1821 - The Beginning of the End
1821 was destined to be a time of change. Whether that change would be for the better or not was yet to be seen. Shortly after addressing Parliament at the start of the year, Emperor Alfons IX succumbed to another bout of exhaustion and was confined to his bed. The Emperor's poor health prevented him from intervening in state affairs and ground the administration to a halt. Crown Prince Pere did his best to step in, but he was not his father and was limited by the fact he was not officially emperor yet. Parliament was unable to act for a time, for ultimately no act could be passed without Crown approval, and the Emperor was in no condition to give his approval. There were calls for a regent to be appointed, for there was a document prepared by the Emperor beforehand naming one, but Crown Prince Pere hesitated to permit it, hoping that his father would recover soon.
While the government was unable to act efficiently, the Greeks continued to be quite vocal. The Crown and Parliament had yet to recognize the referendum they had forced, and they wanted an official response. The referendum had shown that a majority of Greeks favoured joining Byzantium, although most of those who voted in favour lived in or around Athens, while the response was more mixed in Mylasa and Rhodes. It was clear though that a definite settlement needed to be made. Either the referendum had to be recognized or a compromise sought, otherwise there would be trouble. Many of the Greeks had calmed down for the moment and seemed favourable to accepting their inclusion into the Citizenship Act as a suitable compromise, although not everyone shared this opinion. They all waited for a response, hoping that the moment the Emperor recovered they would receive their answer.
The Emperor was not destined to recover. The months dragged by and Alfons's condition worsened. He was barely conscious, unable to speak with visitors most of the time. Doctors were called, but none could find a cure, stating that old age had simply caught up with the aged man. After four months of being bed-ridden, Emperor Alfons IX finally passed away peacefully in his sleep in mid-April at the age of 81.
The death of Emperor Alfons IX was met with much sorrow and a grand funeral was held in Valencia, with citizens showing up in vast numbers as the Emperor's body was carried through the streets. The Emperor of France, Kings of Scandinavia and the UKA, and Basileus of Byzantium all attended to show their respects. Alfons had led Hispania for 66 years and left an impressive legacy behind. His memory would last for a long time, yet many could not help but look to the future. Hispania had become what it was mostly because of Alfons and those that surrounded him. Now the question was raised of how his successor would follow his legacy.
Shortly after the funeral, Pere was crowned Emperor Pere VI de Trastámara, Emperor of Hispania, Caesar of Rome, King of Bavaria & Transdacia, & Protector of the Greeks. When the new Emperor first went to address Parliament, he stuttered and was barely able to get out a few sentences before Empress Jeanne intervened on his behalf. It was clear that Pere was not comfortable standing before Parliament, and combined with the grief from losing his father, he had difficulty maintaining his composure. After Parliament closed for the day, Pere withdrew for a time, refusing to speak to anyone other than his wife Jeanne or brother Joan.
As the months dragged on, it became clear that Pere could not follow his father's model of governance. While a gentle soul that cared deeply about the people of Hispania, he was indecisive and lacked his father's brilliance. He often refused to get involved in political debates and left Parliament to handle state affairs. Yet Parliament was further handicapped because Pere hesitated to appoint a Prime Minister. While Prince Joan had served as the previous one, law dictated that when a new Emperor was crowned he had to make the appointment. Thus Joan and the entire Cabinet were limited in what they could do, for they had not been legitimized by the Crown and they could be held accountable for any action taken. Parliament pressured Pere to appoint a Prime Minister, but he proved unable to make up his mind. His father's advice stuck with him and he was afraid that appointing anyone outside the family would ruin the nonpartisan element of Cabinet Alfons had tried to create. While Joan was a logical choice, Pere knew the man was biased, and unlike his father Pere doubted he could keep Joan in line. Throughout this all, Jeanne kept whispering in his ear, begging him to take the position himself. Only the Emperor could serve as a neutral Prime Minister and preserve the peace. However, Pere's fear of further responsibility and his doubts that he could manage such a position prevented him from acting, even when Jeanne promised that she would do all the duties for him. Either way, Pere would have to make a choice eventually.
As the final choice was delayed, factions began to form at court and in Parliament, pushing for their preferred candidate for Prime Minister. Prince Joan had a strong backing, for the man had political experience and had proven himself as Prime Minister already. With uncertain times ahead, a strong figure was needed. Despite being more than qualified, Joan clearly favoured the right, and that obvious bias prevented an overwhelming surge of support. Those who did not favour Joan drifted towards Jeanne instead. She was a more conciliatory figure and had a greater appeal to all sides in Parliament. Many recognized that despite being a woman, she had a shrewd mind and a knowledge of statecraft. There were those that had no trouble believing that the country would be in safe hands with Jeanne helping her husband along. However, even those who recognized her skill had trouble picturing her as Prime Minister, for the idea of a woman in charge, especially after the late Empress Dowager's time in power, was not something favoured by many. Even Jeanne did not dare try to claim the position for herself, knowing her support was limited. Instead she supported Alfons's old strategy of the Emperor serving as his own Prime Minister, although she wished to help him in any way she could. There were a few who still pushed forward the idea of her as Prime Minister, but they were small in number. She'd only truly consider that with overwhelming support, but for now she would whisper in her husband's ear, trying to get him to agree to serving as his own Prime Minister.
These factions quarrelled for a time, pushing forward their preferred candidate. Pere seem disinclined to act. While having no Prime Minister seriously hampered Parliament, it could still function, even with the Cabinet in limbo. Perhaps Pere hoped the choice would be taken for him, since for the moment it was not vital the decision be made. Eventually though, fate would intervene.
Sometime during 1821, the volcano Tambora in Indonesia erupted. The explosion devastated the nearby islands and ash flew into the atmosphere, spreading worldwide and causing strange phenomena in the atmosphere. Tsunamis struck the nearby Indonesian islands, devastating the coast. The global temperature dropped, leading to crop failure across the globe. Disease was rampant. Every nation on Earth was impacted in some form or another. As for Hispania, its possessions in Indonesia were hurt the most. Most coastal cities were destroyed by tsunamis, and those closer to the volcano were wiped out entirely. The sky was blackened with ash and plant-life withered and died. Closer to home, the temperature was already dropping and farmers experienced a difficult harvest. Indonesia may have been hit hardest, but people were starting to suffer back in Europe too. It was clear that something had to be done or good Hispanian people would starve.
With this global crisis now needing attention, Pere could no longer delay. He needed to appoint a Prime Minister. Not only did the matter of relief efforts need to be debated, but the Greeks were still waiting for an answer. All of these would be addressed as the year came to an end.
((Time to start the first vote for the gap years. We will have three things to vote on: the future Prime Minister, the Greek referendum, and relief efforts. For the first, you have three choices: Joan, Pere, or Jeanne. Keep in mind that with Pere it would be Jeanne doing the work, seeing a some might see it as unseemly for her being Prime Minister herself. For the second, the options are to recognize the referendum and hand over our Greek lands to Byzantium, amend the Citizenship Act to include the Greeks as a compromise, or send in the troops to prevent a potential rebellion. For the last, it's mostly a matter of whether the government funds relief efforts or not, although you can also choose where the relief should be focused.
Now for how these votes will be handled. I didn't want to do a traditional vote where you get several options and the one with the most support wins. I decided this because that usually means the vote becomes far too diluted if more options are added, with options able to pass with under 50% of votes if there are 3 or more options. Instead, we will be doing alternative votes. With this you will instead be ranking all options in order of preference. When I tally them, an option will only pass with 50% of the vote. If none have that, the one with the lowest support will be removed and those people who picked that as their first option will then go to their second option, and so on and so on. Hopefully that makes sense. Anyway, here is the vote.
Prime Minister:
Joan/Pere/Jeanne
1.
2.
3.
Greek Referendum:
Recognize the Referendum/Amend the Citizenship Act/Send in the troops
1.
2.
3.
Disaster Relief:
Send relief to all of the Empire/Focus relief on Indonesia/Focus relief on Europe/Don't send relief
1.
2.
3.
4.
Remember, put them in the order of preference, otherwise I can't count your vote. The vote will last until
Monday at 12PM PST, although I may extend the deadline if I don't feel that it's long enough. Also, players may make use of the stability feature I mentioned. You can attempt to provide stability for the government or destabilize it, provided you announce so before the deadline. Feel free to write up in what form you are stabilizing or destabilizing the government, although this isn't mandatory. Keep in mind you can only do this once for all the gap year votes.))