Chapter V - Jihad!
(this chapter is longer than planed because at some point 29 countries will declare separate wars on the Union. I summarised the wars as best as I could to not make the chapter too long)
The Angevin army was looking forward to a more peaceful era, given that in the last couple years several wars had been fought, but they were disappointed when the small council informed them that they had to march on Denmark. Novgorod, a loyal ally, had declared war on Finland and the the Union had promised to support the Novgorodian grand principality. A 35-ship strong fleet was positioned in the Storebaelt to prevent any Danish troops from moving between Fyn and Sjaelland. Queen Mary I was still on her trip to the colonies and so the decision rested with the small council.
46.000 Angevin soldiers were shipped to Denmark and began besieging Slevsig and Midtjylland before moving to Fyn were they engaged the trapped Danish forces.
Bohemia celebrated twenty five years under Angevin suzerainty. This increased their tax income, production efficiency and manpower. Queen Mary I planed to integrate Bohemia once all Czech provinces were returned to them - Austria was still holding some territory that rightfully belonged to the Crown of Bohemia.
A messenger with good news also arrived from Dijoin: Burgundy had completed all necessary stepts to be integrated into the Union on May 30th 1486! James Adam, administrative advisor, began finalizing plans to make Burgundy a part of the Union. (Well that's what the tooltip says - but in VeF it's not possible to annex a Burgundy vassal (unless you get lucky with the Burgundian Succession crisis event) so I will integrate Burgundy with the console once I'm at peace. I don't like using the console but I feel that after completing the integration process, which lasted over 176! years, I deserve to have Burgundy as part of my realm, or not?)
After occupying most of Denmark, Novgorod worked out a peace deal with Karl I of Denmark that gave the Union control over Midtjylland, Slesvig and Fyn. In exchange, Angevin troops promised to move northwards and support the Novgorodian armies in Finland and Norway. A couple of years later, Novgorod was still at war with Finland - despite having occupied most of Finland. Mary I had returned from the Caribbean and gave orders to sign a white peace in order to end this war.
The treaty was signed in Paris and then the Queen sent a diplomat to Burgundy to integrate the duchy into the Union (Well the console integrate Burgundy but so what..)
In Castilla La Vieja a special marriage between the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon took place. The Aragonese agreed to be ruled by the Queen of Castile. Nobody in Paris understood the Aragonese motivations "Those silly Aragonese don't know what they are doing!" said one of the members of the small council to Mary I.
Fantatic Hussites were putting pressure on the Queen and the small council to invade Judea - the true faith had to be brought to the Holy City. In order not risk a civil war she agreed and sent two conquistadors with their armies to the Angevin outpost in Rashid to conquer the Holy Land. The war was declared on July 3rd 1490. Morocco and a few other Muslim countries sided with the Mamluks. Nobody supported the Union's just cause.
Conquistador du Fournay was positively surprised when he found out that the Mamlukian army was fighting a war in Kilawa. This allowed him to lay siege on Al-Qahirah, capital of the Mamluks, without fighting a single enemy.
In Paris, Mary I was informed by newly hired administrator advisor Giacomo della Torre, who had worked as an architect in several Italian cities, that the Union had advanced enough to focus on a seventh set of ideas. To strengthen the Angevin naval dominance, Grand Fleet Ideas were chosen by the Queen.
To further improve the navy Naval Tactics I & II and Convoys I & II were researched. (Convoys II: -10% trade ship cost, +5 tariffs; Naval Tactics II: +15% Moral of Navies, +0.66 Naval Leader Maneuver)
The Crown of Castile had established multiple colonies in Brazil and La Capetie felt threatened by their Catholic settlers. Governor de Luynes proposed to strike against them before they grow larger but this not an option given that Castile was part of the anti-Angevin coalition. The small council was given the task to come up with a plan to attack Castile. Reports reached Paris that gold was found by Angevin settlers in Grao Para! Wonderful news! The Queen was delighted!
Meanwhile in Egypt, Angevin troops sacked city after city but peace was not in sight and the troops were advancing into Arabia.
Once they laid siege on Mecca, Muslim countries from all over the world issued a Jihad warning and threatened to declare war on the Union if the siege of Mecca continued. Furthermore, the Jihadists demanded that the Union settled for a white peace with the Mamluks. This offer was unacceptable. Not sacking Mecca might have been acceptable but signing a white peace after crushing the Mamluks? No way!
This was the biggest mistake in the history of the House of Capet. Twenty-nine Muslim countries declared separate Jihads on the Angevin Union. The Union was now at war with Granada, Armenia, Golden Horde, Kazan, Yemen, Oman, Najd, Tunisia, Kazahk, Khiva, Khorasan, Jalayirids, Mali, Kilwa, Adal, Brunei, Chagatai, Tibet, Bengal, Delhi, Koch, Sogdiana, Ilkhanate, Injuids, Sarbadars, Kakheti, Karakhanid, Maldive and Osman. 'Fortunately' only a few of these countries called in their allies. Less ideal was the fact that seven of them were listed in the top 10 of the countries with the largest armies in the world.
The Jihad was strange because even Tunisia, the Queen's loyal ally, declared war on the Union! Some of these countries the Queen had never heard of before. Lots of them were located on a far, far away island somewhere in Asia. Was this going to be the end of the Angevin Union? Were the Jihadists going to succeed? And all of this because of some holy city? Queen Mary I was shocked and the people in the streets were upset with her decision making. She hoped that the peasants weren't going to revolt.
As a first reaction, peace was made with the Mamluks. And no, it was no white peace like those Jihadists demanded. The Union demanded Gaza, Judea, Dumyat, Sinai and Mecca! When the Jihadists heard that the Union conquered Mecca they were outraged! At the same time, Conquistador du Fournay arrived in Mali where his army engaged 50.000 African warriors.
But these 29 wars were not the only issue that were troubling the Union - In Firenze, Girolamo Savonarola and his followers rejected the emerging humanism of the Renaissance. Pope Xystus V declared Savonarola a heretic and sought him killed. Problem for the Pope: Queen Mary I did not give a crap about what the old man in the Vatican wanted. She decided that Savorala was allowed to live in Fireneze. This hurt the technological advancements of the Union but at least Savonarala and his followers were not causing the Union any trouble (Burning him would have spawned a 35k rebellion in Fireneze and I don't have time to kill rebels right now!)
While du Fournay was pushing back the Malian forces, conquistador des Coulons led an army to Yemen and Osman. Reports said that both were very brutal and killed not only the men but also kept the women and children as hostages. (AI, are you sure you wanna Jihad me again?!) Hanseatic and Bohemian troops were fighting against the Golden Horde that managed to occupy some provinces of Mary I's subjects Novgorod-Seversk.
The war against Osman was also painful - not for the Union but for Byzantium. It became clear that Angevin soldiers were needed to protect the Byzantines from those Turkish Jihadists but all Angevin armies were currently busy fighting elsewhere.
The Union offered a number of aggressors to concede defeat and signed a couple of white peaces with others. To further offend the Jihadists, missionaries began converting the population of Judea to Hussitism.
By January 1498, the Union had made peace with 28 out of the 29 aggressors - the only country left was Oman. Better troops were needed to fight off the last few Jihadists and so the Queen hired some German military researchers that taught the Angevins a few new moves. (preferred infantry unit changed to Landsknecht Infantry)
The new Landsknecht Infantry were killers - they sacked Omani cities and defeated the last Jihadists at the battle of Muscat. Oman ceded Mahra, Dhofar and Nuzwa to the Union. All Jihadits had been defeated! A miracle - the Union triumphed in 29 simultaneous wars!
Mary I complained that all her map of the Union and the world were heavily outdated - none of them included any of the latest conquests. Anthony Duquesne, a skilled cartographer, was hired and given the task to draw new maps. He completed them by early June of 1498.
World Map
(I highly recommend you open the World Map in a new window. The map is huge and you can zoom in to see provinces in detail)
South America
Africa
To be continued...
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