Iberia (600 Kilometres)

Iberia is a peninsula nation located on the westernmost tip of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, bordered only by Franglia and Andorra, and is also close to the African nations of Algeria and Morocco. Iberia owns several island chains, including the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, as well as the Azores, Canary, and Madeira Islands in the Atlantic. Iberia is the successor state to both Portugal and Spain, united under the dictatorial rule of El caudillo Fransico Franco.

Iberia joined the EU in 1986, along with West Sweden and South Italy. Being a highly nationalistic nation, the Iberian government rejected the Euro in favour of the Peseta. Iberia's government is the only absolute monarchy in the European Union.

Part of Iberia joining the EU was that every five years, an accessible vote run by the EU must go out to determine the Iberian public's position on the government structure, with Iberia being forced to take action if approval falls below 60%. Approval of the monarchy has never fallen below 85% although turnout for the vote often falls shy of 60%. The European Union attempted to increase voter turnout by installed a mandatory voting system which only lead to an increased number of EU secessionist protests which forced the Union to leave the voting the way it is.

OTL PoD
In 1522, the Portuguese Empire discovered a new continent six hundred kilometres off the coast of Timor, which they named Java Grande.

Asian and Australian ventures
Seventeen years later, the slave colony of Java Grande was set up to mine resources on the continent and to ship Aboriginal slaves off to the Spice Islands for labour and defence. This supply of men allowed Portuguese forces to build key forts to defend their Spice Islands, particularly one on the island of Neira. It wasn't until 1544 that the Portuguese had searched the majority of the continent, discovering Uluru and the tallest peak, Mount Jagungal. In 1562, the Spanish Empire discovered Portugal's discovery and attempted to colonise the south of the continent, founding the colony of New South Spain. This colony was not prioritised at all by the Spanish due to the success in the Americas, until vast quantities of gold was found near the Sinárbol. The Java Grandean Revolts from 1589-1603 saw a large aboriginal diaspora. The patriotic natives being refused access to the homeland of the empire was the start of a war, resulting in the establishment of the new nation of Turrbal on the far east of the country. The nation of Turrbal attempted to be a native safe haven against the two colonial powers on the continent, but also took in citizens of those colonies provided they were well meaning. During the Dutch-Portuguese war, the Dutch were unable to take any holdings from Portugal in Indonesia. The Dutch did however found the new colony of New Holland on the west coast as well as taking northern Sumatra from the Aceh. They also supplied neutral Turrbal with weapons should they enter the war at any point. In 1672, the English discover four new islands, North Maorinesia, South Maorinesia, New Scotland, and New Shetland, and they proceed to colonise them in 1674, as well as the South East of the continent, which they named Australia. A second war broke out between the Dutch and Portuguese in 1688, which resulted in Portuguese annexation of New Holland and English annexation of Sumatra, puting an end to the Dutch Empire. Due to the discovery of resources on Borneo during the war, and how much both Portugal and England wanted them, Borneo was declared off limits for colonies but the two nations actively traded with the natives, leading to the development of several Bornean nations. In 1778 the Australian Independence War begins and fails. Citizens of Turrbal, New South Spain, and Portuguese owned Java Grande all supported Australian Independence, which sparked a local resentment for the European powers. In 1823, New South Spain saw its chance at independence thanks to the revolutions happening through Latin America and declared itself the Cortezian Republic, after the founder of New South Spain, Alfonso Cortez. The following year with backing from Cortezia, Java Grande declared independence as the Republic of the North Coast, but was later shortened in English to Costa Norte. The Portuguese and Spanish still hold on to their respective colonies in the Malay Peninsula, Java, and the Philippines. The Americans took the Philippines from the Spanish in 1898, ending Spain's hold on the Australian region. The Japanese Empire invaded Malaysia and Java in 1940. The Pan-Australian Union counter invaded the Japanese Empire and refused to cede the lands back to Portugal at the close of the Second World War, ending Portugal's hold on the Australian region.

American and African ventures
After securing a strong supply of spice in Indonesia for Portugal, and discovering gold in Australia for Spain, the two empires were starting to be spread a bit too thin. American colonial ventures maintained an ordinary pace, but less and less people were populating the areas, causing the empires' grips on their lands to become weak.

After America won their independence, a wave of revolution struck the world. Simon Bolivar a prominent figure in this time set up the powerful South American nation of Colombia, as well as influencing many other Latin nations.

Spain paid very little attention to Africa, colonising only what today is known as Equatorial Guinea. Portugal on the other hand saw quite a large African ambition, Zambezia.

After colonising Angola and Mozambique, Portugal began dreaming of controlling all the land between them. After making deals with Germany and France, Portugal set out to colonise the region, successfully doing so by the 1870s, but this land proved to be much of a challenge to administer, and it fell away from Iberia in 1975 following Franco's death and communist takeover in Zambezia. Iberia backed by the United States launched a strong war against communist Zambezia that was backed by the Soviet Union. The massive size of Zambezia was just too much for the two nations and both were forced to withdraw. This event is said to be the start of Iberia's nuclear program which was revealed to exist in 2010. Iberia lost the war against Zambezia. King Otto publicly made an announcement implying that Zambezia would have been able to leave democratically had they not been communist and had they not attacked Iberian officials. Following the loss of Zambezia, Iberian Guinea declared independence too, with high support from the Iberian population because Iberian Guinea left democratically, and King Otto not to go back on his words let them leave peacefully.

World War II and unification
Upon seeing the unification of France and Britain during World War II, Franco's views shifted from Spanish nationalism to Iberian nationalism. Franco worked hard to unite the two nations.

Depending on the source, Franco either annexed Portugal by overthrowing Salazar, or Salazar willingly stepped down to Franco and agreed to merge the two nations together. Neither claim is verified in a way that historians agree on, but it is known that in 1948 Spanish flags were flying next to Portuguese ones, and later in the 1950s both flags were taken down in place of the new Iberian Union flag, representing the geographic shape of Iberia.

Franco made various comments throught his career that Iberia while politically united was as fragmented as ever. Most of his career saw him promoting a united Iberian culture, which soon lead to him becoming popular with his citizens, all while he balanced a careful act to not antagonise the western powers which Franco did not have a good relationship with.

Being a monarchist, Franco invited Otto von Habsburg to become the next Iberian king. Otto gladly accepted the role as Austria no longer existed, and following Franco's death in 1975, King Otto took the throne as an absolute monarch.

European Union
King Otto in 1983 saw the entrance of Iberia into the European Union. Due to how autocratic Iberia was percieved to be, many regulations were put in place to monitor Otto's rule, including a demi-decennial poll on how pleased citizens are with the country. Many Iberian citizens feel insulted by the poll and other EU regulations, which has lead to a large number of the population supporting secession from the EU, however King Otto has made numerous statements that the EU is too beneficial for Iberia for them to leave just because a few people are unhappy about the regulations. Following King Karl's rise to power, he immediately demanded the EU add questions relating to how pleased Iberian citizens were with the European Union. In 2016 results from the 2015 poll demonstrated an all time high result in the polls for Iberia at 92.4% approval with the European Union getting its first rating at 59.9% approval. The next poll will take place in 2020.

Reign of King Otto
According to a post-funeral memorial, King Otto upon first taking the throne attempted to lessen the powers of his new position, but was quickly advised against that as Iberian citizens prefer strong rulers that know what they're doing, and any sign of indecisiveness would be likely to unsettle the population.

Otto ascending the throne noticeably concerned other western nations. Many political leaders and media companies around this time began focusing more on Spain and watching their every move. Otto being a known Pan-Europeanist with the backing of a large conservative state brought fears of Nazism and Fascism to its neighbours. Around the 1990s, Otto began to stop making comments about Pan-Europanism, later making a comment in 2010 that he was tired of being compared to Hitler by the various medias around the world. This fear factor wasn't helped that one of his first decisions was to go to war with Zambezia, though the United States joined him in the fight against communism, solidifying relations between the two nations.

Modern history
Following the passing of King Otto, his son King Karl took the throne. Karl has put a massive focus on tourism to curb the fears that Iberia is just a fascist stronghold and not just a conservative monarchy.

Rumours of Mussolini's disappearance
The following is a culmination of many substantial claims that Mussolini ended up in Spain after he disappeared. There have only been verbal recounts from anonymous sources, however there have been many claims. In 1943 following the Soviet invasion of Italy, Duce Benito Mussolini of Italy disappeared without telling anyone. It is unknown if he was assassinated, if he fled the country, if he fled to some other part of Italy, and many more theories, but many claims point to Mussolini being harboured by Franco. Franco was asked numerous times if he was hiding Mussolini which he fervently denied. Photos of bald men at the Palace of Moncloa have circled around in newspapers many times, all ending up being hoaxes or just pictures of other bald men. One particular argument is that Franco after World War II started expanding his views of nationalism to Portugal. He also started working on a relationship between Iberia and Algeria soon after the separation from France, a region once belonging to the former Roman Empire. The counterargument is that Franglia's unification was Franco's inspiration for expanding his nationalistic views, and that Algeria was a strategic partner considering Iberia's proximity to the Maghrebi Union. It is not confirmed that Mussolini fled to Spain, nor is it confirmed he even spoke with Franco, but the rumour is still very popular in anti-Iberian nations, especially Andorra.