The Wahdist Revolution

The Wahdist Revolution defined the future of Dabiristan for ages to come. Beginning in 1975, the clergy of the Wahdist faith began to rebel against the Sadeghid dynasty. Althought initially an unpopular movement, it began to gain some traction when religious values were undergoing destruction under the rule of Qawahtan Hashemi II.

In 1976, Ayatollah Azageh established the “Wahdist League”; a political party calling for the downfall of the Qawahtanate. It went through severe repression but still managed to see exponential member growth. As Qawahtan Hashemi II refused to back down from his reforms, the populace of Dabiristan became more disillusioned with his rule and more sympathetic to the Wahdist League.

In January 1977, the death of Abdullah Ibn-Hamad, a prominent member of the Wahdist League, led to a series of riots in cities across Dabiristan. The populace blamed Hashemi II for his death by claiming he had ordered his assassination. Hashemi II managed to maintain some amounts of stability by brutally cracking down on the rioters. Mass arrests and use of tear gas caused the disruption of the riots. A few months later, the riots finally died down, temporarily allowing Hashemi II to keep his rule.

In October 1977, Ayatollah Azageh and three other members of the Wahdist League were exiled. Ayatollah Azageh then claimed that there had been an attempted assassination attempt for his life but it had failed. This prompted another series of riots. This time, the Dabiristani army and police force were unable to quell the riots as cities began falling to the rioters. Desperate measures were soon undertaken such as the use of live rounds to quell the rioters. This brought Dabiristan close to civil war, however, in a sudden move, Qawahtan Hashemi II abdicated in December of 1977 and gave power to his eldest son. This move led to the riots slowly dying down and the Qawahtanate was able to again retain control of the nation.

Mahdi Ibn-Hashemi was crowned in January 1978 and became Qawahtan Mahdi III. Hopes ran high when he was crowned as it was widely believed that he would reverse his fathers extremely disliked reforms. However, Qawahtan Mahdi III doubled down on the reforms and began to implement them even more aggresively than his father. Ayatollah Azageh called for another series of protests in April of 1978. These protests would see no success and Mahdi III would continue to implement the reforms.

Over the next four years, the movement against the Qawahtanate would see no success. This would finally change when Qawahtan Mahdi III passed away from an unprecedented heart attack. As Mahdi III had no sons (only two daughters), his brother, Azade Ibn-Hashemi, would become Qawahtan. His coronation was delayed for multiple months due to succession issues with other family members. Eventually, Azade Ibn-Hashemi was crowned in January 1983 and became Qawahtan Azade. Unlike his predecessors, Azade hoped to quell the civil strife in Dabiristan by reversing some of the reforms that had been implemented in the years prior. This proved to have some success as his early rule was not plagued with riots and protests like his brother’s had.

In September 1983, the Wahdist League called for yet another series of protests. Despite the best efforts of Qawahtan Azade, these protests became too much for him to handle. Unlike Qawahtan Hashemi II, Azade did not wish to use brutal measures to crackdown on the protests. Thus, the Wahdist League quickly managed to gain the upperhand.

In January 1984, Ayatollah Azageh flew back into Dabiristan without any opposition from the army or police. It then became public knowledge that Azade had fled Dabiristan a month prior and a military government had been established. The military government was headed by General Gholam, a sympathist for the Wahdist League. He would end the exile of all political dissidents and release all political prisoners in Dabiristan. This move would be the “nail in the coffin” for the Sadeghid dynasty. Ayatollah Azageh would deliver a sermon and speech to the people of Dabiristan in the city of Al-Khuweeiyah. In it, he outlined the troubles and struggles the populace had faced for almost an entire decade and how they were finally over. He declared the formation of the Wahdist Republic of Dabiristan and declared himself to be the first “Supreme Leader” of the nation. Widespread celebrations would take place all over Dabiristan.

Over the next few months, minor rebellions in support of the Sadeghids or Socialists/Communists were put down effectively and rival factions were defeated. The Wahdist League would win a landslide victory in the 1984 National Elections and formed the first Dabiristani parliament since the fall of the Sadeghid Dynasty. Despite these victories, Dabiristan had been weakened both economically and militarily. Economic reforms would help alleviate the problem and prevent total economic collapse.

Despite the success of the Wahdist Revolution, the Wahdist Republic of Dabiristan still had a lot of challenges to face. This involved the formation of the constitution and basic needs of the nation, strengthening of the army, the stabilisation of the economy, and the consolidation of the Wahdist Revolution. However, with the rule of Ayatollah Azageh, these challenges were to be easily tackled in the coming years.