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1835 · The Shattered Congress
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Central & Northern EuropeEastern Europe & Balkans
Greece
Otto was many things he knew, but perhaps the largest in recent years was naïve. He had taken the open throne of Greece even after the previous candidate had outright rejected it due to its poor situation. Yet when they offered it to him, still just a child, he had accepted without hesitation. He had known the situation was not idea there, yet he had truly believed that he could make a difference there and rule his new people well. Yet he had not even had the chance to do that till now more than 5 years later.
Due to his age the regency council had ruled in his name, a group comprised near solely of Bavarian officials to “assist” him in his rule. These men by in large were competent, to get such a position they had to be, but the fact remained that they, like him, were foreign to these lands. The leader of the council, and current Arch Chancellor even now, was Josef Ludwig von Armansperg. A man of talent for sure but over time his actions showed an extreme self interest and a complete disregard for local traditions.
Having reflected on the past few years Otto is well aware that the current dislike of his rule comes from Armansperg and his faction’s actions. Forcing the closure of their monasteries, an action that only turned an already suspicious religious hierarchy against them, was not a reasonable move but that alone would not have caused the hatred they see now. No, to compound his stupidity he and his cronies had the Greek heroes of the revolution like Theodoros Kolokotronis and Yannis Makriyannis sentenced to death. Just why he thought this would cause anything but issues for them Otto is not sure, what a way to make them into martyrs for any that disliked the Bavarian monarch or his cabinet. The issue had gotten so bad that Otto himself had to step in and repeal both moves, this action more than any other perhaps had saved them from a full uprising. Yet all of this was not even the end of it, he had not even really thought on the high taxes leveraged on the people, taxes that were so extreme as to march prior Ottoman ones. If the situation was not so dire he would have laughed.
At least not all of his council had been self-absorbed fools. One man in particular had stood out, Georg Ludwig von Maurer. He acted both to improve the state but also as an example that the Bavarian government could in fact work. He had worked tirelessly to improve the civil system, including a revised penal code and proper tribunals, and had represented the most forward thinking of his aristocratic council. Yet his success threatened Armansperg’s position making him look bad, and so he used all of his connections back in Bavaria to get Von Maurer recalled, a decision Greece still had not recovered from.
This left Otto here, with a populous angry at the government, and more importantly him, for actions he did not do or want and even tried to repeal. His being a catholic only further enflames the situation and along with a growing desire to rid themselves of the Bavarians in government, Otto fears that soon that shall turn to him unless he acts. If this was not bad enough, alongside the government being broke, Armansperg has been growing increasingly out of control. Ever since Otto reached maturity the man had been acting increasingly erratic and independent, going so far as to undermine Otto himself. He had even come to suspect that Armansperg had gotten to his own staff, a thought that filled him with anger at the mere thought of such duplicity. The man was hated by the people as it was, so he knew that even if he had not tried to undermine him Otto would most likely have to do something eventually.
God he was getting a headache, a drink would sort him out he knew, but then it would be time to start solving this, and Otto knew that it may require drastic actions.
