Hungary AAR - Part XI - Years of Development (1895-1900)

Welcome back to the Federal Republic of Hungary AAR.

After a successful war against Austria and the liberation of the Polish Republic of Galicia, Ferenc Kossuth won the 1895 election and started to serve his second term as President of Hungary.

After the creation of the Polish Republic, the KPP (Communist Party of Poland) attempted an uprising to surprise the unprepared Polish Army and form a new Communist dictatorship. Ignacy Dasyznski requested a military intervention to defeat the Communists. Kossuth obliged and an Army in the Pozsony Province marched into Nowy Sacz to defeat the Communist insurgency.

In the meantime, the autonomous Kingdom of Bukovina, created by Austria after the freedom of Galicia, had a massive uprising lead by a high-ranking military official, who wished to overthrow the Austrian administration and declare himself King of Bukovina before unifying with Romania.

Following the end of the Fourth Austro-Hungarian War, the British government, led by the Marquess of Salisbury, and the French government, led by Prime Minister Felix Faure, declared defensive alliances with the Austrians in an attempt to "prevent further destabilization". Clearly targeted against us, Poland and Italy, it would mean any further attempts at picking away towards Austrian territory would be extremely dangerous, especially for our colonies in Africa.

Shockingly, to the surprise of nearly everyone in Hungary, the Olympic Committee has offered that the first Olympic Games of the 19th century was to be held in our capital, Budapest. There were considerations to hold it in Greece, but the Communist government destroyed the old Olympic stadium, leaving the Committee to decide to hold it in Budapest. Despite allegations of corruption, Hungary agreed, and the Stadium of Budapest was to start construction.

The Budapest Stadium (Budapest Stadion) was assigned to be completed in time for the Games of the First Olympiad in May of 1896. Construction was to be rushed as quickly as possible in time for the Games. Despite the fast construction, the Budapest Stadion was finished by the middle of April 1896.

Hungarian troops surround the Austro-Hungarian border, in the case of future Austrian incursion.

Settlement of Bosnia and Hungarian Inner West Africa continued. Although met with mild opposition from Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and African tribes, the encouraged migration from the rest of Hungary was to make sure the administrative standards of Bosnia and Hungarian Inner West Africa be brought up to par with the rest of Hungary.

Due to a combination of holding the first Olympic Games in Budapest and our successful war against Austria, Hungary was widely recognized as a Great Power once more.

Meanwhile, the Romanian-Bulgarian War resulted in the complete occupation of Romania.

King Carol I of Romania was forced to flee to Bukovina temporarily by disguising himself as a Jewish merchant passing through to Bukovina. Greeted jovially by the Bukovinan autonomous government, he declared himself the King of Bukovina, instituted absolutism, and re-established serfdom.

Then, in the Congo, after a massive scandal where it was revealed that King Christian IX of Denmark was using the territory to farm resources and have "hand quotas", the Congo Free State (Fristaten Congo) was officially disestablished and handed over to the Danish parliament.

During all these events, an expedition to find the North Pole was declared. Kossuth decided to send an expedition to find the elusive territory.

On the first of April, a mass worker's mutiny led to the 1st of April Rebellion, declared and led by Communist and Anarchist groups. Accusing of focusing more on the Olympics over the workers, the rebellion was widespread and popular. Not only did it occur in mainland Hungary, it also occurred in East Africa, West Africa and Libya.

The rebellion was the largest yet faced in Hungary. Thousands of workers all rose up in the hopes of a great revolution.

As a result, the First Olympic Games was postponed until September 1896.

Within months (July 1896), the rebellion was completely crushed.

Jeno Schmitt, former President of Hungary, was the spearleader of the Communist revolution. Having lost hope in getting re-elected, he funded and led the First of April Rebellion. Due to the failure of the revolt, Schmitt was forced into exile in Turkey, where he was met by cheering crowds in Istanbul.

The rest of the Communist revolutionaries, such as Jozsef Heller, were executed in show trials by the Olympics.

In August of 1896, the athletes of the world started to arrive in Budapest.

During this time, Kossuth also decided to focus more on improving relations with German emperor Wilhelm II, who now fiercely opposed the Austrians. Due to the whole "enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing, Germany and Hungary became closer.

Communist brigades continued rebellion in East Africa, despite the absolute crushing of the uprising in Mainland Hungary. A brigade was sent over to East Africa to crush it.

In the 5th of September 1896, the Olympic Games were declared. A massive amount of countries participated, including Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Spain, the United States, Portugal, Polish Galicia, Italy, and more. However, Austria and Turkey both protested the Games and refused to compete in them, both for separate reasons (Austria for the recently lost war, and Turkey for the crushing of the First of April Rebellion).

As shown here, the Games were widely popular and had massive foreign interest. Athletes of all types came to Budapest to compete and see what nation had the greatest athletes.

Poland fell into our influence completely, showing the close relations between Hungary and Poland.

In September, Greek President Alexandros Schiras offers an alliance to the Hungarian government (despite Kossuth and the Diet's opposition to Communism), which we accept.

Of interest, eight nations around the world have fell to Communist dictatorships. Four of them are Latin American, one of them is in South Africa, and the other three are in Southern Europe. The spread of Communism is of interest to us, but seen as highly dangerous.

Revolts in the Dutch colonies following a war gone wrong against the Germans led to the creation of a Sudanese state.

In the Olympics, multiple athletes arrived and won several gold medals.

Alfred Hajos won two gold medals (the men's 100m freestyle and the men's 1200m freestyle) in the Olympics, making him a local hero in Hungary and seen as among the world's best swimmers of the late 19th century.

Following the end of the Romanian-Bulgarian War and the occupation of Romania, the Kingdom of Bukovina and Kingdom of Romania (both led by Carol I) unified into Romania. In reality, it was more of an annexation (Romania annexing Bukovina), but it was still widely celebrated in Cernauti and the rest of Bukovina.

The occupation of the Netherlands led to the declaration of indpendence of the Republic of Indonesia in Atjeh, but it remains to be seen if it keeps its independence.

Amilcare Ciprani and the rest of the Communist government attempts to gain another ally by invading Austria, which completely fails due to Franco-British intervention.

After much of northern Italy was occupied, the Italian government agreed to pay an indemnity to the Austrian government and to temporarily decrease the size of their troops.

As of 1897, the Hungarian Army is among the most up-to-date Army in the world, up there with the German, Swedish and British armies.

A mild socialist rebellion occurs in Hungary, but it's of much less concern than the First of April Rebellion.

The so-called Austrian Defense Line (Osztrák Védelmi Vonal) was completely surrounded by Hungarian troops, all of them ready to occupy Austria in the case of another invasion. It became, as of 1897, the largest military border in Europe.

It is during this time that the Hungarian government realized that the Hungarian Army, the pride and joy of the Hungarian nation, was to became not only the most infamous army in Europe, but become an integral and focused part of Hungary. Hungarian focus on using industrial output to benefit the Army, in turn, led to criticism by pacifist socialists in several newspapers, who called it the "Katonai-ipari komplexum", or the Military-industrial complex.

Due to the focus on strengthening the Hungarian Armed Forces, the decision to make Hungary effectively subordinate to the Army led to it being called the "Second Prussia", due to the increased militarism of the Hungarian Republic.

A mild colonization crisis started in the West Sahara started.

Wilhelm II, of course, desired glory and more land for Germany - even if it was useless sand - while Ciprani claimed he wanted to "spread the glory of Communism to the useless sands of Africa". As a result, a crisis ensued between Germany and Italy.

The riches brought in from West Africa, East Africa and Libya have turned Budapest into a world-class city.

Among the likes of cities like Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Rome, Budapest is often called "the Paris of the Danube", for its beauty, rich resources, and large population. Budapest is not just a backwater with minimal population during the Ottoman era, but now a global city.

The North Pole expedition returned a failure. Another was sent.

To the anger of our Italian allies, Kossuth decides to back Wilhelm II's claims, not only to prevent war, but to also gain better relations with the Germans.

The crisis ends in Germany's favor, furthering

Wilhelm II and Shogun-Emperor Tokugawa Yoshinobu sign the Treaty of Alliance between the two Empires. Despite Wilhelm II's fears of the "Yellow peril", he still allies with the Japanese.

The revolt in the Dutch Sudan is crushed, but it leads to the rest of Dutch Sudan being landlocked.

The 1899 elections begin.

Ferenc Kossuth brought the country through four years of peace, development, and prosperity, and plans to continue those plans for as long as the Conservatives are in power. Of course, the Nationalists back him as well.

Istvan Tisza, the son of the elderly Kalman Tisza, was the Liberal candidate. He encouraged further colonial war, aggression, and more liberties to the People and to businesses.

Englemann came back as the Socialist and Communist candidate, but his campaign's somewhat small, yet promises a "country for the workingmen of Hungary".

Madagascar remains without any foreign influence. Of course, we decide to see if we can influence it before anyone else.

A dispute over the island of Sakhalin in the northeastern Pacific led to a war between Russia and her allies against Japan. In order to continue the alliance, we agree to declare war on Japan, but we don't do much against the Japanese.

A massive nationalist rebellion rises in Italy in an attempt to reverse the Austro-Italian Treaty of Peace, mainly having soldiers who are unable to serve in the army due to the treaty. However, what remains of the Italian People's Army crushes it.

Our budget is slightly adjusted, lowering taxes all around and increasing military spending. We still make a profit.

The Russo-Japanese War is going disastrously for the Russians, due to a weaker and more inexperienced army. The IJA and IJN are completely destroying the unprepared Russian Army and Navy, increasing dissent in autocratic Russia.

The conservatives, once again, win dominantly.

To commemorate the incoming 20th century, an official census is conducted after the election by the government. The results are expected to be released by New Years' 1900.

Meanwhile, relations between Germany and Hungary grow and develop, as the animosity between the two nations decrease. It doesn't mean an alliance will occur, of course, but it shows an end to the previous anger between the two nations.

The Japanese invasion of Outer Manchuria goes smoothly for the IJA and IJN, causing massive casualties for the Russians.

However, before the 20th century begins, Austria, with the backing of France and Britain, invades Polish Galicia. Kossuth wants to help, but he really does not want to fight a costly and dangerous war right as the 20th century starts.

To show the winds of change, the clipper transports were either sunk or permanently preserved and put into naval museums in Fiume, Senj and Mostar, and were replaced with steam troopships.

As the 20th century knocks on Europe's doors, the times are changing. Agrarian economies are dying out in favor of industrialized economies, Hungary is in a strong position of power, and the hope is that Europe continues to civilize.

And, of course, the census was released in 1 January 1900. What were the results?