Glorious Ninth of March
| Glorious Ninth of March | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Committee of Responsibility and Tolerance | Government of Lord Aemond | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Marquess of Latterly † | Lord Aemond | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
1200 militia |
Parliament Square: | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
27 killed |
11 killed | ||||||
| Total: 38 killed, 88 wounded | |||||||
The 1989 Frankenlisch Coup D'etat was a successful military coup in Vionna-Frankenlisch, often known as the Glorious Ninth of March, which overthrew the reactionary Conservative government of Lord James Aemond and eventually saw the election of Lord Cypran's Imperial government. Led by the Marquess of Latterly, the anti-government Committee of Responsibility and Tolerance stormed Parliament Square and the Civil Service Quarter in Frankenlisch during a parliamentary vote to pass Lord Aemond's Legislative Security Act. After an hour of fighting, the Committee seized their objectives and arrested Lord Aemond and his cabinet and forced him from office. King Edward III failed to denounce the coup before it had achieved its objectives and eventually accepted the result and called an election. In total, 38 people were killed and 88 injured in the course of the coup. Among the dead was Lord Latterly, who led the Committee.
Background
The coup was launched against the Conservative Party government led by Lord James Aemond which had been elected in 1986. The 1986 election had been called to replace the unelected Royalist Government of 1980, a provincial government (initially a military junta) which was responsible for the rebuilding scheme following the War of Restoration. The Conservatives enjoyed a slim majority and their main opposition in Parliament came from the Imperial Party as the left-wing parties were still trying to rebuild themselves after the fall of the DPRVF.
Lord Aemond's government had quickly established itself as a reactionary one. In the post-war economic climate, scaling back of social security was accepted as a necessity and additional restrictions on immigration were basically ignored as a non-issue. However, the Aemond Ministry soon began to gather controversy. The Subversive Architecture Act declared that public buildings constructed by the 1967-80 socialist government were to be counted as "revolutionary propaganda" and ordered the demolition of such structures, including housing developments. Though few buildings were actually destroyed (the Red Star Hotel being the most prominent example), the measure was extremely unpopular among the many who relied on the public housing developments for residence.
They next worried the Imperial Army by passing the Services Integrity Act, which banned racial and sexual minorities from enlisting in the Army - necessitating the disbanding of regiments such as the Royal Prodavan Borderers (made up of Prodavan volunteers and exiles), the King's Loyal New Columbian Rangers (made up of New Columbian natives), and the Imperial Balionic Native Cavalry (made up of natives from Imperial Balion). The act also prohibited non-noble women from becoming officers; though this was rare, the restrictions being placed on the Imperial Army deeply unsettled its commanders and they opposed it. The Act was rejected in its first House of Nobles reading, but was later accepted when a clause was inserted exempting the nobility from its restrictions. Lord Aemond's cabinet also placed significant pressure on their Registered Peers to pass the bill, including threatening Lord Stanfrith with expulsion.
Committee of Responsibility and Tolerance
The Committee of Responsibility and Tolerance was an organisation formed in response to the government's unpopular measures. Mostly consisting of nobles and military officers who had been unsettled by the restrictions placed on the Army and were angry at the destruction of buildings on their lands, the Committee first met at the Equatorial Club in Brumley. As a leader emerged in the form of the Marquess of Latterly, a young nobleman who had commanded the now-disbanded Royal Prodavan Borderers, meetings began to take place at Latterly Manor instead - often disguised as parties. Also supporting the Committee were several politicians and trade unionists who had been prevented by government pressure from forming a new Labour Party.
Prominent members of the Committee included:
- William Havers, 9th Marquess of Latterly - Leader of the Committee
- Richard Kimberly-Wilton, 5th Earl of Breem - Former prime minister, military commander and leader of the Royalist military junta in 1980
- Archibald Dorian-Mersey, 5th Earl of Oxbridge - Military commander and future government minister
- Claudius Cypran, Viscount Cyprania - Military commander and future prime minister
- John Hammond - Left-wing politician and future prime minister
- Reginald Harrison - Former prime minister and left-wing politician
- General Sir Richard Smith - Military commander
- Colonel Charles de Maurier, 7th Margrave of Lwinsk - Military commander and nobleman
- Captain Joe McDonough - Military officer and trade unionist
Further restrictions
Following the State Opening of Parliament in 1988, in which the King had provided no mandate except to continue ensuring stable government, Lord Aemond's cabinet endured a small reshuffle and the reactionary reforms continued. In February, the Armaments Trade Act was passed which restricted the sale of any military equipment to within the Commonwealth, a measure which was greeted by the Imperial Navy and IAS but proved very unpopular with industry leaders and the Foreign Office, not to mention Vionna-Frankenlischian allies who had only just regained access to Imperial-built equipment following the Red Decade. This was quickly followed by the Maritime Domesticity Act which provided additional funding to the Imperial Navy but prohibited the construction of Imperial Navy warships abroad. Such constructions were rare anyway and the measure was received positively by the Imperial Navy.
March saw a rare defeat for the government in the Commons, when a planned redrawing of constituencies (designed to benefit the nationalist parties in Parliament who were often sympathetic to the government) was rejected by concerned Conservative members who thought it would harm their own election chances. Lord Aemond accepted the result of the vote, promising no further attempts to redraw seats. Several of the dissenting MPs were, however, removed from positions of responsibility, such as Ethan Morrow as chair of the Parliamentary Standards Committee.
In May there were further attempts to bring the Imperial Army to heel. The government established Ploughburgh Military Institute, a school for the training of military policemen and members of the Imperial Army Commissary Department, in a town with strong links to the reactionary National Front. The Army Security Act followed at the end of the month. Very nearly defeated by detractors in Parliament, the Act mandated the strengthening of military police and Commissary detachments in Imperial Army divisions, established Military Anti-Subversive Courts to expel outwardly left-wing servicemen from the Army, and banned anyone with a connection to the former Socialist government or armed forces from serving in the army. 112th Field Battery, Royal Artillery, known affectionately as McDonough's Reds, was made up almost entirely of former Vionnan Red Army soldiers and staged a mutiny in protest of this measure. An amnesty was reached, allowing the men of the battery to continue their service, but Captain Joe McDonough was court martialled. McDonough went on to join the Committee. The Conservative members who opposed the bill were severely reprimanded and one, William Slater-Jones was even expelled from the party.
Polling data in mid-1988 was wildly fluid, with every provider reporting entirely different results. The Frankenlisch Times, then enjoying the highest reading figures of any Vionna-Frankenlischian newspaper, reported a significant drop in government support - particularly in urban areas. Partially state-owned, the Times was accused by Lord Aemond and his cabinet of being influenced by disloyal civil servants. This was vehemently denied by both the newspaper and the Civil Service, though a later inquiry found that members of the Civil Service had misled journalists of the Times. The government announced its intention to privatise the Frankenlisch Times in August 1988 but this was blocked by King Edward, who rarely used his veto, and the veto was not overturned. This was done on the basis of security as the Frankenlisch Times was (and remains) responsible for providing morning briefings to government employees. Instead, the government passed the Journalistic Standards Act, making it easier to take legal action against the media, and newspapers in particular. Though this act was amended following the downfall of Aemond's government, parts of it remain in force today alongside the Ethical Media Enforcement Act of 2001. Though it stands as evidence of increasing government control, especially as 80% of legal cases initiated under the act in 1988-89 were on behalf of the government or Conservative MPs, the act was welcomed by a public which had grown sick of increasingly loose standards and outright lies in the media. Lord Aemond's government enjoyed its last increase in popularity in the September 1988 polls before a continuous decline.
1989 and the Legislative Security Act
Further reading: Legislative Security Act of 1989
The rest of 1988 passed relatively smoothly. Four by-elections were contested and two were won by the Conservatives, one by the Imperials, and one by an independent candidate. In November, the first batch of graduates passed out of Ploughburgh Military Institute and the ceremony was protested by former servicemen and boycotted by members of the Imperial General Staff who were scheduled to be in attendance. The Duke of Gestoria, then Chief the IGS, was spared from dismissal by the King's intervention but Major General Sir Hugh Saunders (Provost-Marshal of the Army) and Brigadier General Sir Morris Danby (Constable-Marshal, Hackett Military District) were dismissed from their positions by the Government.
1989 brought fresh worries. The State Opening of Parliament was boycotted by several prominent nobles and the King was forced to dismiss the Marquess of Butchersfield as his equerry when he refused to attend. King Edward expanded on his mandate from the previous year, charging the Government with continuing stable leadership and with improving the standard of education in the rural regions of Eastern Vionna. In a rare piece of criticism, the King also advised his Government to avoid widening the rifts which had already been created between them and the nobility. Anthony St-John, serving as Home Secretary, was removed from the chamber for jeering this statement.