>>156135Among the other factors shaping Baltimare's history, is the distinction between the rich and the poor. Now, obviously this is a factor in all locations in all times in history, but it's unique within the city of Baltimare relative to the remainder of the Equestrian Southeast. Baltimare exists because of its location on the natural harbor of Horseshoe Bay, and its position on the mouth of the Delamare River helps. Baltimare is the single closest deep water Equestrian port to Zebrica (or at least it was), and is the closest to the ports in Wingbardy and the old Royal Dominions of New Mareland, New Freeside, and Starcross, as well as the Dominion of Puerto Caballo and Maregypt. It also served as an in-between between the shallow ports of the Southeast and the ports of the Equestrian East Coast. The result was that raw materials mined or grown in the south would be sent to Baltimare for refinement, and exported to elsewhere, while goods from elsewhere would be sent to Baltimare, and repacked into smaller boats to be shipped to the south. The result is that ponies who made fortunes in various industries and trades in the Southeast would concentrate themselves in Baltimare, while the city had a massive underclass of dock workers, sailors, and various workers, besides an even more important and prominent middle class of numerous varieties of craftsmares, professionals, and lower level merchants.
This became an issue especially in the lead up to the revolt of 770, as the legally granted trade monopolies granted an inordinate amount of power in the hooves of the few business owners of Baltimare. The disparity in economic power, tolerable in peace time, became intolerable under the circumstances of the age. The shipping industry lost a great many ships to the privateers of Pridea, who supported the Yaks in an undeclared war against Equestria. And many industries stood to lose from the new customs duties and tariffs. With their power, the losses were generally transferred onto the lower and middle classes, causing great ire, and the disparity in suffering made the disparity in power and wealth all the more blatant. The middle class had a decades long grievance against the monopolies, as they reduced upward mobility for ambitious ponies, and forced them to play politics to win the favor of their bosses for limited privileges, like captaining a ship.
Thus, with all of these factors that had been brooding for decades, a revolt was imminent. A mare broke off her engagement with a local ship captain to become become the second wife of Joseph Curwhinny - the owner of a shipping company with a monopoly on trade to multiple Griffonian and Zebrican nations, and a majority of the trade to the East Coast and the Dominions, easily the single most powerful individual in Baltimare. He lived a life entirely alien to most of his workers, and to the population of Baltimare. So when the jilted lover spread rumors that he was in fact some sort of evil sorcerer, many of the lower classes and some of the militia were willing to believe it. Thus began the most violent act of the rebellion.
The book has to note that there is an alternate interpretation of the set of events that the revolt wasn't actually a proper revolt in the sense of an entire class of ponies rebelling against any power in the city, but rather that it was a dispute between smugglers. There are rumors - never verified, but probably true - that Curwhinny had been evading paying customs duties on many goods by making secret shipments. The 'jilted lover' was likely one of the smugglers hired for that purpose, and other smugglers joined in in a dispute over payments, and soon enough the dispute morphed into a protest by affected sections of society against the impositions of the customs duties by the central government.