Velorenkan Revolution

The Velorenkan Revolution was a period of and  change and instability in the former Holy Veloren Empire following the end of the First World War. It is generally agreed upon as beginning with the Saint Yazdoikakh Massacre in 1915 and concluding with the ratification of the Constitution of the Reborn Velorenkan Arekh in 1923. The initial phase of the revolution saw Velorenkya abolish it's monarchy and form a weak republican government wrought with political violence, economic turbulence, and ethnic conflict. The second half saw the institution of a deep-blue coalition government spearheaded by Revivalists after the March on Saint Yazdoikakh and the subsequent bloody civil war.

Background
The Holy Veloren Empire entered into proxy hostilities with Haksarad and Ventora in 1905 at the height of a budgetary crisis and growing social and economy inequality. Anti-war and anti-government sentiments reached a boiling point when Imperial Trade and Labor Union affiliated workers at the Zwaelchik Armaments Plant in the Dutchy of Fyodithesir, despite not receiving union support, declared a general strike. The duke of Fyodithesir ordered the factory reopened and a bloody confrontation between the workers and ducal militia. The second most popular union in Fyodithesir and syndicalist influenced Brotherhood of Labor ordered a general strike in solidarity with the Zwaelchik workers.

The aging Emperor at the time XXX, entered into talks with leaders of the general strike but died of mysterious circumstances leading to the coronation of XXX, who refused negotiations. A further attempt by the ducal militia to reopen the Zwaelchik Armaments Plant was repulsed after heavy casualties and the new emperor decreed the Brotherhood of Labor an illegal organization. This action caused a national spasm of violence and protests and radicalized the workers at Zwaelchik, who declared an insurrectionary commune and called for. The commune was violently put down by the arrival of imperial troops but the resulting national bloodshed and banning of the Brotherhood of Labor created an erosion of public trust in the new emperor and loss of support among urban workers.

Emperor XXX was staunchly conservative and a firm supporter of the autocracy and sought to centralize authority around the crown. The liberal reforms launched by his grandfather XXX that allowed for limited social expression and democratic representation saw a retreat following the nationalization of major newspapers and suffrage within the imperial diet was restricted. Policies heavily favored his supporters among the nobility, military, and merchant class who saw their wealth and political power increase at the cost of the general Veloren masses.

To ease the empire's budgetary crisis and stave off depression the emperor and imperial diet began to pass a successive amount of taxes that targeted the peasantry as well as Veloren's growing middle class. In 1907 the imperial diet launched an ambitious program to further industrialization and infrastructure development by opening the empire up to foreign investment and selling vast tracks of peasant owned land to wealthy investors or the aristocracy. These programs spurred the growth of the economy and rapid urbanization, but failed to provide adequate housing and living conditions leading to overcrowding and resentment among the swelling working class. Opposition to these policies was suppressed by the empire to promote stability to foreign investors and the Imperial Armed Police was expanded to quell internal dissent and put down peasant revolts such as the 1909 XXX Uprising.

However a number of Velorens began to organize resistance against Emperor XXX. Among the most well known was the Society of Free Patriots, an underground clique of liberal officers and intelligentsia who sought to restore the reforms of Emperor XX, resist imperial taxation, and advance the rights of workers. Political agitation by the Free Patriots included the dissemination of newspapers critical of the Emperor, firebombing of taxation offices, and the occasional slaying of imperial administrators. Perhaps most importantly the Free Patriots aided in the politicization of workers and peasants alike, who were increasingly radicalized as repression and a failing standard of living increased.

September Revolution
In August of 1915 there had been sporadic strikes and mass protests within the capital and other regions due to the introduction of food rationing due to a historically low crop yield within the country. These strikes continued well into September when on the 8th outlawed organizations like the Free Patriots and the National Passionist Party organized a mass demonstration for the ten year anniversary of the Zwaelchik Commune. Striking workers joined with the demonstrations seeing them as reason to continue the strikes, marking this one of the largest demonstrations in Veloren history and closing down nearly every major industrial and service related business in the capital. The Emperor ordered the suppression of the protest and the Imperial Armed Police responded in kind, opening fire on unarmed crowds and killing over 200 in what is known as the Yazdoikakh Massacre.

Included among the protestors was famed actor XXX and his fiancé in what is known as the Yazdoikakh Massacre. Having occurred in the center of the capital and with such high profile persons slain by imperial security forces, the emperor was unable to censor newspapers from reporting on the event. The massacre was seen as a last straw by opposition elements and also caused a general outpouring of violence within the capital and other major urban centers from spontaneous protestors. The central guiding committee of the Free Patriots met with leaders from the Syndicate Federation, National Passionist, as well as buff groups like the Constitutionalists and issued a decree calling for the immediate abdication of the Emperor and "patriotic Velorens to resist unjust government and safeguard the motherland". Armories inside the capital were stormed and distributed to workers who formed militias which would later provide the nucleus for the "Blue Guards". The Imperial Armed Police proved unable to contain the rioting and were reinforced with nearby ducal militias. When ordered to fire upon their countrymen the ducal militiamen remained hesitant and due to pay cuts several units shot their officers and mutinied or refused orders. `

News of the general chaos in the capital spread to the countryside and incited peasant uprisings across the Empire. Characteristic of these was the looting of aristocratic grand estates, seizing of ducal armories, and the slaying of imperial officials who had overseen the redistribution of rural land. With the crisis unfolding in the country the Emperor sought to quickly quell the riot and restore order to the countryside and ordered a general deployment of the Imperial Guard. When inspecting an Imperial Guard barracks on the night of the 13th a bomb was detonated, killing the Emperor along with his wife and two children. The centralization of authority around the Emperor and the lack of a heir apparent left the imperial government with a power vacuum at a critical time. Without the Imperial Guard to march on the capital Saint Yazdoikakh fully fell to revolutionaries and a provisional republican government was declared by liberal representatives in the general assembly.

The nobility who held the real power in the imperial diet along with members of the imperial military's general staff refused to recognize the provisional government and on the 20th formed a regency council. That next day Grand Duke XXX who commanded the Imperial Guard crowned himself Emperor and Autocrat and decreed that the regency council was illegal. The result of three competing governments led to a general disintegration of the unity of the imperial military as units either mutinied, deserted, or received conflicting orders. The collapse of coherent authority and conflicting imperial governments only increased the legitimacy and inertia of the provisional republic based out of the capital. At the same time it encouraged separatist movements in XXX and XXX that evolved into full scale insurgencies by 1918.

However the biggest effect of the Emperor's death was the cause of mass panic among aristocrats who feared the same. The regency council began by withdrawing loyal units, persons, and the majority of the imperial treasury north in order to consolidate. Grand Duke XXX ordered the interdiction of train shipments carrying imperial gold bullion by the Guard, imitating hostilities between the two competing factions. For what remained of the military this marked the final straw and army units that had mutinied or stayed neutral sided with the provisional government.

In the aftermath of the Saint Yazdoikakh Massacre and Emperor's the provisional government in Yazdoikakh sought to gain legitimacy and the support of both workers and peasants by promising land reform, an expansion of civil rights, and an end to draconian taxes. Led by liberal Constitutionalist XXX, the provisional government was formed around a nucleolus of buffist republicans who now presided over a loose coalition of revivalists, trade unionists, social democrats, and conservatives.

Duel Government
The months following the decree of the provisional republic would see the general collapse of Grand Duke's army and it's consolidation under the regency council or defection to the republic. The imperial government was largely fixed to the north of Veloren, where it maintained a traditional base of support among the conservative religious but lacked the manpower to undertake an offensive on the capital. The republican government meanwhile was hesitant to fully commit to an offensive and dislodge the imperials as it's leadership doubted the political reliability of it's troops. Moreover the fracturing of the imperial military meant that the bulk of winter supplies had been taken north by the regency council.

A remedy was found in expanding the base of the revivalist organized Blue Guards into the Revolutionary People's Militia which comprised workers and peasants headed by politically reliable young officers or party members. The Free Patriots were especially instrumental in gathering winter clothing and rations for the troops via donations from trade unions and organizing foreign aid. While these militias were armed and underwent training the newly freed press was highly critical of President XXX and his social democratic party for their perceived inaction in combating the vestiges of the counterrevolutionary empire.

Flight of the Regency Council
February of 1916 brought an end the winter and general offensive by the Republican government to finally dislodge the Imperials from the mainland. Fighting was short but especially violent as the Regency Council practiced scorched earth tactics to deny supplies to the Republicans and create a refugee crisis. The razing of villages by the imperials sent droves of peasants into the already overcrowded and underfed cities, which already saw widespread support for blue parties.

By May the Regency Council had fully evacuated the mainland, bringing with them the bulk of the former Imperial treasury. The Regency Council would survive in the Northern Islands to lead the Imperial Remnant till the 1940 Reconquest by the Arekh. The People's Militia had suffered significant causalities in the fighting but gained valuable experience while the nascent Republican Army acted largely in support. The 1916 Offensive would create a rift between the revivalist and syndicalist organized revolutionary militias and the conservative Republican Army, one that would last till the March on Saint Yazdoikakh.

1916 Constitutional Convention
The constitutional convention was an especially contentious one and threatened to send the provisional republic into a premature revolution. In many cities and localities the trade unions and peasantry had seized authority themselves and established often headed by revivalists, syndicalists, and other deep blue ideologies. The provisional government itself was the amalgamation of liberals who had defected from the imperial government, what remained of the conservative generals staff, and Veloren businessmen who had not fled to the remnant. Two main factions emerged during debate over the constitution that would form the basis of the sides during the civil war, the blue federalists and buff centralists. Federalists favored direct authority to the of workers and peasants and federation headed by parliament and collective executive leadership to prevent a return of imperial autocracy. Centralists in turn saw a strong presidency and provincial governments as essential to stave off economic and political crisis. A messy system of comprises were agreed upon by the social democrats and conservatives to secure a government that could survive against counterrevolution from the remnant and deal with the unfolding economic crisis. Syndicalist trade unionists and delegates from the National Passionist Party walked out of the convention in protest but refrained from striking or demonstrations. The result of the convention would be the ineffectual 1916 Constitution establishing a strong presidential republic under a parliament along with the declaration of the Veloren Federative Republic.

Troubled Years
The 1916 elections would see the participation of a large smattering of parties but were relatively free and devoid of political violence. A center-blue coalition government was formed around an alliance of the Social Democratic and National Constitutionalist Parties with the conservative XXX being declared president. Immediately the government sought to pass social reforms and policies aimed at alleviating the plight of the working class and peasantry. The trade unions were temporarily placated by the assurances of two-weeks payed vacation and the organizations themselves saw their rights and power strengthened. However the provisional republic did not inherit the economic boom the Empire had experienced with the flight of large amounts of capital and the imperial treasury to the Northern Islands. From the onset the Veloren Federative Republic was plunged into a recession and had to contend with the myriad of issues caused by imperial policies and the devastation in the north from the 1916 offensive. The precarious economic crisis was further exasperated by the rebuilding of the Velorenas military, as the republican government feared a counter revolution from the Northern Islands. Both the nascent Federal Republican Army and Navy saw their budgets and size balloon at the cost of infrastructure and industry. In 1917 the federal government fearing the radicalization of the People's Militia and it's relative independence formally disbanded it and transferred it's members into the professional military. While most field grade officers of the militia saw early retirements, the bulk of lower level officers and soldiers saw their units simply redesignated and placed under new politically reliable leadership.

By 1918 the economy had stalled while wages and living conditions did not improve for workers. Austerity measures were introduced by the center-blue government that led to the devaluation of the Veloren currency. The faltering economy, continued existence of the imperial remnant, and the tenuous circumstances that led to the 1916 constitutional comprise resulted in general dissatisfaction among Veloren blues. The Society of Free Patriots, which had temporarily disbanded following the June Revolution, was reformed under the auspicious of the National Passionist Party and began to agitate against the government. President XXX's popularity began to decline and his support among social democrats in his government eroded as several defected to revivalist aligned parties. Between 1917 and 1920 the republican government would be plagued by mass strikes and demonstrations organized by the workers and peasants councils whose legal status remained in limbo after the 1916 constitution. Trade unions increasingly began to demand additional authority over industry and often times councils would order the temporary occupation of factories.

Consolidation of the Veloren Blues
The National Passionist Party, which had grown in strength following defections from the Social Democrats entered into talks with the People's Labor Party, Revolutionist and Republican Alliance, and the Radical Federalist Party forming a popular National Salvation Front. Combined these parties presented the buffist and center-blue coalition government with a slim majority within the Veloren parliament. This National Salvation Front secured the cooperation of the now largest organized union within the republic, the Veloren Federation of Syndicates and also the allegiance of a large smattering of peasant councils which had grown increasingly independent of central authority. At the forefront of the National Salvation Front was Raes Khosravi, a Blue Guards veteran of the June Revolution and 1916 Offensive.

Khosravi had joined the Society of Free Patriots in 1911 and quickly rose through the ranks with her standing in the Imperial Aviation Service and oratory skills. Originally a constitutionalist monarchist, she underwent a radicalization process following her dismissal from the Imperial military after reporting incidents of sexual abuse to her chain of command. This unjust dismissal led to a temporary stint of homelessness which is where she began interactions with the underground movement, it's ideas on social norms, speed, violence, and youth greatly contributing to her ideological foundations. The June Revolution would see her position rebound as she was active in organizing the demonstrations and uprising within the capital. Later she would be one of the main catalysts behind the reestablishment of the Free Patriots in 1916. In 1918 she had solidified her position within the Veloren deep blue movement as the chairman of the National Passionist Steering Committee and began to synthesize elements of syndicalism within the existing party philosophy of passionartism, creating national revivalism. She framed this new ideology as the culmination of democracy, passionartism, and syndicalism into a single native platform that would address the ongoing social issues, ineffectual government, and economic crisis.

The dissatisfaction of the deep blue movement and the worker and peasant councils that had been instrumental in the June Revolution was put into a formal declaration with the release of What Should Be Done. Penned by Raes What Should Be Done amounted to a manifesto of national revivalism and called for a "rebirth of all social, economic, and political thought" in order to reverse the hardships afflicting the republic and secure the liberties that were won in the June Revolution. For this purpose Raes revived the name and referred to Velorenas purely as "Velorenkya", appealing to non Veloren sentiment.

Election of 1920
The 1920 general election saw a broad coalition of republicans narrowly obtain a majority in parliament. The republican coalition lacked a coherent platform and it's alliance was the result of anti-revivalist inertia against the NSF. To appease soft blue republicans and moderates in the NSF, XXX of the Social Democratic Party was appointed as prime minister by President XXX. This move outraged conservative elements among the republicans, many seeing his appointment as revivalist infiltration of the parliament.

The election was marred by violence committed by both sides, often in the form of street battles between anti-revivalist paramilitaries and the Free Patriots. Voter intimidation, while not widespread was present, especially in republican or revivalist stronghold cities. Allegations of voter fraud and ballot stuffing were claimed and proven by both sides but not nearly as extensive. Several villages that had elected passionary worker councils that paid lip service to the central government yet were de-facto independent refused to participate in the elections, decrying them as illegitimate. This in turn hampered the amount of seats the NSF could count, yet bolstered the blue cause as the inability of the republican government to organize elections everywhere in the country only added to the apparent weakness of the republicans.

Despite violence and maleficence, the 1920 general elections were generally considered free and fair by international observers. Regardless, the chaos of the 1920 elections, shaky alliance of the republicans, and apparent strength of the NSF would be seen as a signal by Revivalists that Velorenas was ready for a National Revival.

Khonestazh Mutiny
As part of the austerity measures implemented by the XXX administration, the Republican Navy saw it's budget decreased in 1919. Despite peace on the Velorenas mainland since 1916 a low level war on the seas remained as both Republican and Imperial ships often tried to interdict and seize each other's merchants. This budget decrease led to the slowing of ship production and the induction of new sailors. This in turn meant crews would find themselves at sea much longer for little increase of pay in order to combat Imperial commerce raiding.

The September Revolution had hit the Velorenas Navy hard, with nearly half the service defecting to the Imperial Remnant. While this greatly diminished the fighting capability of the service it meant those ships and crews that remained loyal to the revolutionary cause were especially radical and committed. On the the 27th of September 1920 the crew of the VRS Novinkha mutinied at the Khonestazh Port, 50 miles from Saint Yazdoikakh. The Novinkha had twice seen continuous operations on the high seas for nearly 200 days with only two weeks of liberty, and was slatted for another 200 days. The mutiny of the Novinkha outraged President XXX, who demanded a speedy resolution lest the federal government be further weakened following the violence of the general elections. While the Navy and prime minister XXX preferred to negotiate and work with the mutinied sailors, President XXX demanded their arrest. On September 30th Federal Police were ordered onto the VRS Novinkha to arrest the sailors. Dockworkers of the Khonestazh Longshoremen Syndicate erected barricades and sought to prevent movement of the police in solidarity with the mutinied workers. The police attempted to force the dispersion of the Longshoremen by force and the ensuing bloodshed resulted in the deaths of three dock workers and two police officers.

On the 31st Khonestazh dockworkers enacted a strike and joined with the sailors while the national leadership of the Veloren Federation of Syndicates began to debate a general strike in response to the death of three of it's affiliate workers at the hands of federal police. At the same time the attempted arrest of their fellow sailors had spurned other crews to mutiny and arrest their higher officers. On the 1st of October a Passionate Labor Council of Sailors and Citizens was formed by the Khonestazh mutineers and strikers who called for a "Final Resolution to the September Revolution". President XXX was outraged by the spiraling situation and began to cable General XXX to organize a force to "impose law and order and disperse of radical elements" at Khonestazh. General XXX was a highly conservative general and among one of the few of the original imperial generals staff to remain loyal to the provisional republic. Telegrams from the president to General XXX were leaked to radical blue and revivalist presses who enflamed tensions with their publication. Hysteria began to spread among the republic as publications began to publish wildly speculative claims that the President and General XXX were working in tandem to quash the sailors and workers at Khonestazh to prepare the way for an Imperial counter-revolutionary invasion from the Northern Islands.

Velorenkan Revivalists were quick to capitalize on the crisis created by the Khonestazh mutiny. While other members of the National Passionist Steering Committee sought to persuade the National Salvation Front to agree on a course of action the Federation of Syndicates ordered a national strike on October 3rd. That same day Raes Khosravi arrived to speak to the assembled Khonestazh Passionate Labor council to much acclaim. There she praised the action of the mutinous sailors and the striking longshoremen and declared to a crowd of over 30,000 that "The principle on display at Khonestazh is simple: it is a revival of heroism and virtue. The birth of a new historical wave that shall soon carry us to Saint Yazdoikakh".

Revolution and the world
Future Lazh Raes Khosravi would join the organization in 1911 and quickly rise to a leadership position, becoming under-secretary in 1914. Khosravi was radicalized after being ejected from the Imperial Air Service for accusing a superior officer of sexual assault against herself and another woman. She became chairwoman of the movement in 1915 and