Five Things You Didn't Know About the Revolution of 1915

You know the Revolution of 1915. We know the Revolution of 1915. It's only the most important and celebrated historical event in Amestris' history, bringing an end to one of the worst military dictatorships in the world and generating some of the wildest conspiracy theories known to man. (Not to give any credit to the whack-jobs who think it was all an alchemical plot by Roy Mustang to steal the souls of everyone in Amestris, but we must admit that the official explanation that it was just a country-wide gas leak is somehow even less convincing.) Now, we're not here to give you any new revelations on that front. We admit we're just as clueless as anyone else. Instead, here are some fun tidbits that you almost certainly didn't learn in school.

Possibly because you were too busy doodling little hearts around the pictures of General Armstrong and/or Edward Elric in your textbook. We won't judge.

1. The revolutionaries pretended to support Führer Bradley

"Whatever are you talking about?" you might be asking, your monocle popping off in shock. "The whole point of the Revolution of 1915 was to overthrow Bradley!"

Of course nowadays the name of Führer King Bradley is one of the most reviled in history, widely known as the synonym of all evil. But it turns out that 1915 Amestris didn't think that a little thing like genocide was worth getting their panties in a twist over. Führer Bradley had an official approval rating of 96%, and only part of that was the military dictatorship propaganda machine doing its thing. Amestrians loved the guy. Possibly they were blinded by his admittedly badass mustache.

Well, if you were noted revolutionary Roy Mustang plotting a military coup in that environment, "King Bradley Must Die" was not a slogan that would win you widespread approval. His later actions would make clear where he stood, but in the immediate aftermath of the revolution he and his co-conspirators claimed that they had uncovered a vast conspiracy consisting of literally every single high-ranking military official in Bradley's administration except for Bradley himself, which Bradley had somehow managed to have no knowledge of despite it all happening right under his mustache. Apparently, while Amestrians loved their Führer they didn't think much of his observational skills, because they ate it all up. And hey, it wasn't like the guy could contradict him. He'd tragically died in the conflict through no fault of the revolutionaries'. With no witnesses around.

You have to admit, having a guy assassinated and immediately turning around and claiming you were his best friend all along is the best kind of power move.

2. Emperor Yao (supposedly) dueled Führer Bradley

Unless you're one of those people who can't tell Aerugo from Xing, you know who Ling Yao is. He's the only emperor of Xing that 70% of Amestrians can name, and that's including the current one. He's the emperor who opened up trade relations and cultural exchange with Amestris. If you enjoy Xingese takeout, have ever taken a vacation to Xing, or are a fan of Xingese TV dramas, he's the one you should thank.

It's of course well known that he spent close to a year in Amestris prior to his coronation, and what exactly he was up to on this trip has always been the source of much speculation. We know he brought along his twelve-year-old sister, and we can make some educated guesses as to who who he was hanging out with, given his strong political alliance with Roy Mustang and his lifelong friendship with the Elric brothers, but the official line was that despite rubbing elbows with pretty much the entirety of the revolutionaries' inner circle he was never actually involved in the conflict himself.

Well, documents discovered after his death paint a different picture. Multiple testimonies from soldiers of Briggs claim that a Xingese teen fitting Yao's description stood with them to defend the gate of Central Command against Bradley's forces (hopefully he left the twelve-year-old sister at home for this one). One even claims to have seen him take on the Führer himself in a sword fight. "He fought with such fervor," this soldier writes, "he almost didn't seem human." The Xingese government officially claims that of course their favorite emperor didn't beat up a sixty-year-old man as a teen, but let's be honest here: isn't it much more fun to believe that he did?

We can certainly see why people would want to keep this under wraps, though. Having the newly crowned Emperor of Xing walk into a trade meeting going, "Hey, remember me, I tried to kill your last head of state," would make international relations a little awkward.

3. Alex Louis Armstrong was part of the revolutionary plot

Today, Alex Louis Armstrong is mostly known to the world as an alchemical sculptor and portrait artist whose loving depictions of rippling muscles cause more awkward sexual awakenings during high school art history class than any other artist in history combined, but there's much more to the man than his unrestrained love for human bodies would make you think.

Before deciding to haunt the fantasies of every high school student in Amestris, Alex's career was quite different. The brother of General Olivier Armstrong, he was both a State Alchemist, the imaginatively named Strong Arm Alchemist, and a Major in the Amestrian army. Apparently his bulging musculature had more applications than giving us all uncomfortable wet dreams, because he was considered one of the top battle alchemists of his day. (One wonders what his contemporaries thought about his later career change.)

Good siblings always support each others' military coups, so of course Alex was right there at his sister's side in Central Command, helping her round up Bradley's inner circle as the battle raged outside. A few eyewitness accounts even claim to have personally witnessed him wrestle a man the size of a tank into submission, which was probably either exaggeration or the result of a concussion. He certainly had the physique for it, though.

Honestly, we don't know why they don't teach that at school. It would have made art history class a lot more exciting. And sexually confusing.

4. There was a series of eerily timed home invasions during the eclipse

We're not trying to encourage more conspiracy theories, we swear, but this one is just too weird to pass up. While battle was raging in Central City and the eclipse was gearing up to do its thing, all throughout the country there was a spate of home invasions. (Okay, admittedly only four, but keep reading.)

Now, it may be easy to dismiss this as looters taking advantage of the chaos to make some profit, but these crimes were eerily similar: nothing was stolen and none of the inhabitants were harmed (some even reported that the invaders were quite apologetic about it), they were all perpetrated by Ishvalans, and although separated by hundreds of miles they all occurred within a handful of minutes of each other, right as the eclipse was reaching totality.

Unfortunately the Amestrian police force was busy with minor incidents such as the government being overthrown and the entire country simultaneously losing consciousness for a handful of minutes, so the incidents were never investigated, leaving us nothing except a few tantalizing police reports and a lot of racist conspiracy theories.

5. There may have been a third Elric brother

If there's something we've learned doing research for this list, it's that eyewitness accounts for the Revolution of 1915 are absolutely buck wild. We've already shared some of the more interesting ones, but we've saved the best for last: a lot of soldiers claim that they saw a man who looked strangely similar to Edward Elric. Reportedly, he was pale and sickly, he had long blond hair, and he thought that a white towel and literally nothing else was appropriate attire for a violent military coup. The Elric brothers were noted eccentrics (Alphonse wore a suit of armor 24/7 for years and he was considered the normal one by everyone who knew them), so he would have fit right in. On the other hand, his apparent determination to fight every single revolutionary on the premises that day would seem to indicate that he was one of Bradley's followers, so maybe not.

Edward and Alphonse never made any mention of this man, possibly too ashamed of their family member's political affiliations and/or fashion sense. There is no record of a third brother or of any other close relative that would fit the bill. And yet so many of the reports talk about him that it's hard to believe that he never existed, and they all mention his uncanny resemblance to the Fullmetal Alchemist.

Several of them also mention Edward punching this mystery brother in the face, so if nothing else we know it was an exciting family reunion.

And there you go, five things you didn't know about the Revolution of 1915. If you take away anything from this list, let it be that history is a wilder and more exciting place than you ever would have thought as a bored student in history class waiting for the bell to ring, and that even though we'll likely never know the truth of what happened the fragments of it that made their way to us are still fascinating in their own right.

That or everyone in Amestris all decided to take hardcore hallucinogenics on the same day.

Hold on, we might have a new conspiracy theory coming.

Comments (11)

DublithMom 2015-04-11 03:35 pm
Another great list! Thanks for teaching me so many new things...

elricfan01 2015-04-11 03:42 pm
uhg, i can;t believe you're uncritically shilling that ridiculous third Elric theory. anyone whose done any reaserch at all knows its been thoroughly debunked.

h2so4 2015-04-11 07:06 pm
I mean, I've done research and I think it's perfectly plausible? Maybe not a full-blooded sibling, but it's well documented that their dad was barely at home for all their childhood. Do you think it's so impossible that he had a second family squirreled away somewhere?

AlexLouis1984 2015-04-11 03:57 pm
Do people seriously not know that Alex Louis Armstrong was a State Alchemist? It's one of the first things mentioned in literally every biography of the man.

elricfan01 2015-04-11 11:01 pm
sure AlexLouis1984, your clearly the expert on what normal people know about some rando artist from a hundred years ago.

GeneralKremin 2015-04-11 04:15 pm
>Leaving us nothing except a few tantalizing police reports

We know exactly what happened, you just won't accept the truth

alchemikale 2015-04-11 04:17 pm
let me guess, it was the nameless ishvalan somehow

GeneralKremin 2015-04-11 04:20 pm
Laugh all you want, the truth is out there if you want to look

alchemikale 2015-04-11 04:21 pm
aaaand there it is lol

xing_crossing 2015-04-11 04:30 pm
The Nameless Ishvalan organized a secret Ishvalan plot during the eclipse, the Nameless Ishvalan killed Fuhrer Bradley, the Nameless Ishvalan was that serial killer who killed state alchemists, I love how everyone spouting this shit wants us to think that Bradley was right instead of thinking that the Nameless Ishvalan was the coolest person alive.

alchemikale 2015-04-11 04:58 pm
lol i know right? i hope he did do all that actually. he deserves it