Onward!
Excerpt from The Byzantine Empire in the Victoria Era: 1836-1936 by Prof. Charles Whitsford:
With the reformation of the perhaps-no-longer-really-Greek government complete, Otto and Karamanlís has to look towards two landmark occasions as signs of the continued stability of the new nation. These were the continuing overhaul and reformation of the Imperial Armed Forces, (a process that began very soon after the end of the Second Crimean War) and the upcoming general elections- the Empire's first.
On September 28, the finalized plan for the Imperial Army and Navy was presented, outlining a streamlined and reorganized force. The Army would consist of six 'Legeónas' (Legions) of three divisions each. This would be further implemented by three more independent 'native' quality divisions garrisoning the outlying territories. This active duty force of 220,000 soldiers would be supplemented by the 320,000 strong combat-proven reserve force. On the naval side of things, losses from the recent war would need to be repaired, as some of the newest vessels had been destroyed before being completed by the northern European landing forces during their occupation of Athens. In 1883, the Imperial Navy consisted of only ten monitors, two commerce raiders, three frigates, and four squadrons of steamer transports. Because of the limited nature of funds at the time, the military reform approved by Otto only allocated the funds to purchase two modern ironclads. Unfortunately, this left the Empire in a situation where they would be unable to face a significant modern naval threat, due to the outdated nature of basically their entire fleet. On top of all of this, massive renovations were to be undertaken on the port facilities in Thessaloniki, to allow the complete transfer of the entire fleet there.
One of the two newer ironclads, the Krinthós became the flagship of the Imperial Navy after her commissioning in 1885.
On the political side of things, the first general election in the Byzantine Empire actually ended up going rather smoothly, with minimal conflicts. The results of the Imperial Senatorial elections are as follows:
Conservative Party - 45.44% - 182 seats
Progressive Party - 22.29% - 89 seats
Socialist Party - 15.26% - 61 seats
Democratic Movement - 13.38% - 54 seats
Traditionalists - 3.59% - 14 seats
With the new constitution in action, the post of Prime Minister (now known as Consul, or Próxenos in Greek) was no longer an appointed position, meaning unless Karamanlís could pull off an electoral victory, he would no longer be in a position of power, something that the diaries of the aging statesman show he was sincerely worried about. Although his own Progressive Party did not achieve a sincere electoral victory, this is most likely due to the relative fracturing of the political left in the Empire at this time. Again, the former Prime Minister's personal writings show his frustration at not being able to unite the liberal factions into a cohesive front. Regardless of these setbacks, the three leftist parties were able to agree on one fact, that their united front when it came to extending full citizenship to all residents of the Empire was something they considered a founding tenant of the new constitution. From this small commonality, Karamanlís was able to forge a functioning coalition of the Progressives, the Socialists, and the rather radical Democratic Movement [1]. This alliance secured about 51% of the Senate, giving the newly elected Consul a majority, but only just. Despite this, as the artful politician he was, finding cooperative Senators across the isle was never really a challenge for the elder statesman.
One of the first foreign interactions for the new government was the sale of Imperial colonial outposts on the Kenyan coast to Great Britain. This provided not only an injection of capital into the coffers of the Imperial government, but also created a sound base for future interactions with the British, with who relations at this point were quite warm. London, although quite aggravated that Otto had maintained such a pro-Russian foreign policy in the past, showed surprising willingness to be diplomatically cooperative. Records from Cabinet meetings show that the British obviously saw the writing on the wall; that the Ottoman Empire was not long for the world, and as a fellow (fairly) democratic constitutional monarchy, could successfully court Constantinople, and sway them from the Russian sphere. This line of cooperation was something Karamanlís heavily encouraged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pursue heavily. Respectively, the Imperial ambassador in London was key in convincing the British government to accelerate the process of Irish Home Rule, something that was finally achieved on October 8th, 1884, with the declaration of Ireland as a full dominion of the British Empire, with equal status to Australia and Canada.
The British Isles in 1884.
The decade after the war was also a great one for scientific research in the Empire. Advances were made in many industrial areas including Organic Chemistry, iron ore smelting techniques, and further application of the Martin Steel process, making steel production even more productive. September, 1885 also saw the completion of the first phase of the expansion of the the Imperial railroad network into Bosnia, something the Ottomans had completely neglected. Between 1885 and 1889, a huge number of heavy industrial factories sprung up in Bosnia, Serbia, and Bulgaria [2], further increasing the national industrial output. The Imperial firearms industry also saw expansion due to the immense profit gained due to Japanese purchases between 1887-1889, thanks to their successful war of domination over the Koreans.
With five years of peace and prosperity, the Empire once again descended into election mode, with the Senate's first five year term coming to a close quite quickly. The results are as follows:
Conservative Party - 42.46% - 170 seats [-12]
Progressive Party - 32.92% - 132 seats [+43]
Socialist Party - 18.39% - 74 seats [+13]
Democratic Movement - 3.51% - 14 seats [-40]
Traditionalists - 2.71% - 10 seats [-4]
The biggest change was not one between major ideologies, or right to left per se, but rather one of defection from 'within the ranks'. Karamanlís' Progressives (most likely due to the very productive previous term) made huge gains, mostly at the expense of their ally, the Democratic Movement. This not only allowed the Progressive Party to consolidate their control as the principle leftist party by removing the DM from the governing coalition, but govern without the sometimes quite radical opinions of the later having to be a part of their platform. There are a number of reasons for the essential total collapse of the Democratic Movement as a major party, but the principle one is perhaps the 1883-1888 period dissuading much worry on behalf of the left on whether the Imperial system could actually work.
However, the eight years of peace in Europe was shattered, when on January 6, 1890, an alliance of Sardinia-Piedmont and France jointly declared war on the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in yet another effort to unite the Italian peninsula under one banner. Austria responded to the call of their ally, and in the span of three days, most of south-central Europe found itself again at war.
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[1] Obviously the radical party in-game. I'm assuming in this case they are mostly non-Greeks suddenly given full voting privileges and not really confident the monarchy is looking out for their interests, perhaps due to mistrust fostered under the evil Ottomans.
[2] About six in-game factories total, two in each state.
Does anyone know why my capitalists refuse to make money? Their taxes are at zero. I'm falling behind in industryyyyy.
Help!
The 1890 census is next. Thanks for looking!
