wolf_brother
Banned
Charles I, known to the Magyars as Károly IV, the last Hapsburg emperor of Austria-Hungary, lead an attempted coup in Hungary in the fall of 1921 in order to de-throne Miklós Horthy, the former national commander of the Austro-Hungarian armies who had been installed as Regent by the army in 1919. Charles had supporters, both in and outside of Hungary, mostly of the former; and had made an earlier attempted in earlier in 1921, though at that time he naïvely believed that Horthy would simply turn over the reigns of power. Later in the year though he secretly flew from his exile in Switzerland to western Hungary, where he proclaimed a new government, and was escorted by several hundred soldiers took by train to Budapest. However, he stopped at every village along the way to have the local police and civil service members swear loyalty to him (and to hear the crowd's chant "long live the King!") making his 120 mile trip take nearly four days.
IOTL Horthy was eventually victorious, but during the crucial first 96 hour period many Hungarian army units refused to stand against Charles, and most officers took a 'wait and see' approach; only two battalions out of the twelve near Budapest reported that they could arrive in the city by the 24th, and the Budapest garrison itself was suspected of supporting Charles - ultimately Horthy was forced to use a 500-man volunteer militia to attack Charles as he approached the city, at which point Charles surrendered rather than risk a civil war and intervention by the Little Entente, who was beginning to mobilize its forces in response to the crisis.
What If though Charles hadn't spent so much time making his way to Budapest? Horthy was initially completely taken off guard, shocked that such prominent military men such as Lehár and Ostenburg would support Charles over himself. It wasn't until late on the 23rd, fully two days after Charles had began his march, when Horthy even had begun to assemble his volunteer force, by which time Charles was less than twenty miles from Budapest. If Charles had rushed quickly to the capital he could have carried off his coup d'état quickly, quietly, and without any, or at least limited, bloodshed.
How do the other powers react? Obviously the Little Entente is mobilizing for an intervention; but what about the great powers, the US, the USSR, Germany, Italy, France, and Britain? What of Austria? - Charles had no plans at the time, afaik, to march on Vienna; though obviously his views about his plans would be more important than the plans themselves. Is Charles able to keep the throne?
If so, what are the affects on Hungary, and on Europe during the restless 20s and 30s?
IOTL Horthy was eventually victorious, but during the crucial first 96 hour period many Hungarian army units refused to stand against Charles, and most officers took a 'wait and see' approach; only two battalions out of the twelve near Budapest reported that they could arrive in the city by the 24th, and the Budapest garrison itself was suspected of supporting Charles - ultimately Horthy was forced to use a 500-man volunteer militia to attack Charles as he approached the city, at which point Charles surrendered rather than risk a civil war and intervention by the Little Entente, who was beginning to mobilize its forces in response to the crisis.
What If though Charles hadn't spent so much time making his way to Budapest? Horthy was initially completely taken off guard, shocked that such prominent military men such as Lehár and Ostenburg would support Charles over himself. It wasn't until late on the 23rd, fully two days after Charles had began his march, when Horthy even had begun to assemble his volunteer force, by which time Charles was less than twenty miles from Budapest. If Charles had rushed quickly to the capital he could have carried off his coup d'état quickly, quietly, and without any, or at least limited, bloodshed.
How do the other powers react? Obviously the Little Entente is mobilizing for an intervention; but what about the great powers, the US, the USSR, Germany, Italy, France, and Britain? What of Austria? - Charles had no plans at the time, afaik, to march on Vienna; though obviously his views about his plans would be more important than the plans themselves. Is Charles able to keep the throne?
If so, what are the affects on Hungary, and on Europe during the restless 20s and 30s?
