Trial By Fire – The Ottoman Empire in the 19th Century

[sw_myers]

Great work on the Egypt campaign, was it the quality or quantity of your troops that won it for you?

Ahh the events won it for me.. ha ha.. but as for my victories, i didnt' have a lot of divisions. i think 10 total, 7 in syria and 3 in egypt/north africa. so it was the quality...against irregulars. so the Empire has yet to be really challenged.

[sw_myers]

The Other Frontier

The new Sultan grew up in a country that was increasingly controlled by foreign powers as a result of his late father and Sultan, Mahmud II’s foreign policies. He was in charge of the military during the war with Egypt and saw the victories and advances nullified by his father’s appeasement of the European powers. As a result his policies would be driven to the opposite extreme. Yet he was smart enough to know that the Empire was not strong enough to dismiss the European power immediately. His diplomatic skills would keep British support while lessening their influence over the Empire.

The first thing that Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid did after the conclusion of the war with Egypt was to appoint one of his former chief of staff officers to Grad Vizier, Mustafa Resid Pasha. It was to Mustafa that the Sultan gave the task of upgrading the military. In December of 1841 the Vizier appointed funds to the training and equipping of five new infantry divisions which would be deployed in the middle half of 1842.

During that time Abd-ul-Mejid returned to the issue with the Persians over the border dispute. Unlike his father who opted for a negotiated truce, the Sultan began insisting on demands. These demands were delivered to a Persian nation that was just as belligerent, as they were still reveling in their total victory over Afghanistan. Over the course of 1842 and the first half of 1843 negotiations between the two nations over border lines became more hostile. Pretty soon armed militias from both sides were conducting minor raids on local villages near the border. In June of 1843, the Ambassador to the Persians was called home from Teheran and the Empire cut off communications. In August the Grand Vizier Mustafa Resid Pasha arrived in Baghdad to personally command the 8 divisions, almost half of the Empire’s active army, that were positioned along the border with Persia.

[sw_myers]

Sorry for the small update. I've got a big update coming, but it's taking a while to get right. So I thought I'd post a small one so you know what is coming up.

Thanks for reading everyone. I appreciate it. I am enjoying writing it, and I hope you like reading it.

[BBBD]

That's alright mate, we know how to wait.

[sw_myers]

War in the East

The Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid, In Istanbul with the Imperial Guard of 4 infantry divisions, instructed his Grand Vizier Mustafa Resid Pasha via messenger to proceed with the war on the 26th of August 1843. The message arrived in Baghdad on Sept 1st and the Armies began marching on the 3rd. Two Armies of two divisions each would attack through the north and their plan was to drive to the Caspian Sea, while one army of three divisions would began the push through the center and one division would seek to subdue the provinces along the coast of the Persian Sea. Mustafa nor Abd-ul-Mejid expected to come up against any Persian forces stronger than irregulars. It came as a shock to them as the first battle of the war on September 21st in the province of Ilam pitted the Central Army’s three divisions against two fully functional infantry divisions of the Persians. The battle was won, but it would have been prudent to change tactics or bring in reinforcements. Mustafa did neither. He continued to press on and barring the occasional skirmish, The Empire’s forces continued to push their way into Persia.

On October 14th, the northern forces took Khvoy, and two weeks later had subdued Urmia. Meeting little resistance in the north, Tabriz was taken on December 4th.
The initial fighting in the center had finally come to a conclusion and Ilam was captured on December 16th. Mustafa ordered the armies to continue their drive, advancing deeper into Persia. The Empire’s forces did move quickly, capturing Maraghehe, Sanandaj, Ahar, Qahremanshahr, Kiab, and Zanjan by May of 1844.



During the conflict, Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid was in constant contact with the British ambassador attempting to weave a deal that would convince the British to not intervene in the Sultan’s future attempt to reclaim Greece for the Empire. The idea came to a sudden halt when a pro-british government took control within Greece itself. Frustrated, he declared a plan of total victory over the Persians to show that the Ottoman Empire was still a dominant power and a force to be reckoned with.

June and July of 1844 saw intense battles throughout Persia as the Empire’s forces were slowed in their advance with only Ahwaz along the Persian Sea. The conflict began to take its toll on the Empire’s forces as reserves were late in coming or not even coming at all. The Army of Palestine was reduced to half of its fighting force of 20,000 when it met up with a Persian army in the mountains during the month of July.



The Army of Palestine was successful but were checked in their advance as they didn’t have the manpower to continue after taking control of Khorramabad. It was at this point after having also pushing into Hamadan, that the partisans began to rise up. Tabriz was a major thorn in the side of Grand Vizier Mustafa’s side as he was forced to pull troops away from the northern route of attack to deal with the partisans.



After nearly a year of conflict the Empire had made large gains into Persian territory, but had not even come close to the total victory that the Sultan wished for. The large military force that the Persians were fielding was bogging down the advance as well. Yet the war would continue.

[yourworstnightm]

Hmm, concuering too much of Persia might make the russians and the english mad! Keep it coming!

[The Impaler]

This AAR has won the Weekly Showcase award.

[CatKnight]

Indeed it has. Congratulations, sw_myers! Stop by and take your bows, then come back here and smash the Persians!

[sw_myers]

The War Continues...

With The war well into its second year, no sign of strategic victory was in sight. The Sultan was becoming increasingly agitated at the Grand Vizier Mustafa in Baghdad for the slow pace of the war. The Sultan feared that a prolonged war in Persian, with the Empire’s forces not being able to inflict a crippling defeat, the rest of the world would decide to step in and end the conflict thus ruining the Empire’s reputation around the world.

A setback in November of 1844 caused a reverse in the fortunes of war. A high ranking official in the military had been siphoning supplies and ammunition to the Persians in exchange for monetary bribes. Four generals of the Armies in Persian were executed on the spot once it was found out that the corruption spread to them as well. As such, the Empire’s forces moved even more slowly and this event would be the cause for the Persians to take the offensive in the months ahead.


By December of 1844 though the war was still continuing as planned and the Empire’s forces had reached Teheran, the Persian capital. Fierce fighing ensued there as General Soliman had encountered a force twice the size of his 15,000 army. Reinforcements were immediately dispatched from the south to help. It would not be until March of 1845 though, that the Empires’ forces would be able to push the Persians out of Teheran, and until april for the province to fully come under Ottoman control.







That was small consolation for the Sultan, who began to march the Imperial Guard of 40,000 men to Baghdad to take control of the conflict personally. The Grand Vizier Mustafa was relieved upon the Sultan’s arrival in Baghdad on July 4 1845. While The Sultan was consolidating his forces and planning future stages of the conflict, the Persians had began to push back taking back Teheran and Yasuj in August. The Persians would push as far back to Hamadan by December of 1845.



After two years of conflict the momentum of the Empire’s war with Persia had shifted to the Persians who were now taking back their land. Numerous defeats by exhausted armies who are depleted of manpower have caused the Empire’s forces to continue to fall back towards their own border. The only hope of the Empire to regain the offensive lay in the hands of their Sultan, who was now marching into Persia with his famed Imperial Guard. If anyone could save the Empire, It would be him…but will he be to late?

[The Impaler]

Eek! I wouldn't be good to push so far into Persia only to be thrown back out again...

[BBBD]

I hate that I do the same thing, think I have plenty of troops and then the computer turns out like 5 armies I had not counted on.

Excellent updates and congrats on the weekly award.

[CatKnight]

sw_myers: Please check your private messages when you get a chance.

Then update this AAR! You left us on a cliffhanger!