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A. Malta became a colony of the British Empire in the 1814 Treaty Paris after the defeat and first exile of Napoleon. Before the British, Malta’s islands were ruled by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St. John and the French.
C. Fascist Italy and its Nazi Germany ally tried to bomb or starve the islands into submission during the Siege of Malta from June 1940 to November 1942. But, the Maltese held out with support from British air and sea forces.
B. For its first 10 years of independence, Malta was a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Malta became a republic in 1974 with a largely ceremonial president selected by the unicameral parliament serving as head of state. The parliament also selects a prime minister who heads Malta’s government.
B. Malta joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone monetary union in 2008. But, it has been a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and United Nations since it became independent in 1964. It is not a member of the NATO military alliance, and Malta declared a policy of neutrality in 1980.