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He has that nice Petroverlord feel about him. Be sure to file your grievances in a PM :p Contest open for images for Shah Walad I :)
I've using using mostly Ottoman sultans, but i guess using Safavids may work as well. Dunno why i hadn't thought of it...
Possibly unfortunate for the nationalist in you... Iran in the cultural sense is a bit smaller than in OTL :(

Dont let the flag or location fool you :p Im on the "Arab" side of the Gulf in ways that go beyond simple geography. Well, not *right* now, but you get the drift. I just like the idea of Iran. Perhaps a bit too much. Thas' all.

Note: Im not sure you can ask for a contest on the pics - better ask the mods first since it might mean you're moving into an interactive category ;)
 
Very interesting stuff. I do like that a naval defeat for the caliphate can be glossed over, so strong now is the nation. The description of Portuguese exploration continues to be not only plausible sounding but also brilliantly detailed. A Catholic Japan then, once again I get the feeling the Jalayirids will be rather unamused at this. Portugal had better hope that the ships newly built by the Jalayirids are not soon sailing towards Lisbon.
 
This really does just keep getting better and better (no pressure). I really loved the entries on Portugal. A lovely fusion of Portugal and the Netherlands from our timeline. Also great imagery of Catholic Japan and great description of the spread of Christianity to the outcasts in eastern society.
 
Very interesting stuff. I do like that a naval defeat for the caliphate can be glossed over, so strong now is the nation. The description of Portuguese exploration continues to be not only plausible sounding but also brilliantly detailed. A Catholic Japan then, once again I get the feeling the Jalayirids will be rather unamused at this. Portugal had better hope that the ships newly built by the Jalayirids are not soon sailing towards Lisbon.
Well, those thin supplies of wood in the Mediterranean aren't there for nothing! More wood! More ships! Have we cleared out Lebanon's forests yet? :D There is however, a slim chance that these new ships may indeed attack Lisbon soon enough :p
Congratulations mayorqw, you've been nominated as the WritAAR of the week! Take a bow and accept your award, you've earned it.
Thank you yet again.
This really does just keep getting better and better (no pressure). I really loved the entries on Portugal. A lovely fusion of Portugal and the Netherlands from our timeline. Also great imagery of Catholic Japan and great description of the spread of Christianity to the outcasts in eastern society.
I'll keep updating on the Japanese and the southern Indians' Christian misadventures as time goes on. Let us hope they live in interesting times... Oh I know they will :p

Oh, and sorry for the lack of last week's update, even if only to comemorate the WritAAR of the Week award. This update has been basically finished since Tuesday, but damn exams :mad:
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Chapter 18
The Reconquest of Al-Andalus


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Caliph Isma'il I.

Ten years passed, and Caliph Muhammad’s reign of peace had brought great wealth to the land. With no need to finance a large army, taxes were lowered and commerce blossomed, despite the increased competition from the Lisboetas. New canals were established along the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, and retired career soldiers given plots of land in the newly irrigated lands. The bureaucracy’s excesses were kept in check through Muhammad’s keen eye, and lavish bathhouses, fountains and palaces were built throughout the empire.

However, Muhammad II – his grizzly beard and hair giving away his 25 year long rule - died in 1541, after a 24 year long reign. His successor, Isma’il I, was different in many aspects from his father. Having been sent at an early age to the governorship of Morocco as a fosterling, so as to familiarize himself with the hardships of keeping the distant provinces – whose governors treated as quasi-independent states, so far were they from the center of power – the future caliph was, to his father’s displeasure, very keen on imitating the values and styles of the nomadic Berbers. Such were their influence in him that he lived in a nearly ascetic state, content with little more than a regular tent, and always mistrusting of the luxurious palace life and its revelers. A warrior – and poet – at heart, he left much of the day to day business of the state – starting an unfortunate trend – to trusted viziers, even though Isma’il’s few interventions in legislation prove that he had great skill at it - despite his distaste for such matters, he thoroughly realized their importance in managing a sprawling empire such as the Jalayirids’.

His reign also begins a period of favor for more bellicose actions, and one of disfavor for the Dhimmi Party, after the undying support given to it by Muhammad II.

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Old Muslim Iberia at its near maximum extent.

Even so, there was great surprise when the Caliph announced the enterprise that would define his tenure: the (re)conquest of Al-Andalus, from where the Muslims had been expelled 130 years before. A monumental enterprise – unlike the overwhelming majority of the Caliphate’s conquests, Iberia was a large and decidedly anti-Islamic region – the two wars fought to further it would, despite its surprising initial success, be discarded after Isma’il’s early death, the hostile and rebellious populace doing much to increase the difficulty of administrating a territory so far from home and discourage anyone from attempting further conquest in the Peninsula; at least until the regency for Isma’il’s son ended.

The Muslim troops quickly disembarked in Lagos, in southern Portugal. Taking advantage of the fragmented Portuguese cities and the lack of a ‘national’ defense plan, they quickly advanced northward, defeating the Republic’s combined – for lack of a better term, since the other cities were extremely reluctant[1] to unite under Lisbon in a last-ditch effort to stop the ‘Moors’ - forces at the Battle of Setubal, 1545. Defenseless, Lisbon was taken and to the relief of its inhabitants, left untouched for the most part, since Isma’il found looting abhorrent.~

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The conquest of Lisbon

A ‘treaty’ was signed by a humiliated Aedile, where Lisbon forfeited her rights to any territory south of the Tagus River. Both this apparent abandonment of her Sister Republics and their jealousy at Lisbon having kept the Far Eastern trade for herself, would lead to the secession of the Oporto Republic – which had grown moderately wealthy trading with northern Europe, as opposed to Lisbon’s focus in the Far East - which sought to overshadow Lisbon, as well as the ‘Liga Beirã’, the name given to an extremely loose confederation, in Central Portugal, a league of the states which saw both Lisbon and Oporto as oppressive masters.

More than its conquest at the hands of the Muslims, Lisbon was weakened by these territorial losses, as its pool of available soldiers diminished considerably, and it was to suffer intense competition – peaceful or otherwise - from the northern Oporto Republic, though, curiously, most sieges resulted in either a stalemate or minor concessions[2]. The Lisboetas now found themselves in a far more precarious position in the Far East as well as home, as the men of Oporto sought to establish themselves in both. Ultimately, the Portuguese Oriental Empires (both of Lisbon and the ‘newcomer’ Oporto) would fall, as the wars grew more vicious at home, and less and less resources were devoted to their oriental possessions’ upkeep - who on their shoe-string budget could barely keep functioning – and were slowly absorbed by the neighboring powers – as was the case of the fortresses on Taiwan, which were repurposed as Wokou pirate bases – or taken over by the local elites – Cochin, Calicut, Makassar. Among them, the Cidade do Cabo (Cape Town) would be the only one to truly survive past its Motherland’s destruction or neglect.

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Cidade do Cabo, at its early stage.

After minor skirmishes with Spanish forces, the armies entered Badajoz and repelled several attacks by the enemy. A few battles were then fought, and the Spanish soon withdrew from the territory. Seville and Cordoba were soon liberated, opening the way for supply ships to begin unloading their goods at Seville’s harbor. Soon the Muslim armies were pursuing the retreating Spanish, though, due to the haste, inadequate defenses were set up to protect their newly gained territories, as well as troops to fight off the fanatic partisans which had arisen throughout the land, to fight against the heathen Mahometans. Pursuing the retreating Spanish armies to the North and West, the Muslims left a gap in their ‘line’, which was mercilessly exploited by the Spanish general Tomas de Ripperdá. Punching through the nearly nonexistent defenses n the way to Cordoba, he recaptured the city, as well as Seville and Cadiz, in mid 1546, cutting the Muslims’ territory in two and blockading their supply lines.

Isma’il’s hungry forces then made an unwilling – if shorter - re-enactment of Xenophon’s Long March[3], marching from Toledo, across hundreds of kilometers of hostile enemies and dry land, in the scorching summer sun. Despite his plan seemingly collapsing around him, Isma’il, after losing a third of his army to hunger, pestilence and Spanish raids – he refused any form of pitched battle with Tomas de Ripperdá - eventually reached the coast – as the other Spanish forces were distracted by a surprise attack on Valencia by the Army of Sicily.

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The dry, hot climate of southern Spain, combined with a total lack of supplies, led to high casualties in Isma'il's army.

Resting his battered army and awaiting reinforcements at the mouth of the Guadiana river, Isma’il was to again conquer Seville the year after, this time leaving an adequate force to guard the city and the surrounding region – having realized the paramount importance of good supply lines in such hostile lands. General de Ripperdá’s army met Isma’il on the outskirts of Cordoba. This battle, in March 1547, was to showcase to Europe the deadly power of Isma’il’s reorganized musket formations. Though an adept of Bedouin-like ethics, the Caliph was well aware of the realities of managing an army far larger than a tribal host, and in a flurry of creativity – which some actually attribute to his chief general, Abu Hasan Muhammad – he developed a rather efficient way to organize musket men, arranging them in formations that were three lines deep, in which one line would fire, retreat to the back, reload, and await to fire again, providing a steady stream of fire; this is now known as the ‘Andalusian Formation’, given its first serious application in warfare.

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The Spanish king and his entourage surrender themselves to the advancing Muslim forces and agree to the negotiations.

The Spanish army was annihilated, and Cordoba again occupied and set up as the seat of the governor of Al-Andalus, a post the Caliph was to occupy until the end of his life, since he would spend nearly the entirety of his reign in Iberia. Then, the Muslims pushed north, capturing King Garcia I in Madrid, and forcing him to sign the Treaty of Toledo, in which roughly all territories south of the Tagus and west from Granada were added to the Caliphate.

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The old Great Mosque of Cordoba. which had been converted into a church in 1236, was once again made Muslim, and important new additions were made to it.

While the Caliph was later to continue his conquest of Iberia, he now spent his days organizing the province of Al-Andalus, and ordering craftsmen, and artists from all over the Caliphate to initiate the building (and renovation) of elegant mosques - palaces, sewers and so on, as well as intrepid missionaries, so as to convert at least part of the populace to Islam, since, even if for practical reasons, the territory was extremely hard to rule over without at least a small base of support. To this end, soldiers were also given land, and Arab families brought over to colonize the province. While the cultural absorption and conversion of the local populace had initially lackluster results, they soon grew better – due in no small part to the desire to escape the Jizya tax, which was levied on non-Muslims – and would lead, eventually, to the modern Muslim states of Iberia.

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The splendour of the court of Al-Andalus rivaled even that of Baghdad, as the local governors were eager to make Cordoba the cultural and scientific capital of Islam once more.

Isma’il’s conquests, besides forever altering the cultural and political landscape of Iberia, had the effect of giving yet another push for Spain’s colonization of the New World[4] – as well as causing large-scale emigration to South Africa, which expanded considerably during this time - as Christians fled Muslim Al-Andalus to find better fortunes elsewhere. The Spanish, having been pushed off North Africa 40 years before, had taken great swathes of land, primarily in the Caribbean, the so-called ‘Spanish Main’, and had been steadily colonizing them, with even timid contacts made with the Mesoamerican states. Much like South Africa would serve as a haven for the displaced Portuguese, Spain’s colonies in the Americas would more or less serve as the Spanish people’s home, far away from a Muslim-dominated Iberia. Indeed, these lands would soon be the only acceptable choices for emigration, as the Protestant Reformation and its aftershocks began to be truly felt in France and Germany, as small religious conflicts boiled into full-scale wars, preludes of times to come. The European Wars of Religion, sometimes called collectively ‘The Forty Years’ War’, would , in fifty years, terrorize Northern and Central Europe, amid the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire.

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Iberia after Isma'il's first war. Note Oporto and the Liga's secession from the Republic of Lisbon, as well as the new, yet short-lived Kingdom of Aragón, which was again annexed by Spain after a short civil war, in which several other states also sought independence.

*********​

[1]Oporto itself refused to send troops to defended its rival, and it was these troops that allowed Oporto’s initial edge over Lisbon, taking over large parts of the coast and integrating its cities into itself, dropping Lisbon’s pretention of ‘primus inter pares’.

[2] Lisbon’s short-lived conquest of Oporto was for naught, as the city rebelled yet again and drove its troops from the city. Otherwise, the powers were at rather equal odds, and it is thought that neither had the strength to keep the other in check for too long. There were also small periods of peace, usually lasting a year or two, and again interrupted by some petty dispute that sent the two cities bickering yet again.

[3] A perilous journey undertaken during Antiquity, in which Xenophon, a Greek mercenary, and his companions, which had been hired by a Persian prince which sought the throne, attempted to return to their homeland after their expedition’s (and the prince’s bid for the throne’s) failure. They travelled from Mesopotamia all the way to the Black Sea, in a great journey in which they braved deserts, disease, attacks from Persians and Armenians, and constant hunger in a fight for survival.

[4]The reason this continent’s discovery by the Europeans has not been described on this work is due to the sporadic nature of expeditions to it, which intensified in the 1510’s, and which will be spoken of later, when New Spain is established as an independent organized entity, with its capital in Havana, acting as a sort of exiled government.
 
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The reconquest of Al-Andalus is not complete without Tullaytillah, Mursiyya, and Balansiyya in Muslim hands!
 
Interesting to think that the Jalayirid gains in the Iberian Peninsula may actually be strengthening both Portugal and Spain due to the spur to colonisation they have provided. Although I guess the Jalayirids can always conquer these new lands the Iberian powers are kindly readying for them at a future point! Engrossing stuff, I think it is no longer a question of whether or not European powers fear the Jalayirids but rather one of if they have the power to resist any Jalayirid incursions or not. With the potency of the Andalusian Formation I'd have to venture that they do not have the power to resist.

However this is likely a moot point regardless, European powers need not worry, it seems as if Isma'il may bring about his own defeat away from the battlefield;

A warrior – and poet – at heart, he left much of the day to day business of the state – starting an unfortunate trend – to trusted viziers...

Never trust a vizier!

Oh, and I hope your exams have been going well.
 
great stuff as ever & well worth the wait, I really like the logic you offer for your actions as well as the depth of description
Thanks!
The Portuguese Lisbon-Porto intrigues are a nice touch ;) What happened to Beira?
Beira just split off, since they saw themselves as non-aligned to neither Lisbon nor Oporto. If you mean in-game, well, I can't say 'cause it'll break the immersion (if any). I don't like it when an author just pulls the rug on what happened so, tough luck :D
The reconquest of Al-Andalus is not complete without Tullaytillah, Mursiyya, and Balansiyya in Muslim hands!
Toledo, Murcia and Valencia will fall soon enough! But I think Isma'il is better off trying to organize some semblance of order among the catholic population, at least for now. Good thing they'll leave...
Minor tidbit: there is very little native Spanish/Portuguese/Catalan influence in modern Iberia, and not just because of the Caliphs' trying ;)
Interesting to think that the Jalayirid gains in the Iberian Peninsula may actually be strengthening both Portugal and Spain due to the spur to colonisation they have provided. Although I guess the Jalayirids can always conquer these new lands the Iberian powers are kindly readying for them at a future point! Engrossing stuff, I think it is no longer a question of whether or not European powers fear the Jalayirids but rather one of if they have the power to resist any Jalayirid incursions or not. With the potency of the Andalusian Formation I'd have to venture that they do not have the power to resist.
While the Caliphate wouldn't mind relieving those juicy from their oppressive colonials, but I think Isma'il is more focused in events closer to home now ;)

And in case you guys haven't noticed, the Caliphate is indirectly the cause of nearly anything to do with colonization and christianization, from America to Japan... It goes without saying I'm very proud of this :p! Also, thanks to a little nip and tuck (as well as making terra incognita last longer to keep the pesky minors out), the Americas look beautiful! They'll be shown soon
However this is likely a moot point regardless, European powers need not worry, it seems as if Isma'il may bring about his own defeat away from the battlefield;
Maybe, maybe not. Live fast, die young, conquer Iberia. Basic really :p
Never trust a vizier!
Oh, and I hope your exams have been going well.
Indeed, and thanks!


Update maybe Wednesday, probably in the weekend but I'll start writing it now :)
 
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Chapter 19
Basileus ton Romaion
(Or, the Taking of Constantinople)


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Caliph Isma'il I being pictured in an illustrated book of the time as a barbarian, leader of the hordes that threatened Christendom.

In 1549, Isma’il I was to continue his conquest in Iberia, in the midst of the a Spanish civil war. While he broke the truce he had agreed upon with King Garcia, it had little effect – most Muslims supported the war, and Isma’il I was far beyond redemption in the Christians’ eyes. Much unlike the first war, the Muslims found very little opposition, and soon took over all of Southern Spain, now controlling all territory south of the Tagus. A ceasefire was signed with the mostly powerless king, but this only intensified his opponents’ view of the King as a passive Muslim collaborator, responsible for the loss of half the country’s land. Limited skirmishes continued with several factions in the area, but the Caliphate was in solid control of the region by June. Settlement by Arab families – mostly from the Levant and the Maghreb – continued, and a few local inhabitants even converted willingly to Islam.

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The Caliphate's possessions in the area with the actual territory of Nubia highlighted.

Colonization – or a form of it - was also underway in Nubia, as the governor of Egypt, Abu al Khayr, sought to distinguish himself by submitting the local Muslim tribes and sheiks to the Caliph’s – read his – authority. A hundred families or so were to establish the region’s capitol, named Al Hartum, due to its position on the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. However, to the west of the city – which would grow to be a rather prosperous trade hub – ‘order’ was maintained over the local Nubian peoples through periodical expeditions, who, due to the areas’ isolation were mostly left to their own devices. Their cultural borrowing from the Arabs were little, but they multiplied as trade with other cities in the Caliphate and the Yemenite Sultanate increased, through the building of canals – a network of small canals that allowed ships to bypass the Nile’s Cataracts and ensure that navigation from Nubia to Alexandria was possible, even if at a much smaller scale than the Greater Nile Canal System, built at a much later date – and of paved roads.

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Dhul Fiqar, the 18th Century Nubian conqueror of Egypt.

By the end of the century, Arab influence permeated nearly every stratum of Nubian society. However - and this will prove very important later on – while the local peoples conformed to Arab customs and settled down in cities, they did not lose their hardy warrior spirit, which they famous for throughout the Muslim world.

Satisfied with his holdings in Iberia, Isma’il I looked for a new target: he found it in the Ottoman Empire. Having been booted from Asia Minor by Muhammad II, Osman’s dynasty had a precarious reign on Greece. While it had succeeded to convert much of the population to Islam, the state was still weakened by succession strife, and the palace factions interpreted the Sultan’s orders as they pleased, leading to widespread corruption in nearly every single level of government. It was, in many ways, a model of the Jalayirid Caliphate’s later years, and Isma’il wanted to open a second front against Christian Europe.

While its administration was inefficient, the Empire’s armies proved a worthy adversary, and after an early string of defeats, adapted their tactics to their enemies’ musket formations, practicing guerrilla warfare and forcing Jalayirid troops into close quarters, where their muskets’ advantages were nullified. This formidable, yet ultimately futile resistance was headed by Murad Bey, an Ottoman general who, on account of his success in the defense of Macedonia, was spared execution and instead integrated as a Jalayirid general after the war, since Isma’il was impressed by his loyalty and martial skill in the Empire’s service.

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Caliph Isma'il I enters Constantinople.​

While some fighting continued in the provinces, the war was mostly over by the time the Jalayirid troops entered Constantinople; with the snake’s head cut off, the Ottoman higher cadres surrendered, and in one full swoop, the Ottomans - erstwhile allies of the Caliphate at its inception, who too fought against the Mamlukes in the 2nd Schismatic War – and their empire were absorbed by the Caliphate. A breakaway Christian state was formed in the Aegean islands, based in Naxos, and entitled itself to be reestablished Byzantine Empire. This ‘empire’ was headed by a descendent of the Dukas family, which had briefly ruled the Empire in the 11th Century. As was expected, and despite the threat of war from Austria if the islands were annexed, the state was short-lived, and the Dukas pretender was executed in Constantinople, in front of the Ayasofya – the former Hagia Sophia, which had been consecrated as a church by the Ottoman ruler Sellim III, who conquered the city from the last – true - Byzantine emperor, Manuel III.

Soon after, Isma’il was crowned Emperor of the Romans – or ‘Basileus ton Romaion’ in Greek – and, much like in his conquest of Al-Andalus, set out to establish an effective administration in the new territories, yet again giving himself the title of governor. Two great cannons was made and positioned on fortresses on both sides of the Bosporus, to signify the Caliphate’s control of the strait, and all trade coming to and from the Black Sea.

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He also established two new universities, one in Baghdad and the other in Constantinople itself, dedicated both to secular and religious matters. These would constitute a breeding ground for research, but the centralization of scientific thought in certain locations also lead to the Caliphate's government being able to easily censor material it found offending.

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The Holy Roman Emperor.

However, his adventures in Europe soon caught wind of the - Bohemian - Holy Roman Emperor, Boczek I Zatec, who, perhaps ignorant of the result of earlier crusades, and in no way moved by religious fervor, sought to secure his hegemony in the Balkans from the encroaching Muslims. Boczek soon petitioned the Pope for authorization, and the Roman Crusade was declared on the 20th January 1550 against the empire of Isma'il I, the Scourge of God. Fought solely in European soil, and more precisely in the Balkans and Central Europe, this war brought to the area the true horrors of religious war, with vast extensions of scorched land and 250,000 dead on both sides and would be a deciding factor in the beginning of the Forty Years’ War.

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Small update today, but a bigger one tomorrow. Also, I thought I should've wrapped up these smaller conflicts so I can start showing you the mother of all wars :D
 
Small update today, but a bigger one tomorrow. Also, I thought I should've wrapped up these smaller conflicts so I can start showing you the mother of all wars :D

Considering the last paragraph of this update, the Forty Years War sounds very promising!

Good to see the Jalayirid Empire securing her borders in both west, Spain once again humbled, and the east, the Ottomans effectively polished off. Just in time too consdiering this new Crusade. This could be the last real chance for Latin Christian Europe to halt the Jalayirid advance, although really I think it is too late for them.
 
again impressive .. particularly that the war that more or less finished the Ottomans is now to be described as a 'smaller conflict' but the next one promises to be epic. I do find in both CK and EU that conquering Constantinople is just such fun that one can't do it often enough.
 
This could be the last real chance for Latin Christian Europe to halt the Jalayirid advance, although really I think it is too late for them.
We'll just have to see :D
again impressive .. particularly that the war that more or less finished the Ottomans is now to be described as a 'smaller conflict' but the next one promises to be epic. I do find in both CK and EU that conquering Constantinople is just such fun that one can't do it often enough.
Indeed. The reason I call it a 'minor' war is because now, with the huge size of the Caliphate, the only truly great wars are those that involve efforts across the vast majority of the Caliphate, either economically or in terms of armies having to be diverted from certain regions to help the war in another. The last Ottoman war required just the two 'garrison' armies present in Anatolia and the Peloponnese. The Roman Crusade needed far more, with armies coming from Spain and the Georgian frontier (with Russia) alike.

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Chapter 20
The Roman Crusade, Part 1


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The political situation in the Balkans and the surrounding areas before the Roman Crusade

The widespread apathy towards Muslim encroachment that took root in most of Europe from the time of the 11th Crusade (1500) to the beginning of the Roman Crusade (1549), fueled in part by the Protestant problem in the north, had a major geopolitical effect in Europe from the 16th Century onwards. The uncontested strategic positions occupied by Calipha Mariam I during her Mediterranean Jihad allowed the Muslims total - with the conquest of Southern Spain, Gibraltar and the Bosporus strait - control over the entrances to the Mediterranean Sea, its ports, critical resupply areas, and its piracy – since the Barbary pirates had been tamed by the Caliphs as little more than a last-resort irregular naval force[1]. This overwhelming mastery of the Mediterranean Sea, a Muslim ‘Mare Nostrum’, gave the Caliphate complete control over all East-West trade routes – even more so with the closure of the Cape route – and the right to negotiate on its own terms all deliveries of Eastern products to the Europeans, who were hungry as ever for the fineries of the Far East[2].

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The Mediterranean's many hidden bays still made contraband and piracy profitable. However, with the Mediterranean flotillas actively hunting for pirates and smugglers, and a sharp increase in the penalty - now that of death - associated to them, these two activities reached a historical low during this period. This would later be reversed, as the Caliphate fragmented, rival factions used privateers to sow chaos in their enemy's trade and supply lanes, and there wasn't a sufficiently powerful nation to put an end to the outbreak of piracy. This would lead to an increasingly greater use of the Cape Route to Asia, since Muslim trading, made accross the Mediterranean, became unreliable.

It was this very rule over the Mediterranean, the Caliphate’s sheer size and the fact that it controlled perhaps the most fertile valleys and soils – and the irrigation, canal and resettlement works undertaken by various Caliphs did much to amplify this advantage – in the world, that allowed supply lines to keep the Muslim armies fed and equipped in the entire theater of war, from the flat Danubian plains to the hilly terrain of southern Greece. Even after Murad Bey’s Spring Offensive failed and the Muslim armies were nearly kicked across the Bosporus by the advancing Romans[3], the troops, cornered in Thrace and eastern Bulgaria, still had all they needed, thanks to the near invulnerability of their land and naval supply lines[4].

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Pope Gregory XV, who proclaimed the Roman Crusade after being petitioned by Emperor Boczek.​

Beside this indispensable factor, which was of paramount importance in the war’s outcome, it is also vital to discuss the exact reasons for the Roman Crusade. Little over fifty years after the failure of the 12th Crusade, Bohemia was beginning to encroach on the Balkans after the demise of its rival, the Kingdom of Hungary. Content with ruling the region with tacit support from the Austrians and giving limited autonomy to the Arch-Duchy of Transylvania, the fall of the weak Ottoman Empire, not to speak of its replacement with the expansionist and energetic Caliphate of Isma’il, was a shock. While Emperor Boczek had elected to deal with unruly Duchy of Baden and the Swiss cantons, having an extremely powerful rival in his Empire’s underbelly proved far more than enough to change his plans. For the first, and last time – as we shall see soon with the Forty Year’s War – the Bohemian Emperors united nearly all of the Holy Roman Empire – notable exceptions include Baden, the Swiss confederacy and the Hansa - towards a common goal: the expulsion of the Muslims from ‘their’ part of Europe, and their substitution with a rump state friendly towards Imperial – the Emperor saw it as ‘Bohemian’ – interests. Boczek I, a student of History, thought it should be called the Latin Empire, much like the one that had been established in the core regions of the Byzantine Empire after the sacking of Venice by the Crusaders in 1204, and just as weak.

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The two sides in the War: Christian states that participated in red, and the Caliphate and the Bosporan Republic in Green.

As such, it is clear to any observer that the Roman Crusade was moved by the Bohemians’ territorial and economic interests alone, merely working under the guise of a Crusade to liberate lands from the infidel. Therefore, for that purpose, Bohemia recruited the help of many of the Empire’s states, and beyond: Bavaria, Austria-Naples – who had similar interests in Sicily and Greece – the Balkan Principalities, the Archduchy of Transylvania, the Papal States, the Kingdom of Genoa and Lombardy, Florence – who, though initially reluctant to turn back on the Caliphate, which had aided the city’s empire fifty years ago, cracked under pressure from the Pope, Austria-Naples and Genoa – Parma, Hesse-Kassel, the Duchy of Lorraine and so on. Even Russia was petitioned to join the Crusade with an attack through the Caucasus, but refused due to religious upheavals related to clashes between Catholic monks and the Orthodox laity.

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The frontlines from January to mid September 1550.

The war began with the combined Christian forces defeating an ill-prepared Yellow Army outside Thessaloniki, and pressing their advantage by taking Macedonia and splitting the enemy forces in two. The Muslims scorch the region and retreat, leaving many Crusaders and townspeople to die of famine. With both sides uncertain as to the course of action to take, the Romans stay in Macedonia to suffer the ills of hunger and pestilence until the coming of the spring, which would allow new reinforcements to arrive from the north.

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The record yield was not only to enrich the Caliphate but to allow for greater expenses to be undertaken in the war, as well as keeping the soldiers well-fed

However, the new season begins with Murad Bey’s Spring Offensive, which, financed by extraordinary yields from the farms back home, push the Christians out of Greece, and follow the routing armies till Belgrade, annexing in the meantime the Duchy of Wallachia. However, bogged down by the fortress city’s awesome defenses, and the arrival of Austrian reinforcements, the tide is reversed and in turn the Muslims are, two months later, isolated in a small pocket consisting of Thrace and eastern Bulgaria, with the Imperial armies slowly occupying the remaining territories. The situation is dire, as the Bohemians inch closer every day, pressing the grip on the small pocket.

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Joseph von Habsburg's army is annihilated.

However, a miscalculation by Joseph, the brother of the Habsburg King of Austria-Naples, lead to his regiments being wedged between the three Muslim armies. These armies – the Red Army, the Greek Army[4] and the Caliph’s Guard – eager to avenge their lost honor, pursued the 20,000 man Austrian army, following it northward, routing it in successive battles and wearing it down until it – and its commander - was annihilated at Bessarabia, in Moldavia. This move, while removing an entire enemy army from the equation, caused the armies to abandon the Burgas pocket and later become trapped again this time at the Danube’s mouth. Meanwhile, the Austrians breached the line in Greece and rapidly advanced southward before finding resistance in Athens and Attica.

Besides logistics and naval support, the Bosporan Republic contributed the greatest to the war effort by assembling, in late September 1550 several citizen militias, numbering some 15,000, who broke through to the Danubian pocket and joined the armies’ march south. The Blue Army, having been brought from Sicily – which was safe from Austrian incursions due to the Mediterranean navies’ effective closure of the Straits of Messina – retook Corfu and Ioannina, in Epirus, and quickly moved to close off Thessaly and in doing so, isolate the southern Austrian armies. Not only did they accomplish their goal, but they managed to attract the main Roman armies, who left a comparatively paltry force of 22,000 to besiege Constantinople. The Yellow Army, the Army of Greece, the Caliph’s Guard and the Bosporan contingent raced to relieve Constantinople from the Frankish siege. They encountered heavy resistance on the way, despite the Christian withdrawal to the south. The largest enemy attempt to halt their advance was at Tîrgoviste, in Wallachia, where the 17,000 Christian troops were massacred to the man. In their haste, Isma’il and Murad Bey don’t even bother reestablishing a provisional government in the region, since they had received missives from newly-formed Turkish Army - which was stationed in Nicomedia, on the Turkish side of the Bosporus, overlooking Constantinople – that the situation was dire in the city.

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Eastern Bulgaria was ruthlessly pillaged.

In February 1551, after a long and hardy march, Isma’il bypassed the Burgas region since it had been scorched and pillaged by the Christians, and instead chose to reach the city via Adrianople. While this was a sound strategic move – there was no food to be found in Burgas, and many lives would be lost to famine, not to speak that Isma’il was eager to never have to relive his experience with marching ravenous troops in Spain – it bought the Romans valuable time. They managed to sap the City’s great walls, and to conduct a full-on assault that resulted in its fall. With the Muslim troops one day away from the City, it was, for the first time in nearly 100 years[5] in Christian hands.

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Constantinople is taken by the Romans.

The Muslim civil administration was killed or imprisoned, loosening even more the Caliphate’s control on the few territories it still held in the Balkans, and now the Romans were in possession of the City of the World’s Desire, and they intend to keep it. How will Isma’il manage to retake the City and drive the infidels from his lands, and take a few more in the process?

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[1] This reached the point that, from 1560 forward, the Pirates were outlawed, since their services were no longer needed when the Caliphate could decide whoever entered or left the Mediterranean thanks to its control of the Straits of Gibraltar and of the Bosporus. However, this was merely legal subterfuge; most former pirates were integrated into the formal navy.

[2]Data taken from major ports in Europe at the time allow us to know how high the exorbitant prices of spices and silks reached, due to the Muslims' role as intermediaries between East and West.

[3]The use of the term 'Roman' in this text refers to a state, a citizen of a state, etc that is integrated in the Holy Roman Emprie, since the armies in the Roman Crusade were rarely homogenous; also, the term 'German' is unfit, since many of these troops were Bohemian or at times even Italian.

[4]It is around this time that the 'regional' armies are first formulated. These were often stationary forces, who stayed in their respective provinces, but who also helped in offensive wars. Above them were the regular armies - the Blue, Red, Yellow and Green Armies, plus the Caliph's Guard, which was in fact two armies, both under the Caliph's or one of his deputies' orders.

[5]Constantinople was conquered by the Turks in 1457, following a successful blockade of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, which, in conjunction with powerful bombards, negated both of the City's defenses: its easily supplied position on the sea and its powerful walls.
 
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Excellent stuff. I see now, a Roman Crusade as in a Crusade by the Holy Roman Empire! Understandable that they would wish to halt the gradual encroachment into Europe by the Jalayirid Empire. I do like that that they wish to restore the Latin Empire, it makes sense for them to have a lesser partner in that area of the world and having captured Thrace they are well on their way to achieving it.

Still, the Jalayirid Empire has considerable resources and whilst there has been some very tough fighting, and considerable losses for the Jalayirids, I still think once they mobilise their forces fully they will be able to recover the situation. Although only if they act quickly enough.
 
It would be the cool if the game allowed for the use and recruiting of privateers (and one could control them).

The loss of those lands doesn't even pinch the mighty caliphate. If necessary, the Caliphate could even release Greece as a vassal.
 
Loving this, excellent writing.