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long live the great and mighty Byzantine empire 
sounds like it will be a good one, count me in till the end, btw what are your short and long term goals ?
sounds like it will be a good one, count me in till the end, btw what are your short and long term goals ?
Enewald Yep, obviously he is absolutly loyal to the emperor.
JDMS War of course. No more regency blocking the path to death and glory.
dinofs, General_BT & Agamemnon_1781Welcome, hope you enjoy.
c0d5579 & Ankios Then it shall not be a good year for them. Others to the north may not be too please either.
The_Shepherd Thanks for the correction, I'd edited the posts, and will update the pictures later today.
sandeth They were Ottomans first and foremost, but the Mamluks long term, but other priorites take precendence.
JDMS War of course. No more regency blocking the path to death and glory.
dinofs, General_BT & Agamemnon_1781Welcome, hope you enjoy.
c0d5579 & Ankios Then it shall not be a good year for them. Others to the north may not be too please either.
The_Shepherd Thanks for the correction, I'd edited the posts, and will update the pictures later today.
sandeth They were Ottomans first and foremost, but the Mamluks long term, but other priorites take precendence.
or one more ByzAARntium Tale
Last of the Palaiologos
Bulgarian War
Empire before Bulgarian War
When Manuel III became Roman Emperor he had but one focus, war. His objective would be to restore the link between Thrace and the Roman controlled Rumelian lands of Thessaly and Epirus. But the he came to the late, and preparations would take a good few months, delaying war untill at least the beginning of Spring. Further with the Bulgarian rebellion only recently crushed a large army lead by the Sultan, Osman II himself was still in Ottoman Bulgaria. While in the other of the Bosphorus Karaman had been peacefully incoporated into the Ottoman Empire.
When Manuel III came to the throne, he turned increasly to the advice of the Turkish faction in court, to free himself from his regents influence.
Shahanshah Hekimoglu, had been appointed Logothete of Euagē Sekreta, and managed the completion of the last of the churchs in Thrace and Constantinople begun by the regency. He had used this to delay war with the Ottomans, but with their completion he had run out of one excuse. He manages to delay it further by reminding the Emperor that they'll have to wait for a problem distracts Osman in the east. Manuel however, tasks him with making one, with the Pretender Suleyman Okuz.
Osman's army out numbered Suleyman's 2 to 1.
Backed by Roman gold, Suleyman Okuz would take Bursa in July, and prepared to meet the army of Osman in August. Only a few preperations remained to be made. Finally at the beginning of October small Roman armies marched out from Thrace, and Larissa and overan the underprepared towns and villages rapidly. Soon Gallipoli, Edirne, Burgas, Varna, Sofia, Nis, and Thessalonika were all that remained in Ottomans hands. As winter approached, under the supervision, as at Burgas, or the orders of Vinko Bojovic the Serbian enginner, for the sieges in the approaching year.
By the end of January Bojovic has his first sucess, and as the year continues Ottoman Bulgaria slowly collapses. At the end of March after several failed assaults, Alauddin Cerrah captures Salonika, the former second city of the empire for so long is back in Roman hands. He then joins Vinko at the siege of Sofia, as Manuel himself personally leads the slow drive through Western Thrace. Finally in July Gallopoli falls and the Ottoman fleet flees into the sea. Transports, flee first but are ruthlessly crushed. And a larger galley battle begins to take shape. 12 Roman against 5 Turk.
While the war at sea continues, Manuel has moved onto the siege of Nis, and sends an embassy lead by Shahanshah to Servia to ensure that the de jure Ottoman vassal does not involve itself. Elsewhere, at the siege of Sofia an assault by Alauddin finishes what Vinko's guns have started. They install there garrison and move rapidly to finish the siege fo Varna. In October after months of ship to ship fighting the Ottomans retreat to the coast of Asia, they have sunk 1 Roman galley, but lose 2 themselves.
November begins with the fall of Nis and ends with the fall of Varna. Ottoman Bulgaria no longer exists. While in theoretical Ottoman Servia, Lazar II agrees to not get involved, but thinking himself well defended behind Servia, Prince Stjepan Tomas of Bosnia, arrogantly throws out the embassy of Hekimoglu. December is not idle for Manuel however, he orders his generals to prepare to bring the war to the Ottomans in Asia, and concludes the right for his troops to pass through Wallachia and Hungary to invade Bosnia.
The army Manuel gathers is 10,000 strong, including recruited Bulgarians scattered among the regiments, and divided into 5,000 Cavalry, and 5,000 Infantry. Though nominal in command he was aided by his Grand Domestic John Laskaris, and his turkish aid Alauddin Cerrah in charge of a regiment of cavalry. While the siege train was organised personally by Vinko Bojovic, who had served with honour and sucess in Bulgaria. The Ottoman army against him has 8,000 veterans from the rebellion of Suleyman Okuz supported by 1,000 cavalry lead by Orkhan Oruç, lead personally by Osman himself. The armies meet between Stambol and Nicomedia, on Asia side, and the it is a decisive victory for the Romans. The inability of Osman to gather cavalry from the varied Turkish towns leads to his defeat under the Roman Cavalry with Turks, Bulgarians among it's number, lead by Alauddin Cerrah. A series of follow up battles across Bithynia follow as what remains of Osman's army flees from one battlefield to another.
However, then something odd happens, with the main Ottoman army broken, Manuel sends his army to Bosnia, and crushes the minor Bosnian force of some 3,000 gathered against him, pillages and loots. The venture takes him 3 months just to get there. Behind him in Asia he has left small weak siege forces. Eventually however by mid 1427 Vinko has managed to gather suffiecent forces to fully invest the city of Prusa, while Bithyia had been largely overrun only the large cities of Nicomedia, and Nicaea holding out.
The earth shattering sound of cannon hitting rock continues, in the distance men shout, inaudilbe if a cheer or a cry.
"Still not quite making a dent in those walls?"
At first, Grand Master of the Camp, or Megas Stratopedarchēs, master of the walls of Bulgaria as they called him, Vinko Bojovic remained silent. Facing the walls his mind wandered abroad, on this unknown, his face blank, emotionless. Finally he replied.
"They have proved more formidable then I thought."
"Hahaha, hahaha."
The hand of Alauddin Cerrah, grasps the earth beside him, and he stablises himself.
"The great cities of Bulgars fell in months, and we've been here two years."
Slowly, the Serbian turns to answer. Der dum, der dum. In the distance a trumpet sounds out, Vinko does not, and in the end, will not need to, answer.
Moments later a man, panting, moments off a horse meets, and answer them.
"My name is Andres Rhadinos, I am a messenger of his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans, Bulgarians and the whole world. I come from the city of Adrian, where the embassy of Shahanshah Hekimoglu has secured a peace between the Emperor and the Prince of the Ottomans."
Bulgarian War
Date 1424.10.1 to 1428.9.22
Location Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia, Marmara, Bithynia
Result Occupation of Bulgaria, defeat of Ottomans in Bithynia
Territoial Changes Annexation of Bulgaria and Macedonia to Rhomania
Belligerents
Roman Empire Ottoman Empire
Commanders
Emperor Manuel III (Roman) Sultan Osman II (Ottoman)
Vinko Bojovic (Strategos) Orkhan Oruç (Ottoman General)
Alauddin Cerrah Prince Stjepan Tomas (Bosnian)
Strength and assorted Garrisons
10000 21000 Soldiers
5000 Infantry, Cavalry *3000 Bosnian Infantry
12 Galleys 5 Galleys, 5 Cogs
Casualties and Loses and assorted Garrisons
1700 11000
1 Galley *5 Galleys and Cogs
