Anfora

The Democratic Kingdom of Anföra, commonly known as Anföra, is a sovereign country and constitutional kingdom in northern and north-western Europe. Anföra includes the British Isles, the Scandinavian peninsula, and much of Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Únland, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland and the Soviet Union. Otherwise, Anföra is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, as well as having internal waters, such as the Baltic Sea, the Celtic Sea, the English Channel and the North Sea. The total area of the Kingdom of Anföra is 680,315 square miles (1,761,911 km2).

Anföra is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The monarch is King Magnús IV, who has reigned since 1983. Anföra's capital is Berlin, a city of international significance and with a population of 3.8 million - however Anföra's largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with over 10 million inhabitants. The Kingdom consists of four sovereign areas: Grand Britannia, Germania, Scandinavia and Benelux. Their capitals are London, Berlin, Stockholm and Brussels, respectively. Each area has a differing level of devolved powers, and its own Assembly, as well as regional powers. Anföra has election cycles every 4 years, with the option for elections to be called by the Prime Minister and a majority of the Upper House of Parliament after one year since the previous election. The last time this happened was 2013, which produced an increased Socialist Democrat majority for the then-Prime Minister, and current Prime Minister, Stephen Downston.

Anföra is a member of the Four-Nation Alliance (along with the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Empire of China), the United Nations, G9 and G20, as well as the European Commission, and formerly the Northern Union. It also maintains strong links with the Anforan Concordat and its imperial possessions. Anföra is a world-renowned centre for culture, history and a democratic stronghold, with a very high GDP and low inequality thanks to its progressive economic reforms that have spanned since the Declaration of Independence in 1848.

History
Anföra's first election was in 1761, though arguably it only evolved into a true democratic system during the third election of 1771, having previously been dominated by two sets of industrialists and aristocrats (whose parties persisted, albeit in a progressively weakened form until 1819, where they formed the Conservative Party).

Anföra lost the United States of Amerika after a seven year long conflict between 1776 and 1783, after which it fell into decline, finishing with its occupation by the Unglish Empire, a rising superpower which dominated Europe between the 1790s and the 1840s, in the first decade of the 19th century, however some isolated regions - Iceland, Nova Scotia - as well as some internal territories - Berlin, Stockholm - were never occupied. It was from here that King James III, Queen Alexandra IV and King Richard IV carried out their rule, and where democracy continued.

Anföra, after about 40 years of near-complete occupation by the then-Emperor of the Unglish Empire, Maximilian I - won its sovereignty and additional territory in the Wars for Independence, which took place between 1845 and 1851. Having started in Berlin and Stockholm, the King of Anföra at the time - Richard IV - successfully took much of Sweden, as well as defending Berlin - however on February 27, 1848 - the day after Anföra declared its independence - an attack on Berlin led to his demise, however his actions successfully, inevitably, defended Berlin and his son, the new King Oscar V, from Unglish subjugation.

More pivotal battles later took place at Hamburg, during the Revolts of 1849, and at Bremen the next month (December 1849). Despite a slight setback at Bremenhaven in early 1850, and Unglish forces holding on at Oldenborg and Rostock, the Anföran royal armed forces eventually seized everything north of what is now referred to as the 1855 line (see below). The Emperor of the Unglish Empire, Maximilian I, was to surrender to the Anförans at Berlin on February 27, 1851 - three years after the death of King Richard IV; however was denied territories until 1879 by the then-King, Oscar V (the Great). Partial Anförisation took place in this area, which later led to conflicts with the next King, Sebastian III, who refused to give the areas regional language status in 1905.

Anfora was involved in several struggles, as the Unglish Empire's gradual but unsteady demise from the 1840s onwards caused the three-way battle for supremacy in Europe (eventually to be won by Anfora). These started with the Anforan Independence Wars, but continued with the Unglo-Delutian War for Independence. After King Oscar refused to retreat from what Maximilian referred to as "northern mainland Ungland", and what is today known as the South Belt of Anfora, the Unglo-Delutian War for Independence morphed into the Great War in 1865.

Anfora's involvement in the Great War evolved and greatened over time. At first, the government and populace was relatively skeptical and anti-war, however increased aggravations and territorial disputes with the Maximilian-led Unglish Empire caused both to slowly pivot towards all-out war - and the attempted invasion of the 1855 zone, however much it failed, spelled the restart of animosity between the two superpowers. Delutia was subdued, as Anforan forces fought in a two-way battle against Unglish invaders hoping to gain the Ruhr, and Delutian defenders. On the 11th of May, 1865, Queen Victoria I of Great Britain was killed, and this was quickly followed by Queen Victoria II on the 3rd of June. Anfora's blockade quickly sent the Unglish and the Delutians - most particularly the latter, who became bankrupt by the end of the year - into an economic downspiral, which aided an eventual Anforan victory over the two states in 1867.

On January 30, 1871 the Anforo-Russian War began. Oscar V, now a renowned wartime and peacetime leader and veteran - as well as the symbol for Anforan nationalism that persists to this day - demanded the defence of Finland after Tsar Alexander II orders its invasion and subjugation. The Finnish stage of the war was fairly swift - Finnish forces, adept and unexpectedly strong, held off the Russians until help arrived - which meant that by Winter 1871-2, Anforans had occupied Petrograd. Despite setbacks caused by the weather and Russian reinforcements, Anforans - barely - held onto Petrograd, and from this narrow stalemate managed to push across north-western Russia in the following year. The Siege of Moscow, which lasted 5 months during late Autumn through early Spring 1872-3, led to heavy casualties on both sides, with Oscar V himself saying:


 * "It was a bleak time for our soldiers, our people and our government. I found myself immensely proud of the moral reserve and the sacrifices made by the Anforan people during these hard times, when their brothers, fathers and sons were out in a foreign land risking - often losing - their lives for the freedom of their Kingdom and another. The collectivity of our great Kingdom was shown in such a plainly obvious but miraculously inspiring way during those times in a way I will never forget as long as I have breath in my body."

After the Siege of Moscow was broken on May 3, 1873, defeat was assured. The Russians were forced into heavy retreat, with one soldier recalling it as "marching endlessly at an enemy who was perpetually running away", and the Tsar surrendered - with much of European Russia occupied - on August 16, 1873. By this point, having thoroughly beaten both the Unglish - who had since fallen into economic hardship, which they would remain in for decades - and the Russians - whose defeat would spark a decades-long rise in communism and the eventual Soviet Union's rise - Anfora had established itself as the "European power", committed itself to European integration - interests frustrated by Ungland's persistent hostility to the idea of Anfora at the helm of Europe - and King Oscar V was immortalised as Anfora's great King, whose reign would be referred to as the Golden Age.