Boom!

[Mergerberger II]

[size="2"][size="2"]Crisis.

An emergency session of Congress had been called for 3:00 PM. Every member was in attendance. Prime Minister Saviri was in attendance. Every member of the Revolutionary Cabinet was in attendance, except for the Minister of Agriculture. A crisis was at hand. [/size]

The biggest question since the end of the Civil War now faced the RSSN: What would be done about the war? A treaty had been signed with Tahoe, a Mutual Defense Pact, and now the Congress was going to vote whether or not to honor the treaty. All of them knew of the attack on the Northern Republic, and all of them knew that the Northern Republic knew that they had done it. War was inevitable.

The nation watched as Congress was in session.

"...and the Act to Expand the Revolutionary Agricultural Subsidy for Dutch Barley is passed." The Speaker banged his gavel. He leaned forward.

"Now," he said, breaking convention and regulation, "the vote you've been waiting for, gentlemen. The Motion to Honor the Treaty of Tahoe is now on the floor and open for debate. Senator Glavven, you have twenty minutes."

Already standing at the podium, Senator Glavven, Majority leader, spoke, "Thank you, Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Revolutionary Senate, I come before you today to beseech, nay, to beg you to retain your honor, to retain all that makes this country respectable on the world stage, to retain our dignity, our integrity, and our power as a sovereign state. My position is quite simple, really, and it is the position of many of you, I'm sure, it is that we should honor the Treaty and follow-through with our commitments to the Tahoe Republic. The Treaty which we are now discussing is a binding document, agreed to by our nation and by the Tahoe Republic, that should war ever befall one of our nations, especially a war so unjust as this, we would defend each other. There is no matter to debate, gentlemen, there is simply those who respect the law, and those who do not. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remainder of my time." Glavven returned to his seat in the first row.

"Time yielded. Senator Bjülen, you have the floor."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My fellow Dutchmen, I am not here to advocate dishonor, I am not here to advocate the breaking of the law, I am here to advo-"

Boom. A mighty explosion ripped through the Parliamentary building. Some two tons of TNT placed beneath the building exploded. Everyone within was killed instantly.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of Agriculture, watching his screen featuring the debate intently, collapsed dead, bullet in his brain, at the moment the television screen turned to static. The RSSN was without a leader.


[i]Two Weeks Later[/i]

No government yet existed. An emergency council had been called. All of the Governors of the Provinces now convened in Amsterdam to attempt to elect one of them as the Head of State and Government of the RSSN. And as they spoke, yet another bomb killed every one of them.

[i]One Week Later[/i]

The Deputy Governors were afraid to convene. They were afraid to meet. Three of them had already been killed. The nation cowered in fear of the unknown. What were they to do? If they met, they would die. If they did not meet, they would die. If they did not meet, their country would die. They did not know what to do. They barely had power in their own provinces, much less over the entire nation. None of them wielded any mentionable or noticeable courage, in fact they had the same feelings as the rest of the nation.

By teleconference, they finally decided, they would meet. Each traveled to a bunker in his province, posted guards at every gate, and conversed with the other Deputy Governors.

"Hello," said each nervously to the others. After a temporary silence which was remarkably awkward, the Deputy Governor of Amsterdam spoke.

"Gentlemen, let's get right to business. The nation is in crisis, and we are its only hope. Tonight, we must decide what to do with this nation, and then we must pray that the nation and the world accepts our resolution. They are waiting for us, gentlemen, and General Junger has threatened to take over the country. We certainly cannot let him do so, but if he gets complete loyalty of the Army behind him, there is nothing we can do. Are there any propositions?"

"Sir," said the Deputy Governor of North Frisia, "I do not believe that any resolution we can pass can successfully suppress the ambition of General Junger. And, he already has the loyalty of the Army. Just an hour ago, they sacked parts of North Frisia, and are currently breathing down my neck at Willhemshaven. There is nothing we can do that can save this nation from military dictatorship."

"Then," said the Deputy Governor of Brabant, "perhaps I can offer a solution. Perhaps we do not attempt to remake this nation. Perhaps we simply do a service to the people. We call for the protection of Germany, of our closest allies, and we let them protect this country from itself and from others."

"Are you certain they are the best candidate?" said the man from Ghent, "Scotland is also a very close ally with a large contention of allies themselves."

"But Scotland is also involved in the war, or they will be soon," said the man from Limburg, "they will not have the means of suppressing General Junger. Germany on the other hand, as you know, is not in the war, but instead is a relatively peaceful state. On top of that, they are rather friendly with the German Democratic Republic, which could certainly suppress General Junger and the entirety of the Dutch Army."

"Then," said the Deputy Governor of Holland, "why do we not simply transfer protection of the state to the German Democratic Republic? If they are the most capable of the nations close to us, why do we simply not give them the mandate?"

"Because they are not trusted, not by me and not by the people of the Netherlands. Not like the people trust Germany." said the man from Brabant, "I have no doubt that, if we transfer control to Germany, the people will accept it. On top of that, there is virtually no risk of furthered tyranny or annexation, because Germany is a stable, intelligent state."

"But," said the man from Brussels, "would they be willing to take on such a massive burden? There is a strong likelihood that men will be lost in a fight with General Junger and the Army."

"Perhaps we sweeten the offer a bit?" said the man from North Limburg.

"Yes, but with what?" said the man from South Holland.

"I believe, gentlemen," said the North Frisian, "that I can offer a solution. Some time ago, for furthering the efforts of Dutch unity in the world, the Germans were so kind as to grant the RSSN the territory of North Frisia. Perhaps we can guarantee the annexation of North Frisia back into Germany, and help to advocate this transfer of land. I would be willing to spearhead it." They mostly nodded their heads in acceptance.

"Are there any objections?" asked the man from Amsterdam. No one raised any. "Then we are in agreement. The motion is passed. The territory of the RSSN shall be immediately transfered to North Germany as protected territory. The Dutch province of North Frisia shall be immediately transfered to North Germany as German territory. I will meet with them as our representative and inform them of our decision. Objections?" There were none. "Then we are decided, gentlemen. Good night, and good luck." His screen went blank, and all the others left, except the Deputy Governors of North Holland and Flanders.

"We certainly live in interesting times."

"Indeed we do, Alfred, indeed we do." And he signed off.[/size]

[Mergerberger II]

[center][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg/500px-Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg.png[/img]

[size="4"][b]Announcement from the Revolutionary Socialist Syndicate of the Netherlands[/b][/size]

[size="1"]From the Council of Deputy Governors[/size]

As recent events have rocked the RSSN, the Deputy Governors, now the highest powers in the Netherlands have called council and are now prepared to announce our decision.

Understanding that if this decision were not made, the RSSN would become a military dictatorship,

Understanding that the associated parties have already agreed to the following,

Understanding that this is what the Council of Deputy Governors feels is best for the nation,

The Revolutionary Socialist Syndicate of the Netherlands will be immediately transferred to the protection of the nation of North Germany.

The Dutch province of North Frisia will be immediately transferred to North Germany.[/center]

[Lynneth]

"A sad day, even if we and the RSSN weren't always the best friends. We hope North Germany will protect the territory well."

[JEDCJT]

[quote name='Lynneth' date='18 April 2010 - 09:13 AM' timestamp='1271610804' post='2265005']
"A sad day, even if we and the RSSN weren't always the best friends. We hope North Germany will protect the territory well."
[/quote]

"We echo the GDR's words. We believe the lands are in good hands."

[loannes]

"It saddens us to see our ally forced to its knees so by internal rebellion."

-HRH King James II

[Zoot Zoot]

The Empire is saddened by the loss of the RSSN and echoes many of Europes thoughts and hopes, that the former RSSN will be taken care of.

[Kaiser Martens]

Germany has been genuinely and favorably surprised by these news, and of course, will take objective of protecting these territories very seriously, no, not the territories, but the people who live there.

To celebrate the occation, a small military parade was held at Amsterdam in which the people could hear the German National Anthem in Dutch and then the Dutch National Anthem in German being sang and interpreted by a local group.

Without wasting time, the Government converted the local currency to the North German "Nordmarks" in order to facilitate economic interaction, and announced plans to over time "recruit" the Netherlands' army and other units to be merged into the Reichswehr. To make things better, a large amount of manpower, work and money have been set to be invested in the following years on improving the Infrastructure of Netherlands, but also the Health System and Education, being these the absolute priorities.

Martens spoke,

"We are honored of being charged with the task of defending the dwellers of the lowlands, and we are happy that the Metherlandish People as well as the International Community feel that this is appropiate. Internally, the country will continue to work very much in the same way, while our specialists will be sent in to coordinate our announced investments and to verify the smoothness of this transition. For all matters excepting Foreign Affairs, to the locals, it will seem merely as if they had elected a new government, a very capable one we hope."

It is interesting to note the historical precedence of this situation. Long ago, Martens the Elder had fought and taken over the Netherlands after a stalinist-like extreme communist government had seized power there and attacked Germany. Over time, the territory was eventually lost to foreign non-dutch non-german powers, which caused the majority of the dutch population to go to Germany as refugees. Eventually, with Martens' diplomatic initiative, the Foreign Occupiers granted the territory back to Germany, which allowed the Dutch population to return to their homeland. Ever since, the territory - sometimes independent and sometimes a part of Germany - has had strong cultural bounds and often has been military allied to Germany, to the point in which as mentioned Germany had granted some of their own territory to the Dutch state. With this action, the friendship seems to continue to develop, and stability seems to become more commonplace in the region.

Different types of plebiscites would soon be held as well as polls in order for the German Government to be able to better understand the needs and wishes of the locals, to adjust their agenda so to protect their interests.

Nowadays the first part of Het Wilhelmus, the national song which speaks of the ancient founder of this region once called a country, seemed to make more sense than ever:

[i]Wilhelmus van Nassouwe
ben ik, van Duitsen bloed[/i]

(William of Nassau am I, of German Blood)

[Franz Ferdinand]

"We are truly saddened with the demise of our great ally, the Revolutionary Socialist Syndicate of the Netherlands. We hope that those who live within their former borders enjoy a decent level of living."