Chapter 12: The aftermath (1468-1491)
The situation in Europe, 5 december 1468.
I nip from my glass of wine. Excelent, absolute superb. Andalucian wine from 1485: definately the best I have tasted in years. The past few years I had the time to taste all the different kinds. Things had been going easy for quite some years now, but they weren't always this good. My father died during his last war, and I had to take over. Well, that war was almost finished, so that was not that great a deal. But then the Great War broke loose. Hell and madness spread across Europe. The constant wars torn the continent apart. Cities were burning, bodies were floating on every river you could find. After thirteen years it finally came to an end, and the rebuilding could begin. But whatever could happen, Europe would never be the same again.
The war had made a deep impression on me. Entire Europe against me. But they couldn't stop the Granadan Empire. This inspired me to a song, which I of course performed on the national instrument: the guitar. I was so fond with the melody, that I turned the tune into a national anthem. No words were needed with this song. If you want to listen, just click
here.
The development of Europe in 1450 (the start of Muhammad VIII's last war), 1456 (just before the Great War), 1468 (after the Great War has just ended) and 1491 (Europe on the moment the depression was over).
The armies of the world in the same four years.
Now that after 22 years of peace my Empire has restored, it is time to look at the situation. What has really happened these past decades? What happened to those countries that were so promising? And more pressing, who will be the dominating countries of the 16th century, just less than a decade away. Let's have a look at those foreign countries before I'll evaluate my peacetime.
France. Spoken with respect and fear before the Great War, now spit upon by even the christians themselves. How did that happen? During the last half of the 14th and the first few decades of the 15th century, France was at war with England about some monarchial dispute. While they made heavy losses during the 14th century, they totally came back during the 15th. While the war ended and Granada sneaked in on their southern and northern borders, they grew to the most powerfull nation of the world. Under the leadership of king Charles VII they builded up an army larger than any other country, including Granada. When the Great War started, Charles VII decided to assail Granada. He was quite succesfull in it, and even though the Granadan armies were off to the east, he could have beaten them.
But he died on 21 april 1459, leaving no heirs. For five years the nobles struggled amongst themselves to rise to power, while the war raged on. Lacking the military plans Charles had, they didn't went east to crush the Granadan army like they could have, especially in combination with the eastern forces that were also fighting the Islamic power. It wasn't untill 1464 that they choose a new king: Louis XII.
The new king had to face a country that had been in a war for years, where rebels were roaming free and to whom the Granadan force was marching. The poor soul did what he could to prevent disaster, but nothing could stop the march of the 30,000 Granadan soldiers against France. His armies were defeated, and the province of Perigord declared themselves independant: they became the country of Guyenne. With his army slain, half the country in an uprising and Granada occupying the other half, he could do nothing else than to accept the harsh peacedeal I offered him. But the trouble wasn't over for him.
As soon as the Granadans marched out of France, Guyenne marched in. They swept across the country and occupied every free province. When the Great War ended, Louis XII was still facing an occupier: his former province was now acting total controll over his country. And they didn't want to accept peace. My spies had told me all about his attempts to negotiate, but everything seemed to go wrong. And England hadn't forgotten them. On 9 august 1474, while Guyenne still occupied his country, England had the pope excommunicate Louis XII. Now everyone in the christian world was free to do what he wanted against France. But nothing happened. Well, his vassal Bourgogne claimed the province Dauphiné during this times of chaos, and the old Bourgondian kings declared themselves independant in the province Rouergue (Bourgondy's back!), but the political situation didn't change much by this excommunication. His country was swept in some wars with Austria, but no fights had taken place. Guyenne remained in full controll. Louis XII died on 2 september 1489 in lonelyness. Even his son, Louis XIII, hadn't visited him for a year before he died.
Louis XIII tried to make the best of it when the news of his fathers dead recached him. One province, Lyonnais, had broken free from the rebels. Since Guyenne hadn't had military access through Granadan territory, they could not reach them. He builded up an army. It was still small, but it was at least something. But England also didn't approve of him, and had the pope excommunicate him in november 1490.
When I now look at them, I see a poor, broken country, occupied by a minor. Even when they manage to survive these dire times, I think the French days are over. If they ever try to regain power, I will be forced to do something against it. And that while they could have become quite some powerfull nation, dominating western Europe. Now they are nothing. France has been defeated.
The development of France throughout the years. At the end I gave a possible alternative future, where Granada hadn't become such a dominant empire.
They other European powers laid in the east. Poland and Bohemia had been before the Great War the most powerfull countries in the east. But while they did participate in the war, they didn't loose or gain terrain, and didn't change their amry much in size. Nowadays they are still powers to be reconned with, but they are not they greatest anymore. Not now others have risen in the east...
One of the rising stars of the past few years is Austria. Ever since king Leopold VIII Wilhelm managed to become the Holy Roman Emperor in 1447, the country prospered. They had lost Tirol in the previous years, but during the Great War they re-annexed it. Also, they had conquered the province of Slavonia. On the other hand, they lost their Italian provinces.
The king didn't life long after the Great War had ended. On 27 july 1469 his son, Franz I, took the crown and became Holy Roman Emperor too.His country hadn;t suffered as much damage as mine, so he was ready to war. He warned me in 1471, but didn't do anything against the Granadan danger in their west. Maybe it had to do something with they army I had stationed at his border? Anyway, he fought with the Ottomans. While he was able to hold against them, he also didn't manage to driev them back. He incresed the army untill his death in 1489. His son Ferdinand I now became king ánd Holy Roman Emperor.
Ferdinand I quickly ended the war he had with the Ottomans. That war lasted for ten long years. His father had tried to force the Ottomans back, but had utterly failed. Now he had to restore his country, and maintain a large army, although it was only slightly larger than that of Bohemia.
Austria is a threat. It has been one, and will remain one. I will have to deal with them one day or the other, before they beat the Ottomans and assume power in the Balkan. They surely have to potential to do so. Ánd they have a lot of rich gold and iron mines.
Austria is caught between two Islamic powers: the Ottoman and Granadan Empire. After losing their provinces in Italy, their only way to expand is into the heathen controlled area's. Or seize power from their allies in the north and south, but that's highly unlikely.
Further east my arm doesn't reach. But it is definatly worth noting what happens there. In the early 1400's, the Muscovites were quite expanding. They had defeated Novgorod and were challenging the Golden Horde. But things changed in the second half of the 15th century.
In 1449 Lithuania gained a new king: Wladyslawas I. He saw the Muscovite expansion and thought that, once Novgorod would be totally beaten, his country would become the next to fall victim. He decided that an pre-emptive strike was necessary to guarenty the independance of Lithuania. And so he declared war on the Muscovites. To his surprise, this war went extraordinarily well, and he did it a second time. He had awaken something in the Lithuanian nation that wasn;t there before: the drive to conquer. While the country didn't participate in the Great War of the west, they did took their share of fighting in the east. Kazimieras I continued the line of agression, and even his successors, first Zygimantas I and after 1480 Jogaila I, all started wars with the Muscovites. Now those have almost been conquered by the Lithuanians. With the second-largest army of the world, they are surely a power to be reconned with. They extend their tentacles mainly eastwards, but at the moment they are in a war with also the Teutonic Order. Well, those Teutons supported their alies the Muscovites. I guess both will be history...
Although my country won't face the lithuanians for a long time, I hope, they are someone to watch out for. For now they are expanding to the east, but who guaranties that they won't go west? There is yet a buffer of Poland and Bohemia between them and me, but once that is gone, the two largest armies might clash. My future successors will have to be watchfull for this one.
The development of Lithuania throughout the years. At the end I gave a possible alternative future, where Wladyslawas wasn't born and never awoken the conquering identity of the nation.
When I look at the North Sea, I sea three powerfull countries bordering it. Of course my beloved Granada, but there are two others too. Scandinavia and England.
Denmark and Sweden were not much of a power separated. But during the Great War the Danish king Erik VII acquired the Swedish crown, and transformed these nations into one powerfull country, Scandinavia. He didn't saw the end of the madness, since his son Christian I took over in 1467, who ruled for 8 years. In 1475 he died prematurely, leaving no sons. So the nobles decided to allow his oldest daughter, Margareta I, to become Queen of Scandinavia, which she still is nowadays.
In 1480 Scandinavia tried to invade England, but it turned out to be really disasterous: the English pushed them back, and even took over Orckney. The Scandinavians are now really limited to the North-European provinces.
Their army has grown over the years, combining all the northern forces into one massive army. But they are too north for me. For at least the coming decades Granada won't be inetrested in those northern provinces. There are more richnesses south from there. The only reason it could come to a conflict between us, is if our allies drag us into it.
Scandinavia covers all the scandinavian provines, except Iceland. They border the great Lithuania, which is an immediate threat to them. Although Granada is near, those two don't have conflicting area's of interest.
The other North Sea power is England. Those darn English... After the old king had died in 1445, leaving no heairs, the nobles tried for 3.5 years to figure out who should lead the nation. Finally they came up with Henry VI. Although his reign started well, the nobles had underestimated one small point: Henry had an amitions daughter. On 8 february 1451, just 2,5 years after her father started his rule, she poisoned him and became Queen Mary II. Her predecessor, Mary I, was during the first half of the 15th century one of the most warmongery monarchs the English crown had seen in years. This Mary was no different. It was her doing that Europe was thrown into the largest battle it had ever seen.
Five years after she had climbed the throne, she started a war that bleaked everything before: the Great War. Although she didn't really do any real invasion on Europe, her acts triggered the burning of a continent which stopped after 13 years.But even then she didn;t stop to bugger me. In 1476 a lot of pirates appeared along the coastline. I didn't know where they came from, only that it took my carracks quite some time to finish them all off. And they kept on appearing. One year later I discovered that someone was trying to commission those privateers, but it took my spies another five years to figure out it was Mary II's doing all along.
Pirates! They infested all my coastlines for years, and it all appeared to be Mary II's doing.
I had really thought about striking back by an invasion. The plans were still there, and their army isn't as large as during the Great War anymore. But in 1485 Mary II died. Finally, I thought, someone sensible on the throne. My joyfull mood was once again shattered when I heared that a fight had broken loose among her children, and the only one who survived it to actually rise to the throne, was
Mary III. O no. Something has to be done about those bloody Mary's. First the warmongery Mary I during the first half of this century, then Mary II who started the Great War and now another one? So far she hadn't started a war yet, and those pirates ain't appearing as much as they used to be, although they still pop up regularly. But she is a hindress in another fashion: she started to explore, starting to turn her nation into the only other nation besides mine who does that.
The English won't touch me easily on the continent, although they can strike at the islands I controll. They are not a landbased power. But now they are starting to become a concurrent for overseas pollicies. That is unacceptable. For the moment they haven't made the steps of colonisation yet, but it will come. Just you wait, it will surely come. They have to be dealt with.
Although England is for now still limited to the British Isles and the western half of Iceland, they are building up potential to become a colonial power.
I ask for another glass of wine. These European nations have great potential, which has to be squashed like a bug. But how did my empire fare during the aftermath of the war, and where are we standing now?
The moment Mary II and I signed the peace treaty, the war was over. But the fighting was not. Rebels were swarming all over the country. I had to deal with them, while my army wasn;t fully operational. The first thing I did, was cleaning the westcoast. My cavalery was already there, so it was an easy choice to start over there. There were wuite a lot of rebels in Brittany, but after a quite fearsome battle I managed to sqash them. My cavalery rode on, to Iberia.
In the meantime the French king Louis XII was facing rebels and a Guyenne occupation of his own. Although I had gloated just a year earlier to him, I now had to come back and ask for military access again. I said that I wanted to relieve Europe from the rebel threat. The king accepted. He had no choice. He could only hope for a peacedeal with Guyenne, while he was without any means to stand against them. It would be hopefully quicker if I would help to clean the rebel threat too, so Guyenne could focus on a peace. But France had to wait. After I got this access, I went on to free my empire first from this rebel scum.
My infantery was spread accross the empire, and freed every province that had been occupied by those rebels. Since my infantery couldn;t deal withthe rebels themselves, I had to send my cavalery all around. After the westcoast I moved to the Iberian peninsula, where there was a lot of fighting. There was a looming danger that Aragon or Castille would declare themselves independant, but it never came that far. Slowly but surely my cavalery was gaining strength, and in jabuari 1471 the peninsula was cleanshed from those darn rebels. Time to move on, to the Swiss provinces.
The problem with Switzerland, was that there were still French rebels entering my domain. And they came in armies larger than 10,000 men each. Luckily my cavalery was already over the 20,000, so they stormed the area and rode over them, driving them back to France. I left them there, and wonderfully they stayed there. Those rebels had learned their lesson.
In may 1472 it was time to move one to the German minors. I had recieved cries for help from my vassals, and my own provinces were also under heavy siege. Luckily the cavalery rode on, and in just six months I had freed the area. Then the hardest part came: The Netherlands.
Those lowland swines were massing quite some armies. Zeeland was under siege by at least 20,000 Dutch rebels, and Breda and Haunait by likewise armies. My cavalery was already around the 30,000 men strong, but still a lot smaller than the combined Dutch forces. Luckily those Dutch seperatists had split their armies in smaller battlegroups of around 5,000-10,000 men. I just had to storm them, drive them away and attack those seperate groups, killing every young man in it. That would teach them a lesson. Revolting. Bwah.
Despite the success of the other area's, the Netehrlands proved to be the hardest nut to crack. For two years I non-stop fought in this area, making countless losses. But finally, at the end of 1474, I managed to get my country War-rebel-free. Of course, new rebels had spawned during these years, and more rebels would come up in the few years that followed, but they were small in numbers, and could be dealt with by my infantery, and later by the Cavalery riding across the continent. but the original rebels, who had found their way to resist the system during the Great War, were finally beaten after six years. And then, a few months after this accomplishment, those pirates showed up. But I have already looked into that, with England.
The war had left me with quite a lot of rebellions all over my empire.
The Great War had left my economy in ruins. The war exhaustion was very high, a lot of provinces had to deal withrebels and most of them were not core provinces. Almost no-one paid taxes, and to make things worse: I had to maintain my army, due to the rebel threat.
The problem of the corelessness was solving itselve during the years, and would solve itselve even more in the decades to come. Since there was no war the past 22 years, the war exhaustion bettered, and therefor people were prepared to pay their taxes again. This showed an enormous boost in funding. When I look at 1468, I really wonder how I managed to maintain everything. I got only half of the taxes I get now, and the end of the year bonus was at that time only 19 ducats. Now I recieve at the end of each year 276 ducats!
One thing that didn't fare well, was the inflation. When my grandfather, Muhammad VII, had to resist the Castillian invasion, he was forced to mint a lot. Inflation really went sky-high. My father managed to get things better under controll, but it was still rising. And during the Great War I managed to didn;t let it rise spectacular. But then my army wasn't at its full strength. Now it is, and I'm busy with quite some other money-consuming stuff. So the inflation is rising again. I really need to get something to be done about that.
The economie bettered during the peacetime, although the inflation was still bad. The first column shows the statistics, the second the income of the largest nations and the last one the inflation.
While I was crushing the rebels and getting the economy back on track, I needed to watch out for something else too: friends. If I wanted to prevent something like the Great War again, I needed to ally myself with half of Europe. After the war my only allies were Tunesia, Sicily and Urbino. The first two were vassals, the latter not. In 1477 Urbino broke their alliance with me, and just like with Connacht, nowadays they are back to beeing a province of Napels. If they had just remained allies with me, Naples would have naver dared to come after them.
But to be short, my list of allies was short. My list of vassals was greater. In 1468, I had 19 vassals including Tunesia. Quite a large proportion of the Holy Roman Empire was pledging their loyalty towards me. I had to take that one step further: I started to form allies with all my vassals. Regardless of my reputation, they all accepted. They had seen what happened to Savoy and Trier, who broke with me during the war. I brought them back to beeing a vassal, with loss of quite some territories. No, they all accepted my propositions for an alliance wisely. The only problem was my lack of diplomats. It took me 8 years to ally myself with all those vassals, but I managed it. That's what counts.
Before the Great War started, I had plans for a pan-Islamic alliance. After the war my reputation was quite ruined, so they too wouldn't talk to me. I had to restore my reputation. But that would take time. I had my three advisors: Firdaus Ibn Muhammad, who helped me enormously with my political ideas, Stephen Suffolk and Heinrich Talken. The latetr two were working very hard to improve my reputation.
When on 2 september 1473 Firdaus actually slipped from the rock of Gibraltar and felt to his death, I had to hire a new advisor. I wanted to improve my reputation, so I sought in that catagory. I could only find Adam Beresford, who hepled me, but wasn;t such a great addition to the team. The real deal came on 31 may 1476, when I encountered Isidor von Wistinghaussen. I was walking through my German minor provinces when he was speaking to a square of townspeople. I was so impressed by his skill, I afterwards walked towards him and asked him to become my personal advisor. He gladly accepted, giving me an enormous boost to my reputation.
My advisors through the years after the Great War. They are all focussed on lowering my reputation, which they managed.
When my reputation was good enough, I started to approach my west-Islamic breathern. I arranged in 1483 a royal marriage with Morocco; Tripoli had already arranegd this with me years ago. I sended gifts to them, along to Tripoli and Algiers. Finally, in januari 1483 I entered an alliance with Morocco and one year later with Tripoli. That year I went even one step further: I turned both countries into my vassals in september 1485. Seeing this, Algiers was reluctant to do anything with me. But after years of sending them gifts, they finally could be swayed in 1489. I first arranged a royal marriage, and then in november 1489 we entered an alliance. Just one month later, before they could break the alliance, like they did decades ago with my grandfather, I turned them into a vassal too. Tunesia had been my vassal for quite some time now, so a few years ago I decided to annex them. They cheerfully accepted, and were absorbed in the mighty Granadan Empire.
Now all of the western Islamic countries were paying tribute to me. All? Well, since the Ottoman Empire had acquiered Corsica, they actually became a western Islamic power too. We now have a good relation and already a royal marriage. So I'm currently sending them more gifts...
Talking about the Ottomans: they are doing quite well. The past 100 years they have slowly, but steadily grown into a full empire. They had defeated the Byzantine Empire and were now bringing the Balkan to their knees. Under the guidance of padishah Murad II the country had fought quite some wars. The only downside was the Great War: Murad II lost some territories during this time. But he came back. The constant struggles with Austria led to some more conquests. Murad II died in 1483 and his successor was assasinated after three years, but the empire is now in the good hands of Murad III, who is ruling them from 15 august 1486. The Ottomans have expanded under both Murads to the borders of Austria. Since I'm on the other side, we both have encapsuled that country.
The Ottoman Empire is doing quite well. Has it anything to do with the Granadan expansion in the west? Maybe. At least they are doing betetr than if Granada would have never risen.
On one aspect of the past decades I haven't shone my light yet: colonization. On 17 november 1470 a men came to me. His name was Malik Ibn Umar. He said: 'I had a dream!'
Well, of course, he said more. But where it came down too, was that he wanted to explore new territories. I always wondered about the unknown, so I gave him 1,000 muslim archers under his command, one cog to transport them and one carrack to accompany them. To test his abilities to find new land, I first ordered him to explore those unknown islands I heared rumours about. Some small islands at the coast of Morocco, and even some other lands. So he set sail, and explored those. Every island he discovered, I sended colonists to. These islands were good jumpgates for any further explorations. Maybe an island far, far away from the daily troubles. An island for myself.
During the seveties Malik explored the islands along the coast, and went deep into Africa, untill he encountered strange lands. At the African coast and in the Sahara desert the locals were very, very hostile, so Malik asked for some protection. Around this time the rebels had been defeated, so I could spare some men. I sended some 12,000 extra men along with him. It came only later to my ears that he had used this army to slaughter all their warriors. Well, at least there was no danger for any hostilities anymore.
As soon as Malik discovered new lands, I started to colonise. Madeira, The Canarias and The Azores were the first islands I let my colonists set foot onto. Those old Portuguese and Castillian people gave these islands their names. I didn't like it, but got the news to late to do something about it. The next colonies had to get more islamic names. And so it happened. On 12 april 1473 my colonists reached Cape Akhbar, the green cape. The Portuguese crewmembers wanetd to call it Cape Verde, but everyone who didn't accept the Arabic name was thrown off the rock of Gibraltar, so it was accepted quite fast.
In march 1483 my colonists started to expand the empire south of Morocoo. They had heard about a golden river, so they called that area Oued Edhahab. It turned out that grain was the only export product that could be mounted there, but nevertheless, the name stuck.
Malik has discovered quite some new lands, which I started to colonize.
When it became 1490, I started to question Malik. He was doing nothing for quite some time, and he still hadn;t found an island for me. Afraid of the rock of Gibraltar, he brought his friend Isma'ïl Ibn Isma'il, who was an excelent sailor. He said that they together would set sail, and go west, to discover an island for me. He set sail from the Azores and to my surprise, he kept his promise. On 29 april 1490 he discovered an island, which I have now finally colonised. I called it: Sa'd Bedhyra; Sa'ds island.
Sa'd Bedhyra. If the island can grow to a full province, it will be an excelent starting point for expansion in the west.
Now it is 1 june 1491. I heared rumours that the English have sailed accross the ocean, and discovered last year new lands there. But it is too far for them to colonise. I must be sure to be there before they can get there.
There are some decissions that I have to make. What shall we do, what direction shall we go the next decade?
Military:
I have the largest army of the world, all stationed along my eastern border. In 1471 Austria warned me, but was too busy with the Ottomans to actually take action. But in 1476 Venice warned me. During the Great War, those warnings meant a looming war. Since the rebels ahd just been crushed, I positioned all my troops along the eastern border, while my cavalery rode through the lands once in a while to crush sprouting rebels. Venice and Austria never declared war, so I guess it helped to show me my teeth.
But now my country has restored from that war, it is time to look and decide what to do with such a large army. The Austrians have bothered me and my fatehr for quite some time now, and they have rich gold and iron mines. They are very yummie to have. And besides, I still need to connect my Italian provinces to the rest of my empire. On the other hand, England is quite a nuisiance. I could try to invade them, now that I have a five times as large army. They won't stand a change, and it would certainly stop their colonization plans. Or I could remain passive. So:
a) I go to war with Austria and Lombardia or Mantua, to connect the Italian provinces and ussurp some of the Austrian mines.
b) I invade England, try to capture Iceland and Ireland and stop their colonization plans.
c) An old goal: I will try to vassalize the remaining staes of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a riks, since it could throw me in another total war.
d) I remain passive, and just wait for a war to come to me.
Politically:
The current course I have taken, is that of uniting the western muslim world. The first step is to form alliances, then to vassalise the countries, and finally to annex them. I completed this plan with Tunesia, and Morocco, Tripoli and Algiers are entering the final stage. I am currently working on project Ottoman, but I should expand my view to the east of the mediterranian. Maybe it would be good to restore the Roman Empire, only this time under a good, Islamic ruler. I then need to improve my relations with Syria and the Mamluks.
Colonization:
Of course I need to colonize more. But unfortunately, Oued Edhahab was a mistake. It was tropical, causing it not to grow of it's own. I therefor needed to send a constant stream of colonists to get it to it's full potential. Now it was only usurping budget. But the other colonies are doing fine. I had heared about the English discovery, and now that I got Sa'd Bedhyra, I can easily explore further. But where to go to?
1) I explore to the west, with the risk to finding things I can't colonise for a long time.
2) I go to the south: same problem
3) I go to the north: I don't know if the colder north would be worth something, but it can be usefull to get there before the English.
I nip the last drip of wine form my glass. This is it. Granada is back in business, and now has to decide what to do. I will sleep another night before I decide.
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Some sidenotes:
Yes, I gave some colonies arabic names
. But I don't speak Arabic, so I used online translators. Unfortunately, they give the translation in Arabic letters, and I can;t read those. So I needed some transliteration. I haven;t found a free tool yet, but I did find a course. Using this, I managed to transliterate some Arabic words. But if I did something wrong: please correct me!
Sa'd the warrior... Well, if he goes to war, he surely does credit to that nickname. Do you still think it is a suitable nickname for him, or is something else better? I think it actually matches quite well
.
I now have to decide what to do. Politically I'm going to vassalise more Islamic countries, or at least try to do so. I won't hurt if I have them as allies
. but where will I send my ship to, where to explore and colonise? And whom to attack? Will it be Austria, England, someone else or shall I remain passive?
I hope you enjoyed this peacefull update. 22 years of peace, that's quite a contrast to the 13 year long Great War of the last chapter. I couldn't give you the same excitement as with such an enormous war, so I tried something else. And well, I promised to give you some more details of France, so here they are
.
Next time I will try to keep the chapters shorter. You really had to wait a long time for this one, and the previous one. I hope I can get back to a more fast schedule, like I had during the first week of this AAR.