Marchotov Crisis

Marchotov Crisis
Rovsnoski protesters tearing down a statue of Vladimir Kurchatov and replacing it with the flag of the Kingdom of Rovskemlja
Date Template:Start and end date Location United Provinces of Rovsnoska and Zaporizhia Result UPRZ Victory Revolution crushed Opposition leaders executed
Belligerents
United Provincial People's Army Ministry of State Security Krvnigrad Protection Battalion	United Provincial Proletariat Army(select Rovsnoski garrisons) Rovsnoski Nationalist and Leftist Protesters Legija Rovsnoski Fascist League
Commanders and leaders
Rovskovsky Khrushchev Andre Marchotov† Khantsev Antonovich Ilija Kupina Kristijan Buršić†	Renato Đurđević† Miroslav Perak† Siniša Vidak† Davor Mikešić† Luka Pavičić† Karlo Križan Various other armed rebel leaders
Strength
31,550 troops 1,130 tanks	Unknown
Casualties and losses
722 killed 1,540 wounded	2,500–3,000 killed 14,000 wounded
4,000 civilians killed

In 1943, Andre Marchotov, the then-general secretary of the UPRZ, was kidnapped, beaten and shot. The assassin, Mislav Bešić, was an associate with the Legija, a Rovsnoski nationalist militia, and was hung a few days later without trial. This sparked nationwide outrage and almost resulted in the secession of the Socialist Republic of Rovsnoska from the UPRZ. However, this was successfully prevented due to a declaration of martial law, which was utilised as a mechanism to swiftly and brutally repress all opposition. The chaos caused by the unrest and massive military failures against the Federation of Gradinska would also pull the UPRZ out of the Białemorze Conflict.

Background

After their victory against the Vojiskiy Empire and Republic of Rovsnoska during the Vojiskiy War, the Rovski-Zaporizhian Revolutionary Army, under Vladimir Kurchatov, would create the United Provinces of Rovsnoska and Zaporizhia. Many issues would plague the UPRZ at its creation, most notably the citizens of Krevnigrad and various other southern ethnically Rovsnoski cities remaining in favor of the past Republic of Rovsnoska and the underground Legija anti-communist militia.

When Minister of Interior Andre Marchotov became General Secretary of the UPRZ after the death of Kurchatov in January 6, 1929, and soon a mass purge of possible enemies began. Church officials, military leadership, political opposition, and ethnic minorities were tried, tortured, and served as slave laborers on collective farms during the purges of Marchotov. The collectivization of farmers crops would begin to escalate as well as the harshness of industrial worker conditions. During the reign of Marchotov Rovsnoski nationalists would be under extreme pressure, even owning a Rovsnoski flag could get you sent to a labor camp. The Legija would become much more secretive and violent during the new regime, with MGB agents around every corner. More limits on freedom of speech and congregation would also be implemented.

Tensions increased dramatically when any attempt to aid Eastern Rovsnoski towns suffering from famine were blocked by Marchotov, resulting in the mass starvation of millions of Rovsnoski farmers.

Social Unrest

On January 9, 1943 students of the National Academy in Krvngrad began a protest of around 20,000 people of the restrictions of free speech implemented by Marchotov, involvement in the Białemorze Conflict, state atheism and harsh working conditions. The protesters rallied around the statue of the Rovsnoski national hero, Taryinchi Pripyat I, in Union Square. Pro-reformists and local industrial workers would soon join in.

Soon the protests would take a more nationalistic approach with The Rovsnoski National and nationalistic poems being read to the crowd. The protesters would also break out into Rovsnoska Izned Svega, March of the Legija, The Deathly Fields, and other various patriotic songs banned by the UPRZ. By late that afternoon the protesters at the Union Square crossed the Azeeri River to meet up with protesters at the All-Union Communist Party Headquarters. The demonstration would swell to around 200,000 people, and would continue to remain relatively peaceful. Soon the protesters came up with fifteen demands, the legalization of religion, absolute freedom of speech, more autonomy for the SR Rovsnoska, and various other reforms.

On January 11 Ilija Kupina, the secretary of the All-Union Communist Party, and General Secretary Andre Marchotov broadcasted a speech condemning the protesters and refusing their demands. Enraged by Perak and Khrushchev's refusal of the demands the protesters tore down a 30-foot statue of Vladimir Kurchatov and put in its place the flag of the Kingdom of Rovskemlja. The protesters also began burning UPRZ flags en masse.

Assassination

Miroslav Perak (centre left) with three other Legija, date unknown.

On January 12 on his way to meet Ilija Kupina at the relocated All-Union Communist Party Headquarters in Varažidin, Andre Marchotov was ambushed in his staff car by twelve Legija partisans who had gained information of Marchotov's location through an informant in the UPCP. Marchotov's driver was shot once in the arm while he was shot multiple times in the chest. A minor firefight ensued between the envoy of soldiers accompanying Marchotov's staff car, with two partisans and five MGB soldiers being killed. Miroslav Perak and two of the partisans who killed Marchotov would be captured by MGB agents and executed without trial. The death of Marchotov sent the protesters into a frenzy, with Miroslav Perak and the other Legija executed becoming martyrs of independence. Soon the Krvnigrad All-Union Communist Party Headquarters was overrun, and the MGB Headquarters besieged. MGB Officers would attempt to disperse the crowd by chucking tear gas and bricks at the protesters.

MGB agents pleading for their lives before execution, January 13, 1943.

On January 13, at 3:37 MGB agents began opening fire on the protesters, who had began breaching the building. Soldiers of the local Rovski-Zaporizhian Proletariat Army garrisons who were sent to assist the MGB would remove their communist insignia and join assist in the final capture of the headquarters. Many of the agents that surrendered and suspected collaborators were executed, others who proved their innocence were held in the headquarters as prisoners. Local police and RZPA soldiers began joining and supplying the protesters with arms. Riots like this would soon spread to the cities of Šibenik, Kvilia, Varažidin, Pazin and throughout the SR Rovsnoska.

Declaration of Martial Law

On January 13 Ilija Kupina, using emergency powers granted to him as secretary of the All-Union Communist Party, declared himself general secretary of the UPRZ using his powers as, but was ousted by Rovskovsky Khrushchev on January 16. The first action of Khrushchev would be to declare martial law in the SR Rovsnoska, and ordered the garrisons within the province to quell the rebellion. Most units of the RZPA within the area refused to take action against the rebels, and many even began joining them. Soon the RZPA would begin infighting, with many units loyal to the UPRZ coming in violent confrontation with pro-rebel units. From 16 to 20 January, however, there were 78 cases of armed clashes between the RZPA and the protesters in fifty different areas, ranging from the defence of attacks on civilian and military objectives to fighting with insurgents depending on the commanding officer.

Partisans in a captured transport truck, January 18, 1943.

Ethnically Zaporizhian units from the SR Zaporizhia, extremely loyal to the UPRZ, would soon be ordered to crush the rebellion. Some of the Zaporizhian soldiers were so uninformed and poorly led that many of them believed they were being sent to fight in the Białemorze Conflict and even against Vojiskiy Imperialists.