Maximilian's legacy: Interwar and Post World War 2

[lawrencenguyen]

Meanwhile the battle in the Chamber of Deputies was intensifying with the whole "who should the Emperor marry" devolving into battle of petty politics with the Conservatives blaming the Reformists with the rise of Japan and the Soviet Union while the Reformists blamed the Conservatives for not backing the Mexican intervention in the Brazilian Civil War and letting them fall into the Argentine sphere of influence.

The battle gotten to the point that the Reformists were now bringing up the "Church question" and began threatening the power of the Church and by now many were absolutely fearing a Second Reform War, until the Emperor finally got involved and in a rousing speech he condemned both parties of seeking power in a time when Mexico was fighting a war in three fronts and he chastised them for their petty squabbling by saying "Have either of you learned what happened when the country was divided and was at war, we lost the war against the Americans and half of our territory. My grandfather, the Grand Maximiliano, brought this country together and made it into a power and now you people want to tear it apart because of your self-serving politics. For once in your greedy lives put aside your differences and help Mexico win the war." After that he made His decision on who he should marry and he chosed Frederica.

The Deputies after his speech and his marrying announcement decided to do what he said and the leaders of both parties, Lazaro Cárdenas and Juan Andreu Almanza meet on the 20 of March and the two formed the new Unión Sagrada or Sacred Union to put aside their differences and both parties would vote unanimously on anything that has to do about the war.

View attachment 477668 Juan Andreu Almanza, leader of the Conservative Party

For the marriage the Emperor and Chamber agreed to Wilhelm's marriage proposal and broke the agreement with Romania citing Ileana's supposed illegitimacy and this insulted Micheal so much he was considering joining the Axis but decided against it. On March 29, in the Catholic Cathedral of St Hedwig in Berlin the two married and during there, Emiliano greeted his new grandfather Kaiser Wilhelm and awarded him the Imperial Order of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to the Regent the Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle.

View attachment 477671 St. Hedwig Cathedral

During the marriage he meet again with his sister, the two haven't seen each other since 1919, while Mexico and Poland had a warm relation the two monarchs were distance, but now the two got together and toured Warsaw which managed to defeat the Soviets in what became known as the Miracle of the Vistula, (more on that tomorrow) and at Warsaw Emiliano praised the Poles on their bravery and promised Mexican relief.​

At this point, the Mexicans should named their Emperor as “Emilliano the Unfortunate” because despite he was a good monarch with high popular supports, fate just love to screw with his personal life and he was so far unable to bear an heir to the throne.

Hopefully his third marriage with the Hohenzollern this time would change that.

About the Brazilian Braganzas, are there any chances for them to reunify with their Portuguese family?

I know Pedro II had barred the Portuguese branch from inheritance of Brazilian throne but things have to change now, with Manuel II and his wife unable to bear a child, the succession law would have to divert to either the line of the deposed King Miguel family or Emperor Pedro II family. Pedro II family is much closer to King Manuel as Manuel great great grandmother Queen Maria II is Pedro II sister.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

I will cover this after Poland.

Its actually Queen Maria II btw, sorry its my typo mistake.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

You really have to think just like the Romanovs, the braganzas have nine lives and speaking of Brazil, what is the possibility that like Italy in OTL won't Brazil just collapse and switch sides and also see a third Brazilian restoration?

A Third Brazilian Monarchy restoration is possible, although the nation would have to be a shared occupation between the Allies to give the impression that the monarchy is no longer associating themselves with Mexican Imperial interests.

And yes, Brazilian switching sides are still possible considering Vargas, the President of Brazil in OTL while maintain quite close relations with the Axis were quite wary of it and later on did choose the Allies side instead.

I hope that for the sake of the Braganzas Restoration, Vargas should be able to kept his position as Prime Minister as he is one of the few competent Brazilian politicians capable of steering the nation out of its darkest time.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

Yep, i think its also work too, more land for Chile to annex as well.

Regarding Peron and Argentina, his reputation in post war period would be quite a controversial one, with many people agreed on the notion that he is a “tragic hero” figure. A General and then a dictator who bring Argentina into a regional power and also responsible its downfall. He and his wife Eva Peron were actually quite popular in his presidency, and because of his liberal supports for the people of lower class and his economic reforms, even when Argentina lost the war, Peronism would still persist even in post-war period.

Those who backed him up are the conservatives and nationalists and some classic liberals, who stated that “without Peron industrialization efforts and liberal reforms Argentina would never be able to reach such height.” While the left wing liberals and democrats loathed him “Peron’s industrialization and economic reforms widened the inequality gap and his terrible decision by agreed with the Junta Cabinet to wage war with Mexico ripped the nation aparts.”

He is basically TTL Argentinian equivalent to the OTL Hungarian dictator Horthy, a man who is considered to be either a national hero and an Axis tyrant by their own populace. His legacy is controversial but there are still a lot of people symphathized with him, especially among the modern Argentinians.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

To be fair, I'm pretty sure that people coming to his defense would say that Mexico pushed him to war and it was a Allied conspiracy to take down Argentina.

That and the Argentine Junta Cabinet basically pressured him into taking a stand against Mexico while its clear that he is fully aware that they wont be able to win a war with Mexico in the long run.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

You know, if the Allies sentenced Peron to death post war after the tribunal, it only incensed the Argentinians even further as his death made him one of the martyrs for Argentina nationalism right up there with General San Martin.

He might have lost popular supports but his Peronism lived on, and Peron’s reign as dictator would be remebered widely as one of Argentine’s nostalgia for a better era of their history when they are the leading power of South American region, and his martyrdom basically further cemented those statements.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

He'll probably live, he definitely won't be like Mosley who, if doesn't pull a Hitler, would have the noose around his neck for what he did to the Catholic population. For Stalin, it's definitely going to death for the countless purges, deaths during the five year plan, and the terror in the Baltics and Finland. Mussolini we already know how that's going to end, as for Petain it could possibly be like in OTL with him being sentence to house arrest. For Japan, it really depends, Tojo will basically be the same as for Hirohito, since there will be no Soviet Union and no threat of Communism it's really up to the United States to decide his fate, really I'm pretty sure they'll keep him to not risk a Japanese revolt and guerilla warfare.

Despite Mexico and Argentina being archenemy of one another on the American continent, i think that at the end of the day, Emperor Emilliano actually had a great respect for Peron mirroring his grandfather Emperor Maximilian and former Republican Benito Juarez in the Mexican Civil War. Even when Peron was the enemy leader, the Emperor himself praised the Fascist dictator on a personal level for his efficient economic reforms and his genuine sympathy towards the lower masses of Argentinian society as well as responsible for transforming Argentina into an industrial powerhouse in South America. Because of this I think that there is a chance that Peron will get a pardon and instead got sentenced to house arrest instead, the good words and influences of the Mexican Emperor in the Allied Tribunal would helped to spare Peron life.

Additionally, it would be quite interesting for the two leaders of two opposing sides to meet each other in post war period, with the Mexican Emperor himself personally travelled to Argentina to pay respect to his former enemy as well as attending Peron funeral after his death.

Peron too would likely to have liked the Mexican Emperor on a personal level to the point that he stated its such a pity the Mexican Emperor is on the opposing side, had he was on their side they would have been friends with one another. Peron praised the Emperor for his willing to implement further liberal reforms and universal suffrage to Mexico as well as improving the lives of the masses as well as the Emperor perserverance to solve the problem during the political crisis of Mexico at the time the two nations are at war with one another.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

To me I think it would've been better if it was Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Emiliano meeting each other, because both these two countries were similar: in the beginning they were laughing stocks in the world stage and because of that they industrialized and waged wars for greatness and the results of that made them respected and great powers. If anything these two mirror opposites or like brothers who chosen different paths and that to me makes the Japanese Mexican enmity an interesting and tragic rivalry.

I was about to recommend that too actually, perhaps the best part about Post-War era is that Mexico finally reconcile with both Japan and Argentina, two of their biggest archenemies in WW2. The meeting between the two Emperors would also be quite interesting, Emperor Showa would have lamented the fact that he is now only a monarch in name and merely a symbollic figure compared to Emperor Emiliano.

The Mexican Emperor too, would have had some sympathy toward the Japanese Emperor mostly because Hirohito reign was being used as justification for war by the more militaristic sects of the Japanese government, especially in regards to the war against Mexico.

I think that if there is something the American and Mexican could agreed on the Japanese occupation then it would be that both of them will allow the Japanese Emperor to keep his position but reduced his political role into a symbolic one.

 

[lawrencenguyen]

In Portugal, a different crisis was taking place: after the last Legitimate Braganza King, Miguel II, died childless in 1932 the title of King went to the mother of Miguel II, Amélie of Orleans, this created problem for succession and the Cortes decided to give the throne to Duarte Nuño, the Duke of Braganza and this settled the succession question until the end of the Brazilian Civil War.

View attachment 477841 Queen Amelia of Portugal
View attachment 477842 Duarte Nuño de Braganza

After the Brazilian House of Braganza Orleans fled Brazil, this at first didn't start a controversy until in 1941 when Queen Amelia issued a declaration stating that Pedro III would succeed her after she died.

View attachment 477843 Pedro III of Braganza Orleans

This created a major succession crisis because Duarte refused to accept this citing Pedro II's declaration that the portuguese Braganzas couldn't succeeded the Brazilian throne therefore the Brazilian Braganzas shouldn't receive the portuguese throne.

Pedro III tried to reach a compromise by resending the declaration of succession but Duarte refused to accept this because the Brazilian Government had to vote for the Proclamation. Getting fed up with Duarte, Pedro began to questioned Duarte's legitimacy by saying that the Queen was forced to accept the decision of the Cortes without Amelia having a say in the issue and that he was always the one to succeed her.

Both sides began to gather supporters and outside support; Pedro reached out to Mexico and Spain for ammunition and political support, both agreed and both gave their help as mediators, this terrified the portuguese people because not only was it because they still feared Mexico but were also terrified of a Spanish dominated monarchy.
Meanwhile Duarte sought support from both the Kingdoms of France and Sardinia, both agreed and civil war was now becoming inevitable until a coup averted it.

Antonio Oscar Camrona was before a Prime Minister during the reign of Miguel II but hated the constitutional monarchy and began to plot with Pedro, who after the Civil War, was also bitter of democracy and both planned to eliminate their biggest problem: Duarte. On the night of February 12, 1942 portuguese officers stormed Duarte's Palace and tortured, executed, and burned his body. The next day Camrona, Pedro, the army, and Orleanist supports stormed the Assembly of the Kingdom and forced the Prime Minister to resign at gunpoint and made him get on a plane bound to the United States. As for the Queen Amelia, she was forced to abdicate, give the throne to Pedro, and leave for Mexico. making Pedro III now Pedro V of Portugal.

View attachment 477845 Antonio Oscar Camrona

Camrona then declared the Estado Novo, making himself dictator, and declared Portugal's support to the Allies without entering the war and Mexico, Germany, and Austria began supporting them financially.​

A little typo mistakes here, its Manuel II not Miguel.

 

[Gukpard]

A Third Brazilian Monarchy restoration is possible, although the nation would have to be a shared occupation between the Allies to give the impression that the monarchy is no longer associating themselves with Mexican Imperial interests.

And yes, Brazilian switching sides are still possible considering Vargas, the President of Brazil in OTL while maintain quite close relations with the Axis were quite wary of it and later on did choose the Allies side instead.

I hope that for the sake of the Braganzas Restoration, Vargas should be able to kept his position as Prime Minister as he is one of the few competent Brazilian politicians capable of steering the nation out of its darkest time.

Sadly for the monarchy to be restored, Vargas had to go.

Vargas and Salazar (the portuguese dictator), both were republicans that respected the monarchy, think of Romania today. They had a very great respect for their role and their symbols, Vargas is who restored the presence of the Imperial dragoons and the imperial infantry as the brazilian cerimonial guard, but he was a adamant republican... Unless this PoD results on a "Vargas Who" scenario, with a different personality of him.

For a restored imperial Brazil, the best options for PMs are Arlindo Viega (leader of the monarchists at the time), Plínio Salgado (leader of the integralists) or some lesser known conservative figure.

 

[Colonel flagg]

What going on in Russia red vs white war?