The people of the Republic of East Vertania, said people acting in a lawful manner, with a sound mind and body, have declared the motion of independence from the nation of Kalland, on the basis of said nation having performed an unlawful and illegal annexation of the former Republic of East Vertania, and has made oppressed the people of the aforementioned state. We therefore feel constrained to take action against the nation of Kalland in order to restore the independence of the Republic of East Vertania, and bring about the restoration of the freedom of the people therein.
—The Declaration of the Independence of the Republic of East Vertania
The Republic of East Vertania, also known as "Matthews' Republic", to avoid confusion with the earlier nation of the same name, also as the "Second" Republic of East Vertania prior to the establishment of the actual Second Republic of East Vertania, and sometimes nicknamed the "Twelve Day Republic", was a short-lived, unrecognised nation state created by East Vertanian Commander Kieran Matthews, commander of the North-West Kalland Militia, formerly the Republic of East Vertania Militia, and brother of Oliver Matthews, former president of the original Republic of East Vertania, another short-lived nation which had been annexed by Kalland in 107 BBY.
The nation was created in 101 BBY as a result of the Matthews Uprising, when Matthews was able to successfully persuade the people of Veruza, the capital city of East Vertania, to rebel against the Kallandian occupiers. The rebel forces were able to capture key points in the city, including the Police Headquarters and the local Army HQ for the area. When the rebels finally captured the Senate Building they raised their banner, the "Striped Banner", a variant of the banner of the old Republic of East Vertania, above the building and declared the birth of the new "Republic of East Vertania".
In the following days the Republican forces were able to successfully expand their control to the whole of the Veruza County, and looked set to expand their territory beyond the county, however the rest of the Kallandian Army arrived, and in the subsequent days the rebels lost more and more territory until the Kallandians finally broke into Veruza and recaptured it on the 12th day, bringing an end to the uprising and the dissolution of Kieran Matthew's republic.
Kieran Matthews was removed from his post as commander of the North-West Kalland Militia and tried for treason against the nation of Kalland, to which Matthews protested that he had not pledged his loyalty to Kalland, and was only loyal to the Republic of East Vertania. Kalland did not listen to his pleas of innocence, however, and continued to view him as a traitor due to his service to one of Kalland's militias.
How can I be a traitor to a nation which oppresses my people? My loyalty lies with the Republic of East Vertania, I fought to defend that nation when Kalland illegally annexed it, against out will! If anything I would truly be a traitor to stand by and watch my motherland be oppressed! I fought for freedom! For East Vertania! Long live the Republic of East Vertania! One day we will be free once again!
—Kieran Matthews protesting his sentence of treason
Kieran Matthews was publicly executed for treason in the courtyard of Veruza Prison, however not before he used his last words to promise that one day the people would rise again and remove Kalland from the land that was rightfully theirs.
And sure enough, the people did rise, the first time was unsuccessful, during the Veruzan Rebellion of 90 BBY, in which Veruza County rebelled and tried to restore the republic, Veruza County was a self-proclaimed independent state, the "Veruza Republic", for a short time until Kalland was able to the final remnants of the rebellion 5 days later.
For the next 70 years there was generally little rebellious activity, yet everything changed at the start of 21 BBY with the founding of the Confederate States of Earth, East Vertanians were supportive of the Confederacy. Two days after the outbreak of the Earth Civil War with the Valand Campaign a force of 1,300 descendants of former East Vertanian rebels, naming themselves the "Republican Army of the East" departed Vertania in an expedition to Veruza with the purpose of winning East Vertanian independence and joining the Confederacy, the expedition was defeated, however.
East Vertania finally gained independence several months after the failed Expedition following the Liberation of East Vertania, when rebels created the Second Republic of East Vertania and joined the Confederate States of Earth as the 60th Confederate state, being given Confederate support to finally remove Kalland from their land, the Second Republic flew the banner of Kieran Matthews' Republic of East Vertania as an independence flag.
Jane Zarkan, President of the Confederate States, was sympathetic to the East Vertanians, and gave her personal pledge of support for their cause, and that they would find security as a member of the Confederacy. For helping them win back their independence, and for providing security for them, the Confederacy had the complete faith and loyalty of the East Vertanian people, the Army of East Vertania went on to become of the Confederacy's strongest armies.
You may be about to execute me as a "traitor", but believe me when I say that this is not the end! One day our folks will rise again, and you will lose your grip on the free Republic of East Vertania!
—Kieran Matthews' last words, just before his execution for treason