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Great Morstaybishlia: Difference between revisions
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====Height of the Morstaybishlian Empire (1826-1897)====
[[File:Florence II and Husband.jpg|left|thumb|275px|[[Florence II|Queen Florence II]] (1794-1852) and her husband King Phillip V.]]
[[Florence II]] ascended the throne when her father died at the end of the First Posolic Wars. Her opponents believed that due to her tucked away and extravagant lifestyle she would be weak leading Morstaybishlia into the 19th century. The Second Posolic Wars confirmed her as the opposite; a titanic leader who glided Morstaybishlia back into its role as the world superpower. Her reign, the reign of her son [[Frederick III]] and her granddaughter [[Rosamund II]] marked the Golden Era where Morstaybishlia reach the zenith of its economic and political power. Exciting new technologies such as railways, photography, telegraphs and steam ships emerged, making the world far faster-paced. Morstaybishlia reinstated its mostly active role in Continental politics which had been challenged by Ethalria and Baykalia in the years before.
There was peace and prosperity, as the national income per person grew by over half. Much of the prosperity was due to the increasing industrialization, especially in machinery and textiles, as well as to the worldwide network of engineering and trade which produced profits for Morstaybishlian merchants and experts from across the world. In the Morstaybishlian sphere, there was peace abroad, except for Kuthernburg's independence, which momentarily caused disruption in trade and global trust in Mortaybishlia's ability to control its oversea assets.
[[File:George William Joy - The Bayswater Omnibus.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Kimbry Layton-Pickett's painting ''The River Carriage'', 1893, depicts middle-class social life in this Staynish late Golden Era scene.]]
Despite these changes, Morstaybishlia lacked behind in its democratic index. It was still an absolute monarchy, and even though there was movements to change, an elected parliament would not happen until 1917. However, the Privy
On a local level, a rapid rise of the middle class, in large part displacing the complete control long exercised by the aristocracy occurred. Respectability was their code, and businessmen had to be trusted and must avoid reckless gambling and heavy drinking. The [[Thaerism|Thaerist]] institution imposed fresh moralistic values on society, such as responsibility, widespread charity, discipline in the home, and self-examination for the smallest faults and needs of improvement. They focused on exciting a personal revulsion against social evils and personal misbehavior. Though across the world slavery was being abolished, the lack of free press saw most of Morstaybishlia oblivious to the country's huge trade, and so anti-slavery movements barely took off despite this moral shift. The press was still widely controlled by the aristocracy who gained from the slave trade, and all independent agitation and reporting of the horrific conditions of [[Wikipedia:Slavery#Chattel slavery|chattel slavery]] across the Empire was either bought out or quashed.
There was a spirit of libertarianism as people felt they were free. Taxes however were moderate, and government restrictions on media and other aspects of everyday life was in effect. There were other problem areas, such as occasional riots, especially those motivated by [[Wikipedia:Criticism of monarchy|anti-Monarchism]]. Society was still ruled by the aristocracy and the gentry, which controlled high government offices, the House of Peers, religious institutions, and the military. Becoming a rich businessman was not as prestigious as inheriting a title and owning a landed estate.
The abstract theological or philosophical doctrine of agnosticism, whereby it is theoretically impossible to prove whether or not a higher being exists, suddenly became a popular issue in the 1860s, though Blasphemy laws meant that promoting atheism could be a crime and was vigorously prosecuted, which drove these freethinkers underground. Children were entitled to education for the first time, though this was limited to literacy as the population was highly illiterate. A 1840s estimate believed that over 90 percent of people could not read or write; but by the end of the 19th century illiteracy had fallen so dramatically that over 65 percent could read and write, which inspired a boom in reading culture and Morstaybishlian literature. A plethora of reading materials were to children. Publishers also took advantage of innovations such as those that enable the printing of coloured illustrations. As the middle class boomed, people had more money to spend on entertaining their children. Moral messaging was de-emphasised in favor of fun.
[[File:The sands, Ramsgate, Kent, England, ca. 1899.jpg|left|thumb|275px|Bellithon Beach in 1896.]]
Opportunities for leisure activities increased dramatically as real wages continued to grow and hours of work continued to decline. In urban areas the ten-hour workday became increasingly the norm; the Factory Act 1869 limited the working week to 60 hours, encouraging the movement towards an eventual nine-hour workday. Sundays became a day off for the working man, which opened up opportunity for some 1,000 seaside resorts emerging thanks to cheap hotels and inexpensive railway fares.
In this period, fertility rates remained high, leading to a population boom. Gradually, fertility rates fell as people became more affluent and had better access to contraception. By 1897, the infant mortality rate in Staynes was 10 percent, down from about half in the 15th century. There was no catastrophic epidemic or famine in Morstaybishlia in the nineteenth century, marking the first century in which a major epidemic did not occur throughout the whole country. In the olden days, people typically had had as many children as they could afford in order to ensure at least a few of them would survive to adulthood and have children of their own due to high child mortality rates. Moreover, it was the poor who had had an incentive to curb their fertility whereas the rich had lacked such a need due to greater wealth and lower child mortality rates. This changed due to the Industrial Revolution. Standards of living improved and mortality rates fell. People no longer needed to have as many children as before to ensure the propagation of their genes. The link between poverty and child mortality weakened. In addition, societal attitude towards contraception warmed, leading to the negative correlation between intelligence and fertility.
====Morstopackia and the Great War====
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