Rise of the Sun of May - Part 11: The Malagasy Acquisition (1890-1895)

With Calabar now surrounded by newly colonized British, Spanish and French territories, the eyes of Parliament and Prime Minister Sarmiento drift to Madagascar- an uncivilized island ripe and ready to reap the benefits of.

Madagascar is currently a monarchy with a Queen, like us. Unlike Queen Manuela, Queen Ranavalona III rules over her nation absolutely. Also, the country being uncivilized gives an opportunity to Argentina to inject some civilization and culture into the island.

Madagascar's population is centered on the capital, part of the Northern Madagascar region. The Argentine Parliament currently approves only the easy-to-handle South Madagascar as part of any future war prize.

Two more Liberal parties are formed; one even more right and one even more left (i'll leave the guessing to you as to which is which).
Speaking as myself: I don't really know what these parties stand for inn this situation because in real life, the parties were broken from the main Union Civica (which was created here a couple of years ago), but after this (for at least the 6 more years i've continued so far) the Union Civica has stayed. I literally have 4 Liberal parties now and I feel like this might be a glitch or something? No idea.

With the proper casus bellis gathered for Malagasy conquest, General Plaza packs up with nearly all of the men and crams onto Admiral Pedernera's fleet, leaving General Balcarce and a small force behind.

And with that, the next Prime Minister elections have begun.

Partido Liberal, with Sarmiento serving two terms and reaching the old age of 80, nominate 35 year old Francisco A. Barroetaveña. Barroetaveña is a native born Entrerriano and sees the support of hundreds of thousands of young people across the nation, who he challenges to take part in the political process. The other three Liberal parties, though in disagreement on other things, decide to also back Barroetaveña's candidacy.

Autonomista Nacional chooses 69 year old Luis Sáenz Peña. Peña served as former president of the Buenos Aires state bank.

Partido Socialista attempts to test the waters with this election. The prevailing nominee is 22 year old Russian born Fenia Chertkoff. Chertkoff's platform includes gender equality, equal voting rights, the enactment of divorce law, and paternity investigation. Also she has participated in many labor strikes across the nation- including ones that led to the closure of certain factories. Chertkoff is the first woman candidate (women can't vote yet but she wants to prove that they can damn well run), first foreign born candidate, and youngest candidate ever nominated.

Scrience.

Eager for war, the Jingoistic platform of Peña clearly wins a debate.

On June 16th, Sarmiento officially declares war on Madagascar.

The troops plan a landing through the Mozambique Channel.

Socialistic and leftist views prevail in citizenship arguments.

The troops reach land by July 14th. Malagasy troops number 21,000 in the north, but they are hilariously untrained compared to our men.

In order to repair the ships for the army's return journey, the fleet heads to Calabar.

Things are too quiet back home... oh wait, a small batch of Communists have risen up in the north

By September, the western coast is captured and the troops move for the capital.

Avoiding conflict with Malagasy troops, the siege of Tananarive begins.

In October, the results roll in. The Liberals secure yet another PM and Barroetaveña is sworn in. Peña gains support in Buenos Aires due to his business reputation there. Sadly, although getting close to a majority in several western Andean states, Chertkoff fails to receive even a single electoral vote.

On the same day of the election results, Madagascar's capital and Queen are captured.

Barroetaveña (I'll call him Barro) gives the go ahead to present the peace offer and it is signed the next day. South Madagascar is now subject to Queen Manuela and mother Argentina!

The fleet is incredibly slow at repair so the army will be stuck on Madagascar for a bit.

Pedernera requests the construction of two new transports that use steam technology.

The Argentine Parliament of 1892 is assembled. Unión Cívica Radical* makes its debut in the Parliament but keeps to the Left Coalition. Other than that not much has changed; even though the new seat change, the Reds have kept up with the Left.

* For my sanity, all those other parties will be hereon melded into Unión Cívica Radical which is the most successful of the aforementioned other parties (and still exists to this day). The official position is a Liberal and Radical mix that places it just slightly more left on the political scale than Partido Liberal.

With the main forces on delay, Balcarce takes the handling of the small rebel group in his own hands.

Meanwhile a naval base is built in Madagascar for future use.

All across the newly acquired colonies, unrest spreads. Barro decides to let the situation play out and not take action yet.

On March 4th, a coalition of Liberals and Socialists, backed by the Prime Minister, manage to pass through a bill requiring a (small) minimum wage.

Finishing off them level 2 techs boyo.

By April, for the first time in Argentine history, our relationship with the UK is held in a positive light. Barro is praised for his friendly diplomacy by both sides of the situation.

In May, only 7 months after the successful Argentine invasion of Madagascar, France declares war on them to steal away the rest of the island. Barro allows the Malagasy military access but not much more can be done about the situation.

The fleet seems to have difficulty repairing in the African base probably due to lack of supplies, so they move back to Paraná base.

As the French clearly hold the upper hand in Madagascar the previously mentioned tensions between the locals start disappearing. Why hold contempt when the only alternative to rightful Argentine rule is oppressive French rule?

The fleet finally repairs enough to leave port by December, joined by the brand new steamships.

C H E M B O I S

Now that we've reached a bit of a quiet time in Argentina, let's look around Africa to see how the colonizing has been going.
The North coast is shared between the French, a cutoff portion of Ottomans, and the Spanish owning the entirety of Egypt. Also, Russia was kicked out of Tunisia thankfully.
In the West, most land is held by either the Dutch, British, and French. The Italians and Germans own small portions of no real importance.

In the South, the Brits expand along with the Portuguese. Congo Free State is still under Swedish rule, of course.
On the East coast around the horn, Germans dominate.

The Middle East is a bit weird. Surprisingly no British on the Arabian peninsula; only Portuguese. Also, France and Spain own sizable portions of the Levant.

By the way, the Austrian proletariat has risen.

Even with the recent acquisitions, Platinean culture reigns supreme, still almost 60%!

Massive wars become a thing.

This follows the struggle of Russia and several other European countries against Japan.

Looking at movements, it's clear that people want Public Meetings and a return to full Constitutionalism in the monarchy. Queen Manuela agrees but it's left to the hands of Parliament to act on anything.

Following our expert handling and non violence in South Madagascar, countries begin appreciating Argentine control. Barro runs with this new reputation, calling for modesty following the acquisitions.

South Andean nationalism grows among the Guaranis in the North, Balcarce moves in to handle it.

A new factory, of the small arms sort, is funded by capitalists and begins construction in Buenos Aires.

By April, the fleet finally meets the troops and begins the 5 month journey back home.

Surprise, surprise, more revolts in Bolivia. Many MPs continue to vie for another Argentine intervention. Despite a few small rebellions, Argentine Eastern Bolivia is heaven compared it's home country.

After attempting to incite violence in support of separatism, a leader of Guarani nationalism is arrested. Barro orders imprisonment, determined to not strain the situation through execution.

Many capitalists begin to notice that maybe alcohol is the best industry to run in Argentina. After all, 2 of the 3 remaining running factories are liquor distilleries.

Radicals in the small province of San Luis begin claiming the government is tyrannical, attempting to spread their alternate facts to other cities. Barro steps in and cracks down on them in an attempt to silence the incite to violence.

Small groups of Patagonian nationalists rise in the stolen Argentine land. Though Chilean forces can easily swat this army away, it shows that there is still a growing anti Chilean sentiment in the region.

By August, all provinces in Uruguay but Montevideo have been fully integrating in both legal and cultural means.

Plaza and his men finally return by September, joining Balcarce. Balcarce once again takes his head general position over the entire army, now numbering upwards of 27,000.

Guaranis of all shades and political ideas are beginning to show their annoying rebellious sides.

~Meanwhile in Europe~
Communist Austria attacks Serbia by itself. Serbia is joined by Russia. This should be fun to watch.

In October, Calabarean nationalists rise in numbers of 21,000. Barro, knowing he can't allow the situation to go international and can't get the army there safely in time, comes up with an idea.

On November 14th 1893, Barro hands full autonomy to Calabarean King Ntete, as long as he still answers to Argentina. The Calabareans, now content with their own home rule, sit at a place in Argentine relations similar to Paraguay.

A unit in the army with shitty backup from their home province is finally disbanded, to be replaced by two new units from sustainable populations.

The Argentine Parliament of 1894 is assembled. Shockingly, the Red Bloc manages to gain two seats, putting them ahead of the Left Coalition. For (I believe) the first time in Argentine history, the Prime Minister holds a Parliament of a different party. Barro is tugged left by the Socialists for the rest of his term.

Another unit is ordered by Balcarce.

By February, the Austrians seem to be doing fairly well even though they are pitted against Russia.

Both of our allies (Peru and Colombia) actually have similar sized armies at this point, allowing us more protection.

More unrest in Chile- perhaps the government is weakening.

T
Ech

As more of our own rebels rise in the north (and Paraguay helpfully moves to handle them), Bolivian rebels have captured the capital again.

The economy has been doing good for a while, so Barro approves budget additions to the Military, Administration, and Education.

Barro, witnessing yet another dangerous and innocent killing revolution in Bolivia, calls on the Parliament to prepare for another intervention.

In December, relations with the Netherlands reach their max. Though they are not interested in an alliance as of yet, the relationship is beneficial to both sides. Barro is championed as a great diplomat through his bettering of European relations.

Shocking news on March 1st, Brazilian Communists have overthrown the government, banishing Emperor Pedro II to Portugal. A Proletarian Dictatorship is created. Perhaps this with cause America to shy away from spreading their disgusting influence there.

As Americans seem to be improving relations with Communist Bolivia, it becomes clear that our intervention needs to happen soon before the Americans can gain influence over the region yet again.

Of the three Communist countries in the world, two are in our own continent. Barro sees this as an epidemic.

The objective of this new war is the state of La Paz; Northern Bolivia.

The region contains a majority of the Bolivian population. Hundreds of thousands shall be freed of anarchy once our armies march in!

Army tech, dude.

On October 16th, at the brink of a new Bolivian war, the elections start. Barro sees stunning support, but can he win again? Find out next tim... wait ew I don't like those outros; just come back for more story, my guys.