Balkanize a country!

I don't know if this has been tried before, but it is an interesting thought experiment that opens many doors to interesting discussions. I've been thinking about nations that could reasonably be divided in an alt-scenario, but, to preserve some sort of uniformity while we conceive these possibilities, I'll propose some suggestions, because sometimes lines might become blurry:

1)
It can be in any period (before 1900 obviously), with any form of government (imperial, feudal, republican, etc) or regime (democratic, monarchical, oligarchic, etc), but it must be a single entity that becomes fractured in other smaller sovereign entities, or that somehow claim sovereignty, refusing to recognize the former "single state". The successor states may or not recognize one another or even be recognized by the international community, but each of them must see itself as sovereign. Examples: the countries that succeeded the "Federal Republic of Central America", the Macedonian Diadochi, the Warring States or Three Kingdoms in China, etc.

2) Forms of decentralization that do not result in at least de facto (if not de jure) sovereignty do not count. Ex: feudal France, Medieval/Early Modern HRE or Sengoku Japan. In this case, the "vassals" recognized the legitimacy of a single authority, even if only nominal. Nor we can have purely administrative divisions inside the same government structure.

3) The fragmentation can happen by any means: civil war, foreign intervention, treaty, you name it. It can result from decolonization, but, in this case, if the successor states belonged to a single colonial empire, even if not a single "province" (example: the break-up of the Spanish America). In any case, the fragmentation must have a probability of be lasting.

4) To keep things interesting, let's work with a minimum of three successor states. Dividing a country in two (North/South Korea) could technically qualify, but it is not exactly uncommon (or hard to conceive in a scenario). Three or more. Bonus points for the more collapsed and divided you think about.

It would be nice to give a brief description of a possible POD explaining how the country broke up, what are the capitals and characteristics of the successor states and if the division could be permanent or long-lasting.

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Example (you can use as a template)

Original country/nation: Colonial Brazil, formerly part of the Portuguese Empire.
Balkanization process: Portugal, after a series of diplomatic mishaps, alienates the UK and is invaded by Napoleonic France and Spain, effectively collapsing as the Braganzas never escape to Brazil and are made captives in France, failing to create a new government-in-exile. Even after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Portugal, economically crippled by the defeat, and ostracized by Britain, fails to quench the revolutionary sentiments arising in Brazil, and remains powerless to prevent the fragmentation of the colony, from the 1820s onwards. Brazil suffers a fate similar to that of Spanish America, with regional strongmen, akin to the "Liberators" striving to fulfill the power vacuum resulting from the downfall of the metropolis.
List of Successor States:
1)
Brazilian Republic (Capital: Rio de Janeiro) - comprises the former colonial provinces of Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Claims to be the legitimate republican successor of the former "Portuguese America", and this creates hostile relations with the other successor states. The government is essentially monopolized by the agrarian oligarchies that exploit coffee plantations, notably from São Paulo. It is quickly integrated into the British sphere of influence as a proxy to represent the UK's interests in South America, and will in the course of the centuries model its political and economic structures in those of Britain.
2) Bahia (Capital: Salvador) - one of the largest provinces of the colony, Bahia declares itself independent and refuses to join the neighboring federations.
3) Confederation of the Equator (Capital: Recife) - formed by the provinces of the Northeast, headed by Pernambuco. Has a strong republican element, heavily influenced by French and North-American enlightenment. Constant territorial disputes with Bahia, and seeks to integrate the whole of the former "Colony of Grão-Pará".
4) Grão-Pará (Capital: Belém) for some decades after the Brazilian Independence, the massive province of Grão-Pará continued to regard itself as a colony of Portugal, refusing to acknowledge the sovereignty of the other successor states. However, it remained de facto independent, and, after Portugal failed to recover its economy, struggling with the Miguelite Civil War, Grão-Pará declared independence. Unlike the other formerly Brazilian states, Grão-Pará is markedly anti-republican; in its initial decades, it invites an European prince to become its king, but then, after this monarchist attempt fails, under pressure of the local oligarchies, it is overtaken by a series of dictatorships.
5) Rio-Grandense Republic (Capital: Porto Alegre) - comprising the former provinces of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, it becomes increasingly militarized and grows to establish more stable economic and diplomatic relationships with the former provinces of La Plata: Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
6) Mato Grosso and Goyaz (Capital: Cuiabá) - the central provinces of Portuguese America, due to sheer distance, cease all sort of contact with Portugal, but also refuse to integrate any other successor federations. It eventually becomes closely related to Peru and Bolivia, due to consistent (decades-old) disputes with Paraguay. Unlike the other successor states, in which the Portuguese-descended elite will dominate over the African and Indian minorities for a long time, in Mato Grosso the local Indian minorities attain degree of political influence as the democratic suffrage is extended to their tribes.
How durable is the fragmentation: Likely permanent, because there will never be the idea of a "single Brazil", as IOTL. As time passes, the events will force the minor or weaker states to consolidate in larger federations, but probably it will remain broken into a state centered in Rio de Janeiro, another in the Northeast and a third in the south.
 
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