Davostag

[Augustus]

 

Reexamining Our Collective Identity for the Historical and Contemporary Continuity of the Nation of Davostag

Text by Greta Greger, posthumously published by the Davostager Academy

12 November 5661 | Kivonia, Davostag 

 
There exists in the far-north a country of great historical significance to its region, a country whose nation had long been forgotten, suppressed even, to the whims and wishes of political and ideological statehoods in the quest for ultimate power at the expense of the natural desire for spiritual connection with your fellow countryman. Davostag is the name of this country, and at last we can all feel the spirit within us that calls for the defense of its nation, thanks to the great heroes who made this a reality, who developed our country towards the 55th century, a period that saw the revival of a proper and true Davostager nation-state.
 
The question that comes into mind when thinking about Davostag as a nation and specifically on the idea of having a revived nation is: "What is the nation of Davostag truly?" This question has been the subject of debate and conflict ever since the fall of the Empire of Davostag in 2714. After that point, the country was fiercely contested by ideology-driven forces against the cultist religious power that was the Satanilists. The latter, while highly flawed in its perception of humanity and life, preserved the idea of the Davostager nation; defended it against foreign-minded parties and individuals hoping to make Davostag simply another international economic zone devoid of actual purpose, but of course, the Satanilists also twisted the idea of Davostag into their own religious perversion. Nonetheless, this battle between Satanilic Davostag and Luthorianized Davostag continued until the point of the 4590s. While the Satanilists were mostly dominated by ethnic Davostanis (Skrigere-speaking Davostagers) as opposed to the ethnic Kivonians (Befäska-speaking Davostagers), it was not ethnic nationalism that drove their quest for preserving a unique Davostager nation-state, but rather a cultural one – and it is this cultural nationalism that is to persist against movements either promoting ethnic or political constructs.
 
The 4590s saw the rise of Kivonian nationalists in the form of the National Salvation Military Council led by August Reinhardt, establishing a Kivonian-led regime, the Kivonian Republic. The purpose of this government was to bring about a new national renaissance, this time led by the militaristic Kivonians rather than the Satanilic Davostanis. Kivonian liberal values, clad in nationalistic veils, permeated society and was allowed to take a greater place within the broader Davostager culture. It was a time where the Kivonians were allowed to participate in Davostag, though alone, while the Davostanis remained on the sidelines, as it had been in reverse so many times during the Satanilic regimes. Kivonian-led governments continued with brief interruptions from either short-lived Satanilists or Luthorianized ideologues. Eventually culminating in the Third Kivonian Republic, a declared stratocratic republic, led by the Kivonian National Salvation Party and general Augustin Volkhardt. The Third Republic clashed with their deposed previous government who had taken refuge and power in Telamon, igniting the Macon War, pushing Hutori into it and devastating the continent. The Third Republic was defeated and Davostag placed under Hutori occupation in 4779. In retrospect, as much one might loath war, the period between the 4590s and the beginning of the 4780s, was extremely positive in the development of the nation of Davostag. It allowed for the ethnic elements, previously repressed, to vent their frustrations onto the country and the world, achieving success, making failures, but most importantly, learning.
 
Political figures who survived the Macon War and lived through the occupation came to the conclusion that Davostag needs to change in fundamental ways, it needs to develop itself as itself, it needs to accept the reality that Davostag as a country is not just bi-ethnic but multi-ethnic. These are to be known as the Unionists. On that conclusion the Davostag Revolution broke out in the 4790s, driven by Unionists believing that only through revolutionary action can Davostag change itself. The revolution ended with the establishment of the Union of Davostan and Kivonia. The UDK was very important to the development of the Davostager nation and is regarded highly even today. But it regressed in certain parts. It hoped to only take certain parts of Davostag's history prior to the 4590s and Kivonian Republic, while basing much of its identity post-4590s. Instead of referring to Davostagers as Davostagers, they were referred to as Unionites. A great deal of emphasis was placed on the ethnic differences rather than highlighting the actual cultural unity. But despite these mistakes, the UDK prospered, it gained momentum in international and regional affairs, and developed economically and militarily.
 
The UDK eventually stagnated and was replaced by the Luthorianized United Kingdoms of Davostan and Kivonia. The founding unionist philosophy remained in the United Kingdoms and the brief interregnum with the 'Union of the North', thus national progress remained stagnating. This post-UDK period reigned between the 5070s until the 5330s. That was the moment. The 5330s was the showdown that would ultimately decide the fate of Davostag as a country and whether it would actually be able to form its own nation. The 5310s and 5320s saw the rise of nationalist sentiments, but not the historical kinds, that is the Kivonian or Davostani nationalist or the Unionist-nationalists. But what is today referred to as revivalist nationalism. This emphasized the historical cultural unity of the Davostagers as a single nation, first perceived with the Independent Davostag Republic of 2022 and the later Imperial Davostag Republic of 2610. The revivalists viewed the Satanilic eras as periods of great difficulty, but where the Satanilists carried the national idea like a vulnerable seed, which was to be planted with the Kivonian Republic and grew with its successor states and governments up to this point. 
 
The then pro-Daviostani government implemented failed policies that resulted in Kivonian-controlled military units rebelling and protesters demonstrating across the country. The Federalist government, named after their goal of preserving the post-Unionist status quo with an emphasis on Davostani interests, clashed with the rebel Centralists, named after the Kivonian tradition of favoring a highly centralized government. This Davostag Civil War began and the two sides engaged in heavy fighting. In the midst of the conflict, some of the pro-government Army units along with the majority of the Navy and Air Force rebelled against both sides; having been highly sympathetic to the revivalist nationalism that had gradually taken hold on several parts of society, they were named the Nationalists. The war lasted for only three years, with the Nationalists gaining the upper hand and crushing the other two. They created the Davostager State, a one-party military dictatorship, sometimes referred retrospectively as the Nationalistdiktaturen ("Nationalist Dictatorship"). The nationalist regime implemented several needed national and cultural reforms, spreading Davostager nationalism in the revivalist form throughout the country. One might suggest that this would have been the finalization of the national project in Davostag, but this is simply not true. The dictatorship, while necessary for guiding the project toward the finish line, presented a rather unstable form of government that would be unable to represent the true Davostager nation in political affairs and maintain general development and progress. The last hurdle would be the post-dictatorship period.
 
The Nationalist dictatorship ended in 5350, with the ruling party, the 'Davostagian Unity Gathering' (DES), having already seen the rise of two internal factions, a nationalist one and a liberal one, parted ways into the National Gathering (NS) and the Liberal Democratic Union (LDU) respectively. The post-dictatorship democratic state, the Kingdom of Davostag, was dominated by the popular support for NS. This party maintained the revivalist tradition but still began to regress, moving toward a more conservative stance. This democratic period was put on trial with the turn of the century of the 5400s with the rise of the Front Thing for National Revival (FTNV), which led a paramilitary guerilla campaign against the government. The FTNV's goal was simple: to complete the national project with the establishment of a Davostag Republic. The paramilitary campaign continued until the 5420s, when agreements were reached and reconciliation was completed between the FTNV and NS. Many former FTNV members rose through the ranks of NS and eventually were able to push through the establishment of their republic in 5436. In the decades that followed, the LDU, which had governed since the 5420s, collapsed and the NS remained the dominant power in Davostag; with rikspresident Julia Neusohn, former FTNV leader, leading the charge to have the national project reach its completion, which Davostager historians today agree she essentially did. The National Gathering continued until 5527, when it was reorganized into the current National Electoral Union (NVU).
 
This historical summary is vital to our understanding of what makes us Davostagers and a nation. It is not our historically perceived ethnic division, or cultural subdivision or linguistic differences. It is by recognising that we are these things but only as parts of a greater body. What would Kivonians or Davostanis be without Davostag? Today when people self-identify, they refer to themselves as Davostagers. When asked what kind of Davostager, they will answer either Befäska-speaking or Skrigere-speaking. And when they absolutely must, they will mention that they are of a Kivonian or Davostani lineage. Today linguistics are a character of community, ethnicity a marker of history, while culture is their form of identity. And that culture is the Davostager culture. It is what makes us, us. History, ethnicity and linguistics are just smaller parts of it. Of course, at the end of the day, the different groups provide their own characters to the unified culture, like the Kivonians provide warrior tradition and the Davostanis spiritual community.
 
But I would like to add something to this. Reexamining the Kivonian period, we essentially gloss over some important parts. It is viewed with this idea of the Befäska-speakers taking control of the state, but while it is true to some extent, it is more complicated. Many Befäska-speakers, especially historically speaking, have not simply belonged to the ethnic Kivonian community, but also to the minority Skjöld and Dorvish. The minority Hutorians, however, have mostly connected with the Davostanis due to geographic reasons. Many great Kivonian statesmen and politicians and leaders had ancestry within the Skjöld and Dorvish minority communities. For example, the Kivonian clan of Reinhardt, while fiercely Kivonian nationalistic had strong ties with the Dorvish community, while the Kivonian House of Ashé-Rivières, though internationally connected, had strong ties to the Skjöld community. So to relegate the history of Davostag to solely the Kivonians and Davostanis is essentially wrong, as many Davostagers throughout history have belonged to or have been connected to almost essentially all of the ethnic groups in Davostag. Now the traditional view held since the civil war has been that ethnic Davostagers are exclusively Kivonians and Davostanis, I challenge this by instead removing the specifics of the ethnic question in the Davostager national identity, which bases itself more on the histories of Davostag and from there the unique Davostager culture. I, together with others on the subject, have come to the realization that Davostag is widely unique in its nationhood. It has one unified culture that sees no ethnic boundaries, and this culture has essentially shaped the peoples within Davostag in their image, despite smaller subdivisions. And these peoples have a common denominator that one has failed to see but which makes sense in terms of why the country has remained as one for so long: Dunicism.
 
There are five major ethnic groups in Davostag. The Kivonians, Davostanis, Skjöld, Hutorian and Dorvish people. Two of these are more dominant than the others, but the numbers have of course fluctuated throughout history. While there might be cultural subdivisions in these communities, they have remained consistent in their upholding and belonging to the Davostager culture. Their main differences are actually only linguistically and even that is shared by a common Dunic heritage. The post-4590 period up until the 5330s had a large focus on the ethnic parts of their identities, but that as well falls short in the bigger picture of Davostager history. Their ethnicities are basically also connected through a Dunic heritage. Hence what this makes Davostag is a country with a unified Davostager culture, composed of peoples with shared Dunic ethnic and linguistic attributes. Instead of seeing Davostag as the shared land of the Kivonians and Davostanis, what it is and what it basically has always been, is the first instance of a pan-Dunic state formed and molded into its own unique nation. It is not the ethnic differences that creates the characteristics of the Davostagers, as those are just smaller parts of the larger Dunic-Davostager ethnic identity, it is the fact that these ethnic parts have been able to formulate for themselves as a common and shared culture. This is Davostag: the nation of the Makon-based Dunic peoples.
 
Now this reexamining of our national and ethnic identity might cause a larger question mark. What about Hutori and Telamon? They are as Dunic as the Davostagers. It is perhaps a very vital question that I will kind of leave open ended. But I will provide two solutions to this question. One is that what makes Davostag different from its continental neighbors in the idea of a pan-Dunic nation-state, is that Davostag does not present itself as a pan-Dunic nation-state nor should it do so; instead it should and already does present itself as uniquely Davostager in culture, which makes it difficult for Hutorians in Hutori or Skjölds in Telamon to join and become part of Davostag, as similarity in an ethnic sense is hindered by the cultural differences. For example, it would not work well if Davostager Kivonians and Davostanis joined together with their linguistic counterparts in Kazulia or vice versa, as the cultural and historical divide is too wide. But the second solution is that it might not be a problem, perhaps by speaking from a hypothetical jingoistic position, Davostag represents what the Dunic peoples of Macon should strive toward. That the unification and removal of our Dunic ethnic divides under the Davostager nation and culture could be the future meant for Macon. Perhaps the second solution is just an extension of the first. 
 
It is with these kinds of discussions and reexaminations that allows for the continuing development of our nation and people. It is through these that we gather as one, no longer fighting ourselves for the sake of fighting and power, but focusing on our well-being and turning our eyes beyond the borders of Davostag and the waters of Macon.
 
Academic piece written by Greta Greger, expanded upon by Götilda Riddercrantz, Vilhelm Reuterschiöld and Elsa Sterner.