Chapter 52: Collapse of 1899
(Bolshevik Revolutionaries outside a Factory in Moscow)
The February revolution of Russia was for everyone a sudden and violent affair. For the Russians however some form of popular uprising had been a long time coming. Russia's Military Industrial complex had been enacted early in the century as a means to maximize military production in the face of the rising powers of Asia. The reactionary elements within the government however never truly died with the decembrist revolt and Victoria's plan for a free and powerful russia was at a local level corrupted by the ruling aristocrats to suppress voting, break unions and maximize profits for the powerful Russian industry.
With Russia getting in several violent and costly wars midway through the century however the Old Guard's grip on the people had to be relaxed. Russia was no longer an agricultural power and had been for some time and a growing middle class had meant larger and larger amounts of Russians could afford schooling. When these new Victorian intellectuals now wanted representation in Government Tsarina Victoria obliged and aided in removing some restrictions the aristocracy had created to control the composition of the Duma. Though for a time the Russian people had some modicum of representation in their own Parliment the death of Victoria and the rise of Tsar Victor had seen Victoria's voting reforms revoked. Gerrymandering, Voter intimidation and in some areas even Fraud ran rampant and Socialist and Communist parties were banned from the government entirely.
(Russian Soldiers holding ground In Siberia against Mongol-Chinese Forces)
Enter WW1 where the Russian economy would be strained to the breaking point. Like the Holy Roman Empire Russia had fought wars before, but never like the Great War. Further still Russia's main trading partners of India and China were either aligned against her or blocked by hostile troops. Measures for the Government to intervene and stabilize the economy fell on deaf ears of a Socialist Paranoid Duma. Kaiser Victor of course was more concerned with his pet project to expand Russia's borders rather than help its people. By the End of the War returning soldiers meant that Russian unemployment quickly reached 30% and the Rich Capitalists that had opposed socialism so violently at the onset of the war were asking for government Bailouts which the more entrenched Aristocrats wholly refused. Businesses became to close and Downsize and the problem only grew.
(The 3 Bolshevik Leaders from left to right. Kirill Naumov Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov and Leon Trosky)
Add in the mass amounts of Military Surplus from the war and Russia was primed for revolution. While the communist Hydra had many heads three in particular would manage to unite the many radical elements in Russian society. Naumov was a former military officer from the Great War who had been dismissed following the Treaty of Singapore, with his military pension denied he tried to find work as a clerk only to be denied due to his Greek ancestry. Eventually Naumov found the Communists, a group who believed that Ideology and Ideology alone trumped Ethnicity and quickly used his experience as a Officer to organize the revolution.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was a Russian Intellectual who had been a student in the University of Berlin in Westphalia studying the teachings of the late Karl Marx and those sympathetic to the Socialist cause. When the war had arrived in Berlin Austrian Soldiers had arrested many Socialists who were deemed to be potential rabble rousers in the coming occupation. Vladimir however due to his russian descent instead was deported back to Russia where he promptly escaped his Prison train and met with like minded colleagues under the Alias, 'Lenin'.
Leon Trotsky, the last piece of the Soviet Triumvirate was considered the heart of the Soviet Cause. Trosky had gathered like minded supporters in droves. Perhaps too much an Idealist for his own good Trotsky had become enamoured with Marx's teachings to an extent neither of his colleagues did. The Revolution was a means to an end, and Trosky's end would be a perfect world, a worldwide revolution so that all peoples could be free'd from the shackles of old world Tyranny.
On February 3rd 1899 Russian Bolsheviks rose up in force in the Russian heartland. Moscow, Kiev and Novgrod all fell in short order. The Military who had already been denied bonus pay at the end of the year defected to the Red's in droves and the Bolsheviks had won almost without firing a shot. The resulting uprisings of Aristocrats, Capitalists and later Facists however would plague the new Soviet Realm for years in the future.
For Tsar Victor and the Royal family they had the luck to be on Holiday following the successful signing of the Treaty of Singapore. News would be slow to arrive, eventually reaching the Tsar amid a Lion Hunt in south Africa. With his precious homeland taken from him Victor's vacation had become his exile.
In The following year the new Soviet Union would reorganize itself and also at Trotsky's insistence, fund further revolutions in Mali, China, Flanders, Denmark, The Holy Roman Empire and even America. While not all of these revolts would be successful, Mali, Flanders and China in particular had fallen under the Red Sway. Though for China it wouldn't last long as there would be organized resistance against the Communists, and the great middle Kingdom would quickly become embroiled in the bloodiest civil war in the history of the world.
(Prince-Regent Karl Franz 1898)
One would ask the question of why Austria didn't intervene in the coming storm and the answer is Obvious. The Holy Roman Empire was going through a tragedy of it's own. Kaiser Ferdinand II after having returned from Singapore had a sudden stroke on January 12th 1899. While the Emperor did not die he was bedridden and Imperial law dictated his still living brother the elderly Karl-Franz now known as the 'Twice Regent.
(A Photograph widely known as the 'Three Brats' taken in 1873 of Kaiser Ferdinand's 3 children)
It was only a matter of time before Ferdinand's stroke could spell the end for the Emperor. Karl Franz had learned from the time of Crisis regarding his father and quickly prepared for the worst. Ferdinand had but three children, Eldest Gisela and her two siblings Princess Mary and Prince Christopher. None of the three were particularly liked by the Aristocracy as they had grown up abroad in California.
(Princess Alexandria of Occitannia)
There was of course another matter, Franz had abdicated the Throne to his brother years ago, but no mention was made of where Franz's own children would stand in line for succession. By law they would be Heirs to Occitania and the Empire would pass them over. Franz's children however did not share his stance on non-intervention by the nobility. The Reichsrat wholly supported Alexandria, Franz's eldest over Gisela but Franz as regent had the final say and refused to many any ruling that he deemed could put his daughter's in Harm's way especially with the revolutions in the Celtic, Russian and Chinese empires being oh so fresh in his own mind.
('The Assassination of the Woman who would be Empress' by Arnaldo Torini 1899)
In the Summer of 1890 Disaster struck the Empire again as the Crown princess Gisela was assassinated a mile from the Reichsrat while taking a walk by Karl Krupp a German Extreme Nationalist who reportedly screamed "Death to the Absolutists" and attacked the Princess in broad daylight.
Accusations flew wildly about the Reichsrat in following weeks. Accusations of course firmly placed on Alexandria by those who were loyal to Gisela but also the Italians as Gisela's husband was the brother of King Eugene Napoleon of Italy. For the first time in hundreds of years Imperial and Annonia family politics were becoming entangled and the mess was now threatening to rip the empire apart.
Princess Osterhild Anniona in 1890
Eventually Franz and Napoleon III who had quickly unified opposition to an Occitanian inheritance on a compromise. Franz and Napoleon would assemble a Regency council for Gisela's only daughter Osterhild Anniona until such of time the newly appointed Crown princess came of age. To appease and protect the Empire from socialist movements abroad Sigmund Freud would be made Chancellor. Karl Franz, being the eldest would have his position of regent be replaced by Gisela's sister Mary should the Prince-Regent fall ill like Ferdinand before him. Of course this was all done without Kaiser Ferdinand having passed, should the Kaiser return to duty many expected heads quite literally would be rolling in the streets but as time went on that seemed far less likely.
(Sigmund Freud as Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire)
With the new 'Imperial Triumvirate' of Franz, Freud and Napoleon having form, (No doubt in some way to mimic as well as overshadow the balance of power in the Soviet leadership) work was swift to bring about the Freud's 'Social Apparatus' that he claimed would calm the people and prevent a bloody revolution like what had happened in Russia, Mali and Flanders.
The Emphasis of the plan would be to create a welfare state that appealed to what Freud called the 'Ego, Superego and Id' or Morality, Reality and Base instincts. Old Age Pensions, Safety regulations and Healthcare given to appease the Morality of the people. Along with Public Education and unemployment subsidies to control the Id and strengthen the Ego. Along with a No Nonsense Minimum wage to better control Corporate Pay cuts. Such a system promised to drain the treasury immensely, especially with worldwide economic crash looming from the fall of Russia though it would be a small price to Pay to ensure the Empire stayed safe from the Red Hydra.
Austria was now ready to face the New Era and to mark the turn of the Century the first (Yes I know it says second, Blame Vicky
) were to be held in New Orleans and the world waited to see if it was possible that after all the war, death and revolution to see if it could pull itself back together again.