Chapter 417: Pacifist Murder
Budapest - December 1956
Budapest had seen better days. In the medieval period, it was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, and under the Arpad dynasty it thrived. In more recent times, it prospered as a Roman city. Its people fought against the Maximists in the First Civil War and the Angeloi in the Second Civil War, although during the latter war the city fell under Angeloi control and remained there until the Soviets took over.
This traditional center of culture now languished under a dictatorship even worse than the Angeloi. Churches had been demolished to make way for statues of Trotsky and Molotov. Universities and schools that had once been among the best in the Reich had been shut down or had their curriculums replaced with equalist propaganda. All business owners, from the old couple running the deli down the street to the rich industrialist owning the steel mill in the industrial district, were thrown out into the streets. Farmers were forced from their homes and onto collectives. If the goal of equalism was to equalize society, they had done just that: they made everybody suffer equally.
And now the city was at war again. Thirteen years after the war, it now faced another dictatorship, only this one was far more ruthless than the Angeloi.
As tanks rolled past him down the deserted street, Deputy Commander Valentin Varennikov heard sporadic gunfire coming from the western half of the city. Overhead, Soviet fighter jets screeched as they fired missiles at rebel-occupied buildings. He heard an artillery shell zeroing in on its target, followed by an explosion as a nearby building was hit. One tank stopped, swiveled its main turret around, and shot at a set of barricades from where rebels took shots at the Soviets. The street was quiet and full of debris and burned-out cars. Windows were shattered and stores looted. Doors were left ajar. Personal belongings and clothes lay on the sidewalk next to their dead owners. The bodies of the dead and the screams of the living seemed far away. He savored combat. He was in his element on a battlefield. He felt a bit sad that he was on track to be promoted to a desk job within ten years. He would miss the rush he experienced every time he stepped onto a battlefield.
Major Dmitry Yazov rushed up to him. "Valentin, we have a guest," said Dmitry.
"A guest?" said Valentin. "I thought Zhukov's inspections weren't until next week."
"No, it's not Zhukov," said Dmitry, "It's an Athanatos."
"A prisoner, you mean?" said Valentin.
"No, a guest," insisted Dmitry, "She insists to speak with you."
"A woman?" said Valentin. "Why would an Athanatos want to speak with me?"
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" said Dmitry, as two guards escorted a young woman in plain clothes towards Valentin.
Dmitry handed Valentin what was probably the woman's identification card. "Anna Romanova..." he read. "Obviously an alias. I recognize you from the newsreels, Anne Frank. Yes, I know who you are."
"And I know who you are, Valentin Varennikov," said Anne in perfect Russian, staring right at him, "The Athanatoi has taken special interest in you."
"What is the Athanatoi doing here in Budapest?" demanded Valentin. "And why would they send a 20-something girl to talk to me?"
"I'm actually 30," said Anne, "And I'm here to offer you a deal."
Valentin chuckled. "A deal!" he exclaimed. "You, offering me a deal? There is nothing the Reich could possibly offer us!"
"Withdraw from Carpathia," said Anne, "Order your troops to withdraw to Russia, and the Reich will lift its grain embargo on the Soviet Commune."
"Such a move would be suicide for your leadership," countered Valentin, "There is no way they would give help to their mortal enemy."
"We are an honorable and civilized people," said Anne, "We believe that all countries should compete on even footing, but they should also cooperate. We're all humans."
"And if I were to refuse this 'generous' offer?" said Valentin.
"Then the Reich will evict the Soviet troops, by force if necessary," said Anne.
"Ha! That hypocritical pacifist coward Scheel would never do that!" said Valentin.
"Stop deluding yourself, Varennikov," said Anne, "You know that this is rightful Roman territory. You're holding it hostage with the goal of retaining an advantage over the Reich. Let me put it this way. The Reich will not stop until the Occupied Territories are liberated. Even if you win this battle, you won't win the war."
Valentin simply laughed again. "I should say the same to you," he said, "Most of you Romans are a stubborn people. You think you can avoid the revolution. But the revolution is inevitable. Someday, the proletariat of Europe will break their chains and free themselves, I promise. But you...you are different. I've read the KGB's reports on you. Don't look surprised, you're so famous we didn't need to infiltrate the Athanatoi, though it sure helped. You have a strong sense of justice and fairness, that everybody should be given a fair chance to succeed in life. You believe in the brotherhood (or sisterhood) of all humanity. You're basically a socialist."
"On the contrary, I'm also a capitalist," said Anne, "I believe that people should work hard to gain their place in society, with the state helping them get there - emphasis on helping. I believe in social justice, but I also believe in peaceful reform, not revolution. I believe in the oneness of humanity, but I also believe that we are all citizens of our nations. And I believe in the Reich and my Kaiser. So if you think you can convince me to defect, you thought wrong."
"It seems I was a little wrong, then," said Valentin, "You're stronger and smarter than I expected. No wonder they sent you to deal with me, of all people. Now, it seems like neither of us will be getting anything out of this conversation, so let's cut it short. I'll arrange for a train to safely take you to the border. You have my word. And if anything ever comes up in your sure to be long career that causes you to question your morals, do keep in mind my offer still stands."
Anne nodded. "See you around, Varennikov," she said.
"See you around, Anne Frank," said Valentin.
Anne turned to leave, but she stopped. "Promise me you'll at least be lenient towards the Carpathians," she said.
"I can promise, but I can't guarantee it," said Valentin.
He turned around and walked away.
---
Three days after the conservatives denied the liberals a majority in the Reichsrat, the opposition pushed through a bill funding the Carpathian resistance effort, but the KRA managed to water it down to little more than just symbolic support. Scheel denounced the conservatives for attempted to capitalize on people's deaths to promote their warmongering agenda.
In June 1956, King Gnupa II of Kanata suffered a severe injury after he fell in his bathroom and broke his thighbone just before his 84th birthday. Although he was otherwise generally unharmed, he was confined to a wheelchair. The once active king became depressed by his resulting helplessness and loss of involvement in current events. Gnupa's health deteriorated throughout the rest of the year, and Crown Prince Magnus, Grand Duke of Noregr, assumed most of his father's duties and represented him in ceremonial events and state affairs. On 5 January, Gnupa passed away. The king who had led Kanata through two world wars was gone.
After his death, Magnus succeeded him as Magnus I, King of Kanata. Gnupa was buried on 1 March 1957 at Akershus Fortress. He would be remembered as one of the greatest Kanatan leaders of the 20th century.
Magnus I, King of Kanata
Scheel did not attend Gnupa's funeral, claiming he was busy dealing with the economic crisis and the Carpathian situation, but it was implied that the chancellor did not approve of Gnupa's "warmongering" reign.
Miklos Horthy, the Carpathian who served as Megas Droungarios during the war, passed away on 7 January 1957 at his home in Estoril, Hispania, where he had lived since the end of the war. He had been writing his memoirs, narrating his personal experiences from his youth to his actions in the war. In his will, he asked that he be buried in Etoril with the rest of his family and that he not be reburied in Carpathia until it had been liberated. Because of Scheel's management, it looked like that day would never come.
In China, Chiang helped to set up a state-run airline, Anfei Airways. Anfei would set many benchmarks over the coming decades introducing new innovations including reclining seats, business and first class seats as well as inflight entertainment. It quickly took over the airline industry in China, probably because there were no other competitors, but it as expected had trouble expanding in foreign markets due to its links with Chiang's junta.
At the end of January, Chiang also entered into secret talks with Scheel about the situation in Carpathia. The presence of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops in Carpathia seemed to be overkill, even by the Soviets' standards. Chiang worried that Carpathia was just a staging ground to prepare the Soviet Army for World War III. Scheel was surprised by Chiang's concerns, but he insisted that no military options be taken, as that would violate his pacifist values. Chiang suggested that the Reich launch covert espionage operations against the CSSR to find out what Khrushchev was aiming to do and counter any surprises he may have up his sleeve. After some urging from almost all of his cabinet, Scheel relented and authorized the Athanatoi to establish a secret intelligence facility in Persia. The Persian and Turkish governments gave the Reich permission to use the Isfahan and Samarkand airports to launch U-2 spy planes towards the CSSR, where they would monitor missile test sites, key infrastrucutre, and communications. Chiang also allowed Roman spy planes to use Baikonur's military airfields, as long as they were escorted by Chinese spy planes (roughly technologically equivalent to the U-2s) to ensure no secrets were leaked (the Athanatoi took measures to make sure that the Chinese didn't steal anything either).
A U-2 spy plane onboard SMS Rhomania
(Yes, this event assumed that Adenauer is still in office, that North Iran still exists, and Mossadegh hasn't been deposed)
Throughout the winter of 1956 and 1957, the Carpathian resistance put up sporadic but surprisingly highly organized resistance, which the Soviets did not expect. The Carpathian People's Army sided with the resistance, stalling the Soviet advance through Carpathia for several weeks while civilians escaped to the Reich. Its most formidable resistance took place in western Budapest and the city of Pecs. Fifteen thousand resistance fighters fought for weeks against numerically superior Soviet troops, inflicting heavy casualties and leveling entire city blocks. But by February, most resistance had collapsed under the overwhelming Soviet offensive. The Provisional Government did not expect to hold out this long, as it had expected the Reich to intervene and reinforce it. Oragnized resistance steadily fell apart. Zhukov reported that twelve devisions, two armored regiments, and the entire Carpathian Air Force had been destroyed.
Destroyed Soviet armored car in Budapest
On 2 February at 5:20 AM, Nagy broadcast his final plea to Carpathia and the world, announcing that Soviet forces had entered western Budapest and that he would not flee. His radio station stopped broadcasting three hours later. Nagy called an emergency cabinet meeting, but only three ministers attended. The rest had been either shot or fled. Soviet troops soon arrived to occupied the building, negotiating an evacuation of the politicians still inside and promising safe passage to the Reich. Minister of State Istvan Bibo was the last representative of the resistance government remaining at his post, where he wrote "For Freedom and Truth," a final act of defiance to the Soviets.
By 8 AM, organized defense of Budapest broke down after the radio station was lost, and many defenders retreated to their barricades. Soviet troops stormed Parliament building and liberated captured ministers of Rakosi's government.
As the Soviet troops came under attack even in civilian quarters, they found it impossible to differentiate military from civilian targets. For this reason, Soviet tanks simply fired indiscriminately at every single possible target.
Destroyed Soviet assault guns in Budapest's 8th District
Carpathian resistance was strongest in the industrial districts of Budapest, where the Soviets unleashed the full power of their jets and artillery. Fighting there lasted until 24 February before the last rebels were blasted to pieces by Soviet air strikes.
At the end of the fighting, Carpathian casualties totalled around 25,000 dead with 200,000 wounded. Budapest lost 15,690 civilians. Over half of the dead were workers, and half of all casualties were people younger than thirty. On the Soviet side, 700 soldiers were killed, 145 were wounded, and 51 were missing in action.
In the immediate aftermath, tens of thousands of Carpathians were arrested. About 26,000 of them were brought before equalist courts, where all were sentenced to imprisonment and two thousand were executed. Thousands were deported to the CSSR. About two million fled to the Reich. Sporadic resistance continued until the summer of 1957, causing some economic disruption.
Rubble after the end of fighting in the 8th District
With most of Budapest under Soviet control, the CSSR restored the original equalist government under the Equalist Party of Carpathia, which had been purged under the supervision of the Presidium to be made more compliant. The Carpathian Army was severely purged, and the CSSR stationed several dozen more divisions in Carpathia, forcing the new government to accept Soviet miltiary presence permanently. Deromanization policies were intensified, and use of German and Greek and possession of Roman media was made a capital offense.
Nagy, his followers, and Laszlo Rajk's wife, Julia, took refuge in the Embassy of Denmark during the fighting. Despite promises they would be safely delivered to the Reich, they were all arrested while attempting to leave and then shot on the spot. Their bodies were dissolved in acid, burned, and dumped in unmarked graves.
Despite Cold War rhetoric by the Reich claiming an imminent collapse of Soviet power and Soviet claims of victory against fascist reactionaries, other leaders saw the failure of the uprising and the unexpectedly strong resistance the Carpathians put up as evidence that the Cold War had become a stalemate.
Scheel recommended to the people of the Occupied Territories that they should not take "dramatic actions which might have disastrous consequences for themselves." He also added that the rebellion was like "the collective suicide of a whole people." He urged them to peacefully seek reform, as violence will only make them worse than the equalists they sought to defeat. As expected, that did not go over well with the people of the Occupied Territories, who believed that the Reich had abandoned them.
Khrushchev, after listening to the above comments, remarked in a newspaper interview that "support by the Reich...is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives a hanged man."
Zeit magazine named the "Carpathian Resistance Fighter" as its Person of the Year for 1956. Its cover for that edition depicted a picture of a Carpathian resistance fighter facing down a row of Soviet tanks (he was blasted to pieces five seconds after the picture was taken). An honorable mention went out to Anne Frank, the Athanatos leading operations in Budapest during the revolution.
Concerned about the Athanatoi trying to subvert the new Carpathian regime, Khrushchev tasked the KGB with keeping them too busy to do so. The Reich had meddled in Soviet internal affairs, so it seemed only fair that the CSSR got a chance to meddle in Roman internal affairs. In what was essentially a repeat of the Esseg Affair, KGB agents spread propaganda among the working class in the states of Innsbruck and Tirol in June. Most of them were Jewish and had experienced a higher than usual discrimination as a result of reactions to the Civil Rights Movement. The KGB agents, without making themselves known, spread propaganda urging them to rise up against their employers and establish a workers' republic. After a strike began in the industrial district of Innsbruck, Scheel ordered the army to crack down on equalist influence, ironically taking the same measures Adenauer did. Several hundred (mostly Jewish) workers were killed, fueling allegations of hypocrisy and anti-Semitism against Scheel. Riots broke out in Tirol and Innsbruck, forcing local authorities to declare martial law. On the whole incident, Adenauer smugly said, "Now you know how I feel."
Khrushchev didn't stop with KGB operations against the Reich. He knew that military and espionage actions would not be enough to show the world that the Reich was an old and decripit dictatorship ready to collapse or that the CSSR was the way of the future. The Soviets had to pull ahead technologically and symbolically. The General Secretary saw the CSSR's space program as the way to do just that.
In 1954, chief Soviet rocket scientist Sergei Korolev proposed a developmental plan for an artificial satellite. In 1955, Adenauer had announced plans to launch an artificial satellite in 1957, but they were shelved when Scheel became chancellor. Over in the Soviet Commune, though, the Politburo approved of Korolev's proposal. Lead Soviet scientists held a meeting where they worked on the calculations needed to put a satellite in orbit and, if possible, get close to the moon. They decided to use a 3-stage version of the R-7 rocked normally used for ICBMs for satellite launches.
In January of 1956, the Soviet government approved work on a satellite, named "Object D." Object D was to be completed in the following year. It would have a mass of 1000 to 1400 kg and carry 200 to 300 kg of scientific instruments. The first test launch of Object D was scheduled for 1957. However, due to technical difficulties in trying to design something so complex meant that Object D could not be launched in time. It was rescheduled for launch in 1958. In June 1956, Korolev decided to replace Object D with the much lighter Object PS.
In September 1956, a modified R-7, named Sputnik, arrived at the proving ground in Krasnoyarsk (formerly Krasnoyar, Yavdi), and preparations for PS-1's (which came to be referred to as Sputnik 1) launch began. Sputnik 1 was a 585 millimeter diameter sphere with a mass of 83.6 kilograms. It carried two pairs of antennas which were designed to transmit signals equally in all directions, making reception of the signal independent of Sputnik 1's rotation.
The Sputnik rocket was launched on 28 July 1957 from Krasnoyarsk. The launch came very close to failure, as data indicated that several rocket boosters had not reached full power, causing the rocket to pitch, and a fuel regulator failed, causing fuel to be consumed at excessive rates.
At 19.9 seconds after engine cutoff, Sputnik 1 separated from the second stage of the rocket and activated its transmitter. These signals were detected at a nearby station, where the sound of Sputnik 1's steady beeping confirmed its successful deployment.
Artist's depiction of Sputnik 1 in orbit
The designers, engineers, and technicians who worked on Sputnik watched the launch from the range, afterwards driving to a mobile radio station to listen for Sputnik 1's signal. They waited about 90 minutes to ensure that it had made a full orbit and continued transmitting before Korolev called Khrushchev to inform him of Sputnik's successful launch.
On the first orbit, the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Commune (TASC) transmitted: "As result of great, intense work of scientific institutes and design bureaus the first artificial Earth satellite has been built."
The core stage of the R-7 remained in orbit for two months, while Sputnik 1 orbited for three months and completed 1440 orbits of Earth.
Teams of visual observers at 150 stations in the Reich and other countries were alerted during the night to watch for Sputnik at dawn and during the evening twilight. News reports at the time pointed out that anybody with a radio could hear Sputnik's steady beeping.
The launch of Sputnik surprised the Roman public and shattered the perception of the Reich as the technological superpower and the CSSR as a backward country. The launch of Sputnik 2 and the explosion of a Roman rocket on the launchpad several months later only shattered that perception even more. Sputnik reinforced and intensified the perception of a threat from the CSSR. The R-7 rocket could deliver an ICBM anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes, meaning that not even Neurhomania, Sumatra, and Mittagsland were safer than the mainland.
Five days after the launch, Kaiser Otto addressed the people of the Reich on the topic of Sputnik. Otto argued that Sputnik was only a scientific achievement and not a military threat or change in the balance of power. He declared three "stark facts" that the Reich needed to confront:
- The CSSR had surpassed the Reich and the "rest of the free world" (and China) in scientific and technological advancements in outer space.
- If the CSSR maintained this superiority, it might use it as a means to undermine the Reich's prestige and leadership.
- If the CSSR became the first to achieve significantly superior military capability in outer space and upset the balance of power, it could pose a direct military threat to the Reich.
He followed this statement by saying that the Reich needed to meet these challenges with "resourcefulness and vigor." Despite this, he failed to quell fears about a shift of power in favor of the Soviets. His old-fashioned style of talking reinforced fears that the Soviets had become more modern than the Romans. Subsequent opinion polls showed that Scheel's already horrible ratings plummeted even more, despite Scheel having nothing to do with the Kaiser's speech.
The media stirred a moral panic by writing sensation pieces ont he event. In the first and second days after Sputnik's launch, Frankfurter Zeitung wrote that the launch of Sputnik 1 was a major global propaganda and prestige triumph for Soviet equalism. The hyping up of the launch caused the Reich to become a "nation in shock" as journalists overexaggerated the danger of Sputnik 1 to get higher ratings. Politicians, especially Adenauer and the CMU, used the event to boost their ratings in the polls and prepare for the 1960 examinations. Research and development was used as a propaganda tool, and the Diet spent large sums of money on the alleged Roman technological deficiency. National security advisers overestimated the CSSR's rocket strength which alarmed large portions of the Diet and Scheel's cabinet, forcing Scheel into an accelerated missile race to appease those concerned with the Reich's safety (sabotaging his approval ratings even more as he was seen as a hypocrite who abandoned his pacifist values).
The Soviets also had a hand in political exploitation of the launch. Khrushchev remarked that "It always sounded good to say that we could hit a fly anywhere with our missiles. Despite the wide radius of destruction that our warheads caused, pinpoint accuracy was still necessary but difficult to achieve." He also added that "our potential enemies cringe in fright and cower in awe at the raw power of the unchained Russian proletariat."
The launch spurred a series of initiatives by the Reich, ranging from defense to education. Increased emphasis was placed on the Kaiserliche Marine's Project Vanguard to launch a Roman satellite. Scheel authorized the formation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, within the BoD to develop emerging technologies for the Roman military, in the fall of 1957, followed by signing the Roman Aerospace Defense Command Act, establishing ROMAN, a combined organization of Roman, Nordic, Persian, and India militaries that provided aerospace warning and protection for Europe and South Asia.
A year later, the Diet would propose the Imperial Defense Education Act, which poured billions of marks into the education system, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Further funding was granted to research of space weapons and missile defenses. Education programs were initiated to train the next generation of engineers and scientists. The Diet increased the funding for the Imperial Science Foundation by over a hundred million marks.
One consequence of the Sputnik shock was the perception of a "missile gap." Adenauer vowed to bring up this matter in his rematch with Scheel in 1960.
One irony of the Sputnik event was the initially low-key response of the Soviet Commune. Pravda only printed a few paragraphs about Sputnik 1. In the days following the world's startled response, the Soviets started celebrating their great accomplishment.
After the initial public shock in the Reich, the Space Race formally (or informally) began as the Reich ramped up its space program to counter the new Soviet threat.
In China, though, not many people took note of Sputnik's launch. Chiang, in particular, was busy breaking up the Shuimian strike in Penglai, though fortunately nobody was hurt in the process.
The 1958 Reichsrat assembled, and the liberals continued their slow decline, fueled by discontent over the KRA/FMP's approach to the Carpathian crisis and Sputnik. All left-wing parties except the socialist ones took a heavy beating, with the progressives losing almost all of their gains from the last two years and the liberals losing almost two percent of seats to the socialists. The conservatives rose to over 15 percent of seats, with the traditionalists not far behind. Adenauer and Erhard, promising to block Scheel's attempts to further sabotage the Roman economy, negotiated a coalition with the socialists and traditionalists, giving them a bare majority. Now the opposition was in a better position to push their agenda.
The previous year, the Kaiserliche Heer had proposed to place a scientific satellite in orbit during the International Geophysical Year, but that proposal had been rejected in favor of the Kaiserliche Marine's Project Vanguard. After Sputnik, the original program was reestablished to keep the Reich from falling behind in the Space Race. After the calculations were completed by a group of women scientists, Explorer 1 was launched on 12 January 1958. Besides being the first Roman satellite, it was also known for discovering the Von Allen radiation belt.
Launch of Explorer 1
The successful launch of Explorer showed that the Reich was now fully invested in winning the Space Race. It also prompted the Chinese and Indians to invest more into their own space programs, though without the same level of infrastructure as in the Reich and CSSR they would lag far behind.
Khrushchev knew that the CSSR could not compete with the Reich's sheer industrial power in a fair fight. So he directed Zhukov to apply pressure on the Reich's weaker allies, probe the Reich's defensive capabilities of allied territories, and force Scheel to divert his resources. On 14 January at 5:30 PM, the Soviet Army began an intense artillery bombardment against and island near the Tsarist-controlled city of Umea. Tsarist troops in Umea dug in and returned fire. About 440 Tsarist soldiers and 460 Soviet soldiers were killed.
Scheel initially refused to send aid to the Tsarists according to the obligations in the mutual defense treaty that had been signed under Adenauer's administration, but after the rest of the Diet demanded that he do so, he reluctantly sent one aircraft carrier group to the Baltic to protect Tsarist supply lines. The media then condemned Scheel as a hypocritical warmonger who lied about his pacifism.
SMS Ergyng
and SMS Marshall
with a supply ship off the coast of Sweden
It was in this crisis that air-to-air Sidewinder missiles were used for the first time between Tsarist M-86s and Soviet MiGs, with several MiGs being destroyed. After about a month, the Soviets retreated to their side of the Baltic, while locals in Umea became famous for their production of meat cleavers made from leftover Soviet bombshells.
During Plaek Phibunsongkhram's presidency, Phibunsongkhram imposed programs to reform Bangkok and Siamese society in accordance with Christian values, though his idea of Christian values greatly diffe red from official Roman Church teachings. Brothels and opium dens were shut down, divorce and abortion were made illegal and heavy punishments imposed on the women committing these crimes, and adultery laws, particularly in regards to women, were strengthened. Phibunsongkhram also established several schools and universities and encouraged celebrating traditional Siamese festivals, though with Christian elements instead.
Regarding economic development, Phibunsongkhram strove for a developed and independent economy and an enhanced infrastructure necessary to meet the ARSM's needs. In 1957, Phibunsongkhram's government implemented a 5-year-plan, which was ironic given Phibunsongkhram's anti-equalism.
In the countryside, Phibunsongkhram established the Commisariat General for Civic Action to help educate and improve the living standards of the rural population. Phibunsongkhram also implemented quasi-socialist land reforms to redistribute land controlled by rich landlords to the tenants. A program to resettle northern refugees in underdeveloped areas of Siam succeeded in increasing agricultural output in the Malay archipelago, but those involved were not happy, and northern nationalists had infiltrated the program.
Phibunsongkhram's central concern, though, was internal security to protect his own power and maintain order. After the subjugation of the crime syndicates and religious sects, Phibunsongkhram focused on his most serious threat: the nationalists. About 12,000 suspected opponents of Phibunsongkhram were killed between 1955 and 1957 and by the end of 1958 at least 40,000 political prisoners had been jailed. Pro-north nationalist organizations had been almost completely destroyed in the countryside.
Phibunsongkhram's harsh policies led to fear and anger in many parts of Siam and negatively affected his already horrible relations with the Reich in terms of counterinsurgency methods. In the winter of 1957, as Phibunsongkhram delivered a speech at an agricultural fair, a nationalist attempted to shoot him but hit the Minister for Agrarian Reform in the arm instead. Phibunsongkhram continued delivering his speech as if nothing had happened while the crowd, led by Phibunsongkhram's bodyguards, lynched the attempted assassin.
As anti-Phibunsongkhram opposition grew, a low level homegrown insurgency began to organize. In 1958, under pressure from Chaw Thai agents who were being successfully targeted by Phibunsongkhram's secret police, Chiang Mai issued a secret resolution authorizing the use of armed insurgency in the south with supplies and troops from the north. Southern nationalists established their own branch of the Chaw Thai a month later, and in November of 1958 two air force officers and their troops attacked the presidential palace in a failed attempt to kill Phibunsongkhram.
Many historians claimed that Phibunsongkhram's religious policies favored Christians and persecuted Buddhists. According to some, the distribution of weapons to village militias intended to fight the Chaw Thai saw weapons only given to Christians. Some Buddhist villages converted in large numbers in order to receive the weapons or avoid being forcibly resettled elsewhere. Buddhists needed government permission conduct Buddhist activities, while Christians could practice freely and were exempt from the conscription and labor that all other Siamese had to perform. Roman aid was mostly given to Christian villages, despite the Reich's insistence that Buddhists be given a fair share.
The Republic of Siam's relations with the Reich worsened in 1957, when in the heavily Buddhist city of Ayutthaya the Buddhist majority was prohibited from displaying Buddhist flags for all Buddhist holidays. The government cited a regulation banning the display of all nongovernment flags, but the previous day, a Christian flag flew at the 25th anniversary of one of Phibunsongkhram's brother's elevation to the rank of bishop. Buddhist leaders condemned this hypocrisy, causing a riot which was suppressed by Phibunsongkhram's forces, killing dozens of civilians. Phibunsongkhram blamed the Chaw Thai for the deaths.
Afterwards, Buddhist organizations pushed for several rights: the freedom to fly their flags, an end to arbitrary arrests, compenstation for the Ayutthaya victims, punishment for the officials involved, and religious equality. Phibunsongkhram responded by banning all demonstrations and ordered his troops to arrest anybody engaged in civil disobedience. A week later, protesters attempted to march to a local pagoda, and the ARSM deployed tear gas and attack dogs, which failed to stop the crowds. Finally, the ARSM used an unknown chemical weapon on the protesters as they tried to pray, killing 67. The ARSM then enforced a curfew on the whole city.
The turning point came in June 1957, when a Buddhist monk set himself on fire in the middle of a busy Bangkok intersection in protest of Phibunsongkhram's policies. Photos of the monk's self-immolation were published around the world. A number of other monks also self-immolated, and the Reich grew increasingly frustrated with Phibunsongkhram's image in both Siam and the Reich. As usual, Phibunsongkhram blamed the dissent on nationalists. In August, the secret police raided a pagoda in Bangkok, vandalizing the interior and beating its monk. The cremated remains of a Buddhist saint, including his heart, a religious relic, were confiscated. Similar raids were conducted elsewhere. The pagoda in Ayutthaya was looted, the statue of the Buddha was destroyed, and a body of a dead monk was confiscated. When the public attempted to defend the monks, over 200 were killed. About 1400 monks were arrested. The Reich indicated its disapproval when a Roman ambassador visited the pagoda and complained.
Phibunsongkhram's sister-in-law mocked the suicides, saying, "If the Buddhists want a barbecue, I'll be glad to give them the gasoline." The pagoda raids stoked widespread public anger in Bangkok. University students boycotted classes anad rioted, forcing Phibunsongkhram to shut down all schools. When high school students also demonstrated, they were all arrested too. Children as young as five were deported to reeducation camps on charges of "anti-government graffiti." Phibunsongkhram's foreign minster resigned and shaved his head like a Buddhist monk in protest. When he tried to leave Siam to go on a pilgrimage to India, he was also arrested.
As the Buddhist crisis deepened in 1957, non-northern Siamese nationalists and royalists, with military support, began preparations for a coup. Several high ranking ARSM generals planned the coup with an Athanatoi liaison who rarely met the plotters in person, lest the rest of the world find out that the Reich had staged a coup against President Phibunsongkhram and compel Regent Paullu of the UPM to follow through on his threats regarding the hostages and the Panama Canal. The Athanatoi, meanwhile, relayed a message to the generals that the Reich would not do more than provide some logistical support for them.
On 28 January 1958, the generals overthrew the government in a swift coup, arresting all of Phibunsongkhram's ministers who refused to support them. Within an hour, only the palace guard remained to defend Phibunsongkhram and his brother. The generals called the palace, offering Phibunsongkhram exile if he surrendered. Phibunsongkhram agreed, but in the time it took the generals to get to the palace, he and his followers had already escaped via an underground passage to a church outside Bangkok, where they were captured the following morning. Both were shot in the head and buried in an unmarked grave next to the house of the Roman ambassador.
Relief depicting Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat (hand raised) executing his coup
Pridi Panomyong reportedly stated: "I can scarcely believe that the Romans would be so stupid." The Reich was relieved by the coup, as Phibunsongkhram had finally been removed without Paullu following through on his threats (yet) and not many people had been killed. The Athanatoi reported that the generals were in favor of restoring the monarchy.
On 30 January, the new military junta, led by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, declared the Republic of Siam dissolved and the Kingdom of Siam restored, with Thanarat as Regent since Bhumibol had now defected to the north. Thanarat promised an end to the chaos that Phibunsongkhram had caused, but in reality Phibunsongkhram's deposing had removed the one person holding Siam together. Almost all power had been centralized on Phibunsongkhram, and without him, a power vacuum formed, which Thanarat was unable to fully close. The ARSM, renamed to the Army of the Kingdom of Siam (AKSM), was ill-prepared to deal with the ensuing insugencies by anti-Thanarat forces, pro-Phibunsongkhram forces, various northern and non-northern nationalists, equalists, republicans, radical royalists, and the Chaw Thai and Seri Thai. As 1959 progressed, Thanarat lost control of most of the countryside to the insurgents, while repeated coups against him in Bangkok were put down with heavy casualties.
Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, Regent of the restored Kingdom of Siam
The instability in Siam increaed doubts as to the benefits of Roman intervention in Siam. Early opposition to intervention drew its inspiration from the Vienna Conference. The Reich's hypocritical support of Phibunsongkhram's republican autocracy was seen as thwarting the very meritocracy that the Reich claimed to be supporting. The Civil Rights Movement also capitalized on this sentiment, with many civil rights protests also being protests against the war in Siam. Johann Kennedy, a CMU senator from Hibernia, opposed involvement in Siam and showed up at many of Abraham Green's anti-war demonstrations. Other politicians in other countries also opposed the Reich's policies in Siam, among them Ragnar Beck, who planned to run for chancellor of Denmark in the 1960 Danish elections.
Meanwhile, China enjoyed a period of relative peace (ignoring the blatant human rights violations that occurred in the countryside). Chinese airlines began "around the world service," linking the city of Longwan with Constantinople (though only approved Chinese citizens could buy tickets).
As equalist rebels rose up in both Siam and Thailand, Cuba continued its slow transition to a free meritocratic society. Roman investments were in the process of reviving the sugar economy, but tourism was still too low to be profitable. Civilians, not accustomed to private ownership, did not start that many businesses. Law enforcement, which still relied on bribes as in the equalist era, was ill-equipped to deal with a surge in crime as local mafia groups took over entire districts of Havana and fought each other in bloody gang wars. Scheel offered to train Cuban law enforcement, and Kestrel welcomed the aid. Khrushchev saw this as an attempt by the Reich to seize control of the Cuban police and ordered the KGB and Eimerican secret police to subvert Roman attempts to do so.
Mali formally became a member of the Central Powers in April of 1958.
In June, the Nordic countries agreed to abolish passport controls on travel between them. The agreement would also allow citizens of each Nordic country to reside and work in another Nordic country without a residence or work permit. All Nordic citizens no longer needed IDs to legally enter and reside in any Nordic country, although carrying IDs was still highly recommended. The open borders agreement, which was implemented with the Reich's blessing, was hailed as the first step towards Scandinavian reunification, although the Tsarists and Kanatans refused to enter into a full political union until they had liberated their homelands.
The next month, the Roman government's attempts to cover up its involvement in the anti-Phibunsongkhram coup failed when a major newspaper published leaked Athanatoi documents firmly showing the government's involvement, as well as detailing the government's treatment of the Innsbruck incident. The article also highlighted the level of support (and lack of) that Scheel and the KRA gave to both Phibunsongkhram and the Carpathian revolutionaries. There were also claims that KRA members had bribed members of the media into over-exaggerating the severity of Adenauer's mistakes to ensure the Bureau of Qualifications would swing in Scheel's favor.
The allegations soon escalated into a full-blown political scandal which consumed the public and the government. Many KRA and FMP supporters denounced the government for its actions, saying they were inexcusable. Even several KRA and FMP politicians denounced Scheel for his hypocrisy and betrayal of the KRA's core values. The conservatives were delighted to see the liberals turning on each other, which only strengthened them even more heading into the 1960 examinations. By the time the scandal subsided at the end of the summer, it was clear that the liberal cause had been severely damaged. It was just what Adenauer needed to boost his popularity and public imge.
Tensions rose in the Shogunate of Japan over allegations that various equalist dictatorships and Tawantinsuyu attempted to gain control over the Shogunate's law enforcement in preparation for an equalist (or Imperial Japanese, in Tawantinsuyu's case) coup. When the Shogun announced a formal investigation into the matter with Roman assistance, most of the equalists quickly backed down and apologized, but the Soviets and Tawantinsuyuans denied the allegations.
On 2 August 1958, Kaiser Otto signed the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the Roman Aeronautics and Space Administration, or RANA, which consolidated the Reich's disorganized space program under a single civilian-run agency. RANA began operations on 1 October, absorbing the 43-year-old Imperial Advisory Committee for Aeronautics intact (the older agency had 8000 employees, an annual budget of 100 million marks, three major research laboratories, and two small test facilities). Kaiser Otto approved of an official RANA seal the next year. A significant contributor for RANA's entry into the Space Race was former Angeloi and Rasa technology and researchers, including Werner von Braun. RANA was placed in charge of the Kaiser Franz Joseph Space Center in New Cordoba, Neurhomania, from where all of its most important missions would be launched. A second space center was planned for construction outside Munich, Bavaria.
Having lost both its Security Council seat and prestige within the equalist bloc, the Union of Vinland sought for ways to regain its edge. The oldest equalist regime in North Eimerica devoted most of its research to developing a new type of jet which could give it the edge necessary to both reclaim its rightful spot within the equalist hierarchy and defeat the capitalist Kanatans in Noregr. The result was the Sleipnir Vinland CF-105 Arrow, a delta-winged interceptor aircraft, considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Vinlandic aviation industry and one of the most advanced constructions of this type in the world. It was meant to be the first aircraft fitted with a rudimentary fly-by-wire system in which an electronic control servo would move the various flight controls. Khrushchev, surprised by the achievement the Vinlanders had made, hailed the new fighter jet as the jet of the future and ordered several hundred of them. Other equalist countries followed suit, ironically reducing sales of Soviet MiGs.
The first Sleipnir Vinland CF-105 Arrow, using the Kanatan maple leaf (which was soon dropped because of its royalist connections)
Meanwhile, the Reich conducted further nuclear tests, this time in the South Atlantic. Operation Argus was a series of low-yield, high-atmosphere tests performed in conjunction with the Explorer 4 space mission. Contractors from Tesla Dynamic's aircraft manufacturing subsidiaries as well as some contractors from the IAEC were on hand. The goal of the tests was to verify claims that high-altitude nuclear detonations would create a radiation belt in the upper atmosphere, like the Von Allen belts. Such radiation belts would have tactical use in war with the CSSR, including the degrading and disruption of radio and radar signals and damage or destruction of the arming mechanisms of Soviet ICBMs.
Launching one of the X-17A missiles as part of Operation Argus
The South Atlantic was chosen because the Von Allen belt was closer to the surface there than anywhere else. The test's explosions created artificial electron belts in the upper atmosphere which lasted for several weeks, disrupting radio and radar signals and disabling the arming mechanisms of ICBMs. The level of radiation in the temporary belts was enough to severely endanger the crews of any space vehicles entering the area.
The tests were announced the following years, but the full details were not declassified until 1982.
Back in the mainland, Ecumenical Patriarch Joseph I's health continued to decline. He suffered from atheroschlerosis and suffered a mild stroke in 1944, followed by a severe heart attack in 1945. The once highly active Ecumenical Patriarch, who from his seat in Papen's wartime cabinet denounced fascism and equalism with fiery rhetoric and rallied Christendom under the loyalist banner, resigned from the government in 1945 and retired to Mount Athos in 1955. He was bedridden by 1957. On 2 November 1958 the Ecumenical Patriarch passed away in the presence of the pentarchs and the Kaiser.
The death of Joseph I was met with an outpouring of grief not seen since the death of Franz Joseph in 1916. Across the Reich and all of Christendom, even in the Occupied Territories (where Soviet authorities cracked down on such displays of grief with deadly force), millions of Christians mourned the loss of their Ecumenical Patriarch. The Kaiser declared a month of national mourning, while millions attended Joseph I's memorial service in Hagia Sophia. Millions more stopped exactly where they were to hold a moment of silence for the religious leader.
Joseph I was buried in a small private ceremony, as per his last wishes, in the town of Gori, Transcaucasia, despite the Church wanting to bury him in Hagia Sophia.
An ecumenical conclave, inspired by the old Catholic tradition of choosing a pope, was called three weeks later. After three days of deliberation, the patriarchs of all of Christianity chose Theodor Karl Innitzer, the Patriarch of Vienna and former Resistance leader, to become Ecumenical Patriarch Theodoros XXIII, spiritual leader of all Christendom.
Ecumenical Patriach Theodoros XXIII. All ecumenical patriarchs after the Mending of the Schism wore robes inspired by those worn by the old popes.
Yet another strike broke out in Penglai over the low wages airliners paid their employees, forcing Chiang to send in the army yet again.
New Year's Day 1959 was a busy day for most of the world. Within hours of each other and before the 1959 Reichsrat could convene, eight countries--the CSSR, Tsarist Russia, Kanata, Vinland, Imperial Japan, Denmark, Tawantinsuyu, and China--formally announced their claims on territory in Antarctica. Scheel had plans to claim some territory in Antarctica for the Reich later that day, but he was more busy by the convening of the new Reichsrat.
In the largest change of composition the Reichsrat had ever undergone thus far, the KRA and FMP lost a full 20% of all seats in the Reichsrat, their numbers plummeting to just 8% and their presence barely larger than that of the progressives, who emerged mostly unscathed. The socialists also lost 7% of their seats, while all other ideological factions made significant gains. The CMU, CSU, and traditionalist parties made the most gains, with the conservatives being boosted a full 10% and regaining their position as the largest faction in the Reichsrat, with the traditionalists following close behind. Together, both factions came within less than 1% of achieving a simple majority. The addition of the socialist, populist, and even progressive parties gave Adenauer's revitalized coalition not only a majority but an absolute one.
The liberal presence in the Reichsrat had been completely destroyed. Scheel could no longer advance his agenda without interference from the conservatives. Adenauer vowed to retake the Reichstag in the upcoming examinations, and it was no secret that the old chancellor had plans to retake Scheel's job.