The Ottoman Empire 1577-1607
The Past 30 years have been an interesting season for The Empire.
Plans had been made with our Polish neighbours to do something about the ever expanding Russian Beomoth to the North before they became too large and dominating. A more powerful Poland was the desired outcome to maintain some balance in the East.
Diplomatically, The Kingdom of the Poles and The Empire were well set. The King of France had recently signed The Treaty of Krakcow which had a hidden clause in which The King of the Poles and The Sultan would diplomatically support French Western ambitions whilst The Good King of France would support our Eastern ambitions. Another clause was a 4 month notice of war.
With our Diplomatic front supposedly secured The Poles, Danes, and Empire troops readied for war. The King of France via a Royal relationship in the court of the Tsar sent a message to our field commanders that there wasn't a Russian army to be seen anywhere. Apparently the main Russian army was in the East paving the way to Siberia. Assuming then that the French were well aware of our plan, the alliance members forgot to give the 4 month heads up.
On a nice sunny day after the winter storms had abated, Ottoman, Polish, and Danish troops crossed the frontiers. Denmark into Sweden and Poles and Turks into Russia.
The Polish and Ottoman armies had success on every front and much of Heartland Russia was overrun in a series of successful battles and sieges. The only front were our forces did not have success was on the diplomatic front. Expecting backing from our French friends Poland apparently asked for "too much". The Sultan is still unaware of what was exactly claimed by our Polish neighbours. For The Empire's part, The Sultan asked for 3 provinces including the lucrative centre of trade in the South of Russia. This was still much less than The Ottoman war score.
These offers were refused despite the instability that these offers caused. Apparently treasure from the West was flowing into the Russian coffers in an attempt to back the Tsar. The Sultan was busy fighting and enlarged Russian army which interesting enough discarded their old Pikes and pitchforks halfway through the campaign and began to fight with Muskets and other instruments of modern warfare.
The King of the Poles, as leader of the alliance, conducted the diplomatic war but the West was relentless in supporting the future Beomoth and Spain declared war upon The Empire followed by the Dutch declaring war, with their French and English allies, upon Poland. Austria also declared war upon Poland as well.
The Sultan is still not too sure what happened to the fine Polish armies. Busy fighting Spain in our home seas and then in Thrace itself The Sultan wasn't keeping abreast of the latest war news from the North. The next time he gazed northward, the Polish armies had disappeared to be replaced by forces of The Dutch, English, Austrians, and ....... The French
!!
The Sultan was deeply disappointed in seeing French troops in Poland in complete and utter violation of our treaty of friendship and support. Seizing upon a technicality The French joined the war in support of their allies, this was somewhat acceptable, but to actually see French troops besieging Polish cities.......
A large Ottoman army was sent northward into Poland to even out the situation, while another maintained peace on the Austrian front. A third was Russia while another had gathered to throw the Spanish back into the ocean when a White Peace all around was agreed to.
After the general peace in Europe, The Empire, in a bid to aid our Austrian neighbours, continued the war with Austria and Hungary. An arrangement was made with The Emperor in which provinces were liberated from Hungary and given to the Habsburg family. The war dragged on and on and on while The Sultan waited for the Austrians to finish besieging Ansbach. Finally they gave up and peace was declared. Maygar was given to Austria with a promise of more provinces to be handed over in the future.
After this great war, The Empire slumbered in peace. The Sultan rebuilt the economy, disbanded most of the army, and focused on Harem issues.
He emerged long enough to break the alliance with Poland and to form his own alliance with his vassals in Persia, Dulkadir, and Crimea. Four wars in support of our allies with nothing to show from it except high inflation was enough. The Empire desires peace.
The Sultan (Dave)
