Tengarian Civil War
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| Tengarian Civil War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Patriot Militia in the streets of Lenovo. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
Supported by:  West Miersa Foreign Volunteers |
Supported by:  Councilist Amathia Foreign Volunteers | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Dimitri Denov †Simeon Kovachev |
 Vladimir VasilovTodor Stoychev † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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Tengarian National Army: 15,500 Other Patriot forces: 19,000 (estimated) |
Tengarian Republican Army: 33,000 Other Republican forces: 17,000 (estimated) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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5,378 killed in action (estimated) 3,000-4,000 civilians killed inside the Republican zone |
11,865 killed in action (estimated) 2,000–3,000 civilians killed inside the Patriot zone | ||||||
The Tengarian Civil War (Tengarian: Гражданска Война Тенгария) was a civil war in the 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. REWORK THIS SECTION.
From the beginning, the Patriots 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 Patriots 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.
After the terrible showing of Vasilov in 1950 elections, winning the Presidency with only 26.8% of the popular vote, 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, although no evidence has ever proven this. 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 Lenovo, but often tainted by the opinion or understanding of events which had happened, especially based on the political biases of the news sources. The majority 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. In addition, it was increasingly said that the coup had been undertaken as the first step of Kovachev and the Restorationists' plan to destroy the republic, fueling resentment and concern in Republican sympathisers. This event was the final straw for the pro-republican members of the National Army under Stoychev, who began to put in motion their plans for staging a "counter-coup" at the earliest oppurtunity, and soon pro-republican mobs were quick to take to the sreets decrying the "coup".
The Coup Attempt
Kovachev was focused on keeping order of the city of Lenovo for the next eleven days, managing to hold a kind of relative peace. The new government met and made its first priority the restoration of order. However, Republican street gangs soon began harassing army troops in the streets of Lenovo, and other cities had republican crowds and mass demonstrations. To make things worse, Kovachev recieved word of the coup nearing fruition, but by this point it was largely out of control. President Denov repeatedly called for peace and order in no fewer than 14 public addresses, but to no avail. Militias began to arm themsleves, and localized violence occured all over the nation between Tepublican and Loyalist fighters. However, fighting had not officially broken out, and it remained scattered and disjointed. Most wanted the violence to subside, but also assumed that war was coming anyways, and were unsure as to what the result would be. It was commonly expected that the Republicans would begin the fighting, as the loyalists at present had all their strategic objectives besides order.
On the 24th of November, Kovachev recieved word of an insurrection of officers in the city of Drangovo, where several loyalist officers had been executed by republican officers. Kovachev, trusting that Lenovo was able to not fall, left the city in the early morning next day to address the crisis. The insurrection had been a part of the plan of the republicans to draw Kovachev out of the city and to begin the coup attempt. The plan was for republican commanders of the individual units in Lenovo to take several key objectives- the Presidential Mansion, the National Assembly, and the army headquarters in the Imperial palace. They hoped that by bringing down these key locations, they could inflict heavy damage on the loyalist effort by eliminating the government and destroying the army's chief command centre. However, they knew that they did not have the manpower to hold Lenovo, as many of Simeon's most loyal officers were stationed in the city. At the same time, other units would rise up around the country to solidify the gains of the Coup in Lenovo, and cut off strategic centres from the Loyalists.
The first attack occurred around midday at the Presidential Mansion by soldiers who were part of those assigned to protect the mansion during the martial law. They were able to infultrate the building before clearing out the soldiers inside the building, quickly going to sieze the President. A confused firefight erupted as soldiers stationed outside the building heard gunshots from inside. Although outnumbered, the assailants already had the control of the interior, and quickly sought to locate the President. President Denov had been eating a meal with his wife, his son, and three of his grandchildren when shots rang through the building. Knowing that something was afoot, he attempted to immediately his family to a more safe place within the palace. Republican soldiers shot the guards outside and broke through the doors. What happens next is based on the testimony of Denov's 8-year old grandson Mihail, who had ran and hid in a cupboard, and Dimitri Radomev, one of the Republican soldiers and the only one to be taken prisoner. Mihail claims that soon after he heard the soldiers enter into the room through the door, shouts and screams, and gunshots. He remained where he was for several hours afterwards, and could hear cries from the dying members of his family. Radomev reported that when Denov saw the soldiers enter into the room, that he and his son had charged them and attempted to attack them while the women attempted to run off with the children, and opened fire on them in self-defense while some of his comrades attempted to stop the wife before she too resisted. However, within the span of the minute, Denov, his wife and son, as well as his 5-year old grandaughter and 11-year old grandson, were shot and killed. Forensic evidence later gathered at the scene later showed that Denov and his son, likely had attacked before being shot, the grandaughter was shot from behind, and the the grandson had been shielding his sister.
Since the republican soldiers had the exact same uniforms, there was no to distinguish in a tight building what had happened. The soldiers outside the presidential mansion could do nothing but hold the perimeter until they found a way to clearly distinguish. They improvised and tied hastily made blue armbands around their arms before charging into the building, working to take out soldiers who were not wearing them or were not assigned to be in the mansion. During this time, the soldiers took Denov's corpse and hung it over the main balcony of the building with a banner saying "so happens to all tyrants and enemies of the Republic". For the next hours, the loyalist began the long process of rooting out the republicans throughout the building, although after they discovered the body of the president and his family, the loyalist soldiers were informed to take no quarter, and only a handful of republicans survived the counter-assault. The majority of the President's guard and household in the building were killed during the attack as well, and friendly fire was still an issue in the tight corners and corridors. Eventually, however, the Presidential mansion was cleared, and under control of loyalist forces. Word was quickly relayed throughout the city that the Presidential Mansion had been invaded, putting all locations in Lenovo on high alert.
Larger republican forces prepared to attack the National Assembly and Imperial Palace, but were delayed from their noon-starting time due to a variety of mistakes and accidents, meaning that they did not get to their targets until nearly an hour later. As such, the attempts to take the loyalist soldiers at these locations, which had some degree of warning and following hasty preperation, almost immediately broke out into firefights. The members of the Grand Assembly were evacuated to safety as the guards held the entry ways to the National Assembly. Eventually, the Republicans were able to break through the outer defenses, which had not had time to prepare themselves for a full defense of the building. The Republicans overran the building, but found that the Assembly and their aides were already gone, and soon found themselves holed up and besieged in an empty building against government reinforcements. The fighting for the Assembly would take hours, until by sunset the government forces had been able to root out most of the forces who had holed up in the Assembly.
The attack on the Imperial Palace fared even more poorly than the assault on the Assembly. The army headquarters at the palace had heard of the assault on the Presidential Mansion, and had went into full defense mode. The Republican forces also, having expected to slip in and infultrate the Palace, were stopped at a checkpoint, where a firefight began. Trapped in the street, the Republican forces took heavy casualties, and soon found themselves cut off from escape by government reinforcements. The Republican forces, caught between a hammer and an anvil, were wiped out well before reaching the building. Iniside the Palace, several Republican leaning officers who learned about the attempt attempted to stage their own takeover of the headquarters, but were shot by security personel before soon after they attempted to do so. The commanders made a decision to temporarily incarcirate any officer with expected Republican sympathies; as a result, no more security issues threatened headquarters for the duration of the day. With this, two of the three major objectives which the Republicans had aimed for had failed to materialize.
However, word of the Coup attempt had quickly spread throughout the city, inciting both certain pro-Republican units not as a part of the coup attempt and Republican militias to action. Violence broke out in the streets between National Army soldiers and these groups, which were widespread although they were disorganized and had no central leadership. Many of these groups, without coordinated guidance, stormed Churches, preformed lynchings of known or suspected Loyalists, or began to loot and pillage the city. As a response, Loyalist militias also rose up to fight back against the Republicans, creating even more chaos and confusion. Fires broke out in several parts of the city, and many civilians were caught in the crossfire between the opposing sides. The National Army was hard pressed to deal with every situation, although communication and central organization allowed them to dispatch of most of the loosely organized groups throughout the city. Kovachev, learning of the violence in Lenovo, sped back before nightfall to take command of the city. With a centralized command, the Republican forces were hammered on through the night, as they could not match the organization and training of the loyalist forces under Kovachev's command. Many were killed and wounded; by the end of the night the remainder had either fled, been subdued, or surrendered. By early morning most of the fires had been put out and resistance quelled, a few neighborhoods of the city still were under temprorary occupation, but most had been dealt with.
On the morning of the 24th, in coordination with the attacks in Lenovo, Republican forces all began a mass uprising to put the Republican forces at an advantage. The first was at Drangovo, where Republican officers had formed an insurrection and captured the army command in the city of Drangovo, and had purged the Loyalist officers stationed in the city; this had been done the day prior to drag Kovachev from Lenovo towards Drangovo. Drangovo had the strongest concentration of pro-Republican soldiers, and soon the city was under control of the Republicans. The next day cities the commands throughout Ustata, Dostiga, and Khŭlm would and would follow suit, and forces there quickly began the execution and incarceration of prominent Loyalists, soliders and officers with Loyalist sympathies, and also organized public lynch mobs to root out certain members of the community, such as priests and bishops, and to summarily execute them, often for "crimes against the Republic". In the city of Cosmingrad, a militia-led mob overran the local garrison and slaughtered the soldiers before they could mount a proper defense.
Other attempts to stage coups had more mixed results or failed. The only other two successful areas were the cities of Elena and Garna, and only after fierce fighting between Loyalist and Republican forces. However, the Loyalist forces were able to withdraw outside the cities, leaving those two cities as islands. In the cities of Istros and Visnagrad, the Republican forces were soundly defeated by Loyalist forces, which dealt major blows to the Republican cause. Several attempts to secure strategic locations, such as military instillations, transportation centres, were also foiled by Patriot officers who had been assigned to defend them by Kovachev. Word of the coup inspired Republican partisans to take action, as they did in Lenovo, but they were largely unready to sieze major objectives.
Outcome
In the days following the Coup, there was contest over what exactly where each part of the country would stand. Attempted risings throughout the countryside by Republican groups would largely end up unsucessful, due to a combination of lack of popular support in rural areas as well as the reaction of Patriot militias, which rose up to defend communities against Republican takeover. After the first day of major conflict, both sides took time to consilidate their positions and to root out any elements of open rebellion. By the 28th, only Elena, Garna, and the southeastern portion of the country were under control of the officers of the Coup. Almost all of the rest of the country was in control of the Patriot forces. Many of the non-captured former members of the National Assembly, as well as many other representatives from popular and leftist movements from around the country, met in the secure city of Avren on November 28th. There they declared the People's Republic of Tengaria as the legitimate government of Tengaria, and took the characteristics of a Revolutionary republic. In the first meeting of the People's Assembly, they expelled the members who had belonged to conservative parties but were pro-Republican for still being "too reactionary", and some were even lynched after being expelled. Simeon Radez, Denov's Vice President, took head of the country as President, and declared that the "vile rebellion of Godless communists will be put down by all due force", thus marking the beginning of an official interior conflict. Radez named Simeon Kovachev as his successor as head of state in case of an emergency.
For the Republicans, the Coup Attempt was a strategic disaster. What was meant to be a near total siezure of power had turned into a costly bloodbath which saw few of the strategic goals they had sought achieved. The National Assembly was unharmed, along with the Vice President, and Kovachev and his command structure was still fully intact. The government was still in control of Lenovo, Istros and Visnagrad, the three largest cities, almost all of the country's rail and road network, most of the National Army, almost all of the National Army's supplies, artillery, and armor, the entire Navy, and the majority of the Air Force, were all in the hands of the government. Many lives and many of the Republican forces were destroyed, scattered, or had surrendered during the fighting, including most of their units that were within enemy lines. Many of the Republican officers which were inside the ranks of the government forces had been exposed, executed, or incarcerated. Kovachev's careful planning and reorganization of the army in the time prior to the Coup had softened it significantly, leaving most of the rebel officers strongly concentrated in the Southeast.
Word spread rapidly over the country about the events with Lenovo and the attempted coup all over the country. Many moderates, who had been to varying degrees supportive of the Republican movement, were horrified by the conflict which they had brought forward and also the assasination of President Denov. In addition, the expulsion and killing of the conservative Republicans in Avren had convinced many of the more conservative Republicans that the Republican movement would be hostile to them, leading to a further drop in popularity. As a result of these things, the Republican cause began to lose even more respect, leading to more people to support the government, although others also supported the government out of caution because they saw the failure of the coup and realized the inability of the Republicans to win, and judged their lives would be safer if they supported the 'winning side'.
Combatants
Patriots
Republicans
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 Patriot forces and any known Patriot 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 Patriot artillery and military action. These tactics only prolonged a losing war, and the Republican military forces were soundly beaten by the Patriot forces in nearly every single full battle. However, in 1956 Radez was assasinated by a Republican, throwing the Patriot 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.
