NationStates Jolt Archive


Bloodless Coup in Tharra

Tharra
01-08-2008, 21:01
By Jean-Paul Foucauld
15 Thermidor, Year VIII of the Republican Calendar - 2 Hours ago

CALAIS, Tharra (AP) - The fragile government-in-transition established by the second Constitution of Year V collapsed today, after a bloodless coup.

Only an hour after the National Assembly (the nation's unicameral parliament) convened at the Palais de Luxembourg this morning, 300 armed soldiers under the command of General Eugène-Maximilien Cambacérès stormed the chamber. Citizen Cambacérès, a military hero of the Revolution, had with him the signed resignations of over half the Presidium, the nation's executive council. As a quorum of at least two thirds is needed for the Presidium to act, the lack of members available effectively threw the National Assembly into chaos.

Citizen Cambacérès' demands were simple: he motioned that the National Assembly, now powerless, vote to dissolve itself permanently forthwith. While there were some protests from the legislature, the presence of soldiers ensured a smooth transition, and the chamber passed the motion immediately, at a count of 890 for and 110 against.

The measure (known as the “Act of Dissolution”) included provisions for Citizen Cambacérès to assume emergency powers, while also appointing a commission of 100 to draft a new constitution; further, the Constitutional Court ruled that the legislation was constitutional and binding two hours later.

For those readers unfamiliar with the state of affairs over the last eight years in Tharra, this may come as a shock; however most citizens of the republic were unsurprised by the coup and indeed, endorse it wholeheartedly, having taken to the streets today waving tricolor flags in support of the republic.

Eight years ago, the scene was much different. On the 25 Frumaire (December 15), an armed mob of over a thousand citizens stormed the royal palace and called for an end to the absolute monarchy, after King François IV raised taxes to an unprecedented rate to replenish the empty treasury. The move was very unpopular, especially considering that the realm was in the middle of both an economic recession and a famine.

When the Diet (the legislature of limited power whose duty it was to approve the levying of taxes) refused to give its consent to the act, the king threatened to arrest its members, after which the body illegally convened and declared the powers of the king suspended. Before the king could act a mob of over a thousand, spurred on by the brave rebellion of the Diet, stormed the palace. While the royal family barely managed to escape, several hundred royal guards and courtiers were murdered by the angry citizens.

What followed were two years of unrest and civil war. The Diet declared the king deposed and established a government in transition, reforming itself as the National Assembly; a constitution was drafted and emergency powers voted to the legislature by the people in referendum, in order to defend the new state and carry out the Revolution. Meanwhile, the northern and southern provinces declared for the republic, while the west remained staunchly royalist. Republicans and royalists carried out a bloody civil war which lasted for over year.

In the end, the republicans were victorious and the king was captured and executed; whipped into frenzy by the nationalist fervor and revolutionary spirit that swept of the country at the great victory fought by republican forces against the royalists at the battle of Vendée, the National Assembly attempted to continue the revolution at home.

The result was unprecedented reform.

The state was secularized, taxation was reformed, all citizens were made equal under the law and privilege was ended. A declaration of the rights of human kind was issued and universal suffrage granted for the first time in Tharran history. The Republican Calendar was even adopted in the place of the Gregorian one, and a new system of dating (Before and After Revolution) instituted.

However, the end of privilege and seizing of aristocratic lands led to several conspiracies and rebellions by members of the old nobility. The state of emergency resulted in a second declaration of martial law in Year III of the Revolution. While the revolts were successfully put down over the next year, the third year of the republic has gone down in history as the “Year of Terror.”

Paranoia swept the land, and the National Assembly began acting unconstitutionally to “purge the land of counter-revolution”. The result was that over 100,000 aristocrats and their families were executed, including most of the royal family (which had been captured at Vendée and imprisoned accordingly, though several members did manage to escape). Many more political enemies were purged, and hundreds of thousands emigrated or went into exile.

Finally, after a year of blood and radical reform, the government managed to put an end to the revolts and restore peace once and for all, but the citizens had had enough; a mob of 10,000 rose up in protest against the unconstitutional actions of the National Assembly. The body dissolved immediately and called for reelections, fearing more unrest and rebellion, especially from the army.

The new government formed immediately proscribed a majority of the leaders of the Terror, and those not executed were swiftly murdered by the angry populace. A new constitution was drafted the following year, the death penalty abolished, and civil rights restored. While the National Assembly remained under the new constitution, it was radically re-altered, and an executive council was created in the person of the Presidium.

But the last three years have been hard for the new government; the constitutional limits on its power are too strong, and much of its work has been incomplete. Many have felt that it has betrayed the Revolution, which it has promised to continue; indeed, the government has found itself in increasing debt and unable enforce its own authority.

Thus, many of the citizens have turned to Citizen Cambacérès, a man they feel that they can trust; the general has promised to continue the Revolution and restore order and stability to the republic, something it has long been lacking; while only forty-two years old, the general is a decorated war hero and commands the respect and popularity of both the army and the general populace, who regard him as a the defender of the Revolution and protector of the state, a reputation which surely has been enhanced today.

Having been a member of the National Assembly since its beginning and an opponent of the Terror, not to mention one of the victors of Vendée, few have any doubts as to the general’s abilities.

To his credit, Citizen Cambacérès has ordered that the Declaration of the Rights of Human Beings be upheld, even during his emergency rule, and that the civil and political rights of the populace continue to be respected by the government-in-transition. Meanwhile, he has made the new constitution the government’s top priority, and it is scheduled to be presented before the people immediately after, for approval in a national referendum.
Damford
01-08-2008, 22:13
Presidential Tent
Provisional Regulatory Establishment
Damford

A horsefly, having surreptitiously landed on the calf of President James Gatsfield, sunk its jaws into tender flesh.

"Oh, shit, sonofabitch!" was the inevitable exclamation. At that moment, the new Secretary of Foreign Policy and Gatsfield's personal friend, George Valstrum, entered the olive drab tent. He dropped the report on the President's folding desk.

"This just came over the wire, Jay," he said, 'the wire' being a bombed-out Infantry Fighting Vehicle with 'COMMUNICATIONS' spray-painted on the side about a hundred feet from the tent. "Another country in turmoil, yeah? We ought to say hello. Could turn out to be a friend."

The President, still rubbing his bare calf, reached around his cluttered desk for a ballpoint. "Yeah... good idea," he strained. "I need another desk. See if you can't get someone to find a few cinder blocks and a piece of plywood?"

"No problem, Jay."

Gatsfield scribbled out a note and walked over to the communications derelict.

TO: Citizen Eugène-Maximilien Cambacérès, Tharra
FROM: James Gatsfield, President of Damford

My most esteemed General,

May I be one of the first to congratulate you on your heroic upholding of justice and democracy. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is James Gatsfield, President of Damford. My nation has also recently been involved in an extreme situation (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=562123) and would like to offer our condolences.

Unfortunately, all we truly have to help you are several boxes of ballpoint pens. Furthermore, we do not have the resources to send them to you. Rest assured, if you ever decide to visit our nation, there will be several boxes of pens waiting for you.

I hereby pledge to offer you what little support Damford has to offer.

Thank you for your time,

James Gatsfield
President of Damford

Post-Script: If you do feel inclined to visit, be advised to land directly within the Provisional Regulatory Establishment or within a one-hundred mile radius. Everywhere else is, to put it bluntly, irradiated.
Neo-Ixania
04-08-2008, 10:14
OOC: Good work, Tharra. Excellent post with solid French Revolutionary influences. :tongue: