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Etruria and Gaullica
Etruria	Gaullica

The Gaullo-Etrurian Union was a concept of a union between the two independent sovereign states of Etruria and Gaullica. The union was proposed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, in wake of the Great War and Solarian War. It was first proposed by the Society of Saint Diocletian, a Gaullo-Etrurian priestly fraternity, which enjoyed close ties to both governments between the 1940s and 1960. The SSD promoted the union as a means of fostering peace in southeastern Euclea, would aid in reconstruction, while referencing both states falling victim to far-right politics prior to the Great and Solarian wars. The proposal gained some traction among liberal politicians in both countries, while also being lauded by conservative elements. However, successive weak governments in Etruria and a resurgent far-right in the early 1950s brought a premature end to the proposal, it would officially fade from public discourse in wake of the 1960 Etrurian coup d'état.

The popularity of the proposal among liberals and conservatives in both countries would serve as a precursor to the Etrurian pursuit of Euclean Community membership from 1984 until 2015. Other influential elements in both governments cite the proposal as a basis for the relatively close relationship between both countries, while some Etrurian nationalists have cited the union as inspiration for their own Solarian-bloc proposal.

Origin

According to the authors of the proposal, the devastation wrought by the Great War and the Solarian War was the primary catalyst for their work. Fr. Armando Renati wrote, “both Gaullica and Etruria befell to the vile sweet nothings of demagogues and tyrants, who rewarded this seduction with war, death and suffering. What greater tool for peace is there, than a unification of this redeemed and absolved nations?” Fr. Michel Bertillon another author of the proposal wrote, “these nations are scarred by their mistakes and their actions, forever to live in the shadow of great sins, and yet, by coming together in the spirit of peace, harmony and human progress, do we not both consign to history warmongers and embrace the future of advocates for peace?”

The initial proposal was wider in scope, with the inclusion of Auratia, Amathia, Emessa and Montecara within the union, despite Amathia being under a equalist regime. The Society of Saint Diocletian was renowned for its Pan-Solarian ideals, this element of the proposal would continue among some Etrurian nationalist circles, who saw their Fratenitá Solariana as a better counter-balance to Samorspi and Narozalica. The proposal for a Pan-Solarian Union was published in August 1948, to little fanfare. It was not until early 1949, that the proposal was picked up by academics in all nations, with the notable except of Amathia where the equalist regime censored the proposal.

The SSD proposal, called for a confederation, headed by a collective presidency consisting of two directly elected individuals from each country, a common foreign and defence policy, and a shared currency. The proposal posited that such a union would aid reconstruction, promote cultural inclusion and convergence, and through success deter or side-line any resurgent far-right influence. The union would be anchored through similar languages, cultures, cuisine, and a shared Catholic faith.

Response and demise

The response to the proposal differed between the respective countries, though it was dismissed by Emessan elite, who embraced their newly won independence, it drew little attention beyond Montecaran academics. This is stark contrast to the reception found in Etruria and Gaullica, where many academics and liberal politicians welcomed it. Etrurian President Giuseppe Zappella reportedly engaged in many meetings with the authors from the Society of Saint Diocletian, and drew on the advice of academics and government ministers, however, the Etrurian government’s instability denied any further exploration of the proposal.

Gaullican President, Albert Montecardé was less enthusiastic over the proposal, having led Gaullica during the Solarian War, he dismissed a union with Etruria as, “fanciful and rather insulting to the Gaullicans who laid their lives defending freedom from Etrurian expansionism.” Montecardé’s successor, Sotirien Roche reportedly saw the proposal as a “gift.” Roche himself fully embraced the SSD’s line of justification on both countries having suffered the inequities of far-right dictatorship. Roche in his memoirs wrote, “I saw the proposal from the reverend Society of Saint Diocletian as a gift. Two nations who unleashed war upon innocents at the behest of vile manipulators, coming together in the pursuit of a shared liberty, freedom and democracy, that would be greater than any other, would be the best defence against the return of such evil ideologies.” President Roche also advocated for a close relationship with Etruria post-Solarian War, eager to embrace it into the emerging Euclean order.

Zappella’s successor, Mauro Vittore Camillo was more ambivalent toward the proposal, instead focusing his government on confronting the chronic shortfalls in Etrurian reconstruction and the recurrent issues with its economy. Subsequently, it became clear to many in Gaullica that unless Etruria had a stable and long-term government, the proposal would remain unfeasible. In a visit to Povelia in early 1950, President Roche raised the proposal with Camillo, according to government records, the two agreed that the proposal had merit and may well be achieved as a long-term evolution of the tightening relationship between the two states. Though Camillo stressed that Etruria was not ready politically, economically, or socially to “take such a giant step.”

By late 1950, a growing number of influential figures in Etruria began to champion the proposal. Sotiriano D’Jesolo, a leading resistance figure during the Greater Solarian Republic period, heralded it as “Etruria’s second baptism, a means to finally bury our past and reject the nationalisms and evils of old, by embracing a future of solely liberty, dignity, justice and freedom.” Archbishop Leonardo della Ventio, the country’s leading Catholic figure described it as a chance to “build the world’s truest Sotirian democracy, one that is conscious of the past, conscious enough to fight for a freer future together.” Commentators at the time in both countries reportedly found a receptive attitude within the senior hierarchy of the Catholic Church. In 1952, Pope Pius XI gave it his backing saying, “Any proposal that brings peace, harmony and cooperation to the Solarian nations is only good.”

Despite the progress made between Roche and Camillo, the victory of the left-wing Democratic Worker’s Party in the 1953 Etrurian federal election brought to power President Ferdinando Grillo. Grillo considered the proposal a waste of time, again focusing his government’s energies on confronting Etruria’s crises, including the escalating separatist movements in the western states of the country. In Gaullica, President Sotirien Roche maintain enthusiasm, leading various committees on the implementation of such a union, telling journalists in 1954, “we will wait for our Etrurian friends, whenever they are ready, we will be here.” Relations though remaining close cooled, owing to the DWP’s inherent criticism of Sotirian Democracy, though it was the near constant instability found within the DWP government that was to blame.

Archbishop Della Ventio told a Gaullican counterpart in 1956, “our union is dead, not that it was killed, but that here in Etruria we have no government and haven’t since the Community of Nations thought Etruria ready to govern itself. I fear our dream of a Solarian and Sotirian democracy may be gone forever.”

In 1957, an attempt to game-plan a union between Gaullica’s Catholic Labour Union and Etruria’s Libertas parties were shutdown by the Etrurian government, with the DWP accusing Libertas of running a “shadow foreign policy.” During the same year, popular support for the union in Etruria began to surge. According to a study conducted in 1958, almost 68% of Etrurians supported the union with Gaullica, studies since have precluded that this surge may have been a popular response to successive unstable Etrurian governments. In a 1989 study, it was said, “1957 if a referendum was held, the union would have come into existence, from the Etrurian side at least. For millions of Etrurians, the union option was a chance to rid themselves of leaders they deemed incompetent, corrupt and self-serving.” A running joke in Etruria at time was, “we will join with Gaullica, if only to have a Gaullican president.”

In 1958, Massimo Bartolucci became President in Etruria and was acutely receptive to public opinion. In the first few months of his government, he considered tabling a bill to the Etrurian senate calling for a referendum on the union proposal, something advocated by church leaders, business leaders and citizens’ groups. However, Bartolucci’s government was engulfed with the Western Emergency and was under threat from the Etrurian military. Ultimately, in 1960, the Etrurian military overthrew the Bartolucci government in a bloodless coup d’état. The demise of the Etrurian Third Republic effectively destroyed the proposal, as the new junta rejected any submission of Etrurian sovereignty to an outside entity. Gaullican president Hubert Chaufourier also rejected the proposal, citing Etruria’s insurgency and the junta, saying in 1961, “what was once a gleaming portal into a new world is now blown shut by the shockwaves of Etruria’s military takeover. Not only have we lost the generational opportunity to build a democracy greater than any other, we have lost one that perhaps needed the very same union more than it did anything else.”