The Moorish Rescue - Granada AAR

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So, first Wallachia, then Byzantium and now Granada. All my AARs seem to be about saving small nations from the brink of doom.
Let's start with a bit of game background. This isn't the only game I had to play in order to get a viable Granada; I had to restart and I had to type the "difrules" cheat. On one occasion I "difrules" cheated and still got crushed by Castille. Anyway, after a few attempts, this is what happened. The game is with 1.08 using the BP ai and list of fantasy monarchs.
I have to say, I don't think I'm going to end up conquering half of Asia like the last person to finish a Granada AAR...

 

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Muhammad VIII and IX 1419-45

"What does it say? I cannot understand Arabic." King Juan of Castille paced up and down in his pavilion.
"It is not written in Arabic, it is written in Spanish, your majesty," replied his retainer.
"Well, anyway, read it out, " said the king.
The courtier began, "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful..."
"Don't bother reading that part!" groaned King Juan, shaking his head, "the Moors always put that at the start of everything. Tell me what it says. Can we leave?"
"The King of Granada indeed promises us safe conduct through the mountains back to Madrid. Our men retain their arms, but to prevent treachery are not to march in groups of more than five hundred at a time. Are we to accept, majesty, or fight on?"
"We are surrounded. We have no way of knowing how long the rest of our army will take to arrive. We do not know the combined strength of the Moors and their Saracen allies. We have to accept. I do not want my head on a pike in the morning."
Then, with a smile, he added, "There will be other battles."

At the beginning of 1419, with Portugal fighting to secure to port of Tangier from the Sultan of Fez, King Juan II of Castille decided to launch a military expedition of his own aimed at seizing control of the Straits of Gibraltar, which were in the hands of the Kingdom of Granada, a rump state which was all that remained of the the lands once controlled by the Caliph in Cordoba. It seemed a foregone conclusion at first, since his forces, joined by those of Aragon and Navarre, heavily outnumbered their Moorish opponents, but the Spanish armies were slow-moving and the poorly led forces on the border were defeated, forcing southern Spain onto the defensive while Granada's forces raided into Andalusia. The King of Granada Mohammed III, could also count on support from the Maghreb and while no help was forthcoming from the Sultan of Fez, an army from Algeria landed on the coast and laid siege to Murcia. By the time the main Spanish force arrived on the scene, Seville had fallen. There was now a quarrel between the King and his chief general, de Salceda, about how to proceed and the main army was moved South to besiege Granada itself. However, this proved to be a disaster: with victories at the battles of Belmez and Santisteban del Puerto, the Muslim armies smashed the modest forces from Aragon and Navarre and cut off the expedition. Although de Salceda was in favour of fighting on, the King felt surrounded and had likely overestimated the strength of the opposition. He left under flag of truce, abandoning Cartagena and Murcia to the Algerians and leaving Seville, Toledo and Cordoba to Granada. However, this was not a situation which was tolerated for long. In 1433, seeing their southern neighbours suffer from rivalries and intrigues for the throne, Castille and Portugal, backed by Navarre, again invaded, besieging and capturing Toledo and Cordoba. However, this time the pendulum had already swung in the direction of the Moors. The invasion of Spain by some thirty thousand men under the flag of Algiers, and the capture of Madrid sealed the fate of Castille, and ultimately with it, the resurgence of Christian Spain which had begun two centuries earlier. The Battle of Salcedon, the defection of Portugal and Navarre and rebellion in Asturias opened the road to the kingdom's conquest. It was a reduced Castille which emerged, forced to acknowledge the suzerainty of Granada.

The Castillians didn't waste any time - they declared war on 11th January 1419! Fez was already fighting the Portuguese and dishonoured my alliance. Aragon and Navarre, who I was hoping might get embroiled with England and France, joined in. I move Serfdom down for better morale and take out a loan to build more troops, but judging by past experience I decide against raising a mercenary company. I besiege Murcia and Andalusia, the latter falling quite quickly. Castille builds up bigger and bigger armies and fights naval battles against my Algerian allies which seemed to go roughly 50/50. Before long a small force (2-3000) of Algerians has got into Murcia, which took ages and ages to fall, following fighting off two attempts by Aragon to throw us out. It didn't help that I had to divert both armies to prevent Granada falling first, with the result that Algeria gets Murcia and not me. I manage to seize control of Toledo with Granada under siege again, hoping that this would force the unsupplied Spaniards to give up the siege, which it does. A huge 30-40,000 strong army is about to stamp on my forces after another battle had reduced me down to about a tenth of that size and I was wearily preparing to restart again when suddenly Castille offers to hand over Toledo and Andalusia, with Algeria getting Murcia. I can't click "Accept" fast enough!
I'd have liked Murcia myself, of course, but this way at least it stays Sunni - maybe I'll diplo-annex the Algerians later. Toledo of course, gives me gold! That means I have enough funds to repay the loan with only enough minting money to give me a respectable 2.1% inflation. I really didn't want to do have to do a Byzantium and go bankrupt to survive.
Peace lasts until 1433, when another DoW lands on my lap. At least Aragon isn't in this one. There's a bit more money and manpower to deal with it this time, though. Immediately a huge force of Castillians and Navarrese jump onto Toledo, while I rebuild a respectable army (I'm starting with 3,000 cavalry) with War Taxes and drop a small force onto the Canaries before they can stop me. I watch the Christian army in Toledo attrition away and when they move onto Murcia, re-take it. Over the water, the Algerians are building up a huge force - but when will they actually do anything? I keep defeating tiny Portuguese armies, and eventually they offer peace for a trivial amount of money, which I accept. My funds are now getting very low and I have to mint more money again. After 4 years I lose patience with the Algerians' phoney war and actually edit the savegame to put the army they built in Granada - they had a huge fleet sitting there waiting but never embarked. Navarre gets nervous and buys its way out of the war for a few ducats, which halves the forces ranged against me. The men from the Maghreb march north to defeat the main Castillian army (still a respectable size) leaving them very weak, besiege Murcia, change their minds, change their minds again... (for the rest of the war they would keep abandoning sieges, dragging it on for years) My men complete a siege in Leon and war exhaustion takes its toll on Castille, with revolts breaking out in Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia. They offer a favourable peace, but...
Here's where if I really were advising the King of Granada, I would have accepted. However, in the game when I tried it I ended up in another war and another and another. The AI's cheating ability dooms me, because they will eventually drive me into bankruptcy or else join an alliance with someone like England or France and set them on me. So I have to fight on for a 100% warscore and vassalise them. I'm helped by Asturias revolting away and declaring independence while I'm besieging it, so when I walk away its government falls and it's free. Last to fall is Murcia, thanks to the crazy Algerian war strategy of never actually capturing anywhere. After the usual head-banging refusals, Castille is forced to pay some money, hand me Estremadura and the Canaries, and become my vassal. Now it can't join any alliances, so if it breaks and DoWs me again, it's toast. To crown it all, an Exceptional Year comes along to wipe out my inflation! Unfortunately, Muhammed X The Cretin (he wasn't really called that, but he has 3 in everything) is now on the throne. The real weakness with Granada is its crap monarchs.

 

[Rythin]

Impressive.

 

[Hastu Neon]

There is a blooming of Granada's AARs in this period... and it's becoming quite interesting following and comparing all of them

Let us see what Muhammad X "The Cretin" will manage to do! BTW Impaler, where are you from? "The Cretin" doesn't seem to be a typical anglo-saxon word.

 

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Grenada, one of my favorite nations. I hope your redone monarch files will still have the multiple reigns of M the XIII (I believe).

Good luck!

 

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First chapter's looking good. Best of luck with your sorry monarchs and non-comittal allies.

 

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Muhammad X and Sa'ad bin Ali 1445-1465

"Of most interest, however Sire, are the maps the Portuguese have."
"Maps? What maps?"
"The Portuguese have become accomplished navigators, Sire. Their explorations confirm the ancient stories of Hanno that Africa is indeed able to be circumnavigated. Of course, they have not accomplished this yet, but..."
"Why go the long way round? This might be their way of avoiding Egypt, but what is that to us? If we wish to trade in the Indian Ocean we can easily do so."
"I thought they might be of interest, Sire. It is not important."
The Grand Vizier sighed wearily. He had another master who did not understand.

The accession of Muhammed X to the throne of Granada provoked an attempt at intervention by Aragon. This was singularly unsuccessful. The Aragonese chose to open the campaign by capturing Murcia from Algiers and while their main army was engaged they were outflanked. The Moorish army ravaged the length and breadth of Aragon, capturing Barcelona itself and forcing Aragon to pay a humiliating tribute. Meanwhile in the North, Castille was further weakened by the conquest of Asturias by the German Prince of Lauenberg, his overthrow in an uprising of the nobility and the spead of the revolt to Galicia, still nominally part of Castille. There followed war between Castille on one side and Asturias supported by Aragon and Navarre on the other which culminated in Castillian defeat and the cession of Galicia to Asturias.
Intermittently throughout the first half of the 15th century Portugal had been embroiled in wars against the Sultan of Morocco and in trying to maintain its transitory control of the important port of Tangiers. Ultimately this was to prove too costly: by 1458 Portugal was greatly weakened: its army could no longer be maintained and its navy was depleted. It was a fairly easy undertaking for the King of Granada to strike to deep into the country, sacking Lisbon and seizing all the land south of the River Tagus, while his Algerian allies captured the port of Tangiers. Aragon's ill-fated attack on Murcia in 1462 ended once again in defeat, leaving it vulnerable to attack by France. The following years were characterised by Christian Spain again descending into dispute and warfare, with Castille at war with both Navarre and Asturias and Portugal, the latter campaign a disaster which resulted in the loss of the whole northern coast.

Aragon next. For no apparent reason they declare war. Their forces are moderately sized, and they begin by besieging Murcia. Fine - not really my problem. The Algerians will be very cross, though, and their army is even bigger than mine. So, I avoid the Aragonese army and march into Aragon, take it, into Gerona, take that and finally into Rousillon and Catalonia and take those. Aragon retreats back into Valencia and doesn't do much else. Algiers captures Murcia back, and so Aragon, with an appalling war score and having had no help at all from its allies Naples and Cyprus (which couldn't get past the Algerian navy) has to cough up a large amount of money - and this without a single battle being fought.
These are interesting times to be a Spaniard. Newly independent Asturias gets entangled in alliances which eventually results in it being conquered and annexed by a combined force from Holstein, Bremen and Mecklenburg. When they begin withdrawing rebellion breaks out, by which time they're all at war with someone else. Galicia either revolts or the rebels in Asturias move there and suddenly Asturias reappears with its capital moved to Galicia. It fights off the small Holstein force and enters an alliance with Aragon, Navarre and the Knights of St John - just in time for Castille to DoW it. Castille gets beaten to a pulp and has to pay a lot of money - they're lucky they didn't have to give away any territory.
So now Spain is split between Castille, Navarre, Aragon, Asturias, Granada and Algiers (which still has Murcia) and of course, we have Portugal... hmm, and they seem to have lost their entire army fighting off the Moroccans. It's too good an opportunity to pass up: since I have a CB on them, I declare war and siege all 3 home provinces - I don't quite get to Oporto in time and they build a small army there which runs about in an annoying way for a while, looting places, before the Algerians catch them. Algiers captures Tangier, giving us a healthy 61% warscore, enough to demand a some money, Tangier for them and Algarve for me. Aragon declared war again shortly after, got beaten and then got invaded by France. Castille attacked Navarre and got Bearn, but then overreached itself going for Asturias which was allied to Portugal - they got heavily defeated and lost another province and really ought to be glad Asturias keeps letting them off so lightly - they could easily have got a 100%. Bearn revolts. They can't stop it.

 

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I'd love to see a screenie of Iberia about now

 

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Here we go, then:

Unfortunately this AAR is now on hold due to a bug...
The next portion may have to be last.

 

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Abu-l Hasan and Abu Abd 'Allah 1465-1482

"Not only do we have to accept the yoke of the heathen Moor, now we cannot even have control of our own lands..."
The speaker was a richly dressed man, but wearing a black cloak and his face was hidden by a cloth mask. About the table, set up in one room of a deserted fortress were several others dressed much the same.
"The king in Granada listens to peasants before men of noble blood," said another.
"We will raise arms against the king," added another masked man.
"It is arranged," said the second man again, "if we are patient, we will receive arms from Portugal and from Aragon. It must be done. We are all agreed."
The strange spectacle was the beginning of an organised rebellion in Granada's northern provinces.

The new king hoped for a period of peace and prosperity. The brief war with Portugal and Asturias in 1467 was unwelcome but did not last long: however Aragon sought to take advantage and declared war itself later in the year. Neither side was well placed with Granada already fighting in Portugal and Aragon still weakened from defeat by France which had cost them Rousillon. The decisive engagement was the battle of Los Monegros where the Aragonese forces were crushed. Their king fled to Mallorca from where he was forced to buy back his kingdom. The ruler of Granada, Abu-l Hasan, was not anxious to continue fighting because of unrest at home - in the Northern regions of the kingdom where a largely Christian nobility retained its lands unease was inevitable and had flared into open rebellion in 1445 when Felipe de Galvez had raised an army and besieged Toledo. Now more trouble brewed when, in the face of a peasant protest movement, the king curtailed feudal privileges further. Fortunately order was restored without any actual serious uprisings and the rest of the reign of Abu-l Hasan passed peacefully.
The accession of Abu Abd 'Allah in 1482 saw Granada facing a greatly changed Spain: through the 1470s Aragon found itself at war with Asturias and Portugal, Poland and the Ottoman Empire. In 1480 the nobles of Catalonia revolted and seized Barcelona. The King was murdered and his family forced to flee to Sicily as the kingdom of Aragon disintegrated completely. Valencia and Sardinia became self-governing and western Aragon fell into Castillian hands. The young king's reign was to last only a few months before he was deposed in a palace coup by his uncle and forced into exile in Morocco.

I thought about declaring war on Portugal because I had originally planned to annex them in the long term, but by now it's a doomed venture because we'll never manage to capture the Azores. Never mind, my merchants are doing well in Lisbon. It's a bit of a surprise when Portugal declares war itself, though - and they have Asturias to help. While they capture Estramadura from me, I take Lisbon - that plus a couple of Algerian victories force them to offer a small sum of money by the end of the year - unfortunately Aragon joins in. Now I can see these two are going to be pains in the neck, because both own overseas cities which are either all but inaccessible (the Azores) or nearly unconquerable (Baleares with 22000 men sitting there, just like Denmark with Gotland) so getting 100% as with Castille is impossible for now. They besiege Murcia again, but their mainland army has been severely damaged by France so they can't put up much of a fight otherwise, allowing me to overrun Aragon and take Valencia and Catalonia. When Murcia falls, my army is twice the size of theirs, and so I'm able to defeat it in Aragon and capture that, too. Unfortunately just as I'm thinking about going for Gerona and then landing in Sicily to make some serious demands when "Petition for Redress" happens for 4 stab hits. I have to be content with the 180d they offer, to be split with Algiers.
Meanwhile Asturias continues its rise, invading Bearn, which I'd expected to defect to Navarre or France but which became a nation in its own right - for a short while. Involved in war after war after war, Aragon falls to bits. Catalunya revolts away and their capital gets kicked to Sicily. I found this too ridiculous and scripted an event to split them up into Sicily, Valencia and Sardinia. The demise of Aragon means only Portugal is left to keep attacking me for no reason - the rest all seem to be at each other's throats. At this point I also notice that Castille is no longer my vassal. This is infuriating - while I was too busy to notice, they cancelled vassalisation and the game never told me about it except in the little scrolling message box. I therefore have to edit the savegame to rectify this. That's an annoying feature if ever there was one.

 

[Farquharson]

I know what you mean about those slippery vassals - I've lost more than one that way without even noticing. I imagine you can change the message setting to put it in your face with game paused and everything, but I don't know why it isn't that way by default. Anyway, don't give up! It makes a refreshing change to read about a game that seems to be a bit more of a struggle!

 

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Muhammad Abdullah Al-Zagal and Muhammad XII (Boabdil) 1482-1527

"Here is the design I have approved. It is shaped like so..." said the king, pointing to a large sheet of parchment with an architect's plan drawn on it.
"Like a Latin letter 'T'... I see," said the other man, an elderly nobleman with a long white beard.
"Just as the King of Portugal has promoted the works of his kingdom's greatest artists, so shall we - and we will outdo him. The eyes of the World will once again be on Al-Andalus, and, God willing, we will be known as the most enlightened and accomplished nation on Earth." He continued, "We will house all the greatest calligraphers, reciters of the Holy Quran here and here... here we will house miniature painters from Persia. These sections will be home to Christian and Jewish composers and singers. This part will train the next generation of great poets and storytellers..."
The bearded old man smiled. It would be costly, but the benefits would outweight the costs. What Granada needed was just such a high-minded project.

The reign of Muhammad Abdullah Al-Zagal was marked by various intrigues in court, although it is chiefly remembered for the capture of Tangiers and the building of the famous Orange Garden in Granada. This magnificent building remains one of the world's most famous monuments and was a testimony to the increasing wealth and prestige of Granada's rulers. The army returning from Tangiers, however, brought with it some form of plague which caused at least 1000 deaths in the city of Seville, including the king himself, who was visiting that city. The unexpected death of Al-Zagal cleared the way for the return of the young king Muhammad Abu-l Hasan (known to Spanish chroniclers as Boabdil) from exile, whose reign was to last for forty-five years and finally bring to an end the years of internicine rivalry at the court.
Muhammad XII soon found himself tested by a Catholic rebellion in the Estramadura region incited by the Bishop of Badajoz. The rebellion was put down swiftly; the Bishop and many of the nobles who supported him were excecuted and their families exiled to Tangiers or even sold into slavery. Hitherto the Christians in the North had been left alone; as a response to the rebellion and its overtly religious nature, however there was a wholehearted attempt to convert the population in the region - the Jizya tax was imposed on non-Muslims and in a specifically anti-Catholic measure the teaching and public use of Latin was banned. Confiscated estates were turned over to Muslim Arabs. Before long Granada was drawn into war on the side of Algiers against Morocco but Muhammad XII was not anxious to fight a protracted campaign: gaining a small but strategic outpost on the Atlantic coast and small indemnity, he soon signed a separate treaty and withdrew from the conflict to concentrate on domestic matters. The success of the conversion policy in Estramadura led him to attempt a similar policy in the rest of the kingdom, but it was ignored in the region of Toledo and provoked open defiance in the Algarve region where armed rebellion broke out. The rebel army scored victories over the royal army at the battles of Monsaraz and Wed el Hasan before finally being defeated and dispersed at Al Fath al Adiyat, following which a new policy aimed at conversion was begun.
In 1518 war broke out when Asturias attacked Castile, Granada's dependant kingdom. They were joined by Catalunya and Valencia and Portugal, who was probably behind the initiation of hostilities for its own reasons. After initial successes on the field for Asturias, Muhammad decided to throw his armies into the conflict in support of his vassal, but the main reason for Granada's joining the campaign was probably alarm at the rise of the Portuguese whose Atlantic ventures were bringing in great wealth, now from America as well as Africa. Successful at sea, the Portuguese were outmatched by the Granadans superior manpower and the Moors remained in occupation of Porto.
In the Maghreb, war broke out again between Morocco and Algiers. With the Moroccans besieging several ports, the Algerian ta'ifas turned not to their traditional allies in Granada, but placed themselves under the Ottoman sultan. Muhammad XII therefore broke with the Algerian corsairs and moved to take control of the cities on the Spanish coast that they occupied. Despite some resistance, by 1526 the whole of the Murcia region was under Granadan administration.

Tee hee! I've successfully exploited the feature I was moaning about on the other forum and sent in my army to capture revolting Tangier before the Algerians. This, of course, utterly ruins my previously good relations with Morocco. I finally build a FAA in Granada and when the heretics in Estramadura revolt I decide, aided by an excellent minister, to get round to converting it send in the man in the white coat. Algeria calls me into a war with Morocco, but unfortunately I can't get to Fez before they do which screws things up because I can't now demand it and without Fez access is difficult. Morocco kicks me out of Tangier before my army morale is up to 100% and I have to send over my main force from Spain to deal with them. While Fez falls to Algerians I march south to try and get a 70%. In fact, I don't want any territory apart from a TP because BB has crept up after that annexation and I don't want to give Portugal/Asturias an excuse while my army is in Africa and funds are low. I sign a separate peace agreement with Morocco in exchange for a small amount of money and a trading post. The war drags on for years, eventually resulting in Morocco paying Algiers some money. Estramadura converts to Sunni Islam and I decide, while watching another war between the other Iberian powers, that this might work again, but the missionary sent into the Algarve fails, creating one of those impossible to defeat rebel armies it takes me three battles to finally see off. Inflation is creeping up and up thanks to gold, and this is not good. I send another missionary into the Algarve - the more I can increase the value of the other provinces, the less inflation I'll get. Disaster strikes in 1511 in the form of a New Valuable Mineral which will push inflation up further... I need to be able to battle inflation and that means Infra investment, but on the other hand the gunpowder era is arriving and failure to max out Land at this stage could mean obscenely wealthy Portugal is able to crush me.
Asturias DoWs Castile. This gives me an excuse to intervene and prevent the nightmare scenario of a carve-up of Castile followed quickly by Portugal diplo-annexing Asturias - as well as the chance to grab more Portuguese maps. Although I have to put up with them burning down a couple of trading posts, I force them into giving me Oporto, so breaking the land connection with Asturias. Phew. I can't stop Catalunya getting Aragon, though. 1520 sees my alliance with Algiers wrecked by them becoming a vassal of the Ottomans by an event, just as I was finally in a position to vassalise them myself. Bah. So instead, I send a couple of insults and join an alliance with Songhai and Morocco to attack them and grab Murcia. I also start the long slow process of building a fleet large enough to do the unthinkable and actually beat the Portuguese in a colonial war, hopefully with the assistance of some Muslim countries in the Far East I've just discovered, but that will be a very long process. The Algarve converts to Sunni.

 

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Is anybody still reading this? On we go...

Ahmed I 1527-1540

As they walked between the columns, the older man said, "Watch and listen, my son. You will soon discover why King Ahmed has the fame he does. He is as cunning as the fox."
"But the Sultan of Fez and Morocco is also a clever man," said the younger.
"The Sultan is trapped," the older man said, "his majesty has out-manoeuvered him in this matter... consider the gifts he has sent, for instance."
"He has presented the Sultan with many gifts," the other replied, "and even built him two new mansions. Is this simply bribery? Flattery?"
"Oh no, it is much more than that," continued the elder of the two, "consider, for instance the nature of the gifts and the location of the mansions. The Lilac Palace, where is that?"
"In Fez. It looks over the Madrassah..."
"And the other is by contrast in a pretty location, far from any city. So: the Sultan, when he resides in the former is either reminded of his failings as Commander of the Faithful, or he tends to become overly concerned with matters of religion. When he resides in the latter, he feels at peace, but is removed from matters of state, cannot react to events as quickly as he should." He smiled.
"As to the gifts, they are mainly furniture of superb craftsmanship. Granada is wealthier and has more skilled men than Morocco. What is more, they were made for specific locations in the Sultan's main palace. Do you see? Whenever a visitor arrives to see the Sultan, he admires his surroundings and asks about the provenance of the most beautiful artefact he sees. He is told each time it is a gift from the King of Granada. The Sultan begins to look as if he has little but what Granada gives him. Now we come to the present situation: things are not going well for the Sultan at present. He has called on his friend, Ahmed, our king and been sent guards and advisors to help him out. Before long, appearance will become reality and the Sultan will have little power even in his own realm. Watch and listen."

Whereas his father Muhammad had inherited the throne while still young, Ahmed I was already a man in his forties by the time of his accession. He had lived abroad and been sent as an emissary on more than one occasion and had thus gained a reputation as a competent diplomat. He used his skill at negotiation in three spheres; he was able to provoke war between the Ottoman Empire and his Christian neighbours, curtail the influence of religious leaders at home and exploit dynastic upheavals in Morocco so as to be able to effectively reduce the kingdom to vassal status. In administration, however, he was less successful and when Ahmed died in 1540 both Muslim and Christian nobles clearly enjoyed more power and privileges than they had done under his father.

Ahmed is the last historical figure, by the way - the son of Muhammad "Boabdil". He has a good diplo rating, so I decide to use him mainly to bribe and then vassalise Morocco. Having got up to Land 9, all investment is now being put in Naval so as to start getting random explorers. A useful Exceptional Year event hits in 1530 reducing the inflation which had crept up and up because of the gold from Toledo. Meanwhile the Ottomans go to war with Valencia for some reason, stamp about all over Northern Spain and then capture Lisbon (in spite of what the history above says, this had nothing to do with me). Catalunya also declares war on Castile and the rest of the Iberian penninsula is tearing itself to pieces again. Tut tut. Portugal is now silly: they are really a one province minor but because they have colonial cities all over the map nobody can really hurt them. I script an event which turns over land the BP AI gave them back to the original owners if they don't control Lisbon. The 1530s are spent bribing Morocco, building spurious armies and waiting for them to get a stab hit or court scandal in order to vassalise them before diplomatic Ahmed dies and warlike Yusuf takes over. I also watch the Ottomans get lots of money from Portugal and then get kicked out of Spain by a rather large army from Asturias. Ahmed's reign is otherwise rather quiet and uneventful. I slide up one place towards Innovative but unfortunately get non-enforced ordinances - grr!

 

[unmerged(21523)]

Sounds like an interesting game, with Christian Iberia dissolving into lots of mini-states. Colonial war with the Portuguese could be extremely fun...

 

[unmerged(20077)]

Portugal is weird. It now controls only Lisbon plus its colonial cities, and is more like some trans-Atlantic state than a real Portugal. Its African colonies are fortified, though, so it would be a slow process getting a decent war score.

 

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Yusuf V 1540-1574

As the king of Granada stood overlooking the view of the Moroccan city of Marrakech, a man entered the room and bowed.
"Majesty, it has been God's will that today the Sultan Muhammad has at last expired."
Yusuf, the king, turned from his vista and nodded.
"What of his son, Abd'Allah, is he with his father?"
"Not yet, your majesty."
"That is good news for our cause," said Yusuf, "since it is rather important that the son does not learn of his father's death before we do. He might decide to do something."
"Such as proclaim himself Sultan of Fez and Morocco?" the other man asked.
"Yes, indeed," said the King, "and that might come to include dismissing and appointing his own ministers, in spite of our wishes. That must not be. Rather, we will strengthen the ties between Granada and Morocco."
"You will be Sultan yourself, as we planned?"
"God willing, yes, I shall," replied Yusuf to his companion, "while Abd'Allah will be sent away to Granada, where I can keep my eye on him," he added with a smile.
"There are those," the other said, "Who say that you should now also be Caliph..."
"Caliph!" growled Yusuf, "That is a title I do not claim and do not want. Remember that there is also another Caliph, although we do not pay heed to the claim, the Sultan in Constantinople has the title. Better to remain silent on this matter than give the Turkish Sultan - whose armies, let us not forget, are only a few days march from here - reason to attack us. I will not claim Morocco only to see it taken from me!"
The king turned to the window again.
"However," he continued, "This Abd'Allah is by good accounts a descendant of the Prophet, peace be upon him... that cannot go unrecognised. Now, he has a brother, who therefore is of the same line. While Abd'Allah resides with me, the younger son will stay in Fez as Commander of the Faithful, in the purely religious sense, in this part of the world. He will have no authority in Al Andalus, of course..."
"Your majesty is most wise..."

Yusuf V had not been expected to inherit the throne at all, but his older brothers Ismail and Muhammad had both drowned at sea in 1538. Yusuf was not a man like his father in character: he had a fiery temper and preferred directness to diplomacy. He liked the idea of building a colonial empire overseas and to that end encouraged the creation of larger and more modern fleet of ocean going ships rather than galleys. He oversaw the first permanent settlments in the Caribbean on the island of Antigua. Yusuf's military skill was soon put to the test first by rebellion in Toledo and then as the Armies of Asturias and Catalunya attacked his vassals in Castile once again. Granada's intervention provoked Portugal into joining the war, but in spite of Asturias' triumph over a joint Castilian and Granadan army at the battle of Alba de Tormes the Granadans again besieged and captured Lisbon, taking prisoner and ransoming the Portuguese king before ravaging Asturias and inflicting a crushing defeat at Gondomar where an attempted siege of Porto was broken. In the end, Asturias had to settle for the cession of the remaining Castilian possessions in the former kingdom of Navarre and Yusuf had effectively stamped his authority on the whole Iberian penninsula.
The Sultan of Morocco, Muhammad, had been badly wounded fighting the Portuguese enabling Yusuf to proclaim himself regent while he recovered. He never did recover, however, and with his death in Yusuf sidestepped his son Abd 'Allah and with government already in Granadan hands proclaimed the Sultanates of Fez and Morocco to be his. Abd 'Allah had too few supporters to resist. It is from this point, with Granada in control of both sides of the Straits and the whole coast as far as Senegal that the port of Tangiers began to assume such importance. This, coupled with Granadan expansion in the Carribean and Yusuf Ranaba's exploration of the Gulf of Mexico, saw the kingdom begin to seriously compete with Christian Europe in the opening of the Americas.
The New World was to occupy Yusuf for much of the rest of his reign. Relgious unrest surrounding the Amir in Fez culminated in uprisings in Fez and further south. The religious establishment felt its power undermined and this coincided with reports from explorers concerning the Aztecs' extensive practice of Human sacrifice. In 1562, they joined in with the King in proclaiming a jihad against the Aztecs. The war involved the transport of large numbers of troops, no small number of whom never saw the Americas, over the Atlantic for the first time. It has to be said that Aztec gold may well also have played its part in motivating the expedition, and it was rumoured that some of the invaders were not even Muslims but mercenaries from Castile. Although the Aztec Emperor, Chalchiuhcuahtzin, had a large army at his disposal, they were no match for the forces of Granada, having had no experience of fighting against muskets, cannons and cavalry. After eight years of campaigning, during which Yusuf Ranaba was captured and killed, the Muslim army made its way into the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, captured Chalchiuhcuauhtzin and executed him on the great pyramid temple before demolishing it and building a mosque on the ruins. A convert to Islam, Huemac Abd ar-Rasul, was installed as the new Emperor. The remainder of Yusuf's reign was concerned with foreign matters and the suppression of a revolt in Marrakech.

With my first and not too spectacular fantasy monarch, I get Enthusiasm for the Navy while in the East the Sultan becomes 'Khalifa' and takes Azerbaijan from a frankly quite pathetic Persia. On the fifth(!) attempt I plant a trader in Antigua after someone (presumably Portugal) has helpfully killed all the natives. Investment in Naval technology continues and I'm able to upgrade to a colony shortly after - the game suggests the wonderful name of "New The Canary Islands" for this settlement. It's all going well until 1548 when once again Asturias and Catalunya decide they're going to carve up Castille. Asturias now has rather a large army and can do it. They capture Navarra and besiege Leon and the Catalans threaten Madrid itself. I can't let this happen, and reluctantly I declare on Navarre. Portugal does its usual trick of burning down a couple of my trading posts before I capture Lisbon and force them to give me some money. I try to help Castille kick Asturias' army out of Leon but just as we seem to be winning we lose instead and the Province falls. The survivors join with the rest of Asturias' forces to try and capture Porto while I besiege Asturias and the Castillians recapture Leon just in time - the Catalans are about to take Madrid. Before that can happen I take Asturias and immediately combine all my armies against the besiegers in Porto - they are victorious and I now persue the defeated army to reduce it further and inflict another defeat. Asturias offers me money which I accept. Castille now looks able to defend itself and signs a peace whereby only Navarra is lost. At then end of the war I annex Morocco - I didn't think it would work! Next I must slide the Centralisation slider back up. I reach Naval 11 and then get a Conquistador. Instead of the CoT in Andalusia Spain would get, I script in one in Tangiers. The next slider move will hopefully be one place naval, to increase the flow of colonists and wealth from North Africa. First there are rebels to deal with in Morocco.
When I decide to do something significant next, it's a long hard slog against the Aztecs. They have a large army, even though it always runs away in the end. I finally get the 60% warscore I wanted, and demand 100d plus religious conversion. Some may think I should have gone for the 435d they offered instead...
As I get to the end of Yusuf's reign, Castile finds itself at war and takes territory from Asturias before being attacked by Catalunya again. I'm forced to leave my alliance with Tunisia, since they've invited loads of weird countries into it and I'm being asked to fight against The Mughals. I try a new alliance with Mesopotamia and the Uzbeks, but before long, Mesopotamia dishonours and I end up having to pay indemnities to the Kazakh Horde. I can't see the Kazakhs and yet I'm paying them money! Can you imagine the conversation:
Uzbek Envoy: I'm afraid I'm here with bad news. We lost the war and the Kazakhs are demanding gold from us...
Yusuf V: How much?
UE: 125 sacks of gold... so Granada's share will be...
Yusuf V: Hang on, we've never heard of the Kazakhs and we're sending them money?
UE: Well I'm afraid they proved more than a match for us, so to fulfil your obligations...
Yusuf V: Are you absolutely sure there are such people as the Kazakhs? It seems to me we have a lot of gold and western sugar, whereas your assets consist mainly of sheep...
Yusuf dies before the next useless war.

 

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Well, in spite of nobody reading, I feel I ought to carry on. Here we go again with:

Muhammad XIII 1574-1596

As a small crowd gathered in the village, a ragged looking man with a brutish cast to his face was being dragged forward by two soldiers to face Wahid Ali Nadjaf, commander of the royal army sent out to restore order in the region. The commander was inspecting numerous objects of varying value laid out before him.
"On your knees!" said one of the guards as they forced the man forward.
"Let him stand, if he still can," said Nadjaf, raising a hand.
He again looked over the piled up objects. For some reason, his eyes were drawn to a very small ornamented box.
"Where did you steal this?" he said to the prisoner.
"I did not steal it, I swear on the Holy Quran I did not steal it... it was a gift from my beloved father. On his deathbed..."
Suddenly a Christian woman emerged from the crowd.
"Liar! She shouted, "You stole it from me!"
She turned to Wahid Ali.
"He and his men came into our house and robbed us, then they burned down the house and took our son away to be sold as a slave! I begged him not to steal the box, because in it was a lock of hair from my daughter who died of a fever, only last year! But he only laughed..."
"Do not listen to the infidel!" said the prisoner, but he was silenced by a guard's hand over his mouth.
The commander opened the little box. Inside was a lock of hair, the same chestnut brown colour as the woman's.
"Take the dog away to be judged!" he said grimly.
As the two soldiers dragged the bandit away, he held out the box in the palm of his hand, returning it to the woman who had spoken out.

The reign of Muhammad XIII is noted first of all for a decisive war against Benin and their Ashanti allies in the South which triggered an Islamic revival in Africa and also for religious troubles at home.
On the kingdom's southern border Benin, a pagan kingdom, had been expanding. It had already absorbed the once powerful state of Songhai and in 1575 it moved against weakened Mali, overrunning and conquering it. The deposed king Mamadu escaped and fled on board a trading ship to Granada where he appealed to Muhammad XIII for aid against the unbelievers in restoring him. Remembering the success of the Aztec campaign, Muhammad sought the support of various religious scholars and a new jihad was proclaimed against Benin. Although at first heavily outnumbered, the army of mujaheddin scored some spectacular successes, most notably at the battle of Ain Harr where an army of only a few hundred defeated over nine thousand soldiers from Benin. These victories caused the Ashanti armies to turn back and play no further part in the war, instead sending gifts to the Granadan commanders. The heartland of Mali was soon back in Muslim hands. A second force advanced down the caravan route and captured Timbuktu, Gao and Say so that it appeared Benin might be overrun until the kingdom rallied and won a crushing victory at the battle of Sarro. Abandoning any idea of complete conquest, the invaders were satisfied with restoring Mamadu to the throne of Mali as a client of Granada: however, the balance of power had shifted and soon a restored Songhai was to tear away the Muslim North from Benin's control.
At home the proclamation of the jihad caused trouble as the governor of Qurtabah attempted to use it as justification for trying to expel Christians and Jews from the city, which provoked his assassination. This in turn led to the raising of what was ostensibly a Muslim army being raised but what was in reality simply gangs of bandits ranging the countryside looting, mainly from Christians and Jews in the locality. They grew large enough to resist the royal army for several months before their final defeat. Eight years later there was an uprising again, this time of Christians who feared more attacks. The rebels appealed in vain to Valencia for help but were swiftly defeated at the battle of al Muradil.


First of all I have to join another stupid war with Russia... no doubt I'll have to cough up even more indemnities as they crush Sibir without really trying. Bah. I need new and better allies. I send endless diplomats to Russia, but to no avail. They reject everything and inevitably beat up my allies. I'm only too pleased to dishonour the alliance when they decide to go to war with another distant bunch of nobodies. Down south, Benin annexes sometimes Muslim Mali and I decide they're getting too big. I send some troops down to give them a good kicking and restore the independence of Mali - well, sort of independence. I thought I was going to completely crush Benin until a rather large army appears and totally annihilates a big chunk of my forces. Once this is done I settle down to accumulate the money needed for a Royal Shipyard so colonisation can get seriously underway and engage in one of my favourite pastimes: watching Christian Spain tear itself to bits again. This time the Catalans seriously beat up Castile, taking Asturias and Cantabria which the Castilians had earlier taken from Asturias. Valencia, though, doesn't like this and promptly cancels their vassalisation with Catalunya. Elsewhere the Americans are fighting and the Ottomans take Bosnia and Croatia after defeating Austria and Ragusa while England reduces Scotland to a one province vassal. The shipyard finally gets built in 1590 and the remainder of Muhammad XIII's reign is spent slowly colonising the West Indies and watching wars that I'm not involved in. There are also a couple of Religious Turmoil revolts in Toledo. Songhai revolts away from Benin.

 

[unmerged(20077)]

Here's a map of Spain and Portugal as it would have been in the game. I worked for hours on this map and I want comments dammit!

Political Changes in the Iberian Penninsula in the 15th & 16th Centuries

 

[Lurken]

Great work!

 

[tkorsvold]

Good job!

Great AAR!

Keep up the good work.

Thorstein

Here's a map of Spain and Portugal as it would have been in the game. I worked for hours on this map and I want comments dammit!

Political Changes in the Iberian Penninsula in the 15th & 16th Centuries