4 seats up for election and secured a total of 10 of the 16 seats in the Reichsversammlung. Using this majority, Freayth was able to form the first single-party government in Abelden since the Second West Ministry, the very first Abeldane government, formed in March 2015.

Following the election the Freayth government instituted a number of reforms, the most significant being the enactment of a new constitution in September 2018 and the repealing of nearly all previous Abeldane laws bar a few, and the consolidation of Abeldane law into new new Code of Abelden. The number of federal states were slashed in half, reduced from 10 to 5, with states states being merged.

On August 2018, Abelden became a founding member of the Konmalehth, an organisation whose aim is to promote a close relationship between its members through cultural and economical means. It was also joined by Pacem, a long time ally of Abelden, Legatia and Uberquiesenberg. Other such as Sabia and Verona and Atovia would also soon join.

Tarik Kârjasary of Abeldane Social Ecology was elected Vorsitzender in the December 2018 elections as Freayth did not run for a third term. This was also the last election where the executive and legislative elections were held simultaneously. The Kârjasary government was a grand coalition consisting of Social Ecology, Die Rechte and the Liberty Front and achieved important reform such as the institution of term limits and the staggering of legislative and executive elections every half year.

The March 2019 executive election would see Kârjasary, who did not run for re-election, replaced as Vorsitzender by Edward Daniels of the Liberty Front. He formed a coalition government with Die Rechte. Dsniels was re-elected in the September 2019 elections, continuing with his coalition government. This election would also see Die Rechte renamed to Populares.