Qansawh II would prove to have an easier time than prior Maliks in putting down rival claimants, although this was said to be due less to his skills as a military commander than the legitamacy gained from having been appointed successor his popular predecessor, Qansawh I. Whatever the reason, he would have no trouble putting down the scant few rebellions that occurred upon his taking the throne.
Instead the main problem facing the new ruler would be his nation's deteriorating reputation abroad. While Qansawh I ruled, fear of his military prowess kept other nations from protesting his territorial acquisitions. Now, sensing weakness in the young new ruler, complaints came all the nations in the region, and there was talk of war. This was made worse by exiles from the nations the first Qansawh had defeated spreading to other countries, spreading stories of Mamluk oppression over the fellows back home.
The Al Haasa, assured of Ottoman support, declared war against the Mamluks. Caution reigned in the Turkish Sultan's court, however, and the Ottomans did not join the war. Al Haasa was quickly defeated and vassalized.
The Mamluks must truly have been hated for tiny Al Haasa to declare war, even if they had thought more nations would join them. Two great men, Mahdu Singh Rathore and Ibrahim Shah Ghazai. Before long the Mamluks became known in the region merely as "Dishonorable scum", a marked improvement over some of the earlier insults they had received. Eventually neighboring nations would even start to accept Mamluk diplomats again.
Things remained fairly quiet the next couple years, as Qansawh II hoped to reassure his neighbors that he was not aggressive, when an opportunity arose. In April 1467 the Ottomans attacked the small Byzantine Empire, which Qansawh II had guaranteed. Protecting the Byzantines would go a long way towards improving the reputation of the Mamluks.
Mamluk troops immediately marched into Anatolia, first encountering and defeating Ottoman troops in the province of Erserum.
Erserum would quickly fall, while the Georgians took Imereti. Qansawh II then led his troops deeper into Ottoman territory. The Battle for Sivas would rage for weeks. This time Ottoman superiority in training and equipment would tell, as they whittled down Mamluk numbers and morale. Just as it appeared all of Qansawh's advances in Anatolia would be reversed, Georgian reinforcements appeared on the Ottoman flank. With a cheer the Mamluk troops pressed on, and caught from two sides the Ottomans began to flee.
Although the Battle of Sivas was a victory, it became clear to Qansawh that a prolonged war would do his nation little good. He decided to call for a peace conference with the Ottomans. The Mamluks would end their vassalization of one province Ethiopia, something Qansawh had already planned to do, as he hoped to annex it eventually. This would allow the Turks to declare the war a victory. In return, they would end their war against the Byzantines, allowing the Mamluks to honor their guarantee to the Greek Empire. The Ottoman's quick acceptance of the offer seemed odd at first, until shortly after they were attacked by several Latin powers, including Austria and Castille. Apparently they had gotten wind of the empending attack and did not relish a two front war.
The next 8 years were fairly quiet as Qansawh let his nation's reputation for aggressiveness slowly decline. In 1486, he decided it was again safe to go to war. He had had his eyes on the Timurid provinces of Mus and Adana for quite some time, separated as they were from the Timurid homeland. War was declared on their ally Swahili, and as expected they honored their alliance.
Swahili was quickly over run while severl small armies sieged Mus and Adana. Meanwhile, the bulk of Mamluk forces marched east across all of Persia to reach the Timurid heartlands. Their first battle would be a Karshi, a decisive victory for the Egyptians.
Unfortunately Qansawh's army in the east could not be properly reinforced. It was slowly whittled down in a series of battles with the Timurids, and almost completely destroyed at Samarqand.
In response Qansawh himself led another large army east but his campaign would end in disaster. He fell in his first battle against the Timurids. Shocklingly, he had left his nation to the ruler of Qara Koyunlu, a claim that was challenged by both Mamluk leaders and the nation of Kazakh. The Regency Council ruling the Mamluks while the succession was decided found themselves embrooiled in not only two different wars, but a major Civil Conflict as well, which threatened to tear the nation apart.
In the end the Council followed the dubious policy of concluding the foreign wars before reasserting control over Mamluk territory. Thouseands of soldiers died in the eastern wars, with little progress made. In the end at least Qara Koyunlu and Kazakh decided that the Mamluks could continue to be ruled by their Council until a suitable heir was found. Peace was also made with the Timurids via their alliance leader Swahili, who was only too happy to make their ally part with Mus and Adana, and themselves part with several settlements they had taken from Mamluk vassal Mutapa.
The situation at home, however, had gotten much worse. What few loyal soldiers had remained during the wars were hard pressed attempting to put down rebellions, and many took advantage of the absence of the main armies. New revolts seemed to spring up every week. The main Mamluk armies were returning home, but it was to be seen if there'd be a country for them to return to.
OOC: I was kind of surprised that the hard part of this session wasn't the first half when my BB was over the limit. My diplomatic endeavors failed entirely during that period, and I received some odd warning (including one from single province Najd...) as well as the dow from Al Haasa, but that was about it. None of my allies turned on me or even cancelled their alliances, except for Ethiopia (after I had cancelled their vassalization as part of the peace deal with the Turks). The Ottomans, the only direct neighbors large enough to pose a threat, never bothered me.
I can only guess that BB wars have been reduced because the effects of war exhaustion have been ramped up so high (especially if you enable war taxes, something I now never do if I can avoid it).
I also spent something like a couple years fighting the Timurids in an area where my armies could not be reinforced, never knowing until the end of the war that the alliance leader (Swahili) could cede their ally's territories to me. :wacko:
This is the tribal succession crisis that I think Enewald might find more to his liking, as it almost does destroy the country. The crisis itself didn't produce more rebels than the previous ones, but my stubbornness in not wanting to end the war with the Timurids until I got them to cede the provicnes I wanted (and lack of awareness Swahili could do so) meant I had almost no armies at home. The +10 revolt risk for the crisis and steadily increasing war exhaustion meant the crisis rebels were joined by many, many brethren.
It was frustrating at first but I have to admit this has been one of my favorite parts of this game so far. I've played a lot of one and two provinces minors where I lost pretty quickly to some larger nation, and had some bad wars as bigger countries where I had to give up provinces, but this has been the first time I've played a large country and had my nation at risk of being ruined by rebels. And it's been due to my own actions. I could have ceasefired the Timurids right away and dealt with the succession crisis, but my stubbornness got in the way and now I"m paying the price.