Alogachia (native: Equesterreich), officially the Democratic Republic of Alogachia (Demokratische Republik Equesterreich) is a country on the Balikun Peninsula (on the planet Mearth), bordered to the east by Equestria and by the Asturiatic Sea on the north, south and west.
Alogachia is a unitary constitutional republic; however, almost all government positions are held by members of the National Friendship Party (Nationalfreundshaft Partei). There are 18 provinces, and the government operates officially as a parliamentary republic, with the seat of government in Brandenburg, the capital.
Alogachia lies mostly in a humid continental climate and partly in an oceanic climate in the north. It spans 285,928 sq km (87,231 sq mi), and has an official population of 34,023,935 as of 2011, giving it a population density of 119 ponies per sq km (390 ponies per sq mi). This does not include perytons, minotaurs, griffons, or donkeys, whose numbers are unrecorded.
[History]
Pre-history
The earliest inhabitants of the Balikun Peninsula arrived around 1.2 million and 80,000 years ago. Fossilised remains of griffons have been dated at somewhere between 100,000 to 300,000 years ago, while perytons are known to have inhabited the southern forests at least 250,000 years ago, along with minotaurs who appeared at roughly the same time.
Migration
Around 800 BC (Before Celestia), herds of unicorns and earth ponies began moving to the Balikun Peninsula, trekking over the Saddleback Mountains to arrive in the Bluegrass Plains. Most of these were nomadic, although some settled along the basin of the Roan and formed the basis of early Alogachian civilisation; the largest of these would eventually become Brandenburg. Pegasi began arriving sometime later, around 600 BC, although it is argued that older cloud cities existed above the Saddleback Mountains; this is, however, extremely difficult to prove.
Rise of the States
Along the Roan, many city-states sprang up--among these were Baylin, Geldern, Bück and Withersberg.
Grand Duchy of Alogachia
Wars of Unification
In 1657, Ottero von Cutiemark was crowned Duke of Alogachia, and styled himself as a Grand Duke from 1658 on. In 1675, he began a campaign to unify all of the Balikun Peninsula. Alogachia, largest of the remaining States, briefly campaigned against Stallionwalde in 1675, before invading Westfillyia in 1677. Westfillyia was joined by Hosse, a neighbouring State that was allied to it. In 1698, what would become known as the Wars of Unification ended, with Alogachia established as the dominant power in the Balikun Peninsula. Ottero's reign would usher in the era of dominance by unicorns, who used pegasi as their preferred courtesans, largely disenfranchising earth ponies. Ottero von Cutiemark's son, Sorrelmon von Cutiemark, was crowned King of Alogachia in 1749.
Kingdom of Alogachia
Minotauran War
Sorrelmon immediately began to continue his father's legacy, beginning with invading the Blackwater Forest in 1761, which was at that time the home of the minotaurs and perytons. Both races were involved in the conflict, but it is usually referred to as the Minotauran War as it was popular at the time to claim that the war was being waged to civilise the minotaurs primarily.
Forty-Years' War
Sorrelmon's expansionism and brinkmanship eventually won him the ire of Equestria, across the Saddleback Mountains. Sorrelmon, believing there to be a build-up in Equestria's naval yards in preparation for an invasion that would bypass the Saddlebacks, pre-emptively declared war in 1770. The war was mostly naval in nature, owing to the precipitous peaks of the Saddlebacks and the near impossibility of waging a war across them. Though several campaigns were launched by Equestria and Alogachia into the mountains, they all failed to establish a foothold on the other side and the armies were either driven back or destroyed. This had the effect of protracting the war significantly. In 1822, a peace agreement was signed that returned the two states to the status quo ante bellum.
Revolts of 1837-1838
In 1837, revolts began to break out among the petite-bourgeois earth pony middle class, who had been saddled with much of the burden of the war's taxes, and had provided the bulk of the soldiers for the military. Demands were made for compensation of lost profits, as the taxes claimed by the state had been extensive and burdensome. The revolts were eventually put down by force of arms, but low-level conflicts continued to spring up sporadically, until 1838, when a large riot in Brandenburg eventually consumed the city. The agitators found themselves, to most everyone's surprise, in a superior position than the soldiers defending Sorrelmon's palace, who were overtaken and killed. Sorrelmon is believed to have escaped, but the provisional government claims that he was killed in the ensuing chaos.
December Revolution
The riots in almost all of Alogachia following the fall of the King's palace would eventually be known as the December Revolution, although it was only until later that it was recognisable as an ordered movement. Out of the various quarrelling parties rose the National Friendship Party, proclaiming that all ponies were to be treated as equals. On this platform primarily, they eventually won the support of the Alogachian earth pony population, who by far outnumbered the oligarchic unicorns and bourgeois pegasi, and took control of the government. On April 1st, 1841, Alogachia was declared a Democratic Republic and a provisional constitution promulgated.
[Government and politics]
Alogachia is officially a democratic parliamentary republic, but is a de facto one-party state, with all governmental power held by members of the National Friendship Party. According to the Constitution, the President is not able to make executive decisions, but in practice this is largely a technicality.
[Military]
[Administrative divisions]
[Geography and climate]
Alogachia is split from north to south by the Roan, a prominent river that flows from the Saddleback Mountains in the south to its terminus in the Asturiatic Sea in the north.
[Economy]
[Transport]
[Demographics]
[Culture]