Austrian timeline base

I want to base a timeline on the following, but since my last one turned out to be incorrect I would need some help (I do not know everything of that time). So thanks for reading.


1889


Date: 3rd of September
Location: Near Bad Ischl



[blockquote]Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary (AH) was again indulging one of his passions, the hunt. Snow was thickly covering soil and threes and his boots were creaking with every step. His huntsmen had already spotted a royal stag with 10 branches and he was really looking forward to the shot. With him was as always a servant whose task was to ›secure‹ the prey. To say it bluntly it meant to compensate his majesty’s mediocre marksmanship. They were now moving more cautiously because the stag was near and sneaked up a hill. From there both of them should have a good aim. The Kaiser was going down and crawled the last few meters to reach the top. Now he could see the stag clearly; a beautiful deer with luscious brown fur and flawless antlers. He now aimed at it carefully. His servant did the same one meter to the left. Both of them shot simultaneously, so it would not be obvious who hit it. The stag’s head jerked up and a moment later it broke down and stopped moving.[/blockquote]
»Great shot your majesty. I think mine is gone missing again«, the servant replied.
When the servant turned his head Franz Joseph was lying there motionlessly, with his face on the ground. Blood already turned the snow red and his gun was blasted above the rifle’s butt. The explosion killed him in an instant.


The next in the line of succession would have been Franz Joseph’s younger Brother Karl Ludwig, but he had already ceded his claim after crown prince Rudolf’s suicide half a year ago. So Karl Ludwig’s son Franz Ferdinand became Kaiser. He decided to rule as Franz II.

The situation, which presented to Franz II, was not that promising.

In economical matters the industrialization has started much too late. Especially in the eastern part of AH medieval had still not ended (also in cultural and social ways). So even though the economic growth was higher than most western countries (~1,5%; GER ~1,2%, GB ~1%) AH had to rely strongly on agricultural products. Mainly grain, brown coal and wood were exported. The most important industrial export was sugar. In contrast to that AH’s industry, mainly seated in Bohemia and today’s Austria, was strongly dependant on foreign resources. Stone coal had to be imported and what was even more embarrassing for an agrarian state: Cotton, wool, tobacco and silk ranged among the most expensive imports. Also the high-tech companies were pretty much inferior to western standards and so their products were no match for their German counterparts. Good examples were gun barrels of the AH artillery. They were still made of bronze instead of steel, because nobody could produce a high grade steel with acceptable properties.

Concerning the military it was very old fashioned. Favoring fancy and manifold uniforms it was magnificent at presenting itself at parades, but its combat value was doubtable. In matters of equipment the army lacked proper artillery and machine guns. Needless to mention that AH’s army was surely inferior to those of France or Germany in this area, but the cavalry was very top notch, even for European standards. The many languages in the army were another problem. German was more or less accepted among officers, but the men in a regiment spoke up to three languages. Infantry regiment #100 for example consisted of 27 % Germans, 33 % Czech und 37 % Polish. In such a case the regimental officers had to learn all regimental languages within three years. In the case of men a lot of them could not even write or read their mother tongue. Sure that this situation did not improve the units efficiency. So the common soldier had to learn the so called Soldaten-Deutsch (Soldier-German), which consisted of 100 orders every soldier had to learn. Anything more complex was not taught and in many cases beyond them. The army also lacked proper accommodations, so in some cases a regiment (four battalions, ~500-600 men) was spread over 4 barracks. Infantry regiment #59 was a good example as its battalions were stationed in Bregenz, Innsbruck, Schwaz and Salzburg. Also the military draft was something which needed a revision. In principal every man in AH had the duty to serve 12 years in the military (3 active, 7 in reserve and 2 in the inactive Landwehr), but due to financial shortages just every fourth or fifth was drafted. Therefore in case of war most of the men had to be taught the very basics of being a soldier first or sent to the battlefield as mere militia. On the political side the army of AH was split up in three parts: Common army, Landwehr and Honved, what added even more complication to this. This was another point which impeded reforms in this area. Finally the navy was also not a paradigm of excellence. Old and few ships, low funding, mediocre infrastructures and port capabilities left AH with a fleet which was barely able to defend its own coasts.

The perhaps most delicate field the new Kaiser had to consecrate himself was the inner political affairs. In contrast to the foreign affairs, where AH could feature alliances with Italy, Germany and Romania and also a treaty about the Mediterranean with Great Britain, the inner political quarrellings were already starting to put pressure on AH’s integrity. Everywhere political parties with new more or less radical thinking popped up. Some of them demanded a separation of the monarchy and to join up with Germany, Russia (Pan-Slavism) or to found a new state. Others were shouting for more self-determination and free elections (You could only vote if you paid a certain amount of taxes, so it was basically a limited to the rich). In addition to this unfriendly political scenery further problems regarding poverty, rights and quality of life were giving radical ideas a fertile ground to blossom. This also caused many people to leave the country, mostly for the US. Among the most influential political groups were the Young Czech Party, which demanded a rather independent Czech state and equal use of language, the Social Democrats under Victor Adler and also upcoming Christian Socialistic parties and clubs which would form into the Christian Social Party under Karl Lueger. The latter was strongly anti-Semitic, but did not even try to hide this as it was easy to get votes by condemning Jews. The last and most probably biggest problem was presented by the Hungarians. Hungary was ruled by aristocrats, who strongly favored the politic of Magyarization. This meant strict favoring of the Hungarian part of the population and suppression of any kind of non Hungarian aspects when and where ever it was possible or affordable. Needless to mention, that this lead to tensions with German, Croat, Serb, Slovak, Ruthenian and Romanian minorities living there. In financial matters Hungary also got the longer end of the stick. Two thirds were always paid by Austria and the rest by Hungary, what Hungary surely enjoyed and Austria surely did not. Also the toll treaties had to be negotiated every ten years, what always gave the Austrians a headache.

Franz used the rest of the year to get insight to all of this details AH has to deal with in the coming year. So much of the state affairs rested on Eduard Taafe’s, prime minister of the Austrian part, shoulders. His Hungarian counterpart, Gyula Szupary, showed much less interest in cooperative politics. Besides that Franz was also looking for a possible Kaiserin to preserve the Habsburg dynasty.
 
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Another thing I Wanted to ask the community is:

Which writing style do you prefer?

- objectively written like a history book

- Date entries (on 1st of May: something happened,...)

- Story based history (with scenes)

- More or less chronological writing in one continous flood

Please reply, even if it just a short comment
 
Any style is fine as long as it's good, just write in whatever style suits you... In other words Support the mass movement started by Red

Yes We Can.....:p
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1890


Inner affairs


At the beginning of the year Prime Minister Eduard Taafe negotiated with Czech politicians about their demands. Still he could not compromise with the Young Czech Party, which was adamantly demanding an independent Czech state within AH. On the other side when rumors about the equal use of language leaked to the public an enormous protest arose from the German speaking clerks, who feared to lose their jobs to Czech clerks, who were already fluent in both languages. So a compromise with which both sides could agree was pretty much impossible. Perhaps it was inevitable to split Bohemia in two or even three autonomous parts. Taafe reported this to the Kaiser, who was not happy with the splitting, so the negotiations were declared a failure in February.

During summer new negotiations were started with the Czech for extended autonomy. This time Franz himself led the negotiations. This would prove to be a rather bad idea since the expectation of the radical Czech elements and the Kaiser differed strongly. Regarding the Kaiser`s strong and difficult characters it was no surprise that he shouted at them repeatedly and the Young Czechs finally stormed out of the negotiation. Now they were even boycotting the Czech Landtag (Diet). Prime Minister Taafe knew he had to talk with his monarch.

So Taafe tried to convince his Kaiser that a partition should be the last resort for the problems with the Czechs, but was perhaps inevitable. Another possibility Taafe offered was to allow free votes; at least to a limited degree. So the Social Democrats under the much more reasonable Viktor Adler would get more seats and therefore render the Young Czechs unimportant. Kaiser Franz just heard social and free votes and strongly opposed both solutions. The only thing Taafe could persuade him was to do something about the obstruction policy in the Reichrat. There politicians were impeding laws and killing time by holding epic (like in length, not in importance) speeches in their own language, what was just understood by a small part of the hearers. It was even worse when people turned to reciting poems or even cooking recipes to delay acclamations (known as filibuster in the U.S.). The longest speech these days lasted 13 hours. In addition to that it was also common to make noise and use instruments, ratchets were very popular, to predominate speakers. So the Austrian Reichsrat resembled a Kirtag (Kermesse, fun fair). Finally Kaiser Franz exploded during one of those speeches with the words:

»Shut up until you can contribute something useful and speak German so that everybody can understand you. And you over there with the ratchet: P-U-T it down.«
So a lot of translators were hired until German became mandatory in the Reichsrat in 1893 and unrelated speeches and noising were forbidden.


Economy


Much more successful were the economical changes. First of all Franz II ordered to reduce the imports of agrarian products by producing them in AH itself. Therefore Benjámin von Kállay was ordered to work out a solution for this problem. He presented a capacious project, which included large tobacco plantations in Bosnia and Hungary, several silkworm houses in Dalmatia, which would use the oak leave eating Antheraea yamamai (Japanese Oak Silkmoth), and also improved sheep ranching in Bosnia and the Bukovina. Therefore it would also be necessary to expand the railroad-system, since it was very underdeveloped on the Balkan. The second order Franz gave to his ministers was to improve the agriculture of AH as a whole.Kállay also presented a very daring project for this problem. A governmental organisation would be founded to teach common farmers modern agricultural techniques to improve their harvests, because most farmers` knowledge did not even exceed what their fathers and neighbor taught them, which was in fact quite little. But most importantly it would provide farmers with modern storing facilities, since up to a third of the harvest is lost to vermin. Initially a starting project would be started in Galicia.

As mentioned the track system in southern Hungary, the Vojvodina and on the Balkan should be improved. Particularly the southern Adriatic ports should be connected to the existing track system. It would be a costly and also a time consuming project with lots of difficulties.
The Kaiser himself was very fond these new projects. He would have even preferred to expand them, but unfortunately the budget of that year did not allow that.


Military


To provide AH's army with proper accommodations Ferdinand von Bauer was ordered to work out a plan for reorganizing and relocating the army. This sounded simple, but was the most delicate of the initial reforms. The military was very traditional and was naturally skeptical about changes. Also the fact that all garrisons were moved frequently to prevent familiarization with the locals and therefore to prevent them to take their side in case of a revolution posed a problem. Von Bauer finally worked out a very limited project, which should affect Bohemia only.



Foreign affairs


Meanwhile foreign minister Gustav Kálnoky von Kröspatak was carrying out his orders to search for reconciliation with Russia. Especially the Balkan had been a matter of concern and aggravation in the near past, so it was naturally one of the top themes during the talks. Bismark would have clearly preferred a distribution in spheres of influence, but Kálnoky decided to take a different approach. He managed to persuade the Russians to accept AH`s claims on Bosnia-Herzegovina (Including the Sandjak of Novi Pazar which was under AH`s control). In return AH would reinsure the sovereignty of Montenegro, would vote for a Montenegrin solution of parts of the Sandjak and northern Albania, in case that the Ottoman Empire looses the province, and most importantly allow Russian warships to be stationed at Bar in case of war. In addition to that Russia should gain free transit through the Bosporus. As it was unlikely that the Ottoman Empire and most probably also the British Empire would not agree to that, AH would only annex Bosnia-Herzegovina after Russia got its transit. The treaty remained a well kept secret as it would upset other major powers for sure. Concerning the rest of the Balkan, Kálnoky would try to make the remaining states orient to western countries.

Kálnoky also made further progress with Montenegro. A common railway was planned. The railway system in Montenegro was next to non existent and sure the Montenegrins agreed when AH offered to pay not only for the tracks in their territory, but also a fourth for the tracks in Montenegro. The planned tracks would run over Mostar, Trebinje, Niksic, Podgorica, Cetinje and finally Bar. This would definitely boost Montenegrin economy and align them closer to AH in matters of economy and politics.



World affairs


Great Britain returned Helgoland to the Germans for recognition of their claims on Zanzibar. In Germany Otto von Bismarck was replaced by Leo Caprivi. In Japan the Meiji constitution took effect. After the death of William III the grand duchy of Luxembourg became independent. (Everything like it really happened)
 
1891


Inner affairs


At the technician ball in Vienna Kaiser Franz made the acquaintance of Sophie von Chotek for the first time. Their feelings were mutual and soon a deep relationship evolved. The only problem was Sophie´s origin. Though she belonged to the ancient nobility of Bohemia, she was just a countess and did not belong to a reigning dynasty. That made her inappropriate in the eyes of the royal family, who was opposing the relationship strictly much to the aggravation of the Kaiser.


In late April Eduard Taafe finally persuaded Kaiser Franz to meet with Viktor Adler, the leader of the Social Democrats. The talks took several hours and in the end Taafe and Adler convinced him, that the Social Democrats were a better solution than the Young Czechs. Sure the monarch did not agree to a complete equal suffrage, but a new, a fifth, curia was created where every male citizen with at least 25 years of age could vote. The five curiae were then:

- Large estate

- Cities, market townships and industrial towns (when not already cities)

- Chambers of trade and commerce

- Rural townships

- Common curia

The first ›free‹ elections on Municipality level would be held in November. Sure that many influential men opposed the Kaisers decision, but again Taafe persuaded them that it was better to give the unresting people a finger than to have the hand ripped off. Still the common people will vote for only a fifth of the seats and the rest would still in their hands. The Kaiser himself did not care what the Reichsrat was thinking. He would have run over them if they did not comply with him (actually the law of that days gave him the power to do so), especially the potential reaction of the Hungarians to free elections made him chuckle.

And indeed the new election law was a much more serious matter for the Hungarians. They feared that the minorities, especially the Slaws, in the Hungarian part of AH would also demand more rights and independence. Especially the Croatians were hoping for more voice. Some Hungarian members of the Ministerrat (the common chamber of Austria and Hungary) even proposed to separate Hungary completely if the changes were not undone. A huge unrest in Croatia, the Vojvodina and Transylvania was the result. All the minorities feared to be let alone with the Hungarians and their Magyarization. In some cities, like Karlsburg (Alba Iulia) and Zagreb, the unrest had already turned into demonstration and much to the Kaiser´s shock some Hungarian militaries were considering to deploy the Honved to quench the situation. In a quickly organized meeting with Hungarian Primeminister Gyula Szupary he and Taafe could ease the situation. The Croats, Serbs and Romanians would receive more autonomy and really the demonstrations withered down, because everyone was putting his hope into the following talks with the Hungarians. In fact Gyula Szupary and his noble supporters had no real intention to give away any power or to lower their Magyarization politics. They just agreed to the talks to appease them.

So the new elections remained limited to the Austrian for the time being, much to the aggravation of the Croatians, Serbs, Romanians and German minorities in Hungary.


Military


Ferdinand von Bauer had made little progress with reorganizing the army´s accommodations. It turned out to be more complicated to relocate the regiments to single barracks than expected. Most of the barracks were too small to shelter a whole regiment or even more, so nearly all current had to be enlarged or rebuilt. This was clearly blasting his budget. Surely the obsolete ones should be utilized in some way too, what proofed even more of an annoyance. So to divert from his disability to handle this problem he was presenting a large project in Vienna to Taafe:

First the many barracks and military facilities in Vienna should be destroyed, sold or assigned for other usage. Prospective all of Vienna’s military will be concentrated in the Rossauer Kaserne (barracks), the Arsenal, the Maria Theresia Kaserne, which will be rebuilt as the new center for military medicine, and a new barrack in Meidling, which had to be built. Also the old AKH (General Hospital) was considered insufficient and would be replaced by a brand new state of the art medical center.

Second the traffic inside Vienna was beginning to get worrisome, so a ring of tracks should be built around the city; the so called Stadtbahn. This would enable the AOK (ArmeeOberKommando, high army command) to shift troops quickly around Vienna in case of war. Along with this plans for a real harbor for Vienna at Albern were worked out since there were just bare strands or crude footbridges to unload cargo.
After his first try and experience with military reforms, which he was considering then next to impossible, Ferdinand von Bauer did not want to be remembered for incompetence. So he was hoping that this project would draw enough attention until he finds a good opportunity to retire.


Economy


Like last year the economy was also this year AH’s bright spot. Again it grew more than most other western countries (percental). The new projects were also developing fairly well. The tobacco and wool imports had dropped by 10% and the new silk from Dalmatia was getting some liking as turban or fez material among Bosniaks, but the total output of wild silk (as it was sold) was still quite unimportant. An other promising thing was the first year of the Agrarbund (Agrarian Union), the new organization which should improve AH’s agriculture. The peasants were initially skeptical about the new changes, but altered their opinions after they discovered how much the harvest could be improved with new methods. Especially the new storage facilities proved successful. The loss to vermin was lowered from about 30% to less than 10%. All across AH’s peasant were now organizing to create similar organizations like the Agrarbund and Austria was funding that development upon the advice of Benjámin von Kállay. Hungary was much more reluctant to spent money for this, because they feared the new organizations as hatchery of democracy and socialism. The fact that a lot of Hungarian nobles were great land owners, who were fearing potential rivalry also explained their reservation. Surely the Hungarian peasants felt let down and new problems for the Hungarian government were preassigned.


Foreign affairs


Since the reinsurance treaty has expired last year Russia was trying to renegotiate with Germany, but was turned down. So they had to seek for new potential allies. Also one possibility the Russians considered was AH. Surely not as a full alliance partner, but a non-aggression pact was signed.

A trade agreement with Egypt was also signed. The British had influence Egyptian agriculture over the years and caused a massive increase in cotton planting. This was favorable for the British cotton mills and textile industry, but resulted that Egypt had to import food now. So AH’s grain surplus was exchanged for cotton, what led to noticeable increase trade and relationship with the British Empire.


World affairs


The Chilean rebels won the civil war after the victory at Placilla.

German East-Africa became an official province.

The Russian heir to the throne was attacked by a Japanese policeman during his visit in Otsu, Japan. The attacker managed to strike the Zarewitsch twice before escorts could secure the situation. The first one caused just a little scratch in his face, not even enough to make a scar, but the second paralysed Nikolai’s arm. Naturally additional tensions between both countries arose and the Zarewitsch started to dislike the Japanese.

Bulgarian Finance Minister Christo Beltschew is shot by Bulgarian extremists form Macedonia.
 
For everyone who thought my TL is boring, here is something with a bit more action:


1892


After several months of fruitless negotiations the demonstrations in Croatia resumed. In Zagreb, Osijek, Split and Novi Sad the streets were crowded with people demanding more autonomy and self-determination. In some places even the Croatian police was joining the demonstrators. It proved soon that the Hungarian authorities have lost control and it did not help to bait them with new promises.

At the beginning of March a raging mob under the lead of the Independent People's Party stormed the Sabor and chased out Ban Khuen Hedervary, who had to flee to Budapest. This was too much for the Hungarian government. Two regiments of the Honved were quickly deployed under the command of Koloman Bolla von Csáford-Jobbaháza to quench the uprising and restore order. Two battalions were sent to Zagreb, while the rest of von Csáford-Jobbaháza’s force went to other important cities to prevent anything similar. But the Croatian dissenters refused to dissolve and the situation escalated. The Honved struck them down bloodily. At the 7th of March 124 Croats and 5 members of the Honved were killed. This was the spark that turned the unrest into a fully fledged revolution spreading all over Croatia, Slavonia and to minor extent even to Dalmatia.

Kaiser Franz himself was furious about the Hungarian actions and their arbitrary deployment of the Honved. In a fit of rage he fully blamed the Hungarian government for the dead of Zagreb during the parliament meeting next day. He also demanded the Hungarian government to take responsibility and step down immediately. Istvan Tisza, who was de facto leader of the Hungarian government and nobility, just responded that everything was carried out according to current laws and it was a Hungarian matter, so they would handle it as they think it is best. The Kaiser’s response was:

“This does not give you the right to shoot my people in my country and do not forget who your Kaiser is! “

Franz made it clear that the Honved regiments were to recall immediately and real negotiations also had to start. But Tisza insisted that it was a Hungarian matter. Right after that he and the rest of the Hungarian parliamentarians left. Tisza returned to Budapest quickly and secretly ordered mobilization of further Honved regiments. The consecutive orders that came from his majesty after this event fell on deaf ears.

At the 15th of March 1892 the Republic of Croatia with Josip Juraj Strossmayer as head of state was proclaimed in the Zagreb Cathedral. He had already retired from politics but agreed to work as a figurehead until a suitable replacement was found. After this declaration 5 regiments of the common army, numbering over 10.000, affiliated with the rebels. It was now clear to everybody that this had turned into a civil war.

Tisza had feared something like that and deployed two additional regiments to Croatia. With the two already deployed regiments this force was big enough to justify a higher ranking general. So FML (Feldmarschalleutnant) Antal Freiherr Szveteney von Nagy-Ohaj was entrusted with this command.

Battle of Krizevci

The first major encounter between Hungarian and Croatian forces resulted in the battle of Krizevci, a medium sized town on the railroad between Zagreb and Budapest. Therefore it was an important strategical point.

Forces

Croatian Republican Army

Strength: 12.000 men organized in 5 regiments; 34 field guns; several hundred militia

Commander: FML Karlo Ljudevit Freiherr von Sztankovics

Honved Army

Strength: over 20.000 regular soldiers organized in 4 full regiments; 82 field guns; 12 howitzers

Commander: FML Antal Freiherr Szveteney von Nagy-Ohaj

Sztankovics had got a pretty good picture by his scouts from what the Hungarians were to throw at him. So he realized that his men were clearly outnumbered in numbers and especially in matter of artillery. Most likely his men were also outclassed, because the Hungarians were known for feeding their Honved with the most loyal and best men they could get. His only hope was to inflict heavy losses to them so that the blood toll would be bitterer than the victory sweeter. Otherwise he would try to stall them until help arrived, wherever it would come from. In the worst case he and his forces would face the destiny their sense of duty would entail on them.

Szveteney von Nagy-Ohaj on the other side had gotten clear orders from Count Tisza before his department. The campaign in Croatia had to be ended quickly and clean, before Austria could impede it or the Romanians in Transylvania would stop not rocking the boat. To his discontent the Croats had used the time to dig in the hilly surroundings west of Krizevci. So they had acquired a rather strong position and were blocking the railroad to Zagreb too.

Von Nagy-Ohaj decided to use his superior artillery to drive the Croatians out of their trenches. Unfortunately the enemy did not panic and remained in his favorable position. Also their artillery was doing quite well as it was properly entrenched too and his own forces were mandatory fighting in open field. Thus von Nagy-Ohaj launched his attack from east and south under the cover of his artillery. The defenders fought stubbornly, but finally the attackers’ superior numbers tipped the scales.

Sztankovics realised this just in time and ordered a fighting retreat. Most of his men were able to withdraw deeper into the hills to the north. Both commanders were now using their cavalry squadrons to its fullest, the Hungarians to chase down the fleeing enemy and their Croatian counterparts to prevent just that. The fighting ended at last at dusk. Both forces were scattered and badly hit, although the Hungarians could bear the damage better.

Result

Hungarian tactical victory

Loses

Croatian Republican Army

~700 dead or wounded; 500 POW; 9 field guns captured or destroyed

Honved Army

~1.200 dead or wounded; 2 field guns and 1 Howitzer destroyed

Von Nagy-Ohaj was not really satisfied as a strong rebel force posed still a threat to his force and especially to his support line. He had no other choice than to deploy two battalions and a cavalry squadron to secure his lines of communication and supply. This proved to be a good decision as von Sztankovics also detached two companies, mostly local militiamen, to harass the Hungarians’ rear with quick raids.

For the remaining Croatian force they would march the whole night to reach the small river Lonja near Lonjica and set up a new defence. Lonjica lay less than 30 kilometres east of Zagreb and the Croatian commander knew that he would not be able to stop the enemy without reinforcements.

Meanwhile franctireurs popped up in Croatia and neighbouring regions. They disrupted Hungarian activities by raiding supply depots and attacking administration buildings. This gave the Honved and other supportive elements some trouble, because they now had to seek the dense woods for rebels, a task that occupied a lot of men and was rarely successful. So Tisza considered sending additional soldiers and police to deal with this problem.
 
Great timeline bud. I seems like tensions are finally boiling over into conflict. I will be watching this one. Also I love Franz II in this timeline keep it up with his awesome quotes (i.e "Shut up until you can contribute something useful and speak German so that everybody can understand you. And you over there with the ratchet: P-U-T it down." I found quotes like these so funny and memorable. It also got me thinking about how long it is going to take till Obama does the same thing(tell fillabusters to shut up) ) Keep up the good work. Also I would advise changing the the title of thread to something else so people don't think it is a timeline proposal thread than a actual timeline.
 
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