The Iberian Empire(light blue) spread throughout Europe through a mixture of opportunism, defections, and overall, militarism. In the Four Punic Wars(1111 - 1212), the North African coast was annexed. The First War erupted when the sole Carthaginian town in Iberia defected to the Iberian Kingdom, triggering one war after another as the proverbial dominoes fell.
In 1266, the Iberians declared war on England, which had occupied half of Galicia for centuries, with the hopes of uniting the Galicians with their Iberian brethren. The resulting war cascaded across Europe, with Iberia going to war with Italy and the Balkanzulu. The war effort was divided after the Anglo-Italian alliance was driven out of Iberia, with most of the force attacking Italy while smaller forces worked on pushing the English out of Brittany, which the French - key allies of Iberia - were trying to obtain.
Carlos II of Iberia(r. 1283-1337) came to power during the massive conflict, and would see victory over the Italian dogs. It took him 28 years, but in 1311, Rome itself was conquered; this happened just after the Arabstrians - who were relatives and allies of Iberia - declared war on the Persians in 1309. By 1326, Italy had been driven out of it's home peninsula, taking refuge on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia.
Carlos II was succeeded by his short-lived sons Felipe and Carlos III, but his grandson Marcos II would come to the throne in 1344, and would lead Iberia to victory. During Marcos' reign, the Italians were crushed(with good reason; with the capture of Rome and relative quiet the islands had experienced, the Italians had embraced Socialism and formed a People's Republic under Leninus).
Marcos, while being a great conqueror(having taken Persepolis, for instance, at the age of 21), was also the founder of a great welfare state, establishing universal healthcare in most cities. His welfare state's development was helped along by the fact he hired the former Socialist Italian official, Leonus Trotskius, to head the board of directors charged with crafting social capitalism throughout Iberia's domains.
After the fall of the Italians, peace was made with Persia(which had collapsed into the Peoples' Republic of Poland), the Socialist Republic of England(which was so desperate for peace it surrendered all territories in Ireland, being in a state of war with the Socialist Republic of Mongscotland to the North), and the Kingdom of Balkanzulu. Marcos would then assault the Mexigundian Republic, which was so backwards it didn't even have cannons in the age of industry.
Most of Mexigundy was occupied in a single year, with all of it being seized within six, after a battle through the mountains.
While Mexigundy was added, the Arabsburgs were overthrown in Arabstria, being replaced with - surprise, surprise - Socialists. Marcos agreed to reinstate the Arabsburg Monarchy, but only if Iberia was given special rights over the entire region. When the Arabsburgs agreed, war was declared.
The Union of European Socialist Republics (UESR, the name of the entity governing the former Arabstrian Empire) would eventually be crushed, being replaced with the reinstated Arabsburg Monarchy.
The UESR was not destroyed entirely by Iberia, merely most of it. In the 1380s, Marcos called off any further offensives and launched a surprise attack on the former close friend of Iberia, France. The French would be crushed over the course of the next century, with their entire homeland occupied and three successor states - all Socialist: The Peoples' Republic of Ireland; the Peoples' Republic of Iceland, and the Socialist Republic of New Paris(based on an island in the middle of the North Sea). Ireland - and all territories the Irish Socialists seized from Iberian allies - would later be absorbed into Iberia. New Paris fell, as well.
And this is where the map takes place: right after the fall of Ireland, and after the ascension of Cristobal I to power. Cristobal has succeeded his father, the brutal Julio Agosto II, who killed every rioter in France and massacred 4 million people total across the entire empire, primarily French civilians. Cristobal hopes to bring peace to Iberia and make amends for the past... starting by calling off his father's plans to starve the entire population of Paris.
