Rule of the Admirals

The Rule of the Admirals, known in Laimiaic as the Navarkokrateia, was the period from 1969 to 1995 when Tagmatium was under the rule of a cabal of senior military officers. They were fronted by a group of naval officers.

Background

Konstantios IV, elected 1963 by a general election by the Tagmatine people as Holy Emperor, proposes a tunnel constructed through the Central Sea in 1968. This causes ferry companies that run the routes across the sea to start to strike. This causes turmoil, as internal airlines don't have the capacity to take up the slack and the road and rail routes along the shore take far too long to meet the demand necessary. Against this was a backdrop of economic turmoil, as Tagmatium had not regained the economic prosperity that it had before the Long War. Konstantios tried to deal with this by raising taxes against the powerful landowning families who also formed much of the Senates, which regularly blocked any legislative reforms that the monarch tried to enact.

In order to encourage economic improvement, Konstantios opened up Tagmatium to foreign investment. This saw failing Tagmatine businesses bought up by those most Tagmatines perceived as barbarians, even if they did help somewhat with the Tagmatine economic woes.

Tagmatium struggled with its nascent democracy, with many wishing for a return to when a strong emperor could act without everything having to be voted through. Without a cultural history of democracy, there would often be street fights between rival political groups and many universities were regarded as hotbeds of communism and left-wing thought.

At times, demonstrations were bad enough that army units had to be brought in to break them up. These were often heavy-handed and, when taken with morale issues caused by the end of the Long War, the army were regarded by the ordinary people as their enemy. This exacerbated the army's morale issues, which began to spiral. In 1968 and 1969, some units refused their orders to break strikes or put down demonstrations. The Palace Regiments, the Tagmata, were used instead in this role, which they saw as beneath them.

Coup

Finally, Konstantios ordered the navy to take over the ferry operations. They refused and it was clear that Konstantios was unable to continue to rule. He briefly attempted to resist but when told that neither the Palace Regiments nor his own bodyguard corps would prevent any attempt to remove him from the throne, he fled into exile in Euandria. Lacking the taint that the army had developed from the Long War and the activities earlier in Konstantios' reign, the navy appointed one of its senior officers as Holy Emperor and effectively removed the democratic framework that had been built over since the coup of Leon III that ended the Long War.