Chapter One: The First Years (1444 - 1453)
The campaign begins on 11 November 1444; the Ottomans lie to the north eyeing Byzantine lands, the West is embroiled in petty dynastic disputes, and the Mamluk Sultanate sits quietly and patiently as it eyes over all of North Africa, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Already has the Mamluk Sultanate made enemies: the Ottomans greedily eye Syrian lands, the Qara Qoyunlu khanate lies with its hordes in the East, and the Timurid Empire has yet to crumble in the infidel lands of Persia. In addition, the mercantile Venetian Empire encroaches on the Mamluk sphere of influence, desiring to conquer the Kingdom of Cyprus and deny the Mamluks control of the eastern Mediterannean.
There is much work to be done: if the Mamluks are ever to survive against the technologically advanced Western world and their curious and innovative Turkish rivals, the Sultanate will have to westernize and imitate their enemies for the sake of the nation. As of now, our current government is the Iqta: archaic in nature, but satisfactory for the time being.
The first opening moves were simple: the Sultanate embarked on an ambitious army and navy program: they focused on raising new regiments of infantry and cavalry to defend the northern border with the Turkish Anatolian states and the western theatre that bordered the Maghrebi states. By 1453, the Sultanate had 25,000 infantry and 8,000 Mamluk cavalry under arms. In addition, the Sultanate began a determined and fruitful venture to convert the last Christian bastion in the Levant to Islam:
In the name of the national interest, the Sultanate offered the Tunisians an alliance to stave off Christian and Turkish incursions: they were quick to accept. In addition, the small Maghrebi state of Fezzan swore fealty to the Sultanate, solidifying the western theatre of North Africa:
In order to train the newly-recruited Mamluk army, the Sultanate began to fabricate claims in the Hejaz and against the Sultanate of Makuria:
Additionally, the Sultanate set its eye on the strategic island of Crete, owned currently by the Venetians; claims were fabricated and the Sultan himself declared the navy and army must be ready to fight on his command. However, it was not yet time...
Several unfortunate events soon occurred in the year 1450: first there was a mass wave of tension and unrest amongst the nobility, most of whom were senior Mamluk government officials, county governors, and army officers. The nobility saw the Sultan and the Sultanate as moving in an increasingly centralized direction, and they were by no means happy about it: they formed a petition and demanded that the Sultan grant rights that guaranteed noble sovereignty and the right to be free from central government direction.
However, the Sultan was preoccupied with foreign policy and the expansion of the military and had no time for treason or dissent within the realm: he called a meeting of all the nobles across the realm and demanded they put the interest of the Sultanate before their own interests: while all the nobles gave their fealty and word to the Sultan, they essentially felt ignored in their pleas for sovereignty and a growing sense of instability and tension pervaded the Sultanate.
However, it was not long after this event that the tension subsided and the Sultanate, gearing up for war against Makuria, felt united and stable in a common foreign policy objective.
In addition, in 1450 there was a debate circling around the Egyptian academic sphere as to whether or not to pursue scientific interests and experimentation as was rumored to be happening in the West; many Egyptian scholars were urging the Sultan and his senior advisors to discuss and invite men of science from other parts of the continent to assist the Egyptian state in modernization. However, there was considerable backlash from the clergy, who deemed that science was merely proof of God's power and that man could not, and should not, try to pursue what God did not reveal explicitly. The Sultan, convinced by the scholars of his realm, invited men of science to come and teach.
It was shortly after this controversial decision that a pamphlet circulated around the academia claiming the Sultan was growing powerful and ruthless; faced with the decision to either refute or accept the claims, the Sultan deemed that appearing ruthless and cunning would strike fear into the Sultanate's neighbors, lowering the chance of successful diplomacy but ensuring peace in the realm.
In 1451, the Sultan decided it was time to strike against the border regions of Makuria; he mobilized the Mamlukean 1st Army of 11,000 strong and marched them south under the command of general Yusun Ali:
During the invasion of Makuria, a herald was received by the Sultan's court from the Ethiopian Empire:
Displeased with the Sultan's reply about the situation of Coptic Christians in Egyptian territory, the Ethiopian Emperor detained the Mamlukean messenger:
It was also during the Makurian War that a startling development occurred in the north: the Ottoman Empire annexed Constantinople from the Eastern Roman Empire. They then moved their imperial court to Constantinople, now known in Turkish as Istanbul, and set about colonizing the city with Turkish settlers and soldiers. A massive population migration took place in the Greek lands as thousands of Greek refugees fled all across Europe and the Balkans. In addition, the Byzantines were left as a mere shadow of its former self without Constantinople, and the Sultan predicted that the Western and Eastern powers would swallow the Byzantine lands quite soon.
Nearing the close of the Makurian War in late 1452, the Qara Qoyunlu and the Timurid Mongols went to war against eachother over petty tribal disputes; the Sultanate predicted a long and drawn out war between the two khanates, and the Sultan was wary of Ottoman expansion into eastern Anatolia.
It was in November of 1453 that the Makurian War ended in complete Mamluk victory: the border provinces were annexed by Egypt and settlers and missionaries moved in almost immediately. In addition, Makuria was forced to convert to the Sunni faith and war reparations were to be payed for 10 years.
And so, 1452 came to a close and the new year of 1453 opened; the Mamluk Sultanate was at peace, expanding and equipping its army and navy, and the Ottoman and Christian threat loomed in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Sultan had many aspirations and ambitions in the coming years, but he realized he must take everything one step at a time.
