Spotlight: The Mediterranean Wars.
“With coldest winter, and a bloody spring, in twain, a spark wouldst light the southern seas with crimson flame…”
-Halvdan Brandon, Norse playwright,
The Pauper of Genoa
Centuries later, historians would look back at the strange, violent year of 1501, and puzzle over the details of the bloody series of wars that raged across seas and cities. Aragon was falling apart, and the surrounding powers knew it. The old, federation of Aragon, Catalonia, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia was dying, torn apart by the clash of interests between merchants, nobles, peasants, and the beleaguered monarch trying to hold everything together. The vultures swirled around the carcass of the dying country, preparing to stake their claim on the meat.
When Diego V died several years before without an heir, it began. The heirless monarchy needed a throne. An assembly of nobles, clergy, and influential persons from across Aragon gathered in Saragossa, and created the Council of Regency. There they deadlocked, for five years. With no supreme ruler to command the armies and fleets, their quality degraded. The Italian possessions agitated, trying to get even more autonomy from the Council. Wild tales of Byzantine armies marching into Naples, and a massive Andalusian host preparing to attack Valencia, only deepened the anxiety of the nation.
As the people grumbled, whispering that the Council planned to maintain their rule over Aragon for perhaps a decade to come, the merchants made their move. Saragossa was the political capital of Aragon, but it was isolated from the lifeblood of trade that held the federation together. That trade was rooted in Barcelona. The merchant guilds knew that a weakened monarchy would be a puppet to the Regents, and would loosen the federation further, reducing their monopolies. With their fortunes at stake, they pledged their massive financial wealth towards putting forward a puppet of their own…Diego VI, the illegitimate, bastard son of Diego V, but the legitimate heir to the throne, they claimed.
The merchant guilds assembled a mixed army of peasants and mercenaries, and quickly swept away all traces of the regency in Barcelona.
He was a pretender, and a puppet. But he had the support of the peasants, the merchants, and the navy. The coast fell into the hands of Young Diego, or the Bastard King, depending on whom you asked. But the nobles and the Council in Saragossa were not happy. These arrogant merchants and their pawn were not to be tolerated, as only the Council could by law raise a man to the throne. Pulling together the rest of the professional army, and augmenting it with mounted cavalry supplied by the noble houses, they headed south, to restore the honor of Aragon and her noble past. The Councilist forces in the north, and the Diegoists in the south, would begin the first phase of the Mediterranean wars…the Aragonese Civil War.
The Council’s forces easily destroyed a pro-Diego militia at Pamplona, giving them firm control over northern Aragon. But coming towards the coast, the army of the mercenaries assembled by the merchants met them with force. The commander of the Councilists, Lord Tomás de Malferit, angled his forces to cut Barcelona off from the south. Anticipating this move, the merchants ordered their mercenaries to the coast.
The Battle of Tortosa was the first true clash. The Diegoists had a poor position, facing the sea on low ground. Lord Tomás decided to crush them between his forces, sending ten thousand of his finest armored knights around the flank to break the spirit of the enemy. But the massive charge ran into the well disciplined pikemen and arquebusiers of the mercenaries. A hail of bullets cut down the advancing horsemen. Though his foot soldiers were making progress against the enemy, the destruction of his cavalry had shaken the will of the Councilist general to continue. Tortosa ended in a draw.
It was the best possible result for both sides.
Both Aragonese armies retreated towards Barcelona and Saragossa to plan their next moves. As the civil war drifted into stalemate, the two capitals were heavily fortified, as the paranoid leaders expected attack from all sides.
For once, they were right. Leon had decided to press its (quite good) claim for Aragon, as did Aquitaine. A new pact to divide the nation between them was forged.
The first move came, as the entirety of the Aquitainian fleet approached Barcelona from the north. They had expected to find the entirety of Aragon’s fleet divided and scattered by civil war, and Leon’s attacks. But the Leonese fleet had not yet arrived, and the merchants had managed to keep the fleet under their control with massive amounts of bribery. When the admiral of Aquitaine informed his Aragonese counterpart that the fleet was bringing soldiers to “enforce the peace” in Barcelona, he responded that Diego VI was the rightful king.
The Aquitainians answered with cannonfire. After the initial shock of the attack, the Aragonese fleet managed to organize itself and press back the attackers. With superior numbers, the Aragonese fleet began to slowly encircle their opponents. The fleet of Aquitaine was almost broken.
But in an epic moment, (surely accompanied by a fanfare and trumpets from the heavens,) the greatest fleet of Europe smashed into the Aragonese rear. The encircling force was decimated, as the larger, more powerful Leonese ships of the line decimated the Aragonese ships. Caught between two navies, the Aragonese navy was hopelessly broken. Some ships managed to limp back to the harbor of Barcelona heavily damaged, and others escaped out into the open sea, to be hunted down.
The second phase had begun…the War of Aragonese Succession.
With the Aragonese fleet destroyed or dispersed, Aquitaine and Leon launched their invasions. The Aquitainian generals, realizing that an assault across the Pyrenees was impossible, sent their armies down along the coast towards the prize of Barcelona. Leon captured Valencia, and moved north.
And yet another assault came at Saragossa. Here Lord Tomás de Malferit had rallied his men within the city walls, and had gathered virtually the entire remainder of the nobility of Aragon. His army surpassed the size of the 15,000 man strong Leonese force sent to capture the city. But the Leonese fielded an efficient, well-organized, ruthlessly disciplined army, perhaps the finest in the world. They would be pitted against an Aragonese garrison of 25,000…in theory. The defenders were fanatical, but poorly equipped. They had the help of fortifications, and desperation, but little else.
The Leonese commander had his orders. The artillery breached massive gaps in the outer walls, and the Leonese tide poured in. Tomás sent wave after wave of conscripts into the breaches against the attackers, with horrendous casualties on both sides. The Leonese army was determined, but Lord Tomas decided to risk everything, with another mounted charge. This time, the shock of the cavalry assault destabilized the Leonese. Tired from the waves of enemies, Leon’s troops did the unthinkable: they broke, and retreated south over the Ebro.
But even as the Councilists celebrated their victory, the seeds for their defeat were planted. A new force from Aquitaine came down the Atlantic coast, linking up with Leon, and attacked towards the capitol. And the Leonese were only shaken, not defeated. Two fresh, new armies were heading towards Saragossa, demanding the unconditional surrender of Aragon to their forces.
And Lord Tomás intelligently retreated, abandoning the capital with the nobility and the core of the surviving army in his wake. A few defenders remained, and gave their lives nobly for the lost cause of Aragon. The Leonese flag flew over the capitol within another week.
Meanwhile, the Diegoists in Barcelona were getting increasingly more desperate. They were hemmed in, defeated on the sea, and their army of mercenaries was melting away. It seemed that the end was at hand. But then the gates of Barcelona opened, and in entered none other than Lord Tomás de Malferit, with ten thousand men and an offer for the Diegoists. In return for a reconciliation with the nobility, the surviving members of the Council of Regency decided to recognize Diego VI as the legitimate ruler of Aragon…at long last.
But it was too late. Aquitaine and Leon had closed in. The capitol was gone, and their enemies advanced from all sides. But Barcelona remained free, the last bastion of Aragonese power in Spain. All around it, a sea of enemies waits for the city to capitulate.
But what had happened to Aragonese possessions outside of Spain? Why, only the third phase, the War of Aragonese Dissolution.
As soon as civil war broke out, confusion reigned in Naples and Sicily. Even the Aragonese garrisons were divided in their loyalties, and the people FAR more so. But Naples descended into bloody rebellion first, provoked by agents and saboteurs from half a dozen countries. Historians would in later years examine Naples as a true case of perfect political anarchy.
Italy went to hell in a handbasket. Within the city, the garrison split into Diegoist and Councilist factions, but were soon slaughtered by the local monarchists. These gained some semblance of power for a few days, but then fell into disarray as republicans, Papists, advocates of a mercantile union with Tuscany and Genoa, and ordinary rabble-rousers clashed in the streets.
The local Byzantine general in Calabria acted on his own initiative, but the Pope acted quicker. As Imperial and Papal troops flooded into the peninsula, the citizens of Naples, devoutly Catholic, chose the lesser of two evils and allowed the Papacy to gain control over the city with almost no struggle. Much of the back country remains a chaotic mess of mounted rebels and bandits killing everyone in sight.
Sicily was little better. Here Aquitaine attempted to land a sizable force at Messana, but inconveniently at the exact same time as a small Byzantine expeditionary force, and another fleet of ships that flew the Aragonese flag, but were clearly not Aragonese. In the chaos of the battle, no one managed to land troops in Messana, which was then taken over by Sicilian monarchists. The remainder of the Aquitainian fleet landed their troops at Palmero, and then retreated, badly needing repairs.
So the third phase concluded, with an uneasy, uncompleted partition of the Aragonese colonies. Then the fourth phase began. It was discovered from captured sailors in the hold of an Aquitainian ship that the sailors fighting under the Aragonese flag were Genoese…strange, since Genoa had declared for no side during the fighting. But the information was passed on to Provence, whose diplomats in Toulouse had been particularly curious about Genoa of late. Citing the illegality of fighting under a foreign flag without declaring war, and also an obscure criticism of Genoa’s cooperation with Andalusians and Byzantines, Provence declared war on Genoa.
The fourth phase began, the Provencal-Genoese War.
The outcome was decidedly in favor of Provence from the beginning. Her troops outnumbered Genoa’s three to one, and the initial border skirmishes went well, as Provence’s Cohorts decimated their opposition with superior firepower. But Genoa had the advantage of an excellently fortified city, the best money could buy. And the first naval engagements were quite indecisive, but Genoa had built her navy as Provence had expanded her army. As a result, the Provencal fleet was unable to land an invasion force on Corsica as planned.
The Siege of Genoa, as remarked upon by many poets and authors, was one of the shortest and bloodiest of the decade’s major sieges. The relentless Provencal cannons breached the gates multiple times, but the militia of the city along with the army repelled them with heavy losses. And the city was well supplied from the sea, preventing any hope of surrender.
The Provencal commander, Comte-General Francois Albon, was a ruthlessly efficient commander. He realized that a direct assault was the only way to salvage the situation, and knew the cost. The man ordered thousands of his men to their deaths without remorse, knowing that Genoa would be utterly ruined in the process. He had his orders not to destroy the city, but realized that the war would be lost otherwise.
So it began again, as in a series of brutal skirmishes the heights above the city were seized by Cohorts, who positioned artillery to systematically destroy each quarter. Then they attacked the walls again, in five places, preventing the Genoans from making an effective defense in all areas. As the breakthrough occurred, house to house fighting engulfed the entire city, as well as a fire. The Senate was slaughtered by accident (supposedly) as they were writing up a proposal of unconditional surrender.
The fighting ended sporadically, as the garrison was killed to the last man. The smoking, utterly ruined remnants of Liguria were “pacified” by the brute force of the surviving Italian Cohorts. When asked whether or not Genoa had been captured, Francois Albon responded, “There is no Genoa.”
But even with Genoa proper destroyed, Genoa has hardly been beaten. Thanks to the implementation of the Cerchi, Corsica has become the new temporary capital of the Republic…and the colonies are prospering just as before. But without Genoa, it remains to be seen if the merchants will simply dissolve the Republic, or somehow retake their ruined possession.
But the greater implications of this are yet to be seen. Lombardy, and thus the Holy Austrian Empire, clearly gained by seeing an Italian rival destroyed by their ally Provence. But Andalusia and Byzantium, both strong allies and trading partners of the Genoan merchants, will clearly not let this go unanswered, will they?
It is with an unresolved peace and an unhappy stalemate that the Mediterranean Wars conclude in the winter of 1503. But as shots continue to be fired from Barcelona to Messina, it is clear that the war has hardly ended. Perhaps, it has hardly begun…
(-33 Aragonese Thousands, -31 Aragonese Ships, -12 Aquitainian Thousands, -16 Aquitainian Ships, -13 Leonese Thousands, -6 Leonese Ships, -15 Provencal Thousands, -6 Italian Cohorts, -10 Provencal Ships, -9 Genoan Thousands, -5 Genoan Ships, -Genoan Confidence, -Provencal Confidence, +Leonese Confidence, +Aquitainian Confidence, -2 Aragonese Confidence, +Aragonese Culture, -Genoan Economy, -Genoa Economic Center, -Naples Economic Center, Aragonese Economy Level to Leon)
Diplomacy:
From: Lord Tomás de Malferit
To: Leon, Aquitaine
I have fought honorably, and lost. But the spirit of the Aragonese people is indomitable, even if you have broken our armies and fleets. Here is my proposal. In return for pardoning Diego VI, a pretender to the throne of Aragon, and all those who recognized him as King of Aragon, we will surrender, unconditionally. But I suggest that under Leonese control, a County of Aragon be created, encompassing our former territory. Such a County would be governed by the Count of Barcelona, a man appointed by the Crown. I would advance myself as a candidate for that position. If you agree, I will ensure that Aragon does not rebel or resist integration into Leon as a whole. It is merely my wish to preserve our culture and identity as a people, and avoid further war.
From: Zayanid Sultanate
To: Andalusia
We need your assistance in dealing with these Berber scum!
From: Gilanid Shahdom of Persia
To: Zanzibar
Consider our diplomatic ties severed. We are incredibly offended that you could allow a daughter of Persia to die in such a shameful way.
OOC: You all escape Random Events for this turn. Stats will be up in 24-48 hours. If I missed anything important, as in something that everyone and not just you needs to know, please tell me and I’ll include it in the update. Also, I’m sleepy. So I suggest that you complain politely about any mistakes I made.
Oh, and the map is on the next post. Don't post yet. Please!
. We advise others to act to curb their power before it is too late, and europe lies under the Austrian boot.
