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Republic of Catalonia
República de Catalunya
Timeline: Scotland says "Yes"
OTL equivalent: Catalonia
Estelada blava Coat of Arms of Catalonia
Coat of arms
Anthem: 
Els Segadors
Cataluna in Spain (plus Canarias)
Location of Catalonia, in Red
Capital
(and largest city)
Barcelona
Other cities L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Terrassa, Sabadell
Official languages Catalan, Spanish, Occitan (Aranese)
Demonym Catalan
Government Presidential Federal Republic
 -  President Artur Mas i Gavarró (detained by Spanish Authorities)
 -  Acting President/Vice President Joana Ortega
Legislature Parliament
 -  Upper house Parlament de Catalunya
Establishment
 -  Independence Declared 2015 
 -  Independence Recognised  
Area
 -  Total 32,108 km2 
12,397 sq mi 
Population
 -  2012 estimate 7,565,603 
 -  Density 240/km2 
621.6/sq mi
GDP (nominal) 2012 estimate
 -  Total €255.204 billion 
Currency Euro ()
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 -  Summer (DST)  (UTCCET (UTC+2))
Date formats dd/mm/yyyy
Drives on the Right
Patron saint Saint George (Sant Jordi)

Catalonia is a former Autonomous Region of Spain, which has recently acquired independence after the Spanish Collapse Crisis.

History[]

See also: Spanish Collapse Crisis

March on Madrid[]

On the 26th September there was a mass protest in Barcelona after it was declared Scotland was to receive independence, and with calls for their referendum to be taken seriously. As the Catalan Government was unable to do much more at that time, and the Central Spanish Government ignored them, on the 27th a large group of protesters marched for Madrid from Barcelona. Suffering heavy police and partisan harassment, on the third day of the march, a confrontation with partisans resulted in the death of two Catalans. As they moved into the outer outskirts of Madrid a police blockade stopped them. After some hours attempting to push through the police lines to reach Madrid, violence began to break out with some brick throwing and, when Madrid partisans turned up and attacked, events took an event more violent turn. The police controversially intervened with water cannons which knocked an elderly pensioner and a four-year old child to the ground, hurting them both badly. As this occurred, the protesters roared and attacked police lines harder, causing them to have to block a major motorway for 24 hours as well as well as other annoyances; shortly thereafter, the police attacked the protesters camp hard with heavy riot gear. Amongst many other protesters and Catalan leaders, Arthur Mas is arrested and thrown in jail.

Uprising in Catalonia[]

As news broke of the injuries and arrests on October 9th in Catalonia, a general uprising began with public buildings being occupied. After an order from high police command was given to sort them out, a large proportion of the police in Barcelona defected, and, with their equipment, joined in the rioting. As Catalonia took this violent twist, the Spanish army was mobilized and sent out to crush the rebellion.On the 12th October the Spanish army encountered a military force attempting to hold a barricade at the Segre river and, in fighting between the two sides, two Spanish soldiers were injured while four civilians were killed and sixteen injured. The first Spanish soldier to die was killed by a Molotov cocktail when a convoy tires to retake Lledia and, although they moved through, they were unable to pacify it.The Spanish military continued to attempt to pacify towns throughout Catalonia as they advanced, but rebels managed to hide and just carry on after army groups had moved on on; there was no further heavy fighting until they reach Barcelona on the 2nd November, where they encountered hard resistance.

The Battle of Barcelona[]

The night before, two Moroccan navy vessels, the Hassan II and Sultan Moulay Ismail, had escorted a cargo freighter containing 250 assault rifles and five unguided anti-tank rockets along with ammunition. While all these weapons were out of date they still worked and when the Spanish army entered Madrid a Spanish armoured personnel carrier moving down a street was hit at point blank range by an anti-tank round which went through the armour. The crew surrendered and the vehicle was taken and later used in an attack where it pretended to be Spanish and then attacked and disabled another tank. Scenarios like this played out over the city with units actually armed; when a unit tried to retake the main government building they found themselves under attack by 30 armed men and were driven back. They later had to send a much larger force to recover the building. The battle for Barcelona lasted five days and shocked the world.

Sanctions[]

As the Spanish government ordered a total lock down in Catalonia with soldiers out on the streets and almost all civil rights suspended, Morocco tabled a UN resolution to impose economic sanctions on Spain on the 19th November. With scenes of soldiers on the streets, the resolution was rejected in favour of a lesser one banning Spain from importing anything expect basic supplies and also banned them from exporting until they offered a solution. The resolution was passed on the 22nd November.

Hearing these sanctions, riots sparked in Basque and Canary Islands. While the riots in Basque were put down more easily, rebel forces managed to secure many of the Canary Islands, and a Moroccan navy force blocked Spanish Naval Vessels from entering them. With the Canary Islands de facto independent and troops now having to be sent into Basque as well as Catalonia and crippling sanctions the Spanish government was forced to negotiate with Catalonia or at least make a pretense. Yet the Catalonia separatists were well aware that they had to keep the international support behind them and so with Spain's offer of near total autonomy on all except defense and foreign affairs they refused to talk unless Arthur Mas was released, to which the Spanish government refused.

Through heavy delaying tactics and as Spanish soldiers were still seen to be occupying Basque and Catalonia making them unpopular and on 17th January as public opinion in Europe was so against Spain Chancellor Merkel was forced to intercede and tell Spain either they resolved the issue or Spain would be removed from the EU and all of its bailout packages would be asked for return. This threat forced the Spanish government to finally bend knee and accept Catalan independence on the 16th February.

Administrative Regions[]

Thumb catalonia map02

The Catalonia is divided info four states that have esecutive and legislative competence on their states.

Lleida : Lleida

Barcelona : Barcelona

Girona : Girona

Tarragona : Tarragona



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