Italian Federation
From Kaiserreich
Italian Federation is a country in southern Europe and dominates the northern half of the Apennine Peninsula. It is bordered by the Republic of the Sicilies in the south and Austria, Switzerland and the Commune of France in the north.
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History
The unified Italy created in 1861 lasted little more than half a century. Her decision to side with the Entente powers rather than her traditional Central European allies during the Great War proved to be a mistake to the highest order. In 1919 Italy collapsed under a Central Powers' offensive, and the combination of anger at Italy's betrayal and the Austrian desire for a divided Italian peninsula led to the break-up of Italy as a nation. After several years of Austrian occupation a number of separate duchies were established in the north, grouped into a federation nominally headed by the Papacy, but with great regional autonomy.
However in the early 1930's this began to change when a group of radical cardinals gained political control of the Vatican. Aided by Pope Pius XI this group pushed for the centralisation and expansion of Papal power and control over the federation. During this period Austria was distracted by internal affairs, and was reluctant to intervene in favour of the status quo. Playing on the massive popular support the Pope had and setting this in the context of needing a great leader to guard Italian Federation from the dangers of Syndicalism the Pope emerged as the formal leader of northern Italy in 1935.
Politics
The Italian Federation is the nominal successor state of the Papal States (the previous one annexed by Italy in 1870) and consists of several separated entities federated together. The Pope is the Head of State and the government is formed by cardinals and commoners alike. In the beginning the Pope was only a formal ruler who cyclically appointed the nobles and the representative from the various entities of the italian Federation as Heads of Government and ministers. However, following the changes brought by Pius XI in the early 1930's, the Pope is now in firm control of the government and, while nobles and representatives from the various entities of the Italian Federation are still appointed as ministers, the cardinals gained more power and the most important ministries are usually reserved to them.
The current Pope, Pius XI, appointed Count Stefano Jacini, a social conservative who always advocated a strong control of the Pope over the Italian Federation, as Head of the Government and entrusted the most important ministries to loyal cardinals: Alfredo Ottavini as Foreign Minister, Eugenio Pacelli as Armament Minister, Theodor Innitzer as Minister of Security and Domenico Tardini as Head of the Intelligence. A representative from the Granduchy of Tuscany, Josef von Österreich-Toskana (related to the Austrian Royal Family) is the designed Chief of Staff. The military is in the hands of qualified officers: Vittorio Ambrosio is the Chief of the Army, Arturo Riccardi is the Chief of the Navy and the corsican Rino Corso Fougier is the Chief of Air Force.
Military
Following the withdrawl of the armies of the Central Powers, each separated entity forming the newborn Italian Federation estabilished its own militia. Since Germany guaranteed the independence of the federation and despite the presence of two hostile syndicalist nations at its borders, in the beginning the Italian Federation didn't create a united force, but each of its entities developed a small army and usually focused on a specific military branch, specializing for example in infantry, navy or air force. However, with the decrease of autonomy of the separated entities and the centralization of the federation in favor of the Vatican, a unified army was created, composed of the best divisions from each entity.
Foreign Relations
Very good relations with National France, Austria-Hungary, Spain and Poland. Friendly relations with Germany, Croatia, Albania, Canada and Brazil. Unfriendly relations with Abyssinia, Union of Britain, United States of America and Japan. Declared hostility against Republic of the Sicilies and Commune of France.
