1876 Voltan coup d'état
.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. They took a handful of Members of Congress with them, eliminating the National Republican Party's majority in the National Congress. After this, Eugen renamed the National Republican Party to the National Party.
Preparations for the coup
On 11 December 1875, Alfred Kapp was chosen to be the Federalist candidate for the fourth Voltan Presidential election. Alfred Kapp was a moderate, and expressed willingness to work with the Conservative Party and Liberal Party in order to implement some compromises on their agenda, if they would agree to compromise and implement some compromises towards federalization of Volta. Both Wilhelm and Otto accepted, and the three parties formed an electoral pact on 23 December 1875. Under this alliance the three parties agreed to not run against each other in any seats and endorse each others candidates, in order to prevent the National Party from reaching anything close to a majority.
Eugen, facing his term limit and his party's potential election loss, began planning the coup as soon as this electoral pact was announced. By this time Eugen's cabinet had been purged of non-loyalists, and they began meeting with the leadership of the National Party and several high-ranking generals in the Voltan military. Deciding to give the National Congress one last chance, Eugen requested that his proposed constitutional amendment at least be brought up for consideration on 17 January 1876, a request that was turned down on 1 February 1876.
Prepared to strike, the Minister of War sent a letter to all soldiers reminding them of their solemn duty to obey the orders of the Commander-in-chief, without naming Eugen personally though he held the title as President. Loyalists to Eugen were appointed to key positions, including to the post of Commander of the Troops of Köstritz and the post of Chief of Police of Köstritz. Presidential decrees were drafted so that they could be issued as soon as the coup took place. Convinced that there was no way forward other than a coup, Eugen fixed the day as 14 April 1876. He deliberately avoided picking anniversaries or any special days so as to maintain an element of surprise. The operation was christened "Fall Blau" meaning "Case Blue", a reference to the main color of Volta's flag at the time.
Events of 14 April 1876
On the morning of 14 April 1876 Voltan troops began to occupy strategic points in the city of Köstritz. Top opposition leaders were arrested and a decree was issued by Eugen proclaiming martial law and the suspension of the Voltan constitution. Eugen declared that after purging "unpatriotic forces" a new government would be formed and a new constitution written, and that everything would return to "civilian rule" and "democracy" "as soon as possible".
Opposition members of Congress took refuge in the eastern side of the city of Köstritz, where they called an impromptu session of Congress and overwhelmingly voted to impeach Eugen. The most prominent opposition leaders, including Wilhelm Richter, Otto Liebknecht, and Alfred Kapp were arrested and imprisoned shortly thereafter, with the remaining opposition members of congress being placed under house arrest. A Köstritzer insurrection led by Dietrich von Hassel, a pure-blooded Dolch political writer who sympathized with the Tlaloc and Mischling people in their poor living conditions and advocated for social welfare, started later in the day. Roughly 300 revolters, mostly untrained Mischlings and Tlalocs with no combat experience rose up and occupied some of the streets in southeastern Köstritz, but this was quickly put down with everyone involved being summarily executed.
Revolts outside of Köstritz
A handful of revolts did occur outside of Köstritz. None of these were very large, with the largest only numbering about 800 people. The most notable of these was a revolt in Vien and some of the revolts in the western portion of the country. However, as the military was loyal to Eugen, these revolts were quickly put down and their leadership summarily executed. The revolts only lasted about a week after the coup before they were all put down. Anyone who expressed sympathy for the revolts was arrested, and a few more prominent opponents fled Volta for other countries.
Aftermath
In the aftermath of the revolt Eugen assumed absolute power. He rewarded people who had supported his coup with various government positions. A new constitution was drafted that granted him massively expanded powers as well as abolishing Presidential term limits. A referendum was called on the new constitution, in which three options were presented: either accept the proposed constitution, reject it and make a new draft, or reject it and go back to the old constitution. It was recorded that 79% of those that voted had voted in favor of the new constitution, which Eugen used to declare that his new government was legitimate. However, the official tally and free nature of the vote have been called into question both by critics of the time and Voltan historians since then. After this, Eugen had legitimized his absolute power and was free to do as he pleased with the country.
In all elections that came after the coup, the National Party continued to win both a supermajority in the National Congress and Eugen continued to win the Presidency. However, these elections are widely regarded as being unfair at best and fraudulent at worst. Nonetheless, Eugen used this continued electoral victory to boost the legitimacy of his regime, both at home and abroad.
The opposition Federalist Party, Conservative Party, and Liberal Party were allowed to continue existing after the coup. However, they were closely monitored by authorities and were not permitted to threaten Eugen's authority again. In subsequent elections they did not run their own candidates against Eugen, largely due to pressure from Eugen and the National Party. Due to this same pressure they also did not contest most seats in the National Congress. Their presence on the National Congress was severely diminished, with them only ever winning 1/3 of the seats on the National Congress at most, thus preventing them from blocking any legislation supported by Eugen or the National Party.
