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"I gratefully thank the glorious people of Chile for the results of the election this year; I can assure you, I will not let you down.

However, there are many more pressing matters at hand. We have a communist revolution on our hands. We must do what Chile does best: we fight. We shall fight for our children, our children's children, the very future of Chile, her survival as a democratic state. The night is darkest before the dawn, and the dawn is just around the corner. With faith in the people of Chile, with all of you, we can ensure the blessings of Peace and Prosperity for ourselves and our posterity."


~Daniel Palomino
Admiral & President-Elect
 
"I offer my congratulations to Palomino on the results of the election, I may be very inclined to a strong military, but I can see the wisdom in your words, which is why I threw my support behind you senor, but I do hope that you don't weaken the military to such a level that leaves us open to other potential coups. I hope for this foul Communist coup to be crushed swiftly and the perpetrators dealt with. If it comes down to it, I will personally engage in combat to protect the Chilean people from the Communists."
- Carlos Ramone de Guerro
 
Congratulations Señor Palomino! You shall bring back freedom to the hearts and minds of Chileans. You will go down in history as the reclaimer of Chile from Communist radicals.

Three Hoorahs for the return of the Liberales to the presidency.

And yet while you democratically won in the poles, Chile must unfortunately fight for its survival on the battlefield. May she come out in one piece.
 
"Defenders of freedom and democracy? What of those defenders of Chile alone? Do they not deserve to have power alongside the other defenders?"

Dr. Sebastian Montenegro

"If you do not defend what makes Chile Chile, then you are no defender of Chile."
 
The 1926-1928 Civil War, Part 1: Bleeding Santiago​

The 7th Chilean Civil War began on the evening of the 1925 General Election, when Minister of the Interior Agustin Serrano declared a halt to the electoral process and the installation of the communist party as the permanent governing authority in Chile. By January 1926, Chile had erupted into a new Civil War. His actions were backed by the ailing then-President Fuentes and the general of the Southern Army Group, Julio Varde. Fleet Admiral Palomino, the favored candidate to win the Presidential election, led the coalition of the Republican forces, which included Francisco Villa, of the 1st Army, Minister of Foreign Affairs and General of the 3rd Army Juan Rivera, and General Ernst Thaumen of the Army of the Caribbean. On the eve of the coup, the Minister of the Interior ordered the arrests of the Republican ministers, Juan Rivera and Vice President David Bevan, only to discover he had no authority within the city. The capital guard, still loyal to the status quo government, confronted police officers escorting Rivera and Bevan and freed both. At that point, Serrano asked Minister of Defense Manuel Rommeni to place the Chilean military at this disposal. Rommeni resigned, and the entire central Army Group stood down in confusion.

In a now-famous midnight address, former President David Bevan was able to reach Radio Nacional de Santiago (RNS), then the largest radio station in Chile, and broadcast a message saying a nation-wide coup was in progress. Admiral Palomino, only a few dozen miles west of the city in Chilean Pacific Fleet Command in Valparaiso, understood immediately. The 25-ship Chilean 3rd Fleet set sail within two hours (with both Bevan and Rivera aboard) and relocated to Antofagasta, where General Villa made the headquarters of the 1st Army of the Republic. There, the Republican forces planned their counterattack.

However, the first move belonged to neither side. At the outset of the civil war, Santiago was a city of 3 million - the fourth largest in the civilized world, behind New York, London, and Moscow. When news of the coup hit the streets, nearly a 108,000 armed partisans took the streets, dwarfing the by-comparison small capital guard of 18,000 stationed at De Santa Rosa Army Base. The numbers in Santiago were nearly even between the well-organized Red Guard militia and elements of the fascist Blackshirts, Republican Guard militia, and Germanist Citizen Guard. The phenomenon was not localized. 66,000 took to the streets in Talca, 36,000 in Neuquen, 93,000 in Mercedes, and 102,000 in Tucuman. Both sides enacted the draft in cities where such measures were still plausible: Serrano raised 141,000 soldiers mostly from the Communist bastion of Telen, while Villa mustered close to 100,000 from Antofagasta, Puno, and Salta in the north. The lines of battle remained chaotic for months as hastily organized conscript and militia groups fought in city streets, almost universally converging on the city of Santiago. Over a two year period, the Battle of Santiago, or Santiago Sangrado (Bleeding Santiago), more than 750,000 soldiers would pour into the capital. Lack of uniforms and communications a hectic urban battlescape made friendly fire, disease, and civilian deaths commonplace.

Bleeding Santiago claimed more than 400,000 lives, out of at least a million casualties, and became the bloodiest battle the world had seen to that date. Over half of the casualties sustained during the civil war were sustained in Santiago (roughly half civilians and half military), and until the end of the civil war, the city would remain no man's land.

Shelled constantly day and night by artillery from both sides, with explosive, gas, and incindiary munitions, bombarded by the navy at least twice, and variously bombed by Revolutionary and Republican Airforce, Santiago was essentially burned to the ground. The historic palace at La Moneda, which had stood since 1784, was burned to the frame in the opening weeks of the fighting. To this day, no one knows which side was responsible for the loss.

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Player Actions Needed:

Part II incoming, maybe later today.
 
The 1926-1928 Civil War, Part 2: The Catamarca Bottleneck​

The battle of Santiago choked off any possibility of major troop movement west of the Andean mountain range. Prior to the 7th Chilean Civil War, in December 1925, the Chilean Army had roughly 750,000 men standing. Three months later, at the height of the conflict, the figure had doubled to over 1,500,000. As of February 1926, the Communist forces stood at 600,000, while Republican forces stood at 800,000. Half of these soldiers had swarmed Valparaiso and the era around Santiago, straining western supply lines to their limits and backing up roads for hundreds of miles with convoys and military vehicles. Francisco Villa, the revolutionary general who had opposed the communists from the 1921 election, was named General of the Armies of Chile in January by Daniel Palomino, then the presumptive President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Republican Forces. Villa, after mustering his forces in the north, began the march South to Tucuman, where he routed the upstart communist militias and established the headquarters of the Eastern Army group.

As quickly as Villa moved, the Communists moved faster. While Serrano led the western front, the politburo of the Partido Comunista appointed Julio Varde the commander of the eastern theater. Varde, who had advanced knowledge of the coup, snapped into action and marched north from the Southern Army Group's headquarters at Telen, quickly seizing the city of Mercedes in late December and moving onto Reconquista, Santa Fe, by February 1926. Varde realized that his smaller numbers in the east meant he could not hold the entirety of the Mercedes parallel and pushed further north, moving the Army group up to the Reconquista parallel. He established his line of battle just out of range of Telen, across the provinces of Santa Fe, Mailin, and Catamarca, establishing a strong defensive line along the string of provinces. His maneuver is now considered textbook in Chilean defense. Varde's line, hundreds of miles of machine gun and artillery batteries backed by heavy anti-tank weapons and anti-air emplacements, ran through and behind a continuous series of natural obstacles. When he arrived, Villa found no length of the line he could attack. Attacking in Catamarca, where most of the fighting along the line did take place, required him to charge fortifications in the Catamarca hills at the foot of the Andean mountain range. These hills ran into thick forest in Mailin, impassible to armor, which itself conjoined with the Parano river in Santa Fe, along which Varde had destroyed every bridge.

The Varde strategy had essentially reduced the eastern front to the pre-armor era. Unable to cross the Parano in the east, Villa established his own defensive line and poured shock troops into the Mailin forest and the Catamarca foothills. After months of bloodshed and no movement on the front, Villa finally appealed to Admiral Palomino for another solution. Palomino himself had been busy in the Republican provisional capital at Antofagasta. After General Thaumen put down a minor communist insurgency on the island of Martinique, Palomino pulled off a diplomatic coup, convincing the Colombian army to retake the canal zone, thereby returning control of the zone to the Republican forces. With the leverage of the canal zone restored, Palomino turned his attention to Brazil. By August, the presumptive President had secured military access rights from Brazil. The moment he heard the news, Villa leaped into action, moving into Brazilian Corrientes and crossing the Parano on the Brazilian side, outflanking the communist forces. By January 1928, the Catamarca line had folded, and Villa began an eastern push towards Buenos Aires.

Varde, realizing that his line was folding, organized a single lightning push of more than 100,000 soldiers towards Tucuman through Villa's thinned-out line around the Andes. His February breakthrough was followed by a blitz towards Tucuman, which was stalled by Villa's reserve forces just one and a half miles from the city proper before being pushed back across the line. However, before Republican forces managed to force Varde away from the city, the Revolutionary army managed one decisive success - Communist artillery batteries were able to shell the city. By chance, one of the barrages struck Francisco Villa's headquarters, killing the general himself along with a number of his senior staff. He was the highest ranking Republican officer to be killed in the war.

Despite the loss of Villa, Palomino lost no time in pressing the offensive. He reappointed Juan Rivera the new General of the Eastern Army Group, who arrived from Santiago in March. Rivera pressed the attack in a way that no one ever had before: with airpower. Using new model B-1 Libertad bombers, most fresh off the assembly line, Rivera struck Varde's artillery batteries from distance and pushed him back, liberating Buenos Aires in May and Telen in June. With the collapse of Varde's Southern Army Group, Rivera crossed the Andes to the South and closed the Santiago pocket in July. Surrounded, cut off from the rest of the Communist forces, and blockaded by Palomino to the west, Agustin Serrano killed himself in August 1928, with the Communist western army surrendering a day later. Rivera continued to push Varde further and further back with superior force until the capture of Puerto Deseado in November. Finally with his back to the proverbial wall, Varde sent a message of surrender to his enemy's command and killed himself on December 10, 1928, bringing an end to the 7th Chilean Civil War.

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Player Actions Needed:

Presidential election part later.
 
What a horrible waste of men, money, and resources... However, Chile has always stood strong in the face of great adversity, and I have no doubt it will again, under the leadership of Palomino.

As well, my family has always tried to help Chile, so I offer up a sum of three million Chilean Pesos to help with rebuilding and aid efforts, and I encourage everyone else to give donations.
 
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"It saddens me that this war had to happen because political extremists vied for power in a democratic society; such is the price of democracy.

So many innocent lives were lost. Children and wives suffered terribly during Bleeding Santiago, and thousands more men in uniform and not died on both sides. A tragedy, I believe, that cannot be surpassed in the worst conditions.

All that remains is to rebuild. La Moneda has been severely damaged - virtually burned to the ground - but we shall rebuild. Chile will continue to stand, taller than ever, as a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is the duty of myself, as well as the Generals and Officers and Soldiers of the military of this great nation, as well as those that follow me, to uphold the ultimate values of Liberty, Honesty, Prosperity, Justice, and Freedom. Such is the way of all democracies, and the democracy of Chile. I am only too happy to see that there are many men like Rivera and Villa that stood for this great Republic, but it saddens me to no end of a river of grief over the death of the latter General. He shall be immortalized as one of our great defenders of Republican freedom and democracy. Never shall he be forgotten."


~Daniel Palomino
Senator, Admiral, and President-Elect
 
"Such a loss of life is greatly saddening. Would it be absurd of me to propose recognition to all those that died in this civil war to protect the Chilean people's freedom, as well as all the civilians killed in the crossfire. Every death of our fair people is a blow to my heart. However our main priority is the rebuilding of everything damaged by the war, and I shall also offer donations, hopefully I have enough to help.

Hopefully this will be the last civil war to ever occur in Chile, one is too many, seven is just overkill. The people have suffered immensely over time through all these civil wars, and I request this as a Chilean, rather than as a Politician, that everybody take into account the people's feelings and wellbeing over their own political views. It is, after all, the people of Chile that give us the power to govern this nation, and we should not take this to mean we can just decide to force views upon them through violence, like the Communists attempted, we must allow them to choose for themselves. Think of Chile, not ways to further your own selfish power.

I must also express my fears over more potential attempts to throw a coup by the Communist individuals, if any of importance remain, and I request directly to you Palomino, please do what is right to prevent them from ending more of our people's lives."

-Carlos Ramone de Guerro
 
Ernesto F. Fuentes and his senior staff marched into a Republicano camp, he surrendered himself and his army and handed the camp commander an official letter of surrender of the Democratic Republic of Chile.
 
This loss of life is terrible. I have has some thoughts on these events and would like to propose something. These communists have not just committed crimes against chile but I believe against humanity. I propose that we establish special trials for these war crimes. I propose myself as someone to oversee or adjudicate but am open to suggestions if others believe someone else is more suitable.

Carlos Andonie
 
The 1926 Presidential Election: By Force​


There was no 1926 Presidential Election in any real sense. The Chilean Presidential electors, who were themselves scheduled to be chosen in the 1925 General election, and would then congregate in Santiago in early 1926 to choose the President, did nothing of the sort. The declaration by Serrano and Varde cut off the entire southern half of the country from the northern half, and Santiago itself had become a killing field by the traditional January meeting. Instead, a small subset of the electors, heavily from the North, met in Antofagasta in January 1926, making Daniel Palomino the presumptive President of the Republic. He assumed the leadership roll during the successive campaign by the Republican forces to retake the country. Palomino retained his command of the navy while simultaneously serving as the chief voice and rallying point for Chile's democratic elements through the end of the war in late 1928.

In January 1929, a hastily assembled national election board held a new nation-wide series of elections, in which Palomino was massively favored to win following the effective wartime destruction of the Communist political machine. The Admiral won over 60% of the popular vote and took the Presidency with 229 of the 305 total electoral vote, the count being held publicly outside of the remains of La Moneda (under reconstruction following the war). Looking out over a ruined city of Santiago, President Palomino promised an era of rejuvenation, reconstruction, and prosperity for Chile. With La Moneda unlivable and Valparaiso equally destroyed, Palomino moved the capital temporarily to Antofagasta (where the Congreso also met in the appropriated city hall) until late 1930, when both Presidente and Congreso returned to Santiago.

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Player Actions Needed:
I need civil and military appointments from MastahCheef117, as well as what you intend to do with your remaining two years of office, Mr. Palomino.
 
A tragedy had befallen Chile, and while the source has run dry the pools of death and vile pollute this nation. Millions dead, all for the attempted political gain of a few. We must work forth-wit to put all of the major Communistos who supported this Coup to trial. After this, we must rebuild Santiago. I hate to say this, but the destruction of her illustrious Capital Santiago allows us to rebuild from the ashes. A New Santiago, refurbished with a towering new Capital Building must be constructed. The construction will provide much needed jobs after the destruction, and with Santiago's rebirth we shall truly enter the 20th century

I propose a Bill:

The Restoration of Santiago Bill:

The New Santiago Provision:

1: Santiago shall be rebuilt with a modernized city layout.
a) Widened streets shall be constructed, to better account for pedestrian and vehicular traffic of the 20th century.
b) A new Underground Railroad transportation system will be created, a clean and modernized version of the London Underground, to put pressure off of the vehicular traffic.
c) An establishment of an above-ground tram-way for alternative methods of transportation
d) An establishment of a New Santiago Park, built above the Downtown economic areas, to provide for the ascetic impulses that we lack in city life. Designs for Park sections would be open to private design
e) An open provision to allow private discourse and amendment into this great public works project.

The Capital Building Provision:

a) A new Capital Building complex will be created to replace the destruction of La Moneda
i) The Original la Moneda will be built to act as the main floor for Senate meetings and addresses
ii) A new and modernized skyscraper will be constructed to replace all non-ceremonial functions of La Moneda, housing the government.
iii) Design for the Capital Building will be open to competition and voted on by a restoration committee

The Restoration Committee Provision:

1) A multi-partisan Committee chaired jointly by a private City Planner and Government appointee will be in charge of organizing, and managing, the Restoration of Santiago Bill.


My bill is open to changes should be deemed necessary, but I believe we can all agree that after the terrible events of this Coup, we must rebuild stronger than ever. We must rebuild Santiago to become the Capital of the World, above New York and London, and we must start by Modernizing her Illustrious City of Santiago!

-de Cordova
 
Will the major boulevards be named after our great heroes; Santadera, Romano, Santa Rosa, Villa, et. all? And, more importantly, will the State or will private enterprises take the dominant role in this endeavour? In any case, we must ensure that the housing built will be stable and can provide for many people, considering how many citizens were displaced or left homeless by this civil war, and that our rebuilt financial and industrial districts are up to safety standards, and are more effectively placed.
 
I believe I stipulated joint association of government and private industry. I of course support everything you mentioned to be considered essential in the rebuilding process, so essential that I believe I left it out... No worries, it shall be amended.

Returning to government or private industry. I desire a joint administration. Private individuals would be welcome to submit layouts for a new city, but we also need government officials on deck to ensure that such a city is inclusive to all demographics. I picture that street layouts, street names, the underground, and the tram way, will be more government administrated, and that the specifics of what will be constructed in terms of buildings will be privately ran with a government eye.
 
Now on the silver Screen: Francisco Villa-Martyr of Democracy
*In a 20's era announcer's voice*
See the exciting and action-packed life of Chiles Revolutionary turned Statesmen for the first time being played on the big screen.

From his humble beginnings in a rustic village on the Argentinian border to his day's as a Left-Wing, yet freedom loving anti-communist, revolutionary conspiring with his comrades to sock it to the Caudillo. Then his role as the unsung hero and defender of democracy throughout the war against the dastardly French and the election of the slippery communists.
Ending in his exciting role as Supreme Commander in fight against the reds.
Tickets start at....
 
A sound proposal; I support your bill, Senor de Cordova!

And I can't wait to watch that film! Perhaps it will inspire me for my next novel on the fallen war hero... Martyr of Democracy, yeah that's a good title...
 
I hope the President remembers the Republicano and fascist militias that rose up in arms to defend the Republic in the worst moments of the Battle of Santiiago, and that our loyalty earns us a military appointment.

Gabriel Tottenheim, leader of the blackshirt militis