THE NEW KRATOCRACY:
A Timeline of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries
“We shall not trouble you with specious pretenses … since you know as well as we do that right as the world goes, it is only in question between equals in power, that the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
~ Thucydides, The Melian Dialogue
(See Above) Georges Ernest Boulanger, Marshal of the Kingdom of France
PROLOGUE:
The short lived French Third Republic can best be described as a nation in a state of perennial chaos. The defeat in the First Franco-German War had left a gaping hole not only in French territory, but also in the political sentiments of the citizenry. Once again the French public were bitterly divided on an issue that had hampered France ever since the revolution so long ago - the dissonant choice between monarchism and republicanism, and the many opposed variations in between.
Whilst the flight of Napoleon III in 1871 had left a provisional republic as the only immediate option, this itself was little more than a stopgap solution. Each and every politician across the land knew that at some point a lasting settlement would have to be established, and that they would surely fight like hell to ensure their position came out on top. As such it is no wonder that temporary soon become permanent in the time that followed. Riven by rival claimants to the throne, political strongmen, and ideologues alike, any moment a settlement was attempted, tensions were rapidly inflamed - often to the effect of collapsing the government of the time. Unsurprisingly in the years subsequently France was a country marred by political chaos, enduring some 14 separate cabinets in just 10 years, and a paralysis in domestic affairs almost unrivaled by the fellow great powers of the world. It is thus perhaps no surprise that France was so very ripe once more for yet another revolution.
“The general impression is that the Republic is at the end of its tether ... We shall have revolutionary excesses and then a violent reaction. What will emerge from this? Some kind of dictatorship. There is no government in France."
~ Paul Cambon, French diplomat (~1889)
The rise of General Georges Boulanger nonetheless is a curious one. A decorated military veteran garnering mass popularity, Boulanger was little dissimilar from the other regimes that had seized power in the revolutions since Napoleon. Boulanger had sensed rightly, that the country had grown weary of the incessant change of ministries, and of the conceited intrigue and wrangling in the assembly; that it felt that the best men were not at the head of the state, and that it had conceived a profound disgust for parliamentary government, and a good deal of contempt alike for career politicians. Neither a politician nor an aristocrat, politically minded and yet popular, Boulanger was hence well placed to harness such sentiments and seamlessly propel himself to power.
However what in particular is so curious about Boulanger is neither his background nor his beliefs, but rather the basis of such popularity. That he garnered appeal from so many disparate factions of French society, each united by a passionate hatred of the status quo - if little else (a feature that would ultimately help to doom his regime in its later years). Through 1887 to 1889, aristocrats and bonapartists, radical republicans and communards, orleanists and militarists alike all jumped on the proverbial Boulanger bandwagon, rallying against the elites of the Third Republic. Each group seemingly projected their own ideal on the blank slate of the General, simultaneously believing he would both restore conservative Catholic dominance and reestablish the monarchy, yet paradoxically was also a closet leftist who would at last set forth a fair deal for the working classes. Of course it was predestined that sooner or later this contradictory coalition would at last collapse under its own labyrinth of inconsistencies.
The General’s undefined yet captivating manifesto of Revanche (revenge against Germany for the War of 1870), Révision (revision of the constitution), and Restauration (the return of the monarchy) rallied a remarkably broad coalition that saw Boulanger’s popularity continue to yet further skyrocket as the years progressed. By 1889, he had repeatedly won elections across France without standing, had garnered songs and rhymes venerating him, and together with his beloved black horse, had become an unreserved icon of the Parisian population. Not even his marked deficiencies at oratory or lack of concrete policies could stop his popularity from soaring to ever greater heights. The January 1889 Legislative Election would therefore prove the final hurdle on the upwards path to “le nouvel ordre”.
On the 27th, following a crushing victory against his opponent to become a Parisian Deputy, enormous crowds of their own volition began to amass across the capital, cheering on Boulanger and rallying that he should seize power outright. The governments immediate response - declaring the election void and demanding Boulanger to High Court on charges of treason [1], only sought to further add fuel to the fire. Within hours the protests in many cases had devolved into open rioting, bringing the capital into a frenzied gridlock. Whilst the General did not opt to appear for several long and tedious hours (some have speculated that alongside his mistress he was having doubts about the whole affair, however most have instead concluded he was simply allowing time for the crowds to grow), he would at long last appear before his adoring masses later that evening [2].
Proclaiming a new France, Boulanger had finally met his “Rubicon moment” with all pieces perfectly set in place. Together with the Parisian mob that would compose his motley army of protesters, triumphantly they would advance up the Champs-Élysées that eve in the now infamous March on the Assembly. By morning, Boulanger’s France had arisen. Destined to set in motion a chain of events that would utterly redefine the course of Europe and the world...
[1] These charges OTL led to Boulanger fleeing France in 1889, and his movement rather quickly evaporated after.
[2] POD, in reality he dithered and instead chose to spend the night with his mistress.