Springtime of Nations

The Springtime of Nations, also referred to as the Shattering of the Empires and the Springtime of the Peoples, was a series of many rebellions and revolutions that occurred throughout the late 860s and early to mid 870s.

Many of the revolutions were liberal or socialist in nature, with many aiming to dissolve old monarchical or imperial structures and to create new nation-states. Many of these revolutions were led and organized by ad hoc political coalitions of liberals, socialists, workers, and reformers; and while many of these coalitions did not survive, a great deal of political change was accomplished. The largest changes tended to be territorial, as breakaway nation-states and territories formed, usually smaller than hoped for by the revolutionaries who founded them.

Origins
The revolutions of the Springtime had a variety of causes, making a single coherent cause impossible to pinpoint. However, taking these causes as a whole, we can see how the Springtime was ignited.

With the industrialization of much of the known world, life for the working and middle classes had been changing radically. The spread of the popular press and the rise of new ideas such as liberalism, nationalism, and socialism led to a more political aware and agitated general public. There were also the failed harvests of 867 and 866 that some believe helped contribute to revolutionary sentiment amongst the common peoples.

In many feudal countries, large swaths of nobility began to chaff again the absolutism or near-absolutism of many of the monarchies that existed at the time. In the Empires of Pugmoria and Fenia, many nobles prior to the Springtime tried to push for reforms and political systems akin to that of the Monarchies of Felindia. The Monarchies of Felindia had historically operated as an elective monarchy, with most of the power held in the paws of the six constituent kings that governed most of the lands of the Monarchies. However, the Monarchies themselves were unstable and barely holding together after two decades of trying to suppress the widespread republican sentiments of its own people.

Many new political groups had been organizing efforts at reform or revolt prior to the Springtime. Amongst the middle class and a good deal of the working class, liberal and reformist organizations had been leading the way in fighting for change. These groups tended towards reform, however among these groups was a great deal for nationalist sentiment that would lead to many of these otherwise passive groups taking up arms in the Springtime. There were also the socialist groups that had been gaining a great deal of support from the working class, and some support from the middle class. Prior to the Springtime, many of these groups had only limited material support, however the Springtime would lead to an influx of power and influence for these organizations as people flocked to join their paramilitary groups to fight for freedom.

Sequence of Main Trends
Every country and region had its own specific trend of events, however most of them followed a roughly similar pattern.

Fall 868-Spring 869: Sweeping Success
The world shook as revolution and revolt happened one after the other, with gains being made rapidly all around the known world by the revolutionaries. The Elder Mountain colonies of Fenia, Pugmoria, Orenia, and the Monarchies dissolved almost immediately, Fenia began to break apart as liberal, socialist, and Humanist rebels rose up, the Monarchies were crippled and began to disolve as republican revolutionaries rose up, Greater Pomerania lost control over many of its borderland provinces, and Pugmoria itself suffered a wave of protests that would culminate in the Aquarian Revolution.

Summer 869-Winter 870: Divisions form, counter-revolutionaries began to organize
As drafts of constitutions and new governments began to try and establish themselves, rifts began to open up between revolutionary forces. These political and sometimes military conflicts would give counter-revolutionary and reactionary forces the space they needed to start organizing counter-attacks. Greater Pomerania, Pugmoria, Orenia, and Fenia began to make pushes against the gains made by revolutionaries. The Monarchies were the exception, as the last royals had either been executed or fled and the Second Mourland Republic had been declared.

Spring 871-Winter 872: Counter-revolutionaries strike back, partial dissolution of revolutionary regimes
With revolutionaries divided amongst themselves, reactionary forces began to march against them and began to make gains. Even in places where the old government wasn't reclaiming territory, new counter-revolutionary uprisings began, such as the Kingdoms of Alend and Nottsend in the former south of Fenia.

The gains made by counter-revolutionary forces led to a renewal of many of the old revolutionary alliances, as many feared that soon the world would be consumed in a new age of darkness should the counter-revolutionaries completely succeed.

Spring 872-Fall 874: Stagnation and a Peace with Honor
With revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces fulled organized, as much as either side could be, both sides tore at each other in relentless military campaigns. While borders changed somewhat, lines drawn in the trenches and with blood began to solidify.

After two years of continued warfare, many groups would being to negotiate terms of armistice and peace. Notable among these were the Conference of Mutt Town, the Conference of Scrapford, and the Conference of Dogsend. These truces are considered by many to be the end of the Springtime of Nations, with many new nations and territories having broken away from their old masters. And yet, the old guard still remained, waiting to strike again and take back what was once theirs.

Fenia
The Empire of Fenia lost over half of its land in the Springtime, however while this was largely because of initial pushes by revolutionaries, most of the new nations created are simply new Kingdoms or continuations of old monarchical tradition. The one exception is the Humanist Kingdom of Tennessia, a state created by radical Humanists seeking a homeland of their own.

Orenia
The Kingdom of Orenia has been reduced to the modern Kingdom of East Orenia, with most of its former lands being occupied by the Free Republic of Orenia. In the north, some of the former lands of Orenia have been occupied by the Holy Warren of Clevria and the Warren of Yipland. In the south, the minor State of South Orenia controls the southernmost fringes of what used to make up the Kingdom.

Pugmoria/Pahonnia
In the Empire of Pugmoria, the former absolute monarchy broke to the will of liberal revolutionaries and begrudgingly became a constitutional monarchy, and adopted the name of Pahonnia to reflect a nation based around its people and land rather than its ruling dynasty. Pahonnia was perhaps also the only country to gain land out of the Springtime, occupying much of the north of the former Monarchies of Felindia, ostensibly to "protect the countryside from radical violence".

Monarchies of Felindia
The Monarchies burned away completely in the tide of revolutionary violence. The Republic of Mourland now occupies much of the core of the former monarchies, although the country lost a great deal of territory to Pahonnia and some of its southern reaches to the Dune Confederacy.

Greater Pomerania
While Greater Pomerania still exists as a Kingdom, it lost well over half of its former land to the Springtime. Most of this loss was sustained in its northern and western territories, were now exists the Kingdom of Bedford, the Peasant's Republic of Kervania, the Kingdom of Wildren, and the Warren of Yipland expanded into Greater Pomeranias former land. In the east, Greater Pomerania lost the southern portion of the Palecoast to the Warren of Seahearth.

Legacy
The world left by the Springtime of Nations is one more divided, split between revolutionaries, reformers, old guard rulers, and new tyrants. Many foresee a second Springtime or a new war on a scale not yet seen, where the forces of the world will meet on the battlefield to finish the fight started back in the Fall of 868.