1915 Lesovian Revolution

The 1915 Lesovian Revolution was a series of events in Lesovia that ended the Lespian supremacist monarchy and resulted in the establishment of a republic in 1915

## 1915 Lesovian Revolution

### Beginning

12 February, 1915

Belligerents| Republic of Lesovia* 12th Kastelon Rifles
* 4th Kastelon Rifles
* Lesovian 11th Army
* CNT-FAL
* Ritsian Mountainwatchers
* Lesovian 4th Army
* Legião Verde
* Knights of Lespia

### Background

#### History

By the 20th century, the Kingdom of Lesovia was plagued with various sociopolitical issues, the biggest one being Lespian supremacism, which had barred 55% of the country's population from achieving a high position in the government or military. By 1914, only 4 out of the 250 seats in parliament were held by non-Lespians, and the highest military rank a non-Lespian commoner could achieve was major. Universities were less likely to accept a non-Lespian commoner, and racially motivated hate crimes were frequent and the people responsible were often let go with little to no punishment. An example was the Vargas Affair, where Captain Rogério Vargas beat a Kastelon private to death and was only demoted to lieutenant and transferred to a different location due to his connections to the Lespian nobility. The event caused massive public outrage, even among Lespians, and only further increased the monarchy and nobility's unpopularity.

#### Refugee Crisis

The cataclysm struck Helinska in 1906, and with it, millions of refugees fled the continent, most heading towards the nearest continents. Up to 2.5 million refugees, most of whom originated from Polmaria, arrived at the shores of Lesovia, causing a food and housing crisis, as well as even more racially motivated hate crimes. Several prominent corporations found these newly arrived refugees and immigrants to be much easier to exploit than Lesovian natives, leading to thousands of workers losing their jobs. Most Polmarian refugees, having lived under the reign of Queen Maria of Polmaria, did not have a good opinion on monarchism either, and told the Lesovians stories of the abolition of the Polmarian monarchy, which further inspired revolutionaries to take up arms

#### Economic Crisis

The geological aftermath of the cataclysm severely affected the Lesovian economy, with crops dying, tsunamis destroying ports and disrupting imports, and prices skyrocketing. For example, in 1905 a loaf of bread costed 2 escudos, and in 1908 it costed 20.

### The revolution

On the 12th of February, 1915, King Pedro IV of Lesovia died of a heart attack. His successor, Prince Alexandre, was a widely unpopular figure known for being an extreme Lespian supremacist who associated with the far right. With the backing of the Liberal Democratic Party and National Worker's Confederation, Major Escamillo Cadrilla launched a coup, storming the parliament building and proclaiming the abolition of the monarchy, proclaiming the First Republic of Lesovia. Prince Alexandre and loyalist forces of the military in Lostana resisted, but were soon forced out of the country

### Aftermath

The First Republic was an uneasy coalition between the liberal democrats and anarcho-syndicalists, who often disagreed on various solutions to post-revolution Lesovia's socioeconomic issues. Despite the republic abolishing racial laws and providing equal opportunity for all ethnicities, the situation in Lesovia actually became worse. The Republican-Syndicalist Coalition, in attempt to suppress Lespian supremacism, enforced secularism and targeted the Church of Lesovia, leading to various insurgencies, riots and mutinies against the new republic led or backed by the clergy, aristocracy and landlords.

This allowed Cadrilla, who was then promoted to General, to launch a coup against the First Republic and establish the Second Republic, with himself as a dictatorial president.