Election of 1903: The decline of the Bundespartei
One of the strangest political phenomena in German history occurred in the election of 1903. Most observers had nothing but praise for Franz Meningen, who had served his first term as Chancellor Germany. Generally speaking, he had steered Germany well, dealing with the occasional crisis with aplomb and skill. Meningen had every reason to expect that he and his party would continue to grow and receive a mandate for four more years in charge. The electorate, however, had other ideas.
The Schwabing Circles were the first sign that something was wrong in Germany or at least unexpected. This incredibly popular measure passed the Reichstag easily, but once the area was set up in Munich, it was not greeted with enthusiasm, but apathy. The Minister of Education, Walther Herwig, opined that German intellectuals were already free and therefore had no need of a special area to discuss exciting new ideas. His suggestion was well considered, but while he applauded the intellectual free spirit of Germany, he simultaneously funded engineering schools, looking for ways to improve power generation. Whatever pretty speeches he might give, the Minister knew that most Germans did not esteem the lofty intellectual or the snooty artist, but the practical engineer and the stalwart soldier. The beloved heir to the Hohenzollern name and fortune, Erich von Hohenzollern, chose the German army rather than any of the universities that would have happily accepted him. At the age of 17, Erich enlisted, choosing to become a cavalryman, pleasing his father, the Chief of the General Staff Karl Friedrich von Hohenzollern.
The other major change was the surprising upsurge in popularity for Conservative Foreign Minister Hubert Schaumburg. When his original idea to support the Krakovian war for parts of Norway fell through, he did not bluster or complain; he submitted a much more moderate plan that easily won approval. German pounds were sent instead of German soldiers. Krakow was, not surprisingly, defeated, but Krakow's relationship with Germany was not affected at all. Similarly, when Sweden sought to grab their piece of Norway, Germany refused support of any kind and
still Sweden was eager to resume the formerly broken alliance. Just as the once fiery revolutionary Meningen had mellowed over time, so too had the warmonger Schaumburg become much more reasonable.
The election was not the landslide that German political observers had thought, and as the election began, there were plenty of warning signs that the Bundespartei might be in real trouble.
Sensing the weakness of the centrist Bundespartei, critics from both the left and right wings of German politics criticized Meningen's cool and calm policy decisions. The KPD and DDA looked for cuts to the German army, as the new peaceful position of the Foreign Ministry suggested that the powerful and expensive German military machine was a needless luxury and a symbol of German aggression. Conservatives were horrified at the mismanagement of German funds under Meningen's Finance Minister Albrecht von Württemburg. Instead of maintaining a balanced budget, the German treasury had run a heavy deficit for the last two years of the Meningen administration, thanks in large part to an economy based on reparations from the recent Great War. When those reparations evaporated, there were no changes to the tax base. The DSU had the strongest argument, complaining that the liberals had continued to discriminate against socialist ministers in their government.
The resulting elections turned German politics upside down. The Bundespartei, instead of gaining more seats in the Assembly, lost almost 10% of the popular vote, which the DSU, Imperialists, Conservatives, DDA, and KPD picked up. For the first time, the DSU was the largest party in the Assembly at 25% of the vote; the Bundespartei fell to fourth place, behind the DLP (who lost a few seats as well) and resurgent Conservatives. Even the KPD, the smallest party in Germany, had 5% of the vote, a significant improvement from past returns.
In the Conclave, too, the Liberals lost seats, which the Conservatives picked up. The DDA and KPD roughly doubled their returns from the previous election. Centrism, to put it mildly, had lost most of its appeal. Germans wanted action and dynamism, not lethargy and cool reason. Elderly Germans demanded pensions, while the unemployed were almost as vocal. A tiny fringe party demanded Bohemian independence, although nobody took them seriously. It was the economy that ultimately undermined the Bundespartei. In 1899, the German treasury was over £3 million; in 1903, it was less than half of that. Whichever party took the lead in the new coalition had a lot of work to do, and could use the new tool of radio to do it.
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((No fancy political diagrams from me this time; somebody else is free to supply them, if they like.))
The Supreme Court calls for a new coalition, reminding all parties that the Socialists are entitled to a seat in the government. Since no other party has 25% of the Conclave or Assembly, that is the only requirement for the new coalition.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
((One other thing: I had intended to use random numbers for all election events, but I'd already saved the game and written most of the update before I realized I hadn't done that this time around. It will change for the next election. I don't know what difference it would have made in this election, since the only major choice I had was to bump one of the parties. I chose the Conservatives for RP reasons, but I think the BP would have been nerfed no matter what.))
EDIT: ((One final note. I've updated the active/inactive list. If you are inactive, a single post will have that status removed. Remember to select from active members
only for the purposes of filling ministries.))