History of Urcea (1798-1902): Difference between revisions

Aedanicus's reign was characterized by a cultural renaissance in Urcea. A spirit of national renewal had been on the rise since the end of the [[Second Caroline War]] during the reign of King Niall, as the reform efforts successfully created a sense of national consciousness. This sense of consciousness exploded after the [[Third Caroline War]], and Romantic nationalism swept the nation, though, unlike in other countries, in induced adoration and praise for King Aedanicus and his predecessor King Niall for their wisdom and strength in leading the country. Though many historians have dismissed Aedanicus's reign as overrated and the praise he received by contemporaries unwarranted, especially considering the reduction of prerogatives of the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] during his reign, 21st century historians have given Aedanicus praise for his full embrasure of the cultural revival in the country at the time. Besides commissioning public arts programs, Aedanicus fully engorged himself in everything the Romantic movement had to offer. Famously, the King convened a [[Great Landsmeet]] in 1858 - an ancient Urcean institution not seen since the 13th century - to adopt the [[Tria nomina movement|Tria nomina system]], which recalled [[Great Levantia|ancient Levantine]] naming systems. The King also involved himself heavily in the appearance of the nation, introducing landscape architecture to the country, which would lay the groundwork for the success of the city beautiful movement in Urcea following the restoration in the early 20th century. His building program included construction of the [[Caroline Arch]], celebrating the Kingdom's victory in the [[Third Caroline War]]. Most famously, the King connected several disparate parks - including the Royal Gardens outside the [[Julian Palace]] built in the Imperial era - into a massive park known as the [[Royal Green]], which stretched across the entirety of [[the Pale]]. The dome of the [[Julian Palace]] had collapsed in 1858, and accordingly, following up on the construction of the new park, the King began a massive renovation of the Julian Palace in 1861. The project, mostly an entire reconstruction of the building, which had been last altered in the 17th century, brought its current Gothic revival form into being. The King relocated to [[Castle Welute]] on a semi-permanent basis after the 1858 collapse and subsequent renovation. During this time, the King also completed a renovation of The Praetorium, the government hub for both [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and the [[Urceopolis (Archduchy)|Archduchy of Urceopolis]]. All three projects were complete in time for the [[List of world's fairs|1869-70 International Exposition]], when the palace was opened to international visitors for the first six months of the Exposition. The King also ordered the removal of several layers of outer defenses of the then-neglected [[Castle Welute]], including the crumbling outer walls. The King also introduced planned revitalization of the Castle complex, though it was not carried out until the restoration of his son, [[King Patrick III]]. Another major project of the King's was the construction of the [[Carolina-Grand Canal]], beginning in 1865 and completed in 1880. The Canal was the first access point to the Vandarch from the [[Urce River]], and the project helped [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] continue its ascent as a major world economic capital. The canal's 15-year construction would later cause significant problems for the government, as the cost of construction played a role in the large debts incurred by Urcea by the 1880s.

During the 1880s, [[King Aedanicus VIII|King Aedanicus]], now in his 60s, was struggling with various illnesses and would be known to have long lapses of reason and consciousness. Beginning a tradition that remains through the present, the King decided to permanently relocate to [[Castle Welute]] to take in the "country airs" and to escape the looming political chaos in [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]]. Despite this retreat from public life, the King finalized publication of the ''[[Consolidated Laws of HMCM's Kingdom and State]]'', a sweeping legal reform and consolidation that considerably eased administrative and judicial burdens. The Election of 1885 threw the government into chaos, as dissenting factions within the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] could not agree on a leader. King Aedanicus opted to appoint a leading General, [[Gréagóir FitzRex]], as [[Procurator]] in an attempt to co-opt the military and restoring order in the government. FitzRex received a very narrow approval from the [[Concilium Daoni]] and began to exercise increasing control over the government, appointing his own members to the Purpaidá despite that being under the Chancellor's purview. Despite the military's nascent political power, it was not immune from the growing sense of decay at the end of the long Aedanicad that struck every other part of the country and society. While the navy was falling behind technologically, the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]] became imbued in a scandal known as the ''Eight Rifle Affair'', in which the Army ordered [[List_of_Urcean_service_weapons#Affair_Six|8 different standardized rifle designs]] between 1880 and 1887 due to a series of escalating favors and corruption within the Army and connected industries, with six of the rifles being used for less than a decade. The Eight Rifle Affair was supported by funds specifically appropriated for the conversion to use of {{wp|bolt action rifles}} as part of a modernization program, and the failure and controversy around it weaked both the Apostolic King and [[Concilium Daoni]]. The Eight Rifle Affair was extremely costly to the already-tight government budget, leading to a near-discrediting of the army and a hope for FitzRex's opposition. Army leadership eventually decided to license a foreign design from [[Veltorina]]. The adoption of the this semi-successful licensed rifle - dubbed the SR-8 - brought the affair to an end in 1887, finally giving the Royal Army a standardized bolt-action rifle for use for the next decade and a half. The Affair gave the late Aedanicad regime its popular nickname - the "Rifled State" - referring both to public corruption and the general influence of the armed forces.

Now empowered, Procurator FitzRex convinced the elderly King to grant him the previously Royal title of [[Ranks in the Urcean Armed Forces|Magister Militum]], granting FitzRex total control over the [[Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea|armed forces]], subsequently inducing the Daoni to vote the powerless title Commander-in-Chief to the King instead. The Daoni remained without a [[Chancellor and Temporary President]] for the remainder of the 1886-1890 term, and Procurator FitzRex used this to push through a series of aggressive reforms intended at modernization, which were initially popular. In late October 1889, King Aedanicus VIII died, beginning a sequence of events that would result in Urcea transitioning to a Crown Regency led by FitzRex.

== Crown Regency ==

While the initial revolt was largely between disaffected [[Crown Liberalism|Crown Liberals]] and the Regency, leaders of the uprising pledged to recall the [[King Patrick III|Prince of Halfway]] of [[House de Weluta]], then living in exile in [[Burgundie]], to the Throne. The promise of restoration motivated [[Catholic Church|Church]] officials to lean towards the side of the insurrectionaries, and the liberal National Pact successfully forged an alliance with traditionalist conservatives who held power in the [[Ionian Plateau]]. No large scale fighting occurred in 1897, but by the end of the year a portion of the armed forces had defected to the rebelling parties, which were now calling themselves the "''Legitimists''". Facing a larger coalition, [[Gréagóir FitzRex|FitzRex]] began to move his technocratic regime in an increasingly socialist direction in an attempt to bring the lower classes to his banner, a move that many historians claim was successful and politically shrewd though in complete contravention of FitzRex's stated rationale for his alliance with Caphiria. Early 1898 saw a campaign of [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]] forces trying and failing to break into the [[Ionian Plateau]] in an effort to capture Legitimist leaders, and the failure to do so - culminating with a decisive Legitimist victory at the Battle of Goldvale in April - put the Regency regime on the defensive for much of the remainder of the war. Various states of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] - citing the illegality of Urcea's planned secession and answering calls from within Urcea - declared war following the battle in an effort to help the restoration. Much of the war from 1898 through 1900 focused on the guerilla conflict and small scale clashes domestically, though the war - which was now part of the global [[First Great War]] - saw relatively significant naval action in the run up to allied intervention. The presence of large rebel armies on Urcean territory and foreign blockading actions provided FitzRex with the pretext to indefinitely suspend meetings of the [[Concilium Daoni]], leaving total control of the war government in the hands of his handpicked [[Concilium Purpaidá]] ministers. As the war progressed, FitzRex determined it necessary to make a secret promise to Caphiria that Urcea would cede it [[Lariana]] at the successful conclusion of the conflict. This promise would play a role in the later [[Second Great War]].

The "Crowned republic" scandal would embroil FitzRex's government and largely serve to discredit the regency in the eyes of most moderates and especially moderate conservatives. Publicly, FitzRex continued to offer his guarantee that a new King might soon be found on schedule with Urcea's withdrawal from the Empire in 1905. Privately, however, FitzRex soured on the prospect of monarchy given the ability of [[King Patrick III|Patrick, Prince of Halfway]] in the field and in the public imagination; though FitzRex would not pick someone as strong willed or capable, the position was a threat to him all the same. In August of 1901 the Crown-Regent privately began to draw up plans for reforming the Apostolic Kingdom into the "United Provinces of Urcea" with a strong executive Presidency, which he of course would fill, allowing FitzRex to exercise permanent legitimacy in office. Whether or not FitzRex thought the United Provinces plan would work is unclear, but historians believe he was planning on floating several "trial balloons", so to speak, in advance of revealing the full plan. Government officials leaked the plan at the end of August, outraging the public and forcing FitzRex to entirely disavow the plan. Despite his public disavowal, the Regency began to lose the support of committed constitutional monarchists, who had already been weary of working alongside socialists and professional military officers.

Under siege, the Republican government adopted an increasingly radical posture, moving from a position that could be called revolutionary democratic socialism to a more overt dictatorship of the proletariat, purging the remaining privilegiata from the officer corps and arresting any remaining former [[Social class in Urcea|optimates]] as potential fifth columnists. Increasing war footing alienated the outer boroughs of the city, which had always been tepid in their support, leading to the Republican forces retreating into [[Urceopolis#The%20Pale|the Pale]] and [[Urceopolis#Oldtown|Oldtown]], which they fortified. The radical footing of the government undermined its authority, however, as a dispute with the [[Pope]] led to the National Guard seizing the [[Papal State]], sending Pope Leo XIII fleeing to allied lines and polarizing the thoroughly Catholic population of the Republic, as the Church - heretofore a neutral party - now fully condemned the revolutionary government. The radicalization also resulted in a crackdown on the [[Commonwealth Union (Urcea)|Commonwealth Union]], which soon fled the city and defected to the Legitimist cause, making a large public disavowal of republicanism in the process.

On September 8th, combined Urceo-Burgoignesc marine forces stormed [[The Pale]], successfully taking the island after a short skirmish on the [[Royal Green]], which notably left bullet holes in parts of the Levantine Forum which can still be seen today. The same day, the [[King Patrick III|Prince of Halfway]] took up residence in the [[Julian Palace]] but announced he would not take the crown until the whole of Urceopolis was unified under Royal control. The Republican government, now confined to Oldtown, grew increasingly radical and formed the [[Republican Party (Urcea)|Republican Party]], the only legal party within the Daoni. The siege continued on and, without access to the [[Urce River]], the city slowly began to starve once more. The once-strong political binds between the workers and the Republic slowly began to fray, and party officials were often seen openly feuding in the street and gathering rival street gangs. Morale recovered somewhat to begin October as a Legitimist raiding party was captured and publicly executed as reactionary traitors, giving the impression that the National Republican Army was still a fighting force of note. By October, fighting men (and, by now, women) fit for combat was probably no higher than around 40,000 due to defections, disease, and the loss of The Pale. Legitimist forces could have stormed the city - allied forces were probably around 400,000 all told - but a potential sack of Urceopolis was considered to be the absolute worst possible scenario for the legitimacy of the Restoration.