What if Gallia?

[Miaou]

And it led to huge progress-gap comparing to other countries.

And notice how Gallia is no longer in isolation. Big wow!

People kinda forget that they have Kusari and Rheinland as trade allies. They are also gathering ores from the taus. Between the taus and trading with two other houses, they are pretty well off at this point. There's also a big difference between a modern day country and a galactic house with multiple planets. Things kinda work differently with different scales. I only brought up Japan as a reference that it's a thing that happens, not a direct comparison.