Volaysian Troubles

Belligerents| * **Volaysian Government**
* Volaysian Armed Forces
* Volaysian Navy
* Purple Militia

* **Polmaria (Initially)**
* VPC

 **Jabeyrack Polmaria (Later)**

**Other Separatists:*** Artosi Independence League
* Pelarosi Westists

Leaders| * President Lozka Cehrayi
* Defence Minister Karlov East (Initially)
* Queen Elaina Fedali Calano (Initially)
* Archduke Leon Van Calano (Initially)
* Oscar VeranSophia Varga
* Regent Lassov
* Karlov East (Later)
* Leon Van Calano (Later)
* Queen Elaina Fedali Calano (Later)

* Angus Felvick
* Sylvester Kostra

The **Volaysian Troubles** were a series of riots, battles and protests that occured in the Republic of Volaysia, beginning in October 1941 and ending in March 1942 with the dissolution of Volaysia and the division of its land between Kalaroos, Staptonsburg, Jazberk, Noveaux Kolodeaux and Jabeyrack. The Troubles marked a major shift in Northern Polmaria's political landscape, with Volaysia being nearly completely under the control of Jabeyrack backed republican governments, setting the stage for Jabeyracki dominance in the Second Republic of Polmaria.

## Background

### Collapse of the Federalists

Ever since Volaysia's triumph in the Volaysian Civil War, the most major debate in the country's politics remained the extent to which the country should be federalized. With the Unification War as well as centuries of prior history having cultivated many distinct regional identities, there was a strong resistance to a strong Federal government centred in Volay. This was reflected in the country's two main political parties- the Unitarians and Federalists.

From 1923 till 1932, the Presidency of Volaysia remained in the hands of the Federalists- first with Harold Mitchells and then with Caelan Morris. While initially the Federalists were popular, especially in regions with distinct identities, they often found much of their policy blocked by Unitarians in the Upper and Lower Senates. Additionally, the very nature of the Federalists meant that they were extremely disunited as a party, and the party- particularly during Caelan Morris's Presidency- found itself crippled by factionalism, disunity and lack of cohesion between the various provincial units of the party.

    All of these issues led to a perception that the Federalists were incompetent and unable to govern. Many Federalist voters began to drift away from the concept of a Federal Volaysia towards more radical separatist ideas, while more moderate Federalists either disengaged with the country's politics or switched to the Unitarians. This culminated in the election of 1932- while the Unitarians were united behind Lozka Cehrayi, the Federalist Party conference was unable to decide on a candidate, leading to the individual units of the party nominating their own individual candidates, splitting votes and allowing Cehrayi to garner 57% of the vote, and officially marking the end of Federalist electoral success on the national level.

With the collapse of the Federalist party and the domination of the Unitarians, most former separatists began to drift towards radical separatism. The first major example of this is Frevin Banyel in Szendrodvarke, who formed the LPP alongside other former Federalists and- with support from the Lemetiate of Jabeyrack- succesfully led a movement to create the independent nation of New Jazberk. This trend picked up more in the 1930s, with politicians like Oscar Veran leaving the Federalists to form their own regionalist parties.

### Formation of the TRF

In 1932, the Telaski unit of the Federalists nominated Governor Oscar Veran for President. Out of the various Federalist candidates who took part in the election, Veran received the most votes, coming second overall with 19% of the votes, following Lozka Cehrayi. Emboldened, Veran- alongside the majority of Telaski Federalists- abandoned the sinking ship of the Federalist party and formed a new, more radical party in favour of Telaski independence- the Telaski Republican Front.

The TRF immediately emerged as the largest and most succesful Federalist splinter. In the 1933 elections in Telask, Oscar Veran handily won reelection with a stunning 63% of the vote, while the TRF won a massive 2/3rd majority in the local Senate. Later, in the 1937 federal elections, Veran once again ran for President, receiving 23% of the vote- a marginal increase. Meanwhile, the TRF won a majority of Senate seats from Telask, emerging as the third largest political group in both houses of the Senate.

The emergence of an openly separatist party like the TRF, as well as their shocking dominance in Telask, was one of the early blows to Volaysia's unity as a nation. With the moderate Federalists almost completely replaced by openly separatist groups, much of the population began warming to more radical ideas, and regional parties like the TRF began to emerge in Karoksan, Cleovokia and Jazberk- although none were as succesful.

### Formation of the AIL

Meanwhile in Artos, after decades of perceived human centric policy in Volaysia, the election of a former Cleovokian general i.e. Lozka Cehrayi as President greatly drove up nationalist sentiment, as people longed for the return of the Kingdom of Artos. Angus Fenwick- a veteran of the Unification War and an ardent Artosi monarchist- founded the Artosi Independence League in 1933 to campaign- violently if needed- for an independent Artosi nation.

The AIL was almost immediately declared a terrorist organization by the Volaysian government, with Defence Minister Karlov East refering to the AIL as 'terrorists, little better than the Westists of Pelaros'. This ultimately resulted in the AIL's ban within a month of its formation, but its ground level support remained strong and unfazed by the strong government response. The AIL continued to operate in secret, and carried out frequent attacks against government institutions, even assassinating the Federalist Governor of Artos- Aleksander Dreyfus- in 1938.

The AIL also carried out extensive anti-Volaysian propaganda campaigns throughout Artos, particularly in rural areas and among poor Artosi workers. A narrative that Volaysian, Cleovokian and Telaski migrants- who had flooded to prosperous cities like Dagda during the Cataclysm- were being favoured over native Artosi by the Volaysian government, and that the only way to reclaim Artos was not through the moderate reform of the Federalists, but by a violent upheaval returning Artos to an independent nation.

## Events

### August Tax Reforms (August 1941)

In August of 1941, Volaysia's Finance Minister- the Unitarian politician Edwin Graham- introduced the Tax Reform Bill of August 1941, with the support of President Lozka Cehrayi and other major cabinet members. The bill was passed controversially within a day of its proposal by both the Upper Senate and Lower Senate, which both had Unitarian majorities. Days after, when opposition politicians finally had a chance to read the bill, there was outcry across the country as it was found that the bill eliminated all local taxes in the country in favour of federal ones.

While this bill seems mundane and boring on paper, in reality it threatened all autonomy the individual provinces had, and threatened to destroy any true federalism in the country. Without their own sources of income, individual state governments- where the Federalists and other regional parties were still dominant- would have to beg for funding from the central government, destroying their autonomy and making them completely reliant on the Unitarian dominated federal government.