Federal Heimark Republic

History
Formed in 1156, the Federal Heimark Republic was the result of a merger between tribal clans after 15 years of warfare against a vastly superior enemy. The Heimark Clan traces it's routes back to the Pacific Northwest, with much Heimarkian culture going all the way back to the Bronze Age, with some findings even suggesting the origins of the Clan appearing in the Stone Age. As suggested by the name, the FHR is a Federal Republic with some interesting differences, it is a Federal Monarchy, a name first coined by Jebodiah Heimark in the early 18th century, describing the nation as a unique mixture of democracy and monarchy.

The Heimark Family has been the rightful rulers of the FHR since it's very beginnings, as they had proven themselves to be the most effective ruling party amongst all of the rival clans, their courage, intelligence and charisma won the hearts of their people. In today's society the FHR's cultural heritage has successfully been able to integrate with modern social customs, with Heimarkians priding themselves on their ancestors.

The country's origins have wildly affected the country's customs and culture for centuries to come, where many Heimarkians tend to lean more towards violent solutions to problems, the FHR has long since had an issue with interior conflict, in the 1850's the FHR's largest concern was the possibilty of the nation being split up into the separate clans once again, as Heimarkians were beginning to lean more to identifying with their state rather than their country as a whole, this was rectified by the Heimarkian Civil War, one of the bloodiest wars that the FHR had ever been apart of, this struggle for the survival of their political structure and cultural heritage had given the Heimark Family the opportunity to once again unite the people of the FHR to band together under one flag, rather than the flags of their separate states.

In it's early years, the Federal Heimark Republic found themselves increasingly at odds with the powers of Europe, in-particular Spain and The Federation of Britannican Descent, the Heimarkians of years gone past had tended to be very reserved and wished to keep their business to themselves whilst maintaining a strong economy with interior trading, Britannica and the rest of Europe however wished to take the East Coast of the FHR, which led to the start of many political conflicts and small skirmishes between the newly formed Heimarkian Republic Navy [HRN] and the Royal Navy of Britannica.

In the years following the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, the FHR faced a brief period of economic downturn, even more so when the owned Africans were made free men by law, the FHR found a way to solve this solution with the discovery of oil, and it's ability to create a reliable source of energy, as a result Heimarkian military forces invaded Alaska, which at the time was Taerachian territory under a different name, and forcefully took Alaska from the Taerachians, warning that if the KOT attempted to take it back, that a full on invasion of their mainland would follow.

Oil was the fuel in the economic powerhouse and war machine that the Federal Heimark Republic soon became, by the start of the First World War, the Heimarkian military stood at around 2,459,000 in comparison to just 450,000 at the time of the Alaskan War. The FHR joined the First World War relatively early on, at the end of 1915, where they deployed around 200,000 troops to France as part of a new Friendship Pact between the FHR and Britannica.

The Office of Pandemic Control was formed in 1918 as a response to the devastating Spanish Influenza outbreak at the time, which killed approximately 675,000 Heimarkians, more than the First World War itself did. The OPC only a short period of time after it's formation effectively wiped out the strain of Flu that caused the outbreak, containing it in only the most protected of labratories. In 1919 the Department of Colonial Intelligence was renamed to the Homeland Defense Agency, under it's first Director, Director Robert Flannigan.

The FHR has long since had a proud tradition of families maintaining their occupations throughout entire generations, and working together to maintain the natural order of things within the country, the Heimark Family kept control of the Presidency, whilst another famous Heimarkian family, the Flannigan family was always their second in command, regardless of decade or situation. -- During the 1930's the native language spoken by Heimarkians simply known to the outside world as Heimarkian, as the actual translation of the name into the language itself is still unknown, began to fade out in every day usage, with English taking it's place as the first language of the FHR due to it's now increasingly strong connections with the outside world.

In 1937 a law was passed in the Senate to make it that every Heimarkian school and high school had to teach Heimarkian as their educational first language, and that other languages such as French and Spanish were to be excluded entirely, prioritising Heimarkian and English, this law; whilst xenophobic was immensely successful and it did the job of keeping Heimarkian tradition alive whilst adapting to the times. In 1941, sometime after the beginning of the Second World War, a Japanese Imperial fleet surprised attacked Shell Harbor, a major Heimarkian naval installation, destroying much of the 3rd Pacific Fleet and killing many servicemen, President Theodore Heimark took the call to immediately and harshly respond to this "cowardly and provocative attack" in his words. By starting what would now be known as the War Effort.

At the start of the FHR's involvement in the Second World War, there were around 3,459,020 active duty troops in the Heimarkian military, by the end of the same war, there were over 19,540,200 active duty troops, with an additional 9,850,100 in reserve and 6,410,900 in the National Guard, a newly formed unit in the FHR to defend the nation from possible attacks whilst the active duty divisions were out on tour.

This massive military expansion is widely known to be the single largest expansion of any military force in history, in such a short period of time as well, this record is only now being tested by the FHR's current military expansions in the late 2010's reaching into the 2020's. -- The Federal Heimark Republic, the Britannican Empire and the Republic Of Jasifa had all taken the initative at the end of WW2 to form The United Federation in war torn Europe, this new country would essentially be a quicker and more efficent way for the Allies to govern and keep the peace within Europe, however relations between the Federal Heimark Republic and the Kingdom of Taerach had plummeted massively in this period of time, with the Taerachians accusing the FHR of intentionally leaving their country out of Europe's rebuilding.

In the 1950's, the main concern of the Heimarkian people had turned to the growing threat of Taerachian expansion, the government attempted to quell this by starting uprisings within traditional Taerachian allies such as Korea and Vietnam, thus weakening their influence in Asia, it was at this time that the Homeland Defense Agency begun wearing down the KAPT alliance, which at the time was the largest threat to Heimarkian national security, the actual legitimacy of this threat however is still debated on to this day.

Throughout the 1960's and into the 70's, the FHR had had to concern itself with the growing sub-culture of pacifism, which if not controlled would've proven to be a large threat to the Heimarkian government and it's interests overseas, these "hippies" were taken out of the public picture intentionally by the government by bribing media outlets at the time into simply not reporting on them, and when they did, to paint them in a negative light. President John F. Heimark did still respect the Charter and the rights it granted citizens of course, but at the same time he knew the dangers that promoting peace and "love" could bring to the FHR's image as a new global superpower to match Britannica's former strength.

In 1969 the FHR made history by landing the first ever man on the moon, essentially winning the Space Race between themselves and the Kingdom of Taerach, which further deteriorated relations between the two countries, as space exploration and research had always been something of a hobby to most Taerachians. With the diplomatic conflict in space resolved and with a clear winner, the Cold War had turned back to the ground, with both militaries largely expanding their budgets and deployments, the Homeland Defense Agency covertly began funding Afghani insurgent groups in the 1980's during the Taerachian invasion of Afghanistan whilst President Ronald Heimark, the now current President Derek Heimark's father, begun visiting other nations on diplomatic missions, the Heimarkians looking to reform their image into that of a friendlier, peace loving nation. Which worked to a surprising extent.

With the replacement of the Taerachian Prime Minister, a new, friendlier one took his place, this resulted in a significant upturn in relations between them and the FHR, due to a major economic depression within the KOT, President Ronald Heimark had taken a visit to the Taerachians as a sign of goodwill, this was seen as the final act of the Cold War, which promptly ended soon after.

As the 1990's took effect, so did what would now be known as Heimarkianism, this so called perception on the Federal Heimark Republic reflects the controversial actions it took during the 1990's, many of which were directed towards poorer, but oil rich nations in both Africa and the Middle East, along with this the 1990's were a decade in which movies and television depicted the FHR as if it could do no wrong, a now running gag in the 2000's with such movies like Team Heimarkia poking fun at the world police attitude of the FHR.

In 2001, the single worst terrorist attack to be made against the FHR occured in New Leon, on June 11th, where twin towers were struck by hijacked aircraft, most, if not all Heimarkians who were alive at the time recall where they were and what they were doing at the time of the attack perfectly, as a national sign of respect and mourning to the many dead, even Ronald Heimark, in his old age and weakening state took the time to make a trip all over the nation to visit mourning cities with his son, Derek who was now reaching his official Presidency, and his new grand-daughter, Moira Heimark who had stirred up gossip in the FHR as the first female addition to the direct bloodline of the Heimark family.

Ronald Heimark died in 2004, in his President Retreat in California, just outside of Santa Feradina. 2 days later Derek Heimark was officially given his coronation as President, Derek had been taking the role on as Acting-President since 1993, as his father had become too weak in his older years to continue the pressuring and demanding occupation that was being President, however he was only able to become official President once his father had died. With this Moira Heimark was now Madam Successor of the FHR.

The FHR was able to have some of it's first presidential gossip in over a decade in 2009 when President Heimark and his wife, Nancy Heimark split up after many months of thinking and overall confusion, this had happened alongside the Heimarkian Recession and the Swine Flu pandemic, 2007-09 had spelled some very bad situations for the FHR, as it struggled with it's economy, having to bail out many of it's largest banks, and at one point the Heimarkian economy nearly going into free fall due to the amount of investors losing faith in their companies, the New Leon Stock Market had been shut down for a period of 3 weeks to prevent more investors from pulling their money out and the OPC was scrambling for funding to fight the Flu pandemic.

It is reported than during this time the Heimark family had gone through a rough patch, and it is widely theorized that the divorce alongside the pressures of the financial crisis was what caused President Heimark to disconnect almost entirely with his daughter, which drew much controversy as it had always been tradition for the President to mentor his Successor personally and to provide them with a healthy environment to learn in, the F.H. Army at a certain point had to temporarily take custody of Moira Heimark to enroll her in a Military teaching program as to preserve the future Presidency.

In 2010 the financial crisis had resolved itself and the FHR was back up on it's feet after some hefty investment from the United Federation, the Crisis on it's own had put the FHR in debt to the UF which the Heimarkians begun paying back by stationing military forces and intelligence divisions in their nation, thus defending them from around 8-9 terrorist attacks yearly, the Federal Treasury begun Repayment Alpha, a government program to fully repay it's debts to Europe whilst maintaining economic strength, the Delsan had dropped in worth considerably, but by 2011 had risen back up to the 2nd strongest currency in the world, just behind the Santoni credit and just in-front of the Britannican pound.

In 2013 the FHR experienced the single largest economic boom in history with President Heimark's economic plan, which was widely accepted as one of the strongest economic plans in history, this plan was labelled Tolerant Entitlement and it was based on the fact that Heimarkians were not entitled to anything, thus welfare spending was cut by 90%, only allowing benefits to those who genuinely proved they were looking for work and those who's working parent or sibling or child had lost the ability to work in some way.

By late 2014, the Heimarkian military had received a major boost in funding, with the new economic prosperity, development and stability, allowing the DOP to continue it's borderline aggressive peacekeeping plans worldwide, the Military began solving the unemployment issue by itself by allowing most people to enlist in the military, but introducing new and harder training regimes to weed out the weak, whilst producing top quality soldiers from the homeless and undesirables, this strategy worked immensely, and it reinspired the patriotic spirit of many of those the public deemed hopeless.

2015 was the year where things truly picked up, the FHR returning to it's former place as the economically dominant country in the world, as yet another boom hit the country due to new trade dealings with the Republic of Jasifa, Britannica and many other countries, along with that the emergence of Cobra, despite it being a terrorist organization proved highly beneficial to the FHR, with the lack of any debt whatsoever to pay off, now with the United Federation being non-existant, the FHR was free to spend all of it's money however it wanted to. It has now taken to massive military expansion and technological advancement throughout the 5 years after the dissolvement of it's debt and the FHR has entered a new golden age, similar to that talked about in the 40's under President Heimark's rule.

Economy
The Heimarkian economy has historically shown that in times of war it drastically picks up in value. It is a widely known fact that the FHR as a whole benefits from military conflict with other nations and terrorist groups. This is mostly due to the insanely huge weapons & military development market in the FHR and it's allies, most noteable being the Republic of Jasifa. Military R&D provides the Heimarkian economy with over 2.2 million jobs and 987 billion Delsan annually, and that's the direct benefits. The Heimarkian areospace industry, which is greatly entwined with the areospace defense industry contributes over 882 billion Delsan yearly and 3.9 million jobs. Popular conspiracy theories tend to involve the FHR intentionally starting and provoking wars worldwide to boost it's own economy, a theory that to this day the government condemns as both idiotic and illogical. The Heimark Family both historically and presently has never made a statement on this, which has been the cause of much debate.

The FHR's economy also revolves greatly around the social aspects of the Heimarkian people and their culture. Many industries that have attempted to kickstart themselves in the FHR have failed in the past due to the sole concern that Heimarkians simply didn't find the industry appealing enough to either work in or buy from. Some industries or products being sold on the market are looked down upon even today by many Heimarkians, either due to cultural reasons, religious reasons or the well known Heimarkian trait of being highly resistant to unknown change. The Heimarkian economy is known for being the strongest and most rapidly growing economy in the world, this has been widely credited to the Heimark Family for it's stance on jobs and welfare, that stance being that no one is entitled to anything and that they have to work for everything. Or at least a reputation to have earned something as luxurious as welfare. Combine this with the hardworking, eager to do better than everyone else attitude of your everyday Heimarkian and one hell of a drop in poverty you've got.

Demographics
Due to being extremely isolated for many thousands of years, the native Heimarkians of the Heimark Clan. Originating in the Pacific Northwest, in what is now known as Oregon and Washington have retained many of their distinctive features that differentiate them from the rest of the Caucasian race. Whilst keeping their genepool eerily clean from foreigners, your typical Heimarkian woman stands around 5,9 while the men tend to stand around 5,11-6,1. For both cultural and social reasons you would find that the overwhelming majority of Heimarkians are in near perfect shape and at a healthy weight. The cleansity of their genepool also keeps the continuity of the Heimarkian-Caucasian appearance. Many Heimarkian women appear more masculine than the women of other countries whilst the men are bulkier and taller in some regards. Hazel and brown colored eyes are most common in the Heimarkian genepool whilst dark brown to black hair is also to be expected.

In the present day FHR, even with the Atlantic Slave Trade changing the normally consistant demographics of the country. The FHR still has a relatively clean demographic, with a 94.8% Caucasian-Heimarkian, 4.2% African-Heimarkian and 1% Sino-Heimarkian. However due to the natural dominance of Heimarkian genes, even the highest immigration and integration from African slaves in the 1800's to the Chinese in the 1940's has done little to alter the genepool. With the next generation children of these immigrants all having increasingly Heimarkian traits. There has been many conspiracy theories as to whether or not the Heimarkian government has intentionally altered something involving this but it has been debunked multiple times by both official and civilian sources. [Please Note that these demographics are for Natural-Heimarkians, IE citizens from the Mainland. European-Heimarkians are excluded but remain 97.6% Caucasian.]