Chapter 35: Securing the republic
26 August 1747, Nürnberg
While Consul Wilhelm Rainer sat in his old office down the street, Eneko Mendoza and the other men writing the constitution glared at one another. Mendoza was the Consul’s personal representative on the committee, but there were three other men working with him, and they all had very different views.
The oldest member of the committee was Casey Braun, in addition to being the leader of the Alliance. Braun preferred to completely abolish any trace of the monarchy and nobility, but past that wanted a conservative republic. He especially, despite his constituency, did not want to see every male citizen of the new republic able to vote. Braun’s old age had soured him on the populist views he once held. Braun had no children, and in a very real sense, his legacy would be the constitution.
Salvatore di Monferatto had also found his way to the constitutional committee. His particular agenda was to protect the rights of the Stadtholders, even to the exclusion of voting entirely. He demanded the free selection of officials based on merit, not whether or not they held a certain social status.
In many ways, however, the most difficult member of the committee was Bernhard von Ungern. His “client”, as it were, was the Hohenzollern family itself. Nobody had advocated anything as obviously foolish as executing or exiling the former ruling family, but nobody had decided what role, if any, they ought to hold in the new government. For the time being, they were allowed to retain Schloss von Hohenzollern. Von Ungern favored more than that: he wanted to see a permanent role in governance for the family his own family had served so faithfully. Truth be told, what he actually wanted was to do away with this whole republic business, but he knew he wouldn’t get that.
Then, of course, there was Mendoza himself, a true radical who wanted large-scale Athenian democracy: just as unrealistic as von Ungern (as he recognized) but just as important in balancing the future direction of the newly-born republic.
On occasion, the other three would unite to defeat one of Mendoza’s issues or one of von Ungern’s, but more often than not it was even. Of course, there was technically a fifth member of the committee – the Consul himself – but the Consul had just declared a second war and would likely not be able to do more than sign the finished document.
The goals in each war were simple: secure a few extra provinces, but only to create more unified lines of defense. Territorial aggrandizement was not an end in and of itself, but merely a means to the end of greater security. The Holy Roman Empire (the commissioners couldn’t even agree to change the name of the government yet) needed no more resources or people than it already had.
On a few things, there had been agreement. As mentioned above, nobody wanted to physically harm the Hohenzollerns. Salvatore had made an extremely popular proposal that was one of the few to pass unanimously – the Hohenzollerns would be Stadtholders of Nürnberg in perpetuity, and have the castle as their seat of governance. That particular Stadtholdership would be hereditary.
Another area of agreement was the creation of a body called the Assembly. The Assembly would consist of all the Stadtholders in the Empire, all officers over the rank of Hauptmann with at least ten years’ experience, and a number of free spots that were open to anybody who could or wanted to pay for them. The total number of people in the Assembly came to around 200, about a tenth of those, at present, “free spots.” Of course, precisely what powers and responsibilities the Assembly would have remained entirely up for grabs.
The two term limit for all Consuls was another easy decision. The Consul was going to be the chief executive, and had wide powers in both war and diplomacy. The Chancellor, whomever that might be, would exercise the powers needed for daily administration, although he could be chosen and replaced by the Consul at whim. The Consul also retained the right to appoint other key officials.
Mendoza had tried, in vain, to get the other three not to invest quite so much power in the Consul, but to no avail. Eneko liked and trusted Wilhelm Rainer, more than most people, but still loathed the idea of giving him essentially unlimited power until the rest of the constitution was complete. One bit of news at least gave the committee a moment of levity in their serious task.
Byzantium, clearly, was no longer the threat it once was.
3 October 1747, Beothuk
To most people, however, the revolution had minimal impact. Commoners kept living their lives as they always had. Soldiers fought, farmers farmed, and rebels kept rebelling. Most of the chief rebels had been captured, executed, or had vanished, but New Hamburg was still a problem. Most of the regular army was fighting the Byzantines or Hungary, so the colonies were largely left to themselves.
With no alternative, volunteers joined colonial militias to help put down rebellions in exchange for the right to name their own officers and run their own domestic affairs. Such officers, provided they met the other requirements, were eligible for the Assembly in Nürnberg (provided they could make it there), so this gave them further incentive to choose good leaders.
Karl Arndt was, as of his birth in 1704, not destined for great things, it seemed. He was born in Beothuk in a small fishing village to a family of fishermen. He had no formal schooling of any kind, except in how to fish and hunt, until 1737. His village was burned by down by a raiding party of rebels. Incensed, Arndt joined the local militia. He quickly proved to be an expert soldier and scout. Arndt’s long experience hunting made him superb in the woods, and he became a local legend. When a new militia was formed to combat a new threat, Arndt was elected the general without a single dissenting vote.
Rather than lead a direct assault on the Castilian fortifications, his entire army simply vanished, puzzling the Castilian commander. Arndt had his own ideas about to fight a war.
29 January 1748, Nürnberg
The completion of the Imperial Constitution was done quietly, with little fanfare, but all four men on the committee smiled exhaustedly as Consul Wilhelm Rainer affixed his signature. The work of almost two years was over. As with most compromises, nobody got everything they wanted, but everybody got something.
The most significant change to the Imperial government was to the Stadtholders. Stadtholders were now elected by every male living in the province over the age of 25 every five years. This was a personal triumph for Mendoza, wearing down both Braun and von Ungern. In order to be eligible to be elected a Stadtholder, the individual had to be at least 30 years of age, lived in the province for at least 10 years, and own a certain amount of property. (This was the concession Mendoza had to make to Braun to get his approval.) The Stadtholder of Nürnberg, of course, remained exempt from elections.
The powers of the Assembly were defined very narrowly, giving the maximum amount of authority to the Consul, which satisfied von Ungern. The Assembly had the power to pass a budget and declare no confidence in any government official apart from the Consul himself. They could pass any other purely domestic legislation, but not if it encroached upon the Consul’s domain. Only a simple majority was needed, and the Consul could only override legislation if it interfered with the army or foreign policy. In that case, if two thirds of the Assembly agreed on the new law, they could counteract his override.
For their roles in establishing the government, each member of the commission was given an important role. Casey Braun was, to his great surprise, named Chancellor. Salvatore di Monferatto became Foreign Minister, but in a purely advisory capacity (as the constitution specified that this was the Consul’s domain). Eneko Mendoza was appointed the Consul’s Advisor on Philosophy and Natural Science, which carried prestige and a handsome salary. Bernhard von Ungern was the Consul’s personal secretary, which gave him a tremendous amount of practical power.
With the basics of the government settled, Consul Rainer returned to the war. The Hungarians had proven no serious obstacle, but the difficulties of organizing the logistics of that particular campaign made it destined to be a long one. The current plan for dealing with the Byzantines was a dramatic thrust to kick them entirely out of Italy. Occupying the Italian peninsula was a natural step for the Empire.
The Assembly immediately did its job, with a nearly unanimous vote to fire both Archbishop Alexander and the High Judge Karl Bröser. Both men went quietly, surprisingly, back to their homes, although Alexander soon tired of domestic life and moved to Rome.
The new Archbishop of Nürnberg was a layman, for the first time in a very long time. Karl Albrecht Fisher was a professor of religious history at the University of Berlin, respected for his breadth of knowledge and his moderation in matters of doctrine. The office of High Judge was abolished, another extremely popular decision.
The Assembly was functioning, the Consul had a clear focus on his tasks, and he had capable advisors around him (and Salvatore di Monferatto). All that needed to happen was to end the wars.
24 April 1749, Nürnberg
Two very different men received the honor of being the named the first Heroes of the Republic. Wenzel Becker was a former groom that had once held the horse of none other than Kaiser Friedrich IV himself. Commissioned on the spot, Becker turned out to have a solid grasp of strategy and was responsible for the devastation inflicted upon the Byzantines.
Meanwhile, Karl Arndt continued to win impressive victory after impressive victory against Castilian regular troops.
The new symbol of the Empire was the old Imperial double eagle with a copy of the constitution in it’s mouth – this was emblazoned on each of the medals, personally presented by Consul Rainer and Chancellor Braun. The medals entitled each man to serve in the Assembly for life, as well as a nice pension when they retired. They also received new assignments. Becker was appointed Marshal – the first official Marshal since the death of Ruprecht von Werl. Arndt, on the other hand, was given a very different post. He was appointed the head of the Grand Shipyard in Somerset.
It was a strange choice for Arndt, who had never lived in a village of more than 500 people, but the Consul planned on making Somerset the center of Imperial shipbuilding and wanted a resourceful and tireless leader for the enterprise. Karl Arndt was certainly that.
16 August 1750, Mecklenburg
It was a sign of the improvement that the republican form of government provided that Karl Eder survived his capture. Too many former rebels had simply been executed out of hand. Marshal Becker, on the other hand, simply sent him back to Nürnberg in chains.
The Marshal, for the first time in his career, had no enemies to fight. Rather than surrender the wealthy Italian provinces to the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantines had chosen to surrender to Transylvania instead.
Hungary was not so lucky.
Two new provinces meant two new elections. The Assembly had debated for weeks on what to do. Marshal Becker, among others, felt that the best course of action was to simply allow the existing leaders to rule until the next Stadtholder elections. His particular bloc did not succeed, however. It was a measure of the sheer force of Casey Braun’s will that his last act on Earth was to demand immediate elections. In fact, a law was passed that made such elections mandatory (within 90 days) upon the acquisition of any new territory. Two hours after the vote was official, Casey Braun died.
He was the third recipient (the first posthumous) of the Order of the Heroes of the Republic.
We’re up to 1750 now; that means another world update and another contest!
1) Who is the longest serving member of the in-game council?
2) Who is the richest European nation after the HRE?
3) Two countries are tied for having the most cavalry (hint – neither one is me). Who are they? You must guess both correctly for full credit.
Contest will run until next Friday at 10 PM (+4 GMT).
