Tengarian Civil War

Tengarian Civil War
Loyalist Militia in the streets of Lenovo.
Date 28 November 1955 - 1 November 1957 (1 year, 11 months, 4 days) Location Tengaria Result Decisive Loyalist Victory Simeon Kovachev takes power Second Tengarian Constitution Tengarian Diaspora
Belligerents
Loyalists National Army Restoration EDP National Rally (1956-) Supported by: West Miersa Foreign Volunteers	Republicans Republican Army Popular Front TSMR Supported by: Equalist Amathia Foreign Volunteers
Commanders and leaders
Simeon Radez † Simeon Kovachev	Rumen Santov Todor Stoychev †
Strength
Tengarian National Army: 320,500 Other Loyalist forces: 75,000	Tengarian Republican Army: 200,000 Other Republican forces: 95,000 (estimated)
Casualties and losses
26,000 killed in action (estimated) 6,000-7,000 civilians killed inside the Loyalist zone	45,000 killed in action (estimated) 12,000–14,000 civilians killed inside the Republican zone

The Tengarian Civil War (Tengarian: Гражданска Война Тенгария) was a civil war in Republic of Tengaria from November 1955 to November 1957. The Right-wing Tengarian government, comprised of a coaltion of monarchists, nationalists and religious conservatives, fought against a revolt of the left-wing Republicans, an broad-reaching alliance of socialists, Communists, Progressives, Equalists, and liberals. After years of civil unrest and a disputed election, civil conflict broke out when left-leaning officers attempted a coup to overthrow the government, leading to the establishment of the People's Republic. Lasting just under two years, the Civil War saw the defeat and downfall of the Tengarian political left, and the rise of Simeon Kovachev as Tengaria's primary statesman and the growth of the National Rally.

Tengaria was an Empire before the events of the Great War, after which Soravia imposed a republic on it. The early Republic was marked with financial disasters, partisan political conflict, and government incompetence; a President never managed to secure more than 41% of the popular vote, and Voter turnout was very low. Only for the first election cycle did a party over control over the whole government; for each term after, Tengaria faced three or four other party coalition divided government. The communist TSMR was elected on a platform of reform, however, when Vladimir Vasilov and his administration failed to get legislative support and the left failed to work together, support for the republic rapidly began to decline. As such, the 1955 elections saw the formerly fringe Restoration Party, a pro-monarchist party, swept the elections on a platform of restoring the Empire and solving the problems the republic had faced, winning the largest majority in two decades, having the support of the religious Episemialist Democrats.

Infuriated with the results of the election, the left-leaning members of the government quickly tried to prevent the new government from coming to power, calling themselves the "Republicans" as a show of support against the "Imperialist" government. The intervening months saw political violence and agitation against the new elected government, promoted by President Vasilov; however, Simeon Kovachev, the head of the Tengarian armed forces went against the president and used the military to oversee the transition of the new government into power. A few days after the new government had come to power, a coup attempt was made by officers sympathetic to the republican movement. Although the coup was stifled in Lenovo, the President was assassinated; military forces who rebelled against the government in conjunction with leftist militias were able to seize important positions in the eastern and southern Portions of the Country. Many political opponents to the new government proclaimed support for the attempted coup, and together with the rebelling officers declared themselves as the legitimate government of Tengaria, beginning the war in earnest.

From the beginning, the loyalists had the military advantage, retaining control of most of the country, the majority of the military. The republicans relied heavily upon popular militias, and the overwhelming popular support which the republicans had expected to materialize never did with enough strength to turn the tide. The republicans, unable to defeat the loyalists on the battlefield, utilized Guerilla warfare and other means to damage the government. The wartime president, Simeon Radez, was assassinated in 1957, leading Kovachev to take over as head of state until the end of the war. Both sides committed atrocities against opposing forces and political opponents, although oftentimes against the express command of higher authorities, although the republicans had the greater share in these. Many civilians, especially clergy, were killed in attacks by militia or by armed forces. In the end, military defeats, lack of support, and political divisions tore the revolt apart, and the republican forces were beaten. Many prominent republicans were executed or exiled, and many fled the country out of fear of reprisal or to move to a better climate, creating the Tengarian Diaspora. In the wake of the war, Kovachev outlawed political parties and created the National Rally to reunite the country, re-writing Tengaria's constitution and becoming the nation's President in 1958.

The Civil War, due to its tense political or religious nature, is viewed differently by ethnic Tengarians and by foreign historians. The official Tengarian position and the mainstream belief in Western Euclea is that the Civil War was a necessary struggle against an attempted coup and usurpation of power which resulted in the end to the problem ridden partisanship of the early republic and led to the restoration of Tengaria. Many political exiles or sympathisers with the republicans view it as a just attempt to topple an illegitimate government and save the republic.

Background

For centuries prior to the Great War, Tengaria had been an autocratic monarchy based upon a hereditary and religiously-sponsored system. Although it had once been a prominent power in previous centuries, by the nineteenth century Tengaria's influence was eclipsed by its neighbors. It allied itself with Soravia against Ravnia and the Kingdom of Amathia. Through the influence of Soravia and from the rest of Euclea through Amathia, republican ideals first began to take hold among certain academic circles. Due to economic prosperity and slight Imperial reforms, the monarchy retained its popularity through the later half of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century. Beginning with Simeon III, the Empire introduced parliamentary systems and reforms gradually, including the office of Minister-President. Political parties in the Assembly only began to solidify by the late 1880s. The monarchy continued to wield significant influence in governance, leading to the left-leaning parties to begin to support republicanism or democratization of the monarchy. Tengaria would enter the Great War in 1927, only to fall by 1930 and be occupied for the next five years by Amathia. Simeon Kovachev, a general, was named as Regent of Tengaria shortly before the capture of Emperor Dragomir III, Emperor of Tengaria, and continued to lead a resistance movement against the Amathian occupation. Eventually this resistance was successful and the country was liberated, but the cost to Tengaria was great and it was beset by wartime debt.

Kovachev, now in charge of Tengaria, begun initiatives for the healing and restoration of the wartime wounds of Tengaria. His postwar policies and wartime hero status cemented his popularity. However, his attempts to work for the return of Dragomir to Tengaria were rebuffed by Soravia, which demanded that Tengaria became a Republic. Depsite the oppurtunity the Soravians offered him, Kovachev, an ardent monarchist, refused to take power and declared he would step down as regent after a constitution was drafted and elections were held. A constitution was drafted that was a compromise between those who wanted Pro-Soravian conservative and authoritarian regime and those who wanted to build a democracy reflective of Eastern Euclea. Tengaria would be a Presidential Republic with a distinct Presidency and Legislature, dropping the position of Minister-President. In August of 1935, the conservative pro-Soravian TNVP swept the elections, with Gregori Ervo becoming Tengaria's first President. For the first five years of the republic, the TNVP had control of the government, and used it to mostly continue many of the policies which Kovachev had begun. However, in 1939, the TNVP, which was the primary conservative party, suffered a large fracture, with several other parties splitting off from it. This led to it losing the 1940 election to the Liberal Progressive Party, although it retained control of the Senate.

From this point on, the republic was very politically unstable. Every government was divided, usually with the President being a member of the leading coalition party of the Assembly, but facing opposition from the Senate. In the Assembly, multi-party coalitions led to political deadlock, and the opposition of the Senate meant that many bills passed by the Assembly were struck down without manner of solution. After the worsening situation under the Liberal Progressives led to a split between the Liberal Progressives and the Republican Party, there was hope that a more radical solution might solve the issues at hand. This led to the TSMR becoming the lead coalition party in the Assembly and controlling the Presidency in both 1945 and 1950, but the government failed to get anything done with the opposition from the TNVP in the Senate and from members of the four-party coalition. Meanwhile, Kovachev insulated himself and the Tengarian National Army from the political affairs of the time, creating a State within a state. However, this led to conflict with presidents Vasil Stoychev and Vladmir Vasilov, who detested the popularity Kovachev had and the way he refused to politicize the military. Both Presidents tried to undercut Kovachev's authority in any way possible that would not draw major criticism. In addition, they attempted to get officers loyal to the parties rather than to Kovachev into positions of authority, things which Kovachev was able to limit but not totally stop this initiative.

Anti-goverment protesters in a parade in Istros in 1953.

After the failure of Vasilov and the TSMR to accomplish more in 1950 elections, more people began to grow hostile towards the incompetency of the government. Failed land reforms, unpopular anti-clerical actions, increasing poverty and economic failure, mass hunger and starvation, government corruption, and political deadlock all came together to facilitate anger and distrust of the government in the people and in the military. By 1953, Popular resentment of the government reached dangerously high levels. As things began to worsen, many citizens began to consider that the Republic had been a failure, and that the time had come to bring back prosperity and stability by bringing back the Empire. Socialism, which had been seen as the first alternative, largely came to be associated with the failure of the TSMR and so declined in popularity. Political tensions began to rise as the people began to look for an end to the current troubles, and idealogical differences became more pronounced. Protests against the government, worker's strikes, and civic unrest became more common, and the government's failure to respond to the demands brought forward more issues. Vasilov desired to use extreme measures to enact change, but the uncooperative military gave him no means of seizing the government or enforcing them. Towards the end of 1955, the political scene in Lenovo was a disaster. The National Assembly could not agree upon any legislation, and at several fights broke out on the Assembly floor.

In the elections of 1955, Dimitri Denov, former second in command to Kovachev and a war hero of the Great War in his own right, ran on a campaign with the pro-monarchist Restoration Party, promising to bring stability, to end the political squabbles, and to restore the Tengarian Empire. Taking advantage of the people's discontent with the current state of affairs, the Restorationists called the Tengarian Republic a political failure. This language appealed to many, but also alienated others, especially those who were ardent republicans. The fact that Restorationist platform proved massively popular was of major concern to the Tengarian left-wing, who saw the Restorationists as a reactionary and counter-revolutionary threat to the republic. Some who even despised the failures of the government viewed the movement as open treason to the Republic. However, the leftist parties were still too divided to unite for the elections. As such, the Restorationists won the elections in coalition with only the need for support the religious-conservative Episemialist Democrat Party. With control of the Presidency, National Assembly, and Senate, Restoration was the first government in 15 years which had a complete and undivided government. Many hoped that now the time would come where some real changes could be implemented. To secure their control, the Restorationists had made agreements with the other right-wing parties and movements.

This election was not without contest, however. President Vasilov immediately attempted to cancel the results of the election, but the Senate refused to consent, leading to a political struggle within the capital. The feuding left-leaning parties, realizing that they would be totally forced out of power, refused to accept the outcome as legitimate, and called themselves "Republicans". Many who were previously hostile to the Restorationists or now concerned over their political control now protested that the new government would end the republic and bring about tyranny, and this message was quickly spread across the entire country. Some right-wing Republicans joined in this, but the majority did not. Political violence erupted in the streets of several major cities, with strikes and riots usually instigated by pro-republican mobs. Prominent Restorationists, nobles, or army officers were lynched publicly or had their property destroyed. President Vasilov supported these uprisings, and called for the people to revolt against the new elections. Kovachev however used military forces to restore order in many of the most prominent places of unrest. As November approached, it became clear that the incumbent government would continue to reject the elections, and that Kovachev and the military wanted to see a transition according to the electoral results.

Transition of Power and Coup

Conflict and Development

As the disorder began to grow across Tengaria, Kovachev and Vasilov came into open conflict about the result of the elections. Vasilov had tried to annul the election, but had been stymied from the refusal of the senate. When Vasilov tried to publish the annulment as an executive order, Kovachev told Vasilov that he would arrest him for treason against the laws of the Republic, as it was illegal for him to do unilaterally under the Constitution. Infuriated but unwilling to go against Kovachev, Vasilov rescinded his attempt, but still openly attacked the results publicly. Furthermore, when riots began to break out in the streets, Vasilov refused to let Kovachev attempt to restore order. Kovachev openly refused Vasilov's commands, and sent his troops anyways to restore order. Although many arrests were made, only a handful of people were killed in the riot suppressions. However, Vasilov, already hating Kovachev bitterly, ordered him to resign and stripped him of his title as Field Marshal. Kovachev, however, refused to listen to Vasilov, and openly defied his order to resign and step down, claiming that Vasilov had overstepped his authority and was working against the common good. With this action, the Presidency and the military were put at odds, with only a month before the transition of power.

Once word of this conflict was spread, mixed responses occurred both in the military and in the public. In the military, the majority were happy that Kovachev had refused to be controlled by the President, and sensed that they would have the real power from then and a share in the political control. However, others in the military thought that Kovachev had committed treason by refusing to follow the order from the President, or were disposed to go against the results of the elections. As such, a group of officers sympathetic to the republican faction began planning a coup against Kovachev and the newly elected government. The leader of this was Todor Stoychev, an appointee of Vasilov and sympathetic to the Amathian Equalist movement. They organized supplies and logistics, planning to capture Tengaria's chief cities and purge the military and government of those who would go against the republic. Most of the sympathetic officers were those stationed in the south-east of the country, where support for the republican movement was strongest.

Kovachev did receive rumors about the development of the coup, but knew that he could not stamp it out completely; he was able to remove certain officers from key positions and separated them from other suspected ones, place these officers under more loyal ones, secured the army's important supplies in the hands of loyalists, and placed important troops in key cities. However, he was never able to determine the full scale of the planned coup, and knew that he could not prevent a good deal of the military from defecting if war were to break out. The resources of the army were stretched thin as it was already, and mostly concentrated around the major cities, especially Lenovo. This put Kovachev and the new government in a tight position, as tensions were high both in the civilian population and in the military itself. As the date for the transfer of power approached, both sides continued to plot and to obtain whatever and whoever they could under their control.

Vasilov and the government continued to renounce the electoral results and attempted to get the constitutional court to overturn the results, only to have the constitutional court rule in favor of the electoral results. Without further recourse, the incumbent government declared that they would refuse to yield their offices in spite of both Kovachev and the constitutional court. Again Vasilov attempted to have Kovachev indicted for treason, but the constitutional court also ruled against this. As Kovachev deemed it prudent to get his most loyal men closest to him, none of the military could touch Kovachev or attempt to arrest him.

Transition of Power and the "Reactionary Coup"

The tension which had been building up first began to boil over on the 14th of November, the first day the new government was to be sworn in. As planned in advance, the resistant members of the government barricaded the doors of the National Assembly chamber from the new officials, also excluding any incumbents in the right-leaning parties or leftists who refused to participate in the stand. They were joined by the opposition members of the Senate, but had no armed support and bore no firearms. They knew that they would probably be removed, but intended to make a symbolic stand. Barred from meeting in the assembly chamber, the new government members congregated in the Senate chamber in despite of the National Assembly, and began the first session as a single united Grand Assembly. In the Presidential Mansion, Vasilov took this attempt, barricading himself inside with an armed guard loyal to him, hoping to make more than just symbolic resistance.

Having prepared for this outcome, Kovachev and forces most loyal to him were positioned in key positions throughout the city of Lenovo to ensure that the transition took place. Kovachev's forces marched on the Grand Assembly and entered the building without resistance, surrounding the chamber. Although the assembly members refused the commands to open the door, they could not resist as the soldiers forcibly broke down the doors and stormed the chamber. Several members tried resisting with desks and various improvised weapons, but were subdued without Kovachev's forces firing a shot. All the members inside were arrested and detained, but none were killed on the explicit order of Kovachev himself. However, several who physically resisted were injured by incapacitation or bruising. Several soldiers were lightly wounded by the improvised weapons; one was stabbed in the stomach by a member and needed medical attention. After the Assembly was cleared and the chamber cleaned up of wreckage and debris, the National Assembly finally met, under the watch of soldiers, later in the afternoon.

Unlike the National Assembly, Vasilov the Presidential Mansion, was not as easily taken. Forces loyal to Kovachev surrounded the entire Presidential Mansion and secured the perimeter, commanding Vasilov to surrender and turn himself in. Repeated calls failed, and so Kovachev, together with President Denov, who was personally commanding the scene, ordered the forces to storm the building, under the explicit command not to fire unless fired upon. However, as the forces attempted to do this, a firefight broke out between Vasilov's guard and Kovachev's forces. The origin of who fired the first shot is still contested, but the firing began by the eastern gate. Military records mark that the first shots had come from inside the building, and several of surviving guards also have attested to this. However, others posit that it was in fact Kovachev's men who began the fighting and later blamed it on Vasilov in attempt to justify themselves. Regardless, a firefight broke out, spreading as members of the guard from various points of the mansion opened fire on Army forces. Although Vasilov's men had the cover of the house, the surrounding forces were able to neutralize most of the targets when firing within the first few minutes of the firefight. Army forces broke in at several checkpoints, neutralizing the guardsmen who offered resistance as Kovachev's men cleared the building.

In the end, Vasilov was captured by Kovachev's forces in the Presidential office, and taken into custody. 9 National Army soldiers were killed, with an additional 13 wounded; 22 of Vasilov's men were wounded, and 19 injured. Denov was able to enter into the Presidential mansion under the protection of Kovachev's forces, and was sworn is as President later in the evening. All of those arrested during the attempt were taken into military custody and charged with insurrection; Vasilov in particular for armed resistance was charged with treason. However, their trial was postponed until things could be stabilized. The military had a high presence in Lenovo to maintain order and martial law was declared.

Word spread rapidly throughout Tengaria of the events which transpired in Tengaria, but often tainted by the opinion or understanding of events which had happened. Many saw it as a rightful response to an unjust usurpation by the left to hold onto its power in the government; however, it was also said that the Army had carried out a Coup d'état and seized power for itself.

The Coup Attempt

There were eleven days of relative peace after the government assumed office, under the careful eye of Kovachev and his forces. However, Kovachev left the city on November 25th to attend a developing crisis in the south. That day, several prominent military officers under Kovachev's command, claiming that they were "saving the republic", launched a coup which they had been planning in conjunction with Republican politicians. Forces stormed the Presidential and mansion and President Denov was brutally slaughtered, along with his wife and children, with their bodies displayed on the lawn as a warning. His Deputy President, Simeon Radez, was able to escape along with some of the prominent officials. However, attempts to enter into the National Assembly were foiled by forces loyal to Kovachev and the new government, and soon open fighting began to break out the streets of Lenovo.

Outcome

The Republican army forces, outmatched and lacking in strategic objectives, were dispatched by nightfall, and the treasonous officers put to death. In the confusion, however, many of the assemblymen and senators had fled the city, most heading to the city of Avren, where support for the Republicans was highest. Some were captured by National Army forces, but most fled towards the south. Radez took control as President, and tried to call for peace, but it was too late. On the 28th of November the new People's Republic of Tengaria was proclaimed with Rumen Santov as its president, declaring that they were the legitimate government of Tengaria, and that Radez's administration was unconstitutional and illegitimate. Not a few members of the National Army defected for the People's Republic, although most stayed loyal to Kovachev, who was in turn loyal to the Restoration government.

Course of the War

The War would last a little under two years. Due to the Republican's overall lack of the degree of an organized military that the Radez government possessed, as most of the skilled officers remained with Kovachev, the Radez government had the upper hand on the military front. The republicans often resorted to militias and guerilla warfare to fight against the government, committing acts of terror both against Loyalist forces and any known Loyalist sympathisers. In addition, the anti-clerical Republican forces attacked, looted and destroyed churches, killing priests and religious. This only served to alienate some of the remaining neutrals into siding with the government. Many civilians were killed by Republican actions, although others were killed collateraly by Loyalist artillery and military action. These tactics only prolonged a losing war, and the Republican military forces were soundly beaten by the loyalist forces in nearly every single full battle. However, in 1956 Radez was assasinated by a Republican, throwing the Loyalist government into chaos and slowing down the war effort. Leaving behind no clear successor, Simeon Kovachev took over as head of the government until the crisis was over and declared a state of national emergency, and founded the National Rally to foster national unity, focused on healing the wounds of the war and unifying Tengaria against partisan infighting. This effort proved massively popular by many, and the Republicans soon found themselves both beaten back and without support. After just under two years of fighting, the Republicans capitulated in November of 1957.