Southern England (1983: Doomsday)

The Federal Republic of the Isle of Wight and Sussex (Commonly referred to as Southern England) is a small country in the far south of what was once the UK, it controls the Isle of Wight and parts of East and West Sussex.

Doomsday & Evacuation to New Britain (1983-1986)
The southern parts of the UK were hit badly on Doomsday with missiles hitting Brighton, Southampton and Portsmouth, Several thousand refugees tried to make there way to the Isle of Wight believing it to be a safe haven, However many died as they failed to find seaworthy boats and tried to swim. The Isle of Wight retained some form of order in the days following Doomsday especially after the arrival of the Royal Family. The Royal Navy assisted in carrying some refugees to the Isle and it became home to the British Provincial Administration which was headed by the then deputy prime minister William Whitelaw.

In the next three years the Isle was a base for Royal Navy ships searching for a suitable new home for the British people and when they eventually secured an area of South Africa it was the base for the evacuation of the country. Around 60% of the Islands population left with the RN and the cargo ships but the MP for the Island, Terence Higgins chose to stay behind alongside some British Army forces declaring that he felt his place was with the people of the Island that he had so long served. At the end of 1986 the population of the Island was just under 40,000.

Evacuation of the coast and contact with Hastings (1986-1990)
The infrastructure of the Island remained intact after the Royal Family and Navy left and the Island had large food supply's (Due to land reforms by the BPA and the Islands fishing fleet). Terence Higgins asked the Islands council to give him control of the Isles resources and land so that they could survive and help what was left of the British Isles. Utilising the islands fishing fleet the entire south coast of the UK was scouted and scouting parties landed at Brighton, Worthing and Bognor Regis. The Islands council authorised the evacuation of 100,000 people from West Sussex and Brighton and allow them to repopulate the Island but despite their best efforts the fishermen were unable to evacuate the whole of Brighton leaving behind 50,000 people and were also unable to evacuate the town of Worthing as their scouts were shot on arrival.

However the Islands council did promise the few people from Worthing that made it to the Island that they would eventually liberate there town. However that didn't end the councils plans to help the people of England in the coastal regions and the council authorised expeditions into East Sussex. One of these expeditions encountered a fishing vessel from the Interim Nation of Hastings, who revealed that the seaside town of Hastings now existed as a nation with a population of over 30,000. Terence Higgins decided to meet with the leader of Hastings Kenneth Warren to discuss a possible merger of the two nations. These discussions finished in 1990 when the two men signed a treaty that unified the two nations as a confederation.

Contact with the Celtic Alliance (1990-1992)
The Channel Islands had been under the control of the Celtic Alliance since the end of the BPA but the Alliance had come to an agreement with Terence Higgins that they would not impede the Islands sovereignty. However the Alliance had recently rediscovered the details of the Blue Streak ICBM and the Black Arrow Carrier Rocket and was interested in co-operating with the creators of the rockets Westland and more importantly gain control of the launch pad, The council agreed that the Alliance would be allowed to operate the rocket launch pad and rocket testing facility on the needles. In exchange for this though the Alliance had to assist the Confederation in removing the suspected dictatorship in Worthing.

In 1991 the Alliance moved scientists into the test facility's with the long term goal of restarting the Black Arrow space program and moved troops onto the island in preparation for an assault on Worthing. In early 1992 the Alliance marine forces launched an attack with the help of the Islands small navy, Worthing's small army complement was taken completely by surprise and by the end of the day the town was under the control of the Confederation. Worthing was slowly integrated into the Confederation's infrastructure over the next eight months and on Christmas 1992 the Confederation was officially dissolved and replaced by the Federal Republic of the Isle of Wight and Sussex.

Rebuilding (1992-2000)
With the help of the Celtic Alliance the Republic slowly began to rebuild the damaged areas of land that it controlled. It helped the Alliance set up one of its MSP's in Brighton on the condition that the city would eventually become Republic territory once the radiation levels had dropped and began to trade with both the Celtic Alliance and one or two of the French survivor states. It also restablished the Confederation's army which had been disbanded after the occupation of Worthing as it had been foolishly believed that the Alliance would protect them.

The Republic set up schools and hospitals across the south coast to help restore order and created so-called immigration highways, ports that allowed anyone who arrived at them access to the Republic and the services it provided. These highways were highly controversial however and in 1996 the scheme was cancelled. However they had done there job as the population of the Republic now stood at 200,000 people. Slowly the Republic began to lose its dependency of the Alliance, especially after the purchase of an Airship from the New Zeppelin company in 1999.

A New Millennium (2000-2005)
The new Millennium was marked by the first successful launch of the Blue Streak rocket, Instead of a normal payload it had contained several hundred fireworks which went off over the Irish Sea as a celebration. The first half of the decade marked the continued independence of the Republic from the Alliance as well as resumed contact with the King in. However Republic sentiment towards the monarchy was not good with many people thinking that they had abandoned the Island, to this day the Republic refuses to achnolage the king as ruler of the Republic and they await a true hier to the british royal family.

A New Politics (2005-2010)
On May the 2nd 2005 the first election in over two decades was held in the Republic with candidates from the Conservative Party, The Liberal Party and The Labour Party standing in a variety of seats. Incumbent Terence Higgins remained Prime Minister but the Liberal party gained several seats. The Labour Party gained only 10 seats in the council leading to its colapse and reformation as the SDP.

Since 2005 the nation has remained relatively obscure with its most relevant contribution to the world being its position as home to the Alliances space program. A second election will take place on June the 20th 2010 which is suspected to result in a Liberal party victory.

Government
Since 2005 the country has been a multi party democracy in which MP's are elected from various parties and the largest party gains control of the Parliament. Before 2005 it was a De-Facto dictatorship although it allways claimed to simply be a continuation of the Isle of Wight county council. Terence Higgins has remained popular throughout his career but his party have become unpopular due to thier massive pro Alliance sentiment whereas the Liberals are in favour of becoming more independent and posibly joining the.

Military
Southern England has a small but efficant armed forces devision that exists to protect the Island and its territories. The military is made up of the british army forces who chose to remain on the island as well as converted aircraft and ships. The army is the largest of the three devisions of the armed forces as it consists of the majority of the 8,000 men who chose to remain on the island, it is equiped with pre Doomsday british army equipment as well as some equipment recovered from Sussex. The navy consists of modified fishing boats, a few ex RN patrol boats and three converted SR.N6 hovercraft which operate alongside the flagship RNV Isle of Wight (A converted SR.N4 class hovercraft that had been due to be scraped in 1983). The airforce operates two Zepplin bombers alongside several Islanders and Trislanders converted for military use as well as a squadron of spitfires built to WW2 specifications by Airframes Assemblies and Britten-Norman. The metal for these aircraft and ships has prodominantly come from two IOW ferries that had reached the end of thier lives, these aircraft and ships are powered by both pre doomsday fuel stored on the island and more recently bio-fuels from farms and gained from trade.

Sport
Asociation Football remains the most popular sport in the Republic with teams from all three of the Republics states competing in a football league on the Island. The country aims to be a member of FIFA at the end of 2010 and wants to take part in the 2014 world cup and it is also one of the largest suporters of a unified British football league. The other large sport in the county is Rugby Union and the country will take part in qualifications for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Transport
The Isle of Wight Steam railway and the branch of British Rail on the Island were united in the early days of the administration as well the BR branches on the mainland later on. The three branches are officaly known as Federal Railways (FR) and are mainly operated by steam locomotives from the Isle of Wight Steam railway. These trains are operated in co-operation with several Isle of Wight ferries operated by SR.N6 hovercraft and Ro-Ro ferries and the trains are transported to the mainland by specialy modified ferries.

Economy
The Federal Republics economy is dependent on trade with the Celtic Alliance and other british survivor states. While it is capable of providing enough food for the Isle of Wight and Hastings it has barely any factories, lacks raw materials and while it can repair its equipment, railways and boats it is incapable of finding the parts instead having to purchess them from the Celtic Alliance.

Religion
Unsuprisingly protostant christianity is the most prominant religion in the country but as Roman Catholocism is one of the few remaining organised religions left in the world it is begining to gain prominence. Atheism is also popular in the country as Doomsday caused many people in the region to lose faith. Islam and Judaism remain popular and there is also a fringe religion called the Cult of Doomsday which views Doomsday as a chance for humanity to rebuild itself. Curently the percentage of the population which follows each religion is shown below:
 * Atheism 44%
 * Protostant Christianity 20%
 * Roman Catholic 16%
 * Judaism 9%
 * Islam 9%
 * Cult of Doomsday .5%
 * Other 1.5%

Media
The local BBC broadcasting station for the Island remained intact after doomsday and is used by the state backed RBC (Republic Broadcasting Corperation) to broadcast news and some sporting events. The RBC operates the Republics only TV station (Limited to broadcasting on the Isle of Wight itself) but radio stations operate on the Island and its mainland territories. The following radio stations and TV stations are broadcast on the Island and its mainland territorys:
 * RBC 1 (TV Station) broadcasts news and sporting events.
 * RBC 1 (Radio) broadcasts the same things as its TV cousin but is broadcast in all three republic territories.
 * RBC 2 broadcasts music and some radio sitcom's.
 * RBC Sussex is broadcast from short range transmiters on the mainland and focus's on local news.

Public Inferstructure
The Education system in Southern England is one of the largest and best in the south of former England, its education system is envied by most survival states and is one of the main reasons why it is such a popular destination for imigration. Its health system is also well built having retained most of the pre DD NHS hospitals as well as forcing private hospitals to take some non paying paitents. However the Education and Health systems are only open to natural born citizens and those who arived through the imigration highways and for other imigrants there is a transition period (5-10 years).

Forign Afairs
The Republic has good relations with the Celtic Alliance and other british survivor states. It is not a member of any of the major political pacts but there is consideration about joining the OBN.