Zydrunas Biržiška
Zydrunas Biržiška | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tautos Vadas of Ruttland | |
| In office 17 November 1929 – 14 April 1934 | |
| Monarch | Elžbieta III |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Leader of National Resurrection | |
| In office 21 October 1920 – 14 April 1938 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Ulijonas Dembskis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 December 1870 Zudovia, Ruttland, Werania |
| Died | 22 July 1948 (aged 77) Saint-Chloé, Chloéterre, Satucin |
| Political party | Young Ruttland Party National Resurrection |
| Spouse | Vida Gaveniene |
| Alma mater | University of Šilokrautė |
Zydrunas Biržiška (14 December 1870 - 22 July 1948, aged 77), sometimes Gallicanised to Live Birgichka, was a Ruttish writer, academic and politician who served as the Tautos Vadas ("Leader of the Nation") of the Liplisqués Government during the Great War, a collborationist puppet government of Gaullica. A functionalist and strong advocate of Ruttish Gaullicanism Biržiška's rule was marked by war crimes against Weranians.
Born a member of the Ruttish aristocracy Biržiška became involved in the Ruttish National Revival during the zenith of the Prachtvolle Epoche in the 1900s. A political philosopher Biržiška disavowed national liberalism instead promoting a form of integral nationalism opposing republican democracy in favour of authoritarian monarchism as the best route to achieve an independent Ruttland. He became part of the conservative wing of the Young Ruttland party opposing the old guard leadership who tended to be more republican and liberal. Biržiška was an adherent to Ruttish Gaullicanism and attempted to Gallicanise the Ruttish language to remove "foreign" Weranian and Marolevic elements.
Following the rise of functionalism in Gaullica Biržiška founded the National Resurrection movement that promoted a fusion of integral nationalism with functionalism promoting a Catholic, ethnically homogenous Ruttland. Biržiška rejected participation in Weranian politics promoting instead a second national revival that would achieve a spiritual reawakening alongside real independence.
At the start of the Great War Biržiška was considered an important intellectual in Ruttish cricles but politically inactive mainly lecturing at the University of Lavelle in Gaullica. However he became close to the Gaullican Interior Minister Pierre-Antoine Baudet and became a tenuous advocate for the Entente with his National Resurrection movement allying with the Brotherhood of the Exodus clubs to promote an independent Ruttland as a key part in any post-war settlement. After Gaullica overran Weranian forces in Ruttland in 1929 Biržiška was invited to take charge of a collaborationist government as supreme leader.
The Liplisqués Government was anti-Weranian and anti-socialist beginning to implement dictatorial policies. Under Biržiška's rule several massacres occurred, most notably the Karijodas massacre which saw 15,000-25,000 Weranians and Amendists massacred by Ruttish and Gaullican forces. His government was marked by authoritarian policies that favoured the Gaullican occupiers and attempts to de-Weranicise Ruttland with Biržiška seeing the conflict as a fight between Gallo-Ruttish and Marolev-Weranic civilisations. Military defeats led to the Liplisqués Government to dissolve in 1934 forcing Biržiška to flee to Satucin where he would remain until his death in hiding.
Biržiška remains one of the most controversial figures in Ruttish history with some seeing him as a tragic hero, others a bloodthirsty tyrant and others a naive puppet of Gaullica.