First part of an AAR with the Ottoman Empire on Hard/Aggressive (and an autosave each year 
). The Ottomans have enemies in every direction (even their vassal, Wallachia, hates them), and their economy is mediocre at best. Fortunately, they have a strong military led by very good default leaders (3/1/1), and a casus belli against just about everybody in the neighborhood, so using that strength has no internal consequences.
I set myself two loose targets: First of all, I want to liberate all Sunni Muslims from under non-Sunni rule. If this means taking over all Sunni provinces, so be it; however, as long as e.g. Morocco is Sunni, I will leave them alone, unless they attack me. Second target is, of course, to crush all resistance in Europe and dominate the continent; colonizing the rest of the world will not be a priority.
HISTORY OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE:
THE REIGN OF SULTAN BAYEZID II (1492-1512)
A strong man is strong alone, but with strong friends, he is invincible. Our glorious Empire is strong; unfortunately, we have few friends worth noting but are surrounded by enemies, and the Sultan is unable to find good allies. Therefore, after marrying off one of his daughters to the Khan of Crimea, he settles on an alliance with Hejdaz – an alliance which, at least on the face of it, would provide us with very little help if the Mamelukes, those Shiite dogs, decided to attack us. While Hejdaz has a good strategic position for such a war – Jordan, their Northernmost province, is within striking distance of the Mameluke capital – they have almost no army.
Fortunately, Allah in His infinite wisdom has granted the Empire with plenty of muscle to flex. Furthermore, we have plenty of young men willing to sacrifice their lives in battle for the Faith and the Empire, and thus gain entrance to the eternal joy of Paradise. Even though these young men do not demand much gold for their services, economically the Empire is only a couple of steps from poverty. Improving provincial infrastructure is one way out of this, but the Sultan also sees another option – conquest.
The most obvious way to gain gold is to mine it in a gold mine, and Allah be praised, we have one right next to our borders, in the Persian province of Armenia. Noticing that our old foes are not a part of a significant alliance either, the Sultan starts preparing for war. Army groups are diverted from Thrace and the Balkans to our Eastern border, and more soldiers are recruited; we do not want to leave our European borders unguarded at any time. As we have seen and will see time and time again, Christians make good subjects, but untrustworthy rulers.
The Persian War (1496-1497)
The Persians, those misguided fanatics, are our old enemies, so the declaration of war on June 13th, 1496 is greeted with enthusiasm around the Empire. The war has two goals: to prove our dedication to Allah in battle, and to conquer Armenia in His honor. Armenia, of course, is not of the Faith, but we are certain Allah will understand us targeting them instead of our brothers in Kurdistan, if the gold mined in Armenia is spent on spreading the word of His Prophets.
The first move in the war is to send General Sinan and his troops – mostly of infantry and artillery – to Armenia, where he overwhelms the puny defense force and starts a siege. Persians send troops to Trabzon, but fortunately the army led by Prince Ibrahim (3/2/3) was already on its way there. Prince Ibrahim drives the Persians from our territories, and sets out to hunt the survivors as they flee over the border to Kurdistan. There he is met with not only the fleeing remains of those infidels who dared to violate Trabzon, but also another, much larger Persian army group apparently on its way to Armenia. In the ensuing battle Prince Ibrahim is victorious but suffers heavy casualties, and retreats back to Trabzon immediately after the victory. This had been our plan all along, as the Prince's army was not a siege force but a field army with infantry and cavalry in equal numbers; however, the severe losses are alarming and will hamper his ability to provide backup to General Sinan.
While Prince Ibrahim regroups, Persians send another army group to rescue Armenia. The group is no match for General Sinan and his troops, however. Armenia holds on through the winter, but cannot keep up the fight in the summer; the local garrison surrenders on July 9th, 1497, and six days later, the province changes hands in a peace treaty.
Ottoman noble families are duly impressed by our victories, and donate a tidy sum of 400 ducats to the treasury. The gold is spent on improving the fortifications along our Eastern border. Our faithful brothers in the royal houses of Irak and Algeria also see our success as what it really is, a blessing from Allah, and offer their daughters to the Sultan's harem, an offer which we are pleased to accept. We even invite Algeria to our military alliance; Irak is already allied with our age-old enemies, the Mamelukes, Venice, and Hungary, a fact which raises some eyebrows in the court, but is understandable, given their unfortunate position between Persia and the Mamelukes. Sometimes Allah tests our faith by making us choose between two equal evils.
The victorious heroes from Armenia are next stationed to our borders in the Balkans, ready for possible attacks by the infidel nations of Europe. They are also preparing for our next target: the Venetian province of Ragusa, with its new technological wonder, a shipping wharf. Even though we do not anticipate participating in naval battles in the eventual war with Venice, the Sultan appoints Admiral Daoud (4/2/2) as the leader of our navy.
The only problem with Venice is their alliance, which includes Hungary and the Mamelukes. However, as Allah does not look favorably upon cowards but rather blesses the swords of the courageous, we feel no fear; if He wishes us to fight them all at once, we shall fight them all at once. As one step in our way to another glorious victory, we raise a large field army and station it on the Mameluke border.
War on the Venetian Alliance (1501-1503)
War preparations come to an end in the spring of 1501, and war is officially declared on May 15th. Hungary, the Teutonic Order, Irak, and the Mamelukes all honor their alliance with Venice, so we are forced to call upon our brothers, Algeria and Hejdaz. Algeria honors our alliance, while Hejdaz does not – a fact which we anticipated, and do not hold against them. Their army is almost non-existent, and as the Sultan is a pious and reasonable man, he does not demand from them that which they cannot give. Remembering how easily we defeated the Persians, Irak and the Mamelukes agree to an immediate status quo peace.
As the first move, we again send General Sinan's siege force to our target, Ragusa, which is undefended. He can conduct the siege unharrassed, as both Hungary and Venice send an army to meet Prince Ibrahim in the Ottoman province of Kosovo. In a glorious battle against a united, numerically superior enemy, Prince Ibrahim is not only victorious but suffers minimal casualties. The Hungarians, seeing that they cannot but lose against the soldiers of Allah, agree to a separate peace, and Prince Ibrahim is free to follow the fleeing Venetian scum to Illyria where he slaughters them and a batch of newly-recruited reinforcements to the last man. Our subjects in the province of Bulgaria see our success, give it proper credit, and convert to the True Faith. The Venetians are now without a viable land army, and our Algerian brothers free to pillage the province of Mantua.
The siege of Ragusa finally ends in September of 1502, but the infidel fools of Venice refuse to give us the province in a peace treaty. Therefore, General Sinan is ordered to take his troops to Illyria, where another siege starts on April 1st, 1503; the defenders prove to be nothing like the strong and courageous men we faced in Ragusa, and Venice gives up and grants us Ragusa in a peace treaty on June 28th, 1503, just when Illyria was about to fall.
Soon after the war is over, we realize why the Mamelukes were so eager to make peace with us. While we were fighting, they had been conducting an operation of their own, which led to the annexation of Tripolitania. A worrisome development, but not one that would demand immediate action.
Ragusans are Catholics, and while we do not object to them keeping their misguided religion (how could the Only True God have a son, and why, anyway?), they apparently object to being ruled by us instead of the Pope, the King of Venice, or whatever it is that guides those infidel nations. Eventually, they succumb, but their repeated rebellions force us to lighten our hard stance against the Catholic nations.
To prevent future troubles in key territories, we send missionaries to Armenia, and the people in that province become devout Muslims. That helps to ensure peace throughout the Empire, and the Sultan next orders us to improve our provincial infrastructure. We also set up heavier fortifications in key provinces.
Since Allah has blessed us in our conquests, the Sultan eventually orders us to another war. This time, he decides to try something different: The island of Rhodes, the capital and only province of the Knights of St. John, is located in a strategic position just off our Southern coast, and could provide a depot for hostile forces set on striking at the heart of the Empire. This is not to be tolerated.
The War on Rhodes (1509-1511)
The Empire has had a large transport fleet since the humble beginnings, and now the shipping wharf in Ragusa has worked without a break to provide the Empire a formidable attack navy as well. Led by Admiral Daoud, this navy is already stationed outside harbor on Rhodes, when the Empire declares war on St. John. Their allies, some small infidel nations from Italy, all sign immediate separate peace treaties, thus proving again that the word of Christian rulers is like the bark of a dog: loud and mighty when no master is present, but a small whining squeak when it really matters.
Even if their allies are pathetic weaklings, the Knights of St.John are worthy opponents. They trounce our navy at the gates of Rhodes, and continue beating them every time the two naval forces meet. Their fleet is able to keep our invasion force off the island of Rhodes for a year and a half. Elsewhere, France and England fight a short war with no noticeable results, and we hear rumors of the Spanish annexing a heathen nation of Az-somethings in the new world.
On September 3rd, 1510 Admiral Daoud, already out of favor with the Sultan, meets his death in yet another unsuccessful naval battle. On October 13th, Prince Ibrahim dies of old age while waiting for our incompetent navy to secure passage to the island of Rhodes. It takes until December of 1510 before we are finally able to launch a land assault, and even that fails, as our troops are unaccustomed to fighting a battle straight off the transport ships. We recognize that Allah is testing our faith, and as further attempts on Rhodes will therefore be doomed, we agree to a status quo peace on January 17th, 1511.
But such is the infinite wisdom of Allah, that even unsuccessful acts by His devout servants are not without a purpose. While our successful wars against the Persians and Venice have given us knowledge of what we can do, they also made us too proud to see our shortcomings. The war against the Knights of St. John has taught us what we cannot do, and also given us a lesson in humility. If possible, we will in the future refrain from fighting any battle where our soldiers cannot plant both their feet firmly on the ground. After all, if the One True God had meant us to fight His battles at sea, He would have given us gills and fins. Or at least better ships.
The unsuccessful war took its toll on our army, navy, and treasury, but unfortunately it seemed to take even heavier toll on the Sultan Himself. As the bad news kept pouring in, he became an old man in a matter of months, and peace with St. John did not bring him peace of mind. Our doctors are unable to save him as he withers away. The Sultan is dead, but the Empire lives on, under a new Sultan.
THE REIGN OF SELIM I (1512-1520)
Sultan Selim I continues the infrastructure development program initiated by his father, and as a sign of his generosity towars those of his subjects who have not adapted the Only True Faith, he orders the construction of a winery in the Orthodox Christian province of Morea. Those Christians seem to like their wine, even if it makes them loud and foolish in the evening and cranky and sick in the morning; in fact, they like it so much that they gather money and build another winery in Smyrna on their own account.
On the diplomatic front, the new Sultan sends out letters of introduction to our friends in Algeria and to the khalif of Irak. Despite an amicable relationship, the latter is still unwilling to join us, the Algerians and Hejdaz in an alliance. This eventually proves to be a huge mistake, as the Mamelukes annex them in 1516, when we are busy elsewhere.
The Annexation of Moldavia (1516-1517)
That elsewhere is Moldavia, an old enemy, which feels the wrath of the faithful in 1516. War is declared on June 24th, 1516, and General Sinan goes on to fight what turns out to be his last grand battle in Moldavia. He arrives in the capital and only province of our enemy in August 1517, and starts siege operations. The province falls into our hands on June 30th, 1517, as the last remains of the surprisingly well-equipped Moldavian army sieged our province of Bujak. Moldavia is annexed on July 8th, 1517, and their soldiers join our ranks.
In that same month, we hear strange news from our diplomats in Europe. It seems that the Christians have internal strifes (which are sadly not unknown to the True Faith either), as a Protestant faction is openly opposing the Pope in Rome. That cannot be bad news, but is it good news? Only Allah knows.
Next, the Sultan sets his eyes on Persia, where our Sunni brothers are suffering under Shiite oppression in the province of Kurdistan. We also knote that Azerbaijan, while officially Shiite, would only need a slight ‘nudge' to convert. In what turns out to be his last act in the official capacity of Sultan, Selim I declares war on Persia on October 24th, 1519; a little later, he dies unexpectedly and his eldest son, Suleyman, becomes Suleyman I, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and he vows to defeat the Persians, just as his father would have done.
[This message has been edited by Kekkonen (edited 08-01-2001).]
). The Ottomans have enemies in every direction (even their vassal, Wallachia, hates them), and their economy is mediocre at best. Fortunately, they have a strong military led by very good default leaders (3/1/1), and a casus belli against just about everybody in the neighborhood, so using that strength has no internal consequences.I set myself two loose targets: First of all, I want to liberate all Sunni Muslims from under non-Sunni rule. If this means taking over all Sunni provinces, so be it; however, as long as e.g. Morocco is Sunni, I will leave them alone, unless they attack me. Second target is, of course, to crush all resistance in Europe and dominate the continent; colonizing the rest of the world will not be a priority.
HISTORY OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE:
THE REIGN OF SULTAN BAYEZID II (1492-1512)
A strong man is strong alone, but with strong friends, he is invincible. Our glorious Empire is strong; unfortunately, we have few friends worth noting but are surrounded by enemies, and the Sultan is unable to find good allies. Therefore, after marrying off one of his daughters to the Khan of Crimea, he settles on an alliance with Hejdaz – an alliance which, at least on the face of it, would provide us with very little help if the Mamelukes, those Shiite dogs, decided to attack us. While Hejdaz has a good strategic position for such a war – Jordan, their Northernmost province, is within striking distance of the Mameluke capital – they have almost no army.
Fortunately, Allah in His infinite wisdom has granted the Empire with plenty of muscle to flex. Furthermore, we have plenty of young men willing to sacrifice their lives in battle for the Faith and the Empire, and thus gain entrance to the eternal joy of Paradise. Even though these young men do not demand much gold for their services, economically the Empire is only a couple of steps from poverty. Improving provincial infrastructure is one way out of this, but the Sultan also sees another option – conquest.
The most obvious way to gain gold is to mine it in a gold mine, and Allah be praised, we have one right next to our borders, in the Persian province of Armenia. Noticing that our old foes are not a part of a significant alliance either, the Sultan starts preparing for war. Army groups are diverted from Thrace and the Balkans to our Eastern border, and more soldiers are recruited; we do not want to leave our European borders unguarded at any time. As we have seen and will see time and time again, Christians make good subjects, but untrustworthy rulers.
The Persian War (1496-1497)
The Persians, those misguided fanatics, are our old enemies, so the declaration of war on June 13th, 1496 is greeted with enthusiasm around the Empire. The war has two goals: to prove our dedication to Allah in battle, and to conquer Armenia in His honor. Armenia, of course, is not of the Faith, but we are certain Allah will understand us targeting them instead of our brothers in Kurdistan, if the gold mined in Armenia is spent on spreading the word of His Prophets.
The first move in the war is to send General Sinan and his troops – mostly of infantry and artillery – to Armenia, where he overwhelms the puny defense force and starts a siege. Persians send troops to Trabzon, but fortunately the army led by Prince Ibrahim (3/2/3) was already on its way there. Prince Ibrahim drives the Persians from our territories, and sets out to hunt the survivors as they flee over the border to Kurdistan. There he is met with not only the fleeing remains of those infidels who dared to violate Trabzon, but also another, much larger Persian army group apparently on its way to Armenia. In the ensuing battle Prince Ibrahim is victorious but suffers heavy casualties, and retreats back to Trabzon immediately after the victory. This had been our plan all along, as the Prince's army was not a siege force but a field army with infantry and cavalry in equal numbers; however, the severe losses are alarming and will hamper his ability to provide backup to General Sinan.
While Prince Ibrahim regroups, Persians send another army group to rescue Armenia. The group is no match for General Sinan and his troops, however. Armenia holds on through the winter, but cannot keep up the fight in the summer; the local garrison surrenders on July 9th, 1497, and six days later, the province changes hands in a peace treaty.
Ottoman noble families are duly impressed by our victories, and donate a tidy sum of 400 ducats to the treasury. The gold is spent on improving the fortifications along our Eastern border. Our faithful brothers in the royal houses of Irak and Algeria also see our success as what it really is, a blessing from Allah, and offer their daughters to the Sultan's harem, an offer which we are pleased to accept. We even invite Algeria to our military alliance; Irak is already allied with our age-old enemies, the Mamelukes, Venice, and Hungary, a fact which raises some eyebrows in the court, but is understandable, given their unfortunate position between Persia and the Mamelukes. Sometimes Allah tests our faith by making us choose between two equal evils.
The victorious heroes from Armenia are next stationed to our borders in the Balkans, ready for possible attacks by the infidel nations of Europe. They are also preparing for our next target: the Venetian province of Ragusa, with its new technological wonder, a shipping wharf. Even though we do not anticipate participating in naval battles in the eventual war with Venice, the Sultan appoints Admiral Daoud (4/2/2) as the leader of our navy.
The only problem with Venice is their alliance, which includes Hungary and the Mamelukes. However, as Allah does not look favorably upon cowards but rather blesses the swords of the courageous, we feel no fear; if He wishes us to fight them all at once, we shall fight them all at once. As one step in our way to another glorious victory, we raise a large field army and station it on the Mameluke border.
War on the Venetian Alliance (1501-1503)
War preparations come to an end in the spring of 1501, and war is officially declared on May 15th. Hungary, the Teutonic Order, Irak, and the Mamelukes all honor their alliance with Venice, so we are forced to call upon our brothers, Algeria and Hejdaz. Algeria honors our alliance, while Hejdaz does not – a fact which we anticipated, and do not hold against them. Their army is almost non-existent, and as the Sultan is a pious and reasonable man, he does not demand from them that which they cannot give. Remembering how easily we defeated the Persians, Irak and the Mamelukes agree to an immediate status quo peace.
As the first move, we again send General Sinan's siege force to our target, Ragusa, which is undefended. He can conduct the siege unharrassed, as both Hungary and Venice send an army to meet Prince Ibrahim in the Ottoman province of Kosovo. In a glorious battle against a united, numerically superior enemy, Prince Ibrahim is not only victorious but suffers minimal casualties. The Hungarians, seeing that they cannot but lose against the soldiers of Allah, agree to a separate peace, and Prince Ibrahim is free to follow the fleeing Venetian scum to Illyria where he slaughters them and a batch of newly-recruited reinforcements to the last man. Our subjects in the province of Bulgaria see our success, give it proper credit, and convert to the True Faith. The Venetians are now without a viable land army, and our Algerian brothers free to pillage the province of Mantua.
The siege of Ragusa finally ends in September of 1502, but the infidel fools of Venice refuse to give us the province in a peace treaty. Therefore, General Sinan is ordered to take his troops to Illyria, where another siege starts on April 1st, 1503; the defenders prove to be nothing like the strong and courageous men we faced in Ragusa, and Venice gives up and grants us Ragusa in a peace treaty on June 28th, 1503, just when Illyria was about to fall.
Soon after the war is over, we realize why the Mamelukes were so eager to make peace with us. While we were fighting, they had been conducting an operation of their own, which led to the annexation of Tripolitania. A worrisome development, but not one that would demand immediate action.
Ragusans are Catholics, and while we do not object to them keeping their misguided religion (how could the Only True God have a son, and why, anyway?), they apparently object to being ruled by us instead of the Pope, the King of Venice, or whatever it is that guides those infidel nations. Eventually, they succumb, but their repeated rebellions force us to lighten our hard stance against the Catholic nations.
To prevent future troubles in key territories, we send missionaries to Armenia, and the people in that province become devout Muslims. That helps to ensure peace throughout the Empire, and the Sultan next orders us to improve our provincial infrastructure. We also set up heavier fortifications in key provinces.
Since Allah has blessed us in our conquests, the Sultan eventually orders us to another war. This time, he decides to try something different: The island of Rhodes, the capital and only province of the Knights of St. John, is located in a strategic position just off our Southern coast, and could provide a depot for hostile forces set on striking at the heart of the Empire. This is not to be tolerated.
The War on Rhodes (1509-1511)
The Empire has had a large transport fleet since the humble beginnings, and now the shipping wharf in Ragusa has worked without a break to provide the Empire a formidable attack navy as well. Led by Admiral Daoud, this navy is already stationed outside harbor on Rhodes, when the Empire declares war on St. John. Their allies, some small infidel nations from Italy, all sign immediate separate peace treaties, thus proving again that the word of Christian rulers is like the bark of a dog: loud and mighty when no master is present, but a small whining squeak when it really matters.
Even if their allies are pathetic weaklings, the Knights of St.John are worthy opponents. They trounce our navy at the gates of Rhodes, and continue beating them every time the two naval forces meet. Their fleet is able to keep our invasion force off the island of Rhodes for a year and a half. Elsewhere, France and England fight a short war with no noticeable results, and we hear rumors of the Spanish annexing a heathen nation of Az-somethings in the new world.
On September 3rd, 1510 Admiral Daoud, already out of favor with the Sultan, meets his death in yet another unsuccessful naval battle. On October 13th, Prince Ibrahim dies of old age while waiting for our incompetent navy to secure passage to the island of Rhodes. It takes until December of 1510 before we are finally able to launch a land assault, and even that fails, as our troops are unaccustomed to fighting a battle straight off the transport ships. We recognize that Allah is testing our faith, and as further attempts on Rhodes will therefore be doomed, we agree to a status quo peace on January 17th, 1511.
But such is the infinite wisdom of Allah, that even unsuccessful acts by His devout servants are not without a purpose. While our successful wars against the Persians and Venice have given us knowledge of what we can do, they also made us too proud to see our shortcomings. The war against the Knights of St. John has taught us what we cannot do, and also given us a lesson in humility. If possible, we will in the future refrain from fighting any battle where our soldiers cannot plant both their feet firmly on the ground. After all, if the One True God had meant us to fight His battles at sea, He would have given us gills and fins. Or at least better ships.
The unsuccessful war took its toll on our army, navy, and treasury, but unfortunately it seemed to take even heavier toll on the Sultan Himself. As the bad news kept pouring in, he became an old man in a matter of months, and peace with St. John did not bring him peace of mind. Our doctors are unable to save him as he withers away. The Sultan is dead, but the Empire lives on, under a new Sultan.
THE REIGN OF SELIM I (1512-1520)
Sultan Selim I continues the infrastructure development program initiated by his father, and as a sign of his generosity towars those of his subjects who have not adapted the Only True Faith, he orders the construction of a winery in the Orthodox Christian province of Morea. Those Christians seem to like their wine, even if it makes them loud and foolish in the evening and cranky and sick in the morning; in fact, they like it so much that they gather money and build another winery in Smyrna on their own account.
On the diplomatic front, the new Sultan sends out letters of introduction to our friends in Algeria and to the khalif of Irak. Despite an amicable relationship, the latter is still unwilling to join us, the Algerians and Hejdaz in an alliance. This eventually proves to be a huge mistake, as the Mamelukes annex them in 1516, when we are busy elsewhere.
The Annexation of Moldavia (1516-1517)
That elsewhere is Moldavia, an old enemy, which feels the wrath of the faithful in 1516. War is declared on June 24th, 1516, and General Sinan goes on to fight what turns out to be his last grand battle in Moldavia. He arrives in the capital and only province of our enemy in August 1517, and starts siege operations. The province falls into our hands on June 30th, 1517, as the last remains of the surprisingly well-equipped Moldavian army sieged our province of Bujak. Moldavia is annexed on July 8th, 1517, and their soldiers join our ranks.
In that same month, we hear strange news from our diplomats in Europe. It seems that the Christians have internal strifes (which are sadly not unknown to the True Faith either), as a Protestant faction is openly opposing the Pope in Rome. That cannot be bad news, but is it good news? Only Allah knows.
Next, the Sultan sets his eyes on Persia, where our Sunni brothers are suffering under Shiite oppression in the province of Kurdistan. We also knote that Azerbaijan, while officially Shiite, would only need a slight ‘nudge' to convert. In what turns out to be his last act in the official capacity of Sultan, Selim I declares war on Persia on October 24th, 1519; a little later, he dies unexpectedly and his eldest son, Suleyman, becomes Suleyman I, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and he vows to defeat the Persians, just as his father would have done.
[This message has been edited by Kekkonen (edited 08-01-2001).]
