Vostok

Vostok is a Secondary Nation owned by Zarexian Mapper, created as the Imperial Republic of Vladimirastok by LoveSeal.

Vostok (Russian: Восток), officially the Grand Duchy of Vostok (Russian: Великое княжество Восточное, tr. Velikoye knyazhestvo Vostochnoye), is a transcontinental country located in Northeastern Asia and Northwestern part of North America. Since Vostok’s declaration of independence in 1927, it has been often referred to as East Siberia. It is bordered by Canada to the east,  Russia to the west, the  United States to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with  Japan to the south.

Covering an area of 4,665,894 square kilometres (1,801,512 sq mi), it is the eighth-largest country in the world by area, the sixth largest in America and the fourth largest in Asia. Vostok has 1,837,772 inhabitants and and its capital is Magadan.

Vostok is a democratic sovereign state, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Russian is the official language, however 13 languages are listed as recoginzed regional languages of Indigenous tribes. Vostok is a unitary state, divided into 7 administrative divisions, of which 6 are provinces and one is the capital city.

After World War II Vladimir Kirillovich from the House of Romanov was installed as Grand Duke of Vostok, who claimed all territories of the Russian Empire. It was only after the 1995 constitutional reform, demoting the monarch to a ceremonial figure, followed by the Constituent Assembly to denounce the royal claims, with the exception of Alaska, which it believed had been illegally annexed by the United States. Vostok is a member of the United Nations and WTO.

Etymology
The name Vostok is derived from the Russian language meaning East. When Vostok was founded, the intention was never to maintain the state in the long term. Likewise, the residents did not see themselves as Vostokers, but as Russians. The name Vostok was chosen because the nation viewed itself only as the eastern part of the Russian Empire.

Russian exploration and settlement
Siberia became interesting after Tsar Ivan the Terrible authorized the powerful Strogonav family to set up trading posts in Siberia in 1558. Cossacks were hired as mercenaries to protect these posts. Peoples such as the Siberian Tatars who tried to harass these outposts were attacked and subjugated by the Cossacks.

In 1579, Yermak led an expedition to conquer Siberia. After years of fighting against the Tatars he was able to gain a tenuous hold in the region.

Several decades later Russia arrived in the area later generations would refer to as Vostok. Similar to the American West, settlers were lured with free land to populate the conquered areas. It was not easy to get there, since you mainly got around by riverboats, on horseback or by sledge. Many indigenous tribes have been weakened by smallpox and other diseases brought in by the Russian settlers.

Russian Empire
Of all the territories Russia conquered, Vostok had the least value. There was no infrastructure beyond the Lena, settlers had to reckon with harsh winters, which meant that many who were in Vostok could only stay over the summer months, so the Tsar couldn't even send political opponents there. In the end, the area was so insignificant that Russia even wanted to sell Alaska to the  United States. However, due to disagreement, this sale never took place.

Russian Civil War
By the time of the revolution Vostok was an agricultural region of Russia, with weak entrepreneur and industrial classes. The intelligentsia had vague political ideas. Only 10% of the region's population lived in the cities and possessed some political knowledge. The lack of strong social differences and scarcity of urban population and intellectuals led to the uniting of formally different political parties under ideas of regionalism.

In 1920 the civil war was as good as decided. In the final months of 1919 the Bolsheviks launched a major offensive on Siberia and captured large parts of Russia. The White Army withdrew beyond the Lena. For a long time it looked as if nothing would stop the Bolsheviks, but through a decisive offensive on the European front they decided to stop at the Lena.

After a major attack on European countries, including Poland and  Ukraine, these countries united and formed the  Second Commonwealth. This country has also allied itself with the Baltic States, Finland and the Caucasians and formed the Intermarium League. Intermarium has recognized how much the Bolsheviks have weakened themselves from major attacks in the west. These countries are now taking advantage of this and attacked Russia. Suddenly important cities like Petrograd, Moscow and Tsaritsyn were in danger. The Bolsheviks were forced to stop their offensive in Siberia and sent troops west.

It took the Bolsheviks two years to get the situation in Europe under control. This has given the White Army enough time to secure the front lines to the Lena. The Red Army would have to go through mined terrain to take the Far East. Lenin wanted to have the strategically important city of Vladivostok under control in order to have access to the Pacific Ocean. Vostok itself was not relevant because of the non-existent infrastructure. Of the troops that were sent to Siberia, only 23% landed on the Vostok front, while the remainder had the task of taking Vladivostok.

While the Bolsheviks broke through with a lot of pressure in the south, the  White Army was able to hold their ground in Vostok. On 23rd August, 1922 a battle began near Yakutsk. The Red Army tried desperately to get over the Lena. The offensive lasted a week and killed over 70,000 people. After that, the newly founded Soviet Union only tried small offensives held by the opponents who now called themselves  Free Russia. On 9th March, 1923, an armistice was finally signed which effectively ended the civil war. A peace treaty between the two parties never was signed.

Declaration of independence
As soon as the armistice was signed, the first crisis had to be overcome. The rest of Russia, which is now completely occupied by the Soviet Union, cracked down on opponents of the regime (just like Free Russia itself). Only a few were able to flee and those who could emigrated to unoccupied Russia. In the end, Free Russia experienced a population growth of 300,000 between 1923 and 1927. The military government declared the end of the civil war to be hour zero of the new state. Every available workforce was now used to build the infrastructure and new settlements so the state could be made functional.

Another problem is that after the civil war no one was interested in Russia and what became of it. Although Vostok enjoyed mostly international recognition, there was no guarantee that it would last long or that the Soviet Union would accept the truce for long. Meanwhile, Stalin secured absolute power in the Soviet Union. In Vostok the politicans were concerned he would also destroy his opposition outside his borders. The then head of government Anton Denikin proposed to declare independence from the Russian State so the Red Army would invade a foreign country if they attacked. The idea enjoyed great popularity in parliament and in a vote 71% of parliament voted for a declaration of independence. Independence was officially proclaimed on 23th May, 1927. The Grand Duchy of Vostok was born.

Modern Vostoker movies usually depict the early history of their country a heroic event. The country was faced with unsolvable duties. It already started with the constitution. Vostok chose to become a constitutional monarchy. However Kirill Vladimirovich from the House of Romanov refused the Vostoker throne because the Romanovs intended to rule over Russia and not over a country at the end of the world. Next, the Great Depression broke out. Until then, the country's construction projects were financed through loans from abroad, but the crisis made the country insolvent just two years after it was established. Vostok also failed to restore peace with the Soviet Union. Moscow tolerated Vostok as a country, but did not recognize it, and Soviet soldiers permanently patrolled the border.

Soviet annexation
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Restoration
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Modern history
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Geography
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Biodiversity
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Climate
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Politics
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Administrative divisions
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Foreign relations
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Mapperdonian relations
Vostok is allied to 6 Mapperdonian nations:

Military
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Economy
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Infrastructure
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Ethnic groups
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Language
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Education and science
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Health
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Culture
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