In the final 15 or so years of Governor-General Pahlen's life, he had become a drunk grifting senile prick, completely unfit to deal with the rapidly changing times. Coming from a faded era, he has proven himself to be a shit statesman; this, more than his distingished military career, will be what people remember about him. He is publically known to have funneled state funds into vanity projects to enrich himself, and has yet spent additional state funds on his drinking problem.
Riga had become one of the most industrialised cities in the Russian Empire in these recent years. The employment of thousands of laborers has been a sort of cultural shock as the city grew far past its walls and become unrecognisable to the much more quaint Riga of bearly a generation ago. With this came quick political shifts, the massive new class of well payed and educated laborers demanded more rights.
Meanwhile in the fields, charismatic luddites rallied the countryside peasantry against the tide of this sudden industrialisation. Specialised factories massively outcompeted the rural workshops and even the jaded artisans, affecting the livelihoods of many peasants negatively.
And the campaign of cultural genocide against native Latvians and Estonians, known as the Meager Harrying, compunded the radicalisation of the ethnic majorities. Children were seperated from their families and given to the churches to be raised as germans, extra taxes were levied against non-germans, and the church intensified assimilationist education.
The springtime sweeping across Europe compounded these factors, creating the perfect storm for a revolt ready to blow at the slightest provocation.
-
On a cool early morning, the senile Pahlen regretably lost control of his faculties, ruining his expensive trousers. A foul odor eminated thoughout his palace, which was in the middle of Riga. Pahlen claimed to not have smelt anything, he just continued about his day in bed as normal. When one of his staff had the gall to call out his superior over the smell of shit, Pahlen shouted at him. Pahlen soon conceded that there indeed was shit in his pants but claimed that the radical Latvians shat his pants.
Pahlen eventually aquiessed to taking off his pants and bathing, and the cleaning staff member that lost the coin toss, who couldnt stand another moment around the smell of the pants, simply threw them out of the window. This turned out to be a profoundly stupid idea, since it landed quite far out beyond the fence where there were people below, specifically the lower classes of Riga. After only a few moments, the people below responded by throwing loose bricks at the bulding, shattering windows.
This quickly escalated, as the people of Riga had apparently reached the limit of how much shit they were willing to put up with from the ruling class. After an hour, a riot had broken out and they were attempting to force their way into the palace, this crowd grew to alarming levels and even reached the barracks of the local garrison who were not that loyal to the government.
The senate quickly evacuated, but the palace was besiged and assaulted, and Pahlen was killed by the mob and defenestrated. All the disgusting opulence of the palace was looted and then razed to the ground. A fully fledged revolution had taken over Riga and it took some weeks to crush the rebellion.
The rebellion had destroyed the munitions factory, and caused quite a stir in government. The senate moved back in. If it were not for the distingished leadership of Emanuel von Hahn, the Tsar may have otherwise seen fit to fully strip the Baltics of their autonomy over this incident. Hahn, though adept political mavuvering and goodwill, got confirmation from the Tsar to be appointed as the next Governor-General of the Baltic Governates, and then got confirmation from the senate on the same day.
After cleaning up the mess, Hahn has made a positive first impression on the people of the Baltics, though its not like Pahlen set a high bar for having a positive ruler-subject relationship. While having never held office, Hahn is an excellent statesman and will certaintly be a much needed fresh face for the coming years.
One of the only surviving effects of the palace was a portrait of Pahlen in his best years, Hahn decided to have it burned since it is better to forget that man. Hahn will continue the Meager Harrying but he will most certaintly be more adept at keeping public opinion on his side while doing it.
