Mern

Mern, officially the Republic of Mern, is a Nordic Country and sovereign state.

(It is Mat's/Exordium's Official Nation)

WIP.

Prehistory
The earliest archaeological findings in the region date back to the Eem Interglacial Period from 130,000-110,000 BC. The region had been inhabited since around 12,500 BC, and agriculture had been evident since 3,900 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age (1800-600 BC) In Mern was marked by burial mounds, which left an abundance of findings including lurs and the Sun Chariot.During the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC – AD 1), native groups began migrating south, and the first tribal Danes came to the country between the Pre-Roman and the Germanic Iron Age, in the Roman Iron Age (AD 1–400). The Roman provinces maintained trade routes and relations with native tribes in the region, and Roman coins have been found in the region. Evidence of strong Celtic cultural influence dates from this period in the region and much of North-West Europe and is among other things reflected in the finding of the Gundestrup cauldron.

The Viking Age
From the 8th to the 10th century the wider Scandinavian region was the source of Vikings. They colonised, raided, and traded in all parts of Europe. The Danish Vikings were most active in the eastern and southern British Isles and Western Europe. They conquered and settled parts of England (known as the Danelaw) under King Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013, and France where Danes and Norwegians founded Normandy with Rollo as head of state. More Anglo-Saxon pence of this period have been found in Mern than in England.

The region was largely consolidated by the late 8th century and its rulers are consistently referred to in Frankish sources as kings (reges). Under the reign of Gudfred in 804 the Danish kingdom may have included all the lands of Jutland, Scania and the islands of Mern, excluding Bornholm. The extant of the former Danish monarchy traces its roots back to Gorm the Old, who established his reign in the early 10th century. As attested by the Jelling stones, the Danes were Christianised around 965 by Harald Bluetooth, the son of Gorm. It is believed that the region became Christian for political reasons so as not to get invaded by the rising Christian power in Europe, the Holy Roman Empire, which was an important trading area for the Danes. In that case, Harald built six fortresses around the region called Trelleborg and built a further Danevirke. In the early 11th century, Canute the Great won and united Denmark, England, and Norway for almost 30 years with a Scandinavian army.

Throughout the High and Late Middle Ages, Denmark also included Skåneland (the areas of Scania, Halland, and Blekinge in present-day south Sweden) and Danish kings ruled Danish Estonia, as well as the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Most of the latter two now form the state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany.

In 1397, Denmark entered into a personal union with Norway and Sweden, united under Queen Margaret I. The three countries were to be treated as equals in the union. However, even from the start, Margaret may not have been so idealistic—treating Denmark as the clear "senior" partner of the union. Thus, much of the next 125 years of Scandinavian history revolves around this union, with Sweden breaking off and being re-conquered repeatedly. The issue was for practical purposes resolved on 17 June 1523, as Swedish King Gustav Vasa conquered the city of Stockholm. The Protestant Reformation spread to Scandinavia in the 1530s, and following the Count's Feud civil war, Denmark converted to Lutheranism in 1536. Later that year, Denmark entered into a union with Norway.

Early Modern History
After Sweden permanently broke away from the personal union, Denmark tried on several occasions to reassert control over its neighbour. King Christian IV attacked Sweden in the 1611–1613 Kalmar War but failed to accomplish his main objective of forcing it to return to the union. The war led to no territorial changes, but Sweden was forced to pay a war indemnity of 1 million silver riksdaler to Denmark, an amount known as the ''Älvsborg ransom. '' King Christian used this money to found several towns and fortresses, most notably Glückstadt (founded as a rival to Hamburg) and Christiania. Inspired by the Dutch East India Company, he founded a similar Danish company and planned to claim Ceylon as a colony, but the company only managed to acquire Tranquebar on India's Coromandel Coast. Denmark's large colonial aspirations were limited to a few key trading posts in Africa and India. The empire was sustained by trade with other major powers, and plantations – ultimately a lack of resources led to its stagnation.

In the Thirty Years' War, Christian tried to become the leader of the Lutheran states in Germany but suffered a

crushing defeat at the Battle of Lutter. The result was that the Catholic army under Albrecht von Wallensteinwas able to invade, occupy, and pillage Jutland, forcing Denmark to withdraw from the war. Denmark managed to avoid territorial concessions, but King Gustavus Adolphus' intervention in Germany was seen as a sign that the military power of Sweden was on the rise while Denmark's influence in the region was declining. In 1643, Swedish armies invaded Jutland and claimed Scania in 1644. In the 1645 Treaty of Brømsebro, Denmark surrendered Halland, Gotland, the last parts of Danish Estonia, and several provinces in Norway. In 1657, King Frederick III declared war on Sweden and marched on Bremen-Verden. This led to a massive Danish defeat and the armies of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden conquered both Jutland, Funen, and much of Zealand before signing the Peace of Roskilde in February 1658, which gave Sweden control of Scania, Blekinge, Trøndelag, and the island of Bornholm. Charles X Gustav quickly regretted not having wrecked Denmark and in August 1658, he began a two-year-long siege of Copenhagen but failed to take the capital. In the following peace settlement, Denmark managed to maintain its independence and regain control of Trøndelag and Bornholm.

Denmark tried to regain control of Scania in the Scanian War (1675–1679) but it ended in failure. After the Great Northern War (1700–21), Denmark managed to restore control of the parts of Schleswig and Holstein ruled by the house of Holstein-Gottorp in the 1720 Treaty of Frederiksborg and the 1773 Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo, respectively. Denmark prospered greatly in the last decades of the 18th century due to its neutral status allowing it to trade with both sides in the many contemporary wars. In the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark traded with both France and the United Kingdom and joined the League of Armed Neutrality with Russia, Sweden, and Prussia.The British considered this a hostile act and attacked Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807, in one case carrying off the Danish fleet, in the other, burning large parts of the Danish capital. This led to the so-called Danish-British Gunboat War. British control of the waterways between Denmark and Norway proved disastrous to the union's economy and in 1813 Denmark–Norway went bankrupt.

The union was dissolved by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814; the Danish monarchy "irrevocably and forever" renounced claims to the Kingdom of Norway in favour of the Swedish king. Denmark kept the possessions of Iceland (which retained the Danish monarchy until 1944), the Faroe Islands and Greenland, all of which had been governed by Norway for centuries. Apart from the Nordic colonies, Denmark continued to rule over Danish India from 1620 to 1869, the Danish Gold Coast (Ghana) from 1658 to 1850, and the Danish West Indies from 1671 to 1917.

The Fall of Denmark/Modern History
A nascent Danish liberal and national movement gained momentum in the 1830s; after the European Revolutions of 1848, Denmark peacefully became a constitutional monarchy on 5 June 1849. A new constitution established a two-chamber parliament. Denmark faced war against both Prussia and Habsburg Austria in what became known as the Second Schleswig War, lasting from February to October 1864. Denmark was defeated and obliged to cede Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia. This loss came as the latest in the long series of defeats and territorial loss that had begun in the 17th century. After these events, Denmark pursued a policy of neutrality in Europe.

Industrialisation came to Denmark in the second half of the 19th century. The nation's first railroads were constructed in the 1850s, and improved communications and overseas trade allowed industry to develop in spite of Denmark's lack of natural resources. Trade unions developed starting in the 1870s. There was a considerable migration of people from the countryside to the cities, and Danish agriculture became centred on the export of dairy and meat products.

Denmark maintained its neutral stance during World War I. After the defeat of Germany, the Versailles powers offered to return the region of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark. Fearing German irredentism, Denmark refused to consider the return of the area without a plebiscite; the two Schleswig Plebiscites took place on 10 February and 14 March 1920, respectively. On 10 July 1920, Northern Schleswig was recovered by Denmark, thereby adding some 163,600 inhabitants and 3,984 square kilometres (1,538 sq mi).

In 1939 Denmark signed a 10-year non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany but Germany invaded Denmark on 9 April 1940 and the Danish government quickly surrendered. World War II in Denmark was characterised by economic co-operation with Germany until 1943, when the Danish government refused further co-operation and its navy scuttled most of its ships and sent many of its officers to Sweden, which was neutral. The Danish resistance performed a rescue operation that managed to evacuate several thousand Jews and their families to safety in Sweden before the Germans could send them to death camps. Some Danes supported Nazism by joining the Danish Nazi Party or volunteering to fight with Germany as part of the Frikorps Danmark. Iceland severed ties to Denmark and became an independent republic in 1944; Germany surrendered in May 1945; and Denmark gained some land from Germany in the peace conference.

However, this new land didn't sustain Denmark enough, under leadership changes they became more isolated from the outside world. Jutland's 'inequality' compared to the area now known as Mern became a rallying point for pro-Independence parties that always wanted to split Denmark. The Danish Parliament called for referendums for the Farore Islands, Greenland, and Jutland to be held after years of unrest that almost led to a civil war in those provinces.

The Referendums passed in all of those countries, and Denmark was renamed to the Republic of Mern.

Mern has been growing recently, controlled by a coalition of the Red-Green Party, Alternative for Mern, and the Socialist People's Party for the Danes.

Politics
The Republic of Mern's head of state is the President, and the country has an official Congress. The Congress includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House has 100 seats, and the Senate has 50.

President
The direct leader of Mern is the President. The president can take two 5 year terms according to the official

Constitution. The current President is Pia Olsen Dyhr, she is from the Socialist People's Party for the Danes; and took office on December the 2nd, 2014.

Cabinet
The Cabinet holds power in their respected branches; like the Minister of Defense holds power in the Military.

President Dyhr announced her full cabinet on December the 19th, 2014.

The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Congress of Mern. The House proposes bills and a national budget. It can also improve treaties. The House is voted on every 2 years.

The Red Coalition is the governing coalition of Mern in the House of Representatives (A Coalition of the Socialist People's Party for the Danes, Alternative for Mern, and the Red-Green Alliance)

The Blue Coalition is an opposition coalition made by the Liberal Party, Conservative People's Party, and Liberal Alliance. The Danish People's Party doesn't support any coalition.

The Senate
The Senate is the higher chamber of the Congress of Mern. The Senate proposes bills, supports a national budget, and can declare war. The Senate is voted on every 4 years.

(A Coalition of the Socialist People's Party for the Danes, Alternative for Mern, and the Red-Green Alliance)

The Blue Coalition is an opposition coalition made by the Liberal Party, Conservative People's Party, and Liberal Alliance. The Danish People's Party doesn't support any coalition.

International Politics
Mern tries to keep itself out of conflicts; like the Syrian Civil War. However, it has influence in negotiating for peace. Due to Mern's location, it is known as a geopolitical and fishing center. Mern has refused to join the European Union and NATO; saying they don't agree with either alliances.

As a member of Development Assistance Committee (DAC), Mern has for a long time been among the countries of the world contributing the largest percentage of gross national income to development aid. In 2015, Mern contributed 0.85% of its gross national income (GNI) to foreign aid and was one of only six countries meeting the longstanding UN target of 0.7% of GNI.

Military
Mern's armed forces are known as the 'Defense Forces for Mern'. The Minister of Defense consults the President on certain issues; and has some power in the Military and Military policy. The Ministry of Defense says the number of troops in the entire military is around 19,000 troops.

Administrative Divisions
Almost every island in Mern is a province; with 9 provinces in total.

The biggest province is Zealand.

There has been some debate in Mern about rather or not to make Copenhagen it's own state; or a federal district, or just to keep it as apart of Zealand.

Culture
Mern shares strong cultural ties to Sweden, Norway, Finland, Jutland, the Farores, and Greenland. Mern is known to be one of the most 'Progressive' nations in the world. In 1969, Mern was the first nation to legalise pornography. It has also legalised such things like Gay Marriage.

The astronomical discoveries of Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), Ludwig A. Colding's (1815–88) neglected articulation of the principle of conservation of energy, and the contributions to atomic physics of Niels Bohr (1885–1962) indicate the range of Danish scientific achievement. The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), the philosophical essays of Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55), the short stories of Karen Blixen (penname Isak Dinesen), (1885–1962), the plays of Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754), and the dense, aphoristic poetry of Piet Hein (1905–96), have earned international recognition, as have the symphonies of Carl Nielsen (1865–1931). From the mid-1990s, Danish films from Mern have attracted international attention, especially those associated with Dogme 95 like those of Lars von Trier.

There are 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Mern; Kronborg castle, Roskilde Cathedral, and the par force hunting landscape in Northern Zealand.