Chapter 9: The Somali Wars
1544-1562
Using the new maps that were drafted during the East African Expeditions, the Tumbuka council found that they could much better identify opportunities for expansion. On the far northern border was the Sultanate of Warsangli; lacking in allies, except for the small kingdom of Ethiopia, and greatly weakened from their long feuds with the Ajuuran. Within two months, Tumbuka had massed its armies on the border and declared war.
Because of the religious differences between Tumbuka and Warsangli, the clergymen of Tumbuka were able to justify the war somewhat to the common people as a holy war. Some priests said it was because the muslims forcefully prosthetylized our peoples and must be stopped, but whatever reason was used, the council found that the support of the peoples and a justification of holy war made it much easier to demand extensive concessions without seeming unjust.
By 1546, the war was nearing its conclusion and revolts began springing up throughout Warsangli as the nation began to collapse. As King Bwati prepared to draft the peace treaty, he received an invitation from the Malik of Mogadishu, Abdikarim I Muzaffar of Mogadishu (2/4/3), who was seeking an audience with him.
King Bwati accepts the invitation by the Malik. Before departing, the King first attends to an important matter; it seems that the call to a holy war had led to a number of defectors from Warsangli joining Tumbuka because of their prosecution under the old ruler. These men had a similar faith to that of Tumbuka, but it was full of strange superstitions and traditions that the head clergymen were worried would corrupt the national faith, and the men should be reformed to follow the national faith perfectly. Bwati supported this decision fully.
Later, as Bwati arrived at the Malik’s court to find himself the guest of a grand banquet, a performance, and various sorts of tributes to his greatness. No doubt all this is so as to sway the king into choosing to allow the tiny nation of Mogadishu to remain independent. The Malik himself is a very strange man; he was the perfect host through most of the evening, and yet casually made remarks that he would love to take Pate and some of the borders regions in Tumbuka should he have the chance. The courtiers would make knowing glances when this occurred, and it was obvious that these outbursts were related to some condition. It is unfathomable how one would otherwise act this way if they worried of insulting the guest and risking retaliation. A strange combination of militarist and diplomat, seemed to drift in and out of sanity at times; this was the Malik. And yet, King Bwati took pity on the man and his Kingdom. There was no need to completely annex this realm when Tumbuka would already have its hands full integrating the Warsangli lands. Perhaps he should allow this strange man and his lands freedom until some future time.
But King Bwati never made it back to Tumbuka. He died during his return journey under mysterious circomstances, and while Bwati was 73 years of age at the time, most peoples did not accept that the death was age related. Perhaps it was inevitable, but blame came to fall on the Mogadishu as the cause of the King’s demise, and their fate was sealed after that. Even as the new Tumbuka ruler, King Gonapamunya al-Muwahib took the throne and signed the peace treaty between Warsangli and Tumbuka, he readied the armies for a second war into Mogadishu.
As King Gonapamunya signs a peace treaty, Tumbuka sees itself gain control of the regions of Hafun, Qardho, Garoowe, Togdheer, Werder, Galkayo, El Buur, Hobyo, Meregh, Beledweyne,Merca, Barawa and Kismayo.
‘It does not truly matter whether or not King Bwati was murdered or he died in an accident. What matters is that people believe it was murder; this matters because it gives me a valid reason for war that people will rally behind. None will care when Mogadishu burns. In fact, this is what must be done. I can not tolerate a tiny, insignificant state to exist that calls into question my absolute divine will, for I am the one who will unite the tribes and peoples around Tumbuka under one nation and make all remember my legacy.’
- King Gonapamunya I al-Mawahib (5/2/5) (age 31)
-Authoritarian, Explorer, Militarist
King Gonapamunya decides to forgo the traditional corronation ceremonies so that he does not need to make a long march back to the capital at Tumbuka. He declares war on the Malikate of Mogadishu and will settle for nothing less than complete annexation. As the seiges drag on, Gonapamunya sends envoys back to the capital with large chests of gold; he pays the senior advisors to retire immediately and uses the remaining funds to restructure the council, with the leading advisors being focused on theology, diplomacy and the training of large scale armies. All of these will help in preventing rebellions in the newly aquired provinces, gaining more requests for the ongoing conflicts and keeping diplomatic alliance options available in case it is needed.
The King decides that even a prominent theologan is not sufficient to deal with bringing all the new regions under full control quickly enough, and he passes the ‘wandering shamans’ act (+2% national conversion strength at cost of 50 ADM) which encourages prosthetylization to the national faith in less developed regions.
1548: After the wars
As the Malikate of Mogadishu is overwhelmed and forced into accepting unconditional surrender, King Gonapamunya notices how badly his nation is being strained by the post war occupation and integration process (99% overextension, over 2 war exhaustion, rebel risk rising quickly). Even as he focuses the nation’s resources and his administrative skills toward integration, the King also formally rivals the Sharifate of Hejaz, the Kingdom of Congo and the Chiefdom of Sakalava and considers further military expansion.
In 1550, amid several revolts (22,000 men in Mogadishu and 7,000 in Galkoye, while nation army remains at 18,000) a minor relief and celebration occurs as the nation hears that an heir has been born. He is named Chilongozi al-Mawahib, and will surely become a great ruler like those before him.
As the King begins increasing the expansion projects into neighboring tribal regions, expeditures rise and the nation scales back adminstrative advisors and hires a renowned innovator to increase national efficiency. This seems to pay back yields as a monoply company is formed and allows the country to continue to finance the expensive border territory expansion projects. One and a half year later, a King Gonapamunya has a second son.
King Gonapamunya grows increasingly disappointed as years pass and yet he fails to see opportunities for military expansion against Tumbuka’s three rivals. Sakalava was an island with a far superior fleet which made landing impossible (he had invaded in 1552 and had not gained any territory after a two year war, forcing him to white peace), there remained immense uncontrolled land between Tumbuka and the Kingdom of Congo so invasions there were obviously impossible, and the Hejazi empire to the north remained strong and unmoving. Nonetheless, the King was preparing for his next war, as Tumbuka had gained control of four new regions through colonial expansion the last decade from 1548 to 1558. The region of Muhambwe, one of the new acquisitions, now provided a land border with the great lakes nations of Rwanda and Karagwe, which were rich and unlikely to be able to resist Tumbuka incursions.
In the spring of 1559, King Gonapamunya’s wishes of seeing war were answered, but not in the way he expected, as an emissary arrived in the capital from the north.
Hejaz and Najd, led respectively by Sharif Nami Hawashim (age 15) (6/3/5) and Sultan Musa Yaruba (age 46) (5/6/6) were both confident enough that they were in a strong enough position to demand a number of the somali territories of Tumbuka and had resorted to war. King Gonapamunya rushed to recall his armies from the Great Lakes borders to mass up near Mogadishu further north. Tumbuka had only two key forts; one at Mozambique on the coast which could be supplied by ship (as Tumbuka slightly had a naval edge of 30 ships to 28 ships) and the one at the capital, which was far inland. This meant that it would take a long time for the arab armies to make the long trecks toward the capital, so there was ample time to recruit mercenary armies and ambush any small enemy forces which were vulnerable as the enemy advanced and engaged several times with armies. King Gonapamunya granted the nobles the right to select a commander amongst themselves to lead the new army. The old commander Bwati Karonga (2/0/1/0) stepped down while Chunzo Ayao (2/0/0/2) took command.
Moving the new cannon regiments to the front lines takes a while longer than expected, so we pull back to Lamu. It is unfortunate that our Kazembe ally does not receive the fallback orders in time and is defeated at El Buur by opposing general Abdullah Surur.
The enemy splits up and we strike at Kismayo the enemy army which is only half our size. We take heavier casualties however. We shortly after win a battle at Merca and quickly advance our force. Seeing as Ayao was a masterful seige commander, we decided that stopping our engagements with the enemy and then beseiging their three main forts would allow us to quicky gain an edge. Our superior navy meant it might be possible to block the straits at the Gulf of Aden and isolate and cut off the oposing armies, and the mountainous terrain in all three of the enemy fort regions means that our seige army should be able to defend itself if it is attacked.
While the plan initially goes well and we are able to seige down the coastal fort at Zeila, the enemy does not attempt to harass our forces and instead likewise goes after our capital fort. We are forced to engage their forces on flat ground to force them away with battles at Tumbuka, Pate and then a third time at Kinga.
By 1562, we have pushed the enemy back enough that we can sue for a favourable peace agreement. Both parties are eager for peace, and war exhaustion among all four member nations is over 5, but Tumbuka is able to force the concession of four border provinces.
Knowing that another war in this region is likely, King Gonapamunya does not attempt to integrate these regions, but organizes and releases the regions as the vassel of Harer so that the new vassel will construct its own forts and field its own armies to aid Tumbuka in future regional conflicts. To the south, Kazembe is faring badly from war exhaustion as a direct result of assisting us in our war. It is uncertain what King Gonapamunya would do not that the greatest threat to the north was temporarily neutralized; would the King let the nation enjoy a bout of peace or would he seek immediate expansion into the Great Lakes nations as he was planning before the war? Now it was not only a few tribes, but half of Africa and the whole of the Arabian Gulf which watched intently the moves of the growing Tumbaka empire to see what its next move would be.
