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History of Urcea (1798-1902): Difference between revisions
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History of Urcea (1798-1902) (view source)
Revision as of 10:12, 28 February 2023
, 28 February 2023→Rise of the Rifled State
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===Rise of the Rifled State=== | ===Rise of the Rifled State=== | ||
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 | The various reforms of the Aedanicad had made Urcean society generally more open and prosperous, but Aedanicus's continued focus on the Army in the runup to the [[Third Caroline War]] left them a large number of rights and privileges that, over time, allowed the military to accrue power. These rights and privileges included By the 1880s, the military was led by a cadre of [[Social_class_in_Urcea#Privilegiata_2|privilegiata]] officers who had largely displaced the optimates among the general staff by the Third Caroline War. These individuals formed a relatively tight knit social circle in and around [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]], and by the 1880s the "military privilegiata" were viewed largely as an independent social class within Urcean society and government. Their connections over the preceding decades enabled the rights and privileges of the military to grow significantly. By [[1875]], a non-voting delegate from the armed forces was seated in the [[Concilium Daoni]], and by 1878 creation of a third chamber alongside the Daoni and [[Gildertach]]], a "military assembly" similar to the [[Military Assembly (Caphiria)|Caphirian institution]], was being discussed. The military assembly plan was largely unpopular but was viewed favorably by both leading political figures and by military figures, by the former as a way to contain the military's growing influence by means of legitimation and by the latter as a formalization of the military's power. The plan would become moot following the 1885 election, but has been pointed to by historians as an example of the newfound political power of the military during the late Aedanicad. | ||
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 1889, King Aedanicus VIII died and supposedly named FitzRex as Crown Regent for the Kingdom rather than the normal succession to his son and heir, the Prince of Halfway, [[King Patrick III|Patrick]]. Historians, scholars, and forensics experts have long argued whether or not "''Aedanicus's Last Will and Testament''" was forged. Either way, Procurator [[Gréagóir FitzRex]] became Crown-Regent Gréagóir FitzRex, as no King sat in the [[Julian Palace]]. The new Crown-Regent swore to install a "legitimate but popular" King following a brief period of reform. | 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 1889, King Aedanicus VIII died and supposedly named FitzRex as Crown Regent for the Kingdom rather than the normal succession to his son and heir, the Prince of Halfway, [[King Patrick III|Patrick]]. Historians, scholars, and forensics experts have long argued whether or not "''Aedanicus's Last Will and Testament''" was forged. Either way, Procurator [[Gréagóir FitzRex]] became Crown-Regent Gréagóir FitzRex, as no King sat in the [[Julian Palace]]. The new Crown-Regent swore to install a "legitimate but popular" King following a brief period of reform. | ||