Ottoman World Conquest: A EU2 Dual Player AAR

CSL_GG · Feb 21, 2005

Setup

Goal - World Conquest (or as close as we can get)

Players - CSL & Samurai (if anyone wants to join they may)

Difficulty - Normal Aggressiveness, Normal Difficulty

Restrictions - No breaking truces

The goal of the game will be to of course expand the Ottoman Empire to the biggest extent one can, victory will be based not on victory points or economic dominance but by pure brute force!

Historically the Ottoman Empire got pretty big and could be considered a superpower of its age with holdings in the Balkans, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, North Africa, into the Ukraine and the Caucasus. Map below....

So pretty big shoes to fill, but we have 400 years to achieve them.

CSL_GG · Feb 21, 2005

The Ottoman Empire in 1419, with the largest territory of any nation in the area the nation holds the best prospects of achieving superpower status in the Balkans and Middle East

1419 to 1424

Initial holdings give us a total of seven provinces in both Anatolia and the southern Balkans. The first priority should be in removing the Byzantine Empire from our middle. We have military access through Hellas so getting to the Byzantine holdings in southern Greece will be easy. Other then the Byzantines we have two expansion choices. The first is to move quickly into the Balkans trying to annex some of the smaller kingdoms such as Albania, Bosnia or Wallachia. The second choice is to unite Anatolia under the Ottoman flag by removing most of the small Turkish Sultanates. A decision on that will be made after the Byzantines have been removed.

Long term research goals will focus on quickly getting the infrastructure and trade levels up and then rushing up the land warfare levels. Domestic sliders will be positioned to give the army the most bonuses that can be achieved along with giving the empire a larger amount of missionaries to convert the Christians to our creed.

I declare war against Byzantium in September, 1419. I have a starting army of 60,000 troops with around 2/3rds being infantry and most of the rest are cavalry with about 10 cannons in total. The majority are assigned to attack into Constantinople while the rest are sent to deal with the Byzantines allies - Trezibond. Seeing my army on their doorstep the Trezibond Kingdom dishonours their alliance with Byzantium and elects to stay out of the conflict. Thus my army is allowed to move into Greece to hopefully siege Morea. By 1421 the city of Constantinople has been brought to its heels and is captured. The Byzantines smuggle their army into Greece to continue the fight. Unfortunetly for me while this is happening my military access towards their is ended by Albania annexing Hellas and preventing my land route to Morea, sea routes are looked at but prove unfeasable. The decision is taken to go to war with Albania as well.

While this is going on my infrastructure level goes to one and I am allowed to upgrade baliffs to tax collectors which I do to all of my provinces.

With war begun with Albania in 1422 we sweep into Greece, first helping Tuscany to capture Athens and then defeating the Byzantines in Morea. The army sieges the province until 1423 when they capitulate. Peace with Byzantium gives us Morea as well as a 25 gold settlement. War continues with Albania. Since the Albanians have been totally occupied by both Tuscany and us I send my remaining soldiers back into Anatolia to the Trezibond border to finish what never got started. Declaring war with Trezibond I attack headlong, sieging the area quickly. The Kingdom of Trezibond is finally taken and annexed in mid-1424, bringing our badboy rating up to 4.4 out of 36. War with Albania still continues as they do not take settlements, white peace may be upcoming.

Ottoman Empire in 1424. Two wars have resulted in the conquest of Morea in southern Greece and Trezibond in Northern Anatolia. Badboy rating rests at 4.4

CSL_GG · Feb 21, 2005

1424 to 1427
War with Karaman and Teke

The recent wars with Byzantium and Trezibond had enlarged the Ottoman Empire by a large portion within only five years. New lands in Anatolia and southern Greece had been opened to Turkish settlers and talk was rampant about a possible campaign focused on the smaller Turkish principalities to the south, centered around the growing power base of Karaman.

Karaman itself had just finished a war against another of the small Turkish Sultanates to its east. While they had annexed their enemy the result was social upheavel of which the current Ottoman Sultan - Murad II - was eager to take advantage of. Rapidly the Sultan expanded his levies to double the size of his military focused around three hosts. The first would be commanded by the Sultan himself and would comprise roughly half of the Ottoman troops and would operate to attack the man Karaman host in Eastern Anatolia near the city of Manzikert - previously a battlegroup of another epic battle over three hundred years previously. The second and third groups were to be of small stature and included far less cavalry while relying more upon infantry levies. They would attack into Karaman territory to destroy the countryside and besiege the notable urban centers. With preperations complete war was declared in June, 1425.

Early on the war swung into Karaman's favour. Despite the chaotic social upheavels the Karaman military was well prepared, if outnumbered by the Ottomans. Both the host under Murad and the second small one to the west were defeated and were forced to retreat back into Ottoman holdings. A further Karaman advance was blunted near Angora when Murads remaining cavalry and infantry reinforced the battered remnents of the second host. Combining under Murad the force began to once again sally into enemy lands in mid-September. While Murad's host ranged far into the east the main body of the Karaman forces moved decisively into the area around Smyrna routing and annihilating the smallest Ottoman force in the area. Seeing the predicament in the western part of Anatolia the Sultan reversed his direction and by late fall had arrived near Smyrna.

By that time the siege upon the city had entered its second month and despite the cities abundant stores of food along with the allowance of continued sea replenishment the nerves of many Turks were growing thin. The few attempts by the garrison to sally out and harass the Karaman forces were met with near disastor. However the appearance of Murad II changed the tone dramatically as the Karaman forces - caught off guard - were trapped in between the walls of Smyrna and the Ottoman battlelines. Within hours the vast bulk of the Karaman military might had been extinguished and the war had been all but won. Murad flush from hard won victory divided his host into two once again - the first primarily cavalry to deal with the remainder of the enemy infantry ranging in the eastern parts of the peninsula. The second composed of mainly infantry was to conduct sieges upon the few urban areas under Karamanese control.

Venice now seeing the plight of a weak potential enemy by now sprung into action and with remarkable haste the Republic along with its two allies - Cyprus and the Knights of St. John began a series of dramatic raids and pillaging efforts across southern Anatolia. The small sultanate of Teke was to recieve the largest amount of hassle from not only Venice, but its allies. Teke however had so far been spared from the fighting across Anatolia and despite technically being at war with the Ottomans they had made no attempt to enter into the conflict. Murad II seeing Teke as a potential ally in the post war era did little to harass the small kingdom and instead focused on Karaman. The Venetian alliance meanwhile had undertaken a full scale besiegment upon Alexandretta - the city founded by Alexander the Great nearly fifteen hundred years previously. Despite Ottoman threats to Venetian interests in the Black Sea, Venice and her allies occupied the city in late 1426.

With Karaman down and out the only matter left to finish was the utter destruction of the remaining urban centers - notably Konya and Larende. This objective was met by late 1427 and the final peace with Karaman gav e the provinces of Konya and Sivas to the Ottoman Empire. The Venetian Republic and her allies meanwhile had consolidated their control around Alexandretta as well as launching a fullon attack upon Teke. A close eye would have to be paid towards Venice.

The Ottoman Empire in late 1427 after the end of the conflict with Karaman and Teke. A successful end had given two provinces - Konya and Sivas to the rapidly expanding Ottomans

Grundius · Feb 21, 2005

Crush'em all I say! Good luck guys...

CSL_GG · Feb 22, 2005

1427 to 1431
War with the Serbian-Moldavian Alliance

With peace reigning supreme again in Asia Minor the thoughts of Murad II turned towards the Balkans yet again. Albania – the nation which can been invaded not only by the Ottomans, but by Serbia as well several years previous had finally capitulated to Serbian demands. The territory of northern Greece, in dispute for several years was now placed into the hands of Serbian noblemen, the transition however was not handled subtly. The Greek commoners, seeing the relative tranquility afforded by the Turkish rule of law to the south began to become restless with their new overlords by late 1428 and several high placed members of the Greek community migrated into the Ottoman lands to seek help in liberating the area from Serbian influence. Murad II, eager for more lands and conquest was quick to answer the call for support against the Serbians. There would however be provisions that the liberated Greeks would have to agree to before any action was to be taken. While there were several important provisions the most overriding was the fact that the lands of northern Greece would not revert to an independent Principality such as Hellas beforehand, but instead would be annexed and integrated into the Ottoman Empire. Murad made it quiet clear to each envoy, delegate and potential ally that the Ottoman way would be the only way. With little choice in the matter and fearing for the consequences should the Ottomans invade the land without an agreement the assembled Greeks submitted to the demands of the Sultan in Smyrna in the closing days of 1428.

Once again planning the war would prove to be of paramount importance. Lessons from the previous war in Anatolia had shown that the main enemy host should be brought to battle in a decisive action and following that any independent stragglers should be crushed by cavalry detachments before the chance came for them to coalesce into a formidable unit. Geographically the situation that would become reality with the start of any war with Serbia was bleak indeed. Not only would the Balkans be threatened by Serbia, but her northern ally – Moldavia. Although the Moldavians had been reduced in strength after a costly war with Bohemia they still presented a large threat to the exposed Ottoman flank. Serbia itself bordered the west and south of the Turkish controlled Balkans. Serbian held Greece however was still weakly defended following the end of their previous war. To attain victory Murad had raised an army of roughly thirty five thousand men, assembled in two main groups. Murad would once again command the main force which would range into Serbia proper, while the smaller host would endeavor to defeat the Serbs in Greece. The problem of Moldavia was discussed at length by Murad and his most trusted confidants, however in the end they decided that a quick and decisive victory would undoubtedly shake the confidence of their alliances and facilitate a peace on Ottoman terms. This in turn would make Moldavia a non-issue, or so they hoped.

Preparations accelerated throughout the winter of 1428-29 until by early spring the Turkish forces were ready for a third war in only a decade. Murad – now confident in his armies training and leadership declared war on Serbia. Moldavia stood firm with their allies and the Balkans erupted into war yet again. At once they moved into the northern most areas of the Ottoman controlled areas to begin a siege of the critical port city of Silistra. Meanwhile to the south the Ottoman armies attacked both Serbian positions by early April. In Greece the Serbs were convincingly annihilated and the remnants fled northwards towards Macedonia. Murad himself traveled with the bulk to the army towards Beograd in the bold hope that the Serbian capital could be brought to capitulation quickly. The plan however failed as a large Serbian host attacked and despite near total losses forced Murad to retreat back into Bulgaria to raise several thousand more troops as replacements. Within months however the now revitalized troops under the Sultan once again move towards Beograd and in convincing fashion destroyed more then half the Serbian forces arrayed in front of them – seeing the tide turning against them a garrison of no more then twenty five hundred men scurried back into the city to man the walls which would they hoped – stave off the Ottomans.

This course of affairs continued throughout the summer months, through fall and into the very depths of winter. As Christmas neared however the Serbian defenders now battling not only their Turkish enemies, but starvation and an outbreak of typhus at last surrendered to their enemy. To the south the remaining Serbians in Athens continued to hold, Murad was undoubtedly pleased at the turn of events and with little resistance thought to be left in Serbia he set his host on a march towards Moldavia itself. Arriving at the city of Silistra in early 1430 they found all five thousand Turkish defenders impaled in front of the city gates – of the Moldavians nothing could be found. Vowing revenge Murad planned to put and end to Moldavian existence, riders however contained news of renewed Serbian activity in Kosovo, highlighted by a Serbia siege of Beograd itself. Driving south as fast as possible the Ottoman host once again defeated the Serbians near the city, finally ending all Serbian resistance. Leaving a second host to take the smaller area of Kosovo the Sultan once again returned to his plans for Moldavia. Peace however was achieved in 1431 before the revenge could be parted out. Kosovo and Hellas were to be handed over to the Ottomans and the victory which Murad had hoped for was complete. While he might had been joyous over another Ottoman military victory news from Anatolia had him anxious for a far greater reason.

The Ottoman Empire in 1431 after the war with Serbia and Moldavia. Territories annexed include Kosovo and Hellas. Notably the Byzantines have greatly expanded - along with Venice - into southern Anatolia

Grundius · Feb 22, 2005

Another Byzantine war is just around the corner, I guess!

Lurken · Feb 22, 2005

A Byzantine revitaliation in a Ottoman game. That doesn't happen everyday.

Van Engel · Feb 22, 2005

Maps look cool.

So is the other player ever going to post or what?

Grundius · Mar 20, 2005

How's the world conquest going?

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Ottoman World Conquest: A EU2 Dual Player AAR

CSL_GG

Colonel

CSL_GG

Colonel

CSL_GG

Colonel

Grundius

Galactic Conquest Fanboy

CSL_GG

Colonel

Grundius

Galactic Conquest Fanboy

Lurken

Leading the Mombotian Horde

Van Engel

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Grundius

Galactic Conquest Fanboy