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Wow, that was a timely stroke of luck to come under the wing of France. Hopefully Europe won't be able to lay their hands on all your attractive camels now. I can't think why else they'd want the place so badly. lol
 
Silly French ambassadors, getting into harm's way like that. I hope the prestige setback isn't too severe.
 
This AAR is amazing. I've never even seen Tunis survive past 1839 in any games I've played, but you're well on the road to making it a civilized nation! Perhaps even a Mediterranean power?
 
That's being a little too optimistic, no?

Probably, but Spain and the Ottomans decline rapidly, so that only leaves France. Plus, there's plenty of room for colonization if the Europeans neglect it!
 
Victory over the perfidious Spanish! Huzzah!

Any chance that with a well-timed pile-on you could liberate Tripoli from the Ottomans?
 
My AAR does manage to westernise pretty soon. To be honest I hope you westernise before me. Don't be afraid to NF officers to get plenty of generals(assuming you can't get them to promote normally I guess). I had to for my Sokoto game.. despite taking Ethiopia and a chunk of Egypt.

Well done with Spain.. an impressive win it is to be sure and with French backing you are free to do what you will. With 12 brigades that is probaby a fair bit. Sokoto, Ethiopia and Egypt could all probably be played with.. assuming you want to stay in Africa.

Pretty bad luck with the killed ambassador, luckily my AAR missed out. Good luck in the next stage!
 
yeah, getting the MIL score high enough to westernize can drive ya crazy. My only advice, which I 'm sure you've already considered, is to crank military spending as high as you can, and/or build men-of-war.
Silly French ambassadors, getting into harm's way like that. I hope the prestige setback isn't too severe.
My AAR does manage to westernise pretty soon. To be honest I hope you westernise before me. Don't be afraid to NF officers to get plenty of generals(assuming you can't get them to promote normally I guess). I had to for my Sokoto game.. despite taking Ethiopia and a chunk of Egypt.

Well done with Spain.. an impressive win it is to be sure and with French backing you are free to do what you will. With 12 brigades that is probaby a fair bit. Sokoto, Ethiopia and Egypt could all probably be played with.. assuming you want to stay in Africa.

Pretty bad luck with the killed ambassador, luckily my AAR missed out. Good luck in the next stage!
The blows to my prestige have been severe, since that ambassador event occured not just once but three times (twice in the previous chapter and one in the first years of the next one)! However, it can be rectified given enough time. As for military score, I'll use officer NFs and also try to pump up my normal military (it appears the more brigades there are active, the more POPs want to become soldiers). The next chapter will follow those developments.

Great, another AAR that I'll be reading at night. This looks like awesome stuff though. I would love to try something as brave sometime (or was it stupid?). Good luck against the Europeans!
Welcome aboard, Khaelyn! There’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity when choosing to play as an unciv in Europe’s doorstep, but luck has been with me so far.

Wow, that was a timely stroke of luck to come under the wing of France. Hopefully Europe won't be able to lay their hands on all your attractive camels now. I can't think why else they'd want the place so badly. lol

It was a life-saver. If Spain had been able to divert its full attention to me in that last war, things would have possibly turned out a lot different. Now, if I can just westernize that should put a permanent end to European aggression (unless France gets an acquire state CB, but I’ll try to keep relations up).

This AAR is amazing. I've never even seen Tunis survive past 1839 in any games I've played, but you're well on the road to making it a civilized nation! Perhaps even a Mediterranean power?
That's being a little too optimistic, no?
Probably, but Spain and the Ottomans decline rapidly, so that only leaves France. Plus, there's plenty of room for colonization if the Europeans neglect it!
Victory over the perfidious Spanish! Huzzah!

Any chance that with a well-timed pile-on you could liberate Tripoli from the Ottomans?

Thanks Konnigratz! After westernization, Tunis should be in good position to advance in strength, due to its rapidly increasing population. Though standing up to France is out of the question, Egypt is a target and so may be the Ottoman Empire, eventually (I want Tripoli). I’d like to get Lebanon at some point, if it proves convenient (homeland of the Phoenicians, so of some romantic importance to the growing Tunisian nationalism), and colonize Africa, though I’m behind on life rating techs, so there’s a significant risk of France blocking me with its colonies.
 
Thanks Konnigratz! After westernization, Tunis should be in good position to advance in strength, due to its rapidly increasing population. Though standing up to France is out of the question, Egypt is a target and so may be the Ottoman Empire, eventually (I want Tripoli). I’d like to get Lebanon at some point, if it proves convenient (homeland of the Phoenicians, so of some romantic importance to the growing Tunisian nationalism), and colonize Africa, though I’m behind on life rating techs, so there’s a significant risk of France blocking me with its colonies.

I don't know about that, France normally starts from the south or west parts of West Africa so it should take them a while to get to the land that's directly beneath you.
 
It also tends to colonize south of Algeria, but now that I own half of it, we'll see how it goes. The next chapter will be up within minutes.
 
Chapter VI – A New Course

The new Bey ascended to the throne in the most peaceful time in recent Tunisian memory, after over twenty years of constant war.



Safe under French protection, the Tunisians could find only mild amusement in the struggles of others, such as the return of American marines to the shores of Tripoli.



However, the struggle for Tunis’ soul continued unabated, with people more militant than ever.



The elections of 1860 did not change the status quo, but the new government’s decision to remove weighted restrictions from voting led to a drastic decrease in consciousness.

Less amusing was the murder of yet another European ambassador, this time from Austria. Sadok Bey, not having yet established the clout to address European monarchs as an equal, assented to the erection of a monument to the ambassador in Tunis, which would place a long-term burden on the city’s self-esteem and prestige.



On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the Americans had a civil war, which led to some of their soldiers becoming stranded in Libya, as the navy remained loyal to the Union. The hapless troops gradually dispersed and found ways to became integrated in local communities.



The years 1861 and 1862 were milestones for Tunisian thought, since they marked the greatest Tunisian contributions to the fields of Empiricism and Pragmatism. The prestige gained from those advances was immense, and placed the nation high in the eyes of Europe. If only it could demonstrate that it had a military capacity on par with its prestige, it might be possible be accepted and respected as a modern nation.



Sadok Bey decided to make that object the goal of his reign, but there were certain conditions working against him. The statue to the Austrian Ambassador was a source of gradual prestige drain for Tunis, while the nation’s population was not yet large enough to provide a truly impressive army. Tunis needed an opportunity, something to provide it with prestige, population and an excuse for a military buildup. As he stayed up pondering the situation one night, he realized the answer lay before his eyes, and was even tied to his family’s legacy.

Spain was at war with Egypt, over a concession in the Middle East. The USA, Egypt’s protector, had largely abandoned it to its fate after its own civil war, and Egypt’s army was tiny. However, the latter still supported a powerful navy, which Tunis couldn’t hope to match without bankrupting itself. But, in the absence of a significant land army, Egypt could be persuaded to part with one of its states, and in particular Crete, ancestral home of the Husainid dynasty.

The Tunisian armed forces consisted of 19 brigades but only 3 would be used for the operation. In January 1963, a clipper convoy ferried the ‘Marine Raiders’ cavalry brigade to Crete, ever watchful for the appearance of the Egyptian navy.



Meanwhile, two more cavalry brigades, the ‘Desert Raiders’ started a perilous trek across the Sahara Desert, to surprise the Egyptians by invading their core provinces.



The Marine Raiders landed successfully in Crete, but their transports were not as fortunate. Beset by a fast enemy fleet, they were sunk before they could escape.



By June 1863, Iraklion had fallen and Chania was under siege, with the support of a large Spanish army. The Spanish wanted the city for themselves, to increase their advantage against Egypt for their own ends, but the Tunisians were there first and could not be dislodged without an international incident.



That same month, the first Desert Raiders reached Siwa. The long journey had resulted in the loss of one out of every three men, but the operation was a success and soon Sidi Barrani would fall, providing a fast sea link between Crete and the Egyptian theatre of operations. The Egyptians could spare no more than 6000 soldiers against the Tunisian threat, and once the Marine Raiders were ferried to Sidi Barrani the former became outnumbered and then destroyed. In May 1864 the Desert Raiders reached Cairo and the Egyptian government agreed to the Tunisian terms.





After that glorious victory, Tunis established a local publishing industry, while advances were made in the field of medicine. The nation was becoming increasingly important in the eyes of the world, but it was still lacking in military might. Extra focus was placed on training the nation’s officer corps, while many brigades of irregulars were raised as paramilitary forces to bolster the nation’s army size.

As a validation of the importance of the modernization effort, news came from overseas of the westernization of China. The dragon of the Far East had awoken, and there was much talk in Europe and elsewhere of the possible ramifications of that event.



The Tunisian government was determined not to fall behind, and by 1870 it could just about boast an intellectual and military status that befitted a civilized nation.



On 11 September 1870, the ambassadors of all European powers in Tunis officially accepted the nation as a civilized entity, capable of its own path to progress and its own industrial base.



Sadok Bey responded to the occasion by signing the Geneva Convention and announcing the construction of the country’s first factories. And not a moment too soon, since a recent population boom had resulted in a scarcity of farming or mining jobs in Tunisia. There was a rising landless population which was being drawn to the big cities. Once there, they would provide the human resources for Tunis’ industrial revolution. A new age dawned – a Carthage remade in steel and steam for the world to admire. But there would still be great trials in store in the quest to achieve that destiny.
 
Now we're talking! With China now a civilized power, perhaps the motto should be 'Europa Delenda Est?'
 
I think we can safely say that none of us have seen a westernised Tunisia before. Great work so far, keep it up!

Oh, BTW did recruiting all those irregulars help you gain leadership or military score?
 
Whoo, Westernised! I'd imagine the utterly poor quality of the Tunisia RGOs will make industrialization quite rapid with the health-care reforms. Any plans for expanding into mainland Egypt now that you know you can beat them around the head a bit? :p
 
Heh, Europe will shake!

The irregulars kept my brigade count high, so more POPs became soldiers. Before that, actual brigades constituted about half my possible brigade count, and the latter didn't seem to go up much.

Another interesting thing is that the condition for westernization is that the military score should be higher than 50, so in the screenshot before last, where it was precisely 50, I couldn't westernize. Only when I got one more possible brigade, on 10 September, did I get the decision.

Konnigratz, I've got plans, grandiose plans, but getting a profitable industrial base takes precedence. I've stepped into the world stage at the time of the traditional world timber shortage, and this makes things a bit complicated...
 
Congratulations!

Now that you're Westernized, will you abandon the -2-based war counting scheme in favor of something 0-based or 1-based? :)
 
Thanks! Technically, the wars against Algeria and Sicily counted as '0' and then the wars of the Constantine Region concession were numbered from 1 to 9, but now that I'm westernized the counter will be reset. ;)
 
I've got plans, grandiose plans, but getting a profitable industrial base takes precedence. I've stepped into the world stage at the time of the traditional world timber shortage, and this makes things a bit complicated.

When you do go conquering, could you go for the Ottomans first and then Egypt, just for the sake of a contiguous Carthaginian empire?
 
I'd like that, but the Ottomans have got some pretty solid allies at present, including France.