If you're referring the France info-chapter map, that's actually dated and it was a hypothetical map, anyway. This is what Europe should look like as of 1907 (with the exception of Crete that belongs entirely to Romania)
Not at the moment.
We Require no Protection - A Romania TL
- Thread starter Richthofen
- Start date
If you're referring the France info-chapter map, that's actually dated and it was a hypothetical map, anyway. This is what Europe should look like as of 1907 (with the exception of Crete that belongs entirely to Romania)
Not at the moment.
Thoughts on the latest chapter/events? A favourite in the election to come?
I'd like to see the Conservatives nab a win. War should come soon and Romania would need to be as prepared as possible for it, and that's not something that a Socialist government would allow for.
Thoughts on the latest chapter/events? A favourite in the election to come?
This system of electoral points is very interesting. Though Marghiloman still has a huge popularity with the Conservative base, I believe that Popovici's system would allow him at least a narrow victory. However, when faced with a recovered Ionel Brătianu, with a wide appeal among Socialists, Republicans and Independents and with his own Anti-Semitism, 1908 looks like a Liberal year.
TTL Ionel Brătianu is not as anti-Semitic as his OTL counterpart, and also considerably less so than his father (OTL and TTL being largely the same in this regard). His friendships within the Socialist Party (including his very warm relation with Coronescu) have strongly moderated his views on the issue. The issue of anti-Semitism has also been inflated by the Nationalists in the Conservative Party during the 1900s, but will see a strong decline during the next years due to what happened in Russia and due to the influx of refugees. Being the cunning politician that he is, Ionel Brătianu will probably not ride that dangerous wave.
Successive administrations have also refrained from gutting President Cuza's Electoral Investigations Bureau (especially considering the more anti-Semitic presidents, such as Kogălniceanu or Brătianu), which has created the precedent that voting rights are non-negotiable and a culture of integration and acceptance for members of Roma and Jewish communities. That is not to say that there is no racism or discrimination, though.
Some maps:
Political map of the world, 1910 (a bit low-effort, but once I have enough time to work on a proper one, it will be done):
Political map of the world, 1910 (a bit low-effort, but once I have enough time to work on a proper one, it will be done):
Info-chapter XI - Bucharest (19th Century)
INFO-CHAPTER XI
BUCHAREST (19TH CENTURY)
BUCHAREST (19TH CENTURY)
Before the Second Revolution
Bucharest (also known as the City of Joy), the capital of Wallachia during this time, had been the seat of Princely power in the two Principalities since the early reigns of the Pătrașcu princes. The city had been growing steadily for the past century, reaching a population of 190 000 residents in 1823. After the end of the First Revolution, the city experienced a small decline in population in part due to migration to the Americas by disillusioned middle class, but it started growing once more starting 1828. The reinstated Boyar Governments did not start a policy of repression as it was believed earlier, but the city remained under strict control by the Princely camarilla, with no mayor being appointed until the start of the Second Revolution. Nevertheless, the city continued to be modernized – roads were getting paved, the water fountain complex was enlarged to include the new districts that the city was expanded to after 1825 and a project of channeling the Dâmbovița River was begun after another flooding took place in 1829. In 1830, the city’s highlights were the Palace at Curtea Nouă (eng. New Court), the seat of the Prince, built in the 18th century in order to replace the old Palace used by the Pătrașcu Dynasty that had fallen into ruin after a massive earthquake in 1760; the second Princely Palace at Mogoșoaia, also known as the Summer Castle; the Nuci Dungeon Complex, a political prison built around the time of the start of the Phanariote Era; the Bucharest Town Hall, the administrative seat of the city. All of these landmarks had been built in a neo-Byzantine style, although after the First Revolution, French and German architects were hired for the major urbanistic projects in the capital. This meant that by the time of the Second Revolution the city had a mixed Western-Oriental look, with the older more-conservative style of the previous century being blended with the more functional neo-Classical look of the West. The tendency to adopt a more Western look had started after the First Revolution, as a way for the Boyar Regimes to move away from their Ottoman source of power and create a more local, popular monarchy since it was becoming rather clear that the Porte was entering its phase of steady decline. This process has been called the “removal of the country’s Constantinopolitan garment” and manifested itself in all areas of city life – cultural, political and ideological. Soon after other major cities in the Principalities adopted the same outlook, including the Moldavian capital, Iași. Unlike before, French and English had become the main foreign languages to be heard on the streets of Bucharest, with the previously popular Greek being relegated to a fourth spot, behind even German. Alexandru II was the first prince to wear Western military attire while the boyars also renounced their kalpaks and other distinctly Oriental attire.
The inter-revolutionary Bucharest (1824-1843)
Direct rule under the President of Romania
On 11 September 1843, the Small Government decreed that Bucharest was to become the country’s capital city. The administration of the city was to be executed by a Provisional Council that was directly named by the Triarchy. As a political compromise between the radicals and the moderates the six-member council would be formed by an equal number of members from both organizations – C. A. Rosetti, Dimitrie Brătianu, Ion Ghica (Radicals) and Augustin Trifan, Nicolae Golescu, Constantin Bosianu (Moderates). The Provisional Council was only initially tasked with day-to-day administration of the city, but it soon received even more powers from the Small Government – it received the task of preparing the Palace at Curtea Nouă for its eventual takeover by the Members of Parliament as the provisional meeting place of the Parliament that was to be elected soon after the Constitution was adopted. At the same time, the councilors had to make preparations for the building of the new presidential and parliamentary palaces. The provisional status of the Council did not last long as the republic was soon proclaimed and the newly elected President Magheru decided to keep the city under executive authority for the time being. The Council was invested with full powers to act as governors of the city in the Administration’s name. The real power behind the Council was to become Nicolae Golescu, who would become the de facto Mayor of Bucharest, although that position would not be created until later. The Council reported directly to the Administration, Vice President Ștefan Golescu being the direct liaison to the presidency. Administration of the city stagnated for a while during this time compared to the previous era due to major disagreements between the councillors themselves, some of whom rejected President Magheru’s plan to keep the city under his thumb, while others disagreed on how the development of the city should be planned. Through his connection with the Administration, Nicolae Golescu managed to easily silence the more radical voices of the Council (Rosetti and Ghica), both of whom resigned from their positions in 1846 and were replaced by more obedient members – Conservative Apostol Arsache was selected in order to give the impression of more political diversity. Arsache generally refrained from mounting any opposition inside the Council and remained rather obedient to both Golescu and the administration.
At the end of 1846, British architect Joseph Paxton was invited to Bucharest to design the presidential palace on the Spirii Hill, as well as several other government buildings (including the Bucharest Town Hall). After disagreements with the Council and due to the fact that the city’s administration was taking too long to start the project, Parliament voted to take the reins on the building of its own meeting place but conflicts soon arose in regards to that as well. Golescu wanted Parliament to be seated in the eastern side of the city, while parliamentary establishment wanted the building close to the presidential palace, in order for easier communication between the two institutions. As the conflict deepened, Golescu petitioned the administration to strike down Parliament’s act as unconstitutional, but the Magheru Administration remained non-compliant in regards to the issue arguing that the executive was much too busy with the war effort to arbitrate between such petty conflicts. The conflict put its mark on the city not only in terms of the conflict between Romania’s nascent institutions, but in terms of the city’s architectural design as well. The Presidential Palace on the Hill was designed by Paxton in a Neo-Renaissance style and at President Magheru’s request was designed to look “hopeful and bright”. With the same “blueprint” other government buildings around the edifice, were also built to reflect the hopefulness of the Second Revolution. The Parliamentary Palace, on the other hand was designed by French architect Michel Sanjouand with a more sober look in Neoclassical style. These two architectural styles would birth the “Bucharester rivalry” a concept that reflected the capital’s mixed Western look, with influences from on in one half of the city, and influences of the other in the other half.
Parliament of Romania (back; pictured in 1885)
Parliament of Romania (neo-Classical; front; pictured in 2011). The building was expanded and enlarged three times since its creation.
Epureanu Era
Golescu was appointed Senator after a vacancy in the Upper Chamber in 1850 and the council remained headless for a little while. Costache Epureanu was nominated to replace him soon after and it was at his request that the Administration finally decided to give the city a democratic leadership. The office of Mayor of Bucharest was created by decree during the same year, but President Magheru decided that the Council will remain in place and share its power with the Mayor. This was a way to conserve the Administration’s influence in the city’s affairs and ensure that the capital was always in the president’s grasp. An election for the position was held later and the only candidate, moderate liberal Vasile Iacobescu became the first Mayor of Bucharest. Politically weak, Iacobescu was nothing more than a political appointment dictated to the party by the president, who preferred to not have a difficult situation in the capital during the last years of his presidency. Epureanu exercised real administrative power during this time and the president’s council in the city remained more powerful than the Mayor. This system remained in place until 1852 when the new configuration of power in the executive meant things had to change. Epureanu himself ran for mayor in 1852 and emerged as the victor in an election in which he, once again, had no competitor. A conservative liberal, Epureanu was forcing the hand of the radical wing of the party that was now in control of both the executive, as well as the Assembly. Mayor Epureanu was the one that strengthened the office and wrestled away some of the power the Executive had over the city through its Council. President Bălcescu, while not necessarily fond of Epureanu’s ideology or policies, welcomed the dispersion of power and sought to displace the Council and give more power to the city’s elected representative. With his power thoroughly consolidated, Mayor Epureanu began making plans for the further development of the city. Epureanu’s approach was one of direct planning and expansion and his planned enlargement of the city was to be more than 70% of the capital’s then size. It is reported that the mayor famously drew a circle around the city and said that from then on, the city will “start there and end there”. Epureanu’s tenure saw the first major expansion of the city’s roads, and it is during this time that the capital was looking more and more like a European capital.
Manolache Costache Epureanu, Mayor of Bucharest (1852-1860), later Vice President and President of Romania
The administration of Bucharest executed several orders from the Crețulescu Administration, including the start on the projects for schools, high schools and national colleges that would form the Crețulescu Chain. The entirety of the Bucharester educational complex started by President Crețulescu was completed in 1865. The death of President Bălcescu also meant that the project of building a cemetery for high officials was spearheaded. What would be popularly named the Bellu Cemetery (officially renamed so in 1902) started construction in 1855 and was completed in 1859. President Bălcescu was reinterred there and a section of the cemetery was made especially for dead presidents. The Alley of the Presidents (rom. Aleea Președinților) became a subject of jokes among presidents, since each of their resting place after 1870 was required to be made ready during the three months since their election until their entry in office. President Kogălniceanu is remembered to have famously said after his election in March 1880: “I’ve not even been sworn into office and they’ve already dug my grave”.
The Palace on the Hill was completed during the late days of Epureanu’s first term, while the Parliamentary Palace was finished in 1858 together with the Triumphal Arch. The sanitation of the city was greatly improved as the fountain-complex was enlarged once more and several hospitals were built in and around the city. The industrialization that had slowly begun before the Second Revolution took off spectacularly at the start of the 1850s with small arms factories popping up on the outskirts of the city, as well as other light industries. The first steel mill of Bucharest was opened in 1859 and an artillery factory followed suit in 1860 all under the umbrella of Sureanu Arms and the Romanian Government. A good friend of Mayor Epureanu, Valeriu Sureanu never forgot the mayor’s help in establishing his Arms Empire and it was his support that was crucial in Epureanu becoming the vice-presidential nominee for the 1872 presidential election.
The Palace on the Hill (neo-Renaissance), official residence of the President of Romania (pictured in 2011)
Interior Yard of the Palace on the Hill (President Magheru decided on a Western Castle look that would look princely, but with warm colours to symbolize the victory of the Revolution)
Câmpineanu reforms
The city remained in its Epureanu Era boundaries for a while and its development and growth was directed at filling that space. The Council and the Mayor remained generally at odds with one another and it soon became rather clear that the administration of the city could not go on like that. President Catargiu disestablished the body in 1870 and created the office of Prefect of Bucharest to serve only as a liaison between the local administration of the city and the administration, as was the case with other cities and towns all throughout the country. Dimitrie Brătianu returned to the Assembly in 1864 and was replaced by Petre Aurelian. The city remained firmly in the grasp of the liberals but elections started becoming competitive since 1872, with various conservative candidates coming two to three points close to claiming the administration of the Capital. A series of administrative reforms were brought forward by Ion I. Câmpineanu. Elected in 1872 with 55% of the vote, Câmpineanu made the first district separation of the city and worked towards making the city less disjointed. For this, the philosophy of systematic building was abandoned in favour of a more organic development of the city. New streets were built on the outskirts of the city to connect the Epureanu Ring with the Old City as well as with other major roads of the country. The city’s expansion was thus made to start organically. During the first year of his term, Câmpineanu, with the bi-partisan support of the Carp Administration secured a bill for the creation of a democratic local council which was passed by Parliament with near unanimous support. Members of the new council were elected in the summer of the same year.
The White-and-Blue House (rom. Casa Alb-Albastră), the official residence of the Vice President of Romania
Câmpineanu’s tenure saw the start of the project to build the Romanian Athenaeum. Designed by Albert Galleron, the edifice was part of the neo-classical face of Bucharest. A rather large part of the funding of the project came from individual citizen donations throughout the 1870s and 1880s and the slogan of the campaign: “Donați un leu pentru Ateneu!” (eng. Donate one leu for the Ateneu!) is still remembered and has become a sort of Bucharester saying.
Robescu Era
In 1881, Câmpineanu was nominated to lead the Romanian Central Bank and the local council decided that a snap election should not be held with the city’s administration being executed by the council through majority vote until the scheduled election in 1884. The decision was challenged in the courts by the Conservative Party and by Conservative members of the council who opposed the measure, but further delays and postponements of a decision had made it moot by late 1883. A member of the council and of the liberal organization in the city, Constantin Robescu was elected Mayor of Bucharest in 1884 with little over 50% of the vote, the smallest margin in an election for Mayor of Bucharest. Robescu’s 20-year tenure is considered the Golden Age of Bucharest – streets were widened and paved completely, even minor ones, the water supply network was greatly expanded and funds were directed towards the eradication of the slums that had become prevalent in the Epureanu Ring, places where crime and poverty had become the norm. Unemployment fell down dramatically as the city’s poor were employed to carry out the large number of public works projects that were started. The Dâmbovița River was massively channeled during the 1880s decade and the catastrophic and endemic floods that had been plaguing the capital up until then were all but eradicated. The sanitization of lakes was also begun in 1886 and by the 1890s public health had become one of the highest in the country. Gas lamps were used to illuminate the city starting 1886 and electric trams were purchased starting 1889 giving Bucharest its widely known “Deloreanu look”. The Athenaeum was completed in 1888 and in order to balance out the growth of neo-classical architectural edifices, Mayor Robescu employed architects of the Neo-Renaissance style to build the Palace of Justice, initially for the purpose of serving as the Justice Minister’s residence, but was given to serve as the Constitutional Court’s meeting place. The Parliament building was greatly expanded to account for the expanded legislative that now numbered three times more MPs than at the institution’s creation. Robescu was re-elected for five consecutive terms, all of which were won in landslides thus maintaining the capital in the PNL’s grasp for another generation.
The Justice Palace (pictured in 1909; neo-Renaissance)
Drawing of the Athenaeum created for the leaflets that advertised the public campaign fund for the construction of the edifice (1880)
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Chapter LVII
CHAPTER LVII
It had become a common occurrence during the last few presidential terms to have multiple crises looming over at the end of a term. Back during President Brătianu’s tenure there was the Egyptian Affair and the Red Uprising that troubled the end of both of his terms, for President Maiorescu there was the Savoy-Aosta Affair and now there was the entire Potemkin situation as well as the refugee crisis on the eastern border. More so, it seemed there was a difficult situation unfolding in Romanian East Africa as well. While the Romanian Colonial Government of the region had managed to secure several key victories over the monarchs of the horn, the three polities still functioned rather autonomously.
The Majerteeni and Warsangali realms were both in a situation of near civil war due to the conflicts between several clans and tribes and their leaders. The two sultans, Gerad Ali and Yusuf Kenadid had died during the late 1890s and early 1900s, and were succeeded by their sons, both of whom were completely unable to command the support of their vassals. There was also the growing threat of the Dervish Movement, a rebel organization that sought to remove Romanian colonial rule from the Horn. The Dervish, a proto-national movement of the Somali, were also opposed to the rule of the Sultans, whom they believed to be corrupt and weak, but they believed the framework of the clans and tribes should be maintained. Furthermore, they generally had the support of influential tribal families on most of the Somali coast and proved rather adept at harassing the Romanian authorities in the Horn through guerilla warfare. Governor Lahovari, troubled by the issue, sought help from Bucharest numerous times, but the Maiorescu Administration was rarely able to answer the calls from the colonies, generally being involved with pressing issues at home.
Nevertheless, the president decided that a visit to the colonies was long overdue but the sultanates on the coast were the least of his concerns – he believed that if the situation would become dire there would be little in the way of the rather sizeable Romanian Colonial Army to crushing the untrained and poorly armed rebels, rather his first priority would be a discussion with Emperor Menelik, the leader of the Ethiopian realm that had grown stronger and more prosperous than ever during the last decade, but whose political elite was still decidedly anti-Romanian. Surely, it would have also been rather insulting to the emperor, who was now also forced to only use the title of monarch, to not be the first to be visited by the president, and Maiorescu was tactful enough to understand that while Ethiopia was firmly in the Romanian colonial sphere, it was still capable enough to mount a strong opposition to Romania’s colonial ambitions if relations soured.
Menelik had achieved a great deal of centralization in his realm, the power of the Ethiopian clans had been reduced significantly due to the strong enforcement of the ban on slavery and this proved a good opportunity for the monarch to strangle the little opposition there was against his rule in its cradle. The political elite that coagulated around him, together with Menelik himself, remained rather cautious of their Romanian overlords. They tried to stop as much as they could the interlinking of Ethiopia’s weak economy with Romania’s large one as well as the continued flow of Romanian colonists in the region. Though a formidable opponent, Menelik was not without weaknesses – he had no male successors and even those most loyal to him in the Ethiopian political circles were very reluctant to support his daughter, Princess Zewditu. Nevertheless, the other option was to allow Romania to assume full colonial control of the region, since it was rather clear that at Menelik’s death if the clans decided to resume a political or otherwise war for power that the Romanians would step in.
But things had not yet reached that point. President Maiorescu sailed to REA just to have his first discussion with the monarch, and Menelik knew he had to keep appearances up. A cunning man, Menelik prepared a large extravagant feast for receiving the president, but he stood high on his throne when Maiorescu entered the room, always looking from above. This was initially perceived as confrontational by the ARI guards that accompanied the president, but Maiorescu gave them the signal to back away.
President Maiorescu had read all the intel on the emperor that was given to him prior and prepared himself for any possible surprise. He knew that Menelik was trying to show that he still had authority and he knew that the monarch would never allow himself to look weak in front of what was, in the eyes of his aristocracy, a commoner. The president bowed shortly in front of Menelik’s throne before speaking in a soft but commanding tone, presenting himself in front of the court. The discussion was less stern however, Menelik, while cunning and strategic in his employment of words, was also a very curious and interested in learning every new little thing. President Maiorescu held the monarch in high regards after their meeting and later wrote in his memoirs, years later after Menelik had died, that “he was as curious as a cat and as cunning as a fox, yet he never gave me the impression that he was ill-natured. In fact, he seemed to only ever work to ensure the best for his nation and for his people, unlike so many of the politicians here, at home”.
Menelik had made good impressions before as well, Governor Lahovari praised him for his friendliness and overall pleasant disposition – “he knows how to keep his men in line, but he’s never arrogant or petty”. The contents of the president’s private discussion with Menelik remained confidential for a long time, but it is widely believed that the monarch tried to negotiate Romanian support for Princess Zewditu after Menelik’s death, although many dispute this fact. President Maiorescu later wrote that “the late Emperor and I only ever discussed the modernization of Ethiopian bureaucracy and the betterment of her government”, which made many believe that Menelik managed to get Maiorescu to agree on Abyssinia breaking away from the REA to become a full Romanian ally in the Horn.
Menelik II, Monarch of Abyssinia (1897*-1914)
It was the Romanian Orthodox Church, however, that was trying to make its own mark on the colonies. Initially building an organization in the colonies so that it could provide religious assistance to the Romanian colonists arriving in the region, the Church soon became involved in the initial power struggles of Abyssinia. While the Ethiopians were mostly Christian themselves, they adhered to a non-Chalcedonian branch of Christianity and were, institutionally, under the Coptic Church with its seat in Alexandria. The Romanian Church was looking to change that and bring the Ethiopian Church in a full communion with itself, something that was very risky politically. But the Romanian Church did not only start its maneuvering in Abyssinia.
The Coast Sultanates were also infiltrated and Romanian prelates soon began a campaign of conversion of the Somali populace, mainly of Muslim faith. The former slaves were the first targeted demographic for the Church, but other tribes soon followed suit when they were promised more economic opportunities as well as political assistance against the governments of the Sultanates. This only helped raise the tensions between segments of the Somali population, as some members of it grew even more ardently Muslim and opposed to both the REA and the Sultans themselves, while the newly-converted Christians aligned themselves with the Romanian Church and Governorate.
In Abyssinia, Menelik intervened on behalf of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and a three-way agreement was achieved in which REA and the Ethiopian Monarchy would recognize the Romanian Church as an official religious institution in the colonies, but the Romanian Church had to stop its attempts to bring the EOC under its heel. In exchange, it was given the right to build churches and cathedrals in Abyssinia and organize other religious events for its faithful. The Maiorescu Administration remained passive in regards to this but Governor Lahovari was instructed to not allow the situation in the Sultanates to deteriorate into civil war and if push came to shove to use article 5 of the Romanian East Africa Fundamental Act which prescribed that any political structure inside the colonial government or devolved under it would be guaranteed a republican and democratic form of government, an article devised especially for the future takeover of the Horn statelets.
Back at home, Vice President Marghiloman was given a freer schedule in order to be able to conduct his presidential campaign that was now seeing a steep loss of momentum after Speaker Popovici managed to overwhelmingly secure Transylvania. The next two contests, in the West, were also places were Marghiloman was the clear underdog and would require a miracle to win. It was rather clear that Popovici’s strategy of sweeping the early contests of the West gave him a strong lead nationally as well, as his campaign was now more prominent than ever after winning by such a strong margin. Areas where he previously struggled, especially in Wallachia were now warming up to him, even though the Conservative electorate was dwindling even in traditionally Conservative seats such as Middle Wallachia.
As the early September contests ended, Popovici once more emerged the victor, winning both the Western Plains and Crișana/Maramureș, both with over 60% of the vote. The last easy contest for the Speaker, Banat was going to give him a large enough momentum to win the grand prize and his only road to the nomination – Western Moldavia or at least so he believed. With 0 electoral points to his name and three crushing defeats, Vice President Marghiloman decided it was time to step up the game as Moldavian and even Wallachian local organizations seemed to lose faith in his ability to win the nomination, with some of them even going as far as aligning with Popovici. A defeat in Banat, followed by a narrow win in Oltenia was unacceptable for the Marghiloman campaign and it would surely spell the loss of Western Moldavia. Republicans were the silver bullet that Marghiloman decided to use – just prior to the Banat contest, the Vice President secured an alliance with the Republicans.
Alexandru Mocioni would run as Marghiloman’s running mate if the latter won the Conservative nomination. Republican support or endorsement of a Popovici nomination was also out of the question, as Republicans had always been highly critical of the Nationalist faction and it was their participation in the Maiorescu Government that prevented a Republican-Conservative coalition during the President’s second term. The announced coalition radically changed the rules of the game, and not only in regards to the race for the Conservative nomination. Liberals were now more alerted than ever to the prospects of a third Conservative term at the Hill and went on to covertly support Popovici themselves, hoping the Republicans would return as wayward sons back to the PNL as soon as the Vice President was defeated in the Conservative primary. Ionel Brătianu was also a collateral victim of the Conservative-Republican deal. Trying to take control of the PNL once more, Brătianu’s main advantage over the Popescu-Coandă-Robescu faction was that unlike the latter, he was still capable of bringing the Republicans in a PNL coalition. Now that this advantage had disappeared over night, Brătianu saw his chances threatened.
Thus, by bringing the Republicans into the Conservative fold, Vice President Marghiloman managed to turn the tides – local organizations of the party were now confident that a Marghiloman nomination could carry the election with ease, given how fragmented the liberals were themselves, while Popovici’s campaign struggled to maintain its momentum. The win in Banat, he hoped, would keep his engines going into Oltenia where he expected Marghiloman to win, but it had to be as narrow as humanly possible, in order to ensure that Western Moldavia was winnable. A win there would give him exactly 236 electoral points and the nomination. But this plan was turned on its head on 12 September, when the Vice President managed a surprise win in Banat with 51% of the vote. A win was still possible for Speaker Popovici, but it was now becoming increasingly harder to surmount both the loss of steam and the essential 24 electoral votes a victory would have provided.
A win in Oltenia was now crucial for Popovici as there was little hope of winning Eastern Moldavia and Timoc and Dobrogea, both trending towards the Nationalists, could not provide enough electoral votes for him to pass the threshold. Now, the strategy had to be different – the Speaker went on to attack the Republicans and campaign on the idea that a future Marghiloman Administration would be much too tainted by the interests of the very socially progressive Republicans to be actually able to govern on a Conservative platform. The Vice President’s ability to win an election was also attacked, with Popovici claiming that while Liberals had been, up until now, the weaker major party, having to ally with Republicans and Socialists to win election, the Conservatives were always capable of winning elections by themselves, which went to show just how weak the Marghiloman candidacy was that he had to rely on “men who call themselves socially progressive” in order to win the nomination of the Conservative Party, let alone the presidency. Marghiloman’s response remained etched in the history of the party and into the party platform itself afterwards – “This party is not reactionary, Mr. Popovici!”, clearly making the case that the Conservative Party was heading to wards its own ideological reform, following those of Coronescu’s PS and the growing social-liberal wing of the PNL.
The end of the September contests shattered any hope the Popovici campaign was still clinging to. Marghiloman won Oltenia by 55%. With a margin high enough to prove that the favourite had shifted, Popovici lost the confidence he had so carefully built in Moldavia. Nevertheless, by winning Timoc, something of a consolation prize, and due to still being ahead in the electoral point count (107-74), the Speaker remained in the competition, hoping until the very end for a miracle that would bounce his campaign back. A miracle that would never come – Vice President Marghiloman handily won the rest of the contests. A defeated Popovici later endorsed Marghiloman, maintaining that the party had to be united for the election, but privately hoping that he could keep his seat at the leadership of the Assembly after 1908. Other Popovici-aligned Nationalists were not as happy with the outcome of the primary and refused to back the Conservative nominee, some even threatening with breaking off and forming a new party.
“Naționaliștii latră tare, dar fiți fără de grijă, nu mușcă!”*
Vice President Alexandru Marghiloman (December 1907)
Outcome of the Conservative Party presidential primary (1907)
Vice President Alexandru Marghiloman - 363 electoral points
Speaker Aurel Popovici - 107 electoral points
Marghiloman shrugged off the threats, implying that the Nationalists could not survive politically outside the Conservative Party and also that their outward viciousness in terms of anti-Semitism and bellicosity in foreign policy were simply buzzwords. The Marghiloman nomination did upset the balance of power, surprisingly, in the opposing party. Brătianu now had few ideas on how to conduct his battle for the leadership of the party and potentially the Liberal nomination, now coveted by both Robescu and Coandă. It wasn’t long before he realized that, internally, he had to make Robescu and Coandă split their faction by playing them off one against the other, while outwardly it was necessary to secure the support of a very valuable potential ally, much more valuable than the Republicans ever were and one that could offset their loss and bring even more – Coronescu and his socialists.
*"The Nationalists bark loudly but fear not, they don't bite!"
* Disputed, sources also count his reign from 1902, when the final hostilities of the Abyssinian Civil War ended
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Sorry for the very late update. As always, comments, thoughts and ideas are welcome.
Nice update!
One thing I wonder about, unrelated to this chapter, is what life in the now-Romanian Western Plain is like. Does a city like Debrecen, now under Romanian rule, receive an influx of immigrants from Wallachia/Moldavia or is the mostly homogeneous pre-annexation Hungarian population kept intact?
One thing I wonder about, unrelated to this chapter, is what life in the now-Romanian Western Plain is like. Does a city like Debrecen, now under Romanian rule, receive an influx of immigrants from Wallachia/Moldavia or is the mostly homogeneous pre-annexation Hungarian population kept intact?
Ever since the annexation there have been governmental programs for settling Romanians in the Plain. The first such act was enacted by President Catargiu and is largely a duplicate of then Vice President Kogălniceanu's earlier act for Dobrogea. Romanians who elect to move to the Plain (only from Wallachia/Moldavia) receive tax exemptions during the first few years if they open businesses and other such measures to help Romanians become dominant economically in the region. There is some information on this in the chapters of the Catargiu presidency. The settlement plan has not been hugely succesful, but Romanians are now a significant minority in the Plain (around 20%), but this was also a consequence of a large number of Magyars moving to Hungary proper after the annexation. An overwhelming majority of those remaining also wish for a return of the area to Hungary. Politically, they are weak inside the Parliament as well, due to general reluctance from even Socialists to run Magyar candidates, but their numbers have grown with later legislatures.
Large cities like Debrecen have been hit hard by the Maiorescu Administration's strong Romanianization policies. Social peace will possibly be disrupted on the short term by these measures, but things haven't been very smooth either - there is still an informal segregation between Romanian and Magyar communities and intermarriage rates are much lower in the Plain than in Transylvania for example. There are also Romanian Magyars who appreciate Romanian democracy (as opposed to the very conflicted nature of Hungary's regime) and have realized that even though there are flaws in it, the system can be perfected. They have resigned to making Romania their home and will form the backbone of the new Minority Progressive Movement that will take shape in the future, but that is a story for future updates. I have plans for some info chapters on Governorate Transylvania and some other important cities other than Bucharest (Debrecen too), but I'll have to see how I juggle these updates in order to keep the story going as well.
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Governorate Trsnsylvania? After the Union of 1868 hasn't the Romanian Republic remained an unitary state or do you refer to the time when the Western Plains and the Székély Land were unorganized territories?
Governorate Transylvania refers to the period of time when Transylvania was jointly ruled by the Habsburg Empire and Romania (1850-1868).
Chapter LVIII
CHAPTER LVIII
There were few promises one could make to Adrian Coronescu in order to convince him to grant his support in what everyone believed to be a very difficult fight for the Liberals. Not only was the man little interested in underhanded trades and power plays but he was also the leader of a political party that had been constantly and consistently put under an institutional embargo by the Bucharest political establishment. Whatever high regard he held Ionel Brătianu in, and he did, he knew that there was no way he could make the kind of promise that the Liberals were expecting. “The party will never accept this” was the answer former Speaker Brătianu had to deliver to his political allies in the PNL and this meant that he had to fight for the nomination. Unlike his father, he was not going to be coronated and there was a rather considerable chance that he’d also fail. Added to this fact was also the one that no other liberal politician survived a failed presidential run. Brătianu now had to tread carefully, as his opponents inside the party were determined to not waste their chance to bury him once and for all. On the other hand, the fact the 1907 had passed and the PNL did not yet have a nominee was becoming troubling for both major contenders for the Liberal nomination. The whole power game that had been played inside the Conservative Party between Vice President Marghiloman and Speaker Popovici had given the Conservative nominee a rather large advantage in the campaign. The vice president had already toured the entire country, had visited his centres of power and ensured that his most loyal voters were charged and ready to vote. Having remained with the old primary system, the Liberals were now seeing themselves thoroughly marginalized, both due to the late primary but also due to the fact that there was really no clear favourite in sight. Playing Coandă and Robescu against each other was not really possible either, Brătianu had realized, as they didn’t really compete on the same specific subset of Liberal sympathizers. Instead, both had the potential to steal important votes from him. The local organizations were also not particularly ready to hand the party back to another Brătianu after receiving a semblance of independence from the Yellow Fox leadership.
As the situation continued to idle and the with each passing day it seemed like the Conservatives were becoming stronger, it was time for Ionel Brătianu to make a decision: launch a full-scale war against his party opponents or attempt to strike a deal. Robescu soon announced that he would not pursue the nomination for that year and the he fully supported a Coandă candidacy. All attempts by the Brătianu faction to strike a deal in their favour failed when the Yellow Foxes realized that Brătianu could not bring the Socialists to the table. Politicking had never been the former speaker’s weak spot, however, and he decided to take the choice that had been in front of him the entire time – the win-win situation. By endorsing Coandă himself, he would mend the schism in the party and allow the Brătianu faction to remain on equal footing with the Foxes. At the same time, by supporting Coandă he could definitely make his way into the administration and maneuver the entire government from inside, to suit his needs. If Coandă lost, there was also an important chance to seize the leadership once more, since by then the Yellow Foxes would have been forced to relinquish some of their hard-earned power. To Coandă’s surprise, Brătianu went as far as accept the vice-presidential spot. In fact, it was the easiest way to make his way into a position of relative authority inside the future administration and carefully craft his ascent to power if needed or simply become the real power “behind the throne” if a crisis that would allow him to remove Coandă would not arise. Even if Coandă came to lose the election, he would still remain at the forefront of the party as the voice of reason, unlike his former opponents who would quickly remain without support in front of a resurgence of his own faction.
The Coandă-Brătianu campaign now had to pick up the pace, however. With the nomination process ended only by late January, the Liberals were four months behind their Conservative rivals. The Liberals’ strategy was now to try and crack the Conservative-Republican alliance, but also took jabs at turning the Nationalist faction inside the Conservative Party against Marghiloman. Still bitter over Popovici’s defeat, the Nationalists had resigned to trying to gain a foothold inside a future Marghiloman Administration in order to balance out the Republican influence. Not completely disgraced, Popovici still had the support of an important part of his faction to continue as Speaker, but that came increasingly under question as Mihai Eminescu and Take Ionescu maintained their opposition to the idea. Nevertheless, the Nationalists, as upset as they were, could not bring themselves to support Coandă, whom they shared an important number of ideas with, but whom they perceived as having entered Brătianu’s grasp. A Brătianu who had flirted with Socialism and who was significantly to the left of the Yellow Foxes.
The “progressive question” stood at the centre of the debates, as raised by Brătianu who seemed to take charge of his campaign much more than the presidential nominee. The Liberal campaign directed their criticism to Alexandru Mocioni, accusing of him of only following power and forsaking his principles for the sake of having a spot in government, trying to convince Republicans who were still not entirely convinced that aligning with the Conservatives was the right thing to do to switch their allegiance. The move was difficult because parliamentary Republicans were definitely supportive of the alliance with the Conservatives. Even more so, Marghiloman seemed to seal the deal with his more left-wing supporters when he mentioned again that the Conservative Party is not “a political movement for reactionaries or rigid thought”. Claiming President Maiorescu’s legacy, Marghiloman said that his party was also progressive in all ways that mattered, but that the brand of progressivism that it was espousing was one of “gradualism and not harsh, quick change”. Society had to be groomed, maintained the vice president, not forced to change for serving quick interests. The contest remained balanced all throughout election day, but the political air had become clear for those with enough experience to see it - President Maiorescu had begun preparing for the handover of the Government to his vice president as soon as the final days of the campaign. Coandă’s appeal remained confined to his own liberals, many only brought to the ballots by Ionel Brătianu’s presence as running mate. Failing to crack the Republican-Conservative alliance, and failing to enlist support from the Socialists, many of whom even voted for Marghiloman due to the openness he showed to the progressive cause, the Liberals lost a third consecutive presidential election. The Marghiloman Coalition, 59% of the votes, slightly mirrored the Brătianu Coalition of 1892, when the elder president managed to secure votes from both his traditional pool, but also attract a subset of the opposing party, the New Conservatives then, a significant percentage of Coronescu-socialists now.
The real disaster, however, came after the legislative election that took place a week later. The presidential party maintained the first place, enhancing their overall majority with 10 seats. Claiming the second spot for the first time, the Socialist Party went on to demolish both Liberals and Republicans in swing circumscriptions managing to make inward gains even in seats considered to be safe for the Conservatives, both in Transylvania and the former Principalities. With such a surge, Coronescu was now the man of the day, managing to eclipse even the president-elect. The changes brought forward by the 1908 election season clearly showed that a new political era was dawning and that 1912 was going to be hard to defend for the Conservative Party, now that their rival was no longer a disunited and weak party, but a mammoth that had managed to maul both their opposition on the ideological spectrum as well as create a platform that encompassed voters from the entire electoral pool. Brătianu quickly seized the initiative after the disaster. Having lost a third of their seats, both Liberals and Republicans were now in disarray, but at least the Republicans were in a governmental coalition and could still bounce back if the new administration was to be successful. The PNL, on the other hand, had now become the victim of its own machinations and sitting on the third place meant they could not field a presidential candidate in 1912. Surely, this put a wrench into Ionel Brătianu’s plans, but things were still salvageable, he believed. The first move was to quickly push back the disgraced Yellow Foxes from their position of power, Nicolae Popescu announced his retirement and that he would take the fall for the catastrophic loss by removing himself completely from political life, but he was stopped momentarily from refusing to take his Bucharest deputy seat by the revived Brătianu leadership when they realized that a special election after the fact could mean the loss of another seat in favour of the Socialists. Coandă, as a figure that belonged not to the Foxes but not to the Brătianu wing either was quickly pocketed by latter faction, as he was still overall popular with the base and could still provide important support. The Robescu and Popescu circles, however, were now thoroughly marginalized and the dominance of the Brătianu family was once more restored.
17th Parliament of Romania (1908-1912)
Speaker of the Assembly: Mihail Stroescu (Conservative)
Opposition Leaders: Ionel Brătianu (Liberal); Adrian Coronescu (Socialist)
President of the Senate: Alexandru Mocioni (Republican)
Factional distribution of the 17th Parliament - from left to right: Marxists, Social-democrats and Coronescu-socialists, Republicans, Liberals, New Conservatives, Junimea Conservatives, Old Conservatives, Nationalists
The powder keg Europe sat on, however, did not wait for Romania and her elections – the Potemkin incident was now two years old and the impasse that had been reached between the Russian and Romanian authorities had not yet been solved in any way. The Tsar had managed to calm the revolts in his country by enacting a form of limited constitutionalism and through outright violence against the Jewish population. Russia was now stable, but it still didn’t renounce its ambition of enhancing its status as Great Power and wash the humiliation of the Russo-Japanese War and of the Potemkin Incident. President Maiorescu kept on delaying the handover of the Potemkin, hoping to receive a guarantee in return, but Russia threatened to remove her diplomatic mission in Bucharest if the Romanian authorities did not return the ship. But Russia had been bled dry by the Russo-Japanese War and the internal strife that had went on before – there was no realistic way it could keep on ramping its aggressive rhetoric and after the end of the election in Romania, timid attempts were made to discuss the issue with the president-elect. A deal with President Maiorescu was out of question now that there was a clear successor in sight and also due to the fact that reaching a compromise with the leader that had directly humiliated Russia was unacceptable in the eyes of the Tsar. After being sworn into office, President Marghiloman maintained that the line of negotiation started by his predecessor would be kept and that Romania would swiftly return the Potemkin but would also like to sign a non-aggression pact for 10 years as a sign of good faith between the two sides. The Russians initially accepted the signing of the non-aggression pact, but later demanded that the Potemkin be returned first and that the mutineers also be extradited so that they could be tried for treason against the Russian state. President Marghiloman was now not entirely sure if the Tsar and his diplomats were playing a game or were simply being naïve enough to believe that Romania, a democracy, would simply allow people that had been granted asylum to be returned to a state that clearly had no qualms about murdering its own people. But the Marghiloman Administration decided to not further escalate the tensions and worsen the already disastrous relation Romania had with Russia – it was decided that Russia’s demand would not be shot off publicly, the Romanian administration would simply prolong a decision, but the Russian government was privately given the answer that the demand was unacceptable. Negotiation would remain in standby in order for Russia to not lose face, while the two governments maintained a semblance of negotiation until a decision would be reached. In truth, it simply was buying time for both Russia and Romania. Returning the Potemkin without the mutineers and without a non-aggression pact would mean a serious loss of face and authority for Romania in the Balkans and the same meant for Russia on the world stage if it renounced its demands. On the other hand, neither power was willing to start a war over a warship and a bunch of sailors. War was still very unpopular with the Romanian public, while Russia was in no position to commit to such a conflict in its current predicament.
Alexandru Marghiloman, 14th President of Romania
President Marghiloman had shown willingness to parlay instead of fight and it meant that war could still be averted. An initiative amongst several European governments was begun in the summer of 1908, spearheaded by the Romanian administration and the German government, for the formalization of what had been the norm in Europe since the Napoleonic Wars ravaged the continent – the conferences between Great Powers. France initially refused to take part in the first negotiations that were begun in Frankfurt, but after Italy, Spain and Russia all joined the discussions it decided that it was not worth becoming what was called “the mad dog in the backyard of Europe”. Napoleon IV decided to join the discussion in order to shape whatever decision was to be taken. The First Conference of Frankfurt took place in August 1908 and was attended by Prime Minister Asquith (Britain), Chancellor Max von Beck (Germany), President Marghiloman, Prime Minister Stolypin (Russia) and Prime Minister Giolitti (Italy). At the Second Conference, these statesmen were joined by Henri Vaugeois, Prime Minister of France, Antonio Maura, Prime Minister of Spain and Vice President Fairbanks of the United States. During these two meetings, the statesmen of Europe laid down the foundation of what would become the “Great Powers’ Club” an international organization meant to prevent conflicts, war and to bring solutions to existing international conflicts.
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Map of the world (1909)
This has taken a rather long time to complete, but it's finally done.
Sorry for the delay on the next chapter, I'll probably come around to complete it some time during this week or the next.
This has taken a rather long time to complete, but it's finally done.
Sorry for the delay on the next chapter, I'll probably come around to complete it some time during this week or the next.
Chapter LIX - WORLD OF MILLIONS, CLUB OF NINE
CHAPTER LIX
WORLD OF MILLIONS, CLUB OF NINE
WORLD OF MILLIONS, CLUB OF NINE
The composition of the Senate had always been a difficult issue for Conservative Administrations. As the electoral rule of the Upper Chamber negated most of the competitive advantages the Conservative Party had in the field, mainly the strong divide between the three left-ward parties, it never managed to secure a foothold. In fact, the party had consistently ranked second or below in the Senate and this meant it was always difficult for a Conservative President to impose the ministers he preferred or needed in order to appease the party. President Marghiloman had hoped this would be negated by the alliance with the Republicans, but the strong showing of the Socialist Party had turned this potential advantage upside-down. Even with the Republicans, the Conservatives were still 17 votes short for naming their ministers with no issue. Socialist senators were unlikely to cave, especially since they were not particularly interested in any other positions and would scrutinize every pick. The Liberals, however, the biggest losers of the election, could be bought off, President Marghiloman believed. But not even the Liberals were willing to accept anyone as minister and Ionel Brătianu had already made it clear to the president that Mihai Eminescu, A. C. Cuza or Aurel Popovici would not be accepted as ministers. Brătianu was aware of the fact the President Marghiloman was looking to marginalize those very same people inside his party, but they could also be named at the head of a less important ministry in order to appease their faction and so he wanted to ensure that the gap was closed. Determined to not see Eminescu return to the Ministry of Education were also the Republicans, who claimed both that office as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As part of the arithmetic of the election, it was decided that the Republicans will only get three ministries, compared to the four they received when they governed together with the Liberals. As part of their deal, they insisted on reviving the Ministry of Labour, disestablished during the Maiorescu Administration, which could also bring some support from the Socialists if the cards were played correctly.
Marghiloman Administration
President: Alexandru Marghiloman (J-Conservative)
Vice President: Alexandru Mocioni (Republican)
Minister of Internal Affairs: Take Ionescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Ștefan Mihăileanu (Republican)
Minister of War: gen. Ioan Argetoianu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Finances: Dimitrie Greceanu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Justice: Duiliu Zamfirescu (N-Conservative)
Minister of Agriculture: Vasile Stroescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Labour: Ovidiu Leca (Republican)
Minister of Infrastructure and Public Works: Toma Cămărășescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of the Colonies: Alexandru Averescu (N-Conservative)
Minister of Public Health: Toma Ionescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Education and Research: Alexandru Djuvara (Republican)
Minister of Culture: Petre Negulescu (J-Conservative)
President: Alexandru Marghiloman (J-Conservative)
Vice President: Alexandru Mocioni (Republican)
Minister of Internal Affairs: Take Ionescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Ștefan Mihăileanu (Republican)
Minister of War: gen. Ioan Argetoianu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Finances: Dimitrie Greceanu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Justice: Duiliu Zamfirescu (N-Conservative)
Minister of Agriculture: Vasile Stroescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Labour: Ovidiu Leca (Republican)
Minister of Infrastructure and Public Works: Toma Cămărășescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of the Colonies: Alexandru Averescu (N-Conservative)
Minister of Public Health: Toma Ionescu (J-Conservative)
Minister of Education and Research: Alexandru Djuvara (Republican)
Minister of Culture: Petre Negulescu (J-Conservative)
The PNL ran a hard bargain with the Conservatives, whom they knew could not pass the cabinet unless they had their support. Ionel Brătianu went on to discuss on and off with the president-elect all throughout the spring, until a final decision was made. President Marghiloman agreed to the terms put forward by the Liberals – they were to receive the governorly seat in REA and the Conservative-Republican coalition was to pledge their support for a three-way coalition in 1912. It was at this time that Ionel Brătianu decided to begin his plan of returning the PNL back to its rightful place and himself to a position of power. President Marghiloman was a formidable opponent, but Brătianu decided he would not relent until he had all the power – negotiation, discussion and principles had not worked, as shown by his previous defeat, dire measures had to be taken, he believed. It was Mihail Orleanu, former Speaker of the Assembly that was selected for the top seat in Romanian East Africa. Long considered a Brătianu henchman, Orleanu had been a loyal executor for the Brătianu dynasty, his service extending back to the time of the elder president. And his mission in REA was to erode the influence of the Marghiloman Administration both in the colonies and if possible, to extend that at home as well.
Not only the Liberals proved a handful in the negotiations – the Republicans were also adamant about their place in the Administration and in the “ecosystem” of the high Romanian politics – having lost an important part of their electorate through their alliance with the Conservatives, as well as seeing themselves lose on every front to the Socialists, they were now looking to restore lost prestige. Vice President Mocioni had made it clear to the president that he wanted a ministry, the first time in the history of the Romanian Government that a Vice President would become an executive member of the Cabinet. It was not even clear if this was constitutional, but Liberals had already made clear their discontent to this and privately announced the president that their political price for supporting such a radical idea would be considerable. President Marghiloman, naturally opposed to such an idea, requested the Constitutional Court’s advice on the issue, since this could prove a rather problematic idea if it turned out later that it was unconstitutional. The Court advised against the idea, arguing that the Vice President, by the spirit of the Constitution, was a state officer that belonged to both the legislative and the executive powers, due to his capacity as President of the Senate. A potential ministerial position would not necessarily be incompatible with his vice-presidential authority, but would act in opposition to his position as the leading senator.
With the issue put to rest, the Republicans nominated Ștefan Mihăileanu, an Aromanian diplomat that had long advocated for a plan of settlement for Aromanians in the Romanian Islands of the Aegean, Dobrogea and Timoc and who vowed to make this the hallmark of his tenure. But before he could implement such a plan, the newly appointed Minister Mihăileanu had to work for something much more important, something upon which the entire foreign policy and philosophy of the Romanian state rested. The Great Powers’ Club began as a series of conferences in Frankfurt, in which the Great Powers of the world and of Europe attempted to mend the deep-seated schism that had been in place between them ever since the German Unification and the rise of Europe’s three new Great Powers – Germany, Italy and Romania. Presided by Prime Minister Asquith, the First Conference of Frankfurt (August 1908) was meant to first reconcile the conflicts between Romania and Italy on one hand, and between Russia and Romania on the other. The Italians were aware of the fact that the Horn was lost to them, and that the only way to be able to claim anything in the region was by starting a full-scale war between the French Entente and the Anglo-Romanian Alliance along with the EEL. But Italy had already made a rather important step outside the comfort zone of the French by agreeing to participate at the Conference, something France herself and her other allies, except for Russia, refused. Giolitti realized that he had to normalize Italy’s relationship with Romania if he wanted to receive something in return. And that something came as a concession from the British, who agreed to hand over parts of the far-western territories of British Egypt, territories Britain considered useless, but could prove important in the appeasement of Italy and in her potential break-off from France. As part of the final agreement of the First Conference of Frankfurt, Italy recognized Romanian East Africa and upgraded her colonial holding in Libya with new territories.
The Russian-Romanian relationship, however, could not be so easily resolved by a single Conference, and everyone involved agreed that the two countries’ strain came from decades, if not centuries-long issues and problems, but the representatives of both countries agreed that things had to change and that within the framework of the new organization that was to happen progressively. The Russians, battered by both external and internal issues, were now going to play safely, even though they were formally allied to France. It was for this reason that Napoleon IV decided that France was also going to join the Powers that had assembled in Frankfurt and also allowed the Spanish to join the talks. Invited at the Second Conference of Frankfurt was also a delegation from the United States. Japan was going to be formally invited as well, but the proposal was vetoed by Russia and the United States, both of whom were opposed to the country joining their ranks. In fact, both the United States and Russia were confident that they could use the framework of the Great Powers’ Club to cut Japan down size, by forcing her to renounce Hakusan in favour of the United States, as well as other territories back in favour of Russia. After it had become clear that an anti-Japan majority could not be formed, since not even France was really interested in defanging the new power in Asia, the United States formally left the negotiations, claiming that the new organization was going to be simply “an organization of European Powers and of European interests as it had always been the case”. The initial French proposal was to maintain the approach of the other Conferences for the Club – formal discussions between representatives of Great Powers pertaining to certain issues or problems that arose in their dealings with one another. But this was little to no different than the current state of affairs, as the only thing that would change was simply that there would be a body to regulate such conferences. As such, President Marghiloman and Minister Mihăileanu came up with the idea of a permanent body, with diplomatic representatives from all powers involved, that would work continuously for the betterment of the diplomatic relations between countries. This body would be led by a chairman, appointed with the agreement of all Great Powers involved that would serve a lifetime term. The French were, of course, not particularly thrilled by the idea, but Napoleon IV realized that Italy and Russia were not going to reject the proposal, which would leave France completely and utterly isolated in Europe. Russia and Germany, both encircled countries, stood supportive of a more permanent body that could regulate security, as well as block any attempts at military expansion. France’s agreement came at a price – the body was not to regulate disarming and decisions could only be taken through a procedure of qualified voting. It would however, be allowed to block a country’s attempts to militarize further than the levels it stood at in 1909.
Formation of the Great Powers' Club
Named the “World Organization of Great Powers” (WOGP), the body came into being after the Third Conference of Frankfurt in March 1909 and the Great Powers that founded it agreed to have the permanent body formed by 1911 at the latest. The country and city that would host it was to be agreed on at the Conference of Milan, scheduled to take place in May 1909. The Great Powers’ Club, as it would go on to be recognized informally, was to be directed on two layers: at the bottom, there was going to be the General Assembly – it was to be formed by diplomats, bureaucrats and other diplomatic staff and was tasked with finding solutions to small issues, arbitration of conflicts between minor powers or countries that were not permanent members of the Club. In case of an issue getting bigger or if a Club member sought to take part directly in the arbitration process it would move to the next layer: The Council of Great Powers, the actual body of representatives from the founding members. Here, heads-of-government and heads-of-state would assemble in order to discuss issues at Conference-level talks. Along with representatives from all founding members (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Romania and Spain), the Council would also be joined by the Chairman of the General Assembly, as well as representatives from two non-permanent members of the international community, both chosen by the General Assembly after deliberation and negotiation between the diplomats at the lower level and without the explicit veto of any of the Great Powers. The two non-permanent members were to be replaced every five years and would have the same vote as the permanent members. The Chairman of the General Assembly, however, would not have a vote and would simply serve as the Council’s host and moderator. The Ottoman Empire and the Netherlands were proposed to become the first two non-permanent members, chosen with the consent of the Powers in the Council for the first time, and by the General Assembly once it would be formed afterwards. The Netherlands, proposed by the United Kingdom received little to no opposition as it was not a partisan choice and could provide balance between the Club’s two opposing blocs. The Ottoman Empire’s candidacy, however, was met with stiff resistance from both Russia and France, the two claiming that since the Ottoman Empire was a member of the EEL, that organization’s interests would be over-represented in the Council and that the proposal seriously threatened the balance of the Club. As it stood, the Council was made up of the two rival blocs: The French Entente (France, Spain, Italy, Russia) and the British-Romanian Alliance (Britain and Romania supported by Germany). With the Netherlands being a swing member, the Entente had the upper hand in the Council, but an addition of the Ottoman Empire made them perfectly equal to the other bloc. The system of qualified voting agreed upon meant binding decisions could be reached only with the consent of 6 of the 9 members and Napoleon IV was adamant about having at least an absolute majority, so that no decision harmful to France’s interests could be taken so easily. It was also the fact the Napoleon had never abandoned his designs on the future of Europe that made him decide to reject a proposal that was actually sensible and could provide balance to the organization. Hungary, the French proposal was unacceptable to Romania and Britain, and Napoleon knew this very well. With the first insurmountable impasse in its way, the Great Powers’ Club suspended its works indefinitely. The General Assembly remained to be set up as scheduled, but everyone knew that as long as Napoleon IV led France, a functional Great Powers’ Club could only be a pipe dream.
The Club had not become the hallmark of Romanian foreign policy as President Marghiloman had hoped. Even as an initial failure, however, the Socialists went on to recognize his attempts at securing peace, unlike his early predecessors. Minister Mihăileanu, one of the most involved in trying to make the project a success, also received praise from Socialists and Liberals alike. President Marghiloman remained, however, highly influential in Club circles and it was this influence that allowed him to obtain assurances of a Romanian-led General Assembly, though it was still unclear in what capacity this body could function with stiff opposition from France and Russia.
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Chapter LX - THE ARORESA AFFAIR
CHAPTER LX
THE ARORESA AFFAIR
THE ARORESA AFFAIR
The Conference in Milan, the third in the series that led to the creation of the Great Power Club, did not provide the results that were expected. The British and the Germans had at least hoped that they could seriously pull the French Entente apart, but Russia, Italy and Spain adamantly remained at Napoleon’s side on the issue of the validation of the two non-permanent members. The leadership of the General Assembly was another issue that could not be tackled so easily, as none of the countries involved were willing to give their adversaries any sort of concession. As the Great Powers failed to find a compromise, the project of building a political and diplomatic infrastructure for the General Assembly slowed down considerably, but still continued. Minister Mihăileanu continued to be involved in the project, along with former President Carp and other high-ranking Conservative diplomats.
But the Marghiloman Administration was soon to be marred by much more important internal issues. Generally, this administration remained rather disjointed, despite the president’s efforts to create cooperation between Republicans and Conservatives. His efforts were not shared by Vice President Mocioni who kept on feeding the divide between the two parties, for reasons that were not initially obvious to President Marghiloman. Republican ministers were given express orders to report first and foremost to Mocioni and then to Marghiloman, while legislatively, the Republicans functioned more as an Opposition than as a member of the coalition by frequently choosing to align with Brătianu’s Liberals on important legislative projects. In August 1909, the deep-seated divide between Conservatives and Republicans became apparent in Parliament. The new Agrarian Law, supported by the Administration, a legislative project that was to group, harmonize and put into effective law several of the Maiorescu-era decrees and executive orders regarding the uniformization of holdings, was shot down due to the Republicans banding with the Liberals and Socialists. This turned into a full-fledged scandal and discussion in the Conservative Party on whether it was wise keeping the Republicans in the Cabinet. This was a very difficult problem since the president could easily fire any minister that he wanted removed, but could not do so in regards to the vice president, who was elected and, thus, not answerable to him. Mocioni did try to excuse himself, arguing that he could not force MPs of his party to vote in line with the Administration if they did not believe in the law, but President Marghiloman had already realized that something else was happening.
President Marghiloman now suspected that Vice President Mocioni had entered Brătianu’s grasp and that what the latter was hoping was to somehow force the Republicans out of the coalition so that the Liberals could replace them in 1912, a year in which the PNL could not field a presidential candidate, since they had lost the 2nd place to the Socialists. What alerted the president more than the PNL trying to find itself in a configuration of power after the 1908 election was that the Socialists had truly grown to become a formidable opponent during Coronescu’s leadership. It was looking increasingly difficult for him to secure a 2nd term with a schizophrenic Administration which was run under two centers of command and with Brătianu running roughshod all over the alliance he had so carefully crafted. For this he had to pacify the Republicans, but he also needed to ensure that legislation benefitting the capitalists that funded the Conservative Party could be enacted as promised. It was this latter goal, external to him and his administration that proved the undoing of everything he had built up until then.
In November 1909 information regarding money transfers from Coffee magnate Mihai Hila to Minister of the Colonies Alexandru Averescu was leaked in the press. The first article detailing the transfers with official papers was released in Bucharester newspaper “Santinela” (eng. The Sentinel), a publication that dealt in investigative journalism and had been looking for scoops into governmental blunders. In short, Averescu had been given 100 000 lei [2.6 million dollars IOTL in 2019 value] in several transfers over 1908 and 1909. Before that, Hila had won uncompetitive biddings for leases on several high-value coffee plantations in Romanian East Africa, all organized by the Romanian Government with the consent of the governorship of REA. The paper trail also implicated Minister Greceanu (Finances), but the latter had received no emolument after the fact. Governor Orleanu, also strongly implicated in the affair, seemed to only be a rubber stamp, as the Ministry of the Colonies was ultimately responsible for organizing the bidding and the partial privatization of the Romanian Coffee Company.
Mihai Hila, owner of the Coffee Company involved in the Aroresa Scandal
Under the scrutiny of the entire press and the public opinion, the scandal soon blew over. The biggest corruption scandal to trouble the Romanian Government up until then, the Aroresa Scandal (named after the eponymous coffee plantation) shook the very foundation of the Marghiloman Administration. The president was seen in two lights now, he was either as corrupt as his ministers and the governor and he had allowed the deal to go through knowing full well what would happen, or he was an incompetent that did not notice the shady business that was run right under his nose. In either case, the prestige of the Romanian Government in general, and of the Marghiloman Administration in particular, was dealt a serious blow. But it was all a case of political maneuvering – Ionel Brătianu had taken advantage of small but important weaknesses in the Marghiloman Administration, through which he hoped to bring it down – like all Conservative administrations before it, this government was also required to pay its fair share to its donors, mostly important and powerful businesses that dominated the Romanian economic landscape and needed legislation to be enacted in their favour. The coffee businesses in Bucharest and all over the country had long since advocated for their entry into the Romanian Coffee Company, something that was promised by President Maiorescu but that had not been implemented due to time constraints and other more pressing issues in terms of foreign affairs. Mihai Hila, a powerful coffee magnate had attempted to receive a lease or even a purchase of the very lucrative coffee plantations in Aroresa for a while now and he was ready to bribe his way through the Ministry of the Colonies. Unbeknownst to him, Minister Averescu had been played by Governor Orleanu, an actual Brătianu-plant in President Marghiloman’s government. Orleanu approached both Hila and Averescu and proposed a plan to block other bidders from trying to secure the fields in Aroresa, in order for Hila to maintain his near-monopoly on the Bucharester market. After this was achieved, both Averescu and Hila were to receive important sums of money for their services, while a part of that money would go to their respective parties by means of intra-party donations. Governor Orleanu refused to take his part of the bribe after the fact, also without Averescu’s knowledge and then the entire story was anonymously leaked by members of the PNL.
President Marghiloman was initially informed about the entire deal, but Minister Averescu had carefully left out important details, such as the fact that both he and the governor were to receive high-value bribes and that the entire deal meant an unacceptable breach of previous colonial regulations regarding the lease of plantations – Hila had previously been an administrator under the RCC, during the tenure of Governor Barozzi, which meant that he or companies he represented were forbidden from participating in bidding for receiving a RCC license. It was the need to placate his donors and his party and all the other important issues in terms of foreign policy that had blinded President Marghiloman to just how problematic the entire deal was.
For Ionel Brătianu it was now time to feign outrage. The former speaker denounced all cooperation with Marghiloman’s Conservative Party and announced that the PNL “could not, in good faith, support any policy of this administration anymore”. The Socialist Party, little involved in the entire charade that was going on between the other three parties, decided it was a good time to begin impeachment proceedings for the three officials involved directly in the entire affair – Ministers Averescu and Greceanu and Governor Orleanu. Adrian Coronescu himself realized that the entire scandal was shrouded in a thick smokescreen, but could not, at that moment, figure out what exactly was happening. But one thing he knew for sure, that President Marghiloman seemed as dumbstruck by the whole affair as he himself was. Surely, he believed, an incompetent or uninformed president was better than a malicious one, and he had no reason to believe Alexandru Marghiloman was actually incompetent. Unlike his time as vice president, however, Marghiloman was now finding himself less and less in control of the situation, and the PS leader was beginning to realize that Mocioni and Brătianu could be the ones sabotaging the administration from inside and from outside. It was for this reason that he and his party held off from beginning impeachment proceedings against the president, in order to not play into Brătianu’s hand, who seemed very interested in having Vice President Mocioni sent to the Hill as fast as possible.
Caricature of Mihai Hila, during the Aroresa Scandal - Hila, boyar of coffee, Menelik's fright (rom. Hila, boierul cafelei, spaima lui Menelik)
But not only this prevented an impeachment. While the Conservative Party was being heavily distraught by the whole scandal, its organizations and, most importantly, its parliamentary establishment, was still behind President Marghiloman. Even if as much as twenty rogue Conservative MPs were to defect, the president still had an impeachment proof majority in Parliament. In terms of favorability and approval of the Administration, support dropped considerably after the scandal, but it was still not enough to seriously threaten political support in and outside of Parliament. This was also helped by President’s Marghiloman swift containment of the scandal. Not one week after the whole situation blew over, the president fired both Averescu and Greceanu from the government and Orleanu from his post in REA, bypassing Parliament’s impeachment procedure and triggering the vacancy of all posts. He also immediately reversed the decisions of both ministers and the governor and returned the plantations to the direct administration of the RCC. With the political fallout somewhat contained, the Administration’s men went out to try and minimize the damage that had already been done – the fact that the scandal involved colonies allowed the Conservatives to give the impression that it was simply a case of misunderstanding between executive officers and not foul play. Weeks later, government story spinners attempted to shift the narrative that a corruption case in the colonies, very far away lands with which many Romanians had little to no connection was not really that important and that such things would be unthought of in the metropole. Nevertheless, the scandal still stuck, and the president was now in the difficult situation of dealing with the unruly Republicans, the hostile Liberals and the apathetic, but still opposing Socialists, all while having two headless ministries and a Colonial Government that was in shambles.
Utterly dependent on the Socialists in order to have the positions filled, President Marghiloman went on to meet with Coronescu. There was little in the way of the Socialists choosing to obstruct the president, thus forcing him to be held to ransom by bot Republicans and Liberals, but Coronescu decided to play the long game and not give more power to the already growing Brătianu-Mocioni faction that was ripping the government apart. President Marghiloman was given a verbal assurance that reasonable proposals for the ministries and the governorly seat will not be shot down. This meant that with enough Socialist senators allowing ministerial picks to go through, the president would be able to bypass even his coalition partners. But Marghiloman was not yet ready to throw the alliance to the wind and as a show of good faith, decided to give Mocioni one more minister. Alexandru Radovici, an independent with socialist sympathies and ties was nominated for the Finances portfolio after a meeting with the president, to whom he promised that he would maintain a course set forward inside the Administration. For the Colonies, Republican Constantin Angelescu was to replace Averescu. In Imina, set to replace Orleanu, was Radu Rosetti, former Maiorescu Minister of Culture and one of the elder members of the Conservative Party. Rosetti was a divisive figure in the Conservative Party for many reasons – first, as a member of the Rosetti family, the one which Romania her first Socialist president, even if not elected as a Socialist, Radu was much more left-leaning than the average member of the party. Second, Rosetti had had his fair share of conflicts with the higher-ups and bosses of the PC, including the former president and the Cantacuzinos. President Maiorescu had propped him up due to his notoriety as a scholar and the fact that he had won the respect and admiration of the Bucharester cultural circles, many of whom believed his frequent jabs with the Nationalists could land him an important seat in government.
Radu Rosetti, 5th Governor of Romanian East Africa (1909-1912)
All in all, this was an offer Coronescu could not refuse. Two socialist-leaners were going to be placed in offices of high power in the Romanian Government, while President Marghiloman extended his hand to propping up the Socialists even more after their historic progress in the legislative election. Many in the Conservative Party feared that the much-too-cordial relation between the president and the Socialist leader could jeopardize the former’s chances at re-election, especially considering the fact that it was rather obvious that 1912 was going to be a Marghiloman vs Coronescu year. But the president had not yet resigned to losing the election just yet. He knew that by enticing Coronescu to support his picks and showing him that neither the Liberals nor the Republicans were to be trusted he set the field for the Socialists’ self-marginalization to continue even in future elections. What needed to happen in 1912 is force the Republicans to remain part of the alliance and somehow remove Brătianu from the leadership of the PNL in order to turn them into a satellite of the Conservatives as well. Ionel Brătianu was a difficult to remove thorn in the side, however. The Yellow Foxes, while still around, had sworn fealty to the Brătianu dynasty once more while other opposition had been thoroughly dealt with.
But the cutthroat nature of internal Romanian politics had to take a break for a few weeks, before new alignments and alliances could be formed after another major shake of world politics – in February 1910, what was to be the first in a series of violent uprisings in China erupted over the corrupt Qing rule. The quick nature of the revolts that soon turned into a Revolution all throughout the country alerted the Great Powers, most fearful that the nature of their privileged relations with the sleeping giant could be jeopardized. The Great Powers’ Club was about to show its worth to the world for the first time.
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Not really significant, as Romania is not part of the unequal treaties signed by various powers with the Qing.