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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

Presidents of the Bengali Republic

1803-1807: Napoleon Bonaparte

Kings of the Kingdom of Bengal

1807-1821: Napoleon I (House of Bonaparte)
1812 constitutional referendum: Yes (84%); No (16%)

1821-1842: Napoleon II (House of Bonaparte)
1821 constitutional referendum: Yes (75%); No (25%)
1831 constitutional referendum: Yes (81%); No (19%)
1841 constitutional referendum: Yes (59%); No (25%)


1842-1852: Napoleon III (House of Bonaparte)
1842 constitutional referendum: Yes (63%); No (37%)
1852 constitutional referendum: Yes (48%); No (52%)


1852-1905: Debendranath I (House of Tagore)

1905-1937: Rabindranath I (House of Tagore)
1905 constitutional referendum: Yes (62%); No (38%)
1915 constitutional referendum: Yes (57%); No (43%)
1925 constitutional referendum: Yes (55%); No (45%)
1935 constitutional referendum: Yes (61%); No (39%)


1937-1949: Hemendranath I (House of Tagore) [guillotined]
1937 constitutional referendum: Yes (63%); No (37%)
1947 constitutional referendum: Yes (46%); No (54%)


After Napoleon's successful invasion of Britain in 1802 in Operation Lion du Mer, he was quick to take hold of Britain's empire. He ordered armies into Canada, conquering it and forcing the local armies to surrender after conquering Montreal (later renamed Mont Républicain, then Mont Imperial), and also invaded India with Mysorean support. After conquering Calcutta from Richard Wellesley's exilic administration, he turned it into a separate republic, with himself as president. After declaring himself Emperor, he made Bengal a kingdom ruled by himself. In practice, however, he delegated power to Ram Mohan Roy, who was initially his vice president, then Arch-Chancellor of Bengal.

In office, he established an administration on the French model, with separation of powers and a legislature made up of a Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Body) and a Budhe Sabha (House of Elders, or more loosely Senate), as well as regular referenda. Furthermore, while Roy ratified a Penal Code as well as Procedure Codes, he proved resistant to the ratification of a Civil Code. Ram Mohan Roy proved a competent ruler enough, despite controversy over his Unitarian-influenced beliefs, and he also established universities across Bengal. Even after Napoleon I's death, he was retained; Ram Mohan Roy died in 1837.

Napoleon II appointed Dwarkanath Tagore, a loyal reformist aristocrat, as Arch-Chancellor afterwards; furthermore, campaigns to bring Oudh as well as land up to Afghan-ruled Delhi under French control. And so, the period of French expansion in India from 1839-1852 occurred, which only ended with the conquest of Delhi and the end of the Mughal Empire. Subsequently, Napoleon III was declared Emperor of India. However, these expansionist campaigns resulted in high taxes for Bengalis, and the 1852 referendum ended with defeat for the constitution. This led to Napoleon III being forced to resign his post as King of Bengal, though he remained Emperor of India. Instead, Debendranath Tagore, the son of Dwarkanath, was elected King by the Budhe Sabha.

However, paranoid about liberal institutions, Debendranath established an absolute monarchy, and ensured the bonds with France would continue. Although there were perpetual rebellions during his reign, he continued to rule firmly. It was only upon his assassination in 1905 and the ascent of his son that Bengal liberalized.

Immediately upon coming to power, Rabindranath restored the old Bengali constitution and held a referendum for it. Rebels were given amnesty, and Rabindranath was willing to become a figurehead with real power vested in his Arch-Chancellor responsible to the Vidhan Sabha K.C. Sen. In office Rabindranath spent more time writing poems and stories then he did anything related to governance; today, it is for his poems and stories that he is remembered. His reign would see the continued growth of a bourgeois class, in opposition to the old aristocracy. Furthermore, he negotiated the weakening of French influence, and with the Treaty of Kanpur, the House of Bonaparte as Emperors of India no longer had nominal sovereignty over Bengal. Rabindranath died in 1937, beloved.

However, his son Hemendranath proved less capable. Despite initially seeming like being in his father's mold, instead he wanted real powers. He constantly interfered with the ruling administration, and he proved incompetent as a ruler. This resulted in the defeat of the constitution in the 1947 referendum. Though this was obviously a statement against Hemendranath, he refused to resign, and instead declared himself absolute monarch. This resulted in a revolution (1947-1949), and after a trial, he was executed by guillotine, to the horror of many foreign observers. Bengal was declared a republic; today that remains Bengal's form of government, even if its initial revolutionary fervour has cooled.
 
I've noticed an awful lot of these lists (I am somewhat guilty of this as well) feature OTL stable countries having crisis points and revolutions (in an electoral or literal sense). What if someone tried the opposite, e.g. the Third or Fourth French Republics continuing to the present day, Italy still being Japan-like with the Christian Democrats dominant to now, etc.?
La Historia Nos Absolverá

@Thande's post combined with @Tsar of New Zealand's wonderful reply has given me an idea for what I call List Challenges. These would operate similarly to the Vignette Challenges: someone would come up with a topic (for example "Britain after Sea Lion") and people create lists and descriptions about that topic. Like the Vignette Challenge at the end of the month there would be a vote on the best one, and then the cycle repeats every month..

What do you guys think?
 
@Thande's post combined with @Tsar of New Zealand's wonderful reply has given me an idea for what I call List Challenges. These would operate similarly to the Vignette Challenges: someone would come up with a topic (for example "Britain after Sea Lion") and people create lists and descriptions about that topic. Like the Vignette Challenge at the end of the month there would be a vote on the best one, and then the cycle repeats every month..

What do you guys think?
There was an attempt at something like this a while back in the form of a prompt rather than a formal contest. It led to some really good lists, but kinda fizzled out.

I'd love to see something like this tried again, and formalising it seems like a good idea to make it stick around longer.
 
Things are could always be worst..:An Alternate Leaders list:

President of the United States of America:
1976-1981:Ronald Reagan (Republican)

1976 (With Nelson Rockefeller) def: Jimmy Carter (Democrat), Tom McCall (Reform)
1981: Ted Kennedy (Democrat)†
1981 (With Jerry Brown) def: Ronald Reagan (Republican), Tom McCall (Reform)
1981-1989: Jerry Brown (Democrat)
1984 (With Geraldine Ferraro) def: George W.Bush (Republican), John B.Anderson (Reform)
1989-1993: John Chafee (Republican)
1988 (With Donald Rumsfeld) def: Jesse Jackson (Democrat), Ralph Nader (People’s), Patrick Lucey (Reform)
1993-: Geraldine Ferraro (Democrat)
1992 (With John Conyers) def: John Chafee (Republican), Angus King (People’s), Joe Lieberman (Reform)


Prime Ministers of Great Britain:
1976-1978: James Callaghan (Labour)
1978-1985: Margaret Thatcher

1978 (Majority) def: James Callaghan (Labour), David Steel (Liberal), William Wolfe (Scottish National Party)
1982 (Majority) def: Denis Healey (Labour), David Steel-David Owen (Liberal-SDP Alliance), Jim Sillars (SNP)

1985-1988: Francis Pym (Conservative)
1985 (Coalition with *Social Democratic Party) def: Peter Shore (Labour), David Owen (*SDP), David Steel-Robert Maclennan (Liberal-SDP Alliance), Jim Sillars (SNP)
1988-1991: Bryan Gould (Labour)
1988 (Majority) def: Francis Pym (Conservative), David Owen (SDP), Lindsay Northover (Liberal Democrats), Jim Sillars (SNP)
1991 Referendum on Maastricht Treaty: Yes 52%, No 48%

1991-:Margaret Beckett (Labour)
1991 (Majority) def: Nicolas Scott (Conservative), Stephen Milligan (SDP), Lindsay Northover (Liberal Democrats), Margo MacDonald (SNP), Alex Salmond (Scottish Independence Party)
1995 (Majority) def: Nicolas Scott (Conservative), Anna Sobury (SDP), Matthew Taylor (Liberal Democrats), Alan Sked-Jimmy Goldsmith (Reform), John Redwood (National)


Leaders of the Soviet Union (CPSU Factions):
1964-1977:Leonid Brezhnev (Conservative)
1977-1986: Grigory Romanov (Conseravtive)

1986-1994: Nikolai Ryzhkov (Reform)

1990 (With Alexander Yakovlev) def: Ruslan Khasbulatov (Democratic), Boris Yeltsin (Liberal)
1994-: Ruslan Khasbulatov (Reform-Democratic)
1994 (With Galina Starovoytova) def: Nikolai Ryzhov (Reform-Conservative), Boris Yeltsin (Liberal), Alexander Barkashov (National Front)

*Continuity Social Democratic Party, created out of a members of the SDP who resisted the Liberal-SDP merger.
 
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Not a bad idea @Venocara .

This is slightly related to my own challenge alluded to above. It's not a period or country I have expertise in so may not be the most plausible, but I had a couple of ideas I wanted to try out.

List of Presidents of the German Reich (aka Weimar Republic)
1919-1925: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1925-1930: Otto Braun (SPD) [2]
1930-1940: Manfred von Richthofen (Nonpartisan) [3]
1940-1940: Ludwig Kaas (Zentrum, caretaker) [4]
1940-1947: Hans Vogel (SPD) [5]
1947-1953: Gustav Streseman (DVP) [6]
1953-1960: Karl Emil Hilferding† (SPD) [7]
1960-1960: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP, caretaker) [8]
1960-1967: Franz Neumann (SPD) [9]
1967-1968: Rüdiger von Lettow-Vorbeck (Nonpartisan) [10]


[1] Ebert's Magdeburg treason libel case fell out differently, he sought medical aid earlier, and he ultimately lived to serve out his term till its extended date of 1925.

[2] Otto Braun narrowly defeated Karl Jarres in the second round of the 1925 presidential election, but only with the assistance of - and concessions to - the KPD, which stoked tensions behind the scenes and led to a number of failed putsch attempts. However, his presidency would be secure until the Wall Street Crash, which led to widespread discontent and eventually...

[3] The much-admired Richthofen, who had survived the Weltkrieg against the odds, had no real interest in politics but was persuaded by his very persuasive friends that Germany needed saving. The so-called 'Zirkus-Putsch' put a reluctant Red Baron in power, dissent on all sides (but especially the left) silenced by the authority enacted in his name. Richthofen privately saw his goals as threefold: to fix the economy and political instability of the Republic, to overturn at least the worst excesses of Versailles, and ultimately to restore the Hohenzollern monarchy he remained personally loyal to. Scholars and partisans fiercely debate just how much Richthofen was aware of the actions committed in his name for the stated purpose of achieving the first goal; did Richthofen truly believe that his re-election bid had been repeatedly delayed for 'public safety' reasons? Rather than rearming openly at first, Richthofen invested in a huge airstrip-building programme and aircraft development, claiming peaceful purposes (such as boosting trade via cargo aircraft) and portraying it as an economic stimulus programme. His reputation meant that many observers did not suspect anything, seeing it as merely an eccentric obsession with the skies. As the 1930s wore on, Richthofen's rhetoric against Versailles intensified; specifically, he stated that he had no ambitions to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine or the territories lost to Belgium because 'those who fought well deserve their victory', but he verbally attacked nations that had been neutral in the war but had benefited in territory. Recognition of Austria (with its newly restored Hapsburg monarchy) defeated the attempt at an Anglo-Franco-Italian "Salo Front" when Italy accepted the settlement, while irredentist Hungary became Germany's ally. Well-informed men breathed a sigh of relief in 1938 when Lord Halifax successfully negotiated away Memel and the Free City of Danzig to German plebiscites, certain that Richthofen would be satisfied. The world would awake in shock to find Denmark occupied from the air one fateful day in 1939. But a quick strike to regain all of Schleswig-Holstein was one thing, winning a war was another. Richthofen had miscalculated, trusting in his advisors that Germany's economy could withstand a British blockade, attacks from France and American sanctions. It could not, and after six months of 'Phoney War' and a failed attempt to persuade the Kaiser to return from exile, Richthofen resigned. He took personal responsibility for his actions and offering himself up for trial at the League of Nations. He remained a celebrity even in prison, while the Czerwony Pucz in Poland and the Soviet invasion of the Baltic states and Finland persuaded Britain and France to let him take the blame without weakening Germany, the last bulwark against Communism, too much.

[4] Kaas, a Zentrum leader and diplomat, served as caretaker leader until a fresh election could be held.

[5] Vogel, a prominent SPD leader who had been placed under house arrest under the Zirkußtaat, was elected by a wide margin and saw the return of the liberal (and chaotic) Weimar democracy, though political paramilitaries never quite regained their old strength.

[6] Stresemann's win was a surprise, not least to the Right that had put him up for the expected loss in order to get him out of power in Prussia, where he frequently made comments about adjusting the eastern borders that Britain and France regarded with intense suspicion. But a scandal attaching itself to Vogel at the right minute brought the Right back into power - much to the annoyance of those parties' leaders in the Reichstag, who spent the next seven years distancing themselves from Stresemann's increasingly erratic rhetoric. It was around this time that the power of the presidency was regarded as having faded due to all parts of the political spectrum tending to assert themselves in ignoring the elderly Stresemann.

[7] Hilferding, the son of the prominent SPD Marxist theoretician, had a successful (but tellingly more ceremonial in tone) presidency before unexpectedly dying from a heart attack two months before his re-election bid.

[8] The Right parties had a plurality in the Reichstag at the time of Hilferding's death, but needed to buy support from minor parties in order to govern. Hitler, a leader of the minor NSDAP party who had been imprisoned repeatedly both before and during the Zirkußtaat, was regarded as something of a martyr by veterans' groups for his alleged mistreatment that had led to his health suffering--strangely no-one ever seemed to mention the fact that he had been behind an early putsch attempt, after all, that had been a long time ago. While he had long since withdrawn from mainstream politics, his cause célebre was a major one not only with minnows like the NSDAP but with the larger and more influential DNVP. The DVP and Zentrum therefore decided to buy support by putting this symbolic figure in the presidency for a couple of months. This was not the best decision. The elderly Hitler was suffering from Parkinson's disease and drug addiction, and, outside the carefully coached interviews of the veterans' groups campaigns, rapidly became deranged. He was obsessed with both making anti-Semitic pronouncements and also constantly bringing up the adventures of British explorer and missionary David Livingstone. The Right parties, along with everyone else, were rather relieved by the point that Hitler could be escorted off the premises, even as he attempted to command an imaginary army of supporters to seize the Reichstag.

[9] Though something of a relief after the Two Months' Wonder, Neumann would ultimately fall out with his own party, in part due to being regarded as too close to the KPD--and perhaps even Comrade Yezhov's USSR. This came to a crisis point when France detonated her first atomic bomb in 1963, becoming the fourth nation to do so after America's first test in 1957, and Neumann gave a speech criticising atomic proliferation--at a time when German scientists were feverishly working on their country's own device. It was clear that Neumann was not being trusted or briefed with confidential information, and theorists across the political spectrum began to plot how to address the remaining problem with the Weimar state.

[10] By mutual agreement between the SPD, DVP, Free Liberal and Zentrum leaderships, the 1967 election was held almost unopposed, with all major parties except the KPD and DNVP nominating the retired general Rüdiger von Lettow-Vorbeck, son of the celebrated Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck of the Weltkrieg. It was clear that Lettow was a mere placeholder, and he promptly called a plebiscite on the return of the monarchy under the 62-year-old exiled Crown Prince Wilhelm. This was duly won by a 55%-45% margin, and the prince was crowned Emperor Wilhelm IV (his father being regarded as retroactively occupying the throne) on November 9th, 1968: on the fiftieth anniversary of the German Revolution, it was undone. However, the fundamental institutions of Weimar democracy would remain unchanged as the world prepared to face the Tokyo Confrontation.
 
I can't really see the SPD being sold on restoring the monarchy, even symbolically. OTL they did compromise quite a bit with Weimar's ideals but that was under much greater threat and being squeezed hard to their left while facing the far right.
That is probably the weakest part of it, but this is after quite a few decades of divergence. The point is that everyone is fed up with the Weimar presidency having too much power, and the SPD would probably rather have a purely ceremonial president rather than restore the monarchy, but the votes are there for the latter not the former.
 
That is probably the weakest part of it, but this is after quite a few decades of divergence. The point is that everyone is fed up with the Weimar presidency having too much power, and the SPD would probably rather have a purely ceremonial president rather than restore the monarchy, but the votes are there for the latter not the former.

That was always the dumbest part of the Weimar system, and already a concession to monarchist leanings, which makes the monarchists closing the door on it quite funny in its own way.
 
@Thande's post combined with @Tsar of New Zealand's wonderful reply has given me an idea for what I call List Challenges. These would operate similarly to the Vignette Challenges: someone would come up with a topic (for example "Britain after Sea Lion") and people create lists and descriptions about that topic. Like the Vignette Challenge at the end of the month there would be a vote on the best one, and then the cycle repeats every month..

What do you guys think?
We've already done it.
 
this is something along the lines of @Thande's prompt, though probably not quite what he intended

The Strange Afterlife of Tory Scotland

POD: William Power wins the 1940 Argyllshire by-election, and following that the SNP leadership.

1945-1953: Clement Attlee (Labour)
1945 (Majority) def. Winston Churchill (Conservative-Liberal National Pact), Archibald Sinclair (Liberal)
1950 (Majority) def. Winston Churchill (Conservative-Liberal-National Liberal Anti-Socialist Alliance), John MacCormick (Scottish National), Megan Lloyd George (Radical)

1953-1958: Herbert Morrison (Labour)
1953 (Majority) def. Winston Churchill (Conservative-Liberal Anti-Socialist Alliance), John MacCormick (Scottish National)
1958-1966: Harold Macmillan (New Democratic)
1958 (Coalition with SNP) def. Herbert Morrison (Labour), John MacCormick (Scottish National)
1961 (Minority, with SUP confidence and supply) def. George Brown (Labour), Johnnie Buchan (Scottish Unionist), Basil Brooke (Ulster Unionist), Oliver Smedley (Free Trade League)

1966-1975: Tony Greenwood (Labour)
1966 (Majority) def. Harold Macmillan (New Democratic), Johnnie Buchan (Scottish Unionist), Alfred Roberts (Free Trade League), Brian Faulkner (Ulster Unionist)
1970 (Majority) def. Reginald Maudling (New Democratic), Alick Buchanan-Smith (Scottish Unionist), Arthur Seldon (Free Trade League), William Craig (Ulster Unionist)
 
"The Sun In The Meadow Is Summery Warm..."

For the American Right the years after Ronald Reagan's loss to Jimmy Carter were harsh ones. Though Carter would be repudiated by his own party and the Country four years later for certain segments of the Right the return of Gerald Ford who sought to control the state rather than starve it was still too much. In their rage for years to follow they would split the right an ensure more and more of the hated reforms they saw in the world taking place. "Negros" and "Women" and "Worse" began to appear in Presidential Tickets, Federal ordinances, new laws, economic and social changes kept going. The fact that they were too slow for many in the Democratic Party meant nothing. The fact that the Republicans were "Fiscally obsessed" meant nothing. Only the longshot hopes of a total victory kept them going as they, and those hardcore Conservatives who chose to stay away from the Populist Party kept looking for a hero. But in 1992 the Populist Party was "Hijacked" by people with different visions of America. And its greatest result would set the stage for its own doom.

But A year before Perot there was a spot of hope for these people. Even then many of them took years more to be willing to recognize it for what it was. The Thought Police after all were insidious. Even Patriots could fall under their sway. But as America changed. As America turned its back more and more on what it had been in their hearts the Governor of Louisiana became a rallying figure. And then in 1996 a greater hope as the REAL Americans took back the Republican Party. Surely the vote was rigged in the end to defeat Buchanan but the stage was set. And in 2000 they would get their chance. And when it came, what had to be divine will followed: Jeb Bush failed. Colin Powell failed to win the Democratic Nomination. Perot Stood Aside. Somehow in a fit of delirium, they won the Republican Nomination. The talking heads swore up and down it would be the greatest defeat for the Republican Party in its history. Herbert Hoover could be redeemed by it. And then the Democrats picked Turner and shattered. And the efforts to organize a National write-in campaign failed. And millions of white Americans talked to themselves behind closed doors, in private backyard parties, and in their beds at night. For some there was haggling. For others silent and bloody hopes. And for too few of them, there was the commitment, but for them, and millions of other Americans who did not have a place in the Governor's vision it would not be enough.

And so in January of 2001 the political establishment stood by, and the former Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the former President for the National Association for the Advancement of White People, and the violent, hate-mongering governor of Louisiana, David Duke became President. They told themselves he would fail. They told themselves impeachment would be inevitable. Delusion was more comfortable then hard truths: The country had failed and what would follow would be their own fault.

1974-1977: Gerald R. Ford, Jr. / Nelson A. Rockefeller (Republican)
1977-1981: James E. Carter / Walter F. Mondale (Democratic)

1976: Ronald W. Reagan / John B. Connally, Jr. (Republican)
1981-1985: Gerald R. Ford, Jr. / George H. W. Bush (Republican)
1980: Edward M. Kennedy / Marie C. M. “Lindy” Claiborne Boggs (Democratic)
1985-1993: John H. Glenn / Thomas J. Bradley (Democratic)
1984: George H. W. Bush / Pietro V. “Pete” Domenici (Republican), Jesse A. Helms, Jr. / James G. “Bo” Grits (Populist)
1988: Robert J. Dole / Kay A. Orr (Republican), Lawrence P. McDonald / Alexander M. Haig, Jr. (Populist)
1993-1995: Gary W. Hart / Barbara C. Jordan (Democratic)
1992: H. Ross Perot / Clinton Eastwood, Jr. (Independent / Populist), Pierre S. “Pete” Du Pont IV / C. Trent Lott (Republican)
1995-2001: Gary W. Hart / Nancy P. Pelosi (Democratic)
1996: Patrick J. Buchanan / Donald H. Rumsfeld (Republican), H. Ross Perot / John S. McCain III (Independent), Robert K. Dornan / Jack F. Kemp (Populist)
2001-200X: David E. Duke / Helen M. P. Chenoweth (Republican and Populist)
2000: Robert E. Turner III / Joseph R. Biden (Democratic), Dennis J. Kucinich / Cynthia A, McKinney (Reform)
I love Slow Burn. I've been planning a vignette myself based on Senator Duke :p

Very well done
 
He was obsessed with both making anti-Semitic pronouncements and also constantly bringing up the adventures of British explorer and missionary David Livingstone.

you bastard

Do enjoy the Red Baron trying to do a Plane Blitzkreig resulting in, essentially, a Sitzkreig that ends with Germany blinking first and dropping the matter--an extended crisis like that is more interesting than the possibility of WW2: More Planes Edition. Can't imagine Denmark is happy about the whole thing.
 
List of Irish Heads of State

Directors of the Hibernian Republic
1798-1802: Robert Emmett, Lord Edward FitzGerald, Theobald Wolfe Tone (United Irishmen)
1802-1805: Lord Edward FitzGerald, Theobald Wolfe Tone, John Murphy (United Irishmen)

The Irish rebellion of 1798, aided by the French general Lazare Hoche, struck fear into the British, even though the French had difficulty delivering reinforcements over the years due to British sea power and, at one point, General Bonaparte's decision to disobey orders and lead his army to Egypt instead. This just made the United Irishmen rebellion that bit more fearful: the irregular rebels were managing to hold off British armies on their own merits.

Monarch of the Irish Kingdom
1805-1813: Eugene I de Beauharnais

Of course, without secure supply lines to France, the first lunge towards Irish independence was doomed. Doubly so when Emperor Napoleon putsched the existing native leaders to make room for his step-son. Triply so when the Duke of Wellington embarked on his still-renowned Insular War.

Monarchs of the Kingdom of Ireland
1813-1820: George III von Hannover
1820-1830: George IV von Hannover
1830: William IV von Hannover

Retribution, needless to say, was brutal, and the Restoration Kingdom of Ireland was kept at arm's length from Westminster on account of the fact that English rights such as Habeas Corpus were severely curtailed in the occupied island of Ireland. Before long, though, a further revolutionary wave combined with a tax issue to incite the Second Irish Revolution.

Presidents of the Second Irish Republic
1830-1837: Daniel O'Connell (Liberal)
1837-1844: Richard Lalor Sheil (Conservative)
1844-1848: General Morgan O'Connell (Liberal)

O'Connell had previously been a moderate nationalist and emancipator of Catholics, but was pushed into the violent 'Tithe War' for independence by the sheer momentum of the situation. With Independence secured, though, and O'Connell himself barred from re-election by the Drogheda Constitution, Irish politics was soon cleft by the rise of clericalist radical Conservatives, who ranged against the secularist Liberals and temporarily 'stole' the votes of the masses, thus leaving the Liberals dependent on the support of the Protestant aristocracy and unable to execute their land reform schemes. Even the doughty reputation of the younger O'Connell, a veteran of the Latin American and the Irish Wars of Independence, couldn't prevent the Young Ireland movement from whipping up the victims of the Potato Famine into a revolutionary frenzy.

Presidents of the Third Irish Republic
1848-1852: Feargus O'Connor (Radical)
1852-1853: Thomas Davis (Radical)
1853-1858: Charles Gavan Duffy (Radical)
1858-1863: John Mitchel (Radical)
1863: Kevin Izod O'Doherty (Radical)
1863-1864: William Smith O'Brien (Radical)
1864-1868: Charles Gavan Duffy (Radical)
1868-1873: Thomas D'Arcy McGee (Conservative)
1873-1878: Isaac Butt (Conservative)
1878-1883: Charles Stewart Parnell (Radical)
1883-1888: Edmund Dwyer Gray (Radical)
1888: John Dillon (Radical)
1888-1890: Charles Stewart Parnell (Radical)
1890-1893: John Redmond (Radical (Personalist))
1893-1898: Justin McCarthy (Fusion)
1898-1903: John Dillon (Fusion)
1903-1908: William O'Brien (Reform)
1908-1913: Tim Healy (Fusion)
1913-1918: John Dillon (Fusion)
1918-1918: John Redmond (Reform)

The Radical Ascendancy which ensued from the 1848 Revolution failed to live up to the promises made on the streets and on the electoral platforms, as various promising Presidents resigned due to insanity or died dragged Ireland into the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy - in fact, Mitchel's considered opinion was that Jefferson Davis wasn't racist enough. After two decades of post-revolutionary consensus, the Conservatives finally came back under a former Radical, D'Arcy McGee, who promptly rescinded what little the Radicals had achieved. The Conservatives, to be fair to them, did manage to promote limited agrarian reform and industrial development, principally in the field of shipbuilding and railways.

However, the Conservative Government was swept away in turn by the rebirth of the Radicals under Parnell, who promised much (again, chiefly in terms of land reform) but achieved little due to the innovative obstructive tactics developed by his opponents in a hostile Congress. Between Parnell's two terms, his proxies held sway, but Parnell didn't enjoy his second term for long, as one of his lieutenants (Tim Healy) revealed his extramarital affair with Kitty O'Shea to the nation. Parnell was forced to resign and his Vice-President faced an even more hostile Congress until 1893, when a coalition between the Conservatives and the anti-personalist Radicals came to office in a landslide - thanks partly to the unanimous and voluble backing of the Bishops.

Successive Fusion Presidents, secure in their ascendancy, rested on their laurels (apart from a brief moment when the heirs of Parnell rekindled the land reform bogey in 1903 without managing to carry the Senate), until the First World War, when John Dillon's neutral stance came under heavy fire (literally) with the sinking of the Titanic out of Belfast dockyards. Ireland reluctantly joined on the side of the Entente, fighting alongside the ancestral foe, and Dillon was shellacked in the first post-war election by the Reformer John Dillon, who had been in favour of the War all along (and had lost a brother to it). More significantly, John Redmond also promised land and labour reform, which excited the voters no end - but he died before getting the opportunity to satisfy them.

Leader of the Irish Socialist Republic ('Dublin Soviet')
1919: James Connolly (Socialist)

Impatient of reform and sceptical of Reform, the Irish Socialist Party succumbed to the temptation to join in the wave of leftist revolts following the Bolshevik Revolution and the return of the troops. Connolly, Larkin, and their supporters held the Four Courts and Customs House against the Irish Republican Army for weeks (turning them into pock-marked places for pilgrimage for modern Socialists) before being gunned down in a heroic last stand at Kilmainham Gaol.

Presidents of the Third Irish Republic (continued)
1918-1923: Edward Carson (Reform)
1923-1925: D. D. Sheehan (Farmer-Labour)

Redmond's Vice-President had been selected as a sop to the Protestant minority in Ulster, who still voted Radical en masse due to the sentiment that the Fusionists were a Papist proxy. Unfortunately for Redmond's voters, Carson's political sympathies were not in tune with his predecessor's politics, and - frightened by the Bolshevik menace which was making itself felt in Dublin - he instituted a repressive police state and followed a deeply conservative policy. With both major parties discredited in the eyes of both workers and small farmers, the time was ripe for a new party to emerge: the Farmer-Labour Party, which won the Presidency on a minority vote and used executive fiat to push radical measures through a recalcitrant Congress. The situation became fraught, and it wasn't long before Congressmen such as Eamon De Valera were bringing revolvers into Parliament House.

Presidents of the New Irish State ('Fourth Irish Republic')
1925-1926: General Eoin O'Duffy (Army Council)
1926-1930: General Eoin O'Duffy (Corporatist)
1930-1944: Padraig Pearse (Corporatist)
1944-1977: Sean MacBride (Corporatist)

Crisis point came in 1925, when the military stepped in to remove the radical President and his Cabinet. Inspired by Mussolini and Primo de Rivera, General O'Duffy put a halt to all activity which might be seen as Socialist, and went on to legitimise his rule with a new single-party constitution. O'Duffy only lasted as long as the economic good times, with his place being taken by the powerful orator Padraig Pearse, who remained neutral during the Second World War and was castigated for his harsh policies against the English minority. Latterly, allegations have been made about the horrendous sexual abuses perpetrated by President Pearse with the full connivance of the Catholic Hierarchy.

It is possible, however, that Sean MacBride was an even worse leader: reflexively authoritarian even among his own bosom supporters, he paid scant heed to human rights law in his desperation to maintain and expand the New State. His paramilitaries tortured dissidents while even economic freedoms were curtailed: the entire credit system was nationalised and turned into a private chequing account for the regime. Economic disaster struck in the 70s, at a time when the younger generation were becoming liberated (despite the best efforts of Church and State), with the obvious result that the largely peaceful Shamrock Revolution finally restored democracy in 1977.

Presidents of the Fifth Irish Republic
1977-: Jack Kennedy (Democratic)
 
It is possible, however, that Sean MacBride was an even worse leader: reflexively authoritarian even among his own bosom supporters, he paid scant heed to human rights law in his desperation to maintain and expand the New State.
Lost it.

Amazing stuff, david.
 
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