Part 10 - Conquistadores (1501-1509)
So it was the end of the year 1501 - the dawn of a new century in Christian Europe and the dawn of a new age in Muslim Tripoli: tensions were high all across the country and the "cold war" between Ahmad II and the High Council seemed to be heated up again (if you allow me that kind of metaphor).
In early December a delegation arrived from Venice with a declaration of Corsair merchants being forced to leave the city as soon as possible - if not they would be treated as enemies of the Venetian Republic and would have to face all of the consequences. As the merchants were the main supporters of Ahmad's struggle against the Council it was quite clear who suggested such move to the otherwise weak and incompetent Venetian government...
This was a serious blow to the income of Tripoli and effectively weakened the potential of the merchant class - and due to the complicated internal situation Ahmad could not even plan a punishing invasion because with the fleet on far away seas the supporters of the Council could grow far to strong.
The economical situation was getting worse and worse during the next year with entire merchant fleets disbanded and some minor uprisings among the crew of them who became suddenly unemployed.
And then a long forgotten comet arrived again...
...to further fuel the debate all over Tripoli about the Malik, the Council, the government and all the things that could be (or could not be) related to them.
Ahmad II tried to save the situation and improve his own image among the commoners. And to do so he started planning a full scale attack against the Mamluks - with the help of the people of Mecca and the Najdi tribes, crushing the Egyptian resistance from three sides did not seem to be an impossible task.
To justify the planned war yet again the merchants came to help the Malik - as the largest faction among all the traders of Alexandria for decades they laid official claims to the heads of the city about bringing the whole district under the protection of Tripoli.
To further increase their support for the Malik the merchants offered their yearly profit from wool trade to Ahmad II.
And then disaster struck...
In the summer of 1503 the wretched infidels of Iberia took up arms against the True Faith. Though they were cowards enough to not attack Tripoli directly they declared war upon the small sheikdom of Candar in the far lands of Anatolia - but the supreme leader of the Candari people were the all-time Chief of the Corsairs since they offered that title to the High Council decades ago. So Tripoli (and all their subjects) had no choice but to aid their Turkish allies as much as they can.
One part of the fleet was quickly dispatched to Italy where Tripoli had many allies - the crew started to lay siege to the cities there which were in direct Castilian possession.
In the meantime Crusader troops landed on the newly acquired island of Madeira and drove away its small garrison far too easily. Because those lands were under control of Tripoli just for a few years and their population was mainly consisted of Christian Portuguese settlers they were quick to secede from Tripoli.
The other half of the crew was ordered to march to Algiers as a huge army of Crusaders was threatening the Algerian lands and most importantly the city of Oran - the fleet itself was called back to safe ports as matching the Castilian naval superiority was an impossible task for even the combined fleets of the Corsair alliance.
And that was the time when the more and more rotten High Council tried to gain advantage against Ahmad II - they suggested that in these harsh times, Tripoli needs a capable soldier as a ruler so they quickly proclaimed a captain of the army by the name of Yusuf as the potential successor to the Malik.
Nothing was known about this "Yusuf", even his age, apart from his rather quick rise in the ranks of the army and his incapability about anything that wasn't related directly to war and battle. Ahmad and his close advisers suspected that he was just a fool, a mere pawn of the High Council who was corrupted and bribed by sweet words and promises of even sweeter maidens...
In the meantime, the war was going with changes of luck on both sides - though the Crusaders had vast armies both in Northern Africa, the lack of knowledge about the deserts and the mountains aided the defending troops of Algiers and Tripoli and they were capable of taking some of the Castilian outposts in the Atlas.
However in Italy and Greece the sheer numbers of the Crusaders were simply overwhelming - they were ruthlessly chasing small contingents of the Corsairs between the Italian cities and even laid siege to the main Corsair outpost in Southern Greece.
Even some assassins offered "help" to Ahmad II in his war but he didn't believe in winning the war with just eliminating key figures on the opposite side - he knew that the leaders of Europe were standing in a queue to gain support from their zealous population and thus with every slain Crusader leader two other will take up the position...
The year of 1505, the third year of the Crusade had mixed news for Ahmad II: the most important among them was the Danish support of the Castilian armies (and navy) that seemed to finally tip the balance of the war to the Christian side - Danish and Norwegian fleets appeared near the coast of North Africa and the fresh troops they brought laid siege to all the important cities of Tripoli and Algiers.
However in early February the Sultan of Morocco died without a heir and due to the increasing Crusader threat in the region the elders of Morocco offered the title to Ahmad II and his successors - the only remaining capable leader with any remarkable military force in the region.
But even with aid of the Moroccan army the Corsairs couldn't hope to last against the pressure of the combined forces of Castille, Denmark and Norway.
Finally Ahmad II was able to offer a concede of defeat to the Danish King that he could accept - though the Malik had to revoke his rule over the Cypriot people, the resulting peace called off a large part of the Crusader forces in North Africa.
But all the diplomacy and all the raids against the Castilian outposts in former Moroccan territory had been in vain - the Crusader armies and fleet were simply too large in numbers to withstand against. In late 1506 Tlemcen and Oran fell to the Spanish and after the fall of Tripoli, the capital city of the Corsairs, Ahmad had to ask peace...
Apart from the previously lost Madeira, Tripoli ceded the city of Tlemcen with all of its surroundings and the Italian region of Abruzzi from their owners Algiers and Naples to direct Castilian control. The peace was finally signed on 6th February 1507.
The situation was dire: the fleet didn't survive the battle of Tripoli and all around the country tensions were running high - yet this was not directed against Ahmad II or the High Council. This was directed towards the entire government that failed to protect its people from foreign aggressors...
Ahmad II grew old in the war - though the
rule of him just started some twenty years ago he was Chief of the Corsairs for nearly forty years. He sensed power within himself to live on with this disaster but his will was not so strong as it was before. In fact his will was never so strong at all... All that he wanted for his remaining years was peace - and for that he did everything. First of all he helped reaching an agreement between the complaining merchant class and the High Council - he remembered the thoughts from his youth and he truly had faith in a peaceful coexistence of Malik and Council in Tripoli.
But peace had its prices - prices that have to be paid. And Ahmad II knew this and he couldn't let another pawn of the High Council, this so called "Yusuf" succeeding him...
Poison was the price that Ahmad II gladly paid for getting rid of that brute pirate... "brute pirate"... when he thought about that he had to smile - just some decades ago the whole country was consisted of "brute pirates" and nothing more. Yet now merchants, military officers, spies and diplomats walk on the streets of Tripoli...
Ah yes, about merchants - Ahmad didn't forget to search for... "traders" who were willing to bring some advanced weaponry to Tripoli - weaponry like that the Crusaders used in the last war.
Just in case...
