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Part Eighty-Five: Alpine Instability

A New Emperor; A New Germany:
After the assassination of German Emperor Wilhelm I, his son Frederick III took the German Empire in a new direction. Frederick had long been a champion of the liberal cause while he was Crown Prince, and now looked to turn Germany into a more democratic state. Soon Frederick became at odds with Chancellor Bismarck over several social issues. While Bismarck distrusted the Catholic and socialist elements in the new German Empire and had succeeded in getting the Reichstag to pass laws banning outwardly Catholic and socialist parties, Frederick III supported the repeal of these laws and greater political participation in the Reichstag. While Frederick had kept Bismarck as chancellor to avoid further weakening of the state after the assassination of Emperor Wilhelm, the gap between the two politicians' political views led to Frederick sacking Bismarck as Chancellor in 1894 and appointing Friedrich Naumann in his place[1].

With Bismarck now out of politics, there were changes in both domestic and foreign policy. Chancellor Naumann was a liberal imperialist and agreed with Frederick III on many of the policies that Germany should implement. In 1896, the Freipartei Reforms enabled the free creation of political parties within Germany and repealed the bans on Catholic and socialist parties. In the Reichstag election the next year, the revived Zentrum Partei gained 32 votes and the Sozialdemokratiscke Partei gained 16 votes in the Reichstag. The KDP was most popular in Bavaria and Württemberg, while the SDP gained 19 votes. Zentrum supported the Papacy in Rome in the Modern Schism and used that as an opportunity to diffuse some anti-Catholic sentiment against the party and show that it supported a secularisation of the church[2]. However, the liberal parties in the Reichstag would remain in control for the next couple decades as the National Liberal Partei maintained its dominance.

In foreign policy, the ousting of Bismarck and the appointment of Naumann as Chancellor marked a shift from expansion of the German Empire abroad to expansion in the European continent[3]. In 1896 under support from Emperor Frederick and Chancellor Naumann, a referendum was held in Moravia that resulted in the annexation of the country into the German Empire. Three years later in 1899, Germany invaded the Viennese Workers' Republic. Within two months, Linz and Vienna were occupied and Vienna was annexed. After the annexation, the Habsburgs called for their restoration to the Austrian throne, however friction between the conservative Habsburgs and Emperor Frederick led to Austria becoming simply a region of the German Empire. After the incorporation of Austria, it became a center for the Social Democratic Party in Germany in the early 20th century.


The Return of a Kingdom:
For a decade, the government of the state of Illyria had been dominated by a German-speaking Styrian elite that ignored much of the desires of the country's Slovene people. In March of 1887, demonstrations in Ljubljana and Maribor for greater rights and representation of Slovenians led to violence and clashes between the police in the cities and the demonstrators. In months, the Slovenian population had revolted against the government in Klagenfurt and several cities raised the flag of the duchy of Carniola above their town halls.

By the end of 1887, a Slovene militia had taken control of much of the southern area of the country. As the militia advanced on Graz and Villach, the government in Klagenfurt appealed to the surrounding countries for help. However, the Germany and Italy declined to assist Postermann and the Slovene militia soon threatened Klagenfurt itself. Postermann surrendered his position as the leader of Illyria, and the Slovene militia now had to determine what government they would adopt and who would lead it. Several options were considered, but the Slovenes settled on a constitutional monarchy. Anton Alexander of the Slovene House of Auersperg[4] was elected to become the king. Auersperg appointed Janez Kozler as the country's first Prime Minister according to the constitution.

[1] An early 19th century liberal German politician.
[2] Secularisation in terms of the separation of the church's influence from Catholic-oriented political parties.
[3] Bismarck had avoided the expansion of Germany in Europe to establish good terms with all the major European powers.
[4] Anton Alexander would not last very long as king, being succeeded by his TTL son Adolf