Hungary AAR - Part IX - Communist Crisis (1887-1891)

Welcome back to the Federal Republic of Hungary. In the 1887 election, to the surprise of basically everyone, the Hungarian Communist Party won and their candidate, Jeno Henrik Schmitt, became the new President of Hungary.

However, the election itself quickly became the most controversial in Hungarian history. The Communist Party itself had little to no seats in the Diet, and their victory in the Election itself was seen as a result of the widely-hated FPTP system, which allowed Andrassy to rule Hungary as President from 1863 to 1879. A general fear of the Communist movement throughout Europe did not help, and the ideas of the MKP and Jeno Henrik Schmitt - who's been accused of funding Communist uprisings in Hungary - barely appeals to the middle and upper class of Europe.

Jeno Henrik Schmitt enters Hungarian office as the most hated. As a result, the ceremony officially swearing him into office is held privately to prevent any assassinations.

The revolt in West Africa is a pressing concern, and the Army sent to defeat the rebellion in East Africa was immediately sent to West Africa. However, the "People's African Armies" in West Africa have effectively assumed control.

Our troops land in Conakry and prepare to liberate the area from rebels.

However, the rebels in Dinguairye declare their independence from the Hungarians and proclaim the new "Republic of Guinea". We will not stand for this.

Schmitt immediately orders the Army to conquer the area once the coastal areas of West Africa are liberated.

In the wake of the election, a massive scandal is revealed by a newspaper in Budapest. In it, it's revealed that Englemann and the Socialist Party of Hungary embarked in massive corruption to win the 1883 election, and that the election results in 1883 were, in effect, illegitimate. However, to the fury of the Conservatives, Schmitt refuses to arrest Englemann and, rather, pardons him, causing a massive anti-Communist feeling in Hungary.

To take the mind off the massive 1883 corruption scandal, Schmitt orders his troops to invade the Republic of Guinea.

Furthermore, an increase in bureaucrats in Banat and Croatia are ordered to prevent more large-scale corruption.

The Guinean Army, mainly composed of natives and one standing regiment, quickly collapses to the Hungarian Army.

Within months, Guinea is completely occupied.

The leaders of the Republic of Guinea who failed to flee to America were imprisoned and executed/jailed for treason against Hungary.

The old Italian bourgeois dictatorship has completely fallen and a new government led by Italian Marshal Luigi Cadorna now controls Italy. He offers us an alliance, which we accept, as we need allies.

The Guinean Rebellion is completely ended, and the Guinean rebels have all either fled, been arrested for many years, or have been executed. As a result, the former Republic of Guinea became treated as an official Province of Hungary, which was met with strange reaction and a general "why?" from the international community.

The revanchist French Empire, led by Napoleon IV of France, has declared yet another possibly hopeless war against the Germans in hopes of recovering the Lost Regions from the German yoke. Although supported by the Dutch and the Russians, German support by Austria and Turkey may prevent that.

Dmitar Blagoev requests that military access is given to them. Schmitt allows it, as they are both Communists, causing fury among the Conservatives.

A campaign to improve relations between the Hungarians and the Turks ensues.

It is doubtful that the French will ever regain their lost territories with Russian help.

The Germans request military access from us, but, as usual, we say no.

With the general rise of the MKP and their rule, after two years, massive hysteria started to spread among Hungarians and the Hungarian people that the MKP will cut up the Constitution and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. Rumors spread by former MKP members failed to help, resulting in a massive rise of hatred for Communism. Furthermore, a lack of worker reform made the MKP's popularity suffer as well. Calls for Schmitt to resign increase, but Schmitt refuses.

However, as a side-effect, Hungary is now considered a great power, among the same league as nations like Germany, France, Britain, the USA, Japan, Russia, Italy, and the Netherlands. As a result, our influence can now stretch outside of Caparthia.

The Portuguese government, which controls the Egyptian city of Luxor, refuses to allow us to gain excavation rights in the area, causing a minor diplomatic dispute.

The Hungarian Army is state-of-the-art, and is among the best armies in the world, up there with Germany's and the Nordic nations. Due to this, the Hungarian Army has a reputation for being well-trained and well-disciplined.

In 1889, capitalizing off a hatred of Communism, patriots rise in Bosnia requesting - not for the independence of Bosnia - but rather unification with Serbia.

The Serbian brigands are funded by the Black Hand, a Serbian terrorist group who does heinous acts to force us to cede Bosnia to Serbian rule, which Schmitt and most of the Hungarian Diet really doesn't want. Furthermore, the Black Hand has a lot of support among high-ranking government officials in Serbia, which causes massive concern for Bosnia.

Belgium offers an alliance with us, which is an offer that's quite good, as their army is decently strong as well.

A budget surplus affords us to increase government spending and decrease taxes for the middle class, and tariffs.

Our influence in Dalmatia starts to increase, in hopes they separate formally from Austria and we can start our own plans in the area...

Nikola of Montenegro refuses to associate with the Communists to not legitimize the Communist movement in Montenegro, which means he tears up the alliance papers with us. A shame, but not really.

The Franco-German war ends inconclusively.

At the same time, the British declared war on the French in the midst of their war against the Germans to conquer Ivory Coast, which is somewhat concerning.

The factories of Budapest have been doing very well under our watch, as Hungarian industrialization continues and makes the once heavily agrarian society of Hungary and turns it into an industrial powerhouse, much like that of Germany's and the Low Countries'.

To our surprise, a major socialist rebellion occurs in Hungary.

The Socialists demand an end to the MKP's rule and an establishment of Socialist rule, and reforms that don't get stuck in permanent deadlock in the Diet. The army is sent to crush the brigands.

An Ironclad built by the British is stationed in our port in Mogadishu.

Although it isn't state-of-the-art, it still is better than the previous wooden ships we were using.

Technological advancement means we can explore deeper into Africa and establish further colonies.

Respectively, colonies are established in south Tanganyika and in North Kenya.

Commerce Raiders and Ironclads are commissioned in Hungary and our colonies in Africa, in hopes to make our navy competent and not just a transport navy.

Emigration from Hungary is minimal, though it's assumed a good amount of it is from Bosnians, Slovaks, Serbo-Croatians and Rumanians.

Dalmatia is now under our sphere of influence, meaning we could potentially ward them out of Austria's harsh rule.

Although Austria is not as much of a puppet of the Germans as they were a few years prior, they still are under massive influence by Bismarck and the rest of the German government.

Unrest in Bosnia leads to the leader of the Bosnian province to decide to try to convince Schmitt to give Bosnia autonomy to prevent the massive unrest that's been going on in Bosnia. However, Schmitt refuses, causing a massive increase in unrest in the already unstable Bosnia.

In an attempt to placetate the radical socialists, a minimum wage reform is passed, ending workers only being paid little.

A potential reason for the instability in Bosnia could be the current rule of the King of Serbia, Petar I.

Having ruled Serbia for many years, Petar I has used a pro-Russian, anti-Hungarian policy in hopes that the Vojvodina, Bosnia and the Serb inhabited parts of Turkey - including Kosovo and north Macedonia - are annexed into Serbia via rebellion and terror.

In the midst of all this, a series of anti-monarchist uprisings in Greece lead to the new Albanian Principality to declare their independence.

However, of particular infamy, the Greek Communist Party (KKE) has launched a massive rebellion against the government of King George of Greece. Their occupation over much of Greece - including Athens - has led to much fear over the considerable spread of Communism in Europe.

The 1891 election itself provides the revival of the Conservatives.

Once again, Schmitt is the Communist candidate. However, his popularity is minimal due to the fear of a Communist dictatorship in Hungary. Alongside a failure to implement reforms due to the blocking of thd Diet, this is leading to a large amount of people voting against him.

Engelmann is the Socialist candidate, but his massive unpopularity due to the revealed 1883 Scandal has left him massively unpopular and hated by many. He still runs, but doesn't expect to do well.

Kalman Tisza is the Liberal candidate, but he himself already knows his party is an effective minority thanks to the disastrous rule of Lajos Kossuth in the monarchy era.

Ferenc Kossuth is the candidate appointed by the Nationalists and the Conservatives, as it is believed he will restore order to the fractured Hungary. As he is the son of Lajos Kossuth, there is fear he will mess everything up again, much like Lajos Kossuth, but he plans to not implement any disastrous liberal policies.

While the campaigns go on, the KKE executes George I, most of his family, and establishes the new People's Republic of Greece. Led by Alexandros Schinas, the KKE's new political monopoly in Greece scares much of Europe.

To further compliment this, Cadorna's Italian dictatorship has had its army collapse and have Italian Communists siege Rome. As Cadorna flees to France, the fear against Communism continues to grow.

The general anti-communism feeling in Hungary and a fear of a tyrannical dictatorship led by Schmitt that's much like the Communist dictatorships in Turkey and Greece has led to his popularity sinking lower than that of Lajos Kossuth's. The general anarchy and chaos associated with the Communist dictatorship has led to most support for any communist movements disappearing in much of democratic Europe. This anti-communist feeling and scare is known as the Red Scare.

The fears come true, as Italian anarchist Amilcare Ciprani declares an end to Luigi Cadorna's Italian military dictatorship and proclaims the establishment of the People's Republic of Italy. The Red Wave continues to engulf Europe, further sinking the MKP's popularity.

In what is regarded as Schmitt's last act of good, the Portuguese government allows excavation rights in Luxor, which pleases everyone.

The Conservative Party dominantly wins much of Hungary, capturing much of the vote of those afraid of a Communist coup. Thankfully, Schmitt leaves office peacefully, and now Ferenc Kossuth is the new President of Hungary.

Communism no longer leads and guides Hungary. But will the red tsunami continue to envelop Europe?