1875: A liberal peace with conservative support
Although interest in the trial of Ferdinand von Hohenzollern continued to grow, 1875 was one of the quietest years in German history. Exhausted from fighting both the British and Poland, not to mention the socialist rebellion, the people of Germany needed a break, and the rule of second term Chancellor Konrad von Schwaben and President Frederick Carile promised exactly that. No German government in years had boasted an almost total majority in the Assembly. Even the UAI's decision to pull out of the coalition (or, more accurately, Ludwig Andersen's unilateral decision to do so) was simply replaced by the HUN. A brief Supreme Court struggle over the appointment of HUN leader Friedrich von Hohenstaufen as Minister of the Interior was resolved by a one-time proviso permitting the concurrent possession of offices, although it would never be permitted again.
The first major moves of 1875 were the announcement of ground breaking ceremonies for six upgraded naval bases to join four others already under construction. Minister of War Hals Gutfreund promised that the German Navy would never lag behind their foes again, and this commitment to expanded infrastructure guaranteed exactly that. Rumors of new warships scheduled for production as soon as these naval yards were upgraded showed that, no matter how liberal the new government might be, they would take military expansion seriously.
Yet the NLPD government remained true to their liberal roots, as the Ministry of Education approved a program of investigating the key texts of revolution published over the years in an attempt to understand why people rebelled and how this might be counteracted peacefully.
The combination of a statue to glorious Germania and the announcement of a minimum wage for all working Germans contributed to almost total domestic peace, only interrupted by a brief attempt by Hungarian officers to mobilize support for a separatist movement: the Commander of the Gendarmerie wasted no time in arresting them.
Commander van Kloetinge remained true to his own liberal principles, providing a group of women with an escort as they spoke out against the institution of slavery in other countries.
Perhaps the only degree of unrest in Germany was among a group of capitalists who reported that multiple factories had gone out of business. Despite these factories closing their doors, however, unemployment was insignificant -- not even 2000 German factory workers lacked work.
A modest tax increase to the poor, 3% (to 43%) helped ensure a positive balance to the treasury and funded a program of making foreign goods cheaper for German industry as well as the average consumer.
The people of Germany, grateful for the opportunity to rebuild, but demanded justice, one way or the other, for Ferdinand von Hohenzollern's crimes against his family and his country. Without a final judgment, all of the good work accomplished by the NLPD in 1875 could be undone.
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LatinKaiser, you will need to update your interior plan to account for a new National Focus once Revolution/Counterrevolution finishes next year. TJDS and Warlord Skorr, look over your respective new department plans and make adjustments as you think necessary. Please indicate whether you want to make changes.
Other departments don't need to make changes as of yet.
TJDS, it's also your job to put forth the opening arguments for the prosecution. DutchGuy, have your defense ready.
Everyone else, feel free to propose any amendments you like for the next 48 hours (until Tuesday at 10 PM, -6 GMT). Do not vote until all ballot measures have been approved by the Supreme Court. We cannot pass any social reforms at this time.