From the Sands of Egypt: An IN LeAARning Experience

The reign of Ahmad II was off to a rough start. While Egypt proper and the Mamluk settlements around the Levant remained loyal, all of Mamluk Ethiopia and Arabia rose in rebellion. Armies were quickly dispatched to the regions to suppress the revolts. After a year of fighting, they would be successful, but much of Ethipopia was swayed by the nationalists rebels, who called for a return to traditional polytheistic religions. Worse still, the province of Asir defected back to Hedjaz, which was now allied to several powerful nations.



Seeing that his nation's prestige was damaged by the civil war, Ahmad's advisors suggested that the country's unity be proved again to the outside world through a successful war. Ethiopia was invaded, and quickly overrun. The nation became a Mamluk vassal, and was forced to cede their claims on the land conquered from them in the past war.



Ahmad had planned to spend the next years rebuilding his country, but the option was taken from him. Just months after the war with Ethiopia concluded, the sultan of Yemen died without an heir, and had willed his nation to Ahmad. This news was met with joy until it was discovered the Timurids rejected the will, and were willing to fight take control of the Yemni crown.



The Timurids were aided by the Golden Horde and Dulkadir, while the Mamluk ally Tripoli abandoned them, leaving only Yemen to help in the war. Despite a massive disparity in forces it was hoped that the distant Golden Horde would have difficulty getting their troops to Mamluk territory.



The first major battle of the war occurred at Badiyat Ash Sham. Technically it qualified as a victory for the Mamluks, but both forces received significant but not devastating losses.



Tales of the fierceness with which the Mamluks defended their territory, or possibly just the realization that distance amde their participation in the conflict difficult, persuaded the Golden Horde to offer a white peace.



Spurred on by this news Ahmads pushed his men into Timurid territory, crushing a small army at Karbala and pushing even deeper into Timurid lands.





On August 30th of 1414, nearly two years after the war started, the Timurids surrendered, accepting Mamluk rule over Yemen and paying 75 ducats in tribute.



The rest of Ahmad's reign was spent fairly quietly. Constant rebellions in Ethiopia and elsewhere took his attention, as well as a colonial project in the Horn of Africa. He passed quietly in February of 1436. Despite having been considered a fairly unremarkable man when he had first ascended to the throne, he was remembered fondly for successfully prosecuting the War of the Yemeni Succession, and on his death Yemen was brought completely into the Mamluk fold, with the two nations merged as one.

There was much argument over who should succeed him. In the end, Yalbay the first, a younger son of his, was chosen as the best candidate. This angered some of his brothers, who considered themselves better heirs, and the nation was against wracked by Civil War.



OOC: Got through my first tribal succession crisis that session. I apologize for the relative lack of pics of it. I was distracted chasing all of those rebel armies. o

There was one other IN specific occurrence I experienced this session. The formerly Ethiopian provinces rebelled quite frequently during Ahmad's reign. Because they had no forts, they would be immediately taken. When nationalist rebels took them, Ethiopia gained a new core on them and they ended up with the Nationalism tag, adding something like 10% revolt risk (leading to more rebllions, where more provinces fell, and so forth. ).

Occasionally it would be animist rebels who revolted, and when they took the provinces they converted them to paganism. At first this irritated me, until I finally converted one I remembered that converted pagan provinces also convert in culture. By the next session or two, every Ethiopian province I'd taken had gained an Al-Misr Arabic culture, with the tax and manpower benefits that entails. A very nice side effect of my finding myself too poor to build a lot of forts at the time.

GooseyPasture About that, I may have been a tad too slow. I think I have some tough times to look forward to in the far future.

Steckie Thank you. That seems very reasonable, although with the sheer frustration of the Tribal Succession crises it's possible I may wuss out on the admin 8 leader requirement and settle for 7 or 6. o

Having studied the civil conflict that had plagued his predecessor closely, Yalbay was better prepared for it. Armies were quickly dispatched to take care of the rebels that appeared at Tabouk and Medina.



Once the rest of the rebels further south were cleared out, it was only a matter of retaking some occupied provinces to end the Civil War.



The next couple of years were quiet, with the focus on finishing the Colony on the horn of Africa and assimilating the new peopls of the empire.





In April of 1443 Yalbay decided it was time to expand the nation's borders. IOn particular he hoped to take back Asir from Hedjaz, and to weaken the new nation of Iraq that split off from Timurid land. To this end he declared was on their mutual ally, Oman.



The North African nation of Algiers also joined against the Mamluks but Yalbay somehow had the feeling their effect on the war would be minimal at best.



Mamluk forces quickly pushed into Karbala, echoing the war against the Timurids during Ahmad II's reign.



The Iraqi's would fight valiantly to defend their lands but cut off from the support of their allies there was little hope. They were eventually forced to cede Karbala, ande give up their very capital to make way for the formation of a new country, the nation of the Jalayirids.



The other nations also fell quickly, with Oman being vassalized, Asir coming again into Mamluk hands, and Najd ceding Al Jawf. As he neared his final days, Yalbay I could rest assured that he left the Mamluks more powerful than when they came into his hands. There was a nagging worry on his mind though, with news coming from the west that the Christians had not only taken all of Iberia, but were making their first inroad into North Africa affairs. Although still far away, this could bode nothing but ill.

PrawnStar Thanks, having played ahead a bit, I can say that session and the most current one just posted are among high points. Of course, this implies that some of the next few sessions are not so good for the Mamluks.

It is interesting about the animist rebellions. Kind of wonder what extent of Sub Saharan Africa they show up in.

GooseyPasture Africa was always a favorite of mine for colonization as any European power I played for that reason. In IN colonization seems to be a little tougher, at least in tropical regions, but that just means they're that much less likely to beat me to them.

Enewald I'm afraid we'll be seeing more of that.
'

I haven't played CK, but I'd say the succession crises for tribal governments have made the game a lot harder, even if they are generally winnable. I almost always seem to lose a few terriotories to defect, and it tends to take me years to clear them out of the country.

One thing I've forgotten to mention is that they bring with them a +10% revolt risk in all provinces. Even before they start taking territories, my income drops like a rock, forcing me to mint heavily. :wacko:

At any rate, without giving too much away, you might find yourself much more satisfied with the one coming in a couple updates. I don't lose, but well...it doesn't go well

Enewald said:

successions are better in CK. you can not lose in eu3.

Click to expand...

Qansawh I was a great military man and veteran of many Mamluk wars, but he was not prepared for the resistance his ascending the throne would cause. Many wanted Yalbay's young nephew, Ahmad II to become the new Malik.



A fierce war occurred between the two factions. Qansawh would be the victor, but at great costs. Many separatists used the chaos caused by the war to rebel, and settlement after settlement defected from the empire.



Medina and Karbala were lost to Iraq and Najd, while Yemen sprang up from a mamluk province in southern Arabia, and had to be quickly annexed.





Although it took years of fighting, Qansawh was able to put down the rebellions and take back most of the land lost to defection, including Karbala which was sold to his allies the Jalayirids. Adal, which allied with his enemies, was vassalized.



One of the few bright spots of these years was the recognition by many of those settlements conquered 50 years earlier of Mamluk rule.



Qansawh was not content to with life as a peaceful ruler, however. Not when glory could be found in war. He charged his top advisors with keeping the country going, and declared war on Swahili.



The African nation's army was no match for the skilled Mamluk troops, and the country was quickly overrun.



The leaders of Swahili would be forced to give up the money they'd been stockpiling from their southern gold mines.

Amusingly, many of those gold mines would end up in the hands of the newly formed nation of Mutapa, which a mere year or two later, after some "convincing" from Qansawh and his troops, accepted Mamluk patronage.





Having accomplished so much for the nation through force of arms, it came as a shock when Qansawh fell in a battle against bandits in Arabia. His successor Qansawh II was not as well prepared for the duty of running the country as his namesake, but as a cousin of the former Malik he was the most legitamate heir. Like all new Maliks, however, he would have to prove himself in battle against a rival claimant.



OOC: This sessions started out a bit rough. In IN increased revolt risk lowers tax income a lot (bad war exhaustion can eventually leave you making no tax income at all). Tax income also drops to nil if rebels cut off your capital from other provinces. I ened up spending a year or two minting like crazy just to avoid having to take a loan, while my soldiers started to feel the pain of rebels with Latin tech modifiers (made worse not only by tech penalties and the -33% to tax income penalty all but the best tribal monarchs get, but by my focusing on govt tech in hopes of getting a colonization NI).

A lot of my provinces ended up defecting because it took me so long, but I finally had a monarch with a high enough military rating (7+ required) to not have -20 BB, so I just annexed and or got defectee countries to cede back most of my land.

Then of course I get my next monarch and the BB penalty back before my BB rating got back down.

Only pic I could find of the results. This one was actually taken a little bit into Qansahw II's reign. When he started the Mamluks were "hated throughout the world".

Smowz Yeah, I think aside from that stroke of luck with the first Qansawh (with a high enough mil rating to avoid the -20 BB limit penalty) the best I've gotten is around 9 or 10. :wacko:

Makes annexing countries something I have to manage very carefully.

Tribal succession crises certainly make the game interesting.

Hadn't even thought of focusing on trading. I assumed that with the tech penalties and bad tech group my trade tech would fall behind to far. Just shows I play too much in Europe, since there are plenty of trade centers to the east and southeast where that would be less of a problem. o

I've played ahead pretty far so it might be too late. Hope to catch up in updates over the next day or so. We'll have to see if trading can be salvaged from my current position.

Phax TheMantis has it right. Tribal governments can only convert to eachother, barring a certain event with a MTTH so high it almost never hits.

Qorten Thanks! The Mamluks have been an interesting challenge. One of my favorite games so far.

It just occurred to me that not only have I filled up that last update with boxes of text, but with the tribal succession revolts and defections that come with them, I've focused pretty heavily on the Mamluk's internal problems (a pretty major mistake, as a couple updates from now I pay for my ignoring the outside world when it comes knocking on my door. :wacko: ).

So I started up one of my saves from around 1460 to not only get some shots of the extent of the Mamluk nation, but of the other nearby regions of the world.

Here we have the Mamluk heartland, Egypt and the Levant, as well as nearby conquered regions.



Mamluk southern holdings in Ethiopia and the horn of Africa.



New Mamluk vassal Mutapa, recently freed from Swahili.



The many nations reborn from the ashes of the Timurid Empire.



Nearly all the Muslim nations in India have fallen to religious rebels, giving arise to an era of Hindu dominance. Now it's only a matter of time before one of the Indian powers unites the subcontinent and creates a new major power.



Anatolia and Greece are teld tightly in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, while to the north the GoldenHorde has collapsed and the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth is arguably eastern Europe's strongest power. Bohemia and Austria fight it out to become their rival. Italy and Central Europe remain fragmented.



Lastly, the usual powers can be found in western Europe. England, Castille, France. Burgundy has also expanded, getting somewhat near their 1453 starting position. Castille and Portugal both have footholds in northern Africa, unfortunately.

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.

Enewald Especially when there was someone with enough support to raise armies to take the throne. :wacko:

The Mamluks don't want any foreigners other than them ruling the country.


Caligo In the early game I had money troubles that kept me from trying to compete in COTs I didn't own, but that's not a problem by this part of the game. I've played ahead a bit, but once I've caught up in the next one or two updates I'll start scouting around for COTs.

Tribal succession crises are definately a pain. Since there isn't an ingame way to change from a tribal to another type of government I'm using the prerequisites Steckie suggested.

I'll be doing a couple of updates today, in hopes of catching up to where I've played to.