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This is a continuation of a series of articles detailing the political history of eAustria, with this entry beginning in February 2010. This article details the first part of what we are calling the “Croatia War Era” - a time where Austria fought for both military, and political, survival.

Previous entries:
The One Party Era (April 2009 - August 2009)
The Competitive Era Part I (September 2009 - November 2010)
The Competitive Era Part II (December 2009 - February 2010)



The Croatian War Era (February 2010 - May 2010)

Presidents: Borojevic von Bonjar - Oraizan - Hedera - bobbySAURON - stoneman - Rangeley
Defining political battles: Austrian Parties vs PTO Parties
Defining Issue: Croatian War and PTO
Defining traits: Powerful war cabinet.

The previous era saw a great competition between parties and ideologies, during a time of stability and peace: from September 2009 through to February 2010, Austria held all 8 of its original regions. This peace would come to an abrupt end early in February, with Croatia’s invasion of Austria. Their invasion, and subsequent PTO effort, would dominate this era, as the nation worked to fight against its greatest challenge yet.



The Offer

Borojevic von Bonjar had just begun his term as president. With the backing of the KU and NFA, it was a hard fought win, and he sought to embark on a series of initiatives, such as increasing national exports, taking a look at reforming the constitution, and strengthening ties to neighboring allies. But on February 9th 2010, he would be contacted by Croatian diplomat Djani Ujkan Marich with an offer that would dramatically change the course of his presidency.

Croatia had long desired to attack France - but the most attempted path (Slovenia -> Italy) was exceedingly difficult. A less direct path would require passing through Austria, once they reached Austria’s border, then moving west through Switzerland. Both nations would appear easier targets than Italy and Slovenia. Easier still than fighting, was if Austria allowed Croatia to pass through. Thus, Croatia offered that in exchange for Austria retreating battles against them, Croatia promised to return the regions afterwards, and pay gold for damages.

Borojevic, after meeting directly with Djani Ujkan Marich, presented the offer to the cabinet, where it was heatedly debated. As well, Oraizan, the IA’s candidate in the February election, weighed in on the issue. The ÖIP and IA strongly opposed the deal: France was a strong ally of Austria’s, and being complicit in Croatia’s attack would be a betrayal. It was not clear at this time if Croatia would try to pass through without Austria’s permission; even if Austria was unable to stop them, however, it would be important to have tried. Borojevic agreed, and the offer was officially declined.

War Commences

Croatia had hoped for permission, but made it clear they did not require it: on February 11th war was declared, with the war officially commencing on February 12th, 2010. Diplomat Djani Ujkan Marich presented Croatia’s new offer to Austria: retreat all regions, allowing Croatia through without a fight, or be forced to pay 300 gold for the return of every region taken - if not, Croatia would stay permanently. Even less acceptable than the previous offer, Austria now readied for total war.

Additional experienced players, such as Oraizan and Metallon, were brought into the cabinet by Borojevic. Mutual protection pacts were signed as quickly as possible with Slovenia, Serbia, and Russia. Although Austria had less firepower on the battlefield than Croatia, strategic maneuvers with Slovenia and Hungary helped to block Croatia in place before they were able to advance onto additional Austrian regions.

These maneuvers proved successful, but required more time from the president than in any recent timeframe. These time constraints led Borojevic von Bonjar to resign, making Oraizan - who had more time - the new president, aided by the “war cabinet.” Far from the weak cabinet of the “One Party Era,” this war cabinet made great use of the skills, connections, and experience of players in Austria. Operating more or less through consensus, decisions would need wide support before proceeding. Along with some of the previously mentioned was Fragreg, a newer citizen who had strong ties with Hungary, who provided essential aid to the overall strategy.

With cooperation with the new alliance “Phoenix” (successor to PEACE GC), Croatia would be completely ejected from Austria by February 22nd through successful military operations, even losing its border to Austria in the process.



War Cabinet Struggles in Politics

While the war cabinet made great use of different players skills, and was overall collaborative in the war effort, it proved to struggle in one key area: politics. Although Croatia was repelled for now, it was deemed inevitable that they would try again: who would lead the country in this continued war? While Oraizan was a natural choice to continue, time constraints made it impossible for her to run for the March 2010 race. The ÖIP put forward Rangeley, but strong opposition from members of the IA - in particular Metallon - and segments of the KU and NFA vetoed the idea. In turn, Metallon was proposed by the IA. After the bitter political battles of the last year, the ÖIP was very opposed in turn to this idea.

But the ÖIP found itself in a more isolated position than it had been for some time. The KU and NFA were willing to endorse Metallon, who was strongly supported by Oraizan, leading the ÖIP to reluctantly endorse the idea. Yet another issue arose where time constraints forced Metallon to reconsider his candidacy. Metallon proposed bobbySAURON in his stead - an even less popular choice with the ÖIP, and within the KU as well. But again, with resistance still existing to alternatives, the ÖIP and KU reluctantly supported the choice of the IA.

While initially supportive, the NFA withdrew its support after disputes arose with the candidate over inappropriate behavior. The unity coalition was in utter turmoil - in the meantime, a new political figure - Hedera - made his rise.



Hedera

While the war cabinet struggled to find a candidate to endorse, Hedera formed the new Austrian Reform Party, a self described pro-Phoenix party which proposed departing from the status quo - fully embracing the alliance and favoring joining. Although he had been in Austria since September 2009, he only recently would raise his profile with a series of well received articles. His message proved popular: very few would have supported joining Phoenix before the war began, but cooperation with them had greatly increased in February. The Socialist Party endorsed him, and the NFA would likewise cast their support towards him.

Hedera and the ARP won the election with 46.81% over bobbySAURON’s 42.55% (88-80). It is possible to see some of this support as a rejection of war cabinet’s preferred candidate, and from seeking a new direction for the country. But while some of this support was surely legitimate, a large portion would quickly be revealed to have been from multis: Hedera was a PTO president and would soon show his true colors.

Quickly stealing the treasury, and retreating the entire country to Poland, Austria was stunned by the rapid turn of events. It seemed inevitable now that Croatia would be able to find its way through Austria, despite the successes in February. But the war cabinet of the previous month would return, with Oraizan nominally leading it again, now in an unofficial “shadow government” capacity. With strategic moves with allies, Poland would be pushed out of Austria, and Croatia’s escape path blocked once more. Hedera would become the first president in Austrian history to be impeached, with a 20-2 vote. Still Croatia was shown to be unable to advance through Austria.



Parties Shuffle

One result of losing all regions to Poland, however briefly, was that all parties were likewise wiped from Austria, meaning they would have to be reformed. In some cases however, it would spell an end to the parties as they had previously existed. The IA would be absorbed within both the re-made KU, led by Borojevic von Bonjar, and remade ÖIP, led now by Rangeley. The NFA would likewise find its en😛 instead, the Conservative Party of Austria, led by Kaiser Alex, and the Allianz Starkes Osterreich (ASO), led by PrinceOfAustria, would succeed it as two nationalist parties. Adeptus Astartes would also form, led by Fragreg - a conservative leaning party. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party saw most of its leadership leave Austria during this time - a left leaning party would not reform for quite some time.

With the war cabinet once again in official power, the quest to find an acceptable candidate for the presidential race became one of utmost importance: there clearly was a PTO effort underway, and a united front must be put up against it. The ÖIP insisted against a repeat of the previous month: endorsing a candidate who could not hold together a coalition was a recipe for continued failure. They proposed stoneman, who was well known and trusted, having served as Minister of Finance since December.

He would receive the backing of all of the above mentioned parties (KU, ASO, ÖIP, AA, CPA.) In protest, and unwilling to support stoneman, bobbySAURON would form his own party to declare himself candidate again.



Pro Patria Österreich

One other major party would form: Pro Patria Österreich, formed by Djani Ujkan Marich - the Croatian diplomat who had earlier issued threats against Austria. Now having moved to Austria, and presenting himself as apologetic and reformed, he made frequent articles speaking in favor of Austria against “Croatian PTOers.” A real life resident of Austria who was fluent in German, he would succeed in earning a degree of influence, despite some voicing concerns about his history as a Croatian diplomat - who gleefully mocked Austria for rejecting his offer. He would enter the race against stoneman as well, with the backing of his PPÖ.

With the battlelines drawn, the April 2010 presidential race was underway. While stoneman would take an early lead over Djani Ujkan Marich, late votes began pouring in during the night hours for Djani. Taking a 110-93 vote lead, he was in line for the presidency over the combined totals of the unity coalition. However, the late-breaking trend was observed and documented to the admins; after admin review, 40 multi votes would be removed from Djani. stoneman retook the lead and the race would finish 93-70.



Djani insisted that he knew nothing of these votes or where they came from, claiming that someone must have been framing him to hurt his reputation in the country. Djani was never trusted by the ÖIP or AA, even before the election - and regardless of the deleted votes, they pointed to a clear continuation between the votes cast for Hedera in March, and the votes cast for Djani in April. But their view would be a minority one. Djani’s explanation was broadly accepted by many players, significantly, the ASO, most of the KU - Metallon vehemently vouched for Djani’s credibility - and the Conservative Party of Austria (CPA).

Economic Programs

With the election of stoneman, the ÖIP returned to the presidency for the first time since December - but in this time of crisis, he would take a more centrist economic position than was traditionally the ÖIP’s stance (in stoneman's words, "economic pragmatism.") There was a dramatic increase in efforts to help the struggling economy - with the economy being the center-point of stoneman’s agenda. After two months of war, and especially the total wipe in March, there were fewer available jobs, and fewer workers in Austria, leading to a fear that the economy would move in a downward spiral.

Creating an economic council, which saw influential members in Fragreg, Penegrin, and Borojevic von Bonjar, the government worked to purchase more government owned companies which could provide a degree of stability in the very volatile time. As Hedera had stolen all government companies, this meant starting from the ground up. Penegrin would become the Minister of Labor, officially tasked with managing the companies, a position he would hold into future administrations as well.

Congress Falls

If there was to be doubt about the continued existence of a PTO, these disappeared with the Party President and congress races of April 2010. Seizing a minor party in the PP race on April 15th, Gaganic renamed it “Free Austria,” and its numbers grew from Croatian PTOers in the country. And in the following congress race on April 25th, they would seize a near majority of seats on their own - enough to block legislation in congress.

After Minister of Finance Borojevic von Bonjar was unable to pass a donation bill, the PTO proposed their own bill, donating money into their organization - which passed 21-17. Following this was a series of other donations, withdrawing in total around 400 gold (in gold and equivalent currencies.) Even with Hedera’s presidency, the congress remained in Austrian hands; for the first time, congress had fallen to a PTO.



Rise of Djani

stoneman would be unable to run again for the presidency due to time constraints, meaning a new unity candidate would have to be found. And now more than ever, it became clear that the presidency must be won: congress could not impeach a PTO president as it had with Hedera. Gaganic declared his candidacy for president, and seemed poised to make a competitive run after his party took control of congress.

As with two months prior, the ÖIP proposed Rangeley - and as with before, the idea found significant resistance. After weathering the storm of the last presidential race, Djani Ujkan Marich had continued as an active player in Austria, even growing his support. With the May 2010 Presidential race approaching, he was emerging as a consensus candidate, supported by the KU, ASO, and CPA, to run against Gaganic - over the continued objections of the ÖIP and AA. Without proof that he was involved with the PTO, however, their objections were poised to be dismissed, as Austria headed for a race between Djani and Gaganic.

But on May 1st, 2010, proof would be found.



Next: Croatian War Era (Continued)