World Issues in Fullmetal Alchemist

In honor of FMA day yesterday, I will be posting about the world issues portrayed in Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. If you haven't seen either show, there will be spoilers ahead, especially for Brotherhood.

Map of Amestris

The fictional country of Amestris is the setting of FMA and shows likeness to Europe, mainly Germany. Amestris is a military state, with a Führer at the helm and the military synonymous with the government, and the country itself is split up into five administrative regions defined by location. These diverse regions explain that Amestris was once many nations. Throughout Amestris's history, there has been much conflict between these various nations, as well as the bordering countries, the most prominent and what I will be writing about being the Ishvalan conflict.

Ishval is a region in the East Area of Amestris, and it is home to a religious group known as the Ishvalans. They are religiously and culturally different from Amestrians, and have distinguishable features like white hair, darker skin, and most notably, red eyes. They have always been persecuted against due to their different beliefs. Due to their strict religion, they view alchemy as Hersey and as such, becomes the main reason for their cultural discrimination.

The Ishvalan Race

The Ishvalan region was annexed and considered a part of Amestris until the breakout of the Ishval Civil War in 1901 after an Ishvalan girl was shot and killed, and this war lasted for seven long years until Führer King Bradley passed Executive Order Number 3066, starting the Ishvalan War of Extermination, in which State Alchemists were positioned on the front lines systematically to purge Amestris of the Ishvalan race. This genocide concluded when nearly all of the Ishvalans were slaughtered and the remaining members surrendered, fleeing to slums, ghettos, and camps to avoid further persecution. 

The bullet that changed the war

These events bear remarkable resemblance to the events of the Holocaust, but it is in no way a direct reference or allusion to it. In both cases, a religious minority, either the Ishvalans or the Jews, are persecuted against until the Führer, either Bradley or Hitler, advances the actions so said minority is purged from society systematically in a genocide that leads to massive bloodshed and years of racial discrimination to come, even after the conclusion of the war. But, as stated earlier, the Ishvalan conflict is not based entirely on these events, rather, it draws from many differing events and has original ideas as well, courtesy of brilliant creator Hiromu Arakawa. Yet there is no denying that it has at least some concepts that were also present in the Holocaust.    

Pictures:

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/fma/images/f/f3/MAP.png/revision/latest?cb=20140303220335

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100317005337/fma/images/thumb/3/36/Ishval-jin.jpg/500px-Ishval-jin.jpg

Information:

http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise. It was created by Hiromu Arakawa.