Romandic Republic République romandique Timeline: An Honorable Retelling | ||||||
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Motto: Post tenebras lux "After the darkness, the light" |
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Anthem: Cé qu'è lainô "The one who is up there" |
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Capital (and largest city) | Geneva | |||||
Official languages | French | |||||
Demonym | Romandic | |||||
Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic | |||||
- | President | Antonio Hodgers | ||||
- | Prime Minister | Élisabeth Baume-Schneider | ||||
Legislature | Council of Romandy | |||||
- | Upper house | National Senate | ||||
- | Lower house | National Assembly | ||||
Formation | ||||||
- | Joined the Old Swiss Confederacy | 1534/41 | ||||
- | Annexed to France | 1798 | ||||
- | Returned to Helvetia | 1921 | ||||
- | Genevan Canton | 1921-88 | ||||
- | War of Independence | 1988-95 | ||||
- | Constitution ratified | 1998 | ||||
Population | ||||||
- | 2023 estimate | 1,960,000 | ||||
Currency | Romandic franc (ROF ) |
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Drives on the | right |
Romandy (French: Romandie), officially the Romandic Republic (French: République romandique), is a country located in southwestern Europe in the Alps. The country borders France to the west, Valais and Italy to the south, Helvetia to the east and Alsace-Lorraine to the north. Its capital and largest city, Geneva, forms one of the seven regions of the country, its primary subdivision. Other major urban centres include Lausanne, Fribourg, La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Bienne and Delémont. Geneva has a population of around nearly 2 million.
Romandy's historical predecessor was the County of Geneva, part of Burgundy and later the Holy German Empire. In the 1400s, the Savoyards gained control of Geneva, but in 1534 the city joined the Old Swiss Confederacy following multiple wars with Savoy. In 1798, following the invasion of the Swiss Confederacy by France, Geneva was annexed directly to the French Empire, becoming the capital of the Léman department.
In 1918, Communist revolutionaries from Helvetia started to cause trouble in the city. By the following year, the city was effectively independent but in chaos. The collapse of the French Empire and the victory of the Communist Helvetians led to Geneva being annexed to the country as the Popular Canton of Geneva in 1921. For the next 65 or so years, Geneva remained a part of Helvetia. During the Fourth Great War, Geneva was annexed again to the French Empire, but returned to Helvetia after the surrender of France.
During the 1960s, a French Revival movement spread throughout the French speaking Western cantons, culminating in the Romandic Spring of 1968-71, a three year period of protests demanding more autonomy based on language. Helmut Hubacher, the newly elected Federal President, would end up smashing protests, but added amendments to allow for more cultural and language autonomy. This would lay the foundations for Romandic nationalism and inspire similar movements in Valais and the Grisons, and ultimately lay the way for the subsequent disastrous wars in the region.
In 1988, Romandic nationalist leader Jean-Paul Delamuraz, with the cooperation of four other canton leaders, began to make moves towards independence. The Romandic Republic was declared in January 1989, and immediately the country faced the brunt of a massive Helvetian invasion, codenamed Operation Greif. The eponymous city suffered badly under a three-year siege, in similar circumstances to Lausanne and other cities. The War of Independence would gradually turn in Romandy's favour, leading to the spring 1995 offensive deep into Helvetia and the end of the War of Independence. The Brno Accords demarcated the new borders of the region, leaving Geneva independent. Since Delamuraz's resignation as President in 2000, the country has transformed into a multi-party presidential republic. The country joined the EC in 2014 and the GTO in 2016.
Romandy is a liberal democracy, operating as a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic. It is a member of the European Community, the Global Treaty Organization, Schengen Area, the League to Enforce Peace, Council of Europe, the WTO and the OSCE. Romandy is an active participant in LTEP peacekeeping, stationing soldiers in Cossackia in the early 2000s and currently planned to deploy troops to Vizifold. Romandy was elected to a temporary seat in the Security Council in the 2009 term for the first time. Romandy is a developed nation with an advanced high income economy and ranks highly on the HDI index. Its GDP per capita has been extremely high since the late 2000s, giving rise to the Romandic Miracle. Services, agriculture and industry and manufacturing dominate the economy. Tourism has become a large part of the country’s economy, especially since it joined the EC in 2014. The Romandic government has heavily invested in rail and road infrastructure since the late 2000s, especially the trans-European rail routes. Romandy's social services, universal health care and tuition-free education have become famous throughout Europe.
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