Tengarian Republic

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Tengarian Republic

Тенгарска Република
Tengarska Republika
Flag of Tengaria
Republican Triband
of Tengaria
Coat of arms
Motto: "Завинаги напред"
Zavinagi Napred
"Forever Forward"
Anthem: Здравей републиката!
Zdraveĭ Republikata!
Hail the Republic!
MediaPlayer.png
CapitalLenovo
Common languagesTengarian
Demonym(s)Tengarian
GovernmentUnitary Presidential Republic
President 
• 1935-1950
Gregori Ervo
• 1955-1956
Dimitri Denov
Head of State 
• 1956-1958
Simeon Kovachev
Minister-President 
• 1935-1938
Danuil Krumov
• 1955-1956
Simeon Radez
LegislatureSenate
State Council
Chamber of Deputies
CurrencyLev
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Empire of Tengaria
Tengaria
Today part ofTengaria

The Tengarian Republic (Tengarian: Тенгарска Република or Tengarska Republika), sometimes referred to as the Tengarian First Republic (Tengarian: Първа Тенгарска Република or Pŭrva Tengarska Republika) was a sovereign state in Western Euclea from 1935 to 1958. It was the successor state to the Empire of Tengaria and was eventually succeeded with a new constitution by the current state of Tengaria after the Tengarian Civil War. It was created in the aftermath of the Great War when Soravia forbade Emperor Dragomir III from returning to the country and forced the provisional government under Regent Simeon Kovachev to adopt a republican form of government. The resulting republic was largely a creation pro-Republican scholars and political figures, many of whom had been involved in the collaborationist Tengarian State, who adopted a new constitution by June 1935 and the Republic became officially in power the following November.

The First Republic was plagued by political instability and economic stagnation and decline for almost all of its existence. Political parties proved unable to gain decisive power, and were forced to result in unstable coalitions. Furthermore, every single government barring the first was a divided government, with the right-wing parties controlling the State Council and the left-wing parties controlling the Chamber of Deputies and the Presidency. The divided legislature ensured that legislation could be stopped by the other house, with neither side having the numbers to override. Tengaria had gone into debt to repair the damages of the Great War, and no government was able to fix the economic problems on account of the partisan divides conclusively. In addition, the Tengarian Army under Simeon Kovachev became a state within a state, and was known for maintaining its neutrality in political disputes, oftentimes against the express wishes of the Presidents, although he was forced out of his position in 1950.

The combined effects of political deadlock and economic downturn, as well as the failure of left-wing Presidents to provide economic reform, led to the increase of public resentment and protests against the Republic. This culminated in the elections of 1955, which saw the Dimitri Denov and anti-republican and pro-monarchist All-Solarian Union being elected to office with the first majority government in fifteen years. However, the election was claimed to be illegitimate by members of the left-wing parties in the incumbent government, including President Vladimir Vasilov, who believed that the Patriots were enemies of the Republic and thus ought to be barred from holding office. Vasilov had members of the the National Army bar the doors of the Senate from the newly elected members of the Union and other right-leaning parties who attempted to get in. When this happened, the newly elected members traveled instead to Saint Vasil's Cathedral in Lenovo, where they began to have a new session of the Senate. Vasilov took this move as a "conspiracy against the republic" and arrested them, while also firing on a crowd of Patriots in front of the Presidential Mansion.

Vasilov's self-coup undermined the fragile status of the republic, and triggered the Tengarian Civil War. As those sympathetic to the patriot cause rebelled against Vasilov's seizing of power across the country, lead by Simeon Kovachev. Vasilov's supporters saw themselves as "Republicans", and said they were protecting the Republic, while the Patriots viewed the Vasilov government as illegitimate. The Republicans were unable to find success during the war, leading to a Patriot victory in less than a year. Kovachev, who had taken over as head of state after Denov's assassination, authored a new constitution, creating the state of Tengaria in March of 1958.

The Tengarian Republic has a complex legacy. In Tengaria, the Republic is almost universally viewed as a failure, and is used by the propaganda of the Kovachev regime to see itself as a solution to the problems which the Republic faced. Many descendants of political exiles in the aftermath of the civil war view it as flawed but see it as better than the current state, and that it was legitimately represented by the Republicans during the civil war. Anti-Kovachev activists still adopt the name "Republican" to this day. Outside of Tengaria, the general scholarly consensus is that the Republic was politically and economically a failed state, but that it was at least democratic, and that the end of the Tengarian Republic during the civil war marked the end of democracy in Tengaria.