Midget coups

Since 2005, there have been four coups resulting in leadership changes within the Midget Empire and Midget Nation-in-Exile.

First Coup

First Midget Coup
Date June 2005 Location Midget Empire Result Commander Thomas granted effective equal power with Midget Master Jonathan (II)
Belligerents
Midget Base Rebel Side	Lower Playground The Line Patioed Pathway
Commanders and leaders
Midget Master Jonathan (II) Commander Gregory	Commander Thomas
Strength
~15	~45

The First Coup took place in late June 2005. Midget Master Jonathan (II) had reigned for just under a year, during which the Midget Empire had expanded to a significant degree. However, unlike his autocratic predecessor, Midget Master Jonathan involved his commanders in decision-making, allowing them to question his ideas and even hold votes on some issues. Although intended as limited democratic reform, his actions were seen as weakness by many members of the Midget Army, although many respected him for his military strategies and so little dissent was voiced. However, in June 2005 the charismatic and militarily successful commander of the Patioed Pathway, Thomas, persuaded the Commanders of the Line and Lower Playground to switch allegiance to him in overthrowing the Midget Master - these provinces had been conquered by new recruits a matter of months ago, and their soldiers held more loyalty to their commanders than to the Midget Master. The commander of the Rebel Side however, Commander Gregory, stayed loyal to the Midget Master.

Midget Master Jonathan ordered Thomas to be arrested and summoned the two other rebelling commanders to the Midget Base to explain themselves. No action was taken, and the Midget Master planned the defence of the Midget Base and Rebel Side with Commander Gregory, outnumbered roughly 3:1. Before any combat took place, the former Midget Master Daniel (I), noticing the massing of armies, went to the Midget Base and helped Midget Master Jonathan and Commander Thomas to come to a power-sharing compromise. Midget Master Jonathan would be the only person permitted to hold the title of Midget Master or to choose his successor, but for the remainder of his reign he would share equal power with Commander Thomas. Thomas was also granted Midget Master Jonathan's title Theocrat of Atkantia, and had his initials carved beneath those of Midget Masters Daniel and Jonathan into the central tree in the Midget Base.

Second Coup

Second Midget Coup
Date September 2005 Location Midget Empire Result Triumvirate formed between Midget Master Jonathan (II), Commander Thomas and Commander Gregory
Belligerents
Midget Empire Elite Guard Praetorian Guard Midget Army loyalists	Midget Army rebels Yr. 6 fighters
Commanders and leaders
Midget Master Jonathan (II)	Commander Thomas Commander Gregory
Strength
~40	~30

The Second Coup took place in September 2005. A month beforehand, the Second Boys vs Girls War had been fought - while the actual events were more complicated, common opinion amongst the Midget Army was that Commander Gregory had fought bravely in defence of Midget honour whereas the Midget Master had been timid and unable to assert his authority over his troops. Gregory, already unpleased that he had not been rewarded for supporting the Midget Master in the First Coup, now knew that a lot of popular support would be behind him in the case of a clash between him and the Midget Master - he therefore arranged with Commander Thomas to overthrow Midget Master Jonathan and rule the Midget Empire as joint Midget Masters.

Securing the support of some non-Midget Yr. 6s, Commanders Thomas and Gregory marched into the Midget Base and after seeing off some half-hearted resistance from his ceremonial "Elite Guard" of Yr.5s held the Midget Master hostage, demanding that he abdicate. A successful rescue attempt was almost immediately launched by his more effective bodyguard unit known as the "Praetorian Guard", who escorted the Midget Master to the Rebel Side. The loyalist Midget garrisons of the Line and Lower Playground mobilising to march on the Midget Base to engage the rebels, Midget Master Jonathan swiftly went back and offered another power-sharing deal to diffuse the situation before civil war could break out.

The deal was accepted, and what became known as the Triumvirate was formed. Gregory was raised to the same status as Thomas, given the Midget Master's title Warlord of the Playground, and also allowed to have his initials carved into the tree at the centre of the Midget Base. The three now ruled the Midget Empire as effective equals, with Midget Master Jonathan holding nominal precedence and the right to choose a successor.

Third Coup

Third Midget Coup
Date 4 February 2010 Location Imperial Residence, Wrythe, Austenasia Result Midget Master Caroline III replaced with Midget Fuhrer Thomas IV
Belligerents
Midget Nation-in-Exile	Midget Army
Commanders and leaders
Midget Master Caroline III	HIH Crown Prince Jonathan DI Sir Thomas C., KCP
Strength
1	2

By the start of February 2010, the Midget Empire had fallen - Midget Master Jonathan had become Crown Prince of Austenasia and his sister Princess Caroline was Midget Master of its government in exile, the Midget Nation-in-Exile. While Midget Master Caroline did issue some decrees while ruling over the Nation-in-Exile, they were mostly at the prompting of her brother.

On 4 February that year, Crown Prince Jonathan met Commander Thomas (by now an Austenasian knight and policeman), and their conversation turned to the Midget Nation-in-Exile. Lamenting the weak leadership of Midget Master Caroline, they decided that she had to be overthrown for the good of what was left of the Midgets.

Crown Prince Jonathan approached his sister and informed her of the conclusion reached by himself and Thomas. He told her that if she did not abdicate, a coup would most likely take place, and so she abdicated in order for the Midgets to have a strong leader in the person of Thomas, who became Midget Master at 18:00 GMT/UTC that evening. Although this event was not so much a coup as two separate conversations, it is counted as one due to it resulting in a Midget Master being replaced by another as a result of dissatisfaction with their leadership and without their free and overt consent - while Princess Caroline did abdicate willingly, it is undeniable that there was a small element of duress.

Fourth Coup

Fourth Midget Coup
Part of the War of the Orlian Reunification
Date 16 December 2010 Location Carshalton Result Midget Fuhrer Thomas IV replaced with Midget Master Declan V
Belligerents
Midget Nation-in-Exile	Midget Army
Commanders and leaders
Midget Fuhrer Thomas IV	HIH Crown Prince Jonathan HR&IM King-Tsar Declan I
Strength
1	5

The Fourth Coup took place on 16 December 2010. Thomas IV had allied the Midget Nation-in-Exile with the Kingdom of the Grove and the Kingdom of Copan, which united to form the Tsardom of Orly on 8 December 2010. A day after this, the War of the Orlian Reunification broke out, with the Midgets declaring war on the titularly resurrected nation of Rushymia on behalf of the Orlians, who were led by King-Tsar Declan I. The war was a plan by Crown Prince Jonathan to replace Emperor Esmond III with Declan I, a vital part of which was that Declan I be Midget Master.

The Crown Prince therefore informed various members of the Midget Army that Declan I was overall head of the forces opposing Esmond III - not wanting to be seen as subserviant to the Orlians with whom they were fighting alongside, the Midget Army declared Declan I to be the Fifth Midget Master at the Crown Prince's suggestion, since Thomas IV had accepted Declan I as holding a higher military rank than him, something no Midget Master had done in the past. Thomas IV accepted this change so long as he retained actual power over the Midgets, which he did until April 2011 when Declan I as both Emperor of Austenasia and Midget Master annexed the Midget Nation-in-Exile to the Empire of Austenasia.