The Sublime State - An Ottoman AAR

[Stuyvesant]

Ouch. Let's hope that Mahmud proves to be a spectacular low point in Ottoman history, someone who took the finely tuned machinery of the Ottoman state and army and managed to wreck it in such a short time - only for it to resoundingly rebound under a more competent leader. Perhaps a quick peace is called for, but only to give the Ottoman Empire the time to recover and deliver a body blow to the Austrian interlopers.

very good and dramatic update. Things are definitely still interesting in Ottomania.

[RGB]

The first of many army coups to come?

[aldriq]

Yes he did. Which made his inability to win a real surprise (at least for me).

So you did use him as a general before or after Turgut?

[daemonofdecay]

Ouch. Let's hope that Mahmud proves to be a spectacular low point in Ottoman history, someone who took the finely tuned machinery of the Ottoman state and army and managed to wreck it in such a short time - only for it to resoundingly rebound under a more competent leader. Perhaps a quick peace is called for, but only to give the Ottoman Empire the time to recover and deliver a body blow to the Austrian interlopers.

very good and dramatic update. Things are definitely still interesting in Ottomania.

I am glad I can still hold your interest. What I do when playing is to keep my story-telling needs the main focus. I am not going to win all my battles/wars... which is especially true the longer the game goes on.

The first of many army coups to come?

All I can say is that Sultans will be wise not to anger their Janissaries.

So you did use him as a general before or after Turgut?

Before. Afterwards, of course, he wasn't quite fit to lead an army. Or breath, for that matter.

[daemonofdecay]

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Part Forty-Eight
The Cage

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The disastrous loss after the Battle of Buda was not the only misfortune to befall the Ottoman Empire during the late months of 1604. The hasty retreat back to Turkish territory caused mass confusion within the Ottoman lines as orders conflicted and commanders struggled to withdraw in good order. The advancing armies of Emperor Maximilian II were well disciplined, their ranks swollen with the arrival of large detachments under the commands of the Prince-Electors of Bavaria and Brandenburg. The bulk of the Austrian military had followed Maximilian east into Hungary, largely ignoring the relatively unguarded territory of Ottoman Croatia. The Emperor ordered his allies to swing to the west of his armies and invade Croatia while he continued south to drive the Turks out of Hungary.

With less distance to travel the Bavarians, led by young Prince-Elector Anton I, were the first to reach the abandoned fortresses along the Ottoman border. Taking advantage of the disorder within the Ottoman military the Bavarians moved unseen up the Sava River and surprised a larger Turkish force that had just crossed over the Danube River. The Ottomans were divided into two separate commands; the Army of Greece under Cihangir Özdemir Pasha and a detachment of Sipahi cavalry under Kasim Semiz Pasha. The day before the Bavarians arrived a heated disagreement broke out between the two men over which of them were rightfully in charge of the entire formation. The conflict mirrored the wider antagonism within the Ottoman military between Janissaries like Özdemir and Sipahis like Semiz: both groups considered themselves the “elite” of the Ottoman Empire and were disdainful of their opposites.

Normally such a disagreement would be handled by the simple system of seniority within the Ottoman army, where the date when a sufficient rank or title (Pasha being the most common) was bestowed upon a commander determined their relative place within the hierarchy of the military. While it is likely that the older Semiz held seniority over Özdemir, the fact that Özdemir was had been placed at the head of a much larger body of troops evidently added to their disagreement. The inability of the two Turks to establish a proper chain of command, exacerbated by the mistrust between the two service branches and the general state of confusion, further disorganized the Ottoman soldiers.

The two groups had bivouacked some distance apart and, exhausted after days of frantic retreat and the late afternoon crossing of the Danube the day before, the Ottomans failed to practice even basic military discipline as they hastily raised their tents and fell asleep. With no pickets to raise the alarm the Bavarians attack caught the Ottomans completely off guard. With the energetic Anton at their head thousands of Bavarian cavalry stormed into the Ottoman camp, trampling sleeping Turks to death as others fled unarmed and naked into the early morning light. Panic stricken, hundreds of Turks drowned in the Danube as they tried to escape the German onslaught.

Having broken one body of Turks Anton reformed his cavalry and charged into the second Ottoman camp, letting his infantry mop up behind him. The second camp (whether under Semiz’s or Özdemir’s command is unknown) had been roused from their sleep by the sounds of battle and had formed hasty ranks to meet the attackers. Having lost the element of surprise Anton had to wait until his infantry caught up before he attacked again. Despite the initial resistance by the second group of Ottomans the Bavarians soon overcame this body of soldiers as well, and by noon they had taken the field. In total only 4000 Ottomans made it back to friendly lines, representing just one eighth of their initial strength.

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When news of the defeat in Slavonia reached Sultan Mahmud he went berserk, physically assaulting the messenger with a silver goblet until it was left a bloody and deformed lump of metal. Mahmud immediately demanded a new round of executions from amongst his commanders, unaware that his previous orders had been ignored by his Beuluk Janissary bodyguard. The Beuluks controlled access to the Sultan when in the field and thus deliberately kept him isolated and misinformed, cut off from the outside world. Deciding they needed to depose Mahmud, the Janissaries found strong support for their palace coup when they showed the Turkish commanders the orders of execution marked with the Sultan’s own seal. In January of 1605 the Janissaries imprisoned Mahmud in one of the Belgrade fortresses while they conspired to free Mahmud’s younger half-brother Suleiman from his imprisonment within the Kafes.

The Kafes (The Cage) was a portion of the Topkapı Palace that was used to imprison close male relatives of the Sultan who might threaten the Empire with a succession crisis. The creation of the Kafes grew out of Abdülhamid I’s reign when the Empire had faced the real threat of having the Imperial line lost due to the untimely deaths of successive Sultans. The practice of royal fratricide had grown to be viewed as a cruel necessity during the 15th and 16th centuries, but only during Abdülhamid’s reign was it finally seen as an actual risk to the Osman Dynasty. Possessing no brothers Abdülhamid had not needed to order that his siblings be strangled with silk rope, but the fact that he had been the only living male descendent of Osman I seemed to weigh heavily on his mind. Thus Abdülhamid was the first to end the practice by establishing the Kafes, constructing a large living quarters within Topkapı Palace where other claimants to the throne (brothers, cousins, and nephews, usually) would be confined once they reached puberty and were thus forced to leave the Harem. There they would stay until they either they themselves became Sultan, they no longer held a claim to the throne, or they died of old age.

While Abdülhamid’s actions certainly saved many innocent men and boys from being murdered, it was a double edged sword. Before the establishment of the Kafes a Sultan would normally send his sons out to run parts of the Empire to gain experience for when they might become Sultan. When a Padishah finally died it was often the first of his heirs to reach Constantinople who would be able to claim the throne; thus a favoured son would receive a posting near Constantinople to increase his chances of being crowned. To protect his position the new Sultan would then execute his rivals in a brutal system that bred strong willed leaders but left many of royal blood dead. Imprisonment in the Kafes was safer for the Osman Dynasty, as there were almost always guaranteed to be a living heir ready to take the throne if needed. Yet the need to keep the potential heirs locked up denied new Sultans the experience their predecessors had gained by actually ruling before being invested as Padishah. Indeed the new Sultans were generally ill prepared for the demands of ruling, having lived most of their lives as prisoners within a gilded cage.

The Imperial Harem was a crucial part of the House of Osman; it was here that all of the Sultan’s wives and concubines lived, and access to the Harem was strictly controlled by the Master of the Girls (Kızlar Ağasi), or Chief Black Eunuch. Selected from the African populations of the Sudan or Abyssinia, these castrated males were the only ones allowed within the Harem itself besides the Sultan himself and other women. In charge of all the eunuchs, the Chief Black Eunuch held a very powerful position within the government, often considered second only to the Grand Vizier. Both the Grand Vizier and the Chief Black Eunuch possessed power by controlling access to the Sultan. So while the Grand Vizier was the link between the Divan and the Sultan and most certainly the more powerful of the two, when the Sultan was within the walls of the Harem it was the Chief Black Eunuch (and only the Chief Black Eunuch) who could carry messages from the outside world to the Sultan’s ear.

While the Kafes were technically (and physically) separate from the Harem proper to prevent the concubines from consorting with the Sultan’s potential heirs, it was still under the auspices of the Chief Black Eunuch. For the Janissaries to obtain the release of Suleiman they needed to gain the Chief Black Eunuch’s approval, which almost certainly involved bribery. With a sealed abdication from Mahmud the newly freed Suleiman was quickly crowned Sultan Suleiman II with the full knowledge that it was the Janissaries who had placed him upon the throne. Months later the corpse of Mahmud was transported to Constantinople, his exact date of death unknown, and quietly buried.

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Sultan Suleiman II faced a tough challenge in trying to reverse the Empire’s current fortunes in the war against Austria, a challenge made more daunting by his need to please the Janissaries who had deposed his father. While later Suleiman would demonstrate his own talents as a leader, during the first war of his reign Suleiman allowed the Janissaries and the Ottoman military to run the conflict much as they willed. It was the best choice he could have made, although at the time he was mostly going along with the Janissaries through fear and his own lack of power. While his commanders were making all the decisions, tradition and protocol dictated that they still consult with the Padishah for approval and discuss the military campaign before him on major issues.

Listening to his skilled commanders quickly educated the young Sultan on how a war was really to be fought, information he would put to good use later in his long reign. While lacking real world experience on politics and how to run an empire, Suleiman possessed a sharp mind and a quick wit that would serve him well. He knew that he had to be obedient towards his “benefactors” until he could establish his own power base. Thus he quietly kept his own council and let the Ottoman military leadership unknowingly educated him, letting them assume he was indeed nothing but a subservient puppet monarch through whom they could dictate policy; a mistaken notion, as he would soon prove.

- Johannes Krieger, The Sublime State: A History of The Ottoman Empire; vol. 2

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[Stuyvesant]

Sounds like Suleiman will go on to greater glories in the future. That's good, because it's hard to see right now how he's going to salvage much from this catastrophic war with the Austrians.

In-depth description of the Kafes. Mostly historical, I assume? It certainly gives a very plausible background to your palace coup.

I hope those four armies in the last screenshot are not the only forces left standing in the Balkans - a mere 6,000 demoralized troops are not going to stop that Austrian juggernaut.

[loki100]

ouch .... that was an impressive set of disasters, esp at Slavonia ... and of course, as ever, excellent writing and a really enjoyable mixing of game events with history

[Enewald]

niiiiiiceeee!

[asd21593]

You're really getting owned here.

[gabor]

I suppose we, other MM players, won't get hit with the Jenissary Coup event, as it's bound to be your creation; right?
I do hope OE coffers and manpower reserves are full, I can't see how otherwise the Empire is going to wiggle out of this mess.

[aldriq]

Being locked up is certainly preferable than being murdered with a silken rope... at least presumably they had access to books and servants to talk to so as not to go insane, I imagine those Janisaries wouldn't want to replace a mad sultan with another one

[Stuyvesant]

Being locked up is certainly preferable than being murdered with a silken rope... at least presumably they had access to books and servants to talk to so as not to go insane, I imagine those Janisaries wouldn't want to replace a mad sultan with another one

As long as the new mad Sultan is amenable to the demands of the Jannisaries and does not appear to be hellbent on steering the Empire off a cliff, I don't think they would hold insanity against him...

[daemonofdecay]

So I'm back from Thanksgiving break, and the end of the semester is rapidly approaching. Three hurrahs for term papers and final exams! Anyway, I should manage to get another update done in the next few days.

Now, onto the posts from my adoring (*cough cough*) fans.

Sounds like Suleiman will go on to greater glories in the future. That's good, because it's hard to see right now how he's going to salvage much from this catastrophic war with the Austrians.

In-depth description of the Kafes. Mostly historical, I assume? It certainly gives a very plausible background to your palace coup.

I hope those four armies in the last screenshot are not the only forces left standing in the Balkans - a mere 6,000 demoralized troops are not going to stop that Austrian juggernaut.

Yeah the Kafes are mostly historical, although the dates of their use and such have been changed to reflect the TSS reality. And unfortunately, those armies were the bulk of my forces in the Balkans.

But as Napoleon said, "The Turks can be killed, but they can never be conquered." The Ottoman Empire is no pushover.

ouch .... that was an impressive set of disasters, esp at Slavonia ... and of course, as ever, excellent writing and a really enjoyable mixing of game events with history

Glad you appreciate it. And yeah, it was a major setback.

niiiiiiceeee!

You wouldn't be mocking me in my moment of weakness, would you?

You're really getting owned here.

Thats what happens when you aren't a terribly good player.

I suppose we, other MM players, won't get hit with the Jenissary Coup event, as it's bound to be your creation; right?
I do hope OE coffers and manpower reserves are full, I can't see how otherwise the Empire is going to wiggle out of this mess.

Yeah reserves are mostly full, but then I am on the backfoot here. And yeah, it was a custom event. I'm going to probably be writing a few more of those for some later occurrences too.

Being locked up is certainly preferable than being murdered with a silken rope... at least presumably they had access to books and servants to talk to so as not to go insane, I imagine those Janisaries wouldn't want to replace a mad sultan with another one

Its more akin to the old saying of a "gilded cage". The are imprisoned in luxury... but still imprisoned. Most of them have spent their lives in the Harem anyway (and the Harem is massive) though, so madness is possible but not guaranteed.

As long as the new mad Sultan is amenable to the demands of the Jannisaries and does not appear to be hellbent on steering the Empire off a cliff, I don't think they would hold insanity against him...

Sometimes a little insanity can be a good thing.

[Stuyvesant]

But as Napoleon said, "The Turks can be killed, but they can never be conquered."

Well, you've amply demonstrated the first part of that quote, now let's see about the second half.*

*Obligatory occasional snarky comment.

[daemonofdecay]

I need to stop telling when I am going to get another update done; it is a curse upon me. But finals are completed, so that weight is off my shoulders at least. More time to think about writing.

Well, you've amply demonstrated the first part of that quote, now let's see about the second half.*

*Obligatory occasional snarky comment.

=P

The Empire will loose territory; if not now, then in the future. I can guarantee that!

[Stuyvesant]

I need to stop telling when I am going to get another update done; it is a curse upon me. But finals are completed, so that weight is off my shoulders at least. More time to think about writing.

Surely the holiday season and New Year's will interfere?

Have to agree that predicting future updates is a no-win situation. If I were the writing type (which I'm not), I'd not make any promises, unless I were running a final spell-check on the finished update.

[daemonofdecay]

Surely the holiday season and New Year's will interfere?

Have to agree that predicting future updates is a no-win situation. If I were the writing type (which I'm not), I'd not make any promises, unless I were running a final spell-check on the finished update.

Yes it will, but not for another week. And the problem with promises is that I've learned that the moment I try and keep a schedule or make a "it will be done shortly" remark... I don't. It's a curse, I tell ya!

[daemonofdecay]

I reread the telegram again as I stood in the lobby of the Prussian Generalkonsulat, mildly surprised by its contents. “The same political status? What does that mean?” I asked myself as I flipped the drab piece of paper over as if I expected to find the answer written there. I didn’t really know why I had asked my friend to look into Lady Greenhaven in the first place. At the time my faculties had been addled by a monstrous hangover and uncontrollable paranoia (completely understandable after a near-death experience, I might add), but by know I was almost certain I could trust her. If she had wanted me dead she probably could have managed it by now.

A soft cough of annoyance brought my attention back to the mousy clerk who had handed me the telegram. His palm was held out expectantly as he coughed again, the irritation in his tone growing. “Ah yes, I almost forgot,” I quickly withdrew a few coins from my pocket as I apologized and dropped them in his upturned hand. Wrapping his scrawny fingers tight around the payment he wordlessly turned on his heels and scurried from the room; a two-legged rodent disappearing back into its mouse-hole. Left alone I glanced back at the telegram one final time to ensure I hadn’t missed anything (I hadn’t, of course) before I crumpled the not up and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket. “I wish I could tell you what was happening, Helmut,” I said to myself, “but I don’t even know what is going on.”

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Part Forty-Nine
Belgrade and Osijek

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Sultan Suleiman II

Sultan Suleiman II had a sharp mind and a great sense of his current predicament. The military leadership in the Balkans had executed his half-brother Mahmud and placed him on the throne; he “ruled” at their pleasure. Or so they encouraged him to think. Suleiman was not a child and knew full well that his “advisors” needed him as much as he needed to remain in their good graces. The Ottoman Empire was still a devoted monarchy where those with titles reigned at the discretion of the Sultan. For Suleiman the problem was in exercising his imperial authority without being quietly deposed. Only a small group within the empire knew that Mahmud had been forced out and executed; his predecessors had also suffered from repeated and sudden deaths within the imperial line, so if the commanders and advisors felt he was too much of a threat they could certainly chance another palace coup.

To this end the Sultan found himself having to allow certain concessions to the Janissaries. Mostly these were minor issues such as pay-raises and the like, but the most vital and consequential of them all was the removal on the restriction of Janissaries having to have been Christian converts. Over the years the Sultans had found it prudent to give the Janissaries greater degrees of freedom to ensure their loyalty such as the ability to marry and let their children inherit property. Over time the strict regulations on the Janissaries had weakened as non-Christians and the children of former Janissaries found their way into the schools, but this decree formally abolished the need for the Devşirme. This would help relations with the Christian populations, but it also lead to a rapid decline in the quality and loyalty of the Janissary Corps. Eventually this would lead to a future crisis that would threaten the entire Empire.

Initially military leaders were very worried about the possibility that the new Padishah might seek to arrest or execute them and regain absolute control of the state. During the first year of his reign Suleiman was closely watched by his minders for fear of an imperial order for their heads. Yet as time passed and Suleiman remained very quiet and pliable the worry began to lessen. Even within the ad-hoc “council” commanding the Balkan war the generals and other administrators were not unified in how to handle the Sultan. They could not treat him as a prisoner as eventually he would be expected to return to Constantinople where he would be out of their grasp and he would be free to do as he pleased. A few of the most confident believed they could occupy the Imperial capital and thus keep the monarchy forever under the thumb of the military, but the majority saw this as folly: the rest of the Empire would see it as a military coup and rally around the beleaguered Sultan.

Others sought to work with the Sultan and build good relations with him in preparations for his return to power. They tried to befriend him or convince him that his predecessor had been a threat to the general stability of the Empire, all in the interest of self-preservation. Amongst these individuals were a select few who were truly devoted to the Sultan and the monarchy, seeing the deposition as a horribly necessity. It was from these men that Suleiman would find his first true allies, and of the two dozen or so leaders of the coup they alone would be spared Suleiman’s patient retribution.

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The war against the Holy Roman Empire had become a disaster for the Ottoman Empire. The early and well prepared invasion of Hungary had quickly netted a massive swath of territory, but this was all soon recaptured by the advancing Austrian armies. Turkish forces had fallen back into the heart of Serbia around the massive fortresses of Belgrade. Belgrade (“White City” or “White Fortress” in the Slavic tongue) was the most strategically important of all Ottoman cities within Europe with the sole exception of the capital of Constantinople itself. Built where the Danube and Sava Rivers met, its location allowed swift river transport from the Black Sea and offered the perfect staging ground for any further Ottoman conquests into Europe. The Ottomans had even attempted to rename the city with the Arabic name “Dar Al Jihad” ( “House of Jihad”) to reflect this future goal, although this was never taken seriously by the locals or even the Turks themselves. Belgrade would, like Constantinople, retain its earlier name due to its common usage within the Empire.

To support that expansionist end the Turks had invested heavily in the city in the centuries after its conquest. Belgrade was surrounded with thick walls and numerous fortifications to cement Turkish control over the region, becoming the lynchpin of Ottoman defences in the Balkans. Any invader had to neutralize the city if they wished to utilize the rivers or march further into the Ottoman Balkans, for its massive garrison was a small army all its own. The city was important for more than just military matters however. Its location on the rivers made it a centre of trade and economy for the entire region, allowing its population to swell to more than a hundred-thousand souls. This importance was reflected in the numerous mosques and Turkish-style buildings the Empire build within the city as thousands of Muslims relocated to the city (most willingly).

Belgrade had become the centre of administration for one of the three main sub-divisions of the Christian population, dealing with the Christian Serbs under the broad category of the Orthodox Christian Millet (and its leader the Patriarch in Constantinople). The city became an independent Sanjak not included in a specific Vilâyet / Beylik, although still under the rule of the Beylerbey of the region (the Northern Balkans, as opposed to the Southern Balkans which included Greece and Bulgaria). Its fortifications are still mostly intact and well preserved, and this author highly recommends any Oriental adventurer to make Belgrade a stop on their travels east. You will not be disappointed.

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The Danubian access to Belgrade was vital for Suleiman’s armies by allowing the untapped reserves from the rest of the Empire to arrive swiftly to replenish the depleted Ottoman forces. While the combined Austrian, Bavarian, and Brandenburgian armies were formidable by any sense of the word, the Austrian’s lacked one key element to threaten the Empire: naval power. The wars with Portugal had shown the Turks were very dependent on naval transportation to move their military swiftly, and the key to disrupting the Turkish military on the ground was to take control of the seas. The Germans lacked any means of threatening the Black Sea, giving the Turks the ability to reach Belgrade unmolested. This would prove the turning point in the war as by the late-spring of 1605 the Ottomans had regained much of their lost strength and could resume their counter-offensive.

Suleiman himself began to take a more primary role in the military campaigns by exerting his Imperial authority to take command of armies and overwrite the orders of others. Still walking quietly to appease the Janissaries, the Sultan was sure not to overstep his bounds until the time was right. He personally led one of the smaller armies back into Hungary while the bulk of the military engaged the Germans to the north. Here his military acumen was obvious when he swiftly conquered much of the Hungarian Kingdom; although resistance was minimal he moved with great speed and threatened Hungary with destruction again. Desperate to hold onto whatever land they had left King Lajos III (and his mother) made territorial concessions to the Ottomans. The Turks had not gained their original goals by grabbing more of the low-lying Hungarian lands, but knocking Hungary out of the war created divisions within the German ranks and sealed their right-flank from attack.

Hungary’s defeat had two major effects: it was both a blow to Emperor Maximilian’s prestige and gave Sultan Suleiman much respect amongst the military. More commanders began to support the Padishah as they nominally would, granting him greater control over his armies once he returned from Hungary in victory. Maximilian on the other hand found himself in a tight spot. Defending Christian Hungary from Muslim aggression had been the key motivator for the conflict. With Hungary at peace with the Turks the Bavarian and Brandenburgian detachments developed an unwillingness to keep up the fight, and Maximilian feared that if they returned home he would not be able to properly gain what he had demanded in the Treaty of Rust. Forced into action Maximilian advanced on the Turks, knowing the others would continue to follow him as long as they kept winning. A solid victory would cement their loyalty and give him the support needed to re-conquer the Hungarian lands. The Emperor Maximilian and his Holy Roman armies met Padishah Suleiman outside Osijek.

The Battle of Osijek was a reversal of what had occurred at Buda and Slavonia with the Ottomans sending the Germans retreating from the field in disarray. The losses were not as severe as at Buda or Slavonia for either side but Osijek, like the two other major battles, had disastrous political consequences. The unity of the Germans was sundered completely. It was the Brandenburgian detachment that was the first to desert Maximilian after secret negotiations with the Ottomans. Essentially Suleiman paid the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg off by transporting a large sum of precious metals up to the Baltic ports. This cost Maximilian roughly a fourth of his military strength when he needed it most.

Without the large quantities of reserves the Turks were able to call on the Austrians were forced to fall back. The Bavarians loyally stayed in the field but Count-Elector Anton I returned home and refused to send more men to die in a “fruitless conflict so the Emperor can gain more land.”

As the Austrians retreated the Ottomans hotly pursued them, spreading out once they reached the Croat lands to besiege the forts and castles the Austrians had built there. Maximilian still held a strong military but could not dislodge the Turks from their siege lines. In a humiliating reversal the Holy Roman Emperor was forced to concede lands to the “heathen Turk and their bloodthirsty Sultan”, granting Suleiman the accolades and popular support he needed to fully regain power from his military minders. Returning home to Constantinople Suleiman began to resume leadership on the Ottoman Empire, all the while patiently putting into action the plot he had conceived of to seek retribution against the leaders of the coup that had so threatened Imperial authority.

- Johannes Krieger, The Sublime State: A History of The Ottoman Empire; vol. 2

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[LordOfBlood]

Great AAR, Great storyline.
Only problem; We need more and more frequent updates

[Stuyvesant]

Excellent... Suleiman is turning into quite the Sultan, given the perilous start of his reign.

This following sentence I really like:

...they alone would be spared Suleiman’s patient retribution.

With just those two words at the end, you sketch out quite a bit of the future of Suleiman's reign. "Patient retribution", I really like the image that conjures.