Alternative History
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Spain, like most European nations, was struck in the nuclear exchanges of Doomsday and ceased to exist afterward as a united entity. While the recently created Republic of Spain after the unification of Pais del Oro and the Spanish National Republic is now recognized as the successor to the Kingdom of Spain, there remain other pockets of organized government in the Spanish Mainland. What little is known of this region is due to indirect information garnered from Grand-Andorre.

History[]

Doomsday[]

Due to Spain's ties with the United Kingdom, France and United States, along with its NATO membership, Spain was one of the countries hit by nuclear weapons on Doomsday. Targets included:

  • Madrid-Torrejón
  • Zaragoza
  • Barcelona
  • Valencia
  • Morón 
  • Bilbao
  • Rota
  • Gibraltar (British possession)

Among the deaths included the Commander-in-chief of Spanish Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Españolas), the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I and royal family, the President of the Government, Felipe Gonzalez and most of his ministers, the Congress and Senate, and all high-ranking officials.

The last reliable census was that of 1981, as subsequent years were projections and partial data that were lost on that fateful day. It is estimated that the Spanish population exceeded 38 million in 1983. It is not known the actual numbers before 26 September 1983, how many died on Doomsday, a week later from radiation, or at the end of the year, be it from cancer, burns or dysentery. The few that survived counted themselves lucky and didn't keep track of deaths, in part because of the sheer volume. The following data comes from estimates made around year end 1983, considering both the low, direct and indirect blasts of radiation and resulting disease.

Despite being alerted by the Escuadrón de Vigilancia Aérea radars, few people was able to flee the targeted sites as it was 1:40 am during the event.

Nuclear detonation affected the most populous provinces. Madrid before Doomsday was about five million people that can be safely treated as all massacred. Andalucia lost about 80% of its population, dropping from nearly six and a half million to nearly one million, two hundred thousand. Catalonia's case is similar to that with just slightly more than six million prior and to one million two hundred thousand post-Doomsday. The Valencia region with was estimated to have over three and a half million citizens, and subsequently declined to about 730,000. Basque Country with a population of nearly two million but was reduced to 300,000. Aragon, like Catalonia and Andalucia had a population near two million before doomsday had more than one million two hundred thousand inhabitants.

In regions that were not directly hit by the explosions mortality was somewhat less pronounced, the regions least affected being Galicia and Asturias which retained most of their respective populations. Galicia, it is estimated, dropped down from two million seven hundred thousand to a million eight hundred, Asturia from one million one hundred thousand to just over seven hundred thousand.

Mapacarreteras80

Map of motorways on Spain during 1980. Albeith some of them were expanded between 1980-1983, the ones at the Ebro, and the Levantine coast had been used for trade by the Iberian Confederation, Aragon, and some merchants, along the 1983 few refugees from the nuked places and the military

The data are mixed for this period due to high mortality and movement of refugees from the earliest days since the catastrophe. Some Spanish fled the mainland to the Balearic or Canary Islands and North Africa, but these were replaced by a large number of refugees especially from Portugal and southwestern France, and indirectly from other parts of Europe, who arrived in the weeks and months following.

By the time the various surviving civilian and military governments (but not all) were able to communicate but the situation was unsustainable. La Junta Suprema de Coordinación, a Supreme Board for Coordination known by its initials JSC (Jesus Christ!) improvised on the fly could not do otherwise than admit defeat and proceed with the evacuation of military and civilian-militarized personnel, as well as politics, techniques and personalities.

Las Juntas[]

Not all emergency government formed in the days subsequent to September 26 contacted or worked with the JSC. In Galicia, the autonomous government was faced with military commanders from El Ferrol naval base. The Basque autonomous government at Vitoria-Gasteiz directly became independent as Euskadi and forced to join the nearby Board of Pamplona to help with refugees. In the Pyrenees the isolated Spanish army garrisons joined local authorities and failed to connect with the JSC.

When Spanish troops evacuated the Peninsula left behind millions of survivors who had no other choice but to improvise new governance structures to defend against the looting and helplessness. These governments gave themselves the name of "Juntas" (with some exceptions). Heading to Spain had already taken the local boards in an emergency (as in the Napoleonic invasion), and for a time kept the hope of a future reconstruction of the nation and considered themselves as interim governments. The exception was the autonomous governments located in historic nationalities. Euskadi declared independence a few days after the Doomsday, Galicia taking some years to declare its independence due to internal disorder.

Estelada roja

Flag of the Generalitat de Catalunya (1985-1996)

Over time the expectation of reunification began disappearing and the policies of the Juntas tended toward localism and pragmatism. While Spain was becoming a memory, the peninsular governments sought ways to legitimize themselves in the eyes of their populace. Groups of Falangists and other traditionalists took power in many communities, exploiting the power vacuum left behind by the withdrawal of the Army, but dispersed, failed to rebuild the Spanish State according to a model Falangist, only managed to become strong in the southeast where installed an authoritarian mini-State (Republica Nacional Española). Where a government was formed to occupy the space of a historical nationality, it often appealed to historicity as justification for self-government. Notable among these was the case of Asturias, as well as the small communities that formed in Catalonia. One of the more remarkable was the Junta of Figueras, which proclaimed itself "Generalitat de Catalunya" and which collapsed in the mid-90s by a famine and a bandit raid. In most of the surviving communities the general populace began thinking of a "refundación" (reorganization) of the Spanish State as soon as they got themselves into more solid and organized governments.

The information available from the Peninsula between 1985 and 1995 is not very abundant or accurate. It is based in the annals of the states that have emerged from the ashes of Spain. In the mid 90's Portugal, Pais del Oro and the Sicilians try to gain control of the Peninsula and it returns to history. During that time local emergency meetings had been consolidated as local governments and were beginning a process of unification in larger and stronger state formations. In the process of formation of these states is placed the so-called Gerrilla's War, which comprises a set of multiple wars in various settings and among various contenders.

One of the features common to all juntas is that all without exception adopted the Republic as form of government. Because the extinction of the House of Bourbon in the attacks of September 26 deprived of qualified candidates who are acceptable to monarchists, only PdO remained only a few years to maintain a fiction monarchical throne vacant, but in the end he yielded to the evidence and its transitional constitution also opted for the Republic. Another common feature was the collectivization of land and industry but only adopted this economic system by circumstances, some governments adopted communism, this is the case of the Junta of Figueras and some communities north of the Peninsula, but otherwise was not only rejected but pursued. In fact because of the certainty that the missiles detonated in Spain came from the Soviet Union underwent a systematic revenge against anyone suspected of being communist.

The Church became popular for a welfare and was gaining power in the juntas. The best example is the Prince-Bishop of Andorra. But it is not the only, because in the Galician city of Tuy, neighboring the former Portuguese border and the city of Valença do Minho, the bishop José Cerviño Cerviño took refuge in the medieval cathedral-fortress of Santa Maria, after closing the Puente Internacional de Tuy and controlled the main part of the olc city after being sieged by Portuguese and Galician forces in 1990. In Euskadi special militia formed to defend the monastery of Leyre in the northeast of Navarre, that became for Basques in a sort of national shrine (because it hosts the tombs of ten monarch of the Kingdom of Navarre).

The bishops almost always formed an integral part of the councils of the Emergency Comitees and their influence has been noticed in the laws of some states and society of the peninsula, as before 1978.

Sucesor states 2011

Spanish successor States in late 2011. In white the dead lands strongly irradiated, in light grey areas with low population, in grey areas with enough population, in dark grey stable communities, in colour the successor states and their areas of influence.

Renewed Contact[]

The northwest was the most protected from nuclear strikes and the resulting electromagnetic pulses. In this region government has remained largely in function since Doomsday. Other lesser protected areas, far from the regions attacked, including Extremadura, south-east around the provinces of Murcia, Almeria, Alicante and the Pyrenees other states and city-states have developed, although none of these is as strong as those of the Northwest. The following have been tentatively identified by League of Nations/WCRB envoy to the Spanish Mainland:

Republic of Spain is a nation only recently created after Pais del Oro and the Spanish Republic unified, creating a true legitimate successor to the Kingdom of Spain. It is the most powerful of the successor states both economically, politically, and militarily. It excercises claims over the rest of Spain, but only controls southeast Spain, Spanish Sahara, the Balearic Islands, and the Canaries.

Republica de Galicia (Galician Republic). On good terms with Celtic Alliance and Portugal. Galicia was the only autonomous government in 1983 remained intact. Military bases that the Spanish army had in Ferrol, Marin and La Coruna failed to impose authority and were finally evacuated in 85. After nearly a decade of internal conflicts got reunited and expanded, intervening in Asturias and Leon (claiming possession Bierzo Valley, rich in coal mines).

Republica de Asturias (Asturian Republic) Little is known of Asturias, but it is possibly a client state of Galicia. Further investigation will likely shed more light.

Republica Unida de Castilla y Leon (Castilla and Leon United Republic). Skirmishing conflict seems to be the norm between Asturias, Galicia and Castilla and Leon. From information gathered, this is the most recently constituted entity of former Spain. Born as result of the union of local councils of Leon, Reinosa and other small powers of the Picos de Europa mountain range.

Confederación Iberica or Unión Ibérica (Iberian Confederacy or Iberian Union). Created through the consolidation of the local Juntas (councils) of Jaca, Tudela, Calahorra against Basque invasion. ETA which had become the military arm of the Basque government was defeated soundly in 1985 by the Iberian Confederacy. Gradually acquired power and extended by incorporating other local councils such as Calatayud, Siguenza, Medina, Molina de Aragon and Soria. Within the last five years it absorbed the Junta of Benasque in the central part of the Pyrenees, which had been a bellicose rival of Grande-Andorra. It claims the Ebro valley which remains a contaminated area as a result of a bomb blast at Zaragoza.

Pays-Libres des Basques or Euskadi, as it is more commonly known controls the south and east of the Basque Country, and the northern reaches of Navarra.

Other minor states that exist or have existed in the Peninsula are: The free trade zone of Castellón , in theory a Spanish dependency but in fact a City-State placed on the Valencian Gulf, the nation of Estremadura in the former Extremadura, the Consell of Olot in former Catalonia, near the Andorran frontier, the Junta of Cazorla, the Junta of Granada (that has been annexed to the Republic of Spain), the League of Rias Baixas, a former confederation of city states of southwestern Galicia, dedicated to piracy and banditry (recently conquered by Galicia and Portugal), the episcopal city-state of Tuy (also absorbed by Galicia) and the earldom of Bragança (although strictly speaking is located in the former Portuguese territory). They are generally of small size and population and their importance is generally low; they subsist mainly by the power vacuum.

But much of the inland population was forced by the situation to return to nomadism, they live mostly grazing and recovering equipment and articles of ruined cities, also frequently looting. Small stable governments of the Peninsula must fight these nomads often organized into bands or clans. The best known are the Mesteños, sheep herders in the northern plateau, are also known Gypsy clans of Heredia and Montoya and the residual gangs of falangistas (franquists-phalangists) driven out from their last stronghold in the Ebro and southeast.

Between 2003 and 2007 the War of the Alboran Sea between the Spanish Republic and PdOr eventually involve several other agents as Sicily and several warlords of northern Africa from the side of the phalangists of the Republic and Celtic Alliance, Portugal, Rif, Argentina and Chile from the side of PdOr. The war put the Spanish Question on the table of international political game.

Pais del Oro´s Claims[]

In 1988 an expedition took Almeria, but left a few weeks because of attacks by local guerrillas.

In 1990 Chipiona, in the mouth of the Guadalquivir River, was occupied, but had to be abandoned because of the radioactivity was still strong.

In 1992 a new attempt to conquer Almeria met with opposition from the emerging Spanish Republic in the southeast.

In the years following the aggressiveness of the Sicilian State (and allies) held PdO forces engaged in defending their own territory in the Balearic Islands and Melilla.

In 2004 the government of Pais del Oro officially recognized Galicia, Asturias and the Basque Country, after diplomatic pressure from Portugal, the SAC and the Celtic Alliance, thereby waiving the claim throughout mainland Spain.

After the occupation of Cartagena by the forces of the Atlantic Defense Community, and under the auspices of the League of Nations, a process of negotiation was opened between PdO and the Spanish Republic, in the future that could culminate in the unification of both states. A referendum was called after long negotiations in 21 June of 2010, a month later than the convening in Cleveland. As a result, the Republic of Spain was created.

Whatever the outcome of this future referendum and to strengthen their claims in the Iberian Peninsula, the authorities of Republic of Spain have announced the forthcoming dispatch of forces to the south of the Peninsula, specifically to the former settlements of Cadiz, Huelva and Tarifa, now that radioactive levels are more tolerable.

After recognition of the various successor states by the new Spain, the disputes still continues regarding the definition of areas for future expansion of RoS and the other peninsular states. Some disputes have been resolved diplomatically as the border demarcation between Galicia, Asturias and Castilla y Leon. Other disputes instead remain hot and intractable as the chronic war between Euskadi and the Iberian Confederation. In 2009 a conference convened by the LoN in Funchal (Madeira) agreed on a division of areas of influence, but the conference ended without agreement to disagree RoS, the Iberian Confederation and Castilla y Leon on sharing their respective areas. A new conference, sponsored by the late Prince-Bishop of Andorra has been agreed for September 2010 in Perpignan. This was postponed, however, until January of 2011.

Climate and Ecology[]

Because nuclear blasts vast areas of the Iberian Peninsula have been empty and have been recovered by the wilderness, that is, for animal and plant species have been able to adapt to dying environmental of post-Doomsday era. The marshes now dominate the landscape at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river and the lagoon of Valencia. The swamps also occupy a large part of La Mancha. In general the temperature has risen a few degrees, increasing desertification in the south, precipitation have become more erratic and violent. The forest has retreated, giving way to scrub. In terms of species, the conifers are replacing deciduous. The richness of the original fauna has been lost. Although gulls, crows, mice, lizards and feral dogs and cats (descendants of those domesticated) continue to flourish.

Demography[]

Today its estimated population is close to that of Roman or medieval ages. The most reliable surveys conducted by the League of Nations authorities in the southeast area, territory of the current Spanish National Republic provide a population of 798,600. In the northwest are less reliable census figures are higher but the 900,000 inhabitants in Galicia, Asturias with  550,000 and 650,000 for the United Republic of Castilla y Leon. For the Pyrenees and the Ebro Valley is not complete censuses, but estimates a population close to or even exceed a million. A total of nearly 4 million of people. In interior Spain, little known area moves a diffuse population in some areas more settlements, but more often nomadic. Their number is at issue but figures are shuffled between the million and two million fluctuating between the borders of the Spanish successor states and dead zones.

See also[]

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