History of Urcea (1902-1955): Difference between revisions

==Restoration==

The King decided to consult with the leadership of the [[Concilium Daoni]] to determine the fate of the last near-decade and a half of laws, and the solution reached was considered novel by contemporaries. Every action taken by the [[Government of Urcea]] since December 21st, 1889 (the date of the death of [[King Aedanicus VIII]]), besides the election of 1900, was considered illegitimate and void, and instead, the Daoni would pass an omnibus bill containing all of the reforms that the King and Daoni leadership wanted to retain. The Concilium Daoni then, on December 4th, 1902, considered and passed the "[[Constitutional Settlement Act of 1902]]", including an extremely broad array of legislative initiatives codifying what had occurred in the last decade and a half. Questions regarding the power and status of the office of [[Procurator]] were left to be settled at a later time. [[King Patrick III]] also began to reform the [[Armed Forces of the Apostolic Kingdom of Urcea]], recalling dismissed or deserted officers and soldiers from the past years back into service and issuing wide-reaching pardons to all but the highest commanders of the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Regal Army]], restoring normalcy in the armed forces. The pardon was particularly necessary for the reestablishment of the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]], as the experience of former Regal Navy officers and sailors would be critical for maintaining a navy going forward. The Daoni, on a request of the King, passed a law compensating large landowners who had lost their land during the war, especially under the [[Urcean Republic]], but instead opened the land settlement and residency for the widowed families of soldiers - both Legitimist and Regal forces - in the last large scale [[Ómestaderoi]] program. The final major act of 1902 was by the King himself, upon prompting by the [[Concilium Daoni]], issued his reform for [[Social class in Urcea]]. Rather than using FitzRex's system which lowered property requirement for optimates to nothing, the King decided to use his authority to completely abolish the optimate class, elevating the entire citizen body to the rank of privilegiata, thereby making it coterminous with citizenship in [[Urcea]]. Despite having been in the deepest throes of civil war just the month before, the war-weary populace received the various reforms and post-war expeidents well, and the 1902 Nativity season was characterized by a sense of cautious optimism and renewed trust in national kinship; it was recorded in many papers at the time that Christmas in 1902 saw many exemplary (and sometimes outlandish) acts of public charity, an event which would be remembered by the nation for years to come.

As 1903 came to a close and 1904 dawned, the King began to prepare for the 1905 election and subsequent transition of power to elected officials as well as a new, full Concilium Daoni. He decided to set forth a handful of policies in order to finish the restoration work he had began in 1902. Namely, the King began an extremely extensive infrastructure project which would not only rebuild the nation's wartorn railways, bridges, and buildings, but also construct many new ones. The King also took an interest in the construction of airfields and hangars for airships. His continued interest in the emergent technology of airships and, to a lesser extent, airplanes, lead to his creation of the [[Royal Air Force (Urcea)|Royal Air Fleet]] in 1904, the precursor of the modern Urcean Royal Air Force. The King's interest in military affairs did not end with experimental air technology, however. The complete failure of the [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Regal Navy]] during the [[Red Interregnum]] allowed for successful operations for the Legitimists including the noteworthy [[Fall of Cana]]. King Patrick III was deeply influenced by the effect of sea power on the outcome of the war. Like his father, the King proposed a major renovation of the navy. Integrating Regal Navy personnel, the King began construction of a modern fleet of ships. Uniquely for the time, the King decided to invite foreign military advisers to Urcea. Many radical naval thinkers from [[Burgundie]] came to [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] in the period between 1904 and 1910, giving significant input on how a new and modern navy should look, how it should operate, and how it should be made up. Many of these advisers, like the King, had the lived experience of the [[Red Interregnum]] to provide key lessons. The King's naval reconstruction effort provided a major boost to the reconstructing economy, and the industrial base of the nation was up to the task. By 1912, the navy that the King had called for was largely in place, and most contemporaries noted that it was large enough and advanced enough to give Urcea the ability to project power on a nearly global basis and certainly in the Sea of Canete. Part of this effort saw the design and construction of the very first dreadnought in [[Levantia]] - the HMCMS ''Royal Hound'' - launched in 1909. The naval reconstruction effort centered around the ''Royal Hound'' and its sister ships in the [[Archduchy-class battleship|''Archduchy''-class]] as well as the general-use [[Coria-class cruiser|''Coria''-class]], among many other ship classes. From that point onward, the Navy overtook the [[Royal and Imperial Army (Urcea)|Royal Army]] as the area of special focus for the [[Government of Urcea]]. King Patrick III has been considered by some historians to be the father of the modern [[Royal Navy (Urcea)|Royal Navy]], and an architect of Urcea's coming naval dominance in the [[Second Great War]] two decades later.

The Urcean economy became increasingly unstable due to the loosened restrictions on usury proclaimed by the King several years earlier. In [[1908]], the Royal Bank of Urcea informed the [[Concilium Purpaidá]] that received interest on its excessive lending was insufficient and that the Bank may face an insolvency issue by the late 1910s. This fact became public in February 1909, leading to major concerns of debts being called in. On 12 February 1909, a massive market sell off began as speculators sought to have enough liquid capital to cover a debt recall. This sell-off lead to a chain reaction beginning the [[Great Depression]] in [[Urcea]] and [[Levantia]] as a whole. The National Democratic Party-lead [[Concilium Daoni]] passed the "National Banking Act" on 12 March 1909, which reinforced pre-Interregnum anti-usury laws and ordered the Royal Bank to restructure by changing from an interest-based to a [[Levantine banking and finance|non-interest based system]]. These moves stabilized the economy for the time being, but the country was plagued with some political turmoil for a decade to come. While the country remained more stable than it had been in the period of the Regency, a low-level war began between the [[Agency for the Preservation of the Restoration]] and the insurgent [[Republican Party (Urcea)|National Republican Army]], whose ranks swelled with unemployed, especially unemployed veterans.