Valencia

Early History
Valencia has a long history of being a part of major empires. The Roman Empire established the first developed city in the area near the end of the Punic Wars, around 145-148 B.C.E., which would now be located on the coast in the center of Valencia on the European Continent. It had prosperous trade relations with port cities all along the Mediterranean, including North African cities and Rome itself. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the region was split into two, almost congruent with the current borders of France and Spain.

By AD 850, the southern half of the country came under the rule of the Muslim empire whose capital lay in the distant Damascus and Baghdad. Although expansion was not rapid, the cities in this southern half remained prosperous and dealt heavily in trade of natural resources.

The northern half was not as lucky as the southern after the fall of Rome. It fell victim to the dark ages along with the rest of Europe, and all major cities and towns were abandoned within a hundred years after the collapse of the Roman Empire. However, the region slowly repopulated after it came loosely under the control of Charlemagne and the early Holy Roman Empire in 817 AD. Unlike the southern half, the north did not remain stable. It grew and retracted sporadically, and was in constant conflict with the Holy Roman Empire. However, since it was not a strong state militarily, it was more like a thorn against the empire, and was never really paid much attention to until the split of France from the empire and the rule of Napoleon. During the time of Napoleon, seeds of rebellion were beginning in the south against Spanish rule, more advanced weaponry reached the cities to the North. The North began to organize its military more effectively and carry out more destructive, although still small, campaigns against Napoleonic strongholds in southern France. Napoleon responded by leveling the city of Les Corbevais (now San Courbevailles) and killing over 300,000 civilians.

In 1492, the southern half of what is now Valencia came under the rule of the newly formed kingdom of Spain. It remained under Spanish rule until the middle of the Spanish Civil War in 1937, when it was released into commonwealth status.

Reunification
In 1936, with the Spanish Civil War raging on, the South began covert preparations for separation from Spain. Due to the deep divisions within Spain and the constant switching of the “official” seat of Spanish power between Nationalist and Republican control, the territory was eventually released in 1938. The released territory established itself as the Protectorate of Valencia. With the fall of Paris, and the establishment of Vichy France, the North seceded successfully from France by 1940. However, it came under the territorial rule of the axis power Italy. From 1940 to the end of the war in Europe, Valencia played only a small side part. On the 6th of May, in 1947, the Federal Republic of Valencia was formed, and a constitution, created with the help of U.S. and British diplomats, was adopted in June of that same year. The north and south had finally been reunited.

Initial Expansion
At the conclusion of WWII, France, Italy, and Spain began to give up the majority of their colonies due to financial and economic trouble in the aftermath of the war. Several islands in the Mediterranean were under minor protectorate status of Italy and Spain at the time. These islands (then) were not very populated nor were they very economically successful. Valencia, was looking for more deep water ports as well as more land in the immediate area. Therefore, it was agreed upon for joint protectorate status with the islands in 1950, at the time of the Republic's entrance into the UN. Eventually, with popular opposition in the home countries of Spain and Italy, the islands were completely released, and in 1953 the islands moved from protectorate status and entered into full statehood with the country.

Growth, Development, Politics
The Republic pursued an aggressive industrial initiative to ramp up its economy. Combined with large spending on an education system structured similar to Germany's, tax breaks on manufacturer's that produce within the country, free-port zones, and a dollar that was weak at the time compared to the US dollar; the country was relatively industrialized by 1975.

Beginning in 1964, the country began to modernize it military. It sought to become a competitor in producing military technology, not only so it can benefit militarily, but so it can also be a valuable export. Currently, about 35% of all industrial exports are arms to China, Japan, Australia, India, Brazil, Russia, and some to the United States.

The Republic joined the United Nations, despite opposition from France, on the 18th of January in 1950. It has served as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council twice, in 1977 and again in 1995. It began petitioning for entrance into the European Union in 1990, but was not accepted until March 2001, due mainly to, again, French opposition. With growing relations strains with France, the Republic eventually completely withdrew from the monetary and political union in 2006. This ended up becoming a gift of fortune. With the debt crisis hitting in 2008, the country, although hit hard, was able to recover more quickly than its neighbors due to the fact that it had no responsibility to bail out any EU members, and was not directly linked to their massive debt.

Relations with most countries remained favorable, but cautious. Those with France were cold. The very existence of Valencia was a point of discomfort for France, as it cut off France from several deep water ports in the Mediterranean. They opposed its acceptance to the general assembly of the UN and its entrance to the EU. It helped orchestrate the countries exit from the EU in 2006.