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Farquharson

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Nov 7, 2003
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Carthage Reborn - the first Tunisian AAR

Episode1: Abdulaziz finds some Friends


This is the story of a man named Abdulaziz Ibn Hafs who was Sultan of Tunisia at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Abdulaziz was fascinated by history, mainly due to the extremely clever and world-famous historian Ibn Khaldun who lived, taught and wrote extremely long and erudite history books in the capital city of Tunis on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

It came to the notice of Sultan Abdulaziz that Carthage, now a suburb of his Hafsid capital, had once been the centre of a mighty empire which stretched all the way around the Western Mediterranean and whose explorers had sailed far to the south of Morocco, which was as far as anyone in Tunisia knew about in those days. Abdulaziz’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he gazed in wonder at the maps in Ibn Khaldun’s New Illustrated Historical Atlas for Amateur Despots. Needless to say these maps were not terribly accurate, but they inspired Abdulaziz with a dream. He believed that Tunisia could become great once again, and once more become the centre of a great Mediterranean Empire, even larger and more glorious than that of Carthage.



Tunisia1419.JPG


Abdulaziz began to ask his advisors what was to stop Tunisia becoming a great empire once more. They had plenty of things to say...

Sultan Abdulaziz Ibn Hafs of the lowly but potentially great and glorious Sultanate of Tunisia: Well, chaps, just take a look at this atlas of Ibn Khaldun’s - look how huge the Carthagian Empire was!

First advisor: Truly Your Excellency, those Carthaginians must have known what they were doing all right!

Second advisor: They must have been rolling in money, that’s for sure!

Third advisor: Imagine what sort of a huge and invincible army they must have had!

Fourth advisor: They surely must have had lots of small and poorly defended neighbours to conquer!

Abdulaziz: So, er - what’s to stop us becoming great once more, just like them?

There is an awkward pause...

First advisor: Low technological ability?

Second advisor: Extremely limited finances?

Third advisor: Pathetically small army?

Fourth advisor: Big scary neighbours with big scary armies?

Abdulaziz: Er - right, well I can see it won’t exactly be a picnic, but... * He assumes a noble stance * ...Tunisia WILL be great once more!

And so Sultan Abdulaziz began to plan how he would build the Neo-Carthaginian Empire. First of all he decided to find some friends. The Mameluks to the East didn’t seem too friendly, but the other nations of the Maghreb, Algiers, Fez and Morocco seemed more hopeful. In 1420 he managed to arrange a royal marriage with the family of Uthman III of Fez, who, with his Algerian allies, was presently in the middle of a war with Portugal. The marriage was a roaring success - in 1421 Uthman invited Abdulaziz to join his alliance.

Letter from Sultan Abdulaziz of Tunisia to Sultan Uthman III of Fez

Dear Uthie

I knew it was the start of a beautiful relationship when my ravishingly beautiful daughter Selma married your extremely rich and well-mannered nephew Ibrahim. I’d be only too happy to join you in your struggle to crush those detestable Portuguese infidels. I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of military assistance to offer, but I would imagine that the Portuguese will tremble at the very mention of our great and glorious Sultanate, which I have decided will one day be the centre of a mighty Neo-Carthaginan Empire stretching all around the Western Mediterranean (though not, of course, including your most noble Sultanate of Fez!)

With warmest brotherly greetings

Abdulaziz


And of course, tremble the Portuguese did, when they heard of this new development. Four days later they offered to pay the North African Alliance 200 ducats in return for peace. Abdulaziz had plenty more daughters and his diplomats were soon busy marrying them off to various other royal houses. Since the Tunisian College of Diplomats usually only produced one graduate per year, he only managed to arrange one marriage per year, despite his large number of daughters. Later in 1421 the Algerian royal family accepted a marriage with his fairly beautiful daughter Fatima, and in 1422 his rather plain-looking daughter Yasmine was dispatched to Morocco. In 1423 the marriage of his slightly clumsy daughter Nejla was with the royal house of Granada and in 1424, Samia, his downright ugly but extremely adventurous daughter, travelled all the way to Turkey to enter a marriage with the Ottoman royal family.

DiplomaticCollege.JPG

The Tunisian College of Diplomats

Now Abdulaziz was really hobnobbing with the great and mighty, and when, in 1431, the alliance with Fez expired, he was quick to recreate it, but with himself as its leader. Meanwhile Algiers had made an alliance with Granada and the Moroccans didn’t seem to want to be allies of anyone.
 
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For those who haven't read the end of my first AAR, "Brand New and Playing Brandenburg" (and why on earth not, that's what I say :D) my pioneering spirit wanted to write an AAR about a nation that no-one had ever written about in this forum before. Amazingly, Tunisia, where I spent ten years of my life, falls into this category, and hence was my obvious choice. It's certainly not an easy option, but, hey, as long as I'm having fun writing an AAR, who cares if I don't manage to conquer the world (or even the odd neighbouring province...)? :cool:
 
This is a good AAR! Just add more humor like you did in your dialogue part and I'll definitively be your faithful reader :D
 
And btw. you should change the color of the speaker's name, as I can't see it in black (you also have some COLOR= errors) ;)
 
Great start Farquharson, it's a wonderful mix of witty and serious! I know I'll be reading this AAR for a long time! (meaning don't give up!)
I've never heard of a Tunisia AAR before, probably because there are none except for this one! Good luck!
 
Partition Algeria!
Coming soon, calcsam2!:D
What's your goal?
Conquering North Africa?
Beat the Spain?
Well, to be honest ladyfabia my main goal is survival, but if I can get going somehow, who knows what might be possible? Playing Brandenburg, I found that my very specific goal of uniting all German provinces became something of a strait-jacket towards the end of the game. This time I'll just go with the flow!:)

Episode 2: War with some Nasty Shi’ites

Soon after he had re-established his alliance with Fez, Abdulaziz noticed that his eastern shi’ite neighbours, the Mameluks, who had never been particularly neighbourly, had just been dragged into a war against the Kaliphate by their allies, the Hedjaz. Abdulaziz was somewhat hazy about the whereabouts of the Kaliphate, but the main thing was that those nasty Mameluks were occupied elsewhere and had for once withdrawn the large and scary-looking army which up till then had been menacing his eastern frontier.

He quickly marched in person at the head of the Hafsid Army into his eastern province, Tripolitania, and declared war on the Mameluks. His ally Abdulhaqq II Sultan of Fez joined the war, although his troops did not put in much of an appearance it must be said. Fezzi ships were occasionally spotted off the coast during the war, however, and Abdulaziz was sure that they were busy destroying the Mameluk Navy.

By July 1431 Abdulaziz had crossed the desert sands, reached Benghazi, and begun a siege there. Unfortunately a month later the mysterious Kaliphate made peace with the Mameluks, and Tunisia’s main reason for declaring war suddenly disappeared. The Mameluk army arrived not long after and drove Abdulaziz and his army back to Tripoli in November.

Mameluk.JPG

A Mameluk cavalry commander leads a sortie from the ramparts of Benghazi

During the next four years fighting continued back and forth along the desert coast between Tripoli and Benghazi, with neither army succeeding in capturing the enemy city. The most significant event of the war probably occurred in August 1432 when Abdulaziz suddenly found that the royal coffers seemed to be empty and he had to take out a large loan. Another significant event in Abdulaziz’s life occurred in 1434, when he died.

Determined to avenge the death of his predecessor, the new Sultan Muhammad IV sent the Hafsid Army back to Benghazi for one last attempt. This time the Mameluks offered the Tunisians a large amount of gold to go home and leave them in peace.

Herald from the Mameluks: OK you filthy sunni heretics, what’s the deal here? This city doesn’t belong to you!

Muhammad IV: Not yet it doesn’t you stinking shi’ite barbarian, but it so happens that we in Tunisia have a great and glorious plan to conquer the whole of the Western Mediterranean as a Neo-Carthaginian Empire, and your city seemed, well, kind of near at hand, easy to capture, and, in a word, a good place to start.

Benghazi.JPG

Benghazi - a good place to start an empire

Herald: Not as easy to capture as all that, however, as you might have noticed over the last four years.

Muhammad IV: Yes, well, we’re just getting into our stride, here.

Herald: And you wouldn’t be interested in peace right away...

Muhammad IV: Never!

Herald: ...in return for a modest financial contribution?

Muhammad IV: OK, you’ve talked me into it. But be sure of this you impudent Mameluk rat - we will not let you off the hook so quickly another time!

Herald: Yes, well it’s been delightful talking with you, despite the foulness of your vile heretic breath, but I really have to go now.

And so the Sultanate of Tunisia enjoyed a brief respite from war, which lasted approximately two days...
 
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You're off to a great start -- at least the writing! Playing Tunisia looks like a very serious challenge. Good luck!

Lots of great lines, but I think my favorite was this one:

"Another significant event in the life of Abdulaziz occurred in 1434 when he died."

The pic of the Mameluke cavalry commander is wonderful!
 
A very nice start. I'll be interested in seeing how far you can go with Tunisia...
 
Though Hannibal never conquered Rome, not even sacked it.
 
Ooooh! That's what I like - lots of encouraging comments and messages! :D Thanks to everyone who's following the adventures of Tunisia. Some quick replies:

jwolf: Thanks - good luck is something I'm kind of counting on!
Amric: Don't worry, I'm going all the way!
Lofman: Thanks - I'll try and make it worth it.
Anibal: Rome, OK, it's added to my to-do list.
LordLeto: Yes, but remember, we're going to become even more glorious than the Carthaginians, right? :)

And without further ado...

Episode 3: A Bône of Contention

Two days after the signing of the Peace of Benghazi on February 3rd 1435, Sultan Abdulhaqq II of Fez decided to declare war on Algiers and their ally Granada. His proposal was that he would invade Algiers from the west, while the Hafsid Army invaded from the east. Muhammad IV’s thoughts turned briefly to his fairly beautiful Aunt Fatima in Algiers, and his slightly clumsy Aunt Nejla in Granada but the prospect of territorial expansion was too great, and the royal marriages were reluctantly sacrificed in favour of the greater glory of Tunisia.

In June 1435 the now battle-hardened Hafsid Army arrived in Kabylia and laid siege to Bône, the city of St.Augustine, on the Algerian coast. One of the main causes of attrition during the siege were the incessant “Bône” jokes that soon began to wear thin.

Tunisian soldier in newly arrived reinforcement regiment: Hey, nice trenchworks you guys have got here - someone been BÔNING up on siege warfare? har har har

Second soldier: What’s it all about anyway - has the Sultan got a BÔNE to pick with Algiers or something? heh heh heh

Third soldier: You guys not tried an assault yet? What are you, BÔNE idle or something? guffaw

Fourth soldier: Those Algerians in there must be getting a mite hungry - all skin and B... gnnnugghhhh!

Falls to the ground with a scimitar neatly placed through his sternum.

Veteran besieger: We’ve heard those jokes already...

Second veteran: They were quite funny the first time...

Third veteran: But by the six hundred and twenty-ninth time...

Fourth veteran: They kind of lose their appeal...

Sultan Muhammad IV did not go to war himself, being of a cautious disposition. He reasoned that the best way to stay in power was to stay alive, and the best way to stay alive was to stay well away from enemy armies. Imagine his consternation, therefore, when in September 1435, after a reign of only one year, he was deposed by his cousin, Abu Umar Uthman Ibn Hafs, who promptly had him beheaded.

Meanwhile the garrison of Bône did not have the same calibre of cavalry commanders as the Mameluks, and were unable to drive off the besiegers. In January 1436 Bône fell to the victorious Hafsid Army. They were jubilant about the fact that a Tunisian army had at last succeeded in capturing an enemy province, but even more jubilant that they would now be moving on from Bône and the jokes would finally stop...


Bone.JPG

The souks of Bône in late 1435 - there is no-one much about because there was nothing much left to buy

The Algerians didn’t seem to have much of an army left, with the Fezzis laying waste to Orania, but they refused to hand over Kabylia to Sultan Uthman. The Hafsid Army therefore marched on to Constantine, capital of the province of Aures, where there was the welcome prospect of a mercifully joke-free siege.

The siege lasted from April till November 1436, when Constantine was captured and the now ecstatic Hafsid Army continued on their way to Algiers itself. At first Ahmad II Sultan of Algiers still refused to hand over Kabylia, but when he saw the might of the Hafsid Army encamped around his capital city he soon saw reason.

Declaration from the Sultan of Algiers to the commander-in-chief of the Hafsid Army

I, Ahmad II Sultan of the proud but at the moment rather endangered Sultanate of Algiers hereby grant full possession of the province of Kabylia to our extremely unsociable neighbours in the Sultanate of Tunisia. And make no BÔNES about it, we’ll be heartily glad to be rid of that city.

Yours in Muslim brotherhood

Ahmad II

June 6th 1437


The fact was that the city of Bône had had a tragic history. Saddled with the ridiculous name of “Hippo” in antiquity, the citizens had understandably decided to change the name, and had unwisely chosen “Bône” for reasons best known to themselves. Sultan Uthman quickly solved the problem by immediately changing the name to “Annaba”, which remains the name of the city to this day.

Uthman was now looking forward to a period of peace and prosperity, until he examined the national finance report, and discovered that the debts accrued by Sultan Abdulaziz during the Mameluk War had not yet been paid off, and the royal coffers were in no condition to be able to do so for a long time - fifteen years to be precise. Though he prayed daily for a generous gift to the state, or the opportunity to sell some state ordinances, he was left to do things the hard way. Finally, in 1452, the loan was repaid and peace and prosperity got a chance to reign for a while.


Tunisia1452.JPG
 
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Very interesting AAR so far. An interesting change of pace and what appears to be a promising challenge. Keep up the good work and I'll continue to read.
 
This AAR just keeps getting better! It's so amazing, that if it where food, I'd devour it and then vomit it out again just to eat it again! Good work! No Bônes about it!
 
all right! A province gained! Good job. Now you are getting somewhere!
 
Wow! You've dramaticaly increased the size of your realm by 50%!!! Great job! :D

When will we see another update?