Military dictatorship in Etruria: Difference between revisions
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From 1953 until 1960, the nationalist armed groups would limit their attacks and operations, often just retaliating against unionist groups such as the NVDF. The violence further limited the degree of reconstruction and economic progress in both states, while the violence undermined the DWP government in [[Povelia]]. The violence, the wider sense of declinism among Etrurians, the stagnant economy and rampant corruption also provided a vital space for the resurgence of far-right politics at the national level. In the 1958 election, the [[New Republic Movement (Etruria)|New Republic Movement]], a neo-functionalist party that advocated military action against the growing nationalist threat won over 35 seats. The inability by the central government to face the escalating violence in the west and the further refusal to call out foreign support drove many senior figures within the Etrurian armed forces to begin planning a seizure of power to protect national unity. On February 19 1959, the NPLF bombed the railroad connecting Vilanja to Drostar, causing a train to derail and leaving over 100 people dead. The next day, the Etrurian Armed Forces began to deploy forces without government permission, the subsequent political struggle saw the government acquiesce, empowering the generals who stepped up plans for a seizure of power. | From 1953 until 1960, the nationalist armed groups would limit their attacks and operations, often just retaliating against unionist groups such as the NVDF. The violence further limited the degree of reconstruction and economic progress in both states, while the violence undermined the DWP government in [[Povelia]]. The violence, the wider sense of declinism among Etrurians, the stagnant economy and rampant corruption also provided a vital space for the resurgence of far-right politics at the national level. In the 1958 election, the [[New Republic Movement (Etruria)|New Republic Movement]], a neo-functionalist party that advocated military action against the growing nationalist threat won over 35 seats. The inability by the central government to face the escalating violence in the west and the further refusal to call out foreign support drove many senior figures within the Etrurian armed forces to begin planning a seizure of power to protect national unity. On February 19 1959, the NPLF bombed the railroad connecting Vilanja to Drostar, causing a train to derail and leaving over 100 people dead. The next day, the Etrurian Armed Forces began to deploy forces without government permission, the subsequent political struggle saw the government acquiesce, empowering the generals who stepped up plans for a seizure of power. | ||
== | === Lead up to the 1960 coup === | ||
As the military began to deploy forces without federal authorisation in late 1959, tensions between the civilian government under President Bartolucci and the Defence Staff grew rapidly. Many in the government feared the military’s actions would escalate the so-far relatively low level violence in the west, while others saw the military’s intransigence as a threat to the republic. To the Defence Staff, they saw their actions as the only means to protect the country owing to the government’s weakness and inability to muster even a most basic response. | |||
To reassert government control over the armed forces, the government prepared to secure a vote in the Senate ordering the redeployment of forces back to their garrisons. However, President Bartolucci found that he could not garner enough support from his own Democratic Action Party, let alone the necessary votes from Sotirian Democracy or the New Republic Movement, with the latter having opened talks with the Chiefs of the Defence Staff, affirming their intention to protect the armed forces. The vote held on January 18, failed with the government trounced 111-389. Many members of the Senate found the government’s actions perplexing to outright treasonous. The New Republic Movement for its part accused the government of acquiescence to “left-wing terrorists in the West.” While, the centre right Sotirian Democracy accused the DAP of overreacting to the military’s decision to defend the nation’s integrity. | |||
In late January, President Bartolucci sought to sidestep the military by urging the Prefects of State in Carinthia and Novalia to declare the presence of federal forces in their states as unwanted and uninvited. It was hoped that such declarations would embarrass the armed forces into withdrawing their forces from the west of the country. On January 19, Novalian Prefect Petar Ogresta told newspaper journalists that he welcomed the presence of federal forces, “we are a state beset by left-wing enemies and the presence of federal forces is welcomed, for they now can know fear.” Ogresta’s response threw the government off-course, while many in the cabinet now questioned the political capabilities of President Bartolucci. Prefect of Carinthia, Zoran Potrč for his part questioned the suitability of federal armed forces policing his state’s streets but refused to publicly oppose their presence. Potrč would be assassinated by the CFLC in 1962. | |||
Word of the government’s efforts confirmed to the Defence Staff that Bartolucci was more concerned about his image and weakness toward the left-wing groups in Carinthia and Novalia. On January 23, the Defence Staff met at the home of Major General [[Francesco Sciarri]] to discuss their next moves. Also present at the meeting was [[Giorgio Garafola]], the leader of the far-right nationalist [[New Republic Movement]], Garafola strongly advocated for a coup by the military, as he saw the insurgency in the west as inherently tied to the social decay afflicting the rest of the country. The influence the MNR had over the Defence Staff was considerable, many of the leading the commanders and officers had served during the [[Solarian War]] either as non-commissioned officers or recruits and were highly receptive to the nationalism of of the MNR. At this meeting, the Defence Staff with the support of Garafola agreed to pursue an overthrow of government. | |||
Throughout February, the CFLC in Carinthia and the NPLF in Novalia stepped up their actions against state and federal forces, institutions and property. On February 18, the NPLF seized complete control over several villages on the border with [[Piraea]], while the predominately Piraean-village of Stobea was captured by the NPLF with Piraean support in Etrurian Tarpeia. The capture of entire communities sent the government into a tailspin, while the events further confirmed the crisis situation among senior military officers. | |||
In an effort to prepare the populace for a military takeover, Giorgio Garafola and the MNR stepped up their criticism of the Bartolucci government in the Senate. The government’s announcement that it would be willing to sit down in negotiation with the CFLC and NPLF infuriated much of the Etrurian right, with Sotirian Democracy withdrawing the Bartolucci government coalition, stripping its limited majority away. Its collapse was only averted by the offering of a confidence-and-supply motion by the pro-secessionist [[Carinthian Democratic Independence Party]], which only further eroded what little faith the Right had in the government. On March 3, the Federal Minister for the Interior, [[Massimiliano Abate]] was shot dead by a member of the [[National Volunteer Defence Front]] for his weakness toward the left-wing groups. Abate’s relationship with the armed forces denied the government the last positive link it had to the officer corps. | |||
From March until May, the Defence Staff actively planned for the overthrow of the government, going as far as create mock layouts of key government buildings and compounds in isolated areas of Vespasia for selected units to train seizing them. On May 10, President Bartolucci reaffirmed his government’s willingness to negotiate with secessionist groups on a radio broadcast to the nation. He said, “we can either pursue a peaceful solution to the worries and concerns of the Carinthian and Novalian peoples or we can pursue violence, cementing the division between our peoples.” A week before the coup itself, over 114 people were killed in pitched gun battle between the CFLC and local state forces in the capital Propoče. At least 33 civilians were killed in the crossfire, while the incident revealed the serious weaknesses in the state forces that were mostly relied upon. The Etrurian defence staff responded by ordering the deployment of 1,200 regulars to the city without federal authorisation. | |||
According to documents published after 1984, the Bartolucci government received word of a possible coup on May 2 1960, with the report being dispatched by the pro-government Prefect of Dinara, who had in turn received word of unauthorised military training exercises near Castravona. However, the report was dismissed according to the documents, owing to President Bartolucci’s dismissal of the exercises as mere repeats of the army’s unauthorised deployments seen elsewhere. | |||
== Establishing the regime == | == Establishing the regime == | ||
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United Transetrurian Federation Federazione Transetruriana Unita Sjedinjene Prekoetruriska Federacija Združena Čezetruriska Federacija | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960-1983 | |||||||||
 Flag
| |||||||||
Motto:
| |||||||||
Anthem:
| |||||||||
 Etruria in green. | |||||||||
| Capital | Poveglia | ||||||||
| Government | Federal authoritarian military dictatorship | ||||||||
| Chief of State | |||||||||
• 1960-1974 | Francesco Augusto Sciarri | ||||||||
• 1974-1978 | Giovanni Aurelio Brocco | ||||||||
• 1978-1983 | Gennaro Aurelio Altieri | ||||||||
| Premier | |||||||||
• 1960-1974 | Guilio Cesare Tulliani | ||||||||
• 1974-1978 | Enrico Povegliano | ||||||||
• 1978-1983 | Alessandro Galtieri | ||||||||
| Legislature | Consultative Assembly | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 14 May 1960 | |||||||||
| 1 July 1983 | |||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1968 | 47,102,444 | ||||||||
• 1978 | 53,656,771 | ||||||||
• 1983 | 56,339,781 (estimate) | ||||||||
| Currency | Florin | ||||||||
| |||||||||
The Etrurian military government was the authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Etruria from 4 May, 1960 to 1 July, 1983. It began with the bloodless constitutional coup of President Massimo Bartolucci—and ended when Miloš Vidović took office on 1 July, 1983 as President. The military overthrow of Bartolucci was backed by the near entirety of the Etrurian officer corps and the Supreme Command of the National Armed Forces (Commando Supremo), who had lost faith in the democratic government to confront the Western Emergency.
The military dictatorship lasted for almost twenty-three years; despite initial pledges to the contrary, the military government, in 1963, enacted a new, restrictive Constitution, and stifled freedom of speech and political opposition. The regime adopted nationalism, economic development, and Anti-Collectivism as its guidelines.
Background
Etruria's political crisis stemmed from the inadequacies of the new political system constructed in wake of the Solarian War, through the Community of Nations Mandate for Etruria. In an attempt to limit the influence of the security establishment and reinforce checks and balances, the Senate of Etruria was granted far-reaching powers and oversight over security policy. The failure of the post-war governments to equalise the pace of reconstruction across all states of the federation, allowed the festering and growth of separatist and far-leftist movements in Carinthia and Novalia. The post-war political system massively limited government responses to security crises, with deployments of police, the auxiliary gendarmes and regular military dependent upon votes in both houses of the Senate. This inability coincided with a wider sense of declinism across all Etruria, with the country gripped by post-war poverty, criminality and corruption. The social and moral decay perceived to be undermining Etrurian society, also led to a resurgence in support for right-wing and far-right parties and a general openness to authoritarian rule, if only to see the country’s course changed.
The emergence of secessionist movements in the western states first came about in the early 1950s, as these states saw significant inequalities in reconstruction and re-development compared to Vespasia. The use of proportional voting at the federal and state level, and the inability for the threshold to be increased from 3%, forced parties to enter complicated coalitions to form stable governments. The Democratic Worker’s Party had entered government in 1950 alongside the People’s Liberal Party and Sotirian Democracy, the former having ties to separatist parties in Carinthia and Novalia. The PLP was also one of the most forceful opponents of securitisation and militarisation in the federal legislature. Not only did this significantly reduce the federal government's ability to respond to the amassing of weapons by separatist militias, but further limited law enforcement's ability to investigate. The Democratic Action Party government (1948-1957), which drew many of its leading figures from the Community of Nations Mandate, refused to adopt harsh measures against separatist elements, go as far as to defend their rights under the constitution, alienating unionists in the centre-right and the military.
In 1952, the Novalian People’s Liberation Front was formed out of a grouping of Solarian War veterans. The NPLF attracted the attention of the socialist bloc in Euclea and was provided safe havens in Piraea and Amathia. The election of the centre-left Democratic Worker’s Party under President Ferdinando Grillo in 1953 did little to stem the growth of nationalism in Carinthia and Novalia. The same year, the various left-wing nationalist groups in Carinthia united to form the Combatant Front for Carinthian Liberation. In response, numerous pro-Etrurian nationalist movements rose up in response, including the Black Unionists and the National Volunteer Defence Front, by the end of the year both sides were clashing in running street battles across Carinthia and Novalia. In 1953, state elections in Novalia saw the Farmers and Workers Union led pro-Etrurian alliance win most seats in the state legislature, pushing the Novalian nationalists toward armed insurrection over democratic means of securing independence. That year, the NPLF attacked six police stations and army bases, distributing weapons and munitions to supporters. Similar actions took place in Carinthia, sparking the Western Emergency.
From 1953 until 1960, the nationalist armed groups would limit their attacks and operations, often just retaliating against unionist groups such as the NVDF. The violence further limited the degree of reconstruction and economic progress in both states, while the violence undermined the DWP government in Povelia. The violence, the wider sense of declinism among Etrurians, the stagnant economy and rampant corruption also provided a vital space for the resurgence of far-right politics at the national level. In the 1958 election, the New Republic Movement, a neo-functionalist party that advocated military action against the growing nationalist threat won over 35 seats. The inability by the central government to face the escalating violence in the west and the further refusal to call out foreign support drove many senior figures within the Etrurian armed forces to begin planning a seizure of power to protect national unity. On February 19 1959, the NPLF bombed the railroad connecting Vilanja to Drostar, causing a train to derail and leaving over 100 people dead. The next day, the Etrurian Armed Forces began to deploy forces without government permission, the subsequent political struggle saw the government acquiesce, empowering the generals who stepped up plans for a seizure of power.
Lead up to the 1960 coup
As the military began to deploy forces without federal authorisation in late 1959, tensions between the civilian government under President Bartolucci and the Defence Staff grew rapidly. Many in the government feared the military’s actions would escalate the so-far relatively low level violence in the west, while others saw the military’s intransigence as a threat to the republic. To the Defence Staff, they saw their actions as the only means to protect the country owing to the government’s weakness and inability to muster even a most basic response.
To reassert government control over the armed forces, the government prepared to secure a vote in the Senate ordering the redeployment of forces back to their garrisons. However, President Bartolucci found that he could not garner enough support from his own Democratic Action Party, let alone the necessary votes from Sotirian Democracy or the New Republic Movement, with the latter having opened talks with the Chiefs of the Defence Staff, affirming their intention to protect the armed forces. The vote held on January 18, failed with the government trounced 111-389. Many members of the Senate found the government’s actions perplexing to outright treasonous. The New Republic Movement for its part accused the government of acquiescence to “left-wing terrorists in the West.” While, the centre right Sotirian Democracy accused the DAP of overreacting to the military’s decision to defend the nation’s integrity.
In late January, President Bartolucci sought to sidestep the military by urging the Prefects of State in Carinthia and Novalia to declare the presence of federal forces in their states as unwanted and uninvited. It was hoped that such declarations would embarrass the armed forces into withdrawing their forces from the west of the country. On January 19, Novalian Prefect Petar Ogresta told newspaper journalists that he welcomed the presence of federal forces, “we are a state beset by left-wing enemies and the presence of federal forces is welcomed, for they now can know fear.” Ogresta’s response threw the government off-course, while many in the cabinet now questioned the political capabilities of President Bartolucci. Prefect of Carinthia, Zoran Potrč for his part questioned the suitability of federal armed forces policing his state’s streets but refused to publicly oppose their presence. Potrč would be assassinated by the CFLC in 1962.
Word of the government’s efforts confirmed to the Defence Staff that Bartolucci was more concerned about his image and weakness toward the left-wing groups in Carinthia and Novalia. On January 23, the Defence Staff met at the home of Major General Francesco Sciarri to discuss their next moves. Also present at the meeting was Giorgio Garafola, the leader of the far-right nationalist New Republic Movement, Garafola strongly advocated for a coup by the military, as he saw the insurgency in the west as inherently tied to the social decay afflicting the rest of the country. The influence the MNR had over the Defence Staff was considerable, many of the leading the commanders and officers had served during the Solarian War either as non-commissioned officers or recruits and were highly receptive to the nationalism of of the MNR. At this meeting, the Defence Staff with the support of Garafola agreed to pursue an overthrow of government.
Throughout February, the CFLC in Carinthia and the NPLF in Novalia stepped up their actions against state and federal forces, institutions and property. On February 18, the NPLF seized complete control over several villages on the border with Piraea, while the predominately Piraean-village of Stobea was captured by the NPLF with Piraean support in Etrurian Tarpeia. The capture of entire communities sent the government into a tailspin, while the events further confirmed the crisis situation among senior military officers.
In an effort to prepare the populace for a military takeover, Giorgio Garafola and the MNR stepped up their criticism of the Bartolucci government in the Senate. The government’s announcement that it would be willing to sit down in negotiation with the CFLC and NPLF infuriated much of the Etrurian right, with Sotirian Democracy withdrawing the Bartolucci government coalition, stripping its limited majority away. Its collapse was only averted by the offering of a confidence-and-supply motion by the pro-secessionist Carinthian Democratic Independence Party, which only further eroded what little faith the Right had in the government. On March 3, the Federal Minister for the Interior, Massimiliano Abate was shot dead by a member of the National Volunteer Defence Front for his weakness toward the left-wing groups. Abate’s relationship with the armed forces denied the government the last positive link it had to the officer corps.
From March until May, the Defence Staff actively planned for the overthrow of the government, going as far as create mock layouts of key government buildings and compounds in isolated areas of Vespasia for selected units to train seizing them. On May 10, President Bartolucci reaffirmed his government’s willingness to negotiate with secessionist groups on a radio broadcast to the nation. He said, “we can either pursue a peaceful solution to the worries and concerns of the Carinthian and Novalian peoples or we can pursue violence, cementing the division between our peoples.” A week before the coup itself, over 114 people were killed in pitched gun battle between the CFLC and local state forces in the capital Propoče. At least 33 civilians were killed in the crossfire, while the incident revealed the serious weaknesses in the state forces that were mostly relied upon. The Etrurian defence staff responded by ordering the deployment of 1,200 regulars to the city without federal authorisation.
According to documents published after 1984, the Bartolucci government received word of a possible coup on May 2 1960, with the report being dispatched by the pro-government Prefect of Dinara, who had in turn received word of unauthorised military training exercises near Castravona. However, the report was dismissed according to the documents, owing to President Bartolucci’s dismissal of the exercises as mere repeats of the army’s unauthorised deployments seen elsewhere.
Establishing the regime
Following the vote in the Joint-Session of the Etrurian Senate, the Supreme Command of the National Armed Forces moved swiftly to consolidate their control over the country. At 09.00am, General Sciarri took to national radio to proclaim a "government of national emergency and stabilisation" (Governo di Emergenza Nazionale e Stabilizzazione), in the same address he declared martial law across all of Etruria to confront "our enemies, domestic and foreign." The Army then deployed a further 35,000 soldiers to towns and cities across Etruria, while the Senate of Etruria was kept open and active, its corridors and halls were lined with armed soldiers at all times. On May 5, the Supreme Command declared the state administrations in Carinthia and Novalia void and arrested the state leaders and hundreds of political, social and civil service figures, while appointing military officers to head "Emergency Military Administrations" (Amministrazioni Militari di Emergenza).
Massimo Bartolucci resigned as President quietly and returned to his summer house on Lake Imperia, where he would remain until 1963, when he was disappeared by the military regime. His cabinet was kept intact by the Supreme Command who utilised them for implementing nominal social and economic policies. However, in June, the Ministers of National Defence, Internal Security, Justice and Foreign Affairs were sacked and replaced with military officers.
Yet throughout May, the major focus of the new regime was the mass deployment of military forces to the Western States and the decimation of the federal level, Party of Radical Workers - the country's premier Collectivist party. Between May 4 and May 10, over 3,500 PRW members were arrested by the military, including its leadership, a further 6,000 associated members and union representatives were detained from May until August, yet released. On May 25, the new regime amalgamated all federal law enforcement into the Organisation for National Vigilance and Security (OVNS), which was brought directly under the authority of the Supreme Command. The military directed OVNS to pursue and neutralise domestic opponents to the regime and separatists in the Western States, while slowly the Supreme Commander sidelined the Senate and cabinet from day-to-day governance.
On May 28, the Etrurian Army launched a full-scale offensive into the Western States, targeting known separatist hideouts, weapon and ammo dumps and training grounds. The mass deployment of troops to the west, effectively killed the 1946 Constitution. The operation resulted in the deaths of an estimated 200 people and the arrests of 600, the start of the offensive is generally accepted as the start of the Western Emergency.
On June 10, the Senate passed the military's Emergency Powers Act, that granted the Supreme Command the right to rule by decree. This was followed immediately with decrees formally banning all separatist parties, movements and clubs, as well as a decree greatly reducing the freedoms provided by the 1946 Constitution, with the introduction of censorship, closing down of regionalist media outlets and centralising of all federal media broadcasters. On June 25, the Supreme Command lifted the right of a fair trial and permitted detention without trial, which greatly aided in their ability to crush student opposition that was rapidly growing in Vespasia.
Throughout the remainder of 1960, the Supreme Command continued to launch mass arrests of leftists, critics, opponents of military rule and separatists across Etruria, while further marginalising the role and influence of the Senate over its actions and activities.
Sciarri period (1960-1974)
In the immediate after of the overthrow of Bartolucci, Francesco Augusto Sciarri, the head of the Supreme Command, became the de-facto head of government and state of Etruria. In this capacity, he led the way in consolidating further powers for the Supreme Command and marginalising the existing institutions. As such, throughout 1960, the regime focused on removing critics and opponents within Vespasia, while deploying military forces to the Western States.
In 1961, opposition to the military's rule began to organise itself among student bodies across Etruria, while the deployment of military forces to the west escalated the violence. In turn, Supreme Command under Sciarri stepped up repression of critics. Sciarri also sought to unify society against what the regime was describing as a "an attempted leftist revolution", in turn seeking to conflate the student protests with the separatist conflict in the west. This was aided by the nominal cooperation of several major national newspapers and TV outlets, who had come under the informal control of the Supreme Command.
In January, a major anti-war and anti-junta student protest was held simultaneously in Vicalvi and Stazzona, which involved an estimated 300,000 students and staff. In response, the military regime deployed soldiers and police, who acted without restraint and brutally repressed the marches. An estimated 800 were arrested, 400 injured and at least 36 killed either in the street or in police custody. The same day as the crackdown, the Supreme Command altered the rules of martial law, stating that any organised protest would result in immediate arrest and detention without trial and the withholding of state benefits to the families of those detained.
Consolidation of powers
Apocorona Incident
In wake of the crackdowns and further escalation of fighting in the west, the Supreme Command sought to rally and unify Etrurian society. Having seen some success in uniting Etruria by conflating student protests with the leftist uprising in the west as part of a wider "leftist plot backed by the MSU", the government turned to the disputed islands of Apokoronas held by Piraea following the Solarian War. The dispute was first raised in regime propaganda throughout 1960, as many in the Etrurian military believed the weak Piraese government was aiding or housing Carinthian and Novalian separatist leaders.
Preparations for a military operation to seize the disputed islands began shortly after the crackdowns on January 19. The Supreme Command opted to construct a media narrative that the islands were being used by Piraea to house, train and supply separatist groups across the west and within Tarpeia. Between February and April, the Supreme Command was regularly claiming it held evidence of training camps on the islands, while using forced confessions from separatists in Tarpeia to claim Piraese fishermen were smuggling guerillas and weapons into Tarpeia, to reach separatists in Carinthia and Novalia. On May 22, an explosion in Centurpie, the provincial capital of Tarpeia was blamed on separatists based on Vamos island, within the Apokoronas chain. Records released in 1995 proved that it was in fact a gas explosion, it was used successfully by Supreme Command to further present Piraea as a "safe haven for leftist terrorists and secessionists."
Efforts by the Piraese government to seek a diplomatic solution were regularly blocked by the Etrurian regime, which refused to negotiate with a "government backing those who would tear our country apart." While others in the regime questioned whether the Piraese government had even enough control over its own borders to offer solutions.
Owing to the short distance from Etruria, little time was needed to amass the necessary forces needed to secure control of the islands. Having 60,000 soldiers deployed across Carinthia, Novalia and Tarpeia further covered deployments from Piraese suspicion. Throughout June and July, the Supreme Command made regular statements indicating that it would use military force to "deny safe haven for all traitorous forces." This coincided with further Etrurian naval and air activity in and around the islands, while 5,500 marines were readied in Centuripe and Allagra.
On 5 August 1961, Etrurian marines backed by the Navy and Air Force launched an amphibious landing on five of the six inhabited islands. The islands, for the most part were only protected by armed police, while the largest island of Armenoi, had a garrison of 150 soldiers. The Etrurian Air Force bombed their garrison along with several police stations and the local airfield, killing 29 people. By the evening, the Etrurian military had seized complete control over four of the five islands. Armenoi would be fully seized by the early hours of August 6, after the Etrurian military captured the remaining Piraese soldiers who attempted to flee into the highlands to stage a guerilla action until Piraea could liberate the islands. The capture of the islands was announced by Francesco Sciarri on national radio, leading numerous celebrations across Vespasia and loyalist-held regions of Novalia. The Piraese government, refusing to go to war owing to Etruria's military superiority opted for diplomatic protests, which went unanswered by the international community.
On August 9, the islands were formally merged into the Federal Autonomous Territory of Tarpeia, this was followed by excessive human rights abuses against the local Piraese population. Over the next two decades the islands would undergo a limited form of Etrurianisation, a process used by the Etrurian Revolutionary Republic in occupied regions. This included the repression of non-Etrurian languages and culture and the import of Etrurian nationals. They remain in Etrurian hands and disputed by Piraea to this day. The success of the invasion greatly enhanced the regime's standing among the general population.