We make our own state, one not beholden to the Federalists! Our state may be small, but we shall reject the tyranny of Richard Williams!
—Andrew Cobb, President of the self-declared Republic of Laralia
The Laralia Crisis was a political crisis that occurred on the planet Earth in 24 BBY. That crisis was a result of the Union of Earth States Presidential election, 24 BBY, in which Federalist Richard Williams was elected President.
Williams, a hardline Federalist who wished to centralise authority unto the Union, immediately began to annoy Traditionalists and Conservatives with his Centalist policies. Of those angered was Soutalian nationalist and Conservative Andrew Cobb, and his friend, Henry Edward Walk.
The Laralia Crisis[]
The Traditionalists are supporting Cobb, I have no doubt. They hate me so much they would happily help traitors just to spite me.
—Richard Williams on the rumours of the Traditionalists supported Laralia
Drawing upon shared sentiment amongst his fellow Soutalians of Laralia, the western region of Soutalia, Cobb declared the state of Laralia independent, as the "Republic of Laralia", a dictatorship with Cobb as President, Walk as Vice President, and Cobb's most loyal commanders as the members of the Laralia Cabinet, the sole legislative body of the new nation.
The Republic of Soutalia immediately declared the state illegitimate, and sought the Union's approval in reconquering it. Meanwhile, Laralia won the clandestine support of the Traditionalist Faction, the faction of Conservatives opposing the Federalists.
The Traditionalists wanted the flames of rebellion against the Federalists to spread, and to see more Anti-Federalists within the Federalist nations form their own self-declared nation states, thus discrediting Richard Williams for being unable to contain the crisis and increasing calls for him to step down, as well as providing the Traditionalists with a band of allied rebel states within striking distance of the Federalist heart, the Union's capital of Williamtown in neighbouring Nortalia, these rebel states would be admitted into a Traditionalist bloc of nations independent from the Union, which, it was hoped, would split the Federalist heartlands into pieces, and give the Traditionalists a foothold within them.
Emboldened by the Traditionalist support Cobb further pushed the claimed boundaries of his rebel state, the first push brought the entire western half of Soutalia, which he dubbed the "Republic of Western Soutalia" (not to be confused with the later nation), and finally the entirety of Soutalia, which he named the "Republic of Soutalia" (not to be confused with the actual nation of Soutalia).
Despite Traditionalist support Cobb's nation began to increasingly fall apart from stiff Soutalian government resistance, who had declared his nation illegitimate almost from the moment it had been founded, as well as growing discontent from Pro-Union and Pro-Democracy forces within the state, eventually a strike crippled the young nation and Soutalian military moved in and took over, Vice President Walk was arrested and imprisoned as a traitor, whilst Cobb narrowly escaped capture and fled to the Traditionalists nations, setting up the Republic of Laralia Government-in-Exile. A number of former Laralian rebels moved to Morivania in Nortalia, at the request of local Anti-Federalist John Frederickson, there they supported Frederickson in the creation of his own short-lived self-declared republic, the Republic of Morivania.
Aftermath[]
It is most unfortunate that Laralia has fallen. Cobb could have been a useful ally in a future war against the Union. No matter, we have more plans being formulated as we speak.
—Jane Zarkan on the fall of the Republic of Laralia
The fall of Cobb's Republic proved to be a setback for the Traditionalists, though it was only a minor one, the year after the Laralia Crisis the Traditionalists formed the Western States Confederation, of which Cobb's Government-in-Exile was a member, the failure of the Laralia Rebellion did mean the Traditionalists were unable to forge a foothold within the Federalist lands, they would have to fight their way across the border to the Federalist capital in a future war.
Despite being a dictatorship Cobb's nation was popular with the Traditionalist nations, who viewed the Republic as a stand against the Federalist menace of Williams, and the dictatorial design of it to be a necessary evil, Cobb himself pushed this narrative by claiming he only made a dictatorship because of "Hostile Federalists within Soutalia as a whole", Cobb always regarded himself as a benevolent dictator, who only did what he had to do for his nation and his people, and his supporters agreed with this viewpoint. Cobb always maintained his support for democracy, and continued his claims of restoring democracy after "Hostile elements" of Soutalia had been removed from power.
The flag of the Republic was popular within the Traditionalist nations as a banner of resistance against Federalist tyranny, and the Republic herself was viewed in a positive light, in the Union, however, the Republic was viewed as a tyrannical dictatorship which overthrew a democratically-elected legislature because it couldn't cope with a democratic election, the clandestine Traditionalist support for the Republic had also been revealed by the time of the outbreak of the Earth Civil War in 21 BBY, which caused many Union nationalists to view the war against the Confederate States of Earth as a necessity and a good thing, because the predecessor faction to the Confederacy, which included most of the Confederacy's leadership, had secretly backed a dictatorship in attempt to overthrow the Union.
Towards the end of the war the West Soutalia Governorate was created as the 92nd Confederate nation in the wake of the Soutalia Campaign, once again Andrew Cobb was provisional Governor of the nation, though this time he had a Senate to work with, this nation, considered by a Cobb a large successor to his failed rebel state, was a democracy, and made use of a modified version of the original Republic of Laralia flag.
The Governorate was only provisional, and in 19 BBY was replaced by the Republic of Western Soutalia.