Election of 1849: The rush to the center
Michael von Hohenzollern found himself grimacing every time his cousin Albrecht spoke at family dinners. The Hohenzollern estates were increasingly crowded, as in addition in to Samuel’s children, Michael, Fritz, and Sara, there was also Albrecht and his children, Wilhelm and the twins, Maria and Frederika. Otto von Bismarck was a frequent guest, as were other luminaries in the New Society. Yet it was the Imperialist party that seemed to dominate dinner conversation.
As Michael took a bite of his steak, he glanced over at Fritz, who raised his glass of wine. Fritz had become almost obscenely wealthy with his latest patent, a new process for purifying steel. This process enabled rails to become stronger and lighter at the same time, and most importantly cheaper. A second rail boom exploded throughout Germany, as all of the main trunk lines were upgraded or upgrading by the election’s conclusion. [1]
However, not everybody was pleased at the new technologies or the railroads. The decision to place the Italian railway under the direction of a German caused an outburst of Italian nationalism in Bologna, a conflagration that later spread to Siena.
At this particular family dinner, Chancellor Alex von Bern and his Deputy Chancellor, DDr. Gotha, sat in the places of honor to the left and right of Albrecht. DDr. Gotha’s call for African colonies surprised nobody, but the Chancellor’s firm support of DDr. Gotha did attract some notice. Bern’s speech at a meeting of the Conclave swayed a few independent Stadtholders towards the New Society, with the approval of Otto von Bismarck, who was rapidly proving to be a dynamic orator in his own right.
Michael, privately, hated the pompous windbag Gotha, even as he was nominally Michael’s superior at the Foreign Ministry. Gotha’s desire to acquire colonies in Africa distracted German citizens from issues much closer to home. Grenada and Athens both saw coups d’état overthrow their governments; Grenada to the Jacobins, while Athens turned its eyes to Russia and the Empire there.
Even more alarming to Michael was the defeat of Pomerania by Poland, which took a sizable chunk of Pomerania’s eastern territory.
However, all of these issues paled in comparison to the Hungarian Crisis. It began quite simply; a group of Magyar rebels sparked an uprising in Crete. Once they took control of the capital, they petitioned to have Crete annexed by Hungary, its natural ethnic overlord. Hungary delightedly accepted.
However, this sparked a reaction in neighboring Transylvania. Transylvania had often coveted Hungarian territory and sought to become a Great Power herself. Using the Treaty of Friendship signed with Germany, the Transylvanians asked for German assistance in punishing Hungary for her “unilateral and unfair annexation of sovereign territory.” War fever spread through Germany with alacrity, particularly when DDr. Gotha spoke of subjugating Hungary to German rule. Only the Alliance and the occasional member of the UAI opposed the declaration of war. German troops were on the march within a month.
As Germans grabbed rifles again, led by General Steeb, it was the new leader of the Alliance, Carlo Brunelli, that took front and center in German domestic affairs. He spoke out against the brutality of prisons in Milan: Gotha sneered while Albrecht von Hohenzollern more than once insinuated that the foreign born Brunelli was a traitor to the Republic.
A tragedy at an Erfurt mine convinced Brunelli to recommend a collection for the families; that even worried some of his own party members, who privately wondered if the government ought to be interfering in people’s lives so openly.
Brunelli even recommended allowing Karl Marx’s return to Germany. Interior Minister Altmark, although a member of the UAI, flatly refused to allow such a dangerous radical into the country unless he openly denounced the Jacobin movements which still enflamed Europe. Albrecht von Hohenzollern, in turn, called for Marx to be hunted down and put down “like the revolutionary dog he was.” Brunelli, in a rage, stormed out of the Conclave that day.
Even the New Society detested the increasingly radical Alliance. Bismarck, one of the few Protestants in the entire Assembly, jeeringly harangued the “Papist-Anarchist” in one of his many speeches, to the discomfort of some of his neighbors. That caused some of the left leaning members of the UAI, particularly former Chancellor Picard and Stadtholder von Dwyfor, to openly declare their support for Brunelli.
The resulting atmosphere was one of the most chaotic elections in the history of the Republic.
Things only grew more divisive as Otto von Bismarck flatly refused to hear of any redistribution of needed war goods to help the Potato Blight in Tirol.
If not for the patriotism that spread throughout Germany with the declaration of war, it was entirely possible that the New Society could have seen significant losses. Yet the New Society very carefully convinced the German left that they were restraining the Imperialists – some of whom even spoke of outright annexation of Hungary – while simultaneously reassuring the right that some version of the red, white, and black would fly over Bansk Bystrica. The Alliance was quickly shoved to the side.
Brunelli acted. He and some other European radicals invited Karl Marx to speak at their inaugural meeting in Ottawa, Canada. The “Radicalist International” hoped to seek greater political and social freedom for all citizens of the world. The result was a completely unexpected outpouring of support in the Conclave for the Alliance, which for the first time in the history of the Republic earned more than a single vote in the Conclave.
The association with Marx did more to mobilize the conservative base of the New Society than any dozen speeches by Bismarck could have. Members of both the UAI and Imperialists ran to the center, figuratively speaking.
The New Society, it seemed, was in the driver’s seat once again. Would Chancellor von Bern run again, the first German Chancellor to seek reelection? Would the upstart Bismarck ride his financial policies to a victory himself? Or would the Imperialists swallow their pride and look to the UAI to counterbalance the popularity of the New Society?
[1] All the main railroad lines set by Idhrendur have been invested in; they are finished or will be finished sometime in the next year.
A few bonus screens! Factories:
Finances:
And finally, the GPs of the world:
I will treat Brothersid, Andre Massena, Gen. Marshall, and Sakura_f as party leaders for present; you have 24 hours to announce a different arrangement. Else, you may begin working out coalition agreements. As a reminder, the UAI and New Society get two ministries each, and the Interior Minister cannot be a member of the Chancellor’s party.
Once the coalition agreement is made, we will then move on to Constitutional amendments or other proposals, as appropriate.