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Indeed, it's looking like there aren't any real foes to challenge the might of Byzantium at the moment, aside from the Caliph. Let's hope the Mongol invasions can shake things up a fair bit.

Incidentally, anything interesting going on elsewhere in the world?
 
Great AAR so far, gets me excited to get back to my Sunni Kiev game. ^_^ Keep doing what you're doing!
 
The civil wars must be a pain to handle given that they drain your resources. Might take awhile to stabilize but, at the moment, no one seemed to be really in a position to challenge you. I guess we have to wait for the Mongols then.

Mongols can be pain if they don't kill each other :D

Indeed, it's looking like there aren't any real foes to challenge the might of Byzantium at the moment, aside from the Caliph. Let's hope the Mongol invasions can shake things up a fair bit.

Incidentally, anything interesting going on elsewhere in the world?

Maybe not interesting but at least Aquitaine is kind of dominant power in Western Europe. King of Aquitaine is King of Aquitaine, Brittany and Aragon. Aquitaine controls also chunk of de jure Wales and Scotland. Scotland collapsed after it feudalized (Kingdom of Scotland is gone and de jure area is mess). In fact whole British Isles are mess. England is splitted between HRE and independent Anglo-Saxon counts and dukes. Cornwall belogs to Lotharingia Wales and Scotland are splitted between Aquitaine and independent counts and dukes. Ireland is still splitted between independent Irish realms. In most of my games British Isles had been most "unmess" place in Europe so that's why I think that it is interesting.
Also Bulgaria (the last Orthodox realm) somehow became Catholic.

Would be nice to see this all partitioned though... the byzanblob is so... blobby!

Yeah, it's "small" blob in there :p I have thinked about partitioning.
At least there won't be any partioning with next ruler but after then... we will see


Great AAR so far, gets me excited to get back to my Sunni Kiev game. ^_^ Keep doing what you're doing!

Thank you to you that you have enjoyed :happy:

Subbed

I like the borders of the Jerusalem you released :)
Still Russian in culture ?

Anyway, waiting for the Mongols !

Oh thank you. I like those borders too. It makes them more unique when they don't have only de jure borders. And with bigger realm they are more powerful to defend themselves.
And still Russian :)
 
Mithridatir V Pontian
Lived: 1141-1217
Ruler of Kiev: 1202-1217
King of Kievan Pontus: 1208-1217
Roman Emperor: 1208-1217​
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Mithridatir V ruled over Byzantine Empire and Kievan Pontus for nine years. Mithridatir was seen as a genius man and because of this, his father had resorted to him in some of diplomacy tasks of Empire. As an Emperor, Mithridatir V launched series of conflicts against Sunni Caliph to break down power of Caliph These conflicts were known as Roman-Abbasid Wars, which however would never had time to properly begin in his time.

In 1202 Mithridatir was given rule of Kiev. Mostly he, if wasn't needed by his father, spent his time with his family. Court life flourished, feasts were held and some construction was carried out. For example, famous Kievan garden, Garden of Serap, was built by Mithridatir V as a gift to his beloved wife. However when his father was passed away, Mithridatir V and his family moved back to Constantinople and court life of Kiev declined again.

Soon after Mithridatir V became Emperor he decided attack against Sunni Caliph. Sunni Caliph was seen as dangerous enemy which had to be destroyed. Mithridatir V marched with his army to Edessa which was occupied. Caliph brought his troops but Mithridatir V was able to snatch victory from them. Caliph tried to bring more men but was still unbale to beat Mithridatir V and finally in 1215 Caliph was forced to give up Edessa. Mithridatir V was eager to continue conquest against Caliph but internal problems canceled these plans. Immediately after conquest of Edessa ended, rebellion was launched in Empire.

Unlike his predecessors, Mithridatir V's succession had been stable and there hadn’t been succession crises. However some of the vassals were still bitterness towards ruling dynasty. Minor Vicereine Yelizaveta of Kartli wanted to dethrone Mithridatir V and, after she had received enough support from other vassals, he launched rebellion against Empire.

Mithridatir V had to return his armies from Edessa to fight against rebels. He decided to strike directly to Kartli where Mithridatir V faced strong resistance.

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The bigger setback to Mithridatir V than civil war was his wife's death during the same time which was a serious blow to his mental health and he became severely depressed. It has seen that he was unable to get over the death of his beloved wife and therefore he became melancholic and lost enthusiasm to continue. Historical sources have mentioned that he also became unsocial and started to have suicidal intentions.

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The last and fatal attack of Mithridatir V.
However Mithridatir V continued commanding army in war against rebellion. Mithridatir V faced one of the main armies of rebellion in 1217 and battle was launched. Some have said that it was intentional, but when Mithridatir V decided to start venturesome charge attack against infantrymen of rebel army, he was lethally injured by enemy spearman. Mithridatir V fell off his horse and died. Army of rebellion was defeated but the death of Mithridatir V was a large shock to the Empire.

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Mithridatir V's short reign had ended unexpectedly. Civil war was still ravaging but new emperor was needed. After the death of Mithridatir V his son, Alexander II was crowned to be Emperor.
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Pontian Empire during the death of Mithridatir V
 
Alexander II "the Great" Pontian
Lived: 1199-1267
Ruler of Kiev: 1217-1267
King of Kievan Pontus: 1217-1267
Roman Emperor: 1217-1267​
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Alexander II was remarkably powerful Emperor who was crowned in short order after his father had suddenly died in battlefield in 1217. His reign saw the growing power of the Empire and he continued his father's war against Caliph. It was during that time when balance of power in east changed radically after Mongol horde started invasion to Europe and Middle East. Over time Alexander II admired more and more Ancient Rome which was reflected in his urge to get control of Rome and Italian Peninsula.

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Alexander II after winning the rebels.
Alexander II became Emperor in the middle of a civil war and only 18 years old Emperor was given the command of armies. Alexander II was able to give crushing blow to rebellion which was finally ended at the end of the year 1217. After a successful victory Alexander II's vassals respect for him II increased which was benefit to stability of Empire.

With Stabilization of Empire, Alexander II was able to concentrate to south where his ally, King of Jerusalem, was attacked by Sunni Caliph. Alexander II joined to help and King of Jerusalem was able to defend his Kingdom, even though impact of Alexander II's help was really only a minimal. After two years of war Sunni Caliph gave up. However Alexander II saw Caliph's defeat as a good time to strike back and launched holy war for Aleppo. Also the fact, that Alexander II was eager to continue his father's legacy and finish his plans to invade the lands of Sunni Caliph, was one of the reasons why Alexander II continued war against Caliph. Caliph's armies had declined after unsuccesful war with Jerusalem and they were unable to beat Alexander II. In 1226 Sunni Caliph surrendered and gave Aleppo to Alexander II.

It was after the conquest of Aleppo when Alexander II decide to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem, holy city which had been under control of Christians almost hundred years heretofore. According to sources of that time, the pilgrimage gave more strenght to Alexander II to continue war against Caliph and in fact soon after piligrimage he launched new holy war against Caliph. Armies of Caliph was again defeated and Syria was conquered.

Same time in east Turkestan, former enemy of Kievan Pontus, was no more. It was conquered by Mongols. Mongols had arrived from the east and had started invasion. Mongol horde was in two parts: Illkhanate, which launched invasion to Middle East, and Golden Horde, which launched invasion to Turkestan and was right next to Empire of Alexander II. After destroying Turkestan, Golden Horde launched conquest against Empire in 1233.

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First army of Mongols rode to lands of Empire in September but it was defeated in Battle of Makhmud-Mekteb. Mongol army suffered major defeat but however more armies of Mongols joined to war. Armies of Alexander II to tried to beat them back but it was impossible. Mongols were able to beat Imperial armies and finally when Alexander II was in Battle of Vovnushki all hope of the victory was lost. Mongols raided and besieged down cities of eastern part of the Empire. Alexander II hadn't other choices than beg peace. Even though Alexander II had lost he was able to get off lightly. Empire lost only County of Manych in peace treaty. Mongols retreated and launched attack against pagan Kingdom of Perm. After the war Alexander II gave independence to Dukedom of Nyitra as a tribute to its loyalty during the war. Men of Nyitra had been remarkably loyal troops and many of them had fought to the last man.

Even though peace was back, Alexander II decided to prepare for new war against Mongols. He was sure that Mongols would strike again against Empire. Golden Horde in fact attacked against Empire again in 1243. This time Mongols wanted more to conquer than one county: They wanted eastern parts of Kievan Pontus.

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Alexander II called his allies to defend and raised all armies of Empire. He marched with his armies to the eastern border. Alexander II's armies used skirmish tactics against Mongol armies trying to get an edge in combat. Finally in September 1244 skirmish phase ended when Mongol army catched up skirmishing army of Empire and, after great battle, defeated it. Mongols tried push back fleeing soldiers but in Tana they faced another Imperial army. Mongols were forced to cross river and Imperial army used it to their advantage which led to the destroy of Mongol army.

End of the year 1245 was a turning point in the war. Turnup was Battle of Ltava where Alexander II and his allies' armies defeated great Mongol army which had just before destroyed completely one of the Imperial armies. Mongol army was chased away and because Golden Horde faced liberation war of Turkestan Mongols were unable to send more men in war against Alexander II. War still continued two more years but finally Golden Horde made peace with Alexander II in 1247.


After war against Mongols ended, Alexander II was able to concentrate on elsewhere. Even though he continued war against Muslims in Middle East, his next plans were in the west. Alexander II admired Ancient Rome and had ambition to see City of Rome as an part of Empire.

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However the outbreak of war seemed distant since in 1246 Pontian Cardinal had been nominated to be Pope and relations between him and Alexander II were good. Alexander II supported Pope and it looked like that old disputes were finally abandoned. For example Alexander II gave aid to Catholic Church in their attempts to convert Mongols to Christianity which finally paid off in 1258 when Golden Horde adopted Catholicism. One reason to conversion can be also the fact that most of the lands which Golden Horde had conguered were already Catholics and to please their subjects with conversion was good idea. Another Mongol Empire, Ilkhanate had converted Nestorianism in months earlier.

However, in 1261 Pontian Pope died and relations between Papacy and Empire worsened again. Alexander II didn't accepted new papal conclave and demanded new Pope to resign. When Pope didn't accepted Alexander II's demands, he declared war against Rome.

The Pope resorted to mercenaries but they weren't enough. Imperial armies started attacking and defeated Pope's army in Amelia. Rome was besieged and Pope fled to the Northern Italy. Alexander II added Rome to the Empire and nominated the new Pope, Pope Adrian III.

Alexander II's aggression against former Pope was not seen as acceptable thing and especially King of Italy was eager to see Rome back in hands of Pope. Relations between Empire and Italy were very poor and border friction increased in the Italian Peninsula. Finally situation escalated to war between Empire and Italy.

Alexander II commanded Imperial armies to start invasion. Alexander II saw the war as way to get more control in the Italian Peninsula, the heart of Ancient Rome. Alexander II's armies started besieging Italy and same time Italian armies tried to drive away invading armies. Italy was in trouble when more and more Imperial troops came from south and Alexander II's ally, King of Hungary, attacked from north. In the autumn of 1264 King of Italy surrendered and border between Italy and Empire was moved further north .

Peace was back and Alexander II returned back to Constantinople where triumph was held. Catholic world were still in small shock about the overthrown of former Pope. Some of the realms accepted the situation but some of them didn't. For example Holy Roman Emperor placed his own antipope in response to the situation. However, majority of Catholic world never recognized these "German Popes" as real Popes.

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Alexander II died in 1267 after being Emperor 50 years. Most notable thing before his death, Alexander II decided to be equitable to his sons and give land to both of his sons and because of that Empire was divided among his two sons after his death. Reason why he divided his realm can be also the fact that Alexander II didn't have confidence that his successor would have been able to control whole Empire, which consisted of vast amount of domain, by oneself. Oldest son, Mithridatir VI, was given the rule of Roman Empire and youngest son, Julian II, was given the rule of Kievan Pontus.
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Pontian Empire during the death of Alexander II
 
That's quite a split. Maybe a conflict will arise between the two empires in the near future as both sons wanted to reunite both realms. The Mongols seemed underpowered in their invasions.
 
Certainly good fortune with the Mongols there; they seemed to fold a little more easily than I've ever had experience with. The conversion was a nice break as well; certainly shouldn't expect too much trouble from them from now on, relatively speaking.
 
That's quite a split. Maybe a conflict will arise between the two empires in the near future as both sons wanted to reunite both realms. The Mongols seemed underpowered in their invasions.

Yeah. Golden Horde were very though enemy but when I was able to defeat its armies in key battles it started crumble.

Certainly good fortune with the Mongols there; they seemed to fold a little more easily than I've ever had experience with. The conversion was a nice break as well; certainly shouldn't expect too much trouble from them from now on, relatively speaking.

It would be tougher to fight with Mongols if they had merged all their troops. And yes, conversion was nice. Especially Ilkhanate's converison (Ilkhanate controls Persia) to christianity because their army number is much higher than Golden Horde.

Those Turkish faces seem quite fitting for the Russian clothes!

I'm glad that the empire split, the map looks much more plausible now :).

Turkish faces indeed looks nice. And I'm glad that you liked the split.

Now I need to wait to levy bug fix so I can continue this. I'm not really sure which sons I will continue to play.
 
Julian II "the Bold" Pontian
Lived: 1237-1293
Ruler of Kiev: 1267-1293
King of Kievan Pontus: 1267-1293​
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As a king, Julian II wasn't as warlike as his predecessors and as a matter of fact he didn't even have to. His reign was stable and there wasn't real threat to his realm. He inherited the throne of Kiovan Pontus in 1267 when his father, Emperor Alexander II, divided the Empire between Julian II and his older brother, Mithridatir VI.

Relations between Kiovan Pontus and Roman Empire were not clear. Historians have argued about this and they believe that Kievan Pontus was seen as part of Empire rather than the independent kingdom. Julian II was more like Co-Emperor than independent King. However it is hard to prove these theories because even during that time there were many views about it. For example a lot of Kievan Nobles favored the idea that Kievan Pontus was not part of the Empire. They saw that when Alexander II splitted his realm this meant that he gave independence to Kievan Pontus. In any case, Julian II helped his brother and joined with him in his wars.

Julian II had to raise his armies almost immediately after he had been crowned when Roman Empire had started war against Caliph. Kievan armies marched all the way to Tabriz where they started besieging the castles of Caliph. Without great resistance castles were finally captured. Roman armies were superior to Caliph's armies and finally in 1272 the war ended with the Roman victory.

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After the war Julian II organised a grand tournament which was the first of its kind in Kievan history. Julian II, as a skilled duelist, also took part in duels. Tournament lasted for a couple of months and it consisted duels, jousting, festivals and fairs. When tournament finally ended Julian II had to raise Kievan troops again because Roman Empire called Kievan Pontus to new war.

Roman Empire was attacked by group French Nobles who seek of glory and land from Empire. Julian II sent small army to help Roman Empire but Julian II himself decided to stay in Kiev. Nobles' armies landed in Nikaea where they started besieging Roman lands. Armies of Roman Empire and Kievan Pontus arrived to Nikaea and defeated besiegers. Soon the victory started to be definite and Kievan armies withdrew back to Kiev because they were not needed anymore in Roman Empire. Soon Roman armies defeated last enemy armies which forced French Nobles to surrender.

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Crusade for Egypt.
The major event during the reign of Julian II was Crusade for Egypt in 1277. Like many Catholic realms, Julian II also joined to Crusade. Julian II, with his army, arrived to Egypt in the end of the year 1277. Crusaders took over Sinai in short order and soon after Caliph armies were defeated totally and he was unable to strike against Crusaders anymore. Because of this Caliph retreat from Egypt and Pope announced that Crusade had been successful. Crusaders accepted the decision that Egypt was given to King of Jerusalem who had allowed to Crusaders to use his lands as a stronghold.

With the exception of sending small armies to help Roman Empire, Kiovan Pontus didn't join wars anymore after Crusade and this allowed to Julian II to concentrate other things. Julian II was aware of fact that many invading forces had come from the East and therefore he launched the construction of the fortress on the eastern border. Also the old fortifications were restored and renewed.

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At the age of 56 Julian II died a natural death. He had had stable reign and his kingdom flourished. Because Julian II didn't have son, his Kingdom passed to his oldest daughter, Laodice.
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Realm of Kiev during the death of Julian II
 
The first queen to the throne, I assume? This reign might be a tough one since I'm thinking the nobles won't be too happy with a woman on the throne. I'm curious how many generations will pass before the two great empires will be at each others throat.
 
The first queen to the throne, I assume? This reign might be a tough one since I'm thinking the nobles won't be too happy with a woman on the throne. I'm curious how many generations will pass before the two great empires will be at each others throat.

Yep, first queen.
 
Laodice "the Just" Pontian
Lived: 1266-1336
Ruler of Kiev: 1293-1336
Queen of Kievan Pontus: 1293-1336
Roman Empress: 1298-1336​
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Laodice was the first female ruler of Kievan Pontus during the stable era of Kievan Pontus. She ruled almost four decades, and thanks to his personal skills in diplomatic tasks, she was able to continue the stability of Kievan Pontus. Stability was also secured with good relations with Roman Empire, and when Laodice's cousin-husband was crowned to be Roman Emperor, no one really dared to stand up against Laodice.

After inheriting the Kingdom, Laodice accepted decision to join help King of Jerusalem in civil war. Army was sent to Jerusalem to defeat rebels. Assistance of Kievan Pontus gave enough manpower to defeat rebellion and finally in 1297 civil war ended to victory of Jerusalem.

Republic of Livonia, vassal republic of Kievan Pontus, was dominant trade power in the Baltic Sea. It had powerful military to secure its trade routes. Securing its trade power in the Baltic Sea, Republic of Livonia delcared war against Denmark claiming the rule of the Island of Zealand to itself. Laodice didn't see it enough important to involve but accepted the war since it would also strengthen the power of Kievan Pontus in the Baltic Sea. Republic of Livonia won the war and took control of Zealand which made Laodice more interested about it and therefore she wanted to secure control of Zealand.

Next to the Zealand there was Island of Funen, which was populated by pagan people. Pagans of Funen were known as raiders and looters and their home just next door was seen as big concern. Because of these concerns Laodice approved the declaration of war against pagans in 1299. During the summer Kievan armies launched invasion to the island where pagans tried to fight back. With more superior equipment and more men, Kievan armies defeated pagans with ease. When war ended clergymen arrived and started to baptize pagans.

Because Laodice was not needed in command of armies, she was able to keep her vassals in check and ensure that no one of them would start rebellion. Thanks to trade power of Livonia, Laodice had enough money to bribe people to her side. Money was also spent on goods from the East and construction works, especially royal residence was modernized.

In the northeast there was shattered Kingdom of Rus which struggled with pagan tribes for domination of the region. To help her fellow Christian Kingdom, Laodice offered her assistance against pagan tribes in 1304. Kievan armies marched to the northeast and helped Rus to defeat pagan invaders. Invasion forces were beaten and area was secured temporarily.

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One of the dominant powers in Western Europe was Holy Roman Empire aka German Empire. Emperor had high authority to his subjects in Germany and in Britain. However even Holy Roman Empire had started crumble in so-called "14th Century Crisis". It all started when the Emperor had changed old traditional succession law,elective succession, to primogeniture. However Emperor's only son died and new heir was Emperor's daughter. Emperor died and his daughter was crowned to be new ruler which was not accepted by all and Holy Roman Empire ended up to civil war. The Empress suddenly died in childbirth and new ruler was her four years old daughter whose father was King of Nyitra and therefore she belonged to Pontian Dynasty. Because of this and because new child Empress was seen as foreigner, more vassals joined war against the Empire. It went worse when young Empress died in suspicious incident and her crown was given to her younger sister who was still only a couple of months old. However the real power belonged to regency which tried to keep the Empire intact.

Laodice wanted to help her dynasty member and joined to assist the Holy Roman Empire in 1310. Kievan armies marched to the Germany where they concentrated to besiege counties of Plauen and Weimar. One of the Kievan armies proceeded to hunt down small rebel armies. With the help of Kievan Pontus and other allies, Empress was able to defeat rebelling vassals in 1314. However to secure Empire, regency was forced to reduce crown authority. Even though civil war had ended it wasn't the end of crisis. Holy Roman Empire was still in internal chaos and new civil war started to be imminent.

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Ilkhanate.
Ilkhanate was very powerful realm in Persia and for that reason Laodice saw that relations between Ilkhanate needed to improve. Marriage between Laodice's son Diomedes and Great Khan's daughter was arranged. Roman Empire and Ilkhanate had been neighbouring with each other some time and their relations were mostly neutral. Great Khan had even married to sister of Roman Emperor. However relations between Roman Empire and Ilkhanate got worse and finally in 1324 Ilkhanate declared war against Roman Empire.

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Kievan troops facing invading troops of Ilkhanate.
Emperor, who was husband of Laodice, called her to help to which she consented. Kievan troops fortified in Mosul where they faced one of the armies of Ilkhanate. Kievan army defeated the army of Ilkhanate in Battle of Araden. More enemy armies started to advance and their number was too much. Roman armies were defeated and Kievan armies were forced to retreat. One Kievan army was completely destroyed which was big shock to morale of Kievan troops. Kievan troops retreated to back to Kiev and Romans tried to still push invaders back but it was impossible. Roman Emperor surrendered and lost area of Tabriz.

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Laodice's last years was characterized by mental problems of old age. When her mental problems got worse, more and more power in Kievan Pontus was given to his son, Diomedes. Some of the court started to believe that she was possessed. Also the fact that Laodice's husband had had a mental disorder for several years already, increased people's believe in some kind possession. She died in 1336 and people believed that demons were gone. Life returned back to normal and Laodice's son Diomedes III was crowned to be new King.
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Realm of Kiev during the death of Laodice
 
That was a very eventful reign. Maybe Byzantium is heading into steady decline following the war. I wonder if the new ruler might have some interest in Byzantium territory.
 
That was a very eventful reign. Maybe Byzantium is heading into steady decline following the war. I wonder if the new ruler might have some interest in Byzantium territory.

Maybe they are but but it looks more that they aren't.
 
Diomedes III "the Wise" Pontian
Lived: 1297-1368
Ruler of Kiev: 1336-1368
King of Kievan Pontus: 1336-1368
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Diomedes III ruled during the peaceful and prosperous era. He was liked ruler and stability of realm continued.Using the stability to his benefit, Diomedes III performed remarkable and long military campaigns in which he spent most of his time in power helping his allies and fellow christians. Diomedes III hadn't much interest about realm management and he mostly let his court and vassals handle these things when he was in the campaigns.

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Battle of Pressburg
Diomedes III succeeded his mother after she died in 1336 and soon after he had secured his stable succession, Diomedes III took his troops and joined help France against Kingdom of Italy. Diomedes III launched his attacks against Italian territories in Hungary trying to besiege Italian castles. Italian King sent one of his large armies to defend against Diomedes III but Kievan troops were able to destroy it in Pressburg. France got more allies to join and Italy was forced to surrender.

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Crusade for Africa
Diomedes III returned back to Kiev but already in 1342 he was preparing to the new war when Pope Callixtus III announced that new Crusade had to be launch to Africa. Diomedes III travelled to Africa and with his troops fought against defending forces. Marching across the coast of Africa, Diomedes III and his troops besieged down enemy castles. Finally Sultan of Africa was forced to escape and land was hands of crusaders. Crusade was ended but Diomedes III had no time to celebrate because he had to advance to east where Jerusalem was facing Jihad.

King of Jerusalem was unable to protect border of his realm and armies of Caliph proceeded to the Kingdom. With help of Diomedes III and Roman Emperpr, the armies of Caliph were unable to besiege the lands of Jerusalem. Armies of Kievan Pontus, Roman Empire and Jerusalem defeated armies of Caliph which were forced to retreat from Jerusalem. Caliph tried to gather his troops and make second push against Jerusalem. Roman Empire was forced to withdraw because it had ended up in civil war. However armies of Caliph were again defeated and finally in 1350 Caliph called off the Jihad.

After the Jihad, Diomedes III took his armies and returned back to Kiev where he raised more troops and joined to help Roman Emperor in his civil war. Diomedes III attacked against rebels in Georgia which was one of the main area of rebellion. However Kievan armies were unable to do really anything since before that Diomedes III received a message from Roman Emperor that civil war was already ended and rebels were imprisoned. Diomedes III was forced to pull back his armies. Diomedes III returned Kiev where he secured that his vassals were still kept in check.

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Kievan troops fighting against troops of Caliph.
After couple of years ruling in Kiev, Diomedes III again took his troops and traveled to Jerusalem which was attacked by new Caliph. Diomedes III led his troops to important victories and when troops of Caliph were destroyed in Battles of Haluza and Wadi Musa, Caliph surrendered and retreat from Jerusalem in 1360.

Diomedes moved from Jerusalem to Roman Empire to help Emperor against Ilkhanate. Ilkhanate had declared war against Roman Empire in 1359 and Diomedes III joined to help defend. What was notable in this war was that it was first war where Europeans were mentioned to use gunpowder.

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Hand Gunner
Roman Empire and Ilkhanate had had frozen conflict since the last war between them and whole this time both had tried to develop and introduce new weapons and tactics in order to get advantage over another. It is believed that originally Ilkhanate adopted gunpowder from China and later Roman Empire took it from Ilkhanate. Romans developed from hand cannon of Ilkhanate their own version which was then during the war in 1359 adopted by Kievan Pontus whereof it spreaded to the rest of Europe. However hand cannon was highly inaccurate and that's why its presence in war was minor. It was only when Western Europeans developed more effective firearms, matchlocks, when use of firearms started to become more common.

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Diomedes III took his armies to Syria where he joined to fight against Ilkhanate. Armies of Ilkhanate had pushed Romans back and finally they faced Diomedes III. Even though Roman army tried to help him, Diomedes III was unable to defeat army of Ilkhanate which outnumbered his army. Diomedes III's army retreat to the north from which it skirmished against reinforcing troops of Ilkhanate. Finally in 1361 main army of Ilkhanate reached Kievan army and defeated it again. Kievan army was destroyed and Diomedes III was forced to retreat back to Kiev with remnants of his army.

War continued between Ilkhanate and Roman Empire, and although Ilkhanate had had upper hand earlier, Romans were able to chase away armies of Ilkhanate. The war took place until 1364 when Ilkhanate accepted its defeat.

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After returning to Kiev, Diomedes III started to live quiet life and he was not eager to do anything special. Only when civil war broke out in Kingdom of Nyitra in 1365 Kievan Pontus took part in war again but Diomedes III personally didn't take part in it. Living his last years with his family, Diomedes III died in age of 71 in 1368 leaving his realm to his oldest son, Diomedes IV.

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Realm of Kiev during the death of Diomedes III