History of Tussenland: Difference between revisions

After the Dutch-Mexican War, Tussenlanders from Mississippi and Meerenland were thrilled to settle the newly reconquered western land. In December 2, 1903, the Director of the Federation of Tussenland, [[Frans Crÿnssen]], established the Tussenland Land Agency (Amerikaens: ''Tussenlandt Landagencie'') and was supported by the Federal Assembly. The agency started surveying and parceling out land in Suydt-Mizoerie and Noord-Mizoerie and offered it to prospective settlers. This violated the 1818 Royal Decree on the Limitation on Settlement, which banned further settlement west of Mississippi and Meerenland. The Tussenland Federal Assembly challenged the validity of this 86-year old decree, stating that it is outdated and applied arbitrarily by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In general, the Tussenlanders were greatly upset that they were forbidden to settle the lands that they had conquered for the Dutch.

While initially, the Federal Assembly did not pursue independence, the tides changed as the Kingdom of the Netherlands kept overstepping its boundaries. By late 1904, members of the Assembly began drafting a new constitution for Tussenland, one that excluded the Netherlands. On February 14, 1905, the Federal Assembly officially declared Tussenland as an independent federal parliamentary republic. The Federal Assembly now fashioned itself as the Tussenland National Assembly (Amerikaens: Tussenlandts Nasional Assemblie, or '''TNA''')Congress. The Royal Tussenland Army, composed of mostly Amerikaners, broke off from the Dutch and was rebranded as the Tussenland National Defense Force.

The New Tussenland Alliance (NTA), led by President CornelisMatheeus Laurenszde Wÿnwÿcker, was a political coalition composed of members of the former opposition, which ousted President Maurits Teysman in 1929, and several members of the previous government who switched sides. Much of the NTA's popularity owed to their vocal opposition against the Republican government and their ambitious schemes. However, the public grew disillusioned with the ineffectiveness of the NTA government. President Laurenszde Wÿnwÿcker's rule was marked by heavy corruption, triggering protests in many parts of Tussenland, calling for his resignation.

In 1935, a poll showed the unpopularity of Laurenszde Wÿnwÿcker among the Tussenlander public. With the National Elections upcoming in November 1935, Laurenszde Wÿnwÿcker established an ad-hoc think tank, tasked with increasing the popularity of the NTA government and either securing victory in the 1935 elections, or delaying the elections. The perfect opportunity came when the [[Great War]] in Europe broke out July 1935, just four months before the National Elections. President Laurenszde Wÿnwÿcker wanted to use the war to unite public sentiment under a common cause, and divert public attention away from the the NTA's political scandals.

As a result of Mexico's dubious response to France's call to join the war, the Tussenlander government began to exercise caution. Tussenland was relatively safe from the Great War, and only provided auxiliary support to Britain. However, Mexico and New Netherland in the war "would spell disaster for Tussenland," remarked Tussenland President CornelisMatheeus Laurenszde Wÿnwÿcker. New Amsterdam, upon realizing that Tussenland was unwilling to fight a war against New Netherland and Mexico, began a campaign of military posturing on the border with Tussenland. This was a move in an attempt to sever Tussenland's ties with Great Britain by pressuring Tussenland to drop out of the war, after being faced with a threat. This was in line with the geostrategic goals of the ruling party of New Netherland (the Free Destiny Party), which aimed to remove foreign influence in North American nations' affairs. New Netherland, in cooperation with Mexico, continued to delay their response to France's call to war, until the Tussenland government finally announced their withdrawal from the Great War in September 1937.