Alpine Federation

The Alpine Federation of German and Italian States, commonly known as the Alpine Federation, the Federation, or the Federation of the Alps, is a sovereign state located in Central and Western Europe. Its territory borders France, the United Federations of Üfanonia, and the Democratic Dictatorship of Oskenia to the west and the United States of Alemanni to the east.

The Alpine Federation includes ten constituent states and covers roughly 155,000 square miles. Its territory incorporates all of Switzerland, almost all of Italy, and much of Germany. The Federation possesses a population of about 26 million as of 1905.

The capital and political hub of the Alpine Federation is Geneva; Venice, Genoa and Bremen are its key ports.

Formation
In 1852, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, died unexpectedly of cholera in December 1852 a month after becoming prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia. The prime minister who took his place, Gustavo Ponza di San Martino, tried and failed to achieve Benso's goal of unifying Italy. Ponza's administration was extremely unpopular, leading to his removal in 1854. A series of similarly disliked subsequent cabinets led to domestic Sardinian discontent. Although Sardinia had adopted a constitution, the Statuto Albertino, in 1848, a popular uprising deposed Victor Emmanuel II and established the Commonwealth of Sardinia and of Piedmont in 1857.

The Commonwealth's flawed constitution led to an ineffective, gridlocked government. In 1858, the desperate government of Sardinia sent a delegation to nearby Switzerland, whose constitution was also recently adopted, to study the Swiss government and constitution.

The Swiss welcomed the delegation. The diplomats, convinced that Sardinia needed Swiss assistance, returned after five months and requested that the Commonwealth Congress ask Switzerland to agree to a Sardinian-Swiss political union. The Commonwealth Congress, desperate, narrowly voted in favor of the proposal.

The Swiss were receptive to the plan. In 1859, the two countries sent representatives to Genoa to discuss the details of a federal union. The Commonwealth of Sardinia and of Piedmont reformed itself into a Swiss-style Sardinian Confederacy as negotiations proceeded.

On September 4, 1860, representatives from Sardinia and Switzerland signed the Federal Constitution in Genoa, establishing the Alpine Federation under the name Federation of Alpine Democracies with Geneva as its capital.

First Expansion Period
In 1865, the Venetian Republic declared independence from the Austrian Empire. Venice then requested accession to the Federation of Alpine Democracies. The Federation granted the request, renaming itself the Federation of Alpine Democracies and Republics.

In 1867, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in the southern part of the Italian peninsula renamed itself the Kingdom of Italy and launched military campaigns to unify Italy. The Alpine Federation began militarizing to defend against possible invasion.

In 1868, Parma and the Tuscan Republic, concerned by the burgeoning Kingdom of Italy in the south, joined the Alpine Federation.

The Italian-Federal War
In 1875, the Kingdom of Italy, which had conquered all of Italy except for the Alpine Federation, invaded Venice and the island of Sardinia in the Sardinian Confederacy. The Alpine Federation retook Venice quickly but was unable to dislodge the Kingdom of Italy from the Isle of Sardinia. The Federation did manage to occupy portions of central Italy belonging to the Kingdom of Italy, but eventually a stalemate ensued on all fronts.

In 1877, the Kingdom of Italy began to break the stalemate, forcing the Alpine Federation to sue for peace. Under the terms of the resulting Treaty of Rome, the Alpine Federation ceded the Isle of Sardinia as a nominally independent vassal state to the Kingdom of Italy. The Kingdom of Italy was to yield certain small portions of central Italy to the Alpine Federation; however, the clauses governing the transfer of territory were confusing and eventually de facto abandoned as unenforceable. This situation left Central Italy effectively ungoverned.

The Central Italian Affair
In 1896, the people of the City of Rome--which was representing Central Italy diplomatically at the time--sent a letter to the Alpine Federation Federal Council requesting annexation as the Central Italian Republic. The Federal Council mail department routed the letter to Huber Droz, an Undersecretary of Diplomatic Correspondence in the Department of State. If Droz had followed standard procedure, he would have sent the letter to the Federal Council after recording that it had been received and verifying its legitimacy. Droz did record that the letter had been received and did inspect it to ensure that it genuinely came from the government of the City of Rome. However, he did not notify the Federal Council or anyone else--he simply replied to the Romans that the Alpine Federation had agreed to the annexation.

An obscure clause in the article of the Federal Constitution governing annexation implied that the annexation was legally valid. No one in the Federal government, however, knew that the annexation had occurred. The people of Central Italy thought, however, that they were now part of the Federation.

In 1897, the Central Italian Republic attempted to send representatives to the Federal Council. Confused about why Central Italy had not heard from the Alpine Federation government, a delegation from Central Italy arranged to speak to the Federal Council. The head of the delegation, Petro Mazzini, had been drinking before the Federal Council session; he gave a confusing and incoherent speech which led the Federal Council to believe that Central Italy considered itself under the purview of the Kingdom of Italy. Guards eventually had to remove Mazzini from the Council chamber. The Federal Council felt slighted by Mazzini's behavior and told him not to return. The Central Italian delegation left Geneva immediately after the speech.

The Central Italians, who had elected Mazzini as one of their representatives to the Federal Council, thought that the Federal Council had, unfairly, accepted their annexation but denied them representatives. Furious, they declared independence from the Federation as the Unione Degli Stati Agricoli.

Central Italian Civil War
The Stati Agricoli Declaration of Independence confused the Federation, who initially believed that the Unione was actually declaring independence from the Kingdom of Italy. For the next three years, the Federation attempted to dislodge a Tuscan occupation they did not completely understand. In 1900, Droz's misconduct finally became clear, and the Federation realized that the Stati Agricoli was rebelling against what they considered an unfair Federal government.

Federal President Rotallini, finally understanding the Stati Agricoli's plight, offered to recognize the independence of the Stati Agricoli if the Stati Agricoli would withdraw from Tuscany. Dictator Emilo De Bono initially refused, and the Federation began taking the war against the Stati Agricoli more seriously. Finally, in 1901, the Federation submitted to the Unione a proposal for dividing up the unclaimed land between their countries in the event that the Stati Agricoli withdrew from Tuscany. The proposal was favorable to the Unione; it withdrew from Tuscany and the Central Italian Civil War finally ended.

Relations between the Alpine Federation and the Stati Agricoli improved dramatically and almost instantly following the conclusion of the war.

Sardinian War
As the Central Italian Civil War ended, Rotallini found himself increasingly at odds with Kristoffer Kåre II, the leader of the Democratic Dictatorship of Oskenia, who had recently invaded the Isle of Sardinia. Although the Federation did not intervene in the invasion--the island was no longer Federal territory after the Italian-Federal War--Rotallini demanded that Kåre consider the interests of the Sardinian people. Soon, reports of civil unrest on Sardinia grew--although the majority of the Sardinian population acquiesced to the new regime, a resistance movement against the Oskenians began. The citizens of the Federation--particularly those of the Sardinian Confederacy, many of whom had family and friends on the Island--demanded in a referendum that the Federation intervene.

On February 11, 1901, the Federation gave Oskenia an ultimatum with three options. The first option demanded that Kåre resign; the second option demanded that Oskenia hold a Sardinian independence referendum; the third option demanded that Oskenia grant Sardinia nearly total autonomy. The Federation threatened that if one of these options was not followed, it would back up its ultimatum with military force.

Kåre, who incorrectly suspected that the Federation was funding the Sardinian resistance, refused to meet any of the Federal demands. On February 16, 1901, the Federation, supported by the Stati Agricoli and the Confederate States of Alemanni, proceeded to declare war on Oskenia. The Federal Republic of Iceland and the Cholkian Republic side with Oskenia, albeit in largely humanitarian roles.

The Federal invasion of Sardinia was largely unsuccessful; a stalemate in the Sardinian capital of Pilifüoanæ soon resulted. Civilian causalties soon ensured that the war became very unpopular in the Federation, and another referendum forced the Federation leadership to sue for peace.

The ensuing Treaty of Reykjavik, signed on March 20, 1901, formally ended the Sardinian War. The two factions exchanged no territory, although both sides paid compensation for damage dealt during the war. Most notably, the Federation reimbursed Sardinian civilians and local governments for direct destruction of property and of life.

Second Expansion Period
The Alpine Federation recommitted itself to a policy of neutrality after the Sardinian War. The Treaty of Geneva ending the Ecuador War was signed in the Federation. For much of late 1901 and early 1902, the Alpine Federation closed its borders to the rest of the world to guard against the Dog Virus. It also established quarantine camps for the diseased. These two measures combined proved successful; a relatively low number of people died of the disease.

Rotallini, who became deeply unpopular following the Sardinian War, lost the 1902 election to Peter Hamner. Note: This section is incomplete.

Era of Adriatic Tension
Adrien Meyers lost a vote of no-confidence in 1904 for making controversial comments about unethical Alemanni actions during the war against the RCA and was removed from office. As Hamner was one of the most senior officials remaining in the Federal government, the Federal Council reluctantly appointed him president once more.

Hamner promptly redacted his predecessor's comments and took a more balanced foreign policy. Although he did not forestall the UEER-Alemanni War, he oversaw its conclusion; Hamner drafted the First Geneva Agreement ending the war.

He also delayed the de facto outbreak of the Icelandic-Alemanni War; although it formally began, very little combat actually took place because Hamner called another diplomatic conference in Geneva. The conference lasted over a month but ended the war via a Second Geneva Agreement before serious fighting could begin.

In June 1905, the Stati Agricoli erupted into a multi-sided civil war. Various factions in the war asked the Alpine Federation or Oskenia for annexation. In a conference involving the factions, the Alpine Federation and Oskenia divided the former Unione between them. Most of the former territory joined the Federation as the second Central Italian Republic.

In August 1905, the Alpine Federation purchased the Alemanni islands near Port Graf for $2,000,000. The islands, which were nearly depopulated after its Jewish citizens left for Israel, joined the Venetian Republic.

Federal Government
The Alpine Federation is a federal semi-direct democracy under a multi-party semi-presidential system governed by the Federal Constitution. The government of the Federation has three branches: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary.

The unicameral legislature of the Alpine Federation is the Federal Council. It is comprised of elected representatives from each state of the Federation and operates according to parliamentary rules. In 1903, for example, the Federal Christian Democratic Party ran the Government with the Conservative Party as the Opposition.

The supreme executive of the Alpine Federation is the Federal President; his cabinet is called the Executive Committee. The Federal President and the Executive Committee manage the Executive Branch. The Federal President is elected to a two year term and may serve a maximum of four terms. He may be removed prematurely via a successful vote of no confidence in the Federal Legislature.

The Federal judiciary of the Alpine Federation, the Federal Court System, is comprised of a Supreme Court and a few Subsidary Federal Courts which rule on interstate and other Federal matters.

States
The states of the Alpine Federation are typically Swiss-style semi-direct democracies or Venetian-style republics. Under the Federal Constitution, several powers are reserved to the states.

There are ten states in the Alpine Federation. They are, in order of accession:
 * 1) Sardinian Confederacy
 * 2) Swiss Confederacy
 * 3) Venetian Republic
 * 4) Tuscany
 * 5) Parma
 * 6) Baden-Württemberg Confederacy
 * 7) Southern Italian Democratic Republic
 * 8) Lower Saxon Confederation
 * 9) Hessian Republic
 * 10) Central Italian Republic

Citizens' Rights and Civic Engagement
The Federal Constitution guarantees several rights for Federal citizens including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to propose and hold binding referendums. All men who are Federation citizens and have reached the age of twenty-one have the right to vote in Federal and local elections. Although one state (the Southern Italian Democratic Republic), a few Swiss cantons, and a few other local governments allow women to vote in their elections, in general women do not have the right to vote in the Federation. The cause of women's suffrage, although increasingly popular in the early 1900's, experienced setbacks when referendums and appeals to the Federal Council to grant women the vote failed.

Federal citizens have high levels of civic and governmental engagement; in the 1902 election, 74% of eligible voters voted for Federal President. The Federation experiences an abnormally large number of referendums; it held five plebiscites in 1901 alone.

Political Parties
The major political parties in the Alpine Federation are as follows: Additional parties exist.
 * Federal Christian Democratic Party (centrist as in socially conservative, economically liberal): Governing Coalition Member
 * Conservative Party (socially and economically conservative, traditionalist): A respectable minority
 * Progressive Party (between the Christian Democrats and socialists): Governing Coalition Member
 * Socialist Party (non-revolutionary democratic socialist): Opposition
 * Coalition of Classical Liberals (right-libertarian): Ten seats
 * Glorious Solitude (isolationist): One seat
 * Populist Party (far right populist): Zero seats

Armed Forces
The Alpine Federation Armed Forces has two branches: The Federal Army and the Federal Navy.

Federal Army
The Federal Army has 500,000 men on active duty as of early 1906.

Federal Navy
All Federal battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and corvettes except for those belonging to outdated classes are Federal Modular Payload System (FMPS)-compatible. The Federal Modular Payload System is a unique standard of socket-based connectors designed to facilitate quick ship refits. Weapons or other payloads with an FMPS base can be rapidly slotted and locked into or unlocked and removed from a FMPS receptacle. This system of interchangeable weapons ensures that the Federation can quickly test or alter weaponry deployments on its vessels. Three of the five battleships operated by the Federal Navy were built in other countries and then sold and/or acquired.

The Federal Navy has the following composition as of early 1906: The following ships are under construction (vessels not belonging to the types listed here not included):
 * Dreadnoughts
 * 2 Patriari-class dreadnoughts
 * FASS Patriari
 * FASS Vetinari
 * 1 Kåre-class dreadnought (built by Oskenia)
 * FASS Unification
 * Battleships
 * 2 Cape Verde-class battleships (built by Iceland)
 * FASS Venice
 * FASS GenoaUnification.png
 * Cruisers
 * 9 Bremen-class heavy cruisers
 * FASS Bremen
 * FASS Bremerhaven
 * FASS Wiesbaden
 * FASS Frankfurt
 * FASS Hanseatic
 * FASS Oldenburg
 * FASS Delmenhorst
 * FASS Stuhr
 * FASS Weyhe
 * 4 Tuscany-class light cruisers
 * FASS Tuscany
 * FASS Florence
 * FASS Pisa
 * FASS Siena
 * 2 Bern-class light cruisers (outdated)
 * FASS Vaud
 * FASS Jura
 * Destroyers
 * 7 Negotiation-class advanced destroyers
 * FASS Negotiation
 * FASS Treaty
 * FASS Settlement
 * FASS Agreement
 * FASS Diplomat
 * FASS Legislator
 * FASS Intermediary
 * 8 Plebiscite-class destroyers
 * FASS Plebiscite
 * FASS Referendum
 * FASS Initiative
 * FASS Referral
 * 4 Adjudication-class destroyers
 * FASS Adjudication
 * FASS Arbiter
 * FASS Argumentative
 * FASS Resolution
 * 5 Restitution-class destroyers (outdated)
 * FASS Restitution
 * FASS Recompense
 * FASS Penalty
 * FASS Remedy
 * Corvettes
 * 9 Democracy-class advanced corvettes
 * FASS Democracy
 * FASS Republic
 * FASS Confederacy
 * FASS Federation
 * FASS Sovereign
 * FASS Constitution
 * FASS Executive
 * FASS Judiciary
 * FASS Federal Council
 * 10 Lucerne-class corvettes
 * FASS Lucerne
 * FASS Littau
 * FASS Reuss
 * FASS Nidwalden
 * FASS Bürgenstock
 * FASS Rigi
 * FASS Schwyz
 * FASS Zug
 * FASS Lauerz
 * FASS Dosse
 * 8 Verona-class corvettes
 * FASS Verona
 * FASS Po
 * FASS Adige
 * FASS Brenta
 * FASS Bacchiglione
 * FASS Livenza
 * FASS Piave
 * FASS Tagliamento
 * 7 La Spezia-class corvettes (outdated)
 * FASS La SpeziaLaspezia.png
 * FASS Ventimiglia
 * FASS Luni
 * FASS Cinque Terre
 * FASS Colli di Luni
 * FASS Colline di Levanto
 * FASS Golfo del Tigullio
 * Minesweepers
 * 8 Caroline-class minesweepers
 * FASS Caroline
 * FASS Johannes
 * FASS Cavern
 * FASS Companion
 * FASS Addio
 * FASS Aperture
 * FASS Tribulation
 * FASS Portal
 * Submarines
 * 1 Investigator-class submarine
 * FASS Investigator
 * Other Vessels
 * 100+ additional vessels of various types
 * Battleships
 * 4 Patriari-class advanced battleships (completion: 1907)
 * Cruisers
 * 2 Tuscany-class light cruisers (completion: 1907)
 * Minesweepers
 * 1 Caroline-class minesweeper (completion: 1907)
 * Submarines
 * 4 Investigator-class submarines (completion: 1907)

Culture
The culture of the Alpine Federation mixes German, Italian, and Swiss influences.