Imperial Federation of Austria

[Imperial Federation]

Imperial Federation of Austria

Motto: Indivisibiliter ac Inseparabiliter (Indivisible and Inseparatable)

Capital: Vienna (Executive), Budapest (Legislative), Zagreb (Judicial)

Population: 55,000,000

Demographics:

National Languages: German, Hungarian, Bohemian, Illyrian, Romanian, Ruthenian, Polish

Minority Languages: Slovene, Italian, Romani, Yiddish

Demonym: Austrian

Anthem: Gott Erhalte, Gott Beschütze

Government: Constitutional Monarchy

Emperor: Charles I

State President:

Legislature: Imperial Council (Reichsrat) Upper House: House of Lords (Herrenhaus) Lower House: Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung)

Currency: Krone (K)

Imperial Federation of Austria

German: Reichsbund der Österreich, Hungarian: Osztrák Birodalmi Szövetség, Bohemian: Rakouská císařská federace, Illyrian: Carska federacija Austrije, Romanian: Federația Imperială a Austriei, Ruthenian: Avstriysʹka impersʹka federatsiya, Polish: Cesarska Federacja Austrii

The Imperial Federation of Austria, often referred to as Austria or the Imperial Federation or its German translation the Reichsbund is a Federal Constitutional Monarchy located in Central and Eastern Europe. Formed out of the imminent collapse of the Dual Monarchy system of Austria-Hungary, the Reichsbund was a reconstitution of the Dual Monarchy into a single federal political entity to assuade Austria-Hungary's ethnic minorities in a way which was acceptable to the liberally-minded Entente while maintaining territorial integrity.

Charles I championed a more equal multiethnic, multilinguistic version of his Empire after his ascention in 1916 upon the death of Emperor Franz Joseph. Charles expanded on ideas of federation toyed with by Archduke Franz Ferdinand while secretly reaching out to the Entente to broker a peace. In what would become known as the Sixtus Affair, Emperor Charles brokered an armistice with the Entente after the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The Germans, enraged by Charles' separate peace, prepared an offensive into Austria and Bohemia, but the now free Austro-Hungarian Army was able to redeploy to the mountains and hold in a defensive line.

The treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919 saw minor concessions from the Austro-Hungarians. Chiefly, the treaty ensured Austria's commitment to Serbian sovereignty with a 50 mile demilitarized zone within the Reichsbund up to the Serbian border for 10 years, internal federalization along ethnic lines, recognition of Alcase-Lorraine as French territory, and the ceding of Trentino to the Kingdom of Italy.

During the interwar period the Reichsbund focused heavily on the political and economic aspects of Charles' reform process. A formal constitution was written and ratified in 1920 under the title "Articles of Federation of the lands of the Empire". The constitutional convention was done in Budapest and is considered to be the final Ausgleich of the Dual Monarchy, which was abolished in the same act as the ratification of the constitution. The greatest dissenter to the new constitution was the Hungarian delegation, who only provided a majority acceptance by two votes after Charles I implied, in a speech to the delegations, that the Entente may intervene if the constitution was not accepted. The legislature was moved for the entire Empire to the parliament building in Hungary, while executive positions were retained in Vienna, primarily in the Hofberg and on the Ringstrasse.

The Reichsbund refused to acquiese to Nazi Germany's demands to incorporate the Sudetenland and Austria proper into them, which resulted in war. While reforms were made to the military to work along ethnic lines, modernize the technology deployed, and try to employ new tactics from the general staff, none of these changes were made in great enough quality or quantity to stand up to the Nazi German military, and the Reichsbund was occupied by the nazi Wehrmacht. Veterans of the invasion as well as anti-nazi civilians, particularly slavs, joined them in establishing resistance groups based out of the Austrian Alps, Sudeten Mountains, Dinarian Alps, and Carpathian Mountains. While Kaiser Charles I made the escape via Serbia and then Greece to the UK, the heir apparent, Crown Prince Royal Otto von Habsburg elected to remain as a resistance leader. Otto would go back and forth across mountain hideouts and bases to coordinate resistance, muster support, and occassionally lead raids on Nazi targets himself. Different cells in different resistance areas tried not to refer to him by name, as to give the nazis confirmation of his existence in the occupied territory as he had been executed in absentia. Instead, he was known by a series of nicknames: Prince of the Alps in Austria, The Shadow King in the Dinarian, The Hope in the Sudeten Mountains, and The Spirit in Transylvania. Other Habsburgs, such as Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg & Prince Ernst of Hohenberg, the sons of Archduke Franz Ferdinand were also active in resistance efforts which made it difficult for the Nazis to determine how many and who in the Habsburg royal family were involved in resistance efforts.

As the war went on and it became clear the Nazis were losing, Otto got more and more aggressive, confirming his presence in late 1944. He led a revolt in the Hungarian Nationalist Republic, the German puppet state and overthrew its government. Most notably, Otto was personally involved in the fighting in Budapest, although his immediate entourage choreographed his assistance to prevent him from being in the heat of battle. As the eastern front collapsed in favor of the Russians, outright revolts occurred in Reichsbund territory that generally is regarded as a self-liberation by the Reichsbund citizens and exiled military. As the Nazis were finally defeated, the Reichsbund was able to emerge from the war as showing their national identity was intact enough to maintain through occupation.

Government

The Imperial Federation of Austria is a Constitutional Monarchy. The Emperor, Charles I, is the Head of State. The Legislature of the Federation is the Imperial Council, or Reichsrat. It is a bicameral legislature, made up of the House of Lords (Harrenhaus) and the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung). The Head of Government is the State President of the Imperial Federation (Staatspräsident des Reichsbund).

The State President functions much like a Prime Minister of other Constitutional Monarchies, though the position is separate from the Imperial Council and the State President is not a member of the legislature.

The House of Lords is composed of a mixture of appointed and hereditary members. The appointed members are either appointed by the Emperor or appointed as prescribed in the Imperial Constitution by the Federal States. The hereditary members are members of the Imperial peerage system. While a politically powerful house within the Dual Monarchy, the current House of Lords exists solely to "preserve the national character of the Imperial Federation." The House of Lords cannot introduce legislation, and can only veto bills from the Federal Assembly with a supermajority. Notably, there is no salary attached to the position of member of the House of Lords at the national level. Members are expected to be supported by their estate, the church (for ecclesiastical members), or by the Federal State which they represent.

The Federal Assembly is the lower house of the Imperial Council, and the more powerful one. Members are elected by a proportional representation system on the federal state level, which are then collected to form the Assembly. Members are elected every 5 years. Members must be at least 25, be in good legal standing and be registered to vote.

Federal States

The Reichsbund is comprised of six federal states: Austria, Bohemia, Illyria, Hungary, Transylvania and Galicia-Lodomeria. While german is the language of government, each federal state has the ability to place co-equal languages to German within the state's borders.

Censorship & Voter Suppression

The Imperial Federation has been accused of censorship and voter suppression tactics being undertaken by the government, and especially by the Imperial Throne. Separatist, racially motivated, and anti-monarchist parties are banned. The Imperial-Federal Police (Reichsbundpolizei) regularly conduct operations against groups advocating under these banned lines, including harassment campaigns and mass arrests. Reichsbundpolizei also provide security to polling stations, provoking accusations of voter intimidation. Voter registration in the Imperial Federation is also restrictive. Part of voter registration is taking and passing a required literacy test. Unlike literacy tests in the American South, these literacy tests are designed to be genuinely passable by the education population of the Imperial Federation as there are no exceptions permitted. These tests are designed in accordance with the nationally-mandated portions of public education to guarantee a 13 year old's level of core knowledge. The voting age is also 25, much higher than other democracies.