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Section V. Modern Era (1800 AD to 1945 AD) »
Relations between Genevra and the French have always been tenuous, and the Grand Duchy throughout much of its history has strained to maintain careful diplomatic relations with France as a matter of survival. When Napoleon came to power after the bloody and destructive French Revolution, the reigning Genevran Grand Duke Archibald II immediately threw his lot in with Napoleon as his forces set out across the whole of Europe. Years of victory on the field of battle would be reversed after the disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, with the armies of Napoleon greatly diminished and besieged by numerous opponents, the Genevran forces had little support in the face of powerful enemy military attempting to force their way through Genevra as a means to strike the heart of France. Seeing the futility of continuing the fight, Archibald II surrendered, allowing coalition forces to move on Paris. Napoleon was exiled, however his return and reclamation of the thrown sparked yet another round of combat, ending with the Battle of Waterloo. For participating with the French during the war, Genevra was harshly punished and as such the modern boundaries of Genevra were born; all territory south to the Mediterranean was removed and oversea colonies in Africa were returned the Portuguese.
Genevra would remain minor player in the affairs of Europe, suffering economically and financially. It would take the earth-shattering events of World War I to revitalize the nation. When the war began in 1914, Genevra adopted the pose of Switzerland and chose neutrality. Grand Duke Betram Marolf II, realizing the dire straits of his nations economy and the squalor of his people, avoided declaring war for fear of backlash. Instead, he seized on the war as an opportunity to rebuild the shattered economy. Constructing factories for producing weapons, munitions and machines of war, he put the Genevran people to
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work and exported the fruits of their labor to both sides in the conflict. Known to history as the industrious Duke, Marolf II made Genevra successful and wealthy off the destruction and killing of World War I. However, the Grand Duke was also an ingenious planner, and the profits that were made on the war were used to build up other industries throughout the country and ensure a successful transition from a war-time economy to that of peace. When the Treaty of Versailles ended the war in 1918, the whole of Europe found itself disastrous and destitute while Genevra remained unscathed and prosperous.
In the post-war period, while the great monarchies of Europe were losing their grip on power, support of the royalty in Genevra was increasing. The prosperity brought to the nation amid the turmoil of conflict had strengthened the Grand Duke's position, however it would ultimately make the Grand Duchy a target. As the heralds of war once again sounded across Europe, World War II would wrought the destruction so carefully dodged 20 years earlier. After the quick and brutal defeat of the French in 1940, Grand Duke Marolf III capitulated to the Nazis and joined the Axis. Extorted for materials and production by the Third Reich, Genevran soldiers would also act as an occupying force in Vichy France, fighting against the Allied forces after the D-Day landing in 1944. Once again Genevra would surrender as the tide of war turned against the Axis, and soldiers championed by the American military freed France and eventually pushed in Germany. This, however, did not spare Genevra from Allied bombing, and in such a small country there was little left after the raids. Stray bombs destined for factories instead rained upon historic and religious sites. In 1945, as the war came to a close, Marolf III was assassinated in one of the great mysteries of the century, supposedly by Nazi agents, leaving his eighteen year old son and heir to pick up the shattered remnants of Genevra.
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