Legionary Reaction
| Legionary Reaction | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Marco Antonio Ercolani † Aurelio Cesare Tozzo † Argo Secondari † Vincenzo Baldazzi † Guido Solariano † |
 Ettore Caviglia Aldo Aurelio Tassinari Franco Gioda Mario Giampaoli Decio Razza | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~251 loyalist police and soldiers in Poveglia |
~3,586 in Poveglia 50,000-100,000 during the March on Solaria | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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~231-311 senators killed 2,300-3,500 supporters killed or imprisoned |
32 killed 46 injured | ||||||
| 286 civilians killed or injured | |||||||
The Legionary Reaction (Vespasian: Reazione Legionaria) or April’s Fish Massacre (Il massacro di Pesce d’Aprile) was a coup d'état that took place on 1 April and 2 April 1938. On those days, forces loyal to the Revolutionary Legion of Etruria staged a simultaneous mass march on the city of Solaria and a violent overthrow of the Etrurian government in the capital, Poveglia. The event overthrew the Second Etrurian Republic and led to the formation of the Etrurian Revolutionary Republic and a single-party totalitarian regime.
The Reaction followed two years of crumbling civil governance due to the "Emergency Government of Peace", which was established in wake of the Great War. The EGP had been established to maintain peace as civil unrest erupted across Etruria over poor territorial gains made in wake of the allied victory, economic collapse and poor management of demobilised soldiers.
The Reaction, argued by some, began in the early hours of 20 February with the "March on Solaria", where between 50,000 and 100,000 supporters of the Revolutionary Legion of Etruria began the 100km march from Vicalvi to Solaria. Though, officially historiography states that it began on April 1, when the March reached the outskirts of Solaria. In conjunction, armed soldiers and sailors of the RLE entered Poveglia and stormed the Palazzo Orsini, which housed the Etrurian parliament, while it was in an emergency session to debate the March. RLE militia then gunned down and killed over 90% of the sitting legislature and executed by firing squad the government of President Marco Antonio Ercolani. This was followed by a speech by RLE leader, Ettore Caviglia who declared the overthrow of the republic and the establishment of a new National Solarianist regime.
Background
Red August
To many historians, the origins of both National Solarianism and the demise of the Second Republic lay during the period of instability, socialist agitations and political violence, colloquially known as Red August.
The late 1900s had seen the emergence of organised workers’ committees and rights movements. While the democratisation of the workplace was welcomed by some in the liberal government, many saw it as a possible route for socialist agitation and influence. The 1910s would as a result, would be dominated by the struggles between trade unions and the federal government. This would escalate from 1913 until 1917, as President Emiliano Capri sought to control and contain trade unionism through its subordination to the federal government.
Capri's government utilised law enforcement and groups linked to his Liberal Republican Party to intimidate trade union leaders, violently attack workers' councils and break strikes. The heavy-handed response radicalised elements of the Etrurian left, culminating in the creation of the People's Protection Groups (Gruppi di Protezione delle Popoli), who engaged in political violence against its rivals in the streets. The violence escalated to such an extent that Capri was removed from office by his cabinet and succeeded by the moderate Alessandro Luzzani in 1917.
The GPP as well as the Etrurian Radical Worker's Party saw Luzzani as weaker and lacking in the authority of Capri and sought to use growing industrial discontent over working conditions to ferment revolution. 1917 was marked by drought and a record-breaking hot summer, which led to rapid increases in food prices and the collapse of a mine shaft killing 111 miners in northern Vespasia led to the fueling of socialist agitation. Throughout the summer, the GPP and ERWP provoked violent clashes and strikes across Etruria, the number of striking and rioting workers rising by each day. By August, Etruria's industrial base was crippled by mass strikes, while right-wing militias struggled to break strikes through violence.
On August 4, President Luzzani, fearing that the highly popular Etrurian Worker's Party would vote to back insurrection or revolution decided to take decisive action. In a series of secretive cabinet meetings, Luzzani opted to "decapitate the leftist hydra" with a raid against the EWP leadership at the party's upcoming General Congress. Unwilling to risk mass defections of the army through deployments to the streets, Luzzani's government sought out loyalist right-wing officers and soldiers to conduct the operation. The group, who'd later become known as the Iron Six led the operation and on 19 August 1917, 600 soldiers stormed the Stadio Invicto in Vicalvi killed 32 EWP members and detaining the entire General Committee. This was followed by similar arrests or assassinations of leading GPP and ERWP leaders. By the end of August, the agitation had subsided, with a vast majority of striking workers only seeking improved working conditions. It is widely accepted that the Second Republic was mere days away from a mass socialist uprising when the Stadio Invicto raid occurred.
While the Second Republic was ultimately saved from a leftist revolution, the series of events had radicalised elements of the military who blamed the Republic itself and democracy for allowing the leftist threat to become so severe. Many of the officers who staged the Stadio Invicto Raid would become the first National Solarianists, with the Iron Six forming the Society of the Cohort in December 1917. By 1919, the Etrurian military would become a stronghold for anti-democratic right-wing fraternal groups, secret societies and clubs. In 1920, a captain in the army, Etttore Caviglia founded the Black Templar, a secret society that drew support from all branches of the military and many in the business and middle class.