Pleidiol Wyf i'm Gwlad ("I am true to my country") | |||||
| Anthem | "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" | ||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Aberystwyth | ||||
| Other cities | Amroth, Tenby, Carmarthen, Wrexham | ||||
| Language | Welsh, English | ||||
| Demonym | Welsh | ||||
| Government | Parliamentary republic | ||||
| Legislature | Senedd | ||||
| Tywysog | |||||
| Prime Minister | |||||
| Area | 20,779 km² | ||||
| Population | 247,740 (2020) | ||||
| Independence | 1995 | ||||
| Currency | cel | ||||
| Organizations | Celtic Alliance | ||||
Wales was a constituent country of the United Kingdom, today an independent republic and one of the nations of the Celtic Alliance.
History[]
1983[]
Old College, Aberystwyth, the PYTHON site for Wales
Brackla Hill bunker, the RGHQ for Wales
The British plan for continuity of government, code named PYTHON, called for key ministers to split up among several safe sites. The sites would constitute a dispersed War Cabinet whose focus would be its own survival, each piece holding out long enough to reassemble eventually and take back control of the country. Meanwhile administration would devolve to the Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQs), Margaret Thatcher's replacement for the Regional Seats of Government (RSGs) from earlier in the Cold War.
For a number of reasons, these plans largely failed. Due to an economic slump, the RSGs had been maintained without upgrades for over a decade, their staffs unprepared, their equipment out of date and vulnerable to the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear weapon. Thatcher's plan to improve them was barely underway and incomplete. When the war came, many RGHQs found that they had no way to communicate with the people in their regions, or to give orders to the police and civil defense personnel supposedly under them. The PYTHON sites were in better shape, but conditions would prevent the government from ever gathering at a single point.
The circumstances of the attack itself also hurt the effectiveness of Britain's plans. A surprise attack seemingly out of nowhere meant that Britain had only four minutes' warning before the first wave of missiles struck. The very senior-most officials were rushed onto helicopters to get airborne before the first blasts, but most ministers never made it. In addition, the Prime Minister herself was out of the country on a state visit to Canada. Her absence added to the confusion of the immediate aftermath.
One of the PYTHON sites was Aberystwyth in Wales, in fact in buildings of the University College of Wales located there. This was unusual: all of the other sites were in minor military facilities or aboard ships. The top official to escape there was the Secretary of State for Wales, Nicholas Edwards. He was in Cardiff that night. As Cardiff was a second-wave target, he had several more minutes to board a helicopter than the Cabinet members in London. The EMP damaged the aircraft, forcing it to crash-land in the Welsh countryside. The Secretary made his way to Aberystwyth in a difficult overland journey for the next week - at one point by horse-drawn cart, but eventually by military transport. He did not immediately take much of a role in Wales' government; his job was to try, along with the other ministers, to reconstitute the United Kingdom.
The authority nominally in charge of Wales was the RGHQ in Bridgend. Located in a bunker between Swansea and Cardiff, Bridgend was well placed to care for fleeing survivors from those two ruined cities. But the HQ was ill-equipped for this. Conditions were terrible in the south, and the HQ's resources were inadequate. It lacked any ability to maintain order in the growing camps of survivors, let alone coordinate with any local authorities in the north.
Almost immediately the national government fragment in Aberystwyth had to step in in to manage a crisis in northern Wales. The EMP of Doomsday had wiped out most of the national power grid, putting Wales' two nuclear power plants at grave risk of meltdown. Edwards mobilized northern Wales to prevent this second nuclear catastrophe and connect the stations to an alternative power source. But Wales had a very fortunate, almost providential, resource at hand: a massive underground hydroelectric plant at Dinorwig, already functional but not yet fully commissioned. The plant drew on a renewable resource and was designed specially to help restart power in the case of a grid failure - not a failure so massive as this one, but its design was nevertheless helpful. Even its location was ideal, almost midway between the nuclear plants at Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd and Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey. Engineers scrambled to repair the grid to connect both nuclear stations to "Electric Mountain", supported by the volunteer or conscripted labour of large numbers of civilians. By the end of 1983, both nuclear plants could be safely shut down, and Wales had a reliable source of power that it could draw on in the future.
The drive to save the nuclear plants drew Edwards and the other PYTHON evacuees into a close involvement with local administration. The Aberystwyth site began to organise local police in these sparsely populated rural counties of the west and north.
1984[]
A map of post Doomsday Wales.
What was left of the United Kingdom suffered another blow in April: the death of Queen Elizabeth II aboard the royal yacht Britannia, her shelter location under PYTHON. Exhaustion and exposure to radiation doubtless weakened the sovereign's ability to resist a disease that broke out on board. The symbolic loss was deeply felt. Losing the head of state damaged what little coherence remained in the scattered pieces of the British government. Her successor Andrew was in the British embassy in South Africa, so at least the new king would be safe; but the sheer distance between him and his country meant that he could do little to help it stay united.
In Wales, the Aberystwyth government became still more active in its local role. Edwards set up an Emergency Welsh Office in a separate university building and tried to assume control of the country's administration. He ruled by fiat, issuing a series of Emergency Orders for Wales to fill the void left by the RGHQ. Order No. 1 defined the government's temporary scope as the counties of Dyfed, Gwynedd, Powys, and Clwyd. The last had largely collapsed under the effects of the Liverpool missile strikes, so Edwards' control there was more aspirational than practical, and the same was true in large stretches of Powys. The south was left to the RGHQ and in effect had no government at all.
1985-1988[]
In contrast to the RGHQs, the PYTHON sites had largely functioned as planned. The plan failed only because Britain's collapse was so thorough that it was never possible for the scattered sites to reunite as a proper provisional government. Each group was restricted to its immediate surroundings, and the result was a fracturing of the country, leading to the patchwork of small states that has defined Great Britain ever since.
This final collapse began in 1985 when the emergency government of Northern Ireland stopped functioning in the face of a greatly intensified Troubles. From Aberystwyth, Edwards ordered whatever army troops still in fighting condition to go and keep the peace. They were not enough. Many deserted, either before or after the trip across the Irish Sea. The Troubles raged on for several more years.
Secretary of State for Wales Nicholas Edwards
The same period saw other RGHQs stop functioning throughout Great Britain. The one in Bridgend dissolved some time in 1986, and a handful of workers from there made their way to Aberystwyth. Edwards' emergency office had no way to gain control of the south, or for that matter in the English regions bordering Wales, nearly all of which were now going silent. All he could do was try to preserve some measure of functional administration in his three counties.
Also in 1986, the War Cabinet received a request for military support from the Dominion of South Africa, a new state formed by liberal South African MPs trying to set up an anti-apartheid regime with Andrew as head of state. The idea that the UK could support anybody in its current state was laughable; yet Prime Minister Whitelaw saw the benefit in transferring some of the ships of the Royal Navy to country where they at least had a chance of getting proper maintenance. Declaring that he was moving the fleet in order to save it, Whitelaw approved a convoy to Port Elizabeth early in the year, followed by a second convoy in 1987. Many naval vessels still in service around Wales departed, along with troops in excess of what Wales could support.
That second convoy proved decisive for the remnants of the British government. The officials in the PYTHON site at Culdrose naval station in Cornwall decided that they, like the ships, would be better off in South Africa than in Britain, and they joined numerous other refugees aboard. The departure of a significant chunk of the War Cabinet, together with so much of the Navy, one of the last things that the dispersed government sites still jointly controlled, marked the beginning of the end of any hope of a reunited Britain. From that point, the Aberystwyth government increasingly concentrated only on matters in Wales. The Portland government likewise confined its scope more to Southern England, the Taymouth government more to Scotland.
1988-1995[]
Wales began to build up a new civil government. Edwards was exhausted and his health was failing, damaged by his exposure to the Cardiff blasts. Before stepping down, with the cooperation of surviving UK officials, he put together a local council to govern Wales, replacing the autocratic rule of his Emergency Office. The council claimed authority over the whole country, but in reality it consisted almost entirely of leaders appointed from the same three counties of Dyfed, Gwynedd, and Powys.
Edwards continued to sit as a council member until his death two years later. His replacement as Secretary of State for Wales was Winston Roddick, a local lawyer and civil servant who had been working within the Emergency Office since shortly after its establishment. Other British officials also participated. Most never renounced their ministerial titles, but they were increasingly irrelevant as the reality sank in that the British government had ceased to exist.
Over the next few years, this administration evolved into a true government. It moved out of the university buildings. It levied taxes and hired workers. It finally began to extend assistance to the dismal communities of survivors in Clwyd and Glamorgan. In 1992 the Irish government approached the Welsh administration offering to help organise a permanent government and hold elections.
1995-2002[]
Wales held its first national elections in 1995. Constitutional issues - questions of formal independence and the head of state - were by far the most prominent things that the leaders had to address. The council had decided against holding a referendum on these questions, it being impossible to hold any kind of vote in many parts of the country. Instead the new parliament, called the Senedd, would be empowered to debate and rule on them on the nation's behalf.
There were many reasons to expect a victory for the pro-independence faction. Aberystwyth had as good a claim as any place to be the center of Welsh nationalism, and this tendency had affected the government there from the beginning. The chaotic state of the British government before its collapse did not inspire loyalty. Neither did the absence of the monarch. Andrew's sister Anne was ably filling in as a substitute monarch in northern England, and by now there were calls for her to take the throne herself. But this state of affairs made the monarchy look worse from Wales - it looked like a crass family squabble. Anne never visited Wales and the country saw none of the good consequences of her work.
The remnants of pro-independence parties and movements had come together in the years leading up to the election, organising the Ffrynt Cymru - the Welsh Front. Ffrynt candidates won a convincing majority of seats in the new parliament and began to legislate the new Welsh state into existence. There was no question: Wales would be an independent republic. Its connection to England was severed after almost a thousand years. Parliament called another election to be held two months later, this time for a president. Phil Williams, a professor at Aberystwyth and an elder Plaid Cymru statesman, accordingly became Wales' first elected head of state.
Wales became a full member of the Celtic Alliance almost immediately after the return of elected government. The CA had done much to help the country to bring back democracy, and the plan had always been to include Wales in the alliance as soon as it was ready. Thanks to the Alliance, Wales would get a stable currency and military protection for the first time since Doomsday. Membership was almost universally popular, because even unionist Welsh saw it as a vehicle that could, eventually, facilitate the restoration of the United Kingdom.
In 1999, Wales installed a local government in Glamorgan, formed by merging the three prewar Glamorgans back into a single county. This represented a return of civil government to the south of Wales for the first time. In 2002, a county authority was finally organised covering Gwent, giving the Welsh state a credible claim to have restored its historic borders. However, these new counties were severely depopulated and wild. The rule of law did not yet extend to all parts of them.
2002-present[]
Government[]
Wales' counties since the mid-2000s. Names are shown in Welsh; many also have co-official English names.
Wales' government largely follows a parliamentary model inherited from the United Kingdom. Instead of a monarch, there is an elected head of state.
The head of state is often called "the president" by foreigners, but officially his or her only title is Tywysog. Literally this just means "leader", but this was the same Welsh title used by the Princes of Wales, both under the kings of England and Britain, and even earlier, when the princes came from among the Welsh kings. The nationalist-led first parliament chose this as the title in order to show continuity with the ancient Welsh nation.
The Senedd has one chamber. The leader of the strongest party becomes the prime minister (prif weinidog) and forms the government.
Wales is divided into twelve counties. The counties as they existed in 1983 were subdivided or merged during the early period of restored civil government. The counties of Dyfed, Gwynedd, and Powys - the core of the post-Doomsday Welsh state - have each been divided into three, restoring the traditional counties there. The three counties of Glamorgan have been merged into one. Gwent and Clwyd are unchanged since 1983. Each county is governed by an elected council.
The Celtic Alliance[]
As a CA member, Wales defers to the alliance on many matters, especially defence and monetary policy. The CA also handles a significant portion of Wales' foreign relations, including representing it in the League of Nations and Atlantic Defence Community.
International relations[]
As a member nation of the CA, Wales enjoys free and uninhibited trade and movement back and forth to the Irelands, to northern Scotland, and to those parts of England and France that have joined the Alliance. Through the CA, Wales has a defensive alliance with the other nations of the ADC. Welsh soldiers have been deployed as far away as Canada (during the Saguenay War) and the Mediterranean (the First Sicily War).
Wales has limited power to engage in its own foreign relations apart from the CA. Southern England, which like Wales can trace its modern history back to the PYTHON evacuations, is an important regional partner. The English states of the Organisation of British Nations tend to look with scepticism at the nation's assertive republicanism and embrace of Welsh nationalism.
As to the rivalry between the frenemy great powers, ANZ and South America, Wales has attempted to chart a neutral course, but its obvious cultural and historical ties with Australia and New Zealand, together with the ADC's cooperation with Australian-NZ forces in the Mediterranean, has led Wales to have greater sympathies and connections with the Oceanic bloc.
The title of the Tywysog caused some friction with the Dominion of South Africa. When Andrew was alive, the title Prince of Wales was used for his son William, as a way to show the crown's historic connection to the British monarchy. Wales was already operating as an independent republic when the title was first used. The government lodged an official protest, prompting the DSA to clarify that the title did not imply any claim on Wales or any other territory in Britain. William became king in 2015, ending his use of the title. A spokesman for the family has said that local South African titles will be used for William's children.
Culture[]
The triumph of Welsh nationalism has of course exerted a tremendous influence on the country's culture. Traditionally, this movement was strongly rural and based on nostalgia for pre-industrial traditions and ways of life, centered in the west of the country. In the 80s, the decline of the industrial and mining economy of South Wales was making it too an object of nostalgia. The nuclear war tipped the population balance toward the rural parts of the country, but it also obliterated that industrial economy, and soon it was incorporated fully into the Welsh national narrative. It is now often said that "the Russians finished what Thatcher started." Labour leaders like Aneurin Bevan are part of the pantheon of those who fought for the nation, alongside traditional heroes like Owain Glyndwr. Nicholas Edwards, the leading UK minister who helped run Wales after 1983, is also remembered fondly, his Welsh origins and undeniable service to the country making up for his being a Tory and a Thatcherite. Edwards in particular did much to promote local arts and culture during his time as Secretary of State, hoping that this might be one area where his administration could make some positive steps, in the face of the total failure of the British economy and security apparatus during those years.
The Welsh language came to be spoken by a larger portion of the population at first simply because most of the casualties were non-speakers. Beginning in the early 90s there has been an expansion of Welsh-medium education, which has produced a modest increase in the absolute number of speakers. The Celtic Alliance's explicit policy of support for local languages has also provided a boost. Still it remains a minority language, English being used more in most people's daily lives.
From the eighteenth century, Welsh religion was dominated by Nonconformist Protestant churches, especially Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists. Clergy from these groups had a profound impact on the development of Welsh language, culture, and identity. The 1914 disestablishment of the Anglican church in Wales was one of the first victories for proponents of Welsh devolution and distinctiveness. The Doomsday event by and large hurt religion in Wales, especially among those near cities who had to flee the blast zones. The churches are still going strong in the far west and north, but on the whole Wales is a less religious country than it was in 1982. For many, football fills the role once played by the churches, especially Wales' storied national team.
Media[]
The media in Wales provide services in both English and Welsh, and play a role in modern Welsh culture. BBC Wales, which began broadcasting in 1923 until Doomsday, had helped to promote a form of standardised spoken Welsh, and one historian has argued that the concept of Wales as a single national entity owes much to modern broadcasting.
Newspapers[]
The sole national newspaper of Wales is Western Mail. Regional newspapers include South Wales Evening Post, Clwyd Daily Post, South Wales Argus, and South Wales Echo.
Broadcasting[]
BBC Wales Cymru, is the current public broadcaster of Wales. Considered to be the successor of the original BBC, BBC Wales Cyrmu is affiliated with the federal Celtic Alliance public broadcaster and runs two channels and two radio stations. Another Welsh broadcasting service is S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru), a welsh language television service.
Harlech Television is the main commercial broadcaster for Wales. Originally an ITV licensee serving Wales and the West of England, it was reformed in 1995 to serve as the Welsh region of the federal Celtic Independent Television network.
Symbols[]
Flag, adopted 1959
Coat of arms, adopted 1998
Most Welsh national symbols go back to time immemorial but gained official status only in the twentieth century. The red dragon has associations going back to arthurian legend; on a flag of white and green, it was used by Henry Tudor in the 15th century. It became the national flag in 1959 and was immediately popular. The shield with four lions is associated with the medieval Prince of Wales Llywelyn the Great, king of Gwynedd. The British Princes of Wales continued to use it, even though it never appeared in the British coat of arms. The leek as a symbol may be even older; it is attributed to Saint David himself, who had Welsh soldiers place leeks on their helmets to identify them during a battle against the Saxons. The Welsh national anthem was written by Evan James in the mid-nineteenth century, part of a new, self-consciously national literary movement in Wales.
Shortly after independence, Wales adopted a coat of arms brings together many of these older symbols. The central shield is that of Llewelyn and the Princes of Wales. Instead of a crown, the republic places a single leek as a crest atop the helm, a direct reference to St. David's legend. The red dragons support the arms, something that comes from Tudor heraldry. The new motto quotes James's anthem and means "I am true to my country."
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