HISTORY OVERVIEW

This page provides a brief overview of Adammic history. For a detailed history of the First and Second Eras, the 193-page book History of Adammia Volume I is available in paperback and Kindle format.

First Era

The Empire of Adammia was founded by Adam Belcher on 13 April 2013. The process of establishment took several days, and was completed when the original Supreme Directive was ratified by Sir Alex Helliker on 19 April, formally beginning the reign of Emperor Adam I.

During the first month of its existence, Adammia grew rapidly with Tytannia, Maternia and the then Adammic Imperial Province all being annexed, and the Military, Treasury and official symbols all being created, followed by the nobility and territory system in May. May was also the month when democracy was formally introduced to the Empire for the first time with the First Amendment to the Supreme Directive being enacted,

Shortly after the state media was introduced in June, the Office of the Emperor announced a proposed new Supreme Directive to replace the old one, which was considered poorly written. After this was approved by a referendum on 30 June, Emperor Adam I ceased to be an absolute monarch as the Empire officially became a constitutional monarchy, with the Ruling Council as the new legislature. The first colony of the Empire, Creatuxia, was annexed in August. Later that month, Emperor Mother Jayne Belcher was elected the first Prime Minister on the 25th, who in September appointed Ministers to the newly created government departments in the executive National Government, creating the first Cabinet. September also saw the creation of the contributions scheme, which gave the Treasury a source of income for the first time which later enabled it to buy the official web domain in December, the first ever spending of public finances. Starting in October and lasting until December 2013, all of the legislation issued so far in the Empire was reviewed by the Office of the Emperor, which amongst other things resulted in the First Amendment amendment to the (new) Supreme Directive being approved by a referendum.

In December, the Empire expanded again with Watertopia being annexed. In January 2014, the Empire grew massively in size as Myway province was annexed, followed by the Jagstonian Plains and Astley Meadow being claimed a few weeks later, making the Empire increase fifty six times in size. Along with this came a substantial increase in the armed forces, with many new units being created. However, this did not come without opposition, as the Astley Meadow Insurgency began with the Skirmish of Astley Meadow on 23 January 2014. In February, Imperial City was established as the capital city. Preparations soon began for the Empire's first anniversary in April, Foundation Day. Held on the 12th, this was the largest gathering of Adammic citizens on record. After Foundation Day, the government began to focus on growing an economy, and allowed private companies to register for the first time. By the end of 2014, the Adammic GDP reached £100. The end of the Astley Meadow Insurgency saw the demobilisation of the armed forces which eventually led to half of all units being made redundant in November 2014.

Astley Meadow was all but abandoned by July 2014 and so was ceded back to the UK. It was replaced with the territory of Borealia in Devon, which soon became in integral part of the Empire's industry with a furnace capable of melting aluminium and later copper. In September, Adammia's foreign influence reached new heights when Emperor Adam was elected Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational. Other major achievements at this time included the unveiling of the Populus Imperium monument and the successful launch of the Adammic Imperial Space Agency's Andromeda 3 rocket. For these reasons, late 2014 is often considered a golden age for Adammic influence and prestige.

Adammia grew once again in early 2015 with Adammic Columbia joining in January followed by Dearneland in February. However, the collapse of the GUM left Adammia with only a shadow of its former intermicronational influence, whilst Creatuxia was forced to leave the Empire causing a loss of almost half the total territory, but much of the government's focus was directed inwards throughout the year, making its procedures more professional. In July, the Colonial Council was introduced as a way of giving the colonies a way to influence national legislation. For 2015's elections, the Emperor encouraged the formation of political parties on the basis that competition between them would incentivise people to come up with new ideas. This led to the Moderate and Labour parties being founded by Emperor Mother Jayne and Sir Reginald Hall respectively to challenge the Emperor's own Liberal Party. After two terms as an independent PM, Emperor Mother Jayne was re-elected to as the first Moderate Party Prime Minister in August 2015. On 18 October, travel writer Jonny Blair became the first tourist to visit Adammia, a huge milestone for the Empire.

2016 saw increased turmoil in the Empire and a further decline in its territory. Borealia and Adammic Columbia both left in August, though the latter would rejoin in November. The Emperor's grandmother, Madam Winifred Hall, passed away in April, which caused many functions of government to be suspended or delayed for some time. The political landscape also changed significantly, with Labour candidate Sir Paul McKenna elected as Adammia's second Prime Minister in the August election, and the emergence of the far-right Adammic National Party in the new colonies of El Grandens and Kappania which would frequently antagonise the Emperor, particularly over Liberal Party policy. Debate between the ANP and the Liberals came to a head in November over the Emperor's decision to suspend recognition of the United States following the election of Donald Trump, leading to a by-election for the Emperor's Council seat which he narrowly held, followed by Prime Minister McKenna's unprecedented and successful motion for the Ruling Council to overturn the Emperor's decision. Meanwhile, the Emperor moved away from the old provinces in September in order to study at the University of Birmingham, where he founded the Colony of Alluria.

The first few months of 2017 saw a state of inactivity caused by the Emperor's university studies and the physical distance from Alluria, where the Emperor was now based, and the old provinces. Inactivity measures were announced in March, which included the dissolution of the Colonial Council and Adammia being downgraded to observership in the GUM. In June, Adammic Columbia again left the Empire, this time for good. However, the Emperor began to find success recruiting new citizens at university, such as Ems Simpson and Luca Panconi. Elections were held over the summer, amidst a series of delays which eventually prompted the Emperor to announce in August that he would be relocating the central government to the new Birmingham territories as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Prince Jake of the Liberal Party was elected Prime Minister. During the autumn academic term, the government began to prepare for a transition, creating the new provinces of Serkatia and Paternia, as well as raising Alluria to province status. The transition itself took place on 28 October 2017, a date marked as the end of the First Era and the beginning of the Second Era of Adammic history. Primoria, Maternia, Tytannia and Watertopia were merged into a new province known as Greater Tytannia, whilst Myway became a colony.

Second Era

Following a referendum on the Fourth Amendment to the Supreme Directive, which removed the minimum term length of six months (amongst other things), early elections were called for November 2017. In the National Election, Sir Alex Helliker, who had now become the Emperor's housemate, was elected Prime Minister as the Moderate Party's new leader. Meanwhile, Admiral Ems Simpson's new Nuclear So-and-so Party temporarily replaced the Labour Party as Adammia's main left-wing party. With the new Ruling Council now fully assembled, it met for the first time in December 2017 in Serkatia.

Helliker's term in office saw extensive legislative reform and the introduction of a functioning judicial system and the Free Marriage Act. New public finance measures were introduced in the form of the Imperial Bank of Adammia and the Sovereign Grant, whereby the Emperor would grant some of his own money to the government. Lord Sam Maude resurrected the Labour Party and Lady Hermione Peace founded the novelty Dank Party after they joined the Council in June 2018. A month later, the Fifth Amendment to the Supreme Directive introduced instant-runoff voting for all elections, replacing first-past-the-post. However, many executive government procedures and agencies failed to be fully established in the new provinces, particularly the Contributions Scheme, which led to a second consecutive year of budget deficit and economic recession. This, combined with the unpopular merger of the Liberal and Moderate parties into the Liberal-Moderate Party in September 2018, sparked the creation of the populist, anti-establishment Storm Party, founded by new citizen Sir Juliano Saunders. Saunders won a shock landslide victory in the October 2018 national election and became the Empire's fifth Prime Minister, forming a coalition government with the Labour and Dank Parties.

The new province of Dank-upon-Bourn joined the Empire in September 2018, followed by Corellia and the territory of Ashoria in December 2018; meanwhile, the former ANP territories of El Grandens, Kappania and Midgard were dissolved. In November 2018, the Saunders government nationalised Capital Brewery Ltd., having accepted what had originally been a Liberal-Moderate manifesto policy. More contentious was the subject of foreign affairs, with the Storm Party engaging in a territorial dispute with the neighbouring nation of Wazakhstan over the territory of Goodbold, which was eventually defused by foreign minister Lord Maude. However, Minister of Patriotism, Lady Worthington, continued to advocate for war against Wazakhstan, arguing that it needed to be liberated from its "dictator", Ned Hilton. The Storm Party also criticised the Liberal-Moderates for its ties to Hilton, who endorsed the party in the 2018 election and later became a Ruling Council member for the party. Furthermore, the Ruling Council voted to condemn the Empire of Austenasia over its marriage policy in April 2019, triggering another diplomatic incident.

With Saunders and Maude both having promised sweeping constitutional reforms in order to limit the powers of what they perceived to be an oppressive monarchy, and with the Liberal-Moderates having pledged to reform local government, Adammic leaders gathered for cross-party talks in February 2019. The outcome was a proposal to introduce a bicameral Parliament, with the Ruling Council as the upper house and a new, online, proportionally-elected House of Citizens as the lower house. Though this did not greatly reduce the monarch's powers, it did satisfy the Storm Party's key demand to give citizens living abroad outside the Empire's territories more of a say. The Liberal-Moderates were also able to have direct democracy at the local level included as part of the reform. The Sixth Amendment to the Supreme Directive was approved by referendum in April 2019 and came into effect on 1 July 2019.

In July 2019, Lord Saunders stood down as Storm Party leader, stating that his work as Prime Minister was done, and handed over the party leadership to Minister of Patriotism Lady Anna Worthington. A month later, Lord Helliker stood down as Leader of the Liberal-Moderates, and new citizen Charles Michael was elected to take his place. In September, Lord Maude stood down as leader of the Labour Party, and was replaced by Billy Thompson, who rebranded the party as the Red Green Alliance, taking the party in a more socialist and environmentalist direction. In September 2019, Xanada joined the Empire as its first French colony.

The first general election to the House of Citizens took place on 21–23 September 2019. The election campaign was dominated by a data privacy scandal, where the Storm Party attacked the Emperor for violating the GDPR Compliance Act in making certain edits to MicroWiki. As Attorney General, Lord Helliker famously published the Helliker Report, concluding that the Emperor had broken the law, before crossing the floor to join the Storm Party, leaving the Liberal-Moderate Party he founded. In spite of this, the Liberal-Moderates managed to win a plurality in the election, which has been attributed to the large numbers of members of the House of Hall in North Adammia rallying around the Emperor in the face of pledges from the Storm Party to put him on trial, as well as general unease towards the Storm policy of war against Wazakhstan, and tactical voting amongst parties opposed to Storm. The Liberal-Moderates formed a coalition government with the Dank Party, and Lord Michael took office as the Empire's sixth Prime Minister on 10 October 2019. Lord Maude was elected as the first Speaker of the House of Citizens.

Lord Michael's term as Prime Minister saw increasing cross-party agreement on issues such as climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement and trans rights, particularly after a personal plea from the Emperor in December 2019 for citizens to tone down the increasingly toxic rhetoric that had surrounded that year's election. The Cardiff-based colony of Llanadda joined the Empire in March 2020. 2020 was dominated by Adammia's first ever state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Foundation Day being cancelled as a result. Many of the provinces in South Adammia were quickly evacuated as citizens rushed home to their families before the UK-wide lockdown was imposed, and as a result, the Ruling Council began to meet online for the first time. The term also saw sweeping judicial reforms promoted by the Emperor, and the appointment of the Empire's first judges. In September 2020, most of the Birmingham territories were abolished, with Corellia relocating to London, whilst a new province, Sheaffia, was founded in Sheffield.

Third Era

Lord Saunders left Storm to start a new Independent Party on 29 September 2020, and was joined by Lords Helliker and Maude. At the 2020 general election, held from 3-6 October, the Lib-Mods held the most seats (4). However, the Independent Party won the popular vote and, thanks to an "oven-ready" deal, formed the "Botanical Coalition" with the RGA and the dwindling remnants of the Storm Party. As a result, Saunders returned for a second term as prime minister. Despite the fact that most citizens had now graduated from UoB, online activity during the coronavirus lockdowns kept Adammia going through the first half of the second Saunders ministry. The Ruling Council held some Zoom-based sessions, and for a while the Emperor held monthly one-to-one online meetings with the Prime Minister. The most significant piece of legislation of this government was the Investigations Act 2021, which abolished the Adammic Police Force.

In July 2021, the Emperor and Lord Saunders collectively ended the coronavirus state of emergency. However, around this time, activity began to decline rapidly. Lord Gilmour retired from frontline politics in March 2021, whilst Lord Thompson resigned from all his Adammic positions in September 2021; the remaining members of the RGA decided to dissolve the party. With the RGA gone and many members of the other governing parties becoming inactive, the opposition Lib-Mods, now led by new citizen Lord James Green, began to force through bills of their own, and went into the 2021 general election extremely well-prepared. However, so few candidates stood against the Lib-Mod slate that all the candidates were elected automatically without citizens being able to vote, meaning that the Lib-Mods assumed a majority in the House, but had no underlying democratic mandate. Lord Saunders, anticipating this, deferred his planned retirement to stand as the sole Independent Party candidate, demanding that the Lib-Mods form a national unity government with a singular goal of constitutional reform which would allow a properly contested election to take place. Lord Green accepted these terms and became Prime Minister, with Lords Gurr and Bond, now the acting leaders of Storm, serving as co-Deputy Prime Ministers.

In February 2022, a referendum approved the Eighth Amendment, changing the voting system for the House to STV and reducing the number of seats available. A snap general election was immediately called for March, but after Storm's remaining members declined to stand, this election too failed to be contested. The election was cancelled, and Adammia subsequently spent the next six months in a state of almost total inactivity. The Ruling Council held its first in-person meeting since 2019 in June 2022 as part of a UBLD reunion, and considered more radical solutions to the inactivity crisis. The eventual solution, which was agreed to by the Emperor and Prime Minister Green in September 2022, was to abolish the House of Citizens and have a much smaller Ruling Council select the PM. Another referendum in October 2022 approved the Ninth Amendment to the Supreme Directive, which implemented this. Shortly before the 2022 general election, which would elect half of the members of the Council, Lord Green unexpectedly split from the Lib-Mods to form a new Radical Left Party, causing Lord Michael to return as the party's leader. At the election, the Lib-Mods won the popular vote and, with 3 out of 6 Council seats, was able to form a (technically) minority government. Lord Michael therefore returned as Prime Minister.

The second Michael ministry has been dominated by the Empire's tenth Foundation Day, which was celebrated on 15 April 2023. The event was commemorated by the publication of Adammia's first book, and Adammia hosted its first ever state visit, with James Frisch, Rector of the Serene Beaconite Republic, as part of the official celebrations in Imperial City.