Roshchin Coup Attempt (2016)

## **Background**

The Second World War saw the rise of syndicalist and communist ideology to dominate the globe. Casting a shadow on democracy which now remained only in small pockets. One of these small pockets that resisted the red wave was the Hatarkan Republic. A semi authoritarian conservative state in the great white North. The Slavic nation cling to its traditional government the best it could throughout its history. After rebelling against the autocratic Jayassian Empire in the 1800s, the Hatarkan Empire was created. It held a similar government structure to that of their former Jayassian overlords. The emperor held almost all power while the state parliament only held very little power.

The autocratic government began facing resistance almost immediately after its foundation. Liberals demanded reform, syndicalists demanded better working conditions, and the people wanted a less centralized authority watching their every move, and the ethnic minorities demanded representation.

Things came crashing down in the 20th century when a Native American revolt caused chaos and instability. In the chaos the Republic of Katyiniju occupied the key port city of Bulursk. Once the revolt was crushed, the continued occupation of Bulursk led to the Hatarkan Empire declaring war on their neighbor. The invasion proved to be a catastrophe. The failed war effort only led to more division in the unstable empire. The natives launched a second rebellion against the emperor, and Laurada invaded the South and occupied most of the territory, creating a new puppet state, the Republic of Madique to represent the linguistic French minority in the region.

By 1927, the empire was a shell of its former self. A rump state in the barren and unforgiving landscape of the great white north. During the same year, the social liberals who grew tired of the continuation of the autocratic monarchy, assassinated him and placed the country in the control of a provisional government led by liberal activist Zinoviy Salagin. The provisional government would last for 12 years until the conservative libertarians won an outright majority in the 1939 Hatarkan Duma elections. From there a right wing conservative government was created and the future of Hatarka and her people began to take a new path.

During the reign of the conservative libertarians, an oligarchic regime was forming as corruption began to grow and the government began to support more authoritarian laws, and the Hatarkan corporations began to secure more control over the state, making Hatarka a corporate statist republic by the 1940s. This led to even more unrest and instability as syndicalists refused to give in to the authoritarian government. In order to calm down the leftists, the more liberal minded Isaak Dementyev. With the support of the people he won the 1951 duma elections and became the third president of the republic. During his time in office he began enacting reforms which reduced corporate powers over the government and began to crack down on right wing radicals in the fascist and despotic parties.

By the end of his presidency, he left the country in a better position than when he originally entered office. However there were many amongst the population that were not satisfied with Dementyev’s reforms. The socialist party began demanding reforms be taken further than what Dementyev saw necessary, which led to his approval ratings beginning to decline. With the rise of radical leftism being inevitable, the Conservative party under Gleb Savasin sought to put an end to it and he won the 1959 duma elections.

Throughout the remainder of the Cold War, Savasin and his successors would continue on a line of socially conservative and liberal men who continued with the original constitutional reforms made by Dementyev, but this time mixed in with keeping the red threat from seizing power.

During World War Two (1990-1996), the Hatarkan Republic took the opportunity to invade the Free Territories of Native America, an anarcho-communist ally of the Pendel Internationale. This invasion failed and Hatarka ended up signing a humiliating white peace with the Internationale.

The following decades saw a steady decline of Hatarkan power. The oil companies propped up the economy for most of the post war reconstruction era and later the economic situation stabilized by 2010.

## **The Roshchin Plan**

The government remained under the dominant social conservatives. They continued cracking down on corruption and anti government activity. Specifically targeting syndicalists and anarchists which were further encouraged by the victory of the Pendel Internationale in the Second World War in 1996. Hatarka was one of the last major democracies in the postwar world. However this would come under threat in the 2010s.

The syndicalists and anarchists were outraged that the right wing government managed to hold onto power at the end of the war, and began to increase their efforts to take down the government by their own hands. The syndicalists launched Operation Access Denied in 2011 where they tried to cut communications between government officials. And Operation Red Sunset in 2013 when they attempted to murder a prominent military leader that supported conservatism.

These underground operations led to even more crackdown on radical leftist ideology. And at this point the Hatarkan leftists realized that they would need help from elsewhere. And there were plenty of takers.

The Commune of Briayon wanted to crush whatever hopes that the Garecian government had in gaining any post war allies, and to further diminish the Garecian sphere of influence in North America. And the fact that the Hatarkan Republic was facing a crisis, by 2016 the Commune government jumped at the chance and the administration in charge began sending money and supplies to the underground resistance.

It was agreed between the Briayonish government and the Hatarkan syndicalists, that a coup would be the only way left to seize control of the Hatarkan state. Under the leadership of Hatarkan syndicalist, Tsezar Roshchin, Operation Red Rifle would commence on June 3rd, 2016.

On the planned date of the coup, violence erupted in Luhosk, the Hatarkan capital city. Battles broke out in the streets between the government's loyal army and the leftists. To the rest of the continent, the coup attempt was met with various responses. The People’s Republic of Laurada was pleased with the probability of a new leftist ally in the Northwest. The Republic of Katyiniju held a neutral response, not showing much sympathy for a country that attempted to go to war with them a century ago. The Garecian Republic’s response was mixed in its own right.

The Garecian government agreed to help the loyalists in Hatarka. Over the rest of the week, the North American nations sat back and watched as the coup in Luhosk continued onwards. The Garecian secret services attempted to break communications between the syndicalists and the Briayonish government which ended up seceding. And the sudden disconnect between the reds led to the syndicalists in Luhosk being wiped out and the government remaining intact.

With the coup ending in failure, many Hatarkan syndicalists ended up fleeing into the Jayassian Federation of Soviet Socialist Republics to avoid capture by the Hatarkan loyalist authorities.

While Hatarka had been secured from the red tide, the ideological struggle between democratic and leftist values continued onwards around the world.