The Galbadia Republic is the second most powerful Human nation on the planet, with only the reclusive Esthar being more powerful. The republic is a relatively young nation, having risen only recently as the older and more powerful nations of Dollet and Centra collapsed under the weight of time and monster invasions. The Galbadia Republic began its life as the powerful city-state of Deling on the Dollet continent, but it rose to prominence during the seventeen year conflict known as the Sorceress Wars. During the world spanning conflict, the military of Deling city led the charge against the forces of Esthar, which were controlled by the evil sorceress Adel and on a mission to take over the world. After only a few short years, the leaders of Deling city began expanding their authority over much of the countryside surrounding their capital city, almost always to "protect" the occupied areas from the forces of Esthar. Most of these areas welcomed the occupiers with open arms because the Deling military was very good at what it did. Only five years after the start of the Sorceress Wars, the Galbadia Republic was formally declared under the control of Deling's President For Life, Vinzer Deling, the current holder of the hereditary title.
Following its initial sucesses in the Sorceress Wars, the newly organized Galbadia military pushed the Esthar troops off of the Dollet continent and reduced them to only raiding the continent, but Galbadia made no headway in trying to attack the heavily fortified Esthar directly. Then to the surprise of everything, after just over seventeen years of war, Esthar stopped fighting and pulled all of its troops back into its pre-war borders and isolated itself from the rest of the world. Shortly thereafter, all normal forms of airwave communication stopped working, including radios, television broadcasts, and rudimentary satellite communications. This phenomenon was sudden and nearly catastrophic for a world that was trying to rebuild itself after years of war. In the confusion, the Galbadia military continued to expand the borders of the Galbadia Republic and quietly invaded city after city, country after country; soon nearly the entire continent was under their control and with the exception of a few small pockets, there was no resistance. The continent was renamed Galbadia continent in honor of the powerful republic, but the military was becoming more then a little exhausted and needed several years to regroup and prepare for the next round of its expansion.
During the period of no expansion, which lasted longer then the republic's leaders had originally intended, several important events occurred around that would change the ultimate destiny of the republic. First, the charismatic and brilliant General Carroway took control of the military and ensured that its soldiers were highly trained professionals, abandoning any trace of the ancient favoritism and military families that used to plague the republic's old military. General Carroway was not a firm believer in the expansionistic polices of the government, but he was very loyal to the republic and even though he secretly supported several resistance groups and his own daughter controlled one of the resistance groups in the occupied city of Timber, he continued to loyally discharge his duties as head of the Galbadia Military. The formation of the gardens, especially Galbadia Garden, was a tremendous help in Carroway's plans, as many of those trained at the gardens eventually found work in the constantly growing Galbadia Military. The single most important event in the Against the advice of General Carroway, President Deling entered into negotiations with the Sorceress Edea in hopes of using her powers during the next phase of the republic's expansion, and her presence pushed Carroway into secretly supporting an assassination attempt against her, which ultimately failed, but his involvement went undetected.
As Squall Leonhart was getting ready to graduate from Balamb Garden, the Galbadia Military was poised to strike the first target on its next phase of expansion, the city of Dollet. The goal of the expansion was to take control of the powerful communications tower located just outside Dollet so that the president of the Galbadia Republic could announce to the world that he had formed an alliance with the Sorceress Edea by claiming that she was his "emissary of peace," although few people who knew the power of the Sorceresses would ever believe such a lies.
With her own supporters in the republic, Sorceress Edea staged a coup against President Deling and killed him just before a parade in Deling City. To solidify her control over the republic, she used a combination of powerful magic and ruthless purges to eliminate or coerce anyone who opposed her. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, she did not have to convince many people to follow her, as she appeared to have many of the same goals of the late president. Using the captured Galbadia Garden as her forward base of operations, the Sorceress appeared to be conquering everything that opposed her, including Balamb continent, but looks were deceiving. The Sorceress was not interested in conquest, instead, she was looking for a single Human woman named Ellone, who had a special power that the Sorceress was looking for.
General Carroway was nominally left in charge of the Galbadia Military, but his actual authority was crippled by the presence of Seifer Almasy, the Sorceress's knight. Seifer, a trained mercenary from Balamb Garden, completely ignored the normal chain of command and his unnatural charm convinced many soldiers to follow him against the orders of their superiors. While General Carroway was left with the details of waging a war he did not want, Seifer led his personally chosen troops on first the mobile Galbadia Garden and then later on the Lunatic Pandora, an ancient mobile fortress. When Sorceress Edea disappeared following the battle between Galbadia Garden and Balamb Garden on the Centra continent, General Carroway still could not stop the soldiers that had followed Seifer. Even after the threat of Time Compression had passed, both the mobile Galbadia Garden facility and the Lunatic Pandora remained a danger to the world, filled as they were with trained soldiers loyal to Seifer. Following the War of the Gardens, General Carroway took control of the Galbadia Republic in hopes of returning the powerful nation back into the democratic republic it once was.