Shanjin

Contents

 * 1 History
 * 1.1 Ancient Era
 * 1.2 Medieval Era
 * 1.3 Colonial Era
 * 1.4 Modern Era
 * 1.4.1 Independence
 * 1.4.2 19th century and war with Oyashima
 * 1.4.3 20th century
 * 2 See Also

Independence
Gran Peninusla's occupation by the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company was relatively short-lived. Resistance movements in the last decade of the 18th century had greatly strained Burgundie's hold on the region. In January of 1800, the bombing of the Burgundian West Punth Trading Company offices in the regional capital of Twon initiated a coup which saw Company agents and militia expelled from the region. Closed borders with Oyashima and cool relations with Kantoto impeded a sufficient mobilization of Company forces to resecure control of Gran Peninsula. January 29 is marked as the Independence Day for the Grand Shanjin Republic.

Despite swift removal of Company forces, the formation of a Shanjinese government was more problematic. The main resistance group, the "Golden Army," which had orchestrated the January Bombings in the first place was dissolved by internal conflict by early February. It was largely independent resistance groups that waylaid Burgundian intervention through the first quarter of 1800. Unity finally came to the region in March when a Congress of Revolutionary Groups was called in Twon. The congress was chaired by delegates of the Independent Eastern Commerce Union, a group of middle class opponents to Burgundian occupation who sought to establish independent control of the region's resources, but opposed changes to the existing class structure. The IECU maintained several chapters throughout Southern Punth and conspiracies persist that the group received support from foreign opponents of Burgundie's colonial endeavours. Following the congress, a formal Shanjinese state was established led by Gong Heguo, a deputy official within the IECU. Democratic elections were first held in 1804 with suffrage limited to property-owning males.

19th century and war with Oyashima
Throughout the 19th century Shanjin attempted to industrialize in parallel with Western countries through the hiring of both foreign experts and observers as well as exchanges with global powers of the era. This practice persisted through to 1864 when Shanjin attempted an invasion of neighbouring Oyashima which had closed all borders and isolated itself from all foreign influence for the past three centuries. Shanjin's invasion was motivated by material gain over a technologically inferior opponent and was justified by the Mutsutorese execution of a number of Shanjinese pastoral labourers who had accidentally intruded across the border. The Shanjinese armed forces initially was successful in overcoming Mutsutorese resistance, but by July 1865 the tide of the war turned. The inexperienced commanders of the Shanjinese land army overextended supply lines and became encircled in the city of Shūgō. Likewise, naval raids against Oyashima were halted when the Shanjinese fleet became physically trapped within the densely populated city of Ōkubo by a harbour chain strong enough to rip through the metal hulls of the navy's two ironclads. Incursions by marines to destroy the anchorings of the harbour chain failed on multiple attempts.

Both the army and the navy ran out of supplies and ammunition by September 1865. Army commanders offered surrender to the defenders on September 23 and news of this event reached both the capital of Shanjin and the navy within three days. The naval command also surrendered and the Shanjinese government sued for peace. The Oyashima Shogunate was initially hesitant to negotiate and ordered the execution of all Shanjinese commanders and 1/5 of the soldiers and all of the sailors who had invaded. While the Shanjinese was able to secure the release of the other combatants, the Oyashima confiscated all arms and materiel from the invading forces. Upon returning to Shanjin, many of the soldiers reamined in very poor health and casualties continued to accumulate into the new year. Despite allowing the return of all remaining combatants, the Oyashima Shogunate made no official demand for reparations which greatly concerned the Shanjinese government.

Despite the cessation of foreign exchanges just two years prior, the Shanjinese government appealed to the international community, including its former colonizer Burgundie, for aid to both alleviate its economy which was damaged by the war and to bolster against Mutsutorese retaliation.

20th century
Shanjinese requests for foreign aid were largely and the economy saw a resurgence based on resource extraction and light manufacturing industries which had developed over the past century. Following a number of workers' rights demonstrations in the 1910s-1920s, universal suffrage for men was granted in 1927; rights for women would be not extended until the latter half of the 20th century. Shanjinese copper and textiles became especially renowned as exports in the wake of advancements in shipping in the early part of the century. The nation also became recognized for novelty automatons, though few were actually produced. The primary producer of these automatons was a watchmaker in based in the capital of Twon named Tsai Hoklo. The most famous automaton to emerge from Shanjin was a chess player known simply as the "Shanjinese Master." This particular automaton toured the world in the 1930s and early 1940s. The automaton went undefeated throughout the tour and brought great prestige and international interest to the nation as well as an air of mystique as the mechanics of the automaton were entirely unknown, though the consensus in modern times is that the automaton had a human operator. Tsai Hoklo received honours from his government and a seat in the government's upper house in the bicameral legislature.