Naliman Revolution of ‘22

**SUPPORTED BY:**

* Mrassian Empire
* Kingdom of Alesta

## **History**

During its fight for independence in the 1810s against the Kingdom of Alesta, the factions within the Alestian Royal Dominion of Central America fought for domination within the planned independent government. The moderate democratic faction wanted an independent Naliman state free from Europe and wanted to form a democratic federation of states similar to the systems set up in Katyiniju, Kenja, and Garecia. On the opposite side stood the Jacobin faction of the democratic front, who wanted a radical reformation of government and society, however their anti Catholic and traditional ideology caused them to rapidly lose support.

Most of all, the monarchist conservatives wanted an independent Nalima, yet they wanted a strong ruler with big ideas who would be willing to defend the well being of the nation. The monarchists eventually won out by 1812 as the Naliman Empire was proclaimed independent from the Kingdom of Alesta, right as it was falling to the Lindoncian army. Jose Maria Ramírez would be crowned as its first emperor in the same year.

While the Naliman nation had been secured for the people, stability was nowhere close. As the nation began to slowly industrialize and reform its military and economy to better fit continental standards, it brought its own unique problems. Factories were places of horrible working conditions which led to a rapid rise for the social democratic and radical socialist parties, who pressed the government to make reforms to working conditions. However the royal government and parliament, dominated by conservatives and nationalists, kept denying to enact any reforms, sowing the seeds for even more problems.

In October 1848, the Nalima City Factory Incident occurred where a failure in machine operations resulted in a fire that killed 100 workers and left 37 wounded or missing in the chaos. This traumatic loss of life in a single accident was the last straw for the monarchy. The Jacobin faction within the liberal party, under the leadership of Antonio Halconero, seized the opportunity to seize power. The Emperor, Jose Maria II, was placed under house arrest and later executed by squad gunfire. Antonio Halconero became the first president of the new Republic of Nalima in the same year of 1848.

The republic would see several economic and political reforms under Jacobin control, however religion was also opposed during Halconero’s presidency, which led to a new opposition forming and he would be replaced by Jose Luis Pastor in 1860, where he would undo the anti-Catholic laws done by Halconero, yet would also continue with the other reforms that remained popular under the last regime.

From 1860 to 1908, the republic enjoyed a long era of peace and stability as well as rapid industrial and economic growth. However by 1908, corruption had begun to grow within the halls of power. Corruption began in 1896 with the election of Francisco Jose Balderas, who was a nationalist and corporate statist, began to undo the anti-monopoly laws passed by his many, more democratic predecessors. This led to more corporate control over the government and the repealing of workers rights, these acts were seen as unacceptable by the center left and right groups. His successor in 1908, Luca Sevilla, would prove to be just as corrupt, and the republic was rapidly transforming into a dictatorship. A new period of instability was coming and small factions in the parliament were getting ready for it. From 1908 to 1922, several political parties would clash and fight for domination. The Social Democratic Union party under Oscar Santolaria formed a coalition with the Socialist Party under Ander Santolaria in 1916, which triggered a similar response to the more right-wing parties. In response to the Left-Wing Coalition being formed, the Conservative Party formed an alliance with the Imperial Rule Party in 1917.

The Left Coalition promised to remove the corrupt government from power as well as returning to economic and political reforms from back before the Balderas cabinet took power, but one thing they would add would be reforming of government. Radical parties (mainly on the right) would be banned from parliament and from participating in future elections after 1920. On the opposite side, the Right Coalition promised the people that they would restore law and order, by doing something controversial. Restoring the monarchy. The narrative stated by the Right Coalition, said that the only way to fix the country’s worsening situation was to restore the rule of an emperor. Since the former ruling Ramírez Dynasty died out, the closest candidate the coalition had for a new monarch was Roberto Méndez, son of Luca Méndez, who was the cousin of the last emperor, Jose II. The plan was that the Méndez dynasty would greatly differ from the old Ramírez one, with the main difference being this monarchy would be constitutional rather than absolute, hoping this would give the new dynasty more support among the people.

The ultimate test would arrive in 1920, when the next presidential elections, considered by many to be the most defining and tense election in the country’s history, was split between the leftist coalition lead by Ander Santolaria, who was a Radical Socialist, and the right wing coalition led by the Nationalist Conservative Manuel de Herrera. As the voting stations opened up across the country, each party tried to undermine each other, yet the Left Coalition tried to suppress votes in favor of Manuel de Herrera, at a much faster pace than the right wing trying to suppress the left. After a week of counting up the votes, news rang out across the nation that  Ander Santolaria won the election, and the left coalition now controlled the government, much to the horrors of the right and the centrist opposition. In response, Manuel de Herrera, who refused to give up, began rallying support for a takeover of the government.

During the first years of Ander Santolaria’s presidency, he began to implement everything he promised and didn’t promise. On the political and social stage, oppression of right wing media skyrocketed, which only led to more instability. The centrists that even once supported Santolaria, began to denounce him for only creating a new dictatorship, and many former centrists fled to the Conservatives, and the idea of restoring the monarchy as a stronger and more just figure began to soar in popularity. In 1920, shortly after the new government came to power, the Right Coalition, under the supervision of Roberto Méndez, began preparing a coup.

Planning went from 1920 to 1921. During that time period, the Méndez Dynasty supporters sabotaged the leftist government by disrupting communications between sympathetic politicians and military commanders, as well as breaking into several military forts and stealing military equipment. On the international scene, fearing a syndicalist takeover in Nalima, the Garecian Republic and Republic of Katyiniju began sending support to the monarchist conservatives, which only boosted their own power, and by December 1921, it was agreed that the coup was ready to be launched the next year in January.

Final preparations were taken from December to mid January 1922. Then on the night of January 15th, 1922, the people of Nalima City woke up to the sound of explosions and gunfire. The coup began. Katyiniju sent two military advisors, Kinoshita Chikoto and  Imaeda Okyoito, to oversee the tactics of those at the helm of the coup effort, which helped boost their strength and organization. The government, caught off guard, assembled the local military divisions to stop their advances. However the effort would be in vain. As fighting escalated in the streets, more civilians who wanted the leftist government ousted began to side with the monarchists, and by 8:32 in the morning, the coup was essentially over and Ander Santolaria had already fled North, and later to the Commune of Briayon in Europe, leaving the government in the hands of the right coalition and the Méndez monarchists.

From the end of the coup, the new government would see the coronation of Roberto Méndez as Emperor Roberto I, and former 1920 election candidate and major leader of the coup, Manuel de Herrera, became the first prime minister, beginning a new era for the country, not under an absolute monarchy, but a constitutional one.