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

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On October 2nd, 1929, the 70-year old Emperor James III - King James VI of [[Urcea]] - died. In [[Urcea]], the ascension of King Brian IV was met with considerable optimism, as the new King was very popular and well-liked during his eight months as regent. The members of the [[Collegial Electorate]] and [[Imperial Diet]] - both of which were now meeting in [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] - were sharply divided on the prospect of electing another [[Urcean people|Urcean]] to sit as [[Emperor of the Levantines]]. Given the emergency environment, the Electorate was convened the same day as the Emperor's death. Following hours of debate and rounds of voting, King Brian IV was eventually elected Emperor by a plurality of 12 votes. The next day, October 3rd, he received a dual coronation from the [[Pope]] in [[St. Peter's Archbasilica]], receiving the traditional coronations due the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] and [[Emperor of the Levantines]]. The campaign season ended soon after, but the new Emperor - Brian VIII in Levantine numbering - took steps to put Urcea on a total war footing, bringing the entire industrial base of the country into the war effort with approval of the [[Concilium Daoni]]. His predecessor, Emperor James III, had been of the opinion that the rebellion in Dericania could be subdued with expeditionary forces and Urcea's current supply system, but Brian recognized that, even if that were true, war with [[Caphiria]] was probably inevitable. The [[Concilium Daoni]], on the King's request, also introduced a limited conscription program.

  With the war devolving into a static boundaries, enthusiasm for the [[National Democratic Party (Urcea)|National Democratic Party]] and its handling of the war began to fall, while Urcean public support for the war was still high. Also during the summer of 1930, [[Urcea]] agreed to support [[Burgundie]] in its ongoing war in [[Audonia]], which soon became the eastern theater of the expanding [[Second Great War]]; Urcea and Burgundie agreed upon a [[Kingdom of Dericania]]-first strategy, prioritizing the existential threat to Burgundie and the Empire over what Urceopolis considered a "colonial squabble". In November of 1930, the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] won a majority in the [[Concilium Daoni]] and elected a [[Procurator]], allowing it to form its first government since the national unity government of [[King Patrick III]] prior to the 1905 election. The National Pact renounced the policy of "The Emperor's Word is Urcea's Word", but nonetheless promised King Brian IV that his emergency war powers were safe for the time being. Instead, the King had a new popular mandate from the National Pact government: preservation of the [[Holy Levantine Empire]] was important for regional stability and should be a priority, but the first priority for the Emperor was to attain an honorable end of the war. A secret conference between the King and the incoming National Pact leaders held on December 11th, 1930, set forth the nation's policy.

Lucás IV entered his fifth year as [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] in 1952; as a reversal of his earlier posture, the King began working with the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]]-led government in order to try and bring the fighting to a peaceful settlement, an effort with which he met considerable resistance. Particularly, the [[Ministry of State (Urcea)|Minister of State]] wielded particular influence within the government, and his view - that a negotiated peace was essentially a zero sum proposition - meant that most within the Pact would not accept anything besides the total defeat of [[Caphiria]], a goal that looked increasingly unachievable despite victories in the [[Great War#V.C3.A2lcean%20Theater|Valcenian Theater]] of the war. Specifically, the government's stance was that of "no peace without [[Veltorina]]", or in other words, [[Urcea]] would not accept an end to the war that did not include the full sovereignty of [[Veltorina]] being respected, a stance that the King and opposing [[National Democratic Party (Urcea)|National Democratic Party]] viewed as unreasonable and as an unnecessary waste of men and resources. Although the King had the authority to contradict the government and bring an end to hostilities through his own authority - a power the [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] still retains - the King was unwilling to push the boundaries of the [[Constitution of Urcea]]. Consequently, he began a whistle-stop campaign throughout the country by meeting with governors, local officials, and members of the [[Concilium Daoni]] in their districts rather than in [[Urceopolis]]. His intention was to bring awareness to how unlikely an outright victory in the war was and to implore officials to begin calls for an end to the war that the King himself could join later. On July 30th, 1952, this campaign took him to Fort St. Andrew in [[Eastvale]] to meet with the Governor of the province. At the Fort St. Andrew Station, a car bomb detonated, and though the explosion did not directly harm King Lucás IV, the force of the explosion tipped the King's car on him as he was about to enter it. The King, crushed under the car, was still alive though unconscious when a group of armed men stormed the area. The King was not shot by the men, but the desperate attempts by the outnumbered [[Life Guard (Urcea)|Life Guard]] to hold the perimeter meant that the King could not be given help in time. King Lucás IV, 32 years old, died later that night in the Hospital of St. James. He was the first [[Apostolic King of Urcea]] to be assassinated. The next day, [[Derian people|Derian]] extremists claimed responsibility for the assassination, claiming that [[House de Weluta]] was responsible for the misery and bloodshed of the ongoing [[Third Fratricide]].

What King Lucás IV could not achieve in life, he achieved in death. Lucás's brother, the new King Patrick IV, was informed by the [[Procurator]] on August 2nd, 1952, that the government intended to try and achieve a "peace with honor" on [[Sarpedon]] so as to focus on the [[Third Fratricide]], as links had been decisively established between the extremist cell and the Derian Liberation League. Popular support for the [[Second Great War]] in the 1940s had turned to resigned apathy by the 1950s; popular focus now began to shift in favor of war in [[Dericania]] to avenge the fallen King, as the Rally 'round the flag effect came into full effect in the weeks following the King's assassination. In response, the [[Government of Urcea]] began arms shipments to the Dericania National Congress beginning on August 10th, though no full military response could be mustered without removing significant forces from the [[Second Great War]]. Popular opinion had begun to grow to anger by October, as polls indicated that most Urceans believed the [[National Pact (Urcea)|National Pact]] government had "not sufficiently responded to the assassination" and that the assassination was a "grievous insult to Urcean nationality and the pride of the Kingdom". On his part, King Patrick IV associated himself with the views of the people and began to urge the Government - in private and in public - to reach some kind of accord with [[Caphiria]] to end the conflict.