United Kingdoms of Zapaslavia

Don't know why, but something overtook me a bit ago resulting in this:

1848. The year that saw the effective end of one of the most powerful Houses in Europe. What began as protests during February in France soon spread to neighboring states. By March, Austria was feeling the pressure as well.

During one protest in Budapest, soldiers opened fired, killing several but inciting riots that soon spread out of Budapest into the rest of Hungary. Soldiers were forced to use force more and more often, resulting in more and more violence against them. By late April, protests, riots and even open revolution in some parts were gripping the entirety of the empire.

Soldiers soon began to defect to the rebelling sides during some of the riots, others fought on.On May 20, Hungarian nobles met in Budapest under extreme secrecy and declared the formation of the Kingdom of Hungary. Other Austrian territories followed suit, but the tide was beginning to turn against them, or so it seemed.

Prussia, eager to take more power in Germany proper from Austria, threw their support behind the Hungarians, as well as the Czechs, who had begun demanding more power in early May. Austria, dismayed, looked to Russia for assistance but found no help. In a secret agreement with Prussia, Russia would sit out of this foreign civil problem.

With no help, and with Prussia now assisting the Czechs and Hungarians (and others shortly), things complicated once more with Piedmont-Sardinia making more pushes into Lombardy. Things were quickly spiraling out of control.

Ferdinand I was forced to abdicate, Franz Joseph I was installed and peace treaties written up hastily so that Austria might hold on to something. Piedmont-Sardinia was ceded Lombardy, Bohemia became fully independent, and Hungary was joined to Austria in a loose union. It looked like peace might reign once more.

Or not. The Peace of 1848 only lasted for a year. Rioting and protests erupted once more in 1849, this time in Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Transylvania and Galicia. Even with the placation of the Hungarians, the going was difficult to try and maintain these territories. But things just kept getting worse for poor old Austria. Russia sprung in on the action by supporting the Kingdom of Galicia. Hungary, not wanting to be invaded by Russia and busy trying to keep Croatia and Transylvania, officially ended their union with Austria and recognized the Kingdom of Galicia, but it was too late for them as was.

With support (and partial occupation) from Russia, the Transylvanians declared unification with Moldavia and Wallachia. Russia then flooded the region with forces.

Britain and France however, were becoming fearful of Russia taking so much land in the Balkan region, fearing that the Russians may be forcing their way south to the Dardanelles. Shortly after the formation of the Grand Principality of Romania, Britain and France declared war.

Austria attempted to unite it's forces with the French and British, but they weren't really there for Austria so much as to put a check on Russian expansionism. The war ended quickly by 1851 with the destruction of the Russian Black Seas fleet and Russian withdrawal of Galicia and Romania. However, Austria failed to bring their plans of reunification to fruition, Hungary was barely able to hold Croatia and Slovakia after the war, and Italy was now rapidly nibbling up most of Northern Italy while France was abroad and Austria crumbling.

The Galicians, as per their portion of the treaty, were forced to remove the Russian puppet Mikhael Nikoaevich from their throne, leaving them without a monarch until Bohemia offered to unite with Galicia.

Hungary was attempting to hold down a hornets nest as the saying goes, trying to maintain their control of the coast and mountains simultaneously. However, the situation for them would be similar now to Austria. Bohemia-Galicia soon heeded the distress call of their fellow Slavs in northern Hungary and, with the assistance of Prussia, launched an invasion of Hungary in 1855.

The war lasted two years and killed many thousands of young men and numerous civilians, but Slovakia officially joined Bohemia-Galicia via treaty in 1857, forming the United Kingdoms of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Galicia and Rusynia, or the United Kingdoms of Zapaslavia (UKZ). Italy was more-or-less unified by 1859, with only Rome being a holdout, Romania was now on the map, and

Austria had disintegrated in less than a decade. With its moral and economy broken, Austria officially petitioned to join the Prussian dominated German Trade Union. Within another decade, Austria would simply be another state within the German Empire.
 
In 1859, Austria, now just a remnant of it's former glory, applied and was admitted into the German Trade Union, dominated by Prussia to it's North. This humiliating act finally showed just how low the Hapsburgs had come. Prussia, meanwhile, was sitting pretty with it's new allies, Zapaslavia and Russia, and was nibbling up the states of Northern Germany waiting for the right time to act.

In the Balkans, the widespread chaos and reorder of Central Europe was a showing to the peoples there that they too could achieve not only independence but also empire.

Serbia was the first, with backing from Romania and Russia. France, which had concluded a war with Russia just a decade earlier was not very happy to hear of widespread Russian involvement in the Balkans once more, and, after forming a simple alliance with Hungary and Italy, launched the Second Balkan War.

The war did not go very well, to say the least. Serbia, not really having a trained army, and Russia having to contend with long supply lines were seeing their armies torn up by Hungarian, Italian and French troops. It wasn't until Bulgaria, wanting to be free, jumped in that the "Anti-Slav Alliance" finally began to slow. Turkey, for it's part, was trying as best it could, but was also having to deal with problems in the south of it's empire.

After two years of a fairly bloody stalemate, Greece finally tipped the scales by attacking the Turks as well. France was now overstretched in the east, Hungary was having to contend with massive Russian raids as well as Croat and Romanian rebels, and Italy was barely holding the Adriatic coastline. France finally relented and asked Britain for assistance, citing Russian expansion into the Mediterranean as being a primary reason for their participation in the war.

Britain agreed, though they got the Greeks to back out of the Russian alliance with promises that they would be allowed to keep most of their territories they had captured. Britain's entry into the war began to tip it back in favor of the Allies. Another two years would see the conclusion of the war. Serbia was granted independence, Romania lost some territories here and there, and Bulgaria was brought back into the Ottoman fold, as well as constant British and French presence in the Dardanelles.

Prussia, however, had not been sitting idly for the previous four years. In 1860, it attacked and got all of Schleswig-Holstein, and in 1861 Prussia coerced all of the North German states to recognize it's king as Kaiser of North Germany. Even though Prussia had unified the North, it's hold on the South had not waned. As soon as the peace treaties had been written up concluding the Second Balkan War, North Germany began pressuring France about the German-speaking Alsace-Lorraine region, saying that it should be freed due to their cultural difference. After three months of telegraph and personal communications, between Paris and Berlin, it looked like the order was settled, until Chancellor Bismarck released the telegraphs to the state papers, which twisted some of the dialogue to make it appear as if France had been mocking the Germans. The public called for action, and that is what they got.

North Germany, now with the South German states in an frothing anger against France, launched attacks on the still worn out and tired French. The French fought brilliantly and courageously, but all was for not. By July of 1864, German forces were assaulting Paris. France's allies Italy and Hungary were too slow to mobilize their forces Northward, and ran right into German and Zapaslav forces. In August of 1864, the Treaty of Paris officially ended the war, and Germany had unified and claimed Alsace-Lorraine.
 
The flag of the United Kingdoms of Zapaslavia, approved by the Prague Parliament of 1857, shortly after the inclusion of the Kingdom of Slovakia

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At the time of revolution, Bohemia was in near chaos on who was to be the monarch. After the firm establishment of their independence, an agreement was made with Austria to place Archduke Karl Ludwig on their throne, but this fell through rather quickly on the whims of Karl Ludwig himself. After an emergency meeting of the Bohemian Parliament, František Palacký (Francis Palaky) was elected king by a narrow margin, but he too renounced the claim. Desperate, Austria proposed just two days after Palacký declined the crown Francis II daughter Maria Clementina Franziska Josepha. After some debate, she was elected to be their Queen, and took the royal name Queen Maria Clementina, and her husband, Leopold, became Prince-Regent of Bohemia.

Queen Clementine, as her new nation called her, ruled lightly. Having not been properly raised to be a leader per se, she allowed the Parliament to have the majority of the power, and ruled until 1881 with her passing in Prague, where she is buried.

The now United Kingdoms of Zapaslavia faced a minor constitutional crises with her passing. With no surviving immediate heir, they finally decided to elect once more, this time the crown passing to Duke Karl-Theodore of Bavaria, a doctor. He acquiesced under pressure from family not only in Bavaria but also in Austria. He became Karol I of Zapaslavia, under an agreement that all effort would be made so that his daughter, Amalie, would marry into a noble line in Zapaslavia.

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King Karol I shortly before assuming the Zapaslav throne

Princess Amalie did that (sort of), marrying one Josef Kaizl, a high ranking member of the Young Zapaslav Party, and elevating him to Prince of Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia, Slovakia and Rusynia. They had one child before his passing in 1902, the future king of Zapaslavia, Karol Mária Josef Wittelsbach-Kaizl (Karol II).
 
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France was not doing well. Having won one war only with the assistance of another Great Power to lose another war so quickly to a new Great Power was not exactly a goo thing for sure. Napoleon III was forced to abdicate in favor of Henri V of the Bourbons. He set out to try and "right the wrongs that had come to the people of France," and to some degrees did well. He began a massive overhaul and modernization of the army and navy, and focused the French frustrations outwards in a massive colonial push in Africa and Asia.

By 1880, Tunisia, Indochina, Madagascar and parts of the Pacific were firmly under French domination. At the same time, political outreaches to Denmark, Norway-Sweden, Britain and Italy saw some great strides forwards in diplomacy. When Henri V passed, Jean III of the Orleanist branch was declared King, and he expanded the diplomatic relations started by Henri V by extending them to Romania and Zapaslavia (both of which were having troubles with Russia, Germany and Hungary).

The Hungarians, having bested their opponents barely in the Second Balkan War were seeing a rise in "bosszú politics," know most widely in the west as "revanchist politics." They began pushing for Slovakia an Transylvania once more, and began aligning themselves with the Russians and Germans, both of whom had eyes on either state. Germany wished to annex the Sudetenland and Cisleithania, whilst Russia wanted Rusynia and to dominate Zapaslav and Romanian politics.

These power pushes by the three may have brought them closer, but Zapaslavia and Romania disdained these overt moves, and opened themselves up to French and Italian influences to counter them. In 1868, Zapaslavia and Romania formed the East European Entente, modeled on the French dominated West European Entente of France, Italy and to a lesser degree (only really with regards to Russia) the UK.
 
On a cold January morning in 1869, anti-Russian Poles in Radom were preparing to hold a protest against the Russian government for their being conscripted into the army. This was not to be, sadly, for Russia had been growing more and more tired of the Polish protests which had been occurring since as early as 1862. Russian troops stationed in the city moved in to break it up. Details are sketchy, but for some reason, whether under stress or fear, Russian soldiers open fired on the protesters, killing five and injuring several others. What was to be a protest of around a hundred swelled to become a riot of nearly the entire city.

The word got out very quickly of the "Radom Massacre" to the rest of Congress Poland, and revolutionary leaders met in secret in Krakow, capital of the Kingdom of Galicia, a constituent kingdom of Zapaslavia dominated by Poles. They were met by leaders of Zapaslavia, France, and the Ottomans, and were divided into three main camps: Free Poland, Red Poland and Imperial Poland. Free Poland sought to lift the yoke of Russian oppression from the Poles, Red Poland pushed it even further by demanding a Socialist state, and Imperial Poland sought only to increase their freedoms within the Russian empire. Neither side could come to a deal, despite the foreign backings.

However, the meetings also saw the Free and Red Poles secretly purchasing arms for their respective camps, and the Free Poles making contact in Galicia, Poznan and Silesia. They began raising, also in secret, forces that they slowly began arming with the purchased weapons.

Throughout 1869, minor Polish protests and riots would continue to occur. Russia, focused on pushing itself into Asia and the Caucuses paid only nominal attention to it. This would change rapidly in January of 1870.

In Radom, the troops were preparing to have lunch. A small protest had been held peacefully, rather unique in the city since the previous years riots. As they lined up for their meal, a small explosion rocked the buildings near them. Several of them were injured, and before they could bring themselves together, more small explosions occurred, killing and maiming others, and were followed up by rifle fire. By sundown, Radom was flying the Polish flag.

Over the next few weeks, Free and Red Polish "armies" liberated large areas of Congress Poland, declaring it "free and independent once more" on April 15. Russia, meanwhile, was trying to gather it's forces, but was facing riots elsewhere in their empire, notably Finland, Lithuania and the Caucuses.

However, the "Free Polish Republic," dominated by the Free and Red Polish factions, soon had to come to a decision: should they push and try and take Polish lands in Germany? The Reds stated that to do so they would need to stop where they were and shore up their defenses and build their industries. However the Free Faction believed that a push into Germany would help them in the long run, and they could take the factories in Poznan and Silesia and use those to churn out more weapons for the cause. The Free Poles won the argument, and orders went out to cells of Free and Red Poles in Poznan and Silesia to rise up.

Germany, which had been "watching from afar" reacted quite poorly to the situation. Within a few weeks chaos was gripping much of Poznan and Silesia, and their own weapons were turning against them. However, this act was to spell the end for the "Free Polish Republic." Hope that foreign recognition would widely occur by the showing of force against Germany, particularly from France and Italy, never happened. Germany regrouped and began a vicious campaign against the rebels, coordinating it's attacks with Russia. Even Zapaslavia shied away from recognizing a fellow Slavic state out of fears of reprisals from Russia and Germany. By the Winter of 1870, most of Free Poland had been reclaimed, though riots would continue to grip the region for years.
 
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