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Greetings! As you can guess, I will be playing as Qara Qoyunlu but the twist is, I will not be using the Rise of the Ottomans (1444) start date. Instead I will use the New World (1492) start date where things are a bit more desperate for the Black Sheep Turkmen. This is not my first time writing an AAR, I have done it a couple of times before under a now unused account and once with this one, which is a Rome: EU AAR which you can find in my signature *cough* self-advertising *cough*. Although, this is my first attempt at an interactive AAR, so please bare with me and do not be afraid to correct me or offer advice.
I do have preset goals for this game, but please be aware that:
1. This is an Ironman save, so no save-scumming.
2. There is no guarantee that I will be successful by any means.
3. This is not an AAR for me to succeed and become the Shia BBB, in fact, I want to simulate the rise and fall of kingdoms or in this case, khanates, sultanates, etcetera. Meaning that if I am getting stomped to the ground with no possibility of winning, I will not be opposed to becoming a vassal or being reduced to a OPM or nothing (Game Over).
4. This is not a AAR destined to lose on purpose. Just because I am open to being annexed, does not mean that I want to, just as if Poland had a chance to be divided by three nations surrounding them or left alone. They would obviously pick the latter choice.
5. When I feel like an important event has come up or I need to make a quick decision, I will fall on you, my readers, to vote on many different options that I will propose. Whether it be two options or ten.
6. I am allied to the Ottomans. Sadly I did not think to screenshot that event as I was still a bit iffy whether or not I even wanted to attempt another AAR.
I have already started the game and already have some maps saved and a couple screenshots, but I am not even close to having enough material for my first chapter so do not expect anything yet.
I will post the two maps I have saved to show you the current state of the middle east.
Not sure why the national color had to be so similar to the nearby lakes.
Although I guess I cannot complain when my ally is this.
Settings:
Version: 1.13.1.0 (13a0)
Mods: HOI4-style Dynamic Colored Mapmodes Ironman 1.0, A Rev. Borders Mod - NWNF (Bookworm Font), GFX Overhaul - Ironman v4.6
Start Date: January 1, 1492
Ironman: Yes.
DLCs: All major DLCs excluding Common Sense.
Any Interactivity Within AAR Approved by Qorten
EDIT: Also, if I post Reserved under a update in a new post, expect an upcoming vote. Just a heads up that you probably will not see many of those, but we will see.
Within the long-stretched valleys of Persia's mountainous range, men of wicker shield and spear have fought countless of times. Over the decades, new empires arose, while old ones vanished with little trace. Vicious men hailing from the steppe, barbarians in the eyes of the civilized mountain folk of Persia, were always a threat to the sedentary life of a simple peasant. Whether it be Scythians or Turks, the cycle never ended. Men, born and raised through the beautiful yet sadistic art of horse and bow had always an incentive to target empires located in the Iranian region. Maybe it was the vast culture obtained within the walls of the hilly surfaces, or maybe the vast riches gained through conquest and trade, or maybe jealousy bore into the minds of the tribal chieftains of the arid plains of the north. Whichever reason, had caused countless recorded acts of brutality and short-termed peace.
In the final moments of the Dark Age, the fall of the glorious yet horrendous Mongol horde had begun. Its combustion into many cultural melding pots of short-lived empires led by jealous and power hungry siblings had only quickened the pace of decay for the powerful Tartar and Turkish khanates of Genghisid blood. In the east, the Ming had defeated the Mongol Yang dynasty. In the west, the Golden Horde was overcome and is now awaiting a slow death. Within the middle east, particularly in the Iranian area, the mighty Turko-Mongol empire of Timurid had been pushed back into the eastern mountains of the Afghan, whereas the Turkmen of the White Sheep had begun to shift into a powerful entity where the Persian culture thrives. Their rivals, the Qara Qoyunlu, was now reduced to nothing but a fortress, an enclave tribe within a tribe.
Hasan Ali, a devout Shia practitioner spent many days in his quarters, studying, praying, and directing his staff. He was not particularly skilled in the politics of ruling a nation or diplomacy, but he knew the basics of it and was great at administration and even had decent knowledge of military command, as was to be expected of a khan.
Before Hasan Ali's ascension to khan, Khan Muzzafar Al-Din Jahan Shah had led a menacing khanate encompassing territories in Iraq including and up to Eastern Turkey. Every thing was not as simple for the tribe at that point but its ultimate fall had occurred during Jahan Shah's expedition against the Aq Qoyunlu. What seemed as a light moment for the Black Sheep Turkmen, ended as swiftly as dawn had come on a winter day. These unfortunate events including Jahan Shah's death and the prodigious loss of land had severely weakened the Qara Qoyunlu.
Hasan Ali, "A smile a day reduces the stress attained!"
Hasan Ali and the remaining Qara Turks were numbered around 6,000, not including wives and children; four thousand levy soldiers trained through the numerous defeats against the Aq Turks and 2,000 professionally trained horse bowmen. As mentioned before, the remnants of the desperately clinging khanate was a fortified town located within a heretical populace further within a hostile rival khanate with a hardened and numerous military strength compared to the Qara's poor man's army. To make things worse, both of these rivals diverged in religious belief. The Qara Qoyunlu, a Shia Muslim following and the Aq Qoyunlu, a Sunni Muslim following. Unfortunately for the White Sheeps, most of their newly acquired territories had encompassed a Shia populace. It was quite evident that Hasan Ali had quite the plate on his hands. An overwhelming basket of seed filled apples, or in a sheep's case, wiry thick grass. Although this did not deter Hasan Ali one bit, he wanted to prove his worth to his ancestors, he wanted to succeed where his predecessor failed at. To defeat the rival Turkmen once and for all and reclaim lost lands, by any means possible! Hasan had dreams every night of placing the capital within Baghdad and rebuilding it into what it originally was, a glorious and wonderful city of knowledge and culture before its unfortunate destruction. If he could not do it, then no one else could in his eyes.
This is exactly the situation the Qara are in.
The Qara Qoyunlu fort located somewhere within the mountainous terrain of Armenia.
Hasan Ali may have been incompetent in political tasks but was a master at making friends with the most unlikely of people. Before he had ascended to the title of khan, Hasan had a kindling relationship with the stern Sultan Selim I Osmanli. They had visited each other on several occasions, each visiting their respective courts and even though their beliefs differed, had prayed with each other with a somewhat peaceful air that shifted whenever their presence had combined. This close friendship had in fact helped secured an alliance with the Ottoman Turks and had shifted Hasan's views towards the Sunni sect. Once Hasan had become ruler of his kin, it was not to be unexpected when he had sent three of his trusted advisers to procure a bride of Osmanli blood, giving them careful instruction as to not incur the wrath of Selim I which would in turn cost them their lives; as it was not unknown to Hasan of Selim's unhealthy tendency to do away with his trusted viziers. In the eyes of Hasan, this was not only an act of further cementing their friendship with the Ottoman Turks, but also a diplomatic move not quite expected of him during his tenure. In turn he had promised to convert to the Sunni faith, a counter-offer which Selim had proposed.
At the same time that the advisers were sent, the zealous mountain men of the Shirban Sultanate, ruled by Sultan Bahram Farrukhsiyar Derbendid had received an entourage of brave Qara horsemen who often rode with their khan. An offer of an alliance was presented to Bahram for the exchange of his beautiful cousin, which unknowingly of the time, he had gladly accepted this deal from a fellow and honorable Shia ally.
After relations with nearby enemies of the White Sheep Turkmen had improved, Hasan looked south towards the Mamluk dynasty. Currently under regency awaiting Abd-Al Aziz Burji to come of age; this lack of divine leadership had made it easy for Hasan to receive a concubine from the Mamluks and increase relations temporarily, for they too had despised the Aq Qoyunlu. However, there was a rift between the Ottomans and the Mamluks, they both considered each other rivals as much as they had hatred for Qara Qoyunlu's rival clan.
An enemy of an enemy is quite a friend indeed, also a bit ironic how we switched religions.
Although Hasan was very serious in his beliefs with the Shia sect, the survival of his men mattered more to him than trivial matters of divine succession in his eyes. Of course this came with its benefits and setbacks. Hasan had lost trust with his own people and even his faithful bodyguards, but had gained the respect from the Sunni followers he had reigned over. He had felt more at ease with the fact that he was now backed by the prestigious conquerors of Rome and the Caucasian tamers of the Nile. Now the opportunity to turn his attention towards other matters had arrived, which was to put his administrative skills to good use.
The conversion truly was a huge setback but I feel this decision will benefit me long term.
Money had flowed through the silk road as a form of product being traded and exchanged: spices, cloth, silk, precious metals, and many other expensive goods. Hasan played on this and sent many merchants to sell and buy products and increase the flow of currency into the clan's coffers. He had discovered effective ways to lower the cost of maintaining an army and also kept a killer discount deal with local mercenaries. How he had done this is only known and attributed to Hasan Ali, but his haggling had forever sealed the deal with local organized mercenary companies and his tribe. On top of this, Selim I had decided to reward the helpless Black Sheep Turkmen by sending subsidies and an offer of vassalization. Wagons of gold were sent to the Qara fort, whereas the diplomats were respectfully sent home, where execution was to be expected.
Execution of one of Selim's emissaries.
By the beginning year of 1502, ten years of peace had abruptly been halted by Selim I's call for Qara Qoyunlu intervention in the Ottoman-Imertian War of Gurcia. From Hasan's recent memory he had heard rumors 5 years prior to this event, that the Georgian crown had been defeated and subjugated by the Imerti tribe which had subsequently attracted ill attention from the sultan, Selim himself. War had been declared, the mighty Turkish army had begun its march against the Imerti while Hasan could only wait and anticipate the outcome of this one-sided conflict.
A year had passed since the beginning of the Ottoman-Imertian War of Gurcia. Selim I had quickly mobilized his forces and pushed the combined force of the Imerti Georgians and Circassians further north into the Caucasus mountains. Selim I and his subordinate generals had quickly took advantage of the retreat and had effectively crushed any chance of the Georgians being able to recuperate and consolidate their numbers. The Imerti took a crippling defeat and were required that their capital and the rest of the territories be cut off from each other and any land in between that boundary were to be transferred to the Ottomans. A ten year reparation tax was forced upon the Georgian tribe. The Georgians were effectively subdued at this point.
Although there were no gains for Hasan, something fortunate did come. A child son had been birthed two years after the war, the bloodline of the Qara Qoyunlu had been secured. The boy would be named after Hasan's father, Jahan Shah Qara Qoyunlu. Selim had received word of his kin birthing a son to Hasan, in turn he had sent 50 pounds of gold, but this came with a twist. Days after receiving the gold an emissary had delivered an offer of vassalization. Again, this offer was declined but instead of another of Selim's men losing a head, the alliance had been broken and all communication between Hasan and Selim had been cut off.
Over the years, Hasan Ali had feared for his life and his people. He had feared that Selim would come for him, through war or by assassin, preferably the latter as the Aq Qoyunlu would not permit the Ottomans any access on their land. In the year of 1509, Hasan had passed away from old age and constant stress to the point of a fatal heart failure at the sight of his own son who had somewhat begun to resemble Selim himself.
Soon after, a tribal succession crisis had begun. Jahan Shah II Qara Qoyunlu, being too young and not even trained to ride a horse or handle bow was slain by Hasan's closest guard, Qara Yusuf Haji Chalabi; this had effectively ended the Qara Qoyunlu bloodline and was the beginning of the Chalabi dynasty. Yusuf was a pro-Ottoman, war-hawk who believed that the success of the Black Sheep tribe depended on Ottoman military strength for survival. He was much more capable than Hasan could ever be, and no one had objected to this sudden change in leadership.
Selim, at the time had crushed the Mamluk forces and proceeded to occupy the Syrian region down to the Suez. By the time Selim had heard of the succession crisis within Qara Qoyunlu and the death of his once dear friend, he had already forced a peace deal with the Mamluks, further propelling himself into empire status.
Yusuf was quick to befriend Selim, whereas Selim was quick to allow Yusuf make amends for Hasan's foolish actions. Selim had hoped that by allowing Yusuf to lower his guard he could further bring the Qoyunlu under his influence. Communication between the two entities was reestablished and relations had increased once again.
During the year of 1511, Jahan Shah Chalabi had been rebirthed under the royal Chalabi bloodline. What may have been a blessed gift for the Black Sheep Turkmen had also come a turn of unfortunate events for the Turkish empire near to them. Revolts had arisen all throughout Selim's realm, ranging from Serbian nationalists in the west to Georgian partisans in the north and finally Syrian rebel groups scattered within the Middle East.
The rebels were easily defeated except for the Syrians, they had defeated Ottoman generals one by one until Selim I was forced to combine his army with the defeated and tattered groups. Sultan Selim Osmali I and the leader of the Syrian rebels, Al-Mu'azzam Mirdasid III had confronted each other on the river of Antakiya. For days and nights each army, evenly matched had awaited each other in a game of patience. Selim, had bided his time and had waited for the opportune moment to attack; for he knew Al-Mu'azzam would not be so foolish as to give him the advantage of the river crossing. Selim had positioned his cannons on important hill positions and once this had been accomplished, ordered his front line composed of Azap light infantry to march forward to secure the river bank. Once this was completed, light skirmishing had begun between the two lines. The Azaps had standard bows given to them along with the usual melee weapons like polearms, maces and the such, this flexibility had given the Ottomans an edge over many and in situations like this helped even out the kill to loss ratio through skirmish tactics. As more Syrian archers had been commanded to move up, Selim had ordered the firing of the newly prototype cannons that had been used through recent campaigns. Selim was becoimg increasingly desperate, as cannons at this time, were mostly used as siege weapons rather than anti-infantry purposes. However, this was just the beginning of what was truly to come, the main line was to slowly trek across the river where they would suffer heavy casualties, while the Turkish cavalry on the right flank would cross unnoticed with Janissary infantry trailing behind them. This tactic was somewhat successful and allowed Selim's elite troops to help distract the rest of Al-Mu'azzam's forces; with the combined noise of fearsome cannons booming and the savagery displayed by the Azaps on the front line, Al-Mu'azzam could do nothing but watch as his fighting force crumbled in front of him. He subsequently retreated and never returned to fight Selim again, he did however set up his own Syrian Kingdom in the city of Tadmuriyah and overthrew the Mamluk iqta-holder that had resided there. This victory for Selim had cemented the Ottomans influence in those places he had subdued, however, this had considerably weakened his forces and further discouraged his ambitions of domineering the Qara Qoyunlu Khanate.
Battle between the Syrian rebel forces and Selim I's professional army.
By the year of 1516, Selim had reached a ripe age and had bestowed his last breath unto the world and with that his ambitions to convert the Qara Qoyunlu into his vassal, thus creating a foreway into Persia. Yusuf had sent his regards to the new Ottoman Sultan, Padishah Mehmet Osmanli III and offered a cousin bride as a friendly gesture. Although this was not Yusuf's main concern, his concern was the recent and constant Sunni and Particularist revolts within the Aq Qoyunlu. Yusuf was fully aware of the state of the rival tribe, turmoil. The White Sheep Turkmen had exhausted their manpower reserves constantly fighting rebels who had used the mountains as cover. Aware of the lack of a professional army, Yusuf fell back into Hasan's written documents and continued off with what Hasan had in mind for the preservation and increase of Qara Qoyunlu's military makeup. He reached out to local mercenary groups that Hasan had already spread influence over and offered a better proposal to keep them content and happy to die for the Khan. Rations and meals were now supplied to the mercenaries as if they were apart of the tribe in turn for a reduced upkeep, the mercenaries were also paid more if they trained the ill-organized troops at how to keep the enemy starving and disorganized within their homeland.
With an army to be taken seriously and the state of its neighbors, Yusuf was able to help lift his tribe into a new golden era. With advanced military tactics and an increased amount of mercenary groups offering to die by his orders, Yusuf believed he was able to do what the world had figured impossible. Defeat the Aq Qoyunlu Khanate.
It was official, Yusuf had the perfect altercation to declare war and with the help of the now replenished superpower of the Middle East and nearby supporting rebel groups, felt confident in his ability to defeat the White Sheep clan. Qara Yusuf Khwaja was appointed by Yusuf Haji to lead the main armies with the mercenary companies by his side. Yusuf would of been happy to serve his tribe and kill a couple if not a hundred rival Turkmen, but his place was within the fortress, to defend if things turned sour. Qara on the other hand was to split his forces and cover as much ground as possible and secure Aq Qoyunlu territory around the border. If an encounter were to happen, Qara was to retreat and try to group up with any nearby Ottoman army.
Everything had been successful, until Qara was caught by surprise by an Ardalan-Aq Qoyunlu force estimated 20,000 strong within the Diyarbekir province. Qara at the time had only 6,000 men to defend, the mercenary companies were off raiding nearby villages but had soon begun marching towards the battlefield once receiving word by carrier pigeon. Yusuf had reason to trust Qara to lead his men, Qara was more than qualified to lead an army, and even more so to hold off one in enough time to at least receive reinforcements.
During the beginning of August at the start of the battle, Qara had positioned his troops near the base of the hills with their backs facing the hill, whereas the cavalry was hidden behind the hilly slopes; the archers were set at the hilltops where supporting troops were located at the base in the form of infantry and hidden cavalry. By morning, Fahreddin Qutlu Cihangir, general of the combined enemy forces had begun his advance. The earth itself had shook as copious amounts of dust had flown into the air from the stampeding hooves and feet of the numerous enemy force. Aq horse archers were sent forward to circle outside the infantry at the base of the hills and shower them with arrows. Qara slowly shifted his cavalry formation around the hill still unseen by the horse archers, the infantry were to brace and hold position while the archers atop the hills readied their bows. Patiently Qara bided his time, awaiting for the signal to strike, not too early or he would suffer too many casualties, not too late or he would be swarmed by reinforcing enemy cavalry. Suddenly an arrow dowsed in oil and lit by flame had fell 5 feet ahead of Qara, a signal he had awaited and begun his charge around the hillside. The cavalry component split into two, one pursuing from the north and one from the south. The horse archers had noticed the ruse and immediately began parting shot tactics, not aware that Qara had mixed in some lightly armed horsemen equipped with quickly premade nets to help catch some withdrawing horse men. The archers, seeing the withdrawal, began taking shots at the back of the horse archers, and in turn caused a full out retreat back to the main enemy line. Day by day, light skirmishes similar to this would occur until Qara's force was close to breaking, luckily the mercenary companies had came to reinforce the fallen and prompted a response from Fahreddin. This time Fahreddin sent in his infantry.
Qara pulled back his depleted forces and reformed his heavy cavalry and horse archers to their respective flanks and allowed the mercenary captains full control of their men. Outnumbered, the mercenaries held their ground in the middle while charge and faint tactics continued on the flanks. By the 20th of August, the Ottoman reinforcements had finally arrived from the west. Qara pulled his troops back and covered their retreat with his mobile cavalry force, the Ottoman general, Salih Lefkeli quickly positioned his cannons and began frontal assaults against the now wavering combined Ardalan-Aq Qoyunlu force. By the 29th of August, the battle had finally been decided, the enemy lines had shattered and Fahreddin had commenced a full on retreat. Qara had accomplished his objective and held out until proper support was given. This was just the beginning of a long war to come.
