History of Cattala

History of Cattala


Pre-1800s

After the last Ice Age, Cattala was cut off from the rest of mainland Europe, as it lost its land link with Sicily and mainland Italy. In around 750BC, the Greeks settled a small colony on Cattala’s east coast, and farming became a strong industry in the colony. However after the Romans took over both Sicily and Cattala in around 200BC, the province became part of the Roman Empire, and remained so for 700 years. Christianity amongst the largely rural population of the country grew rapidly, but growth was mainly limited to the south-west and far eastern regions of the country, with the centre a deeply forested area that was uninhabitable. The name Cattala was chosen for the country, because many Roman soldiers believed they were actually in the Spanish region of Catalonia after their ships were pulled off course and nearly led them in a u-turn back to Sicily.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the control of the province changed hands many times until the Byzantine Empire took control of the islands in 535 AD, and remained so until the 10th century. After Sicily fell under Arab control, Cattala was led for the first time under the control of King Roger Celestine, who increased agricultural growth in the country until his death in 1021.
His son, William the First, led the country to a stronger independence from Sicily, which ultimately resulted in the Kingdom being independent for another eight centuries. Growth remained stable until the 19th century, with Roger and William’s family remaining in charge of the country. Cattala’s population had risen steadily from around 20,000 in the 11th century to around 600,000 in 1800.

1800



In the first decade of the 19th century, peace in Cattala remained despite ongoing wars across Europe, mainly fuelled by Napoleon Bonaparte. The House of Celestine, having ruled for nearly 800 years now, had named and created the capital city after their surname and had built a high-class Mediterranean city home to around 50,000 aristocratic families and foreign diplomats.



Much of the population lived in farming communities spread across the country, from the southern Ontano Island, up to the eastern Almae province and along the coast up to the military base of Porto D’Italia.
At that time Calora was a port town, home to fishermen and the middle classes of Cattalian society. Jennai was a booming industrial city, and was home to around a third of the population of the country. Most people lived in poverty in Jennai, and worked in factories producing clothing and goods to be sold in Celestine and in mainland Europe.

Next part coming soon.

great history! I cant wait to see some pics of the towns!

1814 – 1860



But the 1814 Treaty of Paris gave the British Empire control over the nearby island of Malta, leading the vast Royal Navy to threaten the shores of the Kingdom. Warships surrounded the south and east of the country, and King Harold was forced to abdicate the throne and Cattala was declared a British Colony, with the current Royal Guard (Head of the Government) being replaced by a Governor.



For the next half century, over 200,000 British citizens emigrated to Cattala from across the Commonwealth, and the population rose to 750,000. English became the main language of the colony, and British culture spread rapidly around the islands. The port in Calora became a hub for aristocracy arriving from the UK and Canada, and the town sprawled into a vast city and moved further into the countryside. Ontano Island’s agricultural industry boomed local delicacies became popular with the wealthy immigrants, and the island was renamed as two villages were created – Aldoak and Brunswick.



Porto D’Italia was closed by the British navy, and much of Cattala’s military was relocated to the British base in Malta, whilst Jennai continued growing as British industrial magnates invested in railways and manufacturing in the city and the population rose above the 200,000 mark. However, neighbouring Celestine had lost its status as the seat of the Royal Family, and investment moved away to the more desirable cities of Calora and Jennai. Much of the north of the city was absorbed by Calora, which meant that only the northern town of Vittorius remained affluent. The rest of the city fell into decline and lost its aristocratic status.

1860 – 1917



However the age of imperial expansion in Cattala shuddered to a halt in 1860 when Italian nationalists, buoyant after seizing control of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies earlier in the year, invaded from Ontano Island and Calora Harbour, destroying all of the villages and towns in the southern islands, including Brunswick and Aldoak. Calora Harbour was captured and shut down by the Italian Navy, as the British forces rested in Malta, unaware of the ongoing situation. Within a week strategic locations across Cattala were under Italian control and a treaty was signed with the furious British Crown to hand over the dominion to the Kingdom of Italy and the Governor was hanged.



But the son of King Harold, Prince Amadeus, attempted to gather a military to fight off the Italian invaders and protect the chance of his family returning to power. But Amadeus was nearly 50 when the Italians invaded, and his small militia was vastly outnumbered. Public support in Celestine and Calora was high, and the King of Italy was concerned of a possible backlash if the deposed royal family was defeated by force. So a peace treaty was signed, and a small kingdom was given to Amadeus along the Celestine town border, ultimately controlled by the Italians though.

The end of British rule was abrupt and shocking for those that moved to Cattala from the rest of the Commonwealth. A vast majority of the trade from the islands was with the Empire, and over 50% of the population became unemployed within the first decade of unification with the mainland. Agriculture was severely damaged by droughts throughout the early 20th century, which crippled the economy and poverty spread rapidly across Cattala and Celestine. Calora Harbour closed down, Jennai became a slum city for hundreds of thousands of unemployed poor and the only successful area was the military base and capital city, the rebuilt Porto D’Italia, now located in the south to fend off any invasion from Malta.

1900 - 1939



Prior to the Great War, Cattala continued to be under strict Italian rule, which continued to cripple the economy and faith in the Government continued freefalling. In 1912, many Cattalians left the country to move to the newly-captured island of Rhodes, now a strong ally of the country.



During World War One however, all young men were drafted into the Entente, which led to vast casualties for the Cattala Regiment. The losses were atrocious, with over 100,000 men killed, missing or left behind. The outrage that had been boiling up for generations bubbled over, and riots were reported across the country. The President of Cattala, who simply reported back to Rome and not the people, was captured and burnt to death, over 50 police officers and troops were shot dead during the winter of 1917/18 and the Union Flag, a symbol to the impoverished Cattalians of a brighter past, was hoisted above the former Royal Palace in Celeste, and Prince Amadeus’ son took the throne as King Charles III.



The economy struggled through the first decade of the 20th century, and slowly grew in the second. After the war, the population began falling as the remaining wealthy families left; fearing Italian occupation again and the ratio of men to women became increasingly unbalanced. King Charles the Third pushed for assistance from the British Crown, but the rapid decolonisation of the Empire resulted in little assistance from London. Harvests and the weather picked up again during the 1930s, and many rural communities benefited from the new generation not leaving for the slum cities, as thousands decided to stay at home as rumours of cholera and disease along the coast kept them away. Celestine once again became the capital city, and the rebuilding process began on the near-abandoned province. But the next war, would be even worse for the country.

Very good detail Thomas! You don't see that often anymore

Thank you K50! I'm really trying to emphasise Cattala's past, as you can see it's changed hands so many time over the past few centuries, I find it really deepens the country and makes them all more unique.

Awesome! Lovely history there Thomas!

It's a long one this one, but there's only a handful more to go and this is probably the most defining part of Cattala's 20th century.

1939 - 1945



The beginning of World War Two unnerved many Cattalians, with tens of thousands more fleeing the country. For the first year very little happened to the country, and many thought that the war wouldn’t reach them. However in 1940 hundreds of Italian bombers attacked Celestine and destroyed the military base to the north of the city, wiped out the southern harbour and severely damaged over 4000 homes, shops and Government offices, including the Parliament. German U-Boats and Italian naval submarines surrounded Jennai City and threatened to flatten the biggest population centre in the country unless King Charles surrendered.

The King evacuated his family to a small harbour in Porto D’Italia where they were secretly picked up by a small British plane, and taken to a North African military base before heading to exile in London. Charles the Third was flown to Rome aboard Royal Cattala Airways flight SFTPOC1, a special war coding that hid the message “Sacrifice For The People Of Cattala One”, where he was reportedly hung. For the next three years Cattala was under the control of the Italians, who turned much of the countryside into air bases and training camps for Nazi and Fascist troops. An influx of German and Italian military personnel concerned the general population, especially in cities like Calora and Jennai which were expected to be prime targets for Allied bombing raids.
As the war continued, British and American forces battled the axis frontline in Africa, and in 1943 the Italian troops were pushed back into Cattala where hostile and impoverished islanders assisted the allied soldiers with medicine, food, shelter and ammunition as both the Amadeus Resistance Army (named after the anti-Italian prince) and the British 8th Army battled with the fascists for months until the withdrawal when the British/Canadian/American coalition moved into Sicily on July the 10th 1943.

The former colonial master had, for the second time in 50 years, rescued Cattala from Italian annexation. Propaganda posters were shown across the UK and Cattala depicting a triumphant Britannia rescuing a near-death Catherina (national personification) from a furious and vast Italia, who is wearing the Nazi colours.

Thats a lot of towns destroyed Great detail as always Thomas

Thanks K50, really only two major areas were destroyed, Celestine and Porto D'Italia. However the axis military took over many smaller towns and villages, mainly along the coast, and used them as sites for naval harbours, barracks, watch towers and that kind of thing - the island was basically turned into a huge military base.

Great work Thomas!

1945 - 1958

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The end of the war signalled the beginning of a decade-long rebuilding period for Cattala. After the war, much of the island’s infrastructure had been destroyed by bombing and the German retreat. The country was deeply impoverished and many thousands of children did not get a primary school education during the 1940s due to the war and the rebuilding process. The Prime Minister at the time was Lord Chancellor Harrison, who visited London on several occasions during 1945 and 1946 as discussions with Clement Attlee over the future of Cattala continued.

Attlee and his British Government agreed with Lord Harrison that the people of Cattala should choose whether or not to rejoin the newly-created Italian Republic, or reinstate a monarchy. The latter was always seen as more popular, due to strong hatred of Italy amongst the general public. Britain and America both assisted in the redevelopment, with hundreds of millions of dollars loaned to the country during a ten-year period. Due to this vast investment, and the way the British troops were sacrificed to free the island from occupation, England was seen as the saviour of the nation and the English language became extremely popular, an effect that led to Cattala becoming an English-speaking country.



By 1948, Celestine had been partly rebuilt, under the new name of Celeste, and over a million buildings rebuilt or restored. Jennai’s ports were once again operational and entirely new residential complexes were constructed in the destroyed city centre. Calora was also assisted, as homes were saved and repaired after bombing raids broke seawalls and canal sluices, which resulted in flooding across the city. All of the major military bases were shut down.



The Referendum of 1949 gave the citizens a vote on whether to bring back some form of monarchy, an independent republic or join Italy. 91% of the voting population chose to bring back a monarchy, with less than 1% voting to join Italy. However the entire Celestine family had been killed by Italian fascists during 1940 and no immediate descendent could be found in the country. Fortunately, Prince Amadeus’ great-nephew had moved to England in 1938, before the outbreak of the war. Marco Bonnicelli became the first King of Cattala from outside the Celestine family name, and received a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Calora before travelling to Celeste for his coronation.



During his reign, Bonnicelli received permission from Pope Pius XII to reconstruct the Cattalian Catholic Church, a historic faith that is extremely similar to the Roman Catholic Church, but is more national-centred and sees the Holy See and the Anima Divina della Chiesa as the two leaders of the faith.

1958 - 1987

The Royal and Holy Kingdom underwent an economic revolution, following what some described as the 30-Year Revolution. Cattala, pre-war, had been a slowly-growing agricultural island, and had struggled to introduce industry and big international corporations to the region. However once the political system was stable and the British officially released the country, the population grew rapidly and tourism from continental Europe rose sharply as aviation continued to advance.

With King Marco at the helm of the Royal family, the political system continued to evolve and the King pushed for growth of public services and job creation outside of agriculture. The position of Lord Chancellor was changed to “Lord of Celestine”, who took over more of a prime ministerial position than before.
The first female leader, Lady Fernandez, led the Government for 6 years and when she stepped down in 1963, the opposition Democratic Party took the biggest share of the vote in the country’s history, a record that still stands today. King Marco died in October of 1963 at the age of 66.



1964 was a year of new beginnings in Cattala, with a new Lord Celestine and a new King, Roger the 16th. Roger never married and led a reclusive life as King, but continued pushing the Government to nationalise industries like the railways and energy, which has resulted in decades of profits for the country. The economy continued growing rapidly during the 1960s, and the cities of Celeste and Calora expanded rapidly with population in both rising by over 50,000.

In 1970, the country chose to bring the Catholic Conservative (Cattolici Conservatori) party back into power, but a battle for control of the party resulted in a disastrous attempt to destabilise the Government from within. Lord Bertollini held onto power until May of 1971, less than 8 months into his tenure. The election resulted in a shocking blow for the party, who didn’t regain power again until 36 years later.

King Roger XVI died of a heart attack in February 1987, with no son or daughter to take over. His sister, Elizabeth of Almae, became Queen and at the age of 60, is the oldest Royal to take the Crown in Cattala’s history.

So King Roger was a socialist?

Yes, sort of. He believed that the best way to run the country and make the Government profitable was to own and run the railways and energy companies. However he was only interested in making sure the country wasn't getting into debt and that the crucial parts of it (water, electricity, public transport sectors) weren't run simply to make money and overcharge people, but actually to work for the public and be as cheap as possible to use and run.

I think he was a socialist, but only in his economic beliefs. He didn't want a communist or fully socialist state though.

Socialism is only an ideal for the ECONOMY. Communism is political. The UK was more left (socialist) in the 70s, I believe

Oh, righty-ho then. Yeh, he is a socialist. The Democratic party was also left-wing at the time, whilst the Catholic Conservatives were right wing, and they weren't in power at all between 1971 and 2007.

Kevin, actually socialism and communism are alike and political both. Communism is a socialism form but more "gauchiste", to the left and more "extremist" if I can employ this word.

Well with your explanations Thomas, I think he is a center left party. But very center. Sad that you don't understand well French (Don't take it bad, I'm not saying that you aren't good, it's just that some words are complicated even for my Quebecers friends), it would be easier for me to explain my point of view.

I don't know any French, . That's why I dropped it for GCSE.

Yeah, but you can be a democracy and a socialist economy

True

The King didn't have that much power in the 1960s and 1970s anyway. It was really just his point of view, and when he did speeches he often put forward the positives of the "socialist" economic model.
But obviously, a Government should appear to support the King because that is what keeps a country stable, certainly 40-50 years ago.

Actually now the Queen has more power than back then, which is quite a reverse of what has happened in other constitutional monarchies.

1987 - 2000



With Queen Elizabeth of Almae in control of the Kingdom, economic and political stability reigned supreme during the next decade. Despite her age, Elizabeth worked hard to protect the nation and distanced herself from political affiliation, which her brother had failed to do. The population of Cattala continued to rise, as cities like Jennai and Celeste expanded and modernised, with Central Business Districts being redeveloped in all the major towns and cities.



Church attendance, education and healthcare all rose in the 1990s, and the national GDP grew by an average of 2.1% each year. The Democratic Party held power until 1991, with just three leaders from the same party dominating politics between 1971 and 1991. The fall of the Catholic Conservatives continued, and the rise of the People’s Party resulted in a 10-year period of public sector growth, with a sharp increase in spending on the military and national protection. During the 1990s, support for European integration reached an all-time low and protectionism against the EU rose. Economic growth stumbled in 1998 and 1999, when growth of -1% during the latter year resulted in the downfall of the Government two years later.

Queen Elizabeth of Almae died in 1994, and was succeeded by her popular daughter Princess Alexandra, who became Her Royal and Holy Majesty Queen Alexandra the Fifth. Alexandra was more impartial about politics than her mother, but was known during her early years as Queen to question the role of the European Union in continental society today.
She married Prince Luke of Rhodes in 1990, in a wedding that cost nearly ₴7,000,000 but was broadcast around the world, as it united two islands, Cattala and Rhodes, through marriage. Queen Alexandra left the international stage briefly between 1993 and 2000, as she gave birth to and brought up three children.

History now complete with images. Please take a look and review, I've spent all day on this.
Some minor updates to the history, and the modern history (21st century) still needs to be added, but that'll be done over time.