Chapter 56: Occupational Hazard
(The Fascist styled Flag of the Chinese Union State)
The Holy Roman Empire's Unwillingness to cease the Conquests of Chairmen Liao had emboldened the Nationalist Party. Under the Eastern veil the Nationalist Leadership had begun an attack on all aspects of Chinese Life, History and Culture.
The First Victim in this new 'National' revolution would be the Chinese Flag. Traditionally a Chinese Script or Icon the Nationalists chose to take the Nine Pointed Star as both a New but vaguely ancient looking Symbol to represent the superiority of the Chinese people.
(Union State Soldiers 'Liberating' The city of Bejing)
Nationalist Propaganda had forcibly penetrated what media remained under Liao's administration and had become spinning a Bastardization of Confucian Values mixed with Heavy Nationalism. Modifications such as putting natural born Chinese above foreigners in the Confusion Order, Complete Loyalty to the State and the rise a new 'Mandate of the Party'. All the while rewarding those who committed themselves fully to supporting the State and her recovering Industry. For those Unhappy with the government dissent had begun to disperse through military actions as well as the creation by Chairman Liao of the Chinese Agency of Loyalty (CAL) which openly ran propaganda but also had legal powers no different than Secret Police found in the Holy Roman Empire.
The Communist Bloc in Central Eurasia would not find the time to consolidate like the Chinese. The Union of Red Themes while powerful enough to seize control of the Empire could not hope to match the might of India or the Soviet Union let alone both and Prime Minister turned Premiere Alexandros Krpytos agree'd to sign the first treaty of Cairo promising full control of the UORT Railways for Soviet Russia and India, Further concessions of Persian and Middle Eastern Oil Rich Territories.
For a Quick surrender the UORT was Promised help by the Soviet Union in reclaiming Egypt. A Promise that Lenin would quickly turn his back on when Karl Franz felt that risking control of the Suez canal would be too great a risk to become involved. Like the First Union War, the Second one against Austria would be quick, Brutal and Bloody as the first resulting in the Second Treaty of Cairo less than a year later.
The Second Treaty of Cairo was more lenient though no less Embarrassing. SinaI was to be Ceded to Egypt and the Old borders of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were to be ceded to the Holy Roman Empire. This was done primarily due Alexandros Kryptos' destruction of the Hagia Sophia, one of the greatest churches in all of Christendom. Something that had made many of the true Catholic faithful worried could have consequences from the divine. However, The Levant was now just another Troop Siphon that was desperately needed. There was however a Solution to Karl Franz's problem
The Jews had spent over a Millennium without a homeland to call their own. While Austria could not be considered the most tolerant of countries the Jewish faith had been protected by the Catholic Church since the days of Christopher the Great and large Jewish minorities existed in almost every major city. With the Rise of Fascism in France and Denmark, and Communism in Russia Jews, who were widely considered to be loyal to their own people before the State or Ideology had begun to flee to America, and when unable to cross the seas, The Holy Roman Empire in droves.
The Holy Roman Empire was not adept in taking in immigrants, and with the Economy in as bad as shape as it was, further unemployed people only put a further strain on the fledgling Welfare System. Luckily there was a Solution. In 1906 Karl Franz announced his Zion declaration stating:
"For a Thousand Years the Jewish People have served House Anniona and the Holy Roman State with Faith and Without Rebellion. While our Tolerance has been rewarded there are others Abroad that would see these virtuous people stripped of their Protection given to them by our Holy Mother Church and cast out, without homes or a land to call their own. As a Reward for Loyalty to House Anniona and as Protection from those who would harm the Followers of Abraham may they be the Kin of the Son, The Prophet or the Messiah there shall be the creation of a New Zion in the Holy Land dedicated to protecting and preserving such Sacred Ground. The Kingdom of Jerusalem shall return to this Earth, Deus Vult!"
While the Prince Regent dabbled in Prestige, History and Ideals however the world continued to bleed. The Soviet Union, not content with seeding dissent in just Greece had also sponsored Radical Socialist resistance to the Fascist Regime in Denmark. Primarily Swedish and Saxon the revolutionaries stormed Copenhagen with Russian built boats and seized control of the Government. The Fascist aligned military however would not back down without a long and bloody conflict, thus starting yet another bloody Danish Civil War.
Sensing Weakness in her former ally the Breton Federation crossed the border and seized ever more of the Rhineland from the Danes to Fuel her Industry. More worrying however wasn't the Celt aggression but the commitment of both Portugal and Spain who had also begun to be pulled into the Fascist bloc.
By Spring of 1908 the Danes had given up trying to hold the Rhineland and allowed the Celts to seize it. Richard Mathrafel would take this as a sign to continue and had now changed his target of speeches away from the Germans to what he named the 'Scottish Traitors to the North'. The Federation's next move was going to be predictable and the Holy Roman Empire nor any other power was showing any willingness to stop it.
In the Meanwhile Mathrafel had begun to build the Federation in the image of the National Populist Party. Paris had in the past been a great city of the arts. A symbol of blue blooded royalty and the Celtic aristocracy this was now about to change. Many of the older buildings were torn down including the Arc de Triomphe which commemorated the French Victory against Napoleon.
(Édouard Moseley, Head of the Breton Re-adjustment Committee)
Mathrafel's right hand Man would be the young and ambitious Édouard Moseley who headed the newly created Breton Re-adjustment Committee. The BRC started as the Enforcement arm fo the National Populist party and had grown to overtake it in importance. Most of Mathrafel's top advisors were at least honorary members of the Committee which on paper had no true power. In practice however the Committee oversaw political arrests and interrogations, property seizures and of course History revision. In first three years the Committee would destroy nearly three hundred 'Anti Breton' statues and ban and destroy countless books and works of art in the name of 'Preserving the Purity of Breton History'.
With the Death of Art in France an entirely new form had been invented in Italy. Helped by government subsidies the Radio, invented by the Marconi-Tesla Corporation promised to revolutionize communication for both civilian and military use. Nicholas Tesla worried about the company's' financial future promised that the Radio would merely be the first in a series of inventions that he hoped would bring Wireless power to people's homes. The Scientific community would remain cautiously skeptical of Tesla as many considered the man too eccentric for his position.
The Invention of the Radio would be too soon to react to a coming pair of Natural Disasters. First in the Summer of 1908 a Meteor exploded over Tunguska. Due to the volatility of the region several minor border skirmishes broke out between the Dominion of Manchuria and the Soviet Union, each side believing there had been an invention of some new 'Superweapon' that could destroy miles of landscape in a single blast. The Scientific community debunked such a weapon as impossible and ruled instead that it was merely an airburst Meteor though the Soviet Curtain prevented confirmation.
In less, remote news an Earthquake shook the Dominion of California merely three weeks later causing widespread death and property damage to the Californian Capital. The Young Kaiserine Osterhild II was originally scheduled to Visit California that week during her Tour of the Empire as he Regency was coming to an end the following year. Many would take Osterhild's delay in Japan to be an Act of God to save the Kaiserine's life.
(Empress Osterhild 'Octavia' Anniona)
On March 14th 1909 Kaiserine Osterhild would finally ascend the steps of St Peter in Rome and take her place at the Head of the Holy Roman Empire. Though for the first year of her Reign Osterhild would technically be Co-Emperor due to Ferdinand still being alive in some state the ruling of the Empire new fell on the last surviving daughter of Princess Gisela Anniona and Victor Napoleon Bonaparte.
For the Empire it quickly became apparent that this new, Young Empress was like her original namesake going to be different from those who came before her. Osterhild thought herself and acted according to make herself appear as the People's Kaiser. Osterhild abandoned the title of Kaiser to the latin Caesaris and took the name 'Octavia' upon her coronation instead of the German Osterhild.
Osterhild, or Octavia as she preferred quickly made herself a common sight in the Reichsrat and Imperial Council though often in, for an Empress humbler more practical attire. The Media of course told takes on both sides, that the Empress dressed like and pretended to be a Man in some stories and in others that the Empress wished to Forgo the Luxury of her position due to the plight of the Austrian economy and her people.
Policy Wise, Osterhild had been anything but Liberal. The Empress was Hands on in almost every aspect of Government only deferring to Chancellor Freud in matters of Domestic Policy and her Uncles for Advice in matters of foreign policy. The opening Domestic Policy of the young Empress could best be described as a complete upheld.
(Photograph of a Homeless and Unemployed Man during the depression)
On April 22nd Octavia announced to the Reichsrat "It seems that each Kaiser has decided to find some fancy name for their pet projects, Mine will be the Great Undoing. The Days of the Government letting it's people suffer have ended, This is a Roman World, and we will do what is best in our power to keep it so"
Großeumkehr as it was called would mean a complete end to the Liberal policies against Subsidies, Taxes on the Rich, Tariffs, War Policy and Welfare. Freud's reforms while passed had been kept purposely underfunded and ineffective, this changed almost immediately and funding flowed into the unemployment, medical aid and schooling systems. To better organize the growing Bureaucracy control of Major Infrastructure, Education and Interprovincial trade was taken away from provincial governments and Nobility and given to specified departments.
The spending of course was unsustainable for any long period of time so Tariffs would be raised for the first time in decades to a flat 20% on Goods from outside the Austrian Economic sphere and 5% on all Non Dominion Sphere Members. Though the 5% Tariff would come from a Guarantee that the Empire now would step in No matter what if member was attacked, World Council or Economic Crisis be damned.
It wouldn't take long for Octavia's new Foreign Policy to be tested, as Crisis soon bubbled up in America once again. Apache and other Native American tribes had yet again been attacking American cities and this time it was the Knight's Transient paying and protecting the Natives to further their aims on the American continent. In response the Americans declared war with intent to Annex the Plains Wholesale. This time there was no backing down, A stern warning was Sent to the Americans to cease hostilities immediately.
The Americans wisely backed down and Prepared for what the Holy Roman Empire was prepared to offer to Remedy the situation. While the coming New American conference would be relatively unimportant the message was clear. The Empire would sit idly by no longer.
