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Dispatch → Factbook → Overview
Overview
Short Name: SpainOfficial Name: The United Kingdom of Spain and Southern Italy
GEOGRAPHY
Map Claim: Spain, Roussillon, Gibraltar, Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Puglia, Campania, Molise and Abruzzo.
Royal Standard:
Main Coat of Arms of the King (Castile):
Secondary Coat of Arms of the King (Aragon and Sardinia):
Secondary Coat of Arms of the King (the Two Sicilies):
Madrid (executive)
Barcelona (legislative)
Naples (judicial)
GOVERNMENT SYSTEM
Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy
Head of State: King Alfonso XII
Head of Government: Prime Minister Luca Lopez
STATISTICS
Estimated Population: 70 million
GDP (Nominal): $2,325,960,000,000
GDP per capita (Nominal): $33,228
Military Size: 700,000 active duty personnel
1,400,000 reserve personnel
CONCEPT:
History:
In 1462, after the French had helped the Spanish King with the rebellion in Catalonia, he pledged to pay back all the money that the French King had lended him plus 10% interest, Louis XI was pleased with this.
After years of war, in 1714, the European Coalition won the War of the Spanish Succession and placed the Habsburgs back on their rightful throne in Spain, although the English had taken Gibraltar, it was given back to the Spanish after the war had ended.
In December of 1792 there was an upheaval in Italy over a decision of the Royal Court that said that raised the taxes tremendously in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Sardinia, this led to the Sciopero Popolare of 1793, where Italians demanded to be seen as equal to Spaniards and pay the same taxes as Spaniards. The strike didn’t stop in Spain, Italians wore red clothes (the color of the Sciopero Popolare) and protested outside the royal palace and would not leave until he established a Supreme Court like the one that had been established in America a few years earlier. The Sciopero Popolare led to the creation of the Corte Suprema which was decided to be located in Naples, since the Italians were the ones that pushed for its creation.
In the early 1800s, the Kings focused on fixing the issue of poverty in the kingdom and specifically in Catalonia and Valencia, they did this by creating a minimum amount of money that employers could pay their employees, forming the Royal Ministry of Labor to ensure this new minimum wage and other labor laws were enforced, and initiating large infrastructure projects like making new roads, re-paving old roads, building bridges, digging new canals, and constructing steam powered railways to-and-from large cities. Incentives were also made for rich families of the Kingdom to build factories and open mines as to industrialise the country, the plan worked well and it saw a massive industrial boom for the Kingdom.
During the wave of revolutions across Europe in 1848, Spain was not excluded from these riots, this led to the 1848 Catalan War for Independence, but due to their disorganization, lack of supplies and no foreign support, they had a crushing defeat, but reforms did come from this war, the Parlamento was created and seated in Barcelona. Soon after, the Constitución del Pueblo was written and ratified, giving rights to all subjects of the king and establishing laws that the king must follow, the King was unhappy but realized that if he wanted to keep his realm together then he needed to make the people feel heard.
In 1878 the new King of Spain was an absolutist and consolidated power. This resulted in riots across southern Italy and Sardinia which called for more Italian autonomy, the situation was mediated by foreign powers such as the Kingdom of Hungary and the German Empire as well as the Spanish army. After negotiations with the people and discussions in Parlamento, an agreement was reached that the King of Spain would hold the titles of King of Spain, King of Sardinia and King of the Two Sicilies, as to keep the kingdoms separate but united, a parliament would be set up for both kingdoms (in Naples and Cagliari) as well as letting all three kingdoms keep their own foreign relations, the army would be united in wartime, however.
In World War I, by demand of the people, Spain stayed neutral although the King wanted to help his cousins in Austria against the French belligerents. World War II was another story however, and Spain was thrusted into war with the French when Napoleon IV invaded Catalonia, claiming it was rightful French territory and he was the legitimate King of Spain. After heavy losses and the employment of new war tactics and machines, the Royal Spanish Army had repelled the French and pushed them back over the Pyrenees Mountains where they stood at a standstill for half a year before Operation Carmen was executed and the Royal Spanish Marines captured the island of Corsica, the island would stay with the Spanish Crown as part of the war reparations. Eventually Napoleon IV’s forces were pushed back to Paris where they surrendered and French Navarre was occupied by the Royal Spanish Army until a stable Government was set up in France.
In 1991, when the people of Southern France revolted against the oppressive communist government, the King sent aid to the resistance fighters and volunteers were encouraged to fight on the front lines with the French Resistance and were promised high awards if they volunteered to fight. Spain ended up sending 5 divisions of volunteers to the front lines as to assist the valiant fighters against the oppressive Communist Party in Paris.
Role in world: Regional naval powerhouse, cultural center, trade hub for the Mediterranean
RP Experience: NOE, TP, TSP, discord civilization rp, discord modern rp, Warzone Asia, Warzone Europe, and TNP[/size]