The Substance of Power: A Tuscan AAR

[RossN]

For you guys who have been wondering, this is the situation in Europe now (1660's).

Above: Western Europe 1660

Above: Eastern Europe 1660

 

[King of Men]

Glad to see Sweden has got what it deserves at the hands of the Danes and Norwegians. Unusual to see Norway independent so late, though. What is the grey where France ought to be?

 

[RossN]

Dauphine.

I wonder which people are more bewildered by: the implosion of France or the recreation of the Eastern Roman Empire? :wacko:

 

[stnylan]

OK, some moderately bizarre things going on in western Europe. And is that Russia in northern Sweden?

Mmm, it strikes me that although we've focused on the Turks alot, and rightly so, there is another nation that needs to be broken to the Imperial yoke. Venice. Can I hope?

 

[J. Passepartout]

Rather strange maps... I see Tuscany got annexed.

Good reign, and good to see that the next king is not also a minor. With Louis VIV reigning so long, he got to the point where his kids died and his five year old grandson inherited.

 

[unmerged(35685)]

An Austria-Poland?? And does France still exist?

 

[Specialist290]

I must ask--who the heck is the yellow in Prussia? :wacko:

As for an analysis of the rest of the map: Lithuania is still independent, but Poland seems to have compensated by annexing Hungary instead; I fosee a bunch of wars between them and Austria. Austria and Burgundy appear to have carved up Germany between themselves, with Bavaria and Oldenburg appearing to profit somewhat, while Pomerania, strangely, seems to have remained independent ( :wacko: ), along with, of all places, Bremen (who, in my experience, usually get eaten pretty quickly by Denmark). Spain seems to have somehow "eaten" the English inheritance in France, leaving Burgundy and Dauphine to feud over the rest and leaving France to join Germany and Italy as "a geographical expression" while the Netherlands seems to be barely hanging on in the face of a Dutch Burgundy. Venice and Spain dominate Italy, having reduced the Pope to the territory immediately surrounding Rome, while Venice appears to have inherited Genoa's Black Sea ambitions. North Africa seems to have been the victim of an Iberian conquista, though Morocco appears to be profiting from their neighbors' demise. (Is that gray in Kabylia Dauphine or the Pope?) In the east, as mentioned by others previously, Denmark, Norway and Russia appear to be reducing Sweden pretty well, with the help of... Oldenburg? Courland? A few gray spots in Russia as well, and Ryazan is independent, but it seems as though the Russian state itself has consolidated the north fairly well, while the south appears to be some sort of "shatter belt."

All in all, that must be one fine mess Europe has gotten itself into.

 

[Fiftypence]

Francisco certainly deserves the title "the Great". And Europe is looking pretty messed up, especially France!

 

[stnylan]

I think that gold in Prussia must be Spain.

 

[RossN]

stnylan: Ohh... Well I kinda want to finish off the Turks first. Venice is allied with Spain and Austria so I'll need a secure hinterland to face them.

J. Passepartout: Yes... Actually they got annexed by Milan first, which was then absorbed by Venice. Guess the Medici's misjudged a few financial deals...

prussiablue: No. The 'legitimate' line still rules Dauphine, but France the nation is non existant.

Specialist290: The yellow in Prussia is Spain (!), the grey in Germany is Courland and I believe it is Dauphine in Africa. A mess indeed! :wacko:

Fiftypence: Thanks, and yeah. What happened there anyway?

Above: Alexander I, Basileos Rhomaion, 1671​

Part 38

Alexander the First had not been in Constantinople during the last years of his father's reign. He had been Exarch of Syria (and later Jordan and Arabia) since 1660 where he had aqquired first hand experience of the new and varied peoples of his patrimony. An efficent and popular administrator he had quickly aqquainted the conquered population to their new status as Romioi. If anything it was the court politics of Greek Constantinople that took the most getting used to the Emperor - since 1653 the centre of gravity of the empire had moved east, even if some of the elite of the Golden Horn had yet to realize it.

A pious, sombre minded man, prematurely aged and taken to moments of introspective melancholy Alexander was quite unlike his giant father in personality and certainly less energetic. Possibly some of his quiet saddness was simply due to knowing he would always be in Francesco's shadow. There is a reason great sons rarely follow great fathers and, classically educated, Alexander could hardly forget the fates of young Gauis Marius and Caesarion and would have been less than human if it did not have an affect on him.

Yet the business of Rōmanía was war and of the House of Falconi-Falieri conquest a specialty. After five years of peace war once again broke out between Sultan and Emperor, and in the Spring of 1670 Alexander marched south in search of history...

Once upon a time there had been a great ruler who come from out of the south to the city of Jerusalem and having accepted it's submission had gone to pray in its holy places. Now 1,033 years later another great ruler came from the west to seek the subimission of the Holy City and offer prayer within it's walls. On 5th September 1671 Jerusalem surrendered without a fight to the Emperor. Recalling the centuries dead Umar Alexander spared the apprehensive population and having promised to allow the Jews and Moslems continued residence in the city. Then he went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and, dismissing his guards and attendants spent the night alone in the Church in prayer.

Many legends have grown up over the years as to what, if anything, transpired during Alexander's lonely vigil but he never spoke of what happened that night. Though every year he returned on the same date to the Church to pray once more and... well that is where only legend can step in and provide what answers it must.

The war rolled on as the Ottomans continued to falter. The following year Medina itself, second city of Islam fell to Sulayman ibn Zayd, an Arab Moslem from Aleppo and loyal general of Alexander I of Constantinople. The Emperor was no fool indeed and he had wish to show that Moslems - even of Medina - could live as men and subjects under a Christian Emperor.

Eventually the wretched Sultan was brought to heel. The peace treaty of 12th September 1673 saw not just Jerusalem and Medina, but Lebanon, Samaria Sinai pass to Alexander. From somewhere Alexander had accquired a sense of humour: the official treaty was addressed to the Caliph rather than the Sultan - a none too subtle reminder that Damascus and Medina now lay far from Turkish control and more Moslems paid tribute to Constantinople than to Bursa...

Above: Basileía Rōmaíōn, 1673​

 

[J. Passepartout]

How much does it cost to convert Medina? I would do that as Emperor just to annoy the Moslem world.

And I want to know about those legends.

 

[Fiftypence]

Fabulous conquest. Alexander isn't doing a bad job of following in his father's footsteps at all.

 

[stnylan]

Not a bad job at all. Two more wars to finish them off?

 

[Specialist290]

If anything, I think Alexander is going to be remembered throughout all Christendom as the man who retook Jerusalem. Not too shabby performance elsewhere, either.

I agree with stnylan, in a way. Once you polish off the Ottomans, take Venice down a peg and "liberate" the Falconi homeland!

 

[unmerged(28944)]

Okay, first I gotta say, DAMN! Francesco just deserves his title. That was one helluva reign.

Second, despite history, I'm thinking Alexander just might not come off so shabby in respect to his dear ol' dad after all, eh?

Third, Dear God and all the Saints above, what an... interesting Western Europe we have going on. No France and Spain in Germany? I guess miracles still happen.


Now... when is Venice going to find out that the Empire's memory is quite long, and that the Empire believes, as a Sicilian does, that revenge is truly best served cold?

 

[RossN]

J. Passepartout: Heh, it's not so much the coast as the chance. Still maybe a thought for later...

Fiftypence: No, guess not!

stnylan: A bit omptimistic I fear - the Ottomans are stubborn!

Specialist290: Hmm, well in time we'll see.

Draco Rexus: The Sicilians and the Klingons... Soonish though.

Above: 2nd Battle of Trabzon, 3-4th June 1679 ​

Part 39

The accquisition of Medina had left Rōmanía bordering Yemen. The Arabian kingdom had not had a great relationship with Constantinople - in fact the Iman of Yemen and the Ottoman Sultan had been allies more often than not - though by 1674 the two had quarreled sufficently that no official alliance existed. Imperial generals wanted to go to war at once to finish off this dangerous glorified sheikdom that had so often backed the hated enemy. The Empire even held a claim on Mecca itself - the annexation of which would destroy forever the claims of the Sultan to the Caliphate.

Alexander declared war on Yemen in June 1674, anxious to move quickly. However the millitary build up took longer than anticipated and by January the first troops had yet to even reach the Medina/Mecca border when the Ottomans joined Yemen's alliance and the Emperor was forced to turn his armies around to face the old enemy. It was a huge blow: the entire reason Alexander had gone to war was to knock out Yemen to prevent another alliance with the Ottomans. Now just two years after the peace treaty he found himself facing a two front war.

Perhaps suprisingly it was Yemen rather than the arthritic Ottomans who provided the most ferocious opposition. The Iman's forces (temporarily) overran Medina - a propaganda blow that sent the Empire reeling - marched all the way into Asia Minor and actually besieged Angora and Kolchiss. Notably the Yemenese had adopted the arquebus and caliver: not as advanced as the flintlock muskets the Romioi used which where as good as any in Europe, but still far ahead of the lagging Ottoman armies which had scarcely changed in two centuries.

The Ottomans had clealy not been ready for war so soon - by 1679 they had collapsed everywhere in Egypt and western Asia Minor and where reduced to relying on Yemen as they painfully rebuilt in the Caucuses. The seperate peace treaty they signed with Alexander that surrendered Trabazon and Kastamon to the empire was, all else considered, extremely lenient: had Alexander's troops not been needed desperately elsewhere things might have gone differently. As it was the House of Osman limped off in four seperate pieces.

The war with Yemen dragged on until June 1683. Slowly, agonisingly the Romans won back land lost to the Iman's armies and at finally fought back to the borders of 1674. At which point an exhausted Constantinople agreed to Yemen's ofer of money for peace. The siege of Mecca would have required it was estimated at least 15,000 men, a hideous exercise in the desert facing constant attack from Yemen. Besides which a decade of war had utterly exhausted the Empire: between 1670 and 1683 the Romioi had known only one year of peace. The people where sick of war: revolts broke out in Cataract and Rumelia. It was time for peace.

The war had not gone exactly as Alexander and his court may have wished but it had not been a total failure. Constantinople now had a healthy respect for the Yemenese. The Ottomans had been further humiliated and Kolchis, an Imperial possession since 1518 had after a mere 161 years been linked with the greater Empire.

Above: Basileía Rōmaíōn, 1683 ​

 

[RossN]

Oh, usually I prefer the full colour map but unfortunatly there are two (!) purple countries next door: Fars and the Mughal Empire. :wacko:

Still:

 

[J. Passepartout]

So Mecca was playing hard to get? That is too bad, but you got to beat up the Ottomans.

 

[Specialist290]

Very nice. The old empire is gradually taking shape once more.

Too bad you didn't take Mecca, but at least Yemen now knows that the Byzantines are once again a force to be reckoned with. Also nice to see you have the Ottoman capital isolated, even if you still have a few more wars yet before you can totally annex them.

And before I forget, how are things looking in the New World?

 

[stnylan]

A little optimistic true - those Yemenis were made of stern stuff! Egypt must surely be the next target.