by Auditorii » Sat Mar 23, 2019 4:09 am
Defense Weekly - What happens after the revolution succeeds?
What happens to a state's defense apparatus after a revolution?
Written by: Joachim Karlis von Rohr-Mauss
Former Minister of Defense and Inspector-General of the Armed Forces of Dorvik
In the wake of a rising red tide across Terra, many governments are looking either favorably upon creations such as the Coalition of Revolutionary Socialist States or looking down and further pushing against the rise of a Socialist/Communist majority. While many non-Socialist or anti-Communist states are looking internally and trying to protect themselves from the "Red Tide" or "Red Terror" some are asking, what happens after the revolution? One of the cornerstones of any revolution, be it socialist, fascist, monarchist, religious, any of these, the first thing that is traditionally conducted is a sort of "purge" of the intelligence, security and defense apparatus. While these situations are commonplace, many nations have sought to find research on what precisely happens. Numerous political experts have cited that countries that undergo ideological-type revolutions or coup's are more likely to experience a breakdown in internal administration due to the bureaucracy typically being reliant or largely made up of the ruling, political and ideological group.
The subsequent purges, to put it bluntly, cause a significant downgrade in military, security and intelligence capabilities for an unknown time period. The "military flight" as it is sometimes called, is usually caused by enlisted, non-commissioned officers and officers seeing the writing on the wall and leaving ahead of time or leaving when the "revolution" succeeds. One of the most damning qualities is that instead of attempting to reconcile or retain these enlisted, NCOs or officers, they are often condemned as the enemy or supporters of the "old" state. It is often that officers within high command, strategic, tactical and operational positions are closely or firmly affiliated with the ruling ideological group within the "old" state, sometimes they are politically appointed. When a new political group takes over power and forces these high ranking officers out, they leave a vacuum of traditionally inexperienced and simply more ideologically reliable officers in place of proven officers.
Many might cite the recent "Dorvish Revolution" which saw the historically dominant All-Dorvish League pushed out in a mostly bloodless coup by a radically militant socialist movement as a prime example of "military flight" in which the predominately conservative military, intelligence and security apparatus was forced out and forced into the service of nations such as Ostland and others turning to pure retirement in allied states. Dorvik, traditionally a stable and internationally involved state, has experience a sort of shock when it comes to its military, intelligence and security apparatus and this will have a ripple effect for several years until things can stabilize, new officers can be trained and brought up to par with now exiled officers. While some might choose to remain putting career over ideology, those officers tend to be less skilled than their counterparts, especially in a system such as Dorvik where merit-based promotion and the Dorvish General Staff system is emulated throughout the world as the basis for general staff organization. The Dorvish example is the most recent but is not the only one. In the event that units, formations or commands are ideologically reliant it might further prove that difficult as these units are traditionally better equipped or organized over others. For example, the Dorvish 10th Panzergrenadier Division was a front-line combat formation that underwent a number of campaigns throughout the history of the Dorvish nation, it is also one of the most ideologically conservative formations in the entire military. The disbanding of the 10th would cause a notable morale loss to the entire Dorvish nation and notably its military units.
Other situations such as the switching of the guard in Trigunia where within one political and ideological group another sub-division comes into power. It is likely that officers who are appointed within this traditionally ideological systems are replaced. They are, likewise, replaced with ideologically reliant but usually less skilled or trained officers who are supportive of the ruling regime in place of those who are promoted on a more merit-based system. While this is not to say that the Dorvish or Trigunia example means that they are any less a dangerous force, countries that undergo a significant revolution and provide purges to their military, intelligence and security apparatus are far more likely to have significantly reduced capabilities, notably in high command functions for a number of years. While nations are ranked and supported by the Zardic Institute for International Affairs, theyre power waxes and wains as it goes along. While a power might be ranked as a "Global Power" and possess the capabilities for overseas operations, it does not mean that they have developed the infrastructure to do so for extended operations. Nations that often obtain regional and global power status over-extend themselves and provide a focus for hyper-military functions that overextended their state and focus their bureaucracy on a total war footing when there is no actual war to be had.
Other examples such as Kafuristan (pre-Ba'athist), Endralon and others where previously unstable governments are taken over by stable political parties and begin to remove the often bloated and corrupted military, intelligence and security officials see a dwindling of their capabilities but overall are more likely to see improvement in a shorter amount of time. This isn't always the case but overall the research supports the improvement. As I have always said, even the most radical revolutionary becomes a reactionary the day after a revolution.
Trigunia (17 March Committee)
Controller of Mina
