Frisian Republic (1962: The Apocalypse)

History
The Frisian Republic is a democratic European survivor nation based in the Frisian Islands and neighbouring mainland towns.

Doomsday 1962
A 1kt bomb intended for Helgoland Island hit Mellum Island Instead, but it did not explode. Radiation was a major hazard as it drifted in from the remnants of Germany, the UK and France. Noorderhaaks Island was also hit by a 1kt bomb, which did explode, because the Soviets mistakenly though it had a minor American army intelligence service base on it.

Jevern AFB, Bremenhaven docks and Emden docks were hit by a 1kt bomb, but luckily they did not explode and just broke up and spewed toxic waste like a duty bomb. Sadly most West German and East German cities were not so lucky. Bremen Airport (German: Flughafen Bremen), Aachen and Cuxhaven got a 1x 1kt, MOD Osnabrück 2x 1kt (which did not exsplode).

Survival
A lost fishing boat from Emden docked in the east of Schiermonnikoog Island 2 days of after hearing of the war. As German and Flemish refugees flooded in to the Netherlands and German's Frisia district, the burgomasters of the towns Den Over, Franeker, Schilling, Hanumersie, Wieringen, Hilversum, Norden and Den Helder unilaterally closed their borders as the Dutch government declared a state of emergency in their country. A day later the local border was closed on the orders of the islands 4 local burgomasters.

The panick striken towns of Den Over, Den Helder, Greetsiel, Nes, Farmsum, Oosternijkerk, Franeker, Delfzijl, Makkum, Sexbierum, Schilling, Hanumersie, Bensersiel, Bensersise and Wieram followed suit over the next few days later. The Dutch government closed the nation's borders and declared martial law in the country 12 days after Doomsday.

The Lord Mayor of the city Emden declared martial law and closed the cities border as it became apparent that not much of Germany had survived beyond Oldenburg and Bremen.

Temperatures fell 6C below average in the nuclear winter of 1962-63 and rose to 5C. above average in the nuclear summer of 1983-64.

A severe famine and a cholera outbreak hit the islands, killing many people during 1962 and most of 1963. The Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), also known among farmers as 'blue-ear pig disease' also killed some pigs in late 1966. The islands and nearby towns were de facto independent in 1965. The locals would survive the next 19 years alone on a mixture of luck, good guesswork, rural crafts and agricultural know-how. Several also died in a 1966 Emden typhoid plageue.

The Union of the Eastern and Western Islands.
The islands and allied towns like Den Helder had formed in to 2 self-supporting and mutually co-operating blocks, one ex-Dutch and one-ex German in 1967. the towns of Delfzijl and Farmsum joined the Dutch section on January 1st, 1968. Plans for full union of the Islands and related costal towns and the exploration to the partly flood mainland were planned in the wake of the 1968 flood, which temporally flood several Frisian Islands and permanently overwhelmed parts of the mainland. The islands and allies towns then officially formed the united Frisian Republic on May 3rd, 1969. Emden joined friendly Lower Saxony on May 8th, 1972.

First contact
First contact was made with Danish, Wilhelmshaven and Lower Saxon in May 4th 1967. Fishermen from the Duchy of Lancashire, East Anglia, Greater Perthshire, Hexhamshire, Lille-Wallonia, Irish Socialist Durhamshire all landed there during a bad gale, more by good luck than planning in 1973, since most nations wrongly reckoned on the islands being uninhabited and/or badly radioactive.

The journeys of discovery in 1984-5


Frisian explorers found friendly fortified villages in the ruins of Haarlemmermeer, Hilversum and Alkmaar, but they chose not to join the republic. There were similar settlements at Oudewater, Woerden and Vianen, but they had a isolationist nature and the near by countryside was inhabited by hostile tribesmen. The swamp land around the Lille-Wallonia held village of Utrecht (population 1,150) was still inhabited by hostile barbarian tribesmen and raiders from the nearby fortified villages of Amersfoort, Veenendaal, Houten and Zeist. They were all of mixed Dutch/German/Flemish decent.

After the 1968 Dutch floods, the Kromme Rijn (originally the main bed of the Rhine river), the Vaartse Rijn (The medieval canal reconnecting Utrecht to the newer main stream of the Rhine, the Lek), the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, the Lek River and the Merwede Canal became badly blocked in several places and regularly spilled over their banks turning much of the district in to a swamp.

The Oudegracht, or "old canal" in Utrecht and Amsterdam-Rhine Canal were cleared by Lille-Wallonia and the historic Dom Tower of Utrecht was also repaired by Lille-Wallonia between 1999 and 2005.

1986-1995
They became close allies with Lille-Wallonia, especially against the South of England's attempted invasion of the unorganized villages and hamlets of cost lines of the former North Holland (Dutch: Noord-Holland, West Frisian: Noard-Holland) in 1987.

Farming steadily improved over the years and the nation had become more prosperous by 1988. The growth of trade with Ireland and Lille-Wallonia helped boost the economy and so living standards began to rise in the Frisian Islands.

Lille-Wallonia's relations got even closer and they extended their currency to the Frisian Republic in 1989.

A mutual defence pacts were singed with Lille-Wallonia's in 1996.

Frisia layed claime to the deserted islands of Helegoland and Mellum in 1995.

1996 to present.
Things have improved greatly since first contact was made. It is a pleasant agricultural community that free form human vice and is steadily moving toward the pre-Doomsday standard of living with Irish, Lower Saxon, East Anglian and Danish help.

The empty Islands of Mellum and Neuwerk were later claimed by the Wilhelmshaven

The islands sandbanks beyond the Weser and Elbe estuaries (in the Elbe-Weser Triangle) that were desputed by Wilhelmshaven and Lower Saxony were the Großer Knechtsand sandbank, Hoher Knechtsand island and the Tertius sandbank.

It was agreed that Lower Saxony got the Großer Knechtsand sandbank, Hoher Knechtsand island and the Tertius sandbank, Wilhelmshaven Neuwerk island and Frisia got Mellum island 1998.

Wieringen island was drained and re-inhabited in 1999. Langeoog Island was further reinforced by Danish engineers in 2009.

The 1968 and 1993 floods
Major floods hit the Netherlands during this period. Due to the lack of maintenance on the dykes and polders, the nation was catastrophically flooded, with most of the low lying land reverting to swampland and tidal floodplains between 1968 and the beginnings of land reclamation in 1999. The Marsdiep Channel flooded badly and the tide flooded all nearby land. Noorderhaaks Island was almost destroyed and Wieringen island reverted to swampland in 1968. the village Vlieland-Oost on Vlieland Island was devastated and evacuated for 60 days in 1993. The Frisian Republic would suffer badly to. 60 died in the Frisian Republic in 1968 and 100 died in 1993.

In 1973 Langeoog Island was cut in three parts by a heavy Christmas storm tide. It was fixed and rebuilt using Danish Groynes and concrete sea walls.

Blizzard
The winter of 2009-10 was the worst in 50 years (as in OTL),killing 30 people in a 3 day blizzard on Vlieland island.

Minor earthquake
A 2 Richter scale 4.2 earthquake caused major damage and 2 deaths in the eastern islands in 2009.

Tornado
A minor tornado ripped through Texel island killing 3 people in the winter of 2001.

Former refugee camps

 * 1) East of Schiermonnikoog island
 * 2) Langeoog island
 * 3) Richel island
 * 4) South of Vlieland islsnd
 * 5) Holloum

Military


It is made up of a 120 man volunteer militia. Farmers' long handled billhook-slashers, Gilpin 1918 pattern billhooks and Kentish brishing hooks are commonly used as weapons, as are swords and bows. Mattocks are also a common improvised weapon. Guns were fist imported from the Denmark and Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen) in 1990, but they are still uncommon in the Frisian Republic. It has had a nutual defence treaty with Wilhelmshaven since 1999.

Battles

 * 1) With the tribes of the Julianadorp (1979)
 * 2) With the tribes of the Wagenborgen (1979)
 * 3) With the tribes of Groiningen (1987)
 * 4) With the tribes of the Aurich (Low Saxon: Auerk) (1988)
 * 5) With the tribes of the Anna Paulowna(1989)
 * 6) With the villagers of northern Friesland (West Frisian: Fryslân) coast- especially Norden, Dokkum, Leeuwarden, Ternaard and Harlingen (1989-1991)
 * 7) With the tribes of the Julianadorp (1990)
 * 8) With the tribes of the Wieringermeer (1990)

Government and politics
The League of Free Liberals (in Dutch: Bond van Vrije Liberalen), is the ruling party and is mostly located in the western islands. The leader is the Boargemaster (in Frisian)/ Burgemeester (in Dutch) /Bürgermeister (in German), Hendrik Steve Wilders. The is elected every 6 years Boargemaster.

The Islands are run by a council who are elected each 6 years by the FPTP method by all nationals over 16.

Economy
Due to its geographic isolation, foreign relations were slow coming, and a localized economy dominated by agriculture has prevailed over international trade, though this is set to change. It is agrarian by nature largely dependent on agriculture and fishing.

Transport
Travel is entirely by sailing boat, horse and bicycle, since there are no motor vehicles.

Health care
Lung and Thyroid Cancer are no longer major issues, and are markedly less than they were before 1968. 1% of all women on the Frisian Islands went permanently bald due to radiation sickness. Major services like hospitals are provided by Lille-Wallonia and Denmark.

Food sources
This is mostly local farm produce, princply, fish and crabs.

Media
Posters are nailed up as and when nessasery.

Sport
Croquet, Pertonk, Kite Flying, Boule and Football are all major sports in the nation.

The Death Penalty
The Death Penalty was scraped in 1982 and repealed with life without the possibility of parole. Time is served in exile at a Lille-Wallonia jail.

Also see

 * 1) 1962: Doomsday
 * 2) List of surviving nations (1962: Doomsday)