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Sorry I missed the end of this. We have a new arrival in the family so was away from this :)

Thanks to TH and to everyone else. Had a blast playing Andonie and General Rios. Controversial characters but fun i hope.

Cheers
 
Here is a (somewhat incredibly biased) list of the best president in our timeline! What say you all?

1. Antonio de Santa Rosa (1856(61)(63)-1871) ((Dates are confused; formally head of the Republicans in 1856, launched counter coup in 1861, Imperial Remnant beaten 1863)
Pros - Under Santa Rosa, the economy boomed (and would continue until the 1920’s), the military was rebuilt, Chile expanded peacefully, the forerunner to OTLA was created, the Chilean Common Market established, Chile became a Great Power, set stage for later technological growth (arms and railways especially), created an effective national health system, and restored the Republic, founded party (Republicans) that would remain politically active in Chile for decades, created Chief of Staff position to limit presidential authority, his liberalism became the new centre of Chilean politics.

Cons - Ended presidency by joining in partisan election, leading to two separate coup attempts; not directly his fault, but set the stage for them.

2. Sergio Gogolow (1886-1891)
Pros - First elected Socialist president of Chile, ended the long line of laissez-faire presidents that began with Santa Rosa, maintained five years of peace after fifteen years of political instability, expanded the army, opposed coup at end of term.

Cons - Economy grew less under his administration, massive military build-up, unable to pass much of his agenda, seized property.

3. Eduardo Romano (1845-1856)
Pros - Masterfully defeated the Badajoz coup in 1845, long service to Chile, supported Republic, paid off war debt.

Cons - Economy stagnated, appointed Cesar Roseno to military command, set stage for Empire, served Empire (though supported Republic)

4. David Bevan (1916-1921)
Pros - Restored Republic after Fascist State, lowered unemployment, industrial boom, kept out of wars in Europe, apolitical military appointments, strong showing during the war.

Cons - Unable to stop Fascist resurgence/Communist rise, unable to stop 1st Caribbean War

5. Michael Badajoz (1836-1845)
Pros - Strong economic growth, expanded military, defeated Argentina.

Cons - Launched coup (would serve as inspiration for many other revolutionaries).

6. Pedro Rivera (1891-1896)
Pros - Decreased army size, naval expansion, continuing boom (reached apex here), defeated coups, brought Haiti back into Common Market,

Cons - Largely inactive administration (did not contribute to industrial growth, no bills proposed), perceived to be anti-liberal, unable to prevent Andonist and Germanist rising, communist purge in military, communist uprising.

7. Fernandez (1899-1905)
Pros - Modernized military, economic stability, political stability, developed tank, reached South Pole, cultural boom, expanded Chile, defeated France

Cons - Overthrew the Republic, drastically increased centralized authority, unable to resolve Chilean Free State, political repression.

8. Alejandro Farias (1931-1941)
Pros - Naval expansion, most powerful country (through navy), Minister Santa Rosa rebuild Santiago, recovered treasury

Cons - Cut military spending/ no army reduction, lost No. 1 in Military, continued depression, refused army expansion to alleviate unemployment, military coup.

9. Daniel Palomino (1926-1931)
Pros - Won one of the toughest civil wars, distinguished naval career, expanded navy, benefited from major Franco-British war

Cons - Economic collapse, mass military reduction, corrupt ministers (though Palomino and VP Santa Rosa were above such crimes)

10. Mateo Saez (1905-1911)
Pros - More expansion, Strong military

Cons - Struggled to defeat Peru, economic decline, many rebels, poorly received constitution, failed to fend of US.

11. Ernesto Fuentes (1921-1926)
Pros - First communist elected, ended Villa coup peacefully

Cons - legislative proposals provoked uprisings, Pueblos Empresas became source of great corruption under Palomino, failed initiatives, coup for Proletariat Dictatorship

12. Carlos Andonie I (1876-1886)
Pros - Economic growth, expansion

Cons - Corrupt, aggressive and repressive, highly unpopular, Machiavellian politics.

13. Cesar Roseno (1856-1861(63)) (Santa Rosa coup began 1861, Imperial Remnant defeated 1863)
Pros - Expanded Chile

Cons - Pulled back rights, Overthrew the Republic, repressive, corrupt, ineffective, left Chile weaker and poorer, hurt international relations.


Omitted (Served less than a term)

Mario Zepeda (1871-1873)

Pros - Strong economic growth, father of OTLA, expanded Common Market drastically

Cons - Supported coup

Alejandro Cortez (1873-1876)
Pros - Strong economy

Cons - Launched coup

Maximilian de Conti (1896-1899)
(Held the Free State for decades, so technically the longest serving president)
Pros - Held power in Free State successfully, defeated Americans, dealt one of the hardest hands for any president, survived through it all.

Cons - Failed to fend off Fascists and Communists

Victor-Felipe de Tagle y Fuentes (1911-1913)
Pros - Beat the Americans

Cons - Unable to stand against the liberals
 
He actually was a fairly decent Caudillo; if he had liberalized, rather than went hardcore reactionary, with his constitution, he would have been much higher... :D
 
Eh, close enough. Regardless, out of all the fascists, he was probably the most able; he just lacked the support and power that Fernandez had; definitely better than the first Fuentes though.
 
I feel happy knowing Fernandez was in the middle of the list, but had most of the best cons I read! Awesome and a real shame about Mario Zepeda.. the only Zepeda president and ruined it all.. You must recognize Fernandez was an able politician, keeping everyone in line WHILE centralizing all power to himself.

And I agree about Santa Rosa! Truly glorious indeed. Though what really cracks me up is that RedCesar didn't establish his proletarian dictatorship! :p That was my goal all along, after all (well, after being the fascist president of Chile of course!)
 
I would be the first to say that I had the most disastrous presidency (the constitutional crisis, the splitting of the army, the abominable invasion of Argentina and the eventual disintegration of the Republic) yet somehow I managed to stay on for longer than any other leader, albeit as the head of a Chilean rump state. If that row with Rios had somehow been avoided, I imagine that my term in office would have been far more successful, but much less interesting. My only regret was not being around for the reunification.

It also astounds me that, despite the Communists being The Enemy™ since the end of the Empire, poised to seize power at almost every subsequent election to Santa Rosa's presidency, they not only ended up spending only a single term in government, but were never able to establish a proletarian dictatorship despite two separate attempts to do so. When I first joined, the FNT was only a single vote away from power, and every election I participated in as Severino demanded that all the other parties form a coalition against them just to have a chance of denying the Communists victory - and even then, the election was often still decided by a single vote. Then the Socialists suddenly went into decline in the very late 1800s, when (in a very realistic touch) the left-wing vote split between the FNT and the Marxists, so that it took half the playerbase being arrested after the fall of Fascist Chile for them to finally be elected.

The level of political instability in this game is hilarious, although probably depressingly authentic. According to the index, over the course of one hundred years, Chile has experienced thirteen coups - on average, one coup almost every eight years. From 1873 to 1899, there wasn't a single presidential term that didn't begin or end with a coup or uprising. The longest the noble Chilean Republic has gone without a coup or civil war is a mighty thirteen years, between the foundation of the Fourth Republic and the Civil War of 1926. In short, Chile has had more civil wars in one hundred years than Europe has had in the whole early modern period. That's definitely...something.

And yes, I would be eager to participate if someone else began a new thread.
 
De Conti just had severely bad luck, really. He came into office with moderate support, but tensions that had always existed, and really had grown despite the relative stability of the Gogolow and Rivera presidencies, came to a head and led to arguably the most interesting, and confusing, civil war. You did have one of the most entertaining, and certainly the most long winded, administration.

The FNT/Communist failure to really break out, despite having more support than any single party, and competing solidly with almost every coalition, is rather odd. The decline of the FNT can also be explained with their greatest leader, Gogolow, who, by being a rather moderate president, was unable to keep the more radical elements in check... eventually leading to the rise of the communists as an actual force, rather than just being a junior partner. That, combined with the rise of fascism, gave the communists enough power to elect a president, but them blew up in their collective faces with their second coup attempt.

The instability almost seems unreal... but then a quick look at any Latin American history book will show that it's fairly accurate... (and considering how that long stretch of peace came during the Bevan administration, I may have placed him a little too low... of course, placing any of the top five was fairly difficult, considering all of them were exceptional leaders).

(And on an interesting side note, I realized that five future presidents (all but one of the Third Republic's) served in the Santa Rosa administration; Andonie and Cortez were ministers, Gogolow and Rivera were Ambassadors, and Zepeda a general). So the Third Republic could be referred to as the Santa Rosa Republic, also considering the twenty-five years of laissez-faire, and his many positions in later governments)
 
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And yes, I would be eager to participate if someone else began a new thread.
What about this?
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?611862-Rebirth-of-the-Forgotten-Continent
Several of the other members of the Game have already joined and it would be great if we could get some more members.
I may have never become president but I served as the leading General in one of the biggest civil wars in the course of the game, that counts for something I guess.
 
Anyone who wants to know what a it would have been like if I were ever elected President of Chile, take a look at Forgotten Continent....