The Sword of Damocles - (Backstories and Info Thread)

[Lumine]

The Sword of Damocles:
(Backstories and Info Thread)

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Cast:

GM: Lumine

Chancellor Wilhelm Marx / German Empire (Cranberry)
CiC General Douglas MacArthur / USA (Mauldania)
President Francois de la Rocque / France (Windjammer)
Prime Minister Winston Churchill / United Kingdom (Weyfield)
Minister of War Enver Pasha / Ottoman Empire (Kalwejt)
Prince Felix Yusupov / Crimean State (Garlan Gunter)
Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky / Provisional Government of Russia (Blair)
General Secretary Julian Besteiro / People’s Republic of Spain (Spamage)
Prince Saionji Kinmochi / Japanese Empire (Dereich)
Tsar Nicholas I of Romania / Kingdom of Romania (Kingpoleon)
Prime Minister Chiang Kai Shek / China (NeverAgain)
Emperor Victor Emmanuel III / Kingdom of Italy (SouthernGothic)

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World Map:

The World on January 1st, 1927

[Lumine]

United States of America, I:

From McKinley to Hearst:

President Hearst (1913-1925), the man who transformed America

The McKinley, Hay and LaFollette Years (1897-1913)

To the common American, the mere thought of a Coup d'Etat taking place in the United States would have drawn laughter in 1901. The greatest democracy in the world suffering such a fate? No, surely it can't happen here. And the sad thing is, it happened. Elected in 1896 and reelected four years after, President William McKinley (1897-1905) deeply changed the way America related itself with the rest of the world, and started down a dark path into a more authoritarian and even imperial side to the American Presidency. Step by step, either because of the strikes, obstructionism from the Democrats, the large opportunities set ahead by the events in Europe, and the deeply scarring assassination of Vice-President Roosevelt at the hands of an anarchist, McKinley's views changed. Soon enough, the United States was engaged in large scale military build-ups, interventions in America and the wars in Europe, alliances and ties with Germany and the Ottoman Empire... and ruthless supression of domestic resistance.

Using patriotism and nationalism as the carrot, and the work of the police and law enforcement as the stick, McKinley grew almost tyrannical in his drive to avenge Roosevelt and expand America's place in the world, forcing prominent democrats like Governor Alexander Monroe Dockery and rival William Jennings Bryan to attempt to bring the President down. Bryan's arrest and mysterious death in jail led to an impeachment crisis that almost brought McKinley down... but he survived. Success abroad was making interventionism very, very popular, and while Monroe Dockey put up a spirited challenge in 04' Secretary John Hay won another term for the GOP, serving as a respected statesman that attempted to restore the balance in America... until he suffered an early death.  His successor, Robert LaFollette, had to face constant squabbles with Congress and proved too naive for the Presidency, which meant gridlock for much of the late 1900's. Having won a term of his own in 1908, it may have seemed LaFollette had a mandate, but any pretensions of that were utterly crushed when the Hearst Media Empire ran the shocking story of President McKinley having authorized the murder of Bryan while in prison (true fact, Clarence did order this).

The Hearst Years (1913-1925)

Turning himself into a populist crusader against what he described as the "loathsome GOP corruption", New York Governor William Randolph Hearst won the Democratic nomination in 1912 (having broke the back of Tammany Hall after fierce struggles in the past), and cruised to an unprecedented landslide to the White House as the Republican Party collapsed and splintered, its credibility finished thanks to the Bryan story with McKinley going into exile. Whereas normal circumstances would have dictated that a populist like Hearst would have slammed into the bureaucracy of Washington, the collapse of the GOP meant Hearst had no organized opposition, and was free to use his media empire to manipulate and bully the press into favorable coverage for his initiatives.

To most of the public, Hearst was leading America into "Golden Isolation", progressively withdrawing from the world, sponsoring large scale public works, better regulations for workers, encouraging an almost militant brand of nationalism and often engaging in covert operations in Canada to spite the British, his newspaper and allies often engaging in campaigns that were both anti-revolutionary/anti-anarchist and anti-elite. All too often, opponents to Hearst would find themselves smeared by the press in endless streams of sex, crime and corruption scandals. Many trials for libel would be lost by the press allies of the White House, only to be repayed in full by shady ways. And whereas the Conservative Party, the Prohibition Party, the Progressive Party and the Populist Party all opposed Hearst in their own way, Hearst seduction of the Socialist Movement kept his rivals fighting each other.

But beyond the facade of Democratic dominance (and utter supermajorities in Congress), a more concerning issue was developing... desperate to keep a winning coalition to his side, Hearst played all sides of the Democratic Party by giving different factions what they wanted, while turning a blind eye (mostly) to corruption, riding the wave of the resurgent Klu Klux Klan to an unholy alliance to ensure supremacy over key states in the country. It was no surprise that Hearst won reelection in 1916 as the man who restored integrity and decency to the White House, but only did so with 47% of the vote as rival parties scattered everywhere. Indeed, he was truly triumphant until the world wide crash of 1918-1919 destroyed the American economy and forced Hearst's house of cards to crash down. Putting electoral politics above everything, Hearst began to cut down heavily on military expenses and enforce more and more populist policies, often blaming the crisis on the rich.

Divided once again, rival parties failed to field a common candidate against the Democrats, and William Randolph Hearst sailed to a third term in 1920 with 41% of the vote. His third term lists less accomplishments than the first two at it has been described by historians as managed decline, the economy remaining slugglish as poverty rose and crime rates truly shot up, the corruption of Washington and many states Governments continuing freely unabated.

[Lumine]

United States of America, II:

From Hearst to the Coup:

General MacArthur, the American Caesar?

1924: Wood v. McAdoo

By the time 1924 went around Hearst had been "persuaded" to step aside for a more fresh candidate, leading to a chaotic Democratic convention that elected the ticket of William Gibbs McAdoo and A. Mitchell Palmer after much infighting. Finally, the opposition thought, their chance was there. Believing they needed a white knight and seeing the deep dissatisfaction of the army with the administration, Conservatives, Progressives, Populists and other minor parties successfully forged a coalition and drafted General Leonard Wood to fight the election.

Wood, an honest and vigorous military man, fought a hard battle against McAdoo, and many believed that, at last victory was possible. But neither the Prohibitionists nor the Socialists would agree to the joint ticket, fielding candidates of their own that only continued the divisions inside the opposition. And to make matters worse, not only did the Klan mobilize in full to support its candidate, electoral "irregularities" took place in several states, many of them unreported by the Hearst press. When the votes were counted, McAdoo had defeated Wood in the electoral college resoundingly... with 37% of the vote.

The McAdoo Years (1925-1926)

The less written about the McAdoo Administration, the better. Without Hearst to intimidate, bully and bribe, the Democratic ranks soon fell into increasing disorder. And without the populist measures and money running out, the small economic rebound that had been gained was disappearing more and more rapidly. The economy was in ruins, the media out of control, the military alienated, crime was on the rise, and McAdoo's response was to entrust Mitchell Palmer, and, to a lesser degree, the KKK to fight back against the opposition and restore the level of influence the White House had enjoyed in the early Hearst years. All in vain.

It had become evident to most Americans, to most politicians, and above all, to the military, that the current predicament was unacceptable. And yet, there was no easy way to put an end to the current government. Congress was still heavily supportive of the President and would never allow impeachment procedures, and elections had become increasingly unreliable due to intimidation, excessive regulation and corruption. By late 1925, the plans for a military coup were very much a reality.

Time for a Coup (1926-1927)

Originally planned for early 1926, the plans had to be set back after the unexpected dead of General Wood, the man originally intended to be the next President. In the end, having grown desperate as Mitchell Palmer only grew closer and closer to uncovering the coup, the desperate cabal of generals and politicians implemented a full scale coup in June 1926. To their luck, the government crumbled with surprising ease, most of Congress and the Cabinet being placed into arrest as McAdoo, Hearst and other prominent politicians fled to Havana to denounce the coup as the previously puppet government of Cuba declared full independence. While harder to subdue, virtually the entire National Guard deserted the Governors loyal to the President, and the escape of most of the KKK leadership left the organization unable to fight back in an organized way (many of their more militant members turning into guerrilla units). While large parts of the USA remained uneasy or even hostile, the coup had succeeded.

Politicians and generals alike were not fond of setting a regime that looked too much like a dictatorship despite deciding against immediate elections, and so a National Security Council of prominent figures led America from June to December of that year. Having done its best not to disturb the public, it was soon clear that the Council was not sustainable as an executive, meaning they would have to appoint someone to be in charge even if said person did not hold the title of President. With the power bids of Representative Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Industrialist Herbert Hoover and General John G. Pershing not garnering enough consensus, the Council turned to a war hero of the coup: General Douglas MacArthur (46), who was appointed Commander in Chief of the Army (and thus, President of the Council) by an unanimous vote.

And by the time 1927 began, it was time for CiC MacArthur to give his inaugural address...

[Lumine]

People's Republic of Spain:

Spain, Bastion of... the Revolution?

General Secretary Besteiro, revolutionary icon

Alfonso XIII, last of the Bourbons (1901-1919)

Spain felt humiliated. It had lost the war with the United States and faced humiliation by losing Cuba, the Philippines and most of its fleet. It had lost its chance for greater influence in Morocco, replaced by the Germans, Italians and Ottomans. It had even missed the great chance of the Great War, joining the French and the British and seeing their alliance face defeat. Even if Spain itself had been spared from invasion, thousands of Spanish lives had been ruined, the nation put into further debt and trade ruined with a US led blockade. The politicians had gambled again and again, and they had lost heavily. With an unpractical constitution, constant changes of government and growing instability due to the rising popularity of the anarchists and the trade unions, all Spain had to turn to was its King, Alfonso XIII.

It was a tragedy, therefore, that Alfonso was not able to rise to the occasion. Sporting, juvenile and a man who enjoyed life, the King was nonetheless ill suited to the task of keeping his nation together, often alienating sectors of the Spanish society due to bad timed interventions. Indeed, many agree that what kept the Spanish Monarchy going was the entrance of Jose Canalejas as Prime Minister in 1911. Canalejas, pragmatic and firmly loyal to the King, did his best to resolve the social conflict in Spain while trying to muster support for Alfonso, and for a time, it worked. Even when anarchists were involved in shooting wars with the police and the army, even as secret societies formed with some of the younger officers and politicians, Canalejas became more and more the symbol of stability in the nation. He went, however, too hard in trying to punish the more extremist elements of the army.

Second Spanish Republic (1919-1923)

In late 1917, Canalejas was shot down by disgruntled officers while visiting Spanish Morocco. Alfonso failed to properly avenge him without further alienating the military, resorting to short-lived governments like those of Eduardo Dato and Antonio Maura while the crash of 1918-1919 impacted Spain more that most countries, political instability and corruption preventing a swift response to the crisis. Hoping to prevent a disaster as revolutionaries openly threatened to seize Barcelona and other nations, Alfonso XIII and General Damaso Berenguer attempted a coup in late 1919, believing only the army could step in and save the nation. It proved to be a fateful mistake, for a large part of the army refused to take part. Having risked everything in his failed coup, Alfonso XIII and his family escaped to Rome while the Cortes stripped him of his throne, proclaiming the Second Spanish Republic. It was to be another lost chance for Spain.

The Republic was born without a clear purpose or a strong personality to make it stable, leading to constant fights between the conservative elements of the Spanish society and the increasingly radicalized Spanish left, which had seen the anarchists increasingly marginalized by the more authoritarian tendencies. Desperate to find a figure to rail behind, conservative politicians often tried to find popular officers to join politics and serve as their support, often with bad results as the officers proved too inexperienced for intrigue. Their only success, the young and beloved Colonel Francisco Franco (who had been instrumental in deposing the coup and was popularly known as El Coronel del Pueblo), died in a mysterious plane crash, placing them at a disadvantage. By 1922-1923, the Second Republic was a gridlocked disaster, unable to handle the demands of the population and submerged in constant scandals of corruption of the political elites. In August 1923, revolution erupted across Spain.

Besteiro Ascendant (1923-1927)

The revolution was initially succesful in several large Spanish cities, but failed decisively to take control of Madrid, failure that took the lives of a large part of the more moderate elements of the left. Faced with a vacuum, the trade union movement in Barcelona seized momentum by calling the leftist militias to rise as large groups of soldiers deserted the government. Led by a revolutionary trio (Largo Caballero, Indalecio Prieto and Julian Besteiro), the Spanish Revolution took Madrid by November 1923, deposing the current government and proclaiming the People's Republic of Spain, a leftist revolutionary state whose creation sent shockwaves through Europe. Alas, plans for external intervention were dropped once it became clear France and Italy would not collaborate with Germany, and King Luis Filipe of Portugal felt his government to be too unstable to promote such a move.

With popular support behind them the Spanish Revolutionary Party (PRE) seized control of the revolution, enacting a purge of the anarchists in May 1924, and then an inner purge of the party in February 1925. Largo Caballero and Indalecio Prieto, once the heroes of the movement, faced firing squad due to the machinations of the new master of the People's Republic: Julian Besteiro. Originally a trade-unionist leader and respected academic, Besteiro had grown radicalized during the 1918-1919 crisis, ending to embrace the more militant way of expanding the revolution. His government, while young, has led efforts to de-christianize Spain (against public denunciation from Italy and the Papacy) and support revolutionary groups elsewhere in the world. A revolutionary icon for some, a ruthless autocrat to others, it remains to be seen how succesful Julian Besteiro will be on his quest.

[Lumine]

United Kingdom, Part I:

The Rise and Fall of Edward Grey

Prime Minister Edward Grey (1909-1916), the man who used to be Britain's hope

Rise and Fall of Toryland (1901-1909)

Entering the 1900’s in a bitter mood due to the harshness of the Boer War, the British Empire experienced what can only be described as a rollercoaster. The period of 1901 to 1903 saw an unexpected surge in the fortunes of the Government, with Prime Minister Salisbury redoubling his efforts to expand the influence of the Empire, leading a war against the Ottoman Empire and seeing economic success at the home front. Indeed, even today many look back at the years of Salisbury and openly weep for the old statesman, forced to leave office on account of his severely failing health. His successor, Arthur Balfour, would prove to have the opposite legacy. Having cast its lot with France on account of the Entente Cordiale, the UK was drawn into increasingly tense conflicts, facing a bloody war in Afghanistan, and the massive repudiation of the Middle East after British troops allegedly attacked Mecca in an incident still confusing to historians.

And to make matters worse, Balfour was drawn into the Great War against an alliance that all too clearly outgunned the French and British might. And yet they fought across the world, mobilizing the resources of the empire to see troops from all nationalities rise against the Central Powers, seeing the mounting collapse of France and the painful loss of Canada as the Atlantic faced a blockade not even the Royal Navy could fully break. In the end and it was perceived, the British threw the French under the bus in the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1907, letting France lose most of its empire as the UK emerged “unscathed” (as Balfour infamously declared), even as Canada was forced to declare independence despite retaining the King and the ethnic tension across the empire was greater than ever. Having suspended the elections and forced to acknowledge the failure of the Afghanistan campaign, Balfour called a General Election as late as he could in 1909, where the Conservative Party was obliterated by the Liberals.

Liberal Resurgence and the Irish Civil War (1909-1916)

At long last, the Liberal Party was back in office with an immensely strong majority, and Sir Edward Grey was England’s new dashing Prime Minister. Indeed, plans called for a very ambitious government programme; designed to reform the British institutions, improve the Empire’s diplomatic standing, and lead to a better and fairer society. To some, like new Conservative leader Joseph  Chamberlain, this was never to be and never to stand a chance. To others, the failure of countless years of liberal governments in the upcoming years would be considered a tragedy for what they could have accomplished. On the solid side, Prime Minister Grey was initially successful in government reform and particularly in the House of Lords, managing to strip away several of its still large powers. The economy was rebounding as well, and while hostility with the United States became more and more of a concern thanks to the Hearst Administration, it was nothing that couldn’t be handled.

Indeed, Grey called for a snap election in 1913, losing only about a couple dozen seats to the Tories and the increasingly popular and more extreme alternatives: the Labour Party and the National Party. Having vanquished Chamberlain into retirement, Grey tried to build a record as the statesman of Europe, and for a time, he had succeeded on his task… until Ireland was thrust into the forefront of British politics. While the Conservative government of Salisbury and Balfour had mostly ignored the issue, the Liberals had strongly argued for Home Rule, and indeed began small scale preparatives on Grey’s first government, setting them up on 1914-1915. The results were catastrophic. Even if the South was strongly in favor, Ulster and other areas were very much against, believing their place came with the United Kingdom. First it was criticism of the government. Then the protests came. Then the fist fights. And then… shots were fired. Within a single year, militias were being formed as the Liberal government neglected to take a firm stand at the beginning, and before Grey could realize it Ireland was in civil war.

Even more troubling was the fact that the Government could not turn on its promise of Home Rule and felt forced to stand up for its policy, which meant supporting the Nationalists against those who felt closer to Great Britain. As the Conservatives furiously denounced the killing of Ulstermen by Nationalist militias, Ireland became a gunrunning paradise after several unidentified nations began their supply of weapons to both sides (common suspects being Hearst and/or the French government), and the killings extended to English soil pretty soon. From 1915 to 1916 the situation only grew worse as the deaths extended by the hundreds, souring public opinion at the fight being led against Protestant Ulstermen, and the Grey government unraveled despite its large majority. When a bomb killed Prince Albert, George V’s second son, both the King and the Cabinet made it clear to Grey there was no more confidence on his leadership. Edward Grey left Downing Street in tears as Britain tore itself apart.

The new Prime Minister, Henry H. Asquith, was welcomed into his office with news that a large part of the Liberal Party had crossed the floor in a sign of loyalty to Grey. The Liberal Government was now a minority one.

[Lumine]

United Kingdom, Part II:

A Very British Malaise

The "British Bulldog" before the 1926 General Election

England hath long been mad (1916-1921)

History has not been kind to H. H Asquith. Having an ambitious platform of his own based on social and domestic reform, he was thrust into office with an unstable government as killings took place daily, and it seemed the Government was losing control of the Irish Civil War all too rapidly. Forced to compromise and battle every vote in the House of Commons, the Asquith government soon exhausted itself in trying to sort out the growing difficulties of the war and the other issues that needed attention. But there were signs of hope, particularly since late 1917 saw a decrease in the level of violence and British troops could now pacify several regions of Ireland (even if the Irish government had lost control as well). Time was running out for the Liberals now as 1918 was the year of the next election, and forced to choose between early or late 1918 for the general election, Asquith chose the former in hopes of an economic rebound. While his choice meant the Liberals were spared from running under the Crash of 1918-1919, his party was still decimated. With Parliament chaotically split between Irish parties, Labourites, Asquith and Grey Liberals, Tories, Nationals and others, the only possible government was a minority Conservative one.

It was so that the new Tory leader, Andrew Bonar Law, entered Downing Street. Having run on a platform of radical change in Ireland to satisfy the public, Bonar Law "suspended" the Irish Government and declared martial law across Ireland, giving full support to the Loyalist Ulstermen instead. Whether a strong government could have driven such a radical move to success is unknown to us, for it was then that the mismanagement of the French companies building the Nicaragua Canal was uncovered by the British and German press, forcing Bonar Law to contend with one of the worst scenarios for a PM in decades. Between the Balkan Crisis and the collapse of Russia, the rise of the Trade Unions, the winding Irish Civil War and the 1918-1919 crash, his was a horrible task. And Bonar Law fought, brokering the ceasefire between Hungary and Romania, ending the war phase of the Irish Civil War through harsh martial law, and taking steps to soften the crisis. But it was all too much to handle, and the opposition forced a vote of no-confidence in 1920 once the Prime Minister had tried to introduce full austerity politics.

In the next general election, with the Liberal factions and the Conservatives looking discredited after the past years and the Nationals facing scandals, the British public choose an alternative. To the shock of the whole political establishment, the Labour Party emerged as the largest party, and before anyone could react J. R. Clynes was leader of a minority Labour government. A wily operator, Clynes was ready to do anything he could to advance the cause of the working classes and the British trade unions, setting up a government that claimed to be deeply reformist in its heart. During his eleven months in office, Clynes suspended martial law in Ireland and passed some minor domestic initiatives with Asquith's support, pointing to 1922 as the year of the reform. What his Government could or couldn't have done will also remain a matter for speculation, for the British Security Services stormed the Labour Parliamentary Party in late 1921 under accusations that a faction of the party had been infiltrated by anarchist and revolutionary elements. To Clynes's terror, the charges proved to be right for a dozen MP's or so. As the Conservatives and Nationals screamed with anger, faced with the prospect of having to call a general strike to say in power and seeing the crisis end in further bloodshed, Clynes called instead for another general election.

A Very, Very Long Parliament (1921-1927)

The 1921 General Election saw a steep decline in both the Labour Party (considered unsafe and infiltrated by many) and the Conservative Party (which was still discredited), meaning the National Party shot up to a few dozen seats to the glee of the British nationalists, and the reunited Liberal Party under Herbert Samuel became the largest party. In the end, with the Labour Party purging its anarchist MP's and submitting itself to an investigation that cleared most of the party of any charges, Samuel became PM with Labour support in a minority government. In many ways, the 1921-1926 Parliament could be call the return to normalcy in comparison to other years, as the Liberal Government reestablished the Irish Government and restored an uneasy peace in the land of discontent, while also taking all necessary steps to lead Britian out of the crisis.

The problem, of course, was that Samuel's New Liberalism included austerity politics to end the economic recession, politics that Labour (Samuel's only ally) react very strongly against. Several general strikes would take place during that parliament as both allies had to collaborate in a passive-aggressive way, to the dismay of Samuel. Trying to keep the Liberal Party together was also a complicated task, in no doubt thanks to the machinations of dissident MP David Lloyd George and the Welsh wing of the party. Much like H. H Asquith, Samuel waited as long as he could to call a General Election, until being forced to call one in October 1926.

The election saw the public in large discontent over 14 years of Liberal governments in the past years, and distrustful of the Nationals and Labour due to their perceived extremism in some issues. With Bonar Law having stepped aside, the Conservative Party entered the election led by famous renegade Winston Churchill (who had once toyed with becoming a Liberal in the 1900's), who co-opted part of the National message by promising to make the British Empire something to venerate and fear once more across the globe and to stand firm against aggressive powers, while stressing that, under his watch, democracy would not fall against extremism. Proving unusually popular with the electorate, the British Bulldog was swept into office in a landslide, forming the first majority government in ten years. The Conservative Party was back.

1926 General Election:

(308 MP’s needed for a Majority)

Conservative Party: 352 (+182)
Liberal Party: 123 (-132)
Labour Party: 112 (-17)
Ulster Party: 9 (+2)
National Party: 6 (-28)
Irish Nationalist League: 3 (-2)
Other: 4

[Lumine]

Kingdom of Romania:

Fear and Loathing in the Balkans

Nicholas I, the new King of Romania

Romania and Transylvania (1901-1917)

Few rulers had been so respected in the Balkans by 1901 as King Carol of Romania was. A strong ruler, Carol had ensured Romanian independence from the Ottomans in 1878, and seemed very much interested in power plays across the region. It was perhaps with that spirit that Carol enthusiastically seconded Nicholas II of Russia's attempts to build an alliance of Orthodox nations, leading to Romania being a part of the brief "Orthodox League" by the time of the Great Russian War on 1903-1904 broke out. Due to their location, there was a single front in which to focus and it was there were the Romanians made a strong contribution to the war: Transylvania. An area they had always coveted, Carol led his army into initial success, pushing deeply into the Austro-Hungarian Empire in what was one of the likely factors in the overthrow of Emperor Franz Ferdinand. But in the end, it degenerated in a bloody trench war, the horrible fighting conditions killing thousands and dropping morale in both Romania and A-H.

Once peace overtures started, with Russia collapsing and Tsar Nicholas acting irrationally in some matters pertaining the war, Carol felt forced to sign a separate treaty. The Treaty of Bucharest put an end to the "first round" of Romanian attempts at domination of Transylvania, with Austria-Hungary committing itself to Transylvanian domestic autonomy and a plebiscite to be held in 1906. Despite the horrible losses, Romania had averted collapse, and had even gained Bessarabia at Russia's expense on behalf of the winning side. Indeed, it is possible things could have turned out most positively for Romania, had Conrad von Hotzendorf not backed the ultimate humiliation of a sham referendum in Transylvania which placed the area under Austrian domination without a complaint from Germany. The move outraged Romania and placed the nation in an extremely vengeful mood, although it would be years before they had a chance to attempt their revenge. Indeed, Carol would die in 1914 without a chance to correct the situation, leaving his son Ferdinand to rule.

The Balkan Crisis (1917-1921)

Despite an initial process of internal reform and German and Ottoman backing, Austria-Hungary was not able to survive its inner chaos. What the Empire needed more than anything was strong leadership, something impossible to obtain on account of the forced abdications of Franz Joseph and Franz Ferdinand in 1902 and 1904. To make matters worse, Emperor Charles I would turn out to be controlled by a cabal of military officers led by Field Marshal von Hotzendorf, who had taken control of the Council of Regency after dismissing the supporters of von Bulow's German mission. Reversing many reform initiatives as they tried to keep the Empire together, the military cabal was able to keep Austria-Hungary afloat for some time resorting to authoritarian government and increasingly violent procedures, until the decisive date came. 1917, the year of the next Ausgleich (described by some in the Balkans as Judgement Year). With negotiations with Hungary and other vassal states turning sour as the military government would not yield for further compromises, Emperor Charles was shot dead along with most of his family in an ambush in Vienna.

The story is all known, of how attempts to crown five-year old Crown Prince Otto turned into disaster as the nations inside the Empire declared independence or revolted, leading to what we have learned to know as the Balkan Crisis (1917-1920). As Austria fell into chaos and only German intervention would save it from an attempted socialist revolution, while the Slavic nations revolted led by Serbia only to engulf themselves in ethnic strife, the successful Bulgarian revolt against the Ottomans, the German occupation (and then handover) of Galicia, the establishment of Czechia and the Magyar Republic and the Ukrainian revolution, as all those factors turned the Balkans into a war zone, Romania would not waste its chance. Led by Ferdinand, the Romanian Monarchy gambled its prestige on an invasion of Hungary in late 1918, aiming to recover Transylvania at last. The war raged for two years as little progress was made, the war ending rather unceremoniously when Germany and the Ottomans pressured Ferdinand into accepting the mediation of Prime Minister Bonar Law. With status quo ante bellum installed, thousands of deaths and the prestige of the Monarchy in ruin, Ferdinand's hand was forced.

Constitutional Monarchy and a new King (1921-1927)

Having lost much prestige and the more extremist forces threatening the monarchy, some greater degree of monarchy had to be instituted. Both the National Liberals and the Conservatives joined forces in the Bratianu-Marghiloman Pact of 1921, which gave stronger powers to the Prime Minister and the Parliament while retaining a strong role for the King. Indeed, during the 1921-1926 period Bratianu (Liberal) and Marghiloman (Conservatives) served as Prime Minister the one after the other, ensuring some degree of stability as the Romanian Army was rebuilt for future purposes and strong ties were established with the Ukrainian Nationalists. The 1926 General Election saw Marghiloman leave power after his attempts to get closer to reject were soundly rejected by the public, forcing Romania into a coalition government with Bratianu's successor and new liberal leader Gherman Pantea and the new People's Reform Party, led by the relatively young and inexperienced Traian Popovici. On December 1926, King Ferdinand of Romania died in bed, having recovered some of the prestige he had lost with the war.

With Crown Prince Carol in exile due to his many scandals, Pantea and Parliament offered the throne to Prince Nicholas, who became King Nicholas I. Being known mostly for his military service and an apparent lack of interest in politics, many wonder what role will Nicholas play in Romanian politics. Will he be a strong King?

[Lumine]

Japanese Empire:

The Sun rises in the East

Prince Saionji Kinmochi, Japan’s almost eternal Prime Minister

Birth of a Colonial Empire (1901-1918)

Having decisively beated China in 1895 with Formosa/Taiwan as a prize, the Japanese Empire entered the 1900's in an imperalistic and modernizing outlook, even as the genro battled themselves in a quest for power. Under the guidance of Emperor Mutsuhito and with the dueling rivarly of Prime Ministers Katsura Taro and Saionji Kinmochi, the Empire entered alliances with Europe and challenged Russia in the 1903-1904 Great Russian War, delivering a large blow on their neighbor and cementing their power as a nation capable of going toe to toe with the Great Powers. Japan backed the winning side in the Great War as well, and by the time the Amsterdam Treaty was signed Mutsuhito ruled over a new Colonial Empire that included the Philippines, Indochina, Formosa, Sakhalin and countless islands in the Pacific. With the economy booming and the military strong, the political arena became the main source for debate. With the demise of Mutsuhito in 1911, Japan was left with a weak emperor in Yoshihito, leaving Katsura and Saionji to struggle for power. In 1912, Saionji Kinmochi decisevely won the backing of the IJN and the Japanese Parliament, becoming Prime Minister.

With the Emperor largely powerless and growing increasingly eccentric, the reformist genrō's power struggles with Yamagata Aritomo and the army would continue to define Japan through 1910's. The decade was characterized by frequent changes in power, with the conservative aristocracy led by Yamagata taking advantage of every mistake of Saionji to re-assume his place as the most influential statesman in Japan. Saionji's response was to create an often fluid coalition of the Navy, the bureaucracy, and the Zaibatsu. The period was characterized by frequent rebellions in the colonies as well as increasing agitation by the labor movement. The response of all governments of the decade was swift and brutal repression, with supporters of Yamagata going so far as banning all leftist parties from the Diet and forbidding the gathering of workers. In general, however, the situation remained stable as long as the populace was placated by continued growth.

Economic Crash, Military Expansion (1918-1921)

The system Saionji put in place was thrown into chaos with the Crash of 1918-1919. Japanese manufacturers, overextended trying to provide continued growth for their political patrons and facing a shortage of raw materials, saw further crisis in late 1919 when contracting foreign imports and a domestic credit crisis forced large-scale layoffs. Yamagata, long the shepherd of the Army who had contained its more radical factions, died in November 1920 at the age of 81, putting his generals off its leash. Labor movements and Socialist agitators rose up with a vengeance as well, with strikes in a dozen cities grinding commerce to a halt. With Korea adopting an increasingly aggressive stance by rearming itself in a large extent and the streets filled with revolutionaries and nationalists, it seemed as if the regime could collapse.

As the last genrō, Saionji's authority over the government and power resolve the crisis was supposed to be unchallenged, nd yet it took an outside event to save his rule. With the utter collapse of the Russian Empire a reality and the revolt of the Generals placing China in disarray, Saionji saw his chance to relieve nationalist pressure and reinvigorate the industrial machine. What followed was a set of quick, decisive military actions. The Russian Army in Vladivostok, confused and without orders, surrendered after less than a week of fighting, as did other Russian garrisons along the Pacific coast. A client state, the Far Eastern Republic, was quickly established. Far more dangerous was the coup the Japanese Army forced through in Korea, killing or imprisoning a good part of the Korean Royal Family to install a puppet regime as an "ally".

Saionji Triumphant (1921-1927)

The protests of China over the Korean events threatened to see the whole of the East explode in war. Seeing that both nations's economies could collapse with the loss of trade, German mediation from neutral ground managed to prevent war. By the terms of the Treaty of Qingdao (1921), the Korean Government would become a Japanese economic protectorate, but it would remain sovereign in military terms. As a result, military presence from the Chinese or the Japanese was strictly forbidden. Having enjoyed a more or less decent relationship since Japan's sponsoring of the Chinese Reform movement, the incident soured the links between both nations. With these unequal treaties in hand, Japanese investment flooded into the new states and soon a steady stream of minerals, oil, lumber, and other raw materials were flowing into the homeland.

As Saionji saved his Premiership on account of his aggressive moves (which, despite opening countless markets and resources placed some major strain of Japanese logistics), at home the power gap was filled by a Diet that was finally allowed to assert a degree of independence. The Great Commoner, Hara Takashi, was forced to work with liberals and leftists to resolve the crisis. Using a combination of force, aggressive government spending, and legislation curbing the worst of business excesses, the crisis at home was eventually suppressed, leaving the radicalized and bitter remnants of the Japanese Revolutionary movement to hide and await for another chance. With the elections opened to more and more voters, the 1922-1926 term saw Japan slowly regaining a sense of stability, with the Seiyūkai-controlled Diet (save for a small and shortlived Minseitō victory in 1923-1924) taking a lead in domestic legislation as minor socialist and nationalist grow in the background.

Emperor Yoshihito would meet his end in 1926, long affected by ill-health. His eldest son, Takahito, remains an unknown entity to many in the Japanese elite, although he is rumoured to harbor large ambitions of his own. Renewed growth and the guiding hand of Prince Saionji have kept the balance of power stable, but whether this system could survive another crisis is an open question.

[Lumine]

Republic of France:

The Popular Dictator

François de La Rocque, France's young and dynamic President

The Struggle for Supremacy (1901-1909)

The turn of the Century saw France divided on its course of action internally and externally, whether due to the odd relationship now shared with Great Britain or the sequels of the painful Dreyfus scandal. And yet, for the first few years of the 1900's decade, it seemed France could fulfill its revenge against Germany and the sheer humiliation of 1870. Led by a wily and clever political operator in the figure of Prime Minister Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, the Republic saw a coalition government in place that wasted no chance in terms of gaining new allies, signing treaties with Russia and the United Kingdom, outsmarting Kaiser Wilhelm III in the Alscace-Lorraine deal that almost cost the Kaiser his throne, expanding its colonial empire in Africa, and doing its best to exploit every chance. Alas, the non intervention of France in the Great Russian War deprived them of a key ally by the time the World War broke out, France standing firm with the British in the aftermath of the Trafalgar Square attacks and the Mecca incident.

France fought the Germans and the Italians bitterly, but with little success. The concentrated power of its enemies and a military that proved sluggish led to large defeats in the early days of the war, and soon enough the enemy armies were taking more and more territory, to the chaos of the government. Despite countless displays of heroism, by late 1905 Paris had fallen after a pyrrhic victory by the Germans. But even if the prize to be paid by the enemies was large, 1906 only saw further disaster for the French as the frontlines moved more and more toward the west, leading to the occupation of most of the country. Humiliated and seeing the position as hopeless, Prime Minister Rouvier (Waldeck-Rousseau's successor) sued for peace. The Amsterdam Treaty could have seen the French position not turning too bad on account of the strength left in the British Empire, but historians have described Balfour's attitude as one of "throwing France under the bus".

Under the terms of the Treaty, France was to lose most of its colonial empire and further national lands to Italy and Germany, retaining only Algeria and Equatorial Africa as a minor consolation prize. Upon his signature of the treaty, Rouvier resigned his post (he'd live in bitterness until being shot by a far-right group in 1911), leaving France not only in anger, but in arms due to the action of the French revolutionaries, the nationalist groups, and disgruntled soliders, all condemning the signature of a treaty they saw as a betrayal of the French war effort. Indeed, it would be common to blame the government for having stabbed the army in the back, the scapegoats changing depending on the group (some blamed infiltrated anarchists, some the socialists, some the liberals, some the catholics, some the jews, and so on). And when the French revolutionaries seized Marseilles and the militant right sparked a revolt in Brittany, there was no choice left for President Loubet. The army was swiftly deployed, the revolts drowned in blood.

A Decadent Republic (1909-1919)

That the French Republic did not fall itself in the aftermath of the Great War continues to open interesting questions among historians, but even in the shame of defeat and the threat of revolution the government managed to barely hang on to power while taking the ruthless approach against domestic dissent. And yet, to many, the Republic appeared to have lost legitimacy. President Loubet would leave his office in 1913, and for a decade France went on, attempting to rebuilt its democracy while fending off extremism and corruption. But recovery never seemed to come, thousands of refugees fleeing from the zones occupied by the victorious powers as Algeria grew discontent with the lack of rights for the Pied-Noirs now that Algeria was turned into the key colony of the remnants of the Empire. And like a spinning wheel, Prime Ministers of all ideologies and parties went one after the other attempting to restore order, from monarchists to radicals to socialists, conservatives and liberals, ministries fell with ease. Indeed, the only government that achieved a degree of stability was that of revanchist Georges Clemenceau (1915-1916), who was on the road to a large rearmament plan when he was assassinated by anarchists.

The realities of corruption in the government would eventually explode in the worst way possible, in what has been known as the Nicaragua Canal scandal. With the original canal being sponsored by the McKinley administration only to be dropped mid-way by President Hearst in 1913, a group of French companies had taken the leadership in buying most of the shares, committing themselves to a 1920 finishing date with the Nicaraguan Government. Little progress was made during those years but remained unknown to the public, until the British and German press broke relentless stories on mismanagement, corruption, mistreatment of workers, open bribery of the Nicaraguan and French governments in early 1918, and public confidence on the project plummeted. When several of the company directors tried to run away and the extend of the scandal and the misplaced inversions became known, the Paris Stock Market was the first to collapse, followed by London, New York and even Berlin. The resulting domino effect of panic was the direct (but no sole) cause of the 1918-1919 Crash, and hyperinflation took over France.

France was desperate, and socialist President Alexandre Millerand (elected in a shocking upset in 1913) himself stepped in to force the creation of a coalition national government under new Prime Minister Aristide Briand.

Rise of the Cross of Fire (1919-1927)

Then Colonel Francois de la Rocque was a young officer and a war hero from the World War, famous for his bravery in the siege of Paris and the battle of Orleans. Feeling disappointed in the Republic as many fellow officers were, and heavily disliking the far-right movements that tried to support monarchist causes, de la Rocque found the Croix-de-Feu (Cross of Fire) in 1916, a movement promising reform and the restoration of the greatness of Franc, while espousing a heavily germanphobic (and occasionally, Anglophobe) view of the world. Known for his theatrics, his charisma and, above all, his youth (as he was in his early thirties), de la Rocque and his movement shot up in politics like a meteor with the backing of several influential newspapers and fellow army officers. By late 1919, the Cross of Fire was the biggest opponent of the Coalition Government of Briand, and both men battled in Parliament for control of the French Nation. Indeed, the 1920 Presidential Election was fought as a proxy war between candidates aligned with de la Rocque and Briand, victory going to de la Rocque's ally Field Marshal Joffre, the Hero of Morocco.

Despite the Presidency being a weak office, Joffre aided in the constant undermining of the hated Coalition government (that was tearing itself apart on Briand's insistence on austerity), leading a fight that would last until early 1922. The Cross of Fire had, in the meantime, absorbed many of the nationalist and conservative elements of society, and took their message to the polls in the 1922 General Election. Despite Briand putting a desperate fight, the traditional parties were punished with the electoral system favoring the strongest party: de la Rocque's movement. While the election left the Cross of Fire a few seats shy of victory, Joffre and de la Rocque conspired with Socialist Deputy Pierre Laval, gaining the support of his faction and the defeat of Briand. Francois de la Rocque was now France's democratically elected Prime Minister at the age of 37.

The 1922-1927 term, therefore, saw de la Rocque and the Cross of Fire cement their position in France while slowly undermining and destroying the opposition, always using legal (or mostly legal) means to establish a popular dictatorship over France. While the country remained legally a Republic and some degree of opposition was tolerated, Joffre stood down so the Presidency and the Prime Ministerial office were combined in a single Presidency with near absolute powers, while a unicameral and deeply reformed Parliament took few roles. Combining populist politics with conservatism, de la Rocque passed a minimum wage, corporatism, pro-catholic policies, women's suffrage and large scale military build-ups, all encompassed in an increasingly aggressive rhetoric against the German Empire.

Backed enthusiastically by a strange alliance of the army, conservatives, the lower and the middle class, catholics and the mobilized youth, de la Rocque and the Cross of Fire enjoy near absolute control over France, and have spent the past year leading the Republic out of the Financial Crisis and into a much stronger position. Can they truly restore France's greatness?

[Lumine]

Kingdom of Italy:

A Song of Kings and Popes

Victor Emmanuel III, the beloved Italian "Emperor"

Rise of the Empire, Rise of the Commune (1901-1918)

When Victor Emmanuel III took up the Italian throne in dramatic fashion, few thought much of him. History has proved them wrong twice, and the first time was precisely the first decade of the 1900's. Convinced that his nation needed to be modernized and led by a strong government to succeed in the balance of power, the King established a friendship with one of the most capable politicians of his era: Giovanni Giolitti. Under the joint collaboration of the King and the Liberal Giolitti government (1902-1908) Italy saw unprecedented change. Economic growth became a reality in many regions of the country, and despite large losses in the Great War Italy was able to craft at last a colonial empire with the annexation of Somalia and Eritrea, the Libyan coastline, Tunes, Corsica, and expansion in the French border. Indeed, with a growing sense of confidence, many believed Italy was a power to watch for the next decade, until a deranged anarchist got too close to Prime Minister Giolitti and shot him dead.

Partly shellshocked at the loss of his Prime Minister, party sidelined by his ambitious successors, King Victor Emmanuel gradually phased away of Italian politics in the early 1910's, retaining massive popularity with the public but being distrusted by Parliament and the political class. The Parliamentary system, alas, limped on in growing chaos as the Liberal Party, ever predominant in the election, continued to knife Prime Minister after Prime Minister as policies soon became to spiral out of control. While the relationship with the Vatican remained cold with pious Pope Albert (formerly Cardinal Girolamo Maria Gotti), the most concerning situation was the extremely rapid growth of the socialist movement across Northern Italy, stronger every year as economic conditions worsened and the gains made by Italy in the early 1900's were being reversed.

As to why exactly the Italian Government committed suicide we can only speculate, but having lost any degree of political discipline the general strikes in Milan soon forced their hand into violence. And by the time the world wide crash was expanding, the news of the army firing into crowds of protesters were enough to spark a revolution across the North. First in isolated cities, then entire regions as army units deserted and Parliament became paralyzed, a new revolutionary government was proclaimed from Florence. The Roman Commune, purposely echoing the greatness of Rome with socialist rhetoric inspired on the writings of young ideologist Antonio Gramsci, was led by the equally young and notoriously fiery Benito Mussolini, known as Comrade Benito.

The Italian Civil War (1918-1921)

The fall of Rome in January 1919 can be considered the high point of the Roman Commune, and also the reason for its downfall. With the militia led by Mussolini capturing most of Parliament for summary executions, an overzealous revolutionary regiment stormed the gates of Vatican City and then the Castle of St. Angelo, where Pope Leo XIV (formerly Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val) had insisted in staying in his place. Leo XIV and over a third of the College of Cardinals were gunned down and then hanged from St. Peter's square, an act that horrified Mussolini and his officers when they learned from it. The cries of anger echoed all across the catholic world, and King Victor Emmanuel (who had retreated to Naples) finally stepped in. Having the army depose the squabbling ministers of the last Liberal government, the King took personal control of the situation, rescuing as many Cardinals as possible and rallying the remnants of the army and the conservative militias of Southern Italy to ride North.

With newly elected Pope Martin VI (formerly Cardinal Domenico Serafini) declaring Leo XIV a Saint and the King's war as a Crusade, the Italian Civil War became increasingly religious in nature, as the Monarchy and the Catholic Church closed an increasingly close alliance against the revolution. Mussolini's rule soon degenerated into tyranny as a large part of the population could not support what had been done in Rome, and the Royal Army slowly liberated city after city. The war would last until 1921 and result in countless deaths, along with several bloody purges in both sides. But with full popular support behind his cause, Victor Emmanuel bested Comrade Benito, who would shot himself and his lover on his Milan bunker as the Royalist Militias approached. Returning the Government to Rome, Victor Emmanuel and Pope Martin would be left with the task of reorganizing Italy, being forced to choose between a fundamentally new government or the return of the Liberal administration.

The King, the Pope and the Concordat (1921-1927)

While Martin VI died soon after the victory, the College of Cardinals had been filled with fiery nationalist and militant cardinals from Italy and other parts of Europe, forming a large group that finished any chance of a liberal pope. The New Peope, Alexander IX (formerly Cardinal Pietro Maffi) had played a large role in the Civil War, being known as the War Cardinal and now as the War Pope. Having the chance to remake Italy, Victor Emmanuel and Alexander signed the Rome Corcordat in 1921, fundamentally changing their nation. While a mostly powerless parliament was retained, power was shifted to the King (now crowned Emperor by the Pope himself) and the Pope, forming a collegiate government in which the Emperor, while having large powers, would consult on matters with the Church.

With the army and the population being indoctrinated in a form of militant conservative catholicism (with an emphasis on pan-catholicism more than mere Italian nationalism), Italy was remade as the economy was changed from a free market approach into a corporatist one. The old aristocracy and the exiled "black nobility" of the Papacy were granted large extents of power and land, meaning that the Italian political landscape was filled once again with the Colonna, the Orsini, the Borghese and such other families. Socialism and even Liberalism were prosecuted in many cases with increasing ruthlessness, while the Pope gave increased legitimacy to Victor Emmanuel and his regime with encyclicals denouncing capitalism and socialism, all into a language of a "crusade". By 1927 the Italian society has become increasingly indoctrinated into this brand of militant catholicism, the Emperor/King feeling secure enough to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and leave the sole Senate, an act that has caused some dissent across the country.

[Lumine]

Chinese Empire:

Dragon of the East

General Chiang Kai-Shek, Imperial Prime Minister

Cixi and Guangxu, Old vs New (1901-1912)

In 1901, China stood humiliated by the Western Powers. Having lost a war against Japan in 1896, and with the Boxer Rebellion leading to foreign invasion and a large loss of life and national pride, it seemed to many the Imperial Government led by Empress Dowager Cixi was on the verge of falling. That China was spared such a collapse was due to luck that could have only been granted by the gods, as several of the great powers were too distracted to act on China or too interested in the potentials of an alliance with a nation that still held great potential. Whatever the case, China benefited greatly from realpolitik as the Manchuria Treaty returned Manchuria to the Empire while giving Russian backing against the other European Powers. Unwilling to get into another war in China, the westerners retired, leaving Cixi in control of most of the Imperial territory once again and preventing the collapse of the imperial government. And once Russia became the greater enemy of the great powers, China was extricated from its compromised position by Field Marshal Yuan Shi-Kai, who signed the Shanghai Treaty with the United Kingdom to cement the standing of his nation.

Yuan's ascendancy, however, was cut short when Cixi died suddenly in 1904 forcing a power struggle between Yuan, the eunuch Li Lianying, and Prince Chun from the Imperial Family. Moving ahead of his rivals and with Japanese backing, Prince Chun seized the government in Beijing and released the imprisoned Emperor Guangxu. Li Lianying and Yuan Shi-Kai would end their days before a firing squad for treason, while Guangxu and Chun cemented their hold on power while promising reform and modernization of the Chinese Empire. European missions were brought in by taking advantage of the Shanghai Treaty, and the reformist duo of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao was given full powers to save China from the brink. And while some level of reform was achieved from 1905 to 1912, progress was still remarkably strong. Conservative groups inside Chinese society deeply resented European influence and were strong in the army circles, often leading warlords to declare independence or attempt the overthrow of the Emperor. Matters came to a head in the 1912-1913 Revolution, where a group of generals under Field Marshall Wu-Pei-Fu attempted to overthrow the government and were initially successful in capturing Beijing and the Emperor. In response, the Republican movement rose.

The Nanjing Accords and Dr. Sun's Government (1912-1925)

Led by popular revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, the Kuomintang Party rose in revolt against Wu-Pei-Fu and his generals, the popular anger at the revolt leading them to capture Nanjing and several key cities. The reactionary generals were further weakened by the refusal of the Emperor to back their government, an act which saved Guangxu's prestige for the future and enabled the survival of the Imperial form of government. After a long and bitter struggle, the newly formed and organized Chinese Revolutionary Army (later turned into the Imperial Chinese Army) won the struggle thanks to young officers like the western-educated Chiang Kai-Shek, capturing Beijing and putting an end to the reactionary revolt. Dr. Sun was the hero of the masses, but the Emperor had gained significant sympathy due to his refusal to yield to the generals. In the end, both men decided to broker a compromise in what has been known as the Nanjin Accords of 1913.

In exchange for retaining the Empire and significant powers for Guangxu, Sun achieved the creation of a democratically-elected (within reasonable means) Chinese Parliament, led by him as the Imperial Prime Minister. It was so that China was set on a firmly reformist mood, but filled with struggle as Guangxu favored western modernization and Sun was on side of more national innovations (the initially powerful pro-Japanese wing would be purged or thrown out of office by 1922). And while the government achieved some stability and the parliament some power despite the broad corruption and difficulties in organizing fair elections at all, warlordism remained a problem. This came to a climax during 1920-1921, when several army cliques revolted in different regions to establish their own warlord regimes. Led by Chiang ICA crushed the more powerful warlords and restored the rule of law, to the prize of losing control over Mongolia and several minor provinces of the far-west.

Chiang, Imperial Prime Minister (1925-1927)

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen died in 1925, mourned by millions of Chinese as the father of the land and a man who had achieved significant reform of the country despite his occasional mistakes. Alas, his successor became a messy affair. Having grown too large against a large number of minor and weak parties, the Kuomintang had three distinctive wings: the communist left, led by Li Dazhao, the more centrist left, led by Wang Jingwei, and the right, led by Chiang Kai-Shek. With Wang siding with Chiang under the promise of influence and the clique that had once surrounded Dr. Sun moving to his side, Chiang had Li expelled with the Kuomintang while Parliament and the Emperor selected him as the new Prime Minister. In response, Li Dazhao founded the Chinese Communist Party (one of the few leftist parties in the world to go with the "communist" title), turning to an authoritarian brand of politics that saw him become a serious threat to the government.

As the 1925-1927 political period has went on, political instability has become the norm of the Chinese Empire, as both main parties become more and more aggressive with bombings of both Nationalist and Communist headquarters along with shootings of prominent politicians. While strong with the army and some in the Chinese elites, Chiang nonetheless faces the serious threat of civil war if the Kuomintang and the Communists cannot find common ground to coexist in the current system. And, as its rumoured, old Emperor Guangxu (and his ambitious family) may wish to stop being the figurehead he has been since 1913...

[Lumine]

Ottoman Empire:

Legacy of the Red Sultan

Enver Pasha, the power behind the Ottoman Throne

Reign of the Red Sultan (1901-1915)

It is said the history of the Ottoman Empire could not be written without mention of Abdul Hamid II, called the Red Sultan. Ruling from 1876 to 1915 (an astounding 39 years of reign), Abdul Hamid spent the first 25 years of his rule guiding the Empire across the attempts to divide his lands or destroy his power through constitutionalism. And one by one, Abdul Hamid saw the death and failure of his foes even if the Empire lost land (particularly in the Balkans), prestige, and instability. Indeed, by 1901 the Ottoman Empire had been the Sick Man of Europe for decades, and observers took bets as to how long would the Empire survive before a sudden collapse. And to the shock of Europe, on the second half of his reign the Sultan proved they wrong. Very wrong. After the Empire was defeated in war against a European coalition in 1902 Abdul Hamid exploited the balance of power to put his country inside the alliance system, forming close ties to McKinley's USA and Wilhelm III's Germany.

Indeed, with their support Abdul Hamid II resorted to a strongly personal rule, reforming the empire into a powerful and efficient autocracy capable to reforming the bloated bureaucracy and the power of the harem. While his oppressive and bloody policies against Armenians and other minorities bought much tension, Abdul Hamid's task was made easier after the Mecca incident damaged the Kaaba, allowing him to become a rallying point for Turks and Arabs against British influence (even today it is almost suicidal for British tourists to go to the Middle East, and the British Embassy in Istanbul is constantly harassed). Territorial losses made the empire easier to handle, and the Sultan's skill at diplomacy won him victories against Bulgaria, and crucially, rulership over Crimea before the World War. Despite the House of Saud in the Arabian State becoming a large nuisance, Abdul Hamid's reforms brought relief to the economy thanks to Russian gold used to establish a firm national bank reserve, development projects including development of inner Anatolia, as well as railroad lines, all additionally supported by German investment and discovery of oil in Ottoman territory near the Caucasus.

Crisis of the Empire and the Young Turks (1915-1919)

Alas, Abdul Hamid's designs faced a critical crisis in 1915-1916. The new Sultan, Mehmed V, was an all too weak figure, often shifting ministers and allies and alienating key groups inside the Ottoman Empire. A coup led by the reactionary and more fanatical elements of the army led to a huge crisis inside the empire, as the Jews, the Armenians and the Bulgarians rose in revolt and put the government in Istanbul in check as the Bulgarian Army overran the European part of the Empire and approached Constantinople. Seeing an imminent crisis, a clique of young officers led by Colonel Enver Pasha (called the Young Turks) deposed the military government and released Mehmed V, seizing the state apparatus for themselves. Signing a quick peace with Bulgaria that restored some land to them and lifted all restrictions set by the Treaty of Constantinople, the Ottoman Army ruthlessly put down the inner revolts by drowning them in blood, the British press denouncing the genocide and or expulsion of large parts of the Empire's ethnic minorities.

Mehmed V would die in 1918, being followed by two more puppet Sultans: Mehmed VI (1918-1926) and Abdulmecid II (1926-Present). As the Sultan lost power and constitutionalism remained controversial as a concept for the army, the clique of the Young Turks fully seized government by making Enver Pasha Minister of War and Vice-Commander in Chief, the ambitious Minister even marrying into the House of Osman to cement his power. Consolidation of power would take long, but it would yield positive results for the Empire as collapse had been averted and the autocracy methods of Abdul Hamid had been restored, putting an energetic and efficient government in place once again. Not wishing to enter trouble with the Great Powers, Enver Pasha nonetheless expanded his influence through the Southern Caucasus as Russia broke apart, funded the Crimean State of Prince Yusupov, and, more importantly, invaded and occupied Northern Persia to restore the national pride.

Enver Pasha's Empire (1919-1927)

A little more than ten years have seen the Ottoman Empire ruled by the Young Turks (now not so young) clique, allowing the Empire to outlast the Austro-Hungarians and return a sense of stability to the Middle East by supporting the prejudices against the British and other "undesirable" groups, often invoking the Mecca incident after funding the repairs of the damage made to the Kaaba, and sponsoring the revolt that led to the independence of Hejaz and its conversion from a British protectorate into an Ottoman one. With the Sultan locked in his palace and gaining fame as a talented painter and artist, Enver Pasha has enjoyed a lack of opposition on his first years, that nonetheless grows as his government goes on without an end in sight and many groups inside the Ottoman society grown convinced that constitutionalism and an actual Prime Minister would serve the Empire better than the current government. Whether the regime of the ambitious Minister of War will found a mechanism to successfully continue over the years is up to speculation, but their hold on the Ottoman Government seems, at the very least, solid.

[Lumine]

German Empire:

Germany, symbol of Democracy

Dr. Wilhelm Marx, Zentrum Leader and Reich Chancellor

The Reich Ascendant (1901-1910)

In many ways, it could be said that the destiny of Germany was drastically changed with the assassination of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1901 at the hands of an anarchist, an act that placed young Wilhelm III at the helm of Germany. Initially inexperienced (as shown by a badly planned Alsace-Lorraine treaty with France, which almost cost him his throne), Wilhelm proved far more apt than his father at making allies and choosing the moments to strike, placing Germany in the winning side of the Great Russian War and the Great War, successful to the extend of expanding the German colonial empire and crafting a large dominion over Eastern Europe. Firmly allied with the Ottomans until today (and with the Italians until the Civil War), Wilhelm III secured German hegemony over the European continent in the first decade of the 20Th Century aided by his capable Chancellors Bernard von Bulow (1900-1904) and Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner (1904-1910), setting up several puppet regimes in the GAR (Common Foreign Political Council): the Kingdom of Poland, the Baltic Duchy and the Kingdom of Lithuania, all led by national leaders like Baltic Duke Eduard Freiherr von Dellingshausen, Polish King Adam Ludiwk and Prime Minister Pilsudski, and Lithuanian King Leo.

Following this dominance with the propping up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, investment on the Berlin-Bagdad Railway, reform of the colonial system and large efforts to secure German emigration (resulting in Tanzania gaining a 20% of White Population by 1925), it would have been easy for nationalistic sentiment to secure the hold of the Hohenzollerns on the German government for the years to come, were it not for Wilhelm III's belief. Much more liberal than his predecessor, Wilhelm believed in cooperation with the Reichstag and the democratic parties (even the SPD), spending the later years of the von Posadowsky-Wehner's government to prepare to hand the Chancellorship to a democratic government after the 1910 Election, an act which did not sit well with the Junkers previously so supportive of German expansion through Eastern Europe. Be as it may, the victory of the SPD in the 1910 Reichstag Election led to a lot of maneuvering behind the scenes as the other parties were unsure of the idea of a socialist (or even social democrat) Chancellor. In the end, the liberal (and very nationalistic) Friedrich Naumann was appointed to the position as a compromise, beginning the trend towards a more democratic Germany.

A Liberal Decade (1910-1920)

The period of 1910 to 1920 in Germany has often been described as the "liberal decade", in which the Junkers were forced to accept a great degree of liberalization by the successive coalition governments under the watchful eye of the Kaiser, the first guarantee that democratic rule was there to say. With Naumann's government reaching a end after expanding voting across the Empire in 1913, he was succeeded by renowned sociologist Max Weber, who reformed the German liberals into the German Democratic Party (DDP), leading the efforts to change the Imperial Constitution in 1914 into a new entity. Granting higher levels of autonomy into the German protectorates of the east, allowing women's suffrage and giving the Reichstag unprecedented powers brought an uproar amongst conservatives, who were forced to yield before the influence of the Kaiser. Under the auspice of a new constitution, Weber countered the popular appeal of the SPD and led the DDP to a strong position in the 1915 elections, cementing his power.

As Weber's policies and the 1914 Constitution became the law of the land, foreign policy was deeply affected by Weber's refusal to continue propping up the military regime of Austria-Hungary, a factor considered decisive in the fall of that Empire. When the 1918-1919 Crash deeply shook the Berlin Stock Market and the disaster of the collapse of Austria-Hungary brought questioning into the methods and policies of Weber, Gustav Stresseman and the DDP wasted on time in bringing down their Chancellor. Stresseman would lead Germany for a mere two years (1918-1920) before facing a general election, in which German conservatism led its own comeback. Electing the war hero Paul on Lettow Vorbeck as their leader and accepting to play by the rules, they elected the general who had long resisted in Africa during the Great War as the new Chancellor, presiding over a Coalition Government with the Zentrum and some minor parties.

A New Era for Germany (1920-1927)

Far from setting back reactionary trends, the victory of the German conservatives in the 1920 Election would be a benefit for German democracy, as Lettow-Vorbeck forced his allies to abide by the 1914 Constitution and respect many of the measures put in place by Naumann, Weber and Stresseman. His government sponsored greater rearmament, stronger ties with the Ottomans, the annexation of Austria into the German Empire, and the return of the strong nationalist sentiment, which considered itself successful in account of the gains made by the Empire. Alas, Lettow-Vorbeck destroyed his government over the Russian Civil War, himself wishing for a strong intervention but opposed by the Kaiser and his Zentrum allies. In the end, Lettow-Vorbeck would lose a motion of confidence narrowly in 1923, and the subsequent election saw Zentrum back another Liberal government by financier Hjalmar Schacht.

Young and dynamic, Schacht's innovative economic policies led Germany out of the economic crisis and defused the social tension that had been brewing, preventing the rise of nationalistic or revolutionary movements as his term went. But what Schacht had in economic knowledge and expertice he lacked in political skill, meaning his coalition government was often unstable and subject to parliamentary defeats. All in all, Schacht lasted three years as the Chancellor (1923-1926) before being forced by the Zentrum into another general election:

1926 REICHSTAG ELECTION:

Zentrum - 27% - 131 seats
DVP - 22% - 89 seats
SPD - 21% - 84 seats
DDP - 14% - 56 seats
KPD - 6% - 19 seats
VF - 5% - 13 seats
OTHER - 5% - 4 seats

In the subsequent Reichstag's negotiations and due to the large decrease of the Liberals (unpopular due to Schacht's measures being too harsh), it fell to the Zentrum to form its first government. Led by Dr. Wilhelm Marx (Zentrum) as Chancellor, Otto Braun (SPD) as Vice-Chancellor and Gustav Stresseman (DDP) as Foreign Minister, the new government was the more leftist one since Max Weber's, and it remained to be seen how such a combination would work out...

[Lumine]

Provisional Government of Russia:

Alas, poor Russia

Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky, Russia's Last Hope

The Trials and Tribulations of Mother Russia (1901-1909)

It has been said in the past that there is no greater tragedy than that of Russia on this century, and many feel inclined to agree. That a nation so large, so powerful, could go so utterly wrong still opens many questions, questions the ever increasing death toll will never answer. That Russia entered the 20th Century with problems was evident, shown by the lack of political reform, the lack of competence of Tsar Nicholas II in government, corruption, and the large scale poverty seen in the country. What should have been a successful geopolitical play in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire went wrong once the incident of the Sea of Japan led to war between Russia and the Japanese, an opportunity seized by Germany and most of the Great Powers to declare war on Russia and lead a large scale struggle against Nicholas II's Orthodox League. Despite Russia's tough and desperate resistance, what followed was the ruin of the nation. Bulgaria and Serbia crushed under the hell, Poland, the Baltics and Ukraine stripped away, the Russian Fleet sunk and Vladivostok burnt, and thousands dead in the fields.

Unable to participate in the Great War and disenchanted with the Tsar, public discontent in Russia rose to the skies, making ruling the country much harder. With the government of Prince Goremykin unable to control the streets any longer, Sevastopol rising in revolt, Finland and Turkestan in open rebellion, Nicholas II took action. With Okhrana being granted unprecedented powers over the internal government, and the Tsar expanding the so called "Black Hundreds" as a fanatical instrument of repression, revolutionaries, anarchists and national minorities were fought back, if necessary through brawl, if necessary through gunfire. Despite opponents not being organized enough to call it a civil war, the inner conflict took four years to be solved. Turkestan collapsed in anarchy before a military administration was set, and finn volunteers killed by the hundreds as well. By 1909, Nicholas II ruled again his lands with an iron fist, and a death toll in the thousands that did not even account for the unspeakable crimes committed by the now mighty Black Hundreds (of particular note is the "Rape of Sevastopol" after the city was retaken following a sailor mutiny).

Crackdown and Collapse (1909-1920)

Even if the Tsarina had some level of prestige left and even if the growing heirs to the throne remained popular, the goodwill towards the Tsar turned sour. With Pyotr Stolypin and other capable politicians executed on grounds of treason, Nicholas II could not return the government to the traditional politicians on fear that they would attempt to install the long demanded Duma and take away his powers, which meant that the Tsar had to rely on the increasingly bloated bureaucracy of the army, Okhrana, and the hated Black Hundreds. In the end, the 1910-1920 period was characterized by a bloody dictatorship led by Nicholas II and a troika of powerful ministers, all nationalists tied to the Black Hundreds: Vladimir Purishkevich, Nikolai Markov and Alexander Dubrovin. The Russian Government became increasingly corrupt as a result of the lack of oversight, slowly paralyzing the bureaucracy and causing disaster for large sectors of the population while losses due to the Turkestan guerrillas increased every day. Whether the actions of the Russian state in Central Asia constitute genocide or not remains a matter for speculation, but the area soon became hell on earth.

That this system could carry on for so long despite its dangerous lack of solid ground shows how effective the counterrevolutionary techniques of the Tsar's machine were, often destroying new groups before they could take hold, and having dangerous members of the elite of places like Finland executed (the two biggest achievements by Okhrana were the poisoning of Finn General Mannerheim and the captue, torture and execution of revolutionary Vladimir Lenin). But in the end, the house of cards received its death blow with the 1918-1919 crisis. With several nations starting protectionist measures and Ukraine and Poland closing their markets to Russia, the economic crisis turned into famine before long. With the government unable to act and hunger taking hold of the population, several different groups went to the streets demanding a change in government. They were gunned down, and they went to the streets again.

By this time, seeing the violence of the government as senseless, and with the army suffering large desertions due to unsuitable conditions, a group of Generals planned a coup. Loyal to the Tsarist Regime they believed the best chance for stable government was to crown young Prince Alexei as Tsar, forcing Nicholas to abdicate and then send him into honorable exile. On January 1920 the coup began in Minsk, where key plotter General Mikhail Alekseyev attempted to capture the Imperial Family and take hold of Alexei. The Black Hundreds proved hostile, and gunfire erupted in the city. The end result was that of the Tsarina taking Alexei against his will away from the country, as most of the Tsarist entourage lay dead on the spot. With the Tsar missing, General Alekseyev commanded a desperate attempt to find him, until a squad of soldiers found the frozen corpses of Nicholas II and his second son in the outskirts of Minsk. Before Alekseyev could react, the news of the Tsar spread to the whole of Russia as the coup was taking place.

The Russian Civil War (1920-1927)

To point to a single event as the cause of the war is a fruitless task, given how many different factors were involved. Some point to the socialist trade unions capturing St. Petersburg in a popular uprising, others to the government nationalist troika holding up in Moscow and denouncing the coup, others to the collapse of that same coup when officers refused to go ahead or formed their own private armies... with the Tsarina refusing to take the Prince back to Russia as she feared fo his life, there simply was no figure to unite Russia. Chaos ensued, dramatically so. The 1920-1921 is often described as a war between the left-wing leaning government in St. Petersburg, the Moscow troika and the coup generals, but as the war went on the lines were blurred and other actors took hold of the situation. Finland managed to declare independence in late 1921, and capture Murmansk and the Kola peninsula by 1923. Central Asia went free as well in 1922, with the area too fragmented, too damaged for any Russian force to wish to stay. The Caucasus nations went by as well, inspired by Ukraine stripping itself of Austrian and German overlordship in the Ukrainian Revolution to install a fiercely nationalistic government. Even the Germans of the Volga forced a revolt of their own, installing an independent state with private weapons and funding.

And then the generals and politicians themselves crafted warlord states of their own, some lasting in time and some collapsing like the attempted coalition armies of Denikin (1922) and Kornilov (1924). In the end, two decisive factors managed to secure the arrival of a stronger government than the current warlords and minor states, the first being the successful purge of the Communist movement of St. Petersburg by Alexander Kerensky's forces, and the second the death of the Russian Tsarina. Without the influence of her mother Alexei returned to his native soil, many leaders asking for his presence. In the end, Alexei famously met with General Pyotr Wrangel and politician Pavel Milyukov in Minsk, signaling the comeback of the new Tsar and the potential for a new government to be born. The calls for unity were echoed by Kerensky and his St. Petersburg cohorts, and soon enough an odd alliance emerged between monarchists, conservatives, liberals and Kerensky's social democratic leaning forces.

A provisional government was installed in 1925 in St. Petersburg with Alexei II as the crowned constitutional Tsar, with a few powers of his own. Milyukov and Wrangel took key positions in government as Kerensky was appointed Prime Minister presiding over a Duma that started as little more than a puppet, making the Provisional Government more authoritarian than it looked. Having reformed the army and with significant popular will behind them, Wrangel led the Tsar's armies into Moscow, expelling the Troika and taking Markov and Dubrovin prisoner. Purishkevich ran to the East, establishing a new state of his own along with officers loyal to him, claiming loyalty to the Tsar while denouncing Kerensky, Milyukov and Wrangel. With St. Petersburg and Moscow on side, the Provisional Government has broken the balance of power and established itself as the strongest successor state in Russia. Can it win the civil war for good?

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A Guide to the Russian Successor States:

Because otherwise we'll all be confused

Main States:

Russian Provisional Government (yellow): With St. Petersburg as capital and holding Minsk, Moscow and large part of European Russia, the Provisional Government is democratic in name, but semi authoritarian in nature. Led by Tsar Alexei II and Prime Minister Kerensky, it has the strongest economic base and a large military, counting on the talents of men like Pavel Milyukov and Pyotr Wrangel to keep such a strange government in place.

Republic of Siberia (green): Although claiming to be the legal government, it has long been identified with a Siberian state due to its land and the strong presence of Siberian nationalists. Led by Admiral Alexander Kolchak, it is markedly hostile to the Japanese and the Provisional Government, Kolchak himself having grown ambitious. Having a strong army trained over many years, it is a serious contender for domination.

Cossack Government (dark brown): An alliance of Cossack leaders and warlords led by Pytor Krasnov, they hold most of the Caucasus while remaining hostile to Kerensky and Ukraine. Their army is well motivated and strong too, but the Cossack economy remains extremely weak and fragile.

Transbaikal State (red): A warlord state made from the alliance of Baron von Ungern-Sternberg and General Semyonov, allied very closely with Mongolia and under their protection. Often the antagonists of Kolchak's Siberians, this strange warlord state remains alive partly due to the fanaticism of Ungern-Sternberg, whose reputation causes panic on his enemies.

People's Republic of Archangelsk (above the Provisional Government): The biggest revolutionary state in Russia, led by Grigori Zinoviev and utterly hostile to Kerensky, the Archangelsk revolutionaries have spent the past years building a Red Army of peasants under Spanish supervision, aiming to expand the world wide revolution into Russia.

Kutepov's Russia (dark sky blue): A warlord state led by General Alexander Kutepov in the Urals, with help with Ural nationalists of different ethnic groups. Currently serving as the buffer between Kolchak and Kerensky, Kutepov's forces are small, but disciplined, and hard to beat due to the terrain.

Yudenich's Russia (blue): Tied with Zinoviev's communists as the third strongest Russian state, Yudenich's armies have brokered truces with the kazakhs and other groups to cement their hold across the Central Asia border, building a strange and varied army that is often at war with one warlord at a time.

German Volga (lighter blue): The son of German immigrants in the Volga area, this well funded and well armed group seized Tsaritsyn a few months ago, forming an ethnic state of their own often in trouble with the local Russians, and a diplomatic nightmare Chancellor Marx has ignored so far.

Puppet States:

Far Eastern Republic (dark red): Created in 1920 following the Japanese invasion of Vladivostok, it is a Japanese puppet/client state with the purpose of serving as a natural resource base and a trading companion for Japan, although Kolchak, the Mongolians and the Chinese all try to make their own investments and gain their own influence. Unsustainable without Japanese support.

Crimea (light sky blue?): A combination of Tatar Crimea and the Sevastopol enclave built by aristocrat Prince Felix Yusupov after his exile from Moscow, Crimea is technically an Ottoman protectorate, but ruled with the Prince through his enormous wealth, his loyal tatars (his mother was of their descent) and a large army of foreign mercenaries, most of them from the so called Czech Legion that ensure the independence of Czechia from the Austrians. Described a small, rich, corrupt, decadent state, it remains to be seen whether Crimea can survive.

Tannu Tuva (mustard?): A small puppet state of Mongolia, set as a buffer with Kolchak on their western border. Not particularly strong or firm, many believe it is one of the first states to disappear.

Other:

Mongolia (dark blue): Born out of a Mongolian revolt against the Chinese and supported by Russian exiles, the Mongolian state holds part of the Transiberian Railroad and its currently allied with the Tuva and with Semyonov's government, hostile to the Japanese, he Chinese and the Siberians after crowning the Bogd Khan the Khan of all Mongols.

Ukraine (pink): Initially an Austrian vassal, then potentially a German until the 1919 Ukrainian Revolution expelled the foreigners to install a fiercely nationalistic government bent on cementing its hold on the area and crushing the powerful Anarchist movement in the area. Occasionally aligned with Romania, they haven't been able to take part in the Civil War due to their fight against Nestor Makhno and his Green Army, but that may not last forever.

Finland (sky blue): Born out of resentment after an attempt at independence in 1905 was crushed, Finland is Russophobic to the core after the events of the past decades, having secure independence and the violently taking out a whole warlord state in Murmansk and the Kola Peninsula to impose their will. Currently a serious threat in the eyes of the Kerensky Government.

Other Caucasus States (various): Small states made out of former nations or ethnic groups like Georgians, Azeris, Armenians and so on, their remain a buffer between Krasnov's Cossacks and the Ottoman Empire, both nations often trying to influence and vassalize these small states.

Central Asia (various): Do not ask, do not go there.

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A Guide to the Balkans:

Or, I curse the day I broke up Austria-Hungary

Main States:

Austria, Galicia and what now is German: The once proud nation crumbled and collapsed in ethnic strife after the failure of the Ausgleich, the death of Charles I and the attempted Socialist revolution, which forced the German Government to send in the cavalry. Galicia and Austria were captured or annexed rapidly (the second with actual support from the population), the first given to Poland and the other a new German state. The armies of the Reich wanted to go deeper towards Prague and Belgrade, but a combination of the UK, France, Italy and other powers vetoed further German gains.

Czechia: Germany was not a fan of the idea, but forced to accept the existence of a Czech state (while taking for itself some parts of the Sudetenland), Czechia was born from the ashes of Austria-Hungary, led initially by Tomas Masaryk, the "Liberator". Whereas Masaryk's intention was to lead Czechia into democracy, he was shot down by a leftist agitator in the early 1920's. After the Czech Army step in a coup to restore order, Czechia is now ruled by a surprisingly popular military-aristocratic government in form of a council, currently led by General Jan Syrovy and Prince Karl von Schwarzenberg. It is at times at odds with the Magyars, but fears Germany more.

Magyar Republic:  The Hungarians were beyond tired of the Empire by the time the 1917 Ausgleich went by, and when Charles was murdered and the military government in Vienna blamed a group of Hungarian nationalists, a revolution was on the making. The Magyar Republic was formed in Budapest and soon grew to incorporate Slovakia, having to stop there due to the German intervention (which they deeply resented) and the war with Romania over Transylvania. Having broken their ties to the Habsburgs, the Magyar Republic (initially a soft-conservative semi-democracy) is a nationalistic, militaristic dictatorship led by the charismatic Gyula Gombos and his Deputy Pal Teleki, both men defending "magyar imperialism" and denouncing foreign powers for meddling in the Balkans, which brings them some support and tolerance in other countries.

Bulgaria: Utterly humiliated by the Ottomans in 1903 and forced to a Treaty that the nation hated, the Bulgarians waited for their moment carefully, even as their nation was mistrated by occupation forces. When the 1915-1916 crisis developed in the Ottoman Empire, the Bulgarian Resistance Army rose revolt, seconded by the surprise coup of the Bulgarian Tsar in Sofia. With the Bulgarians crushing the occupation forces and marching on Istanbul, the Young Turks signed a treaty giving Bulgaria its independence back. A stable yet autocratic government rules the nation with sporadic elections, led by Tsar Ferdinand the Liberator and Prime Minister Kimon Georgiev, with Prince Boris handling several government matters as well.

Serbia: Serbia rose in revolt against its King in 1905 and also in anger at the Austrians, placing Peter I as the new Serbian King. Serbia would prove a constant source of trouble for the military government of the Empire, tension that finally broke out when the Balkan Crisis erupted and Serbia gained its full independence from the Empire. With attempts to introduce parliamentary rule due to the early death of Peter (1908) and the disastrous reign of George (1908-1913) failing due to constant meddling by the Austrians, after the Balkan Crisis Serbia turned to autocracy by the grace of King Alexander I, popular and capable. While Serbia has guarded itself from being a source of conflict despite its ambitions, Alexander has spent a long time building up the Serbian military and economy, and has built strong ties to Greece and.

Greece: Living in peace as an Italian influenced vassal, the history of Greece proved uncontroversial for the most part, even if after the death of George I the ambition of King Constantine proved rather dangerous for the balance of power. Indeed, it has always been suspected (not confirmed) that the Bulgarian Liberation Army was funded by Greece, who could not enter the war directly on the instructions of Rome. When Italy itself turned to civil war Athens stopped being an Italian vassal, although the relationship with Rome remained surprisingly cordial. General Ioannis Metaxas rules the country, King George II his puppet.

Other: No need for me to give greater detail on the others. All that's needed (I think), is to know that Slovenia exists as a demand of the great powers to Germany (as a neutral buffer), that Bosnia and Albania remain very much linked towards the Ottomans, that Croatia has been perhaps the most unstable country in the area and as a result has to deal with the nationalistic government often influenced from Rome, and that Montenegro remains fairly neutral and peaceful. Romania you know from the backstory.