1876 Voltan coup d'état
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.jpg) Voltan cavalry in the streets of Köstritz during the coup. | |
| Date | 14 April 1876 |
|---|---|
| Location | Köstritz, Voltan Democratic Republic |
| Participants | Eugen Rathenau National Party Voltan military |
| Outcome |
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The 1876 Voltan coup d'état was a self-coup staged by Eugen Rathenau, at the time the President of Volta. Code-named Fall Blau (meaning "Case Blue"), it was coordinated by Eugen in tandem with the Voltan military and the National Party. The coup forced the National Congress to adopt a series of laws and constitutional amendments, granting dictatorial powers to the President and turning the National Conggress into a rubber stamp.
Wanting to personally lead Volta until all of his planned reforms were in place and faced with the prospect of having to leave office due to term limits, Eugen staged the coup in order to stay in power and implement his programs. This included implementing a contract labor system for Mischlings to work on farms and plantations to deal with a labor shortage, to eliminate payment of the poll tax as a prerequisite to voting and extend suffrage to all land-owning Dolch males. Eugen maintained this authority until his death.
Causes
After Volta gained independence, Eugen Rathenau won the first Presidential election in a landslide, taking 71% of the vote. He did this as a candidate for the National Republican Party after running against Ludwig von Payer of the Federalist Party. However, the National Republican Party only reached a small majority in the National Congress.
The Federalist Party pushed their own reforms, which involved turning Volta into a federal state rather than a unitary one. However, then Eugen and the National Republican Party rejected even small compromises that would move in this direction, the Federalist Party began aggressively using the filibuster to stall Eugen and the National Republican agenda. This was an attempt to force the National Republicans to compromise with the Federalists, however the National Republicans only responded in kind and refused to even consider Federalist bills for debate. As a result, Eugen found himself in constant conflict with the National Congress and in particular the Federalist Party.
Eugen did manage to push through minor reforms, usually by drastically watering down his proposals so as to win just enough votes to overcome the filibuster. However, even after he won re-election twice he was not able to enact most of his reforms and the reforms he did enact did not go nearly as far as he wanted. Eugen at this point was facing the 3-term limit imposed by the Voltan constitution, after which he would be forbidden from ever running for the office of President again. As a result, it appeared as if his term would end in November 1876. Not one to back down from his reforms, and believing that his agenda had been wrongfully stalled by the Federalist party, in February 1875 Eugen began pushing the National Republican Party to pass a constitutional amendment abolishing term limits for the Presidency.
This proposal proved controversial even within the National Republican Party. Though nearly all members of the National Republican Party agreed that Federalist obstruction had prevented them from implementing their agenda, a sizable minority opposed anything that would even appear to threaten democracy. As a result, the amendments didn't even reach a majority within the National Congress, let alone the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
In November 1875, Eugen fired Wilhelm Richter and Otto Liebknecht from his cabinet and called for their dismissal from the National Republican Party. Both Wilhelm and Otto were dissenters and continuously objected to the constitutional amendment proposed. Their firing and proposed dismissal caused massive conflict within the National Republicans, ending in both Wilhelm and Otto leaving the National Republican Party before they could be dismissed. They each took a number of followers with them, effectively splitting the National Republican Party. Wilhelm Richter would go on to found the Liberal Party, and Otto Liebknecht would go on to found the Conservative Party. After this, Eugen renamed the National Republican Party to the National Party.