Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

A Short History of the Ottoman Empire

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Another War with Venice and the fall of Rhodes, 1479-90

Dead William: Thanks a lot. Glad you're enjoying it.

Catknight: Africa, eh? I should be there soon with any luck.

Mike von Bek: I'm just dying to go east, if only my western neighbors weren't such warmongers....

The return trip from his most campaigns in the Crimea were a sad one for Mehmed, as he fell violently ill somewhere in the remote regions of the Kouban Steppes. For the last 2 years of his reign, he was almost entirely confined to his palace and nothing could be done even by the best doctors money could buy. In the 886th year of the Hijra (1481 to the Christians) the Sultan passed away and was succeed by his son Bayezid II. Bayezid was a pious soul, and spent the early years of his reign funding missionaries to the Balkans as well as to Smyrna, earning converts in Smyrna and Bosnia while the Empire's military forces were being rebuilt. In the fourth year of Bayezid's reign, news reached the Porte than Venetian machinations had inspired the last of the Morean despots to abdicate in the favor of the Venetian republic, thus bringing nearly all of Greece outside Ottoman Macedonia under Venetian rule. Similar back-room deals had gained the throne of Cyprus for the republic, which had also acquired Kerch from the Genoese in war. In a tense and lenghty meeting, Bayezid's divan decided that Venetian ambitions in the area were not to be tolerated. Thus on 30 Rabi al-Thanni, 890 (15 May, 1485) war was declared upon the Venetian republic.

Bayezid elected to spare his war-weary allies in Crimea by not calling on allied support though Venice was joined once again by Scotland and the Knights of St. John. Venice's land forces in Greece numberd a paltry 5,000 and were easily swept by the Ottoman army as it descended into Greece, occupying Hellas and the Morea without meating any serious resistance. A second Turkish forces proceeded up the completely undefended Dalmatian coast, capturing Dalmatia and Istria provinces and advancing up to the walls of Venice itself. However, upon seeing the largeness (level 3) of the capital's fortifications, the Ottoman force contented itself with some plundering and then returned back to the Balkans.

While the land war was easily won, the Venetian fleet was large and well-equipped and togehter with fleet of the Scots and the Knights made quite a respectable showing in a series of naval battles in the eastern Meditteranean. The Ottoman fleet was effectively prevented from attempting to break out into the central Meditteranean region but was able to hold the coasts of Anatolia as well as landing beseiging force on the islands of Crete and Rhodes. The southern Italian possessions of the Knights of St. John had revolted away from their control to create the reconstituted Kingdom of Naples, so there was nowhere for the Grandmaster and his lieutenants to run when Rhodes fell to the Ottomans for the second time. No mercy was shown the crusaders, all of whom were exterminated save those willing to abjure their heresies and embrace Islam. From Rhodes, Sultan Bayezid personally drafted an encyclical letter to all the Christian princes proclaiming the dissolution of the Order of St. John, the Ottoman annexation of Rhodes, and a stern message that no further western crusades would be tolerated by the Ottoman Sultan, who proclaimed himslef defender of the Islamic world. The fall of Rhodes was deeply shocking to many of the Western powers as was the growing naval might of the Ottomans.

Bayezid now focused on winning a decisive victory over the Venetians, but news that Russian troops had advanced across the steppes to invade the Sultan's vassals in the Crimea was an unwelcome shock. Bayezid and his ministers once again threw the might of their armies into the steppe regions to perserve the Crimea in Islamic rule. The timely Russian action saved the Venetians from Bayezid's wrath, and Venice escaped the war only losing Hellas and a token idemnity in 893 (1488). The war in the north was far more troubling than the conflict in the south. The Russian armies were enormous and a great many good Muslims lost their lives struggling to hold the Crimean forntier against the incursions of Russia. The only merciful thing about the northern war was its end after two years of difficult and bitter fighting. The Khan surrendered an indemnity to the Tsar, who decided to refocus his miltary machine to west. Soon, to the great relief of Istanbul and thanks in no small part to the porte's agents, Russia and Lithuania were fighting each other and leaving the Islamic lands alone.

At this time whispers began to be heard in the divan and the higher circles of Ottoman officialdom. Many were coming to doubt the wisdom of Ottoman policy in Crimea. The Crimean Khan seemed either unable or unwilling to provide his realm with proper defenses and the wars (3 and counting) that the Ottomans had fought to keep Crimea Muslim had been spectacular successes in the public realtions field but had brought little material or strategic gain to the porte despite immense costs. There was also an ever-growing list of projects dear to the Sultan or other members of the divan which had been shelved indefinitely by the continuing necessity to defend Crimea. Some courtiers now came to believe that defense of Crimea would cheaper in the long-run through direct administration from Istanbul.
 
I never did like Crimea! You've been dragged into several wars and it might be time to change tactics and just diplo-annex the bastards. In one game as the Ottomans I kept trying to move East and had the same problem with being attacked in the West. Finally I said screw it and invaded the Balkans and took everything not nailed down. I remember feeling very satisfied afterwards. :D

Joe
 
The Stubborness of the Sernissima, 1490-1507

the Real Deal: I feel it's about time for another scrennie myself, I'm glad you're enjoying the AAR.

Storey: Bullying the Balkans, eh? Sounds like lots of fun, the diplomatic route isn't really getting me anywhere with Candar yet. Conquest is just so much easier in the long run.

Weary of the wars, Bayezid decided after the end of the Russian war to devote himself to God's work: missionaries were dispatched throughout his Balkan realms and an ever-increasing number of Balkan Christians came to accept the fullness of God's relevation to man. Though not targeted by Bayezid's missonaries, the province of Maros in Hungary spontaneously abjured its erroneous ways and accepted Islam. It could only have been a miracle. Bayezid was also becoming increasingly concerned with the popularity of the Empire's liquor distilleries, for he feared that the beverages produced in them were turning his people away from God. At one point he seriously considered abolishing them until he learned that the Grand Vizier and the Shaykh al-Islam were firm supporters of the revenue the facilities generated. Nevertheless, the Bayezid Endowment was established which reserved a portion of the proceeds of sales of alcohol for the maintenance of the poor in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Interesting news was daily arriving from abroad, the realm of the Aq Quyunlu had dissintegrated and the Safavi order of Ardabil had seized control of the bulk of the Persian lands. The success of these Shi'a heretics deeply disturbed Bayezid, who recoiled in horror to learn that the names of first three Caliphs of Islam were being publicly cursed in the cities of Iran. Perhaps most disturbing of all were the close ties established by the Safavids with certian rebellious tribesman in Bayeid's own realm. For the moment all was quiet but trouble loomed on the horizon. Bayezid and his divan responded by appointing legal councilors for the provinces appointed directly by the central government (infra 4) which somewhat lessened the populace's liability to rebellion.

Things were thus proceeding peacefully for almost a full decade until the Christian year 1498, in which during a long Christmas party, the Doge of Venice and many of his closest councillors drank a bit too much of Ionia's liquor and decided to declare war on the Ottomans, as usual neglecting the virtual nonexistence of their land forces. On land it was another depressingly easy war, as Turkish soldiers marched clear through Venice's European holdings, capturing one fortress after another and only occasionally encountering Venetian armies that were easily brushed aside. On Sea, it was a war worthy of heroic epics in which Turkish naval might held the Antolian coasts but was repeatedly thwarted in attempted landings on Crete. Kerch was however captured as early as 1501 and Crete was occupied after much trepidation in 1505.

Seiges were then in progress in Cyprus and the capital itslef and Bayezid looked for a decisive victory at the peace tables. Unfortunately the Venetians, though liberal with their other provinces, absolutely refused to consider any peace deal involving the cession of Kerch, which was Bayezid's number one aim for the war. And so the war drug on for another two years, during which the Ottoman populace grew restless and began to revolt out of war-weariness while the Venetian garrisons in Cyprus and Veneto resisted Ottoman advances as stubbornly as their diplomats did. Finally, with internal torubles mounting and talk of mutiny spreading into the army itself, Bayezid dropped all demands with the exception of Kerch and finally gained peace for his realm. The long struggle with Venice was dubbed the Kerch War as that lonely outpost was all that was gained in almost a decade of bitter fighting. In his quarters of the palace, Bayezid swore that he would someday avenge himself on Venice, promising that his bones could never rest in their grave until one of his successors had laid low the Venetian republic and draped the last banner of St. Mark over his tomb.

OE1507.jpg

The Ottomans and their neighbors after the Kerch War. Persia has sort of formed and the Near East is a Persian-Mamluk mess. Albania, Crimea, Wallachia, and Imereti (the white country in Georgia province) are all Ottoman vassals.
 
Unfortunately I don't know if resting is an option, not with Austria about to get in shape. I'm still thinking Mamelukes...or Persia, depending on how the technologies look. Venice looks like it's going to be your game long enemy - which is appropriate.
 
Congratulations on your perseverance against the Venetians, even if the gains were only Kerch. At least that issue is settled. Stubborn opponents can be frustrating, but it's only fitting -- when I play a Christian power it's the Turks who are usually the muleheaded sore losers, refusing any reasonable deal until or unless near total victory is achieved. So it serves you right! :p

How are your techs compared to, say, Austria and Venice?
 
Crimean Affairs, 1507-16

CatKnight: Venice is likely to be an enemy for some time, appopriate indeed. Technology will play a major role in Ottoman foreign policy in the upcoming years...

Jwolf: I sympathize about stubborn AI losers in war, Venice also engaged in that classic AI pursuit of offering unconncected chunks of land that makes AI countries into curious monstrosities with single provinces or two scattered all over the map. My techs as of 1507 are land 4/naval 3/infra 4/trade 2. Venice has land 5/naval 5 and Austria has land 6/naval 2. I'll only gt worried if they get land 9 before I do.

The last five years of Bayezid's reign were peaceful only in the sense of absence of conflict with foreugn armies. Multiple revolts spread through the Ottoman realm as disaffection following the Kerch War was high indeed. By 916 AH (1510 AD) the last rebels had finally been vanquished, nut Bayezid had come too close to the action ad died of the wounds he recieved in the anti-rebel fighting in 918/1512. His successor Selim I came to the throne determined to put into action the many plans that had sat on Ottoman drawing tables since the days of Mehmed II over a generation ago. Unfortunately, no sooner had Selim formed these plans than the dreaded Lithuanians backed their allies France and Gotland :confused: attacked Crimea yet again.

The bitter experience of the Second Lithuanian War (918-21/1512-15), in which the Crimean Khans once again abdicated responsibility for their own defense, leaving the Ottomans as the only force capable of fighting in defence of Islam in the Khanate. The armies of Lithuania were dispersed in a series of engagments in 918/19 (1512/13) but French arms soon followed and the Ottomans were once again the only force capable of restraining the European incursions. In 921/1515 the Lithuanians paid s token sum for tribute and were allowed to return to their own affairs. The Ottoman forces, personally commanded by Selim I, returned to Bachi-Sarai from the front to the adulation of the Crimean crowd and what was supposed to be a state luncheon with the Khan. Yet once Selim and his janissaries entered the presence of the Crimean Khan, they leveled their weapons at him and announced the new Ottoman policy towards Crimea--the Giray famliy, formerly hereditary vassal-Khans of Crimea were demoted to hereditary dog-catchers of Istanbul for their failure to defend Islam against the Lithuanian and Russian enemies of the faith. The former lands of the Khan were annexed to the Ottoman Empire and made provinces along with the rest.

Selim's annexation of the Crimea could only be justified by emphasizing the Ottoman claim, originally put forward by his father at the fall of Rhodes, to be the defender of Islam. Yet while Selim remained in the Crimea overseeing the transition from the rule of the vassal-Khans to direct Ottoman administration, word reached him that the puppet 'Abbasid "Caliph" maintained by the Mamluks of Cairo was refusing to recognize Selim's claims, doubtless due to pressure from the Mamluk Sultan, who was beginning to see a dangerous rival in the steadily growing Anatolian Empire. It was time for a decisive action, and few men of history were capable of decisive action as was Sultan Selim I...
 
Last edited:
The First Persian War, 1516-23

Still at Bachi-Sarai overseeing the proper incorporation of his newest province, Selim was also busily planning his next campaign, he wanted nothing more than to storm Cairo and teach the impudent Mamluk Sultan and his puppet Caliph exactly what it meant to be a ghazi (warrior for the faith), yet many of the common soldiers were horrified by the very idea of campaigning against the Mamluks, who were protected by the Caliphs of the house of 'Abbas, uncle to the Prophet himself and a family of far greater standing than the upstart Ottomans, whose ancestors were still lowly sheep-herders while the 'Abbasids were overseeing the flowering of Islamic civilization from the magnificient (and now sadly almost completely destroyed) medieval city of Baghdad. However, Selim already could see a convenient method of both boosting his prestige and making his eventual campaigns against the Mamluks all that much easier. He would launch an attack upon the loathsome Safavi heretics in Persia, earning him and his dynasty further accolades as champions of Islam as the Mamluks continued to do nothing.

And so after a brief stop over in eastern Anatolia, where he oversaw the summary execution of many Shi'a tribes who might go over to the enemy, Selim and his army crossed in Persian territory and laid seige to Diyarbakir (Sivas province), while a second army sailed from Antalya to the coast of Lebanon to open a second front, considered necessary as the Persian forces quite frankly outnumbered the Ottomans, a secret Selim hoped to keep from the rank-and-file while trusting the highly trained janissaries and superior Ottoman weaponry to tip the balance. Sadly, the Persian fleet based in Lebanon defetaed the first attempted Ottoman landing, leaving the bulk of Safavid forces to gather for an attack on Selim's besieging force at Diyarbakir. The Persians gathered almost 38,000 troops before attacking Selim, whose forces numbered only 17,000. Outnumbered by more than two-to-one, many a lesser man would have retired from the field, but Selim had not earned the nickname Yavuz ("the Grim") for nothing and held fast, leading his jannisaries in an inspired charge against the Persian center that led to the complete defeat of the heretic force.

Disheartened by the rout of their would-be relief force, the garrison at Diyarbakir soon surrendered. Meanwhile the Ottoman fleet, reinforced by fresh arrivals from the newly built imperial shipyard at Istanbul, suck the Persian fleet off Lebanaon and delivered its cargo of Ottoman warriors. Selim's hoped-for second front never came however, as the Persians seemed perfectly content to sit by and watch as the Ottomans captured their cheif fortresses in Lebanon and Syria one-by-one, throwing all that was left of their forces at Selim's army as it moved through Kurdistan and Nuyssaybin capturing castles on its own. The decisive conflict occured in the mountainous region of Azerbaijan, where the Safavids had gathered another large army, 40,000 men strong, to repel the Ottoman invasion. Reinforcements had increased the number of men at Selim's disposal to 22,000, and another wild gambit as had worked at Diyarbakir was succesfully carried at Azerbaijan, ending effective Safavid resistance.

Selim was anxious to press onward after the victory at Azerbaijan, but sadly he had been wounded during the battle and was soon to die of an infection. Saddened by the loss of their Sultan and his fearless generalship (a 5/5/5 leader gone :( ), the Ottoman army lost heart in its expedition and now only wished to go home. Elsewhere in the Empire, Habsburg agents had fomented a series of revolts in the Balkans. Shortly after dispatching such a revolt in Bulgaria, crown prince Suleyman was informed of his father's death and his accession to the throne as Sultan Suleyman I. The new Sultan hurried home to Istanbul to secure his rule, quickly making peace with the Persians and obtaining the provinces of Sivas, Kurdistan, Syria, and Lebanon from the heretics. The body of Sultan Selim was laid to rest at Diyarbakir, site of his great victory over the Safavids.

Elsewhere in the world, the Ottoman vassal kingdom of Imereti had gone to war with the Shirvanshah and recaptured the Georgian provinces then under the Shirvanshah's control, the Ottomans suffered considerable loss of prestige from this act on the part of their vassals as the supposed defenders of Islam had allowed their Christian vassals to bring under their control lands formerly under Islamic rule. The janissaries in Imereti's capital repaid the overzealous vassal by beheading him and placing a more pliant individual on Imereti's throne, but the damage to the Ottoman reputation had been done. In happier news, the Sultan's Wallachian vassals had vanquished the last remnants of the Serbian state, thereby eliminating a pocket of hostility seperating Ottoman Bosnia from Ottoman Transylvania. Nice as this was, Suleyman and his divan knew that the best way to secure communications between Bosnia and Transylvania was to create a connection between the two in Ottoman hands, and that would bring them into conflict with Hungary...

OE1523.jpg

The Ottoman Empire and environs at the accession of Suleyman I. The blue in Adana province is Sweden :mad: , which will be a major pain for me.
 
War in the West, 1523-30

Upon arriving at the capital and attending to the transition attendant upon the unexpected death of his father, the new Sultan quickly grew to be at home in the capital and began vigorousloy asserting himself in his new role. Yet discontent still simmered throughout the Ottoman realm, and the army stayed busy during these years quelling outbreaks of rebellion on the part of the peasantry. Yet the geopolitical situation refused to wait for internal Ottoman difficulties to subside and soon events outside the Empire were to put internal problems on the backburner.

Difficulties began in the Christian year 1526, when Hungary's young King Lajos II died childless. The Hungarian state had been weakened in recent years by lenghty wars with France over certain territories within the Holy Roman Empire and unrest among the peasantry. Lajos II had not been an effective ruler and upon his death central order had broken down and the individual magantes had split into armed camps. Civil war seemed imminent. One faction among the magnates decided to elicit foreign support by offering the crown of Hungary to the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, who soon arrived in the country at the head of a considerable body of German troops. Seeing their chances of success greatly lessened, Hungary's other leading magnate faction, headed by John Zapolyai, appealed to Suleyman for assistance, offering to reorganize the Hungarian realm as an Ottoman vassal state. Suleyman was not terribly interested in this proposition in and of itself, but he was very definitely interested in keeping Austrian forces from threatening vital Turkish interests in the Balkans. When Suleyman learned of the great popular support for Zapolyai's cause among the Ottoman citizenry, he agreed to support Zapolyai and personally led a large Turkish army into Hungary to oppose the Habsburgs.

Sadly for the Ottomans, the Austrians had discovered devastating new weapons of war (land tech 9) not yet available in the Turish realms. Lead by a skillful general by the name of Furstenberg, the Austrians bested Suleyman's army in the province of Croatia, and the Turkish forces learned to shy away from direct confrontations with the Austrian land forces. Electing to conduct a war of manouver, the Turks headed into archducal territory and began pillaging the countryside and capturing vulnerable castles. Suleyman's army had pushed deep into Styria but the Austrians were in the meantime overtaking Hungary. Thus when the Habsburgs offered Suleyman a status quo peace, he reluctantly decided to accept while his military engineers began the process of reverse engineering the new weapons they had encountered in this most recent engagement.
 
Last edited:
From the last map it looks like Poland took out Bohemia? If so that should make Austria a little easier to deal with. Unfortunately it's probably too late to stop Austria from annexing Hungary.
 
Suleyman the Law-Giver, 1530-38

CatKnight: Poland has indeed consumed the Bohemians, though your comments on the fate of Hungary are sadly true. Time to press on as it appears people read this AAR even if they don't comment on it.

Though his campaign against the Habsburgs had to be written off as a failure, especially given the rapidity with which Zapolyai's resistance collapsed in the face of Habsburg might, the young Sultan returned to his capital only to learn that his bureaucrats had pioneered new methods of administration (infra 5). Battle-scarred veteran though Suleyman was, he lost no time recognizing the immense significance of this new development. Overjoyed at the new revenues these tactics would bring his state, Suleyman ordered the royal mints into action for so long as it would take to promote these new officers to every province in the Empire. That all these promotions would still require the total sum of the treasury for the next several years were a powerful tribute to the immensity of the Ottoman state and immediately upon the completion of the governorship project, all funds were diverted into military research, the Sultan was determined to possess the technology that had allowed the Habsburg forces to defeat him in Croatia.

The Habsburgs had of course overwhelmed the Sultan's ally Zapolyai and the bulk of the once-mighty Hungarian kingdom was now in Habsburg hands. Though no true Ottomans wept at Hungary's demise, the Sultan's officers were hardly pleased to see the rapidly developing Austrian state on the Empire's borders, especially given the Austrians advantages in military technology. Having the French occupy the steppelands just above Crimea was bad enough from Suleyman's perspective, as his reports indicated that the French arms were even more advanced than those of the Austrians. This particular piece of bad news was made considerably worse when the spineless Russian Tsar meekly surrendered these lands to the French, bringing yet another powerful state to the Ottoman border. The rush for new military technologies was becoming daily more urgent. After all, how could the Sutlan press his tarnished reputation as champion of Islam if his army was outclassed by the infidels?

The Mamluk Sultan and his pathetic creature that persisted in blackening the name of Islam by calling himself the Caliph even as he waited on the Mamulk Sultan with abject servility were by now openly sneering at the Sultan whose empire had once been able to claim the title of Champion of Islam, much to Suleyman's agony. The conquests of Selim I, though made against the vile Shi'a heretics of Persia, had redounded to the aid of the Mamluks, as the Persian state's loss of power and forward bases against exposed Mamluk positions in Syria were in retrospect a questionable gain for the Turks. The forward positions in Syria were now Ottoman of course, but Suleyman was hardly anxious for war so long as he could not be sure of his weaponry. Besides, his most pressing desire was to resurrect his lost prestige. That prestige was lessend even further when the Karamanids defeated the Swedes and recaptured the port of Adana (it revolted away actually, please excuse the literary license) and plunged to an all-time low when the lowly ersatz-Caliph of Tlemecen captured the Maltese islands, obliterating the horrid nest of Christian crusaders and making the central Mediterranean safe for Muslim commerce once more.

The successes of the Zayyanids of Tlemecen notwithstanding, the early sixteenth century was a dark time for Islam in the Maghrib, as the Iberian kingdoms, having already destroyed the glorious Muslim land of Al-Andalus, now advanced against the Mulsims of the Maghrib, all but a pathetic shadow of the Moroccan state was captured by the King of Portugal and each new Sultan in Fez had to undergo the indignity of being confirmed in his position by the infidel King of the Portuguese. The Spaniards meanwhile had conquered the city of Al-Djazar from the Zayyanids (Tlemecen) as well as stripping Tripoli and Cyrenacia from the Hafsids of Tunis. Even worse, Spanish inquistors were at work spreading their errors through means which sent a shiver down the spine of good Muslims everywhere. Though the Mamluk Sultan chided Suelyman for his failure to save the Maghrib, the wretched Georgian had not yet lifted a finger to stop the Spainards himself.
 
I am reading it! I will try to post a bit more, but I still ahve this nasty lurkermode to shake off.... Is the problem with landtech the investment in infra which you have made or due to the slower development of techs due to the culture? Other than that you seem to be doing quite well. I have had very few games in which Hungary and Austria didn't join. At least here Bohemia didn't conquer Poland and half of Germany. Be happy for small favours... ;)
 
The Rule of the Bureaucrats, 1538-53

Dead William: Thanks for checking in. My land tech's been slowed ( in 1530 I had land 4 vs. Austria's 9 and even Karaman and the Mamluks had 5) due to my decisions in domestic policy (narrow-minded) and my near-exclusive research into infra tech ( I always try for infra 5 as soon as is humanly possible). And yeah, the absence of a central European superpower is quite convenient for me.

While the loss of prestige attendant upon backwards land tech troubled Suleyman greatly, his new army of bureaucrats quickly began to prove their worth. Their provincial administration's efficiency brought vast new revenues for the central government. The bureaucrats deployed several techniques to keep expenditures down and revenues up, among them was a strict policy in which local officials could only draw their salaries upon the completion of mountains of paperwork. The local elites of Dobrudja took exception to this policy and revolted in 946/1540, but this uprising was quelled and the bureaucrats efficiently executed the rebels, thereby saving even more money for the central treasury. The draconian measures of the bureaucrats even succeeded in checking inflationary trends in the Ottoman economy (22% in 941/1535 down to 17% in 960/1553) which was a further boost to Ottoman research efforts into new weaponry. This long-neglected branch of research of buzzing along with stratling rapidity following the institution of the bureaucracy, hardly a year or two passed without the Sultan's engineers producing new and steadily advancing models of the Austrian arquebus until finally in 952/1545 a fully functional model was produced (land 9 :D ).

Overjoyed at the modernization of his army, Suleyman and his bureaucrats convened for the purpose of determing a suitable field test for the new weapons. The bureaucrats, after careful calculations, decided that the most cost-effective field test would be going to war with unallied and technologically backward Karaman (land 5). Two years later, as they surveyed the destruction in Karaman city while fending off the complaints of outraged soldiers (who discovered to their horror that one was now required to possess an official license to plunder before partaking in the ransacking of enemy cities), the bureaucrats concluded the field test by-and-large successful. The Karmanid state had indeed been broken by the technology and resources the Ottomans now had at their disposal but the Karamanids had offered a spirited defense (buoyed perhaps by malicious rumors about the rapacity of Ottoman bureaucrats) and the technological edge was not nearly as decisive a factor in the Ottoman victory as the bureaucrats would have hoped. The field test concluded there was only the issue of negotiations left to handle, which was hardly difficult given that almost the entire Karamanid royal family was in Ottoman captivity. Karaman was deprived of the provinces of Konya and Adana as well as their entire treasury and awarded five years in which time the Karamanid ruler was strongly advised to learn something about filling out transfer of office forms.

Sultan Suleyman was well pleased with the results of this field test and decided to launch a campaign against the Iberian possessions in Northern Africa with all possible speed. His bureaucrats however, advised a brief period of waiting in which time the Ottoman navy could be given technological advancements of its own (naval techs at the end of the Karman war--Ottos 6, Spain 6, Venice 11). Suleyman was persuaded by the bureaucrats and used the next few years building up the strength of his navy and training his admirals Dragut and Oluch Ali Reis by sending them against Cyrpiot pirates until his naval engineers made the promised breakthough in 959/1552 (naval 9). Judging the new Ottoman navy to be at least 45% more efficient than its Spanish equivalent, the bureacrats at last joined the war party and Suleyman ordered the mobilization of all Ottoman forces as he himself travled northward to a waiting army in Bulgaria which he would personally command in the engagement to come...
 
Reclaiming the Maghrib, 1553-60

The Impaler: Nice to have you along. Poland has intend grown large and scary in this game. Fortunately, Austria has been unable to become her usual territorial colossus. Poland can still get Lithuania in 1569 in AGCEEP but I'm not sure if there are any modifications from the vanilla event. I rarely see a succesful Poland in AGCEEP for some reason, maybe I'll play them and see what kinds of new events they've got.

By Rabay al-Awal 960/March 1553 the Empire's war plans were grinding into effect and in that month war was declared to determine whether Spain or the Ottomans would rule in North Africa. Ottoman forces had landed in Cyrenacia within the month, meeting opposition from neither the Spanish navy nor its army. Indeed, almost commentators on this conflict would come to agree that Spain's biggest tactical error in the entire war was the lethargic nature of their mobilization efforts. The provinces of Cyrneacia and Tripoli were both occupied by an Ottoman army that was dropped off and picked up without the least bit of harrassment by the Spanish navy, while the garrisons of those two provinces recieved not even an attempt at reinforcement during their brave but futile resistance to the Ottomans. By 961/1554 the Spanish had finally gotten their act together and landed invasion forces in Ragusa and Trebizond.

Sadly for the Spanish, the Ottomans were not caught unawares by their incursions, in spite of the ill-timed rebellion in Kerch province that kept one Ottoman division busy during this crucial phase of the war. The Spanish invasion in Ragusa was by far the more dangerous and numerous incursion, but it also occured not but a province away from the large Ottoman army commanded by Suleyman in person, which descended upon the Spanish invaders and drove them back to the sea. The Trebizond invasion was much smaller but thanks to the Kerch rebels (whom many suspected of being in Spanish pay) an army had to be called back from its patrol duties at the Mamluk/Persian border before this threat could be dispatched with. Back in the Central Mediterranean the Ottoman fleet under admiral Dragut saw its first real action in the Malta Channel as the Spanish navy finally elected to oppose the Ottomans. Thanks to the foresight of the Ottoman bureaucrats however, the Spanish ships were simply outclassed by the new Ottoman navy. This technilogical advantage, combined with Dragut's consummate skills in battle, made the engagement a no-contest, as the Turkish fleet rowed circles around the Spaniards before sending them to their watery graves.

Dragut now picked up his colleagues from the land forces upon hearing of their succesful capture of Tripoli. The Ottoman fleet then sailed into the western Meditterannean, meeting and dispatching a small Spanish fleet near the Balearic islands en route to Granada, where they planned to land their land army and liberate al-Andalus from the polluting hands of the Iberians. However, the Spanish were by now mobilized at last and bitterly contested the attempted landing at Granada, sending wave after wave of war fleets through the Straits of Gibraltar, forcing Dragut to meet their challenge rather than oversee the landing force. Fortunately, these ships were every bit as primitive as the fleets encountered by the Ottomans so far and Dragut sank them as fast as they came. After a much longer period on the open water than was good for his ships, leaking and brittle from the ravages of storms and Spaniards, Dragut was at last able to clear the way for the land army to disembark. These exceedingly brave men, 12,000 janissaries plus their 30-piece artillery contingent, elected to press the attack even knowing full-well that they would have no escape route, as Dragut had little choice but to return to a friendly port for resupply. This force reached the walls of Granada quickly and began a siege which had reduced the garrison to desperate straits indeed before a massive 45,000 man Spanish army descended upon Granada, utterly anihilating the courageous Ottoman force outside Granda's walls in a battle that quickly degenerated into little more than slaughter.

Back in the Balkans, Suleyman's army had dispatched with a further two Spanish would-be invaders and a Spanish raiding party, too small to fight an Ottoman division or capture a fortified town, but plenty large enough to roam the countryside causing misery and destruction, made its devilish way across the Balkan mountains and through the Danubian basin before it was finally tracked down and crushed by a Turkish force. With growing exhaustion and grevious losses plaguing both sides, Suelyman and his great contemporary Carlos I finally came to terms, agreeing to a treaty leaving al-Andalus with Spain but requiring the Spaniards to surrender all their holdings in the Maghrib save the port of Tangier to the Ottomans. Suleyman's damaged reputation as the champion of Islam had been salvaged by his liberation of a great many North African Muslims from the yoke of infidel rule, while the Mamluk Sultan, who had done nothing to rescue to the Muslims of the Maghrib in spite of his greater proximity, was coming to regarded by Muslims everywhere as a weakling and a coward.

OE1560.jpg

The Western Mediterranean region after the Ottoman-Spanish War.
 
Looks good! Though the Ottoman bureaucrats scare me...

I've noticed that if the Ottomans make a strong enough show in Europe, it naturally holds Austria down, which seems to be what happened here. Good show. Normally I'd advise giving them something else to think about, but it looks like they've surged ahead in land tech?

Well, there's always Albania and Wallachia to warm up. Or just lie low for a little while and see if you can do anything about the tech disparity...though I don't know if you CAN catch up, despite the Empire's strength.
 
jwolf said:
Methinks the French and Austrians concentrated on important mathematics and engineering questions while your Turks were thoroughly occupied in business school. :D

Doesn't AGCEEP have the event where the Turks inherit the Mamelukes by conquering Cairo? I'm wondering why you haven't done that yet.
Click to expand...

It’s a good idea to keep spreading through North Africa and the Middle East. Land tech is going to be a problem with Europe from now on. I’ve got a game as the Turks going and managed to inherit the Mameluke Empire. I don’t remember if I had just captured Cairo in a war or taken it in a peace agreement. Definitely something zach should do. ;)
 
A Fashionable Diversion, 1560-66

Catkinght: Well I've moved into researching land 100% after I got infra 5 and then picked up 100% land again after naval 9 so I'm now up to land 11 vs. Austria's 13. That's not a unbridgeable gap. Though to be honest there are wealtheir provinces than Hungary to take. I'd really like Croatia off the Habsburgs as that would unite my Hungarian possessions to the rest of the empire.

jwolf: yes, unfortunately "Bureaucrat Studies" as a concentration has few classes on siege engines and musketry. Have no fear, new Ottoman statesmen are all being required to take "Warmongering 101" as part of the new training regiment.

Storey: Dang it, I forgot I just had to occupy Cairo! (kicks self), that should make it much easier. Expect plenty of North African warmongering in the near future.

By 967/1560, the great Sultan Suelyman was beginning to feel the weight of his years. In addition biological aging, he had spent the past 40 years as supreme executive to a large and powerful state as well as in active military service. A few months after the North African war was over, Suelyman was stricken with an illness that kept him confined to his bed for almost a month. Thanking God for granting him reocvery, he built a new magnificent mosque in Istanbul bearing his name while funding Islamic missionary efforts throughout his realm (the humble player, knowing the rather lakcluster ADM skills my future monarchs are going to have, prints some money and sends a missionary to every wrong relgion province in his empire, about half of them succeed) which led to a great many conversions, especially in the "core" lands of the Empire (Anatolia and the Balkans). As his health continued to wane, Suleyman handed over the day-to-day running of his realm to his ever-present bureaucrats led by a devsirme Serb by the name of Mehmed Sokollu, who rose to the rank of Grand Vizier in 971/1564.

As these events were transpiring in the capital, events of great moment were occurring many hundreds of miles away off the frigid shores of modern-day Canada. During the many engagements in the Mediterranean, a large number of Spanish ships had been borded by Ottoman forces. Though the capitains and crews of soon-to-be-lost Spanish ships routinely destoryed everything of strategic importance they could find, certain scraps of nautical charts and maps survived and were brought back to Istanbul by the vicotorious soliders. As every Ottoman bureaucrat was expected to study a full course of geography, it did not take these bureaucrats long to piece together a coherent map from the many scattered fragments from the Spanish ships.

Late one evening, as a team of bureaucrat-geographers surveyed their completed task, they came to a shocking discovery--at the other end of the vast expanse of ocean that Ottoman geographers had until then believed connected Western Europe with Eastern Asia laid another land, inhabited by a race of primitive peoples, and holding vast stores of natural reosurces as well as millions of new souls without knowledge of God. The Christian powers had been engaged for some time in exploiting the natural resources of this land as well as spreading their heretical faith. This would not do. If there were new lands and souls still to be won in the world than they must be won for Islam. The excited young bureaucrat traversed the streets of Istanbul, asking every cleric and madrasa graduate if they would be interested in converting the heathen in the name of Islam. To a man, these clerics answered that they preferred life as qadis in the comfortable provinical cities or missionary duties among the Greeks and Slavs, whose were also possessed of comfortable cities in good measure.

Unprepared to give up yet, the young bureaucrat next turned to the merchant's guild, the one place in Istanbul where he had no doubt he could corrupt some ambitious men. The Turkish traders had a unsavory reputation matched only by that of the Turkish bureaucrats--rumor had it they would sell you their own grandmothers if you offered a decent price. Our yound bureaucrat, who had several years worth of classes in "Advanced Corruption" while at Ottoman bureaucrat school, soon let it "accidently" leak to the merchant community that he was in posession of some valuable maps and facing financial hardships. Soon enough a host of clandestine offers were reaching his office in hopes of acquiring the valuable maps. He finally settled on the offer he thought was "best" (ie highest) and sold the maps accordingly. The merchants then brided a prominent Sayyid (a Sayyid is a person who claims descent from the Prophet) into asking the pious Sultan Suleyman for permission to preach the message of Islam to the heathens, a request that was speedily granted.

Of course, the merchants loaded their ships with many of the worthless glass trinkets that were rumored to command such a high value among the heathen and conveinenetly forgot to make room for the Sayyid. Their journey was long and hazardous, but they finally succeeded in landing on a strip of land the locals called "Placentia." The Turks who made the entire jounrey landed deplorabl waterlogged and short of provisions, but the heathen. despite having never once heard the word of God, showed themsleves to be nonetheless blessed by His divine grace by the acts of kindness by which they received their tattered travelers. The surviving Turks received food and water from the heathens and soon began trading with as best as the considerable language barrier allowed. The Turks soon learned that the most important commodity in the area was a species of fish that could be caught in great abundance in the coastal waters nearby. The Ottoman party built a small wooden shed on the shore, the first Islamic structure in the Americas, and used this shed to process the fish they had caught themselves on gained in trade with the locals, who did indeed prize glass beads that could bought for a penance at any street-stall in Istanbul.

A year later, a ship was dispatched back to the capital laden with salted fish which immediately became the most fashionable dish in all of the Ottoman lands. Within a year of its arrival, demand for the fish had skyrocketed across the Empire, prominents chefs were competing to find the side dishes best suited to complement the new fish and a new grandee in Istanbul faced social death if he failed to serve the new delicacy at his first house party. Soon demands were being heard openly in the divan to settle a proper colony in Placentia, bring Islam to the heathen, and secure a more regualr supply of the precious fish--after all, colonies were the fashionable thing in the European courts of the day. How could the Ottomans call themselves a proper European power if they had no colonies to exploit? The logic of such arguments eventually won over Mehmed Sokollu, who was also a great lover of fish, and a colonization mission was sent to Placentia, three of them in fact, until one group at last succeeded in establishing a mosque and a rather modest village hugging the coastline of Placentia. As one prominent Turkish traveler noted, the new city wasn't much to look at it and its facilities left much to be desired, but it was nonetheless a momentous event in world history--for Islam had now come to the Americas.

Ottomancolony.jpg

Hoping to stay fashionable, the Ottomans establish a colony in the New World. This about all I can see at present, I had a conquistador who inconvevinently died when I finally had some use for him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back