History of Genovia

The **History of Genovia** was founded on January 13, 1704 on the establishment of the Declaration of Independence from the France per Treaty to allow the formerly province of Genovia was known as **Kingdom of Genovia and the Thermopolis Island** is a mainland sovereign principality country and one island. The primarily concerned with the protective and strategic value of the overseas territories as a small archipelago of islands known as the Thermopolis Islands. The history of the mainland sovereign principality country and one island was since the fall of the Roman Empire, from the 12th to the early 15th century the area was contested for primarily political reasons. Since that point, excepting a brief period of French occupation, it has remained steadily under the control of the House of Renaldi.

## Grand Duchy of Genovia under the Kingdom of France (987-1704)

The Grand Duchy of Genovia is a part of province of the Kingdom of France. King Polis I is a first King of the Grand Duchy under the French from to 981 to 1020 and founded the House of Vaughn.

While historians are not entirely certain about the exact date of Genovia’s split from neighboring Pomerania, it appears to have happened sometime around 1532, when Pomerania was partitioned between Barnim IX and Phillip I, sons of recently deceased Bogislaw I. Frederick I ruled Genovia, which was situated next to Western Pomerania and forms the Southern coast of the Baltic sea. Frederick I, fearful of potential attempts by Western Pomerania to take his land, created a rather large military, composed primarily of peasants, with administrative positions falling largely to nobles of the area. This worked relatively well, buying King Frederick loyalty from his peasants and putting administrative nobles in direct contact with peasants. Having no children when he died in 1589, one of these nobles, Heinrich, succeeded him.

In 1630, Genovia faced serious threats of military take-over from Sweden. Despite the relatively strong military of Genovia, this period (until about 1650) was marked by frequent warfare. This weakened Genovia significantly, especially after the death of Heinrich, who was killed by Swedes in 1649. His son, a military general, assumed the throne, without much protest from Genovians. Heinrich II was well liked. He raised taxes during this period in attempt to better staff and arm the military. This took a toll on peasant families, who were already hurting from a period of constant war.

Genovia, with the help of neighboring Pomerania, was able to finally ward off the last of the Swedish around 1700. Heinrich II, taking advantage of a weakened Pomerania, then sent his military westward, seizing control of the rest of Western Pomerania. He left this to be ruled by his son, Bogislaw, after his death in 1702. Around this time, the growing city of Szczecin flourished. Bogislaw was quite fond of classical music, and so Szczecin saw frequent visits by composers of the time, such as Johann Pachelbel, who composed his concertato Vespers here.

## The Formation of the Principality (1704)

Around 1740, Bogislaw focus shifted once again back to building a strong military, as Frederick began to take parts of Poland. Following the successful strategy of Kings that came before him, he staffed his military with peasants and nobleman, who were once again, required to work side-by-side. In 1750, Bogislaw was succeeded after his death by his son, Bogislaw II, who continued the military work of his father. The period from 1740-1787 saw frequent clashes between Genovia and the Prussians from the East.

The late 18th century and early 19th century saw dramatic changes for Genovia.

This began with the military death of Bogislaw II in 1792. Without any living relatives, there was great uncertainty about who would assume the throne. Former military men gathered in Szczecin Square, intending to hold an election. Landowners and military men (both current and former) elected Martin Rinaldi, a young liberal from a French family, as their King.

In 1805, King Rinaldi declared the abolition of peasants. These former peasants, now seen as having the full rights of the city-dwelling mercantile class and able to own and sell the land they worked on, gathered in Szczecin Square, in attempt to demonstrate those rights. In attempt to placate this uprising, King Rinaldi, a former member of the lower class himself, agreed to establish a constitutional monarchy and a parliament. This parliament consisted of one legislative body, and all land-owning men were eligible for election.

## The Declaration of Independence of the Kingdom from Principality (1829)

This parliament, working together with the elected King Rinaldi, worked to establish more economic freedom for the lower class. This included the establishment of a national bank, so that landowners could borrow money from the government to buy land from peasants (peasants would not be allowed to use the bank until 1848). As a result, many former peasants became landless peasants, and began to migrate to cities in effort to find work.

In the 1830s, agricultural land was reorganized to produce higher food surpluses, a necessity as more and more former peasants moved to the city, where food could not be grown as easily. In the 1840s, railroad tracks were laid across Genovia, allowing even greater mobility by the lower class. By 1848, the working class in Genovia was clamoring for greater rights. This saw dramatic changes in social life and a great increase in legislation directed towards the lower class. This included expanded voting rights and laws dictating greater access to education, wages, and employment. These demands would only increase as industrialization became widespread, creating an even larger lower class.

By the 1860s, Genovia was industrializing rapidly, particularly in the textile industry. Additionally, agriculture was also becoming more mechanized and efficient. Genovian pears, in particular, were recognized as outstanding amongst all European pears. With more and more railways being laid across the country and region, pears and manufactured goods could be traded with ease to surrounding neighbors.

In this time, wealth expanded rapidly throughout Genovia. This created a middle and lower class clamoring for greater rights and social services. This resulted in the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1864. In the same year, King Rinaldi’s youngest son, Rudolph Rinaldi, assumed the throne, following the death of his father (Hans Rinaldi, the eldest son, abdiacated the throne to join the church). King Rudolph worked closely with the parliament to expand industrialization and reform agriculture. They also expanded voting rights to all men above the age of 22. Further, they instituted a role for a Prime Minister, the elected leader of Parliament, to allow the legislative body to work more closely with the King.

In the early 1870s, King Rudolph expanded the size of the military, fearful that the newly formed German Empire would attempt to seize Genovia. In 1878, Chancellor Bismark met with Genovia in Szczecin. King Rudolph agreed to support Germany in future conflict in exchange for an absence of German cessation of the territory. This agreement would hold for some time.

This time period saw a great deal of change in the states surrounding Genovia. Genovia, however, too small to seize any large landmass, did not seek to become an imperialist empire, as other major powers of Europe did. Further, King Rudolph did not wish to upset his alliance with Chancellor Bismarck. As Germany became more and more diplomatically isolated, the Genovian parliament became more and more concerned with this political alliance. On the other hand, King Rudolph became paranoid that he would be disposed by illness. This was fueled by the Year of the Three Emperors (1888) in Germany, which saw the death of both Kaiser Wilhelm I and Kaiser Frederick III. As King Rudolph became consumed with paranoia and anxiety, his ability to rule and communicate effectively with the Prime Minister became more and more difficult.

This allowed the Parliament to consolidate much of its power. Industrialization (and the welfare state) was greatly expanded. Further, the prime minister tried to distance himself from the King’s agreement with Chancellor Bismarck. They could not break the agreement entirely, however, as they realized that they relied on Germany not only as a trade partner, but also as the state that their railroads had to cross to get to other trading partners.

## Genovia in World War I (1914-1918)

By the time the war broke out in 1914, Genovia has no choice but to contribute troops to the army of the Axis Powers, for fear that they would be militarily taken over by one of the powers otherwise. Genovians were quite upset with this, especially because the parliament had been opposed to the alliance in the first place. When the war finally ended in 1918, as a result, there was quickly an uprising of both the middle and lower class against both Parliament and the Prime Minister. Exhausted and diminished from war, the Royal Genovian military could not be used to quell the uprising and the Parliament quickly disbanded.

## Genovia After the First World War

Following the collapse of Parliament in 1918, a period of civil unrest would last until 1920. By then, the economy in Genovia had all but collapsed. This was worsened by the loss of Germany as a trading partner, as Germany too was experiencing a period of great economic depression. Genovians were so distressed and impoverished by 1920 that many were willing to accept the re-formation of a new parliament, without many structural changes. The monarchy was officially ended, but nearly all previous Parliamentarians returned, along with the Prime Minister. Fear of another period of unrest, however, quickly sparked a vote to host new elections. This new parliament took office on January 2nd, 1921.

This new parliament, which began to modernize Genovian infrastructure and rebuild economic structures, didn’t last long. Less than twenty years would pass before Parliament was again disbanded.

## Genovia during World War II (1939-1945)

This time, it was the result of a hostile invasion from Germany in September 1939. This coupled with Germany’s invasion of Poland, sparked World War II. Genovia would be under German rule until the war ended in May 1945.

## Genovia After the Second World War

It wouldn’t be until 1946, however, that a new constitution was written that formalized and fully institutionalized parliamentarian rule. A new round of elections was held, this time with full voting rights to every citizen of Genovia. A social democratic government was established, with Rudolph Schuller, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), as Prime Minister. This new government had a lot of work cut out for it, as they needed to substantially rebuild infrastructure in Genovia, while repairing broken economic and social structures.