24
The last road to al-Andalus
1705-1715
The new flag flies over al-Andalus, the troops ready to welcome the blue tide...
And for two years that is pretty much what the war is about,
welcoming, as my armies don't set foot on French territory other than the Baleares and Ulster. Repelling the French and letting their WE go up as I blockade them is my only goal. Prussia and Pommerania both join France but they don't send any significant forces to Iberia. The Prussians do send 15,000 men to invade Astrakhan, but the Astrakhanis sign a white peace before much happens.
I pay a visit to some of the French colonies, only to discover the ridiculous amount of regiments they have overseas
It seems Louis XVII and 35,000 sons of St Louis are spending a nice holiday in the east coast of India. My fleet will make sure they stay there on permanent leave
I'm very glad I invested in a few Reformed Tercios and Line Infantry regiments in my Castillian/Aragonese cores. The difference is noticeable and exacerbated when you forget to assign a good leader in a major battle. This was fought with two thirds of Latin infantry and a 5-shock leader...
...while this was fought by a leaderless mix of Muslim infantry and cavalry...
The cavalry isn't top dog any more in the 18th century. The French AI is a bit cleverer (but not much) than what I've seen before: while they are besieging my level-4 forts surrounded by my armies they don't assault, and after 10-12 months of unsuccessful siege they retreat to French land to recover. Not good enough, however, after 2 years they've taken enough attrition and blockading to reach that point of no return in WE (no scorched earth needed)
Also in the first few months of war Naples DoWs me, having 3 cores in my provinces it was bound to happen. I divert some spare troops to Italy to deal with this, just enough WE to have them renounce to the cores is required, so the war is over in a year.
In September 1707 I get to government tech 33 and choose Regimental System as next NI to make sure I have much faster access to new regiments than the French even if my WE goes up, which it does as I start trying to push into the Pyrenees.
It's not until October 1708 that I finally defeat the main French army in Aragon, routed 3 months later in Bearn. That's 112 French regiments out of the game
The massive losses sustained by the French army in this battle have probably more to do with their poor choice of leader (Louis XVII must have been late teleporting from India).
After that France is prepared for peace, which I sign in April 1709 once I've occupied all the provinces I want: Baleares, Navarra, Pirineo and Girona. The provinces are rather cheap in WS terms, so I use the rest to demand the release of Tyrone, Deccan (in India) and the Inca Empire (this one mostly to reduce their ridiculously high Income from gold).
My WE has reached 5 towards the end of this war but it has been worth it: Iberia is French-free!
While I was at war Ethiopia and the Ottomans warned me... great opportunity to get Funj, recently diplo-annexed by the Ottomans. I DoW Fez -already guaranteed by the OE- in 1710, after the OE has been in a war with Austria for a year. Swahili is the enemy alliance leader.
Simultaneously I DoW Granada and Aragon (both guaranteed by Castille and Portugal), no point in waiting now that France is no longer a threat. Ethiopia is vassalised in a few months... Aragon is annexed... and so Granada becomes to last Christian Kingdom in al-Andalus to fall to a united Caliphate in March 1711
Fez cedes Marrakech and Figuig later in the year, but the Ottomans' level-4 forts in east Anatolia take another year and a half to fall. I'm only interested in Funj, but I take Georgia, Alania and Dagestan to sell back to Astrakhan, their former owner.
Swahili, Portugal and Castille sign separate white peaces eventually. And Astrakhan is more than happy to accept the three provinces, the Caucasus borders back to where they belong.
My first colony in Java, Priangan, becomes a city in 1714 as I establish a second one in Demak. And after two failed attempts I integrate Samarkand into the Caliphate in 1715.
That was the last of my goals, I could carry on diplo-annexing vassals but there is not much point in continuing past this point, the Caliphate has been attained in all its glory. Thanks everybody for reading and especially to all of you who commented and gave your suggestions, helping the Caliphate along the way. I will do a final update with maps and figures to close the AAR.
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Syria in 1715
Provinces: 158
At peace.
Allied with Algiers, Adal, Najd. CB on Najd, Yemen and Iraq.
Vassals: Najd, Oman, Algiers, Adal, Iraq, Ethiopia, Fez.
Stability: +3
BB: 9.05
Monarch: Caliph Saif II (3a/6m/8d)
Army: 216 (69/147/0)
Navy: 151 (102/3/4/42)
WE: 2.77
