Alauddin I inherits an unfinished war from his father, but also an expanding empire that has the 2nd largest income and 2nd largest manpower reserves in the world. The war is brought to an end in return for the Genoese province of Amasra in Asia Minor, and Alauddin institues the Jizyah and Millet system reforms, which have the commulative effect of +1 innovative and increased tollerance. They also allow periodic events which increase the tax efficiency in a province with religious minorities.
Alauddin did not intend to be a peaceful ruler however, and wanted to secure the European gains of his father. A holy war was declared against Bulgaria, who are joined by Bosnia and Moldova. Neither allies participate in the war however, and soon peace out. Not recognising the threat that the Ottomans pose, the Europeans fail to form an alliance to slow our advance. Bulgaria is invaded from the north by Wallachia and from the west by Hungary as we look to capture the southern provinces.
Elsewhere close to our European holdings, in Greece there is no credible resistance, as a long war wages between Naples and Castille, while rebels are active. A large Serbia is also struggling to contain revolts on our western border.
By the 25th March 1368 we capture enough Bulgarian provinces to enforce a punitive peace; we gain Serdica, Martisa and Karuva. We are now able to take the 'Kingdom' decision, but opt not to at this time due to the infamy and legitimacy consequences.
On the 2nd of September we declare war against Serbia. Three opening battles take care of much of the Serbian defenders, and we are soon free to besiege much of the country, with the aid of our vassals.
In December events fire allowing us to increase the quality of our troops by two, but also notifying us of an outbreak of smuggling, and are forced to take a loan to pay these as well as losing 1 stability.
On the 28th June 1371 the Serbian capital falls, and Hungary take the province of Badin from Bulgaria, gaining a land border (and a holy war CB) with us.
On the 28th October peace is negotiated with Serbia, we make significant gains and also secure a route into Greece. Infamy is now 25.5 out of 35, and falling at 1.4 annually. Alauddin quickly takes advantage of this access to Greece by attacking Epirus. They are supported by their allies Bosnia and Albania. On the 10th March 1374 we annex Albania, at the huge cost of 8 infamy (as our holy war was against Epirus) On the 30th May we annex Epirus, taking us close to the infamy limit at 34.3/35. These three rapid wars fought by Alauddin in Europe became known as the first Ottomon Jihad, and brought significant gains to the Empire in the West.
Note the wasteland between Eqypt and Palestine – this will make it more difficult for the Marmaluks to hold their territory together, and will necessitate a powerful Ottoman navy in the future.
Following the conflict we now had a loan deadline approaching and high infamy, so a period of consolidation was necessary. In August we begin recruiting a new 12,000 army, to raise our total standing forces to 60,000. Meanwhile Greece has begun to settle down, Aragon having taken possesion of two provinces at our border, and the Byzantine Empire has also re-emerged in Zante, a revolt in the island territories of Naples.
On the 15th December we are promoted to a Kingdom by event, which drops our legitimacy to 50, which in turns drops our infamy limit to 30 and puts us over this new limit. We focus on the contruction of mills, passing land reform in provinces close to our national focus, and building a few ports in high trade, core provinces. We gain a 'border friction' CB against Mentese in 1376 – a very tempting target as this would otherwise be an expensive conquest. We decide to wait until the CB is close to expiring, as we should just dip under out infamy limit at this point.
In June 1377 we attack, and Mentese are supported by their allies Dulkadir and Karaman, while our vassals remain loyal.
Mentese are subdued and besieged with relative ease, while our vassals are helpful in dealing with the larger armies of Karaman and Dulkadir. The war is proceeding as planne, but on the 10th July Athens attacks us. We dispatch a force to take care of their 4,000 invasions force, and take their only province.
By June of 1377, Hungary is again on the march, attacking the rump Serbia. The following month they take a province which extends their border with the Ottoman Empire, and also causes us to fail the 'Conquer Serbia' mission. Our next mission is to annex Candar, our vassal.
By August, we are able to force Athens to concede defeat (they have no money unfortunately), and the surrender timer begins on Karaman's province of Trebizond, we should gain this around May 1378. Nevsehir is also our core, and my forces take the province on the 7th November. In January we return to stability level 3.
On the 5th of January we are attacked by Bulgaria, who have decalred a crusade against us. Our forces have almost captured trhe two provinces owned by Mentese so we should soon be able to divert men to this new frountier. Bulgaria has slightly recovered after their previous defeat, but do not have a huge force and offer little threat. Nevertheless, we opt to recruit another 12,000 force – this proves to be very prudent.
The Karaman province of Konya defects to us on the 23rd March – very valuable as it has a University, giving our Government research a boost. On the 6th of April, Montenegro declare a separate crusade against us. Initially none of their allies join, and we face a mere 1,000 troops invading. However, on the 4th May Hungary and their vassal Croatia join the Montenegrin Crusade...
On the 6th of May we secure a peace with Mentese – we gain 50 ducats and the province of Aydin which the war was started over. This peace takes us to our infamy limit again, but allows us to transfer forces west to face the Hungarians. On the 23rd June Alauddin raises a new 12,000 army and takes personal command, marching to meet 23,000 Hungarians who are crossing the border. On the 20th October we have the option to take Trebizond for 1 infamy, but this would put us over the threshold and so we decline. This resets the 'surrender timer'.
The Ottoman forces now attack the Hungarians, whose numbers have swelled to over 30,000 while we raised our forces. The early exchanges go very well for the Ottomans, our superior quality giving us the edge. We manage to route the invaders without sustaining significant loses. There are now 48,000 Ottoman soldiers in the European theatre, who lay siege to the Bulgarian, Montenegrin and Hungarian provinces. We also lose 1 stability due to a comet being sighted.
White peace is signed with Serbia, Moldova, Dulkadir and the Hedjaz in February 1379. We are also able to make another slider move, but I opt to wait while at war. In June we capture the capital province in Karaman, while 11,000 Serbian rebels rise in Kosovo. The war is uneventful, as 15,000 Hungarian reinforcements seem satisfied to watch us siege the two border provinces, while a smaller 3,000 Hungarian force is wiped out in Bulgaria. In June we reach Government tech 9 – the next level unlocks another idea. By February 1380 our forces capture the Hungarian and Montenegrin provinces, we negotiate a peace which gains us Nisava and Badin from Hungary (Montenegro remained the alliance leader so we were able to conclude negotiations with them)
In March 1380 the surrender timer starts for Nevsehir, and by May Bulgaria has had enough and pays 150 ducats for peace, briging to an end the conflict in Europe. In July Adana, the final province held by Karaman, falls bringing the active conflict in Asia Minor to a close. However, we cannot afford to take any infamy in the peace deal, so the war continues for the time being. Our manpower is by this point exhausted, but our WE is thankfully at 0. WE use the ducats gained from peace deals to constuct City Watch's in our provinces, lowering the stability cost. Alauddin also further centralises the realm, which provokes a 5,000 pretender army.
Finally, on the 1st of October, we gain Nevsehir for 1 infamy, and can negotiate peace. Karaman releases Trebizond and another Turkish state, reducing them to a two province minor. The Ottoman Empire now has no rival to be concerned with in Asia minor. Our infamy is 28.5/30, falling at 1.4 annually.
On the 13th September we gain the title of Khalifah by event, reducing our legitimacy to a lowly 25, but increasing the number of magistrates we gain each year to 3.05. Alauddin now had a truce with almost every state on the borders, Aragon being the exception, enabaling him to consolidate his gains, address the manpower and legitimacy issues, and allow infamy to drop to more manageable levels.
On the 10th January a National Epic was written to commemorate the conquests in the last few years, giving legitimacy a 5% boost each year. On the 6th of April, a tapestry is commissioned, recording the defeat of the Hungarian armies, and giving a further 1% boost to legitimacy annually.
Ports, City Watch and Mills are constructed in as many provinces as possible, and the size of the as yet unused Ottoman navy is steadily increased. In June 1386 Hungary has recovered anough, and lauches an invasion of Wallachia. They take a province in August, extending their border with us, and depriving us of a border and Holy War CB against Wallachia. Negotiations begin with the ruler of Candar on a closer integration, but we are twice unsuccesfull in 1386.
In June of 1387, we recover to stability 3, and move our national focus to Ohrid to enable the development of some of our European holdings. A large revolt has broken out across the Marmaluk holdings in the levant – mainly peasant risings, but a nationalist rising has also taken control of Cyprus.
On the 15th April 1388, Candar finally accepts our proposals and is directly incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. We gain a border with Trebizond, and as they are Orthodox we also gain a Holy War CB. On the 19th May Alauddin insults the ruler of Trebizond, who had dissolved their alliance with us prior to the annexation of Candar. On the 6th July, Alauddin lead 12,000 warriors into their territory. Georgia and Bulgaria join the war against us. Alauddin swiftly deals with the Trebizond army, and we begin sieges.
In January 1389 Theodoro joins the war against us, while a white peace is concluded with Georgia. Forces are dispatched to deal with the Bulgarians. However, they inflict our first defeats on us, with the army of Husrev Avlonyali being beaten by the forces led by the Bulgarian King at Ledogoria. Moldova and Albania now join the war against us. Our army retreats and suffers a second defeat at Serdica in Ottoman territory, and only narrowly escapes elimination. Thankfully a fresh Ottoman force is able to relieve the pressure on Avlonyali's force, defeating the Bulgarian King at the second battle of Serdica, before Avlonyali is able to intercept the reteating forces and wipe them out at the Greek coast. We now have most of Bulgaria under siege, and they have no army remaining.
In January 1390, we reach Government tech level 10, and Bureaucracy becomes our second national idea. I almost always go for this, as it speeds up government research slightly, provides a decent boost to national tax and also limits the amount of inflation minting causes. The focus now switches to land research.
On the 25th March Alauddin leads the assault on Trebizond – they are annexed at a cost of 4 infamy with the conquest CB (I think I would have been better to use the 'Holy War' in this case). We gain a border with the Genoa and Georgia, and 'Holy War' CB's against both. In April Albania pays 50 ducats for peace, and later in the month Bulgaria accept our proposal for peace, in return for another 50 ducats and Lodogovia, bringing to and end the war.
Forces are redeployed to the border with Karaman, as our mission is to vassalize, and Alauddin attacks in August. On the 17th August Montenegro again declares war, but this time no allies join. In January of 1391 we move towards free trade through a random event, and Cyprus declaures independence from the Marmaluks.
On the 29th July Karaman pays 100 ducats and becomes a vassal. Our next mission is to conquer Theodosia, held by Genoa, but we already have a Holy war CB against them. The 100 ducats from the Karaman peace deal are invested in the navy, with 10 new galleys commisioned. Karaman also signs an alliance.
On October 23rd Montengro falls, and we decide to annex them this time for the low cost of 2 infamy, and we gain a Holy War CB against our new neighbour, Hum.
On the 15th March 1391, Alauddin declares a new Jihad against Genoa. They are joined by England (as defender of the Catholic faith, Georgia and Novgorod, who together possess a formidible navy, which could be a problem as two of our targets are overseas. On the 10th April we land 6,000 soldiers on the island of Nisia Aigaiou in the Aegean.
Alauddin then orders the Galleys move north into the Black Sea, to try and prevent any re-inforcing of the Genoese holdings on the Crimean peninsula. On the 21st September a small English fleet of 9 Galleys is sunk in the Gulf of Varna, and then the same fate is met by 3 Genoese Galleys who venture through the strait on the 12th October.
While scanning the Aegean for the first signs of enemy fleets approaching, I notice that the province of Attica is owned by Cyprus, while a small force has taken possession of Aragon's province of Magnesia. Hopefully they succeed in holding some of this territory, as this could offer me a nice holy war CB and a route to taking Cyprus.
On the 24th November our fleet dispatches another 8 Genoese vessels to the bottom of the Black Sea – we have still to suffer our first loss. On the 9th January 1392, we reach Land technology level 9 and are able to use Musellem Cavalry. Research now focuses on Naval, Production and Trade. A small force of 6000 is transported to Theodosia to begin the siege, Genoa only have 1000 defenders.
In May, a significant English fleet of over 40 ships approaches the Black Sea, together with a smaller Genoese fleet. We decide to engage, but depsite winning the battle which lasts several weeks, only one transport ship is sunk. The Genoese and English fleets retreat to Theodosia, and unload a combined force to 16000 soldiers. Out army is defeated, but thankfully survives and we are able to transport around 4000 back to Asia Minor. Sweden joins the war against us and becomes the alliance leader.
An event causes Hamid to switch to Turkish culture, as nomadic life is abandoned. On the 23rd July, Bosnia declares war bringing several formidible allies, although none apart from Bosnia have a border with us. The Holy War means we can potentially pick up a few provinces here, and one of our new opponents is The Knights.
On the 21st August Nisia Aigaiou falls to our forces, and the 6000 soldiers move to the Knights province of Samos. This is the province which fell to Greek Patriot rebels during the conquest of Byzantium; since then, for more than three decades, 1000 soldiers from the Knights have maintained a siege, but lacked the manpower to retake the province. However, before we can make any progress, events overtake Alauddin, and on the 16th November he passes away.
. Good job in annexing Byzantium and good luck in your further expansion!
