Tales of the Caucasus

[Qantrix]

Alright, just bought EU3 and although I have played it a little bit before I'm still something of a noob at it. The focus of this AAR will be the region of the Caucasus, I'll be playing different nations throughout this campaign focusing on the historical narrative. When I play with a nation it will be to the best of my capabilities although if a large dominating empire *cough* Ottomans *cough* I'll probably help push it towards collapse.

My personal goal will be to unify the Orthodox in the region with Georgia or Armenia and possibly returning to the heyday of the Bagratid dynasties, grabbing some land in eastern Anatolia maybe all the way down to Cilicia. I'll be starting off with Georgia, 1399.

 

[Qantrix]

Georgia 1399

Georgia at the start of the 15th Century was in trouble. It's King, George VII had organized resistance against Tamerlane and several of his armies were on Georgia's frontiers. Little over a decade ago, when his father Bagrat V was still King George had destroyed a Mongol army, allowing for Georgia to become independent once more. It had only led to several more expeditions by Timur against the country and in 1399, a few years into his reign, it had become clear that George VII didn't possess the skills of his father and probably would not develop them.

Soon enough two major Timurid armies crossed the border, and an army led by the King had to flee. The south of Georgia was under occupation, the armies of Georgia having fled into the mountains, hoping to reorganize and reinforce and possibly being able to do a counterattack although few had faith in this. George VII could only have been surprised when he was approached by messengers from Tamerlane demanding only minor reparations in exchange for peace.

It was the best offer the King could hope for, he retained his independence, there were no territorial loss. Sure he knew that this was no sign of mercy, Timur was also at war with the Ottomans and a number of the many ethnicities in his empire were probably standing up against him. But he surely could have gone much further. His country sovereign and at peace, Georgia VII turned to Georgia's close ally, Trebizond.

Under attack by Candar he came to the defense of the home of his later mother (Helena of Trebizond) sieging Sinope. This brought Georgia into conflict with Algeria, the threat of which had been dismissed by the elite in Tiflis. 2 years into the war and just after Sinope had surrendered, an envoy from Algeria came with a peace proposal demanding all of Georgia's gold in return for peace. Being laughed at he was turned away. 2 months of later an Algerian army landed in Circassia.

At the same moment news was heard from Georgia's southern neighbours, the Armenians. They had become independent from Timur and were establishing relations.

 

[marty99]

Once Timur dies, his empire will probably break up. Be ready to attack at the first sign of weakness.
Good start to your AAR, keep it up!

 

[Nodscouterr]

This is gonna be interesting. I'l be following this. Any thoughts on which other nations you're gonna play?

 

[Qantrix]

I'm looking at Georgia, Qara Koyunlu and possibly after that the Golden Horde. I wanted to do another update tonight however due to rl it'll be here by tomorrow.

 

[Fiftypence]

The main threat are the Golden Horde, especially if they get the "conquer Georgia" mission early on. I've tried Georgia several times, and failed utterly every time. I hope you have better luck.

 

[Qantrix]

Georgia, 1409

George VII had dreams of gradually building his alliance consisting of Trebizond, Armenia and Georgia into a formidable force. The system of alliances between the islamic nations prevented his alliance from facing them in battle, however he was confident that through enough infighting the islamic world could become fragmented. George VII decided to wait, and it would be a fatal decision...

In 1410, Georgia was attacked by a coalition of the Ottoman Empire, the Mameluks and most worryingly the Golden Horde. The small armed forces of Georgia were no competition for the vast Mongol hordes. The King personally commanded his armies in the ill-fated Battle of Astrakhan. His army had marched into the region hoping to buy Georgia some time to get reinforcements.

It would be to no avail in a short time all of Georgia was occupied by the Golden Horde. In the resulting peace deal Georgia was reduced to it's heartland around Tiflis. George VII had only barely survived the war, and was reduced to a paranoid ruler convinced he was surrounded by Turkic-Mongol spies. He did little to try to develop contacts with the muslim world, and stood by idle when the Qara Koyunlu took Armenia.

Nay, the real heroes of this time were the Georgian patriots, mountain fortresses hosted vast armies of Georgian fighters led by legendary freedom fighters such as Alexander Natadze. Although vocal and military support came from Tiflis, they wanted little to do with the Bagrations. George VII had developed a rather defeatist mindset, convinced that the complete annexation of Georgia was imminent but to the more optimistic Georgian things were looking up a little bit.

The War of Candarite Succession was raging between the Ottoman and Timurid Empires, which also involved the Qara Koyunlu. The Golden Horde had to deal with Georgian Patriots and Peasant revolutions in the Crimea. It wouldn't take long for the Timurid Empire, after the death of Tamerlane to collapse giving way to several new players including Persia and Iraq. For some time stability did come, as Georgia was busy repaying its debts and attempting to adjust to the reality of being a minor player.

In 1423 everything would change. Iraq attacked Georgia and in a short battle took Tiflis. The old George VII surrendered the Kingdom to Iraq and ended the independence of his people.

 

[Nodscouterr]

Hmm, I guess Georgia is hard to play eh?

 

[Qantrix]

Depends, depends. I've played with Georgia before and I've had better, much better games. The Golden Horde breaking up is really helpful. You could do them some damage in a early war, but it's not the style for this AAR.

 

[Nodscouterr]

Then what's the style for this AAR?

 

[Qantrix]

One country defeating all it's enemies and going on to dominate the entire worl is rather dull to me. What I want to write down is more of a history book describing an alternate history created by EU3... While I'm at it, I'll try to expand the nations I'm playing with, and if a single nation in the world gets way too strong, I'll make sure it goes through some hardships to keep the whole game interesting.