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[h2][b][color=007236]The Osladian Empire[/color][/b][/h2]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/wUeuT21.png[/img]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QA4aWzS6sc][b]Ний сме достойни![/b][/url][/center]

[center][b]The 1900 State Duma Election[/b][/center]

A war-time election was the last thing Selidov had expected only a year before the new century. With soldiers marching off to the front and returning in pine boxes, a sense of melancholy hung over the entire season. Selidov began immediately with the path he had used in the past, going through the industrialized cities of Oslograd, Dukovsta, and Toboskoy preaching freedom of trade, speech, religion, and now a quick end to the war. Needless to say, Selidov had become unpopular even among his fellow city-dwellers, and the consistent military failures under his administration in handling Zellonia brought many angry widows to his events. In one incident, a group of grieving women brought banners bearing the names of the men they had lost in the war, holding it high above their heads while Selidov could only look on and continue speaking. 

Within the Liberal-Democratic party, rumors began to spread about a replacement for Selidov before the election began in earnest. Among the candidates, the most likely to succeed Seldiov as party leader would be Pavel Kryukov, a fellow senior statesman. Born in Oslad Proper into a middle-class family, Kryukov attended university in Boletaria a decade after her addition into the Empire in 1865. During the Karumi War, Kryukov served in the 22nd Oslograd Musketeers and attained the rank of Podpraporshchik, or 'Sergeant First Class' in common Continental, and permanently injured his left leg after taking a Karumi bullet in his left thigh, snapping the bone. After the war he finished his education in political theory and economics and joined the Liberal Democrats in his home city. Kryukov gained his seat in 1882 and has held it ever since, only coming close to a defeat against Union party leader Leonard Palkowski in 1888.

[center][img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Pavel_Miliukov_1917.jpg/460px-Pavel_Miliukov_1917.jpg[/img]
[i]Pavel Kryukov, veteran statesman and Liberal Democrat, circa 1902.[/i][/center]

While the Liberal-Democrats bickered. The Union sprang into action and began a fierce campaign. Competing in the cities, especially Boletaria, was Boletarian national Leonard Palkowski. The moderate-Unionist ran a strong campaign of "no peace without reparations" and denounced the actions committed by the Osladian army as "the negligence of the Liberal-Democrats not keeping the dog on the leash". His more anti-war rhetoric led to Palkowski being decried by the Yegorov-camp of his own party, calling Palkowski 'Selidov in a mask' and further stating that Yegorov was the only true Unionist candidate. The results showed otherwise, however, and Palkowski's general denouncement of military atrocities and goal to bring a 'strong yet firm peace' with Zellonia and warming relations with the Radenians did win the moderate much support among the more liberally minded citizens of Oslograd and Dukovsta.

On the fringe of the Union, the Count of Black rallied his supporters and held marches in Volovichi. Black-shirted Unionists carrying portraits of the Count and marching in military goosestep paraded through the streets, calling Yegorov the man who would save the holy Empire and crush the 'degenerate Zellonians'. Yegorov called the war a holy crusade and stated the "the northern lands of winter are plagued with the ranting of a possessed mad king". Though popular, Yegorov's war rhetoric won him little favors in the populated cities and towns where so many had already lost loved ones; however, he did win the military's support and promised stronger support for the armed forces in "liberating Zellonia from savagery". 

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[center][b]The Southern Breakthrough[/b]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/lnAzHeU.jpg?1[/img]
[i]Osladian soldiers in Zellonia, circa 1900.[/i][/center]

While at home politicians continued to campaign, the northern skies filled with the lights of artillery fire. After 2 months of failed attempts to break through the Zellonian lines, the inexperienced 'grim reaper' Gregory Yakovich had done what he had set out to. Early in January Osladian soldiers finally stormed the Zellonian trenches and, without proper armaments, slaughtered or captured the Zellonian enemy. Raiding the abandoned Zellonian field hospitals and kitchens for any worthwhile supplies, spirits were high that the war was finally turning in their favor. 

However celebration was short lived however. Shortly after the breakthrough had been made, the Zellonian armed forces began an immediate counter attack in the hopes of repulsing the Osladians. Fortunately, the better armed and prepared Osladian forces held their ground and thousands of unarmed Zellonian soldiers would die of their injuries in the frozen fields of Zellonia in a incident forever remembered as the 'Black Weekend'. At home, the incident was cheered by Yegorov and the military high command as an astounding success, with the road to Vorl and victory now opened wide for the Osladian army. Seeing success, the Osladian high command permitted more soldiers to be deployed north to the strait and then cross over into Zellonia proper. It seemed that among the soldiery, victory meant only more death and killing to come.

Despite these victories a new problem had risen. Yes, a breakthrough had been made and initial attempts to dislodge the Osladians had failed. While the Zellonian army was not exactly intimidating to the Osladian military elite, there was one group of men that brought them nothing but headaches. The Memoital volunteer corp, a band of comrades from the small island nation of Memoital fighting alongside their northman brethern to repulse 'the Sladic threat'. The volunteer corp had grown to be a pain in the side of the Osladian army; armed and trained, the Memoitals were miles ahead of their Zellonian counterparts and whenever encountered would always cause immense casualties among the Osladian side. Yakovich, in a general report back to Oslograd in early December, wrote the following of the Memoitals.

[i]"If the Zellonians are a culture of stubborn fools then the Memoitals are a culture of warriors. Never in my years as both a soldier and a general have I seen men such as these hardened northmen. With the rage of Tangary horse riders and the speed of the damn horses themselves this 'volunteer corp' is tearing through my men. I fear thousands more will fall before we can eradicate this nuisance holding us from Kreogen."[/i]

The question became, if the Memoitals moved south to attempt their own assault on the breakthrough, could it be held in earnest by the Osladians? And if so, how?