October 13 coup d'état
| October 13 coup d'état | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
The October 13 coup d'état was a self-coup staged by Nikifor Osipov, at the time the Prime Minister of the Slavic Union. Code-named Operation Perun, the coup dissolved the Senate and replaced it with the Duma, which had practically no powers to oppose Osipov, along with granting Osipov dictatorial powers.
Osipov had slowly consolidated power over the years since becoming appointed Prime Minister in 1933, and in 1936 he is widely suspected to be the mastermind behind a failed coup attempt lead by several military officers who had served under him during the Slavic Civil War, but there was not enough evidence to remove him from power.
On October 12, 1940, Imperator Aleksandr II passed away from pneumonia and Osipov immediately ordered the arrest of his children, alleging they were plotting to re-establish an absolute monarchy, They fled to Drambenburg, leaving Osipov as both the head of state and head of government. Before long Osipov dissolved the senate and wrote a new constitution.
Background
The Coup
Aleksandr II's Death
The coup was originally planned to take place on December 1, 1940 but after Imperator Aleksandr II passed away from pneumonia on October 12th the coup quickly sprung into action the next day, a warrant for the Imperator's children arrest being issued and the royal palace being raided by the police a few hours later, though the children had already been tipped off by a conspirator in the coup. The following day the Senate abolished the monarchy, primarily due to strong public pressure.
Osipov's Speech
The coup continued with an October 16th speech where Osipov claimed that communists had infiltrated the government and that if the Senate didn't grant him emergency powers to purge communists from the government they would soon start a second civil war, again, with high public pressure, the Senate had no choice but to comply with his demands, granting him enhanced powers, which Osipov used to write a new constitution that gave him those powers permanently. On October 21 he dissolved the Senate, and with the ratification of the constitution on October 22 he was officially named himself Vozhd of the Slavic Union.