Military Events
A Swedish attempt to overthrow the government of Visby has backfired. In the summer of 1501, a number of small riots broke out in the city. They were easily put down by the longphort authorities, and the ringleaders revealed that they'd been paid by the Swedish crown to stir up trouble. Hard on the heels of the riots, a thousand Swedish troops landed on the island. Having apparently expected that the longphort would be in chaotic anarchy, they were somewhat nonplussed when five companies of Visby's mercenaries greeted them as they landed. With orders only to restore order, and unwilling to start a war with the League on his authority, the Swedish commander had little choice but to immediately turn his men around, march back onto the ships, and sail back to Sweden.
(-1 Swedish Prestige)
The Isbunans have decided to ramp up their presence in the Canaries, and despatched an expedition of a thousand men to Grand Canary. They have encountered unexpectedly heavy resistance from the locals, but after three years have secured roughly half the island. Casualties among the natives have been appalling; it is likely that new colonists will be required if the island is ever to amount to anything.
(-1 Isbunan Company)
For at least twenty years it has been apparent, even to those on the outside, that the Muwahhidun state is sick, and in 1500 a breaking point was reached. On the inside, the need for reform became sufficiently acute that Al-Radi was able to rise to power, with a plan to cure the state's ills; and on the outside, foreign powers determined to put the Muwahhidun out of their misery once and for all. Sicily and Saraqusta formed an alliance to destroy the Dhahabi state, and launched simultaneous campaigns in Africa and Andalusia.
The Andalusian campaign began in the spring of 1500, as the Saraqustans mustered at Tarragon, where they were joined by the army and fleet of the Sicilian Admiralty of the Baleares, including Ricard himself. After some limited wrangling about precedence, the joint army marched south, under the personal command of Faisal, while Ricard and the fleet shadowed them. The Muwahhidun were not caught entirely off guard, of course. Even before the agreement with the Liyunese was finalized, mercenary companies were being redeployed to the Saraqustan border. Though the process was not finished by the time the Saraqustans crossed the border, enough had reached the east to provide some resistance at Fadrell, the first real obstacle for the Saraqustans. Fadrell was not a particualrly powerful fortification, but it nevertheless stalled the Saraqustans for two precious weeks, as Faisal attempted to negotiate the defection of Muwahhidun mercenaries. He was in this unsuccessful, and ultimately the fortress was stormed, after its walls were pulverized by the Saraqustan cannon. After Fadrell the army advanced on Valencia, its first major objective. To the dismay of the Sicilians the corsairs based out of the city had evacuated further south, and an early attempt to storm the city from the sea was beaten back with heavy losses, but Saraqustan artillery again brought down the walls and the city fell after a short siege. Flush with success, Faisal immediately began to march along the coast towards the important port of Qartayannat.
By the early fall of 1500, Al-Radi had managed to concentrate a significant force in the east, made up of mercenaries, impressed Andalusians, and a few Berbers, and decided to contest Faisal's march. The Muwahhidun and Saraqustan armies met at Alicante, while the Muwahhidun corsairs, nowhere in evidence to this point of the campaign, simultaneously fell on the Sicilian fleet en masse. The result was a scarcely mitigated catastrophe for the Mwuahhidun. The corsair galiots were driven back with heavy losses by the Sicilians, while on land the Andalusians routed, several mercenary companies switched sides, and the Muwahhidun force more or less evaporated. The corsairs fled back to the west in disarray, and Faisal continued his march on Qartayannat, now practically unopposed.
After the disaster at Alicante Muwahhidun control tottered, and it appeared for a moment that the war might be won at a stroke. But newly arrived Berbers brutally suppressed a spectacularly poorly timed Rushdite rebellion in Ixvilla, while Al-Radi barely defeated a coup attempt in Malaqah and commenced systematically purging disloyal elements in the remaining Andalusian forces. Still, against little resistance Faisal secured Murcia over the winter and besieged Qartayannat. With the Sicilian fleet, and more importantly the Sicilian naval artillery, forced into port by winter, the siege went relatively slowly, but the city fell by the beginning of spring 1501. Now feeling that one good strike at the Muwahhidun center would bring the whole edifice down, Faisal resolved after Qartayannat to march directly on Malaqah. He was strenuously opposed on this point by Ricard, but ultimately the emir prevailed and the Saraqustan army began a rapid march on Malaqah in the spring. The march faced little resistance beyond the ever increasing harassment by Berber cavalry, but nevertheless the column's strength continually diminished. Every port the Saraqustans took needed a garrison, even if only a small one. By the summer of 1501, the Saraqustans had a chain of garrisons protecting a supply line more than three hundred miles long and the army numbered less than 20,000. Twenty miles west of Almeria, Al-Radi's trap slammed shut. Mercenaries stormed the overmatched Saraqustan garrison at Almeria while Muwahhidun agents opened the gates, and the Saraqustan supply line was cut. Thirty thousand Berbers, painstakingly assembled from Morocco over the winter, surrounded Faisal's army on the coast, while the corsair fleet reemerged but refused to engage the Sicilians. Faisal managed, barely, to fight his way out of the trap and back to Almeria. There Ricard, having contrived in the interim to defeat the corsairs once more, evacuated him and what was left of his army from the strand before the city, though the rearguard was overrun and most of the artillery was lost. Back in Qartayannat, Faisal, reinforced by elements of the Sicilian army from Africa, spent the rest of 1501 fighting off a Muwahhidun siege. With offensive operations now mostly out of the question, 1502 saw the Saraqustans reinforcing their supply lines and defending against omnipresent Muwahhidun raids, while Al-Radi was busy suppressing revolts in the west and transferring men to the Maghrebi theatre.
(+1 Saraqustan Prestige, +2 Muwahhidun Prestige, -2 Andalusian Strength, +1 Maghrebi Berber Strength, -1 Mercenaries Strength, -1 Mercenaries Confidence, -1 Askaris Confidence, -22 Saraqustan Companies, -9 Saraqustan Levy Companies, -2 Saraqustan Ships, -5 Saraqustan Levy Ships, -3 Sicilian Companies, -1 Sicilian Ship -4 Sicilian Levy Ships, -10 Muwahhidun Companies, -16 Muwahhidun Levy Companies, 4 Muwahhidun Companies to Saraqusta, -3 Muwahhidun Ships, -12 Muwahhidun Levy Ships)
Sicily's campaign in the Maghreb was less ambitious, and proceeded at a far more measured pace. The pseudo-siege of Algiers was broken in early 1500 by overwhelming force, and the Sicilian force marched along the coast towards the corsair base at Oran, shadowed by the Sicilian fleet. Local levies provided little direct resistance, but attacks on the supply lines became increasingly prevalent as the Berbers of the high plains slowly mobilized. By late summer, the Muwahhidun had mustered enough men to risk an attack on the main Sicilian force near Tenes. This failed, and the Muwahhidun withdrew west towards Oran, pursued by the Sicilians. Most of the corsairs had already left for the Spanish theatre by the time the Sicilians arrived at Oran late in 1500, but the remaining corsairs, a core of Muwahhidun regulars, and local levies tenaciously defended the port, forcing the Sicilians to reduce the fortifications surrounding the port one by one. Nevertheless, Oran did fall early in 1501, and the Sicilians turned to consolidating their position, repairing the defenses of Oran and garrisoning strongpoints along the coast, against increasingly intense raids from the Muwahhidun. When Faisal barely escaped from Almeria, elements of the Sicilian African army were rushed to Qartayannat to salvage the situation. In the fall of 1501, the Muwahhidun struck against the weakened Sicilian presence. Berbers striking from the high plains overwhelmed the small garrisons of the middle Tell Atlas passes and recaptured Tenes, cutting the overland link with Algiers. The subsequent mass attack on Oran was driven back by Sicilian discipline and Sicilian cannons, however, and the Sicilians held most of their coastal strongpoints. In 1502 the Muwahhidun focused on gradually reducing the Sicilian presence in the countryside while awaiting reinforcement from Andalusia, while the Sicilians reinforced Oran and their remaining forts and dug in.
(+1 Sicilian Prestige, -18 Sicilian Companies, -5 Muwahhidun Companies, -19 Muwahhidun Levy Companies)
Albrecht of Lotharingia has decided to strengthen his position in northern Germany by the simple expedient of conquering Saxony. Citing old ties between the Welfs and the Saxons, in 1500 he claimed the Saxon throne, raised his levies and invaded the Duchy. Although the Lotharingians badly outnumbered the Saxons, Albrecht took the peculiar step of dividing his forces, and the Saxons took advantage. The Lotharingian column marching through the Weserbergland was attacked by a Saxon army nearly as large, and while the battle was more or less a draw it did force the Lotharingians to halt their march. The second Lotharingian column, under the Duke of Franconia, however, was able to proceed to Celle mostly unopposed. But with only 10,000 men and with the Saxon army marching to the relief of the city, Rudolf had no choice but to abandon the siege and secure his positions further west. With the hope for a quick victory gone, the Lotharingians spent 1501 and 1502 consolidating their position in western Saxony, while the Saxon Duke shored up his defenses and looked desperately for allies.
(+1 Lotharingian Prestige, -3 Lotharingian Companies, -8 Lotharingia Levy Companies, -2 Saxon Companies, -5 Saxon Levy Companies, -40,000 taris from Saxon revenue)
In a change of direction for the Sultanate, Zabid has begun large scale raiding of the Ethiopian coast. The Zabidi navy sacked the unprepared port of Massawa early in 1500, and over the next three years terrorized the Ethiopian coast. The Ethiopian Bahir Negash, previously pro-Zabid, has of course changed his mind, organized a defense and appealed to the Negusa Negast. The Ethiopian levies have so far not been terribly effective against the Zabidi professionals, but have at least prevented any more Massawas.
(-2 Zabidi Ships, +50,000 Zabidi Treasury, -3 Ethiopian Ships, -3 Ethiopian Levy Ships, -1 Bahir Negash Confidence)
Zygimantas has abandoned his long-favored strategy of 'waiting for Algirdas to die' in favor of a more active approach to the reunification of Lithuania. Believing, probably correctly, that he could not alone defeat Algirdas, Zygimantas in early 1500 reached out to his neighbors and attempted to build a coalition against the pagan prince. Tver, the Order and Volynia all responded positively, and in the spring a combined army of Order monks and Zygimantas' retainers, numbering more than 25,000 strong, marched against Minskas, with high hopes that, against such overwhelming force, the war would be quickly over. Unfortunately for Zygimantas, Tver's promised intervention never arrived, as Tver was preoccupied with its own survival, and Volynia was almost suspiciously slow to mobilize, so for the 1500 campaign season Algirdas was able to concentrate entirely on Zygimantas. When Zygimantas arrived at Minskas, he found it undefended and Algirdas gone. The Ducals pillaged the city, burned down the great pagan shrine, and then marched further east, hoping to bring Algirdas to battle. Algirdas, meanwhile, had mustered his own levies, and by the middle summer outnumbered the allied forces. Fifteen miles west of Bobruisk, he decided to engage. Algirdas split his army, and Zygimantas, believing he had numerical superiority, took the bait. Ducal cavalry charges were broken up by Algirdas' new wagon-forts, but Zygimantas' superior infantry ground down their counterparts, and successfully resisted several countercharges by Algirdas' cavalry. It briefly appeared that the battle was won, but then Algirdas appeared on Zygimantas' flank at the head of 10,000 heavy cavalry. The Prince's charge shattered the Duke' army; only the discipline of the Order's monks saved Zygimantas from total disaster. As it was, most of his army managed to escape, and retreated back to Minskas, harried all the way by Algirdas' cavalry. Algirdas briefly besieged Zygimantas in Minskas, but fortunately for Zygimantas the campaigning season ended before he could take the city.
(+1 Duke's Prestige, +1 Prince's Prestige, -1 Royal cult Confidence, -3 Order Companies, -16 Ducal Companies, -13 Ducal Levy Companies, -8 Prince's Companies, -9 Prince's Levy Companies, 30,000 taris to Ducal treasury, -90,000 taris from Prince's revenue)
Meanwhile, the Order troops left to guard Zygimantas' border made themselves thoroughly unpopular, taking it upon themselves to try to enforce conversion in the countryside. After a few skirmishes with enraged peasant mobs, the Order monks began launching missions in force into the countryside, and on two occasions actually fought pitched battles with peasant militias commanded by local nobility. With the Order resembling nothing so much as an occupying force, Zygimantas' nobility began to fiercely protest the alliance. As news of Zygimantas' reverses in the east trickled in, nobles began to cross over to Algirdas, culminating in the defection of the prominent Hurzur Radzila, with all his retainers.
(-1 Nobility Confidence, -1 Hurzurai Confidence, 5 Ducal Levy Companies to Prince's Lithuania)
In 1501 Volynia finally marched against Algirdas, but not with the devastating strike Zygimantas had been hoping for. Instead, the invasion consisted of barely 10,000 men, most of them Tatar levies interested in plunder more than anything else. But the invasion at least forced Algirdas to detach a portion of his army to the south to counter the Volynians, which allowed Zygimantas to break out of Minskas and go back over to offensive operations. The Volynians' operation, after all that buildup, ended in disappointment. Attempts to raise the local Orthodox population failed, Tatar raiding only further alienated the locals, and the attempt to garrison the conquered territory drained off most of the infantry. In summer, Algirdas' army arrived and drove off the Tatars, and after a couple of isolated outposts were overrun the outnumbered Volynians pulled their garrisons out. The reformed Volynian army was sharply defeated on the border, and the Lithuanian launched a brief counter-raid into Volynia itself. In the north, Algirdas and Zygimantas skirmished around Minskas, as Algirdas tried to draw Zygimantas into open battle, and Zygimantas consistently refused to be drawn.
(-3 Volynian Companies, -9 Volynian Levy Companies, -7 Prince's Levy Companies, -2 Duke's Levy Companies)
In 1502, Polotsk, having been pressured hard by envoys from both sides, finally stopped wavering. Fearful of the implications of Zygimantas' alliance with the Order, Polotsk came down on Algirdas' side. A small army pushed into Zygimantas' territory from the Dvina. The Order garrisons were hastily reshuffled to face Polotsk's attack, while Algirdas stepped up the pressure on Zygimantas. Several of Zygimantas' outlying garrisons were retaken, and Minskas was again invested. The siege had to be halted, when Algirdas' great cannon exploded, but the Prince then launched a major raid across the now-undefended border. Joined by more defecting nobility, Algirdas reached nearly to Kaunas, before news of Zygimantas' renewed activity forced him back across the border. While Polotsk slowly drove back the Order, Algirdas contented himself with preventing Zygimantas from retreating to link up with the rest of the Order army.
(+ 1 Prince's Prestige, +1 Lithuanians Confidence, -5 Order Companies, -3 Polotsk Companies, -8 Polotsk Levy Companies, -1 Prince's Company, -3 Prince's Levy Companies, -2 Duke's Companies, -1 Duke's Levy Companies, 2 Duke's Levy Companies to Prince's Lithuania)
Tver had to cancel its planned involvement in the Lithuanian struggle as a result of an invasion from , of all places, Veliky Novogorod. 20,000 men under the personal command of the Prince of Novgorod marched down the Volga as soon as the mud dried. Fortunately for Tver, the army being assembled for war with Lithuania had not yet marched. Though outnumbered, Tver's forces managed to blunt Vasili's drive on Tver, and Vasili was forced to focus on taking fortifications along the Volga one by one, while Tver called on Yaroslavl and Moscow for aid. Moscow refused, fearful of invasion from Nizhny Novgorod, but Yaroslavl answered. In 1501, while Vasili of Tver and Vasili of Novgorod contested on the Volga, a small force from Yaroslavl invaded Novgorod's unprotected northern holdings, and throughout 1501 and 1502 pillaged anything they could find. Tribal levies organized by the baskaci managed to most evict Yaroslavl's force by the end of 1502, but significant damage was still done. Meanwhile, Novgorod's progress towards Tver slowed to a crawl by the end of 1501, as reinforcements from Yaroslavl arrived. In 1502, with both sides running low on manpower, the Vasilis could do little but sit in their fortifications, hope the other made a move, and wait for more resources from the center.
(+1 Veliky Prestige, -1 Baskaci Confidence -4 Veliky Companies, -6 Veliky Levy Companies, -4 Tver Companies, -5 Tver Levy Companies, 1 Yaroslavl Company, -4 Yaroslavl Levy Companies, -10,000 taris from Veliky revenue, -15,000 taris from Tver revenue, +20,000 taris to Yaroslavl's treasury)
After something of a lull, the struggle between Delhi and Bengal has hotted up once again. Altai, the newly ascended Khan of Delhi, resolved, as his first major action, to break the long stalemate with Bengal. Tens of thousands of levies were mustered, millions in tax raised, and the khan personally led a great army against Patna. The Bengalis mustered their own armies, manned their walls, and waited for the onslaught that they'd been preparing for for so long. In mid 1500, Altai appeared at Patna and began yet another siege. Delhi's artillery began reducing the outlying forts one by one, but as the slow-moving Bengali levies poured into Patna it became apparent that, far from being impossibly outnumbered, the Bengalis actually had more men than did Altai. But even as Shams ad-Din realized this and began to push back against Altai's offensive, the reason for the comparative weakness of Altai's army became apparent: Delhi was mustering a second army, larger than the first, on the southern borders of Bengal, under the khan's uncle Arghun. A Bengali army was detached from Patna to oppose the imminent invasion of this second force, though realistically it could only hope to delay long enough to give Shams ad-Din a chance to win at Patna. In early 1501, while Altai and Shams ad-Din slugged it out at Patna, Arghun's force suddenly moved. And in a move that really shouldn't have surprised anyone but that ended up shocking everyone, it did not move north into Bengal, but instead moved south, against Orissa. The hastily raised Orissan levies in the countryside were brushed aside by Delhi's enormous force, and Arghun marched on Bhubaneswar. The Orissans scrambled to call up their levies and recruited anyone who could hold a spear, and by such desperate measures managed to muster nearly 40,000 men by the time Arghun arrived at Bhubaneswar. That still left them outnumbered 2 to 1, of course, and at even greater qualitative disadvantage, and the Orissan force was summarily obliterated. Bhubaneswar itself held for another week after the battle, until an Orissan traitor opened the gates. The Raja was killed in the sack, and the Orissan treasury looted. After thoroughly looting Bhubaneswar, Arghun turned back to the northeast, pillaged his way across the undefended Orissan countryside, and at last invaded Bengal. The Bengali force opposing him, having had time to prepare, refused open battle, and managed to delay Arghun for some time, but in the end the Bengalis were forced to fall back. Delhi's original plan, calling for an invasion of Ganges Delta, had to be abandoned at this point, however, because the situation on the Ganges had become critical. In late 1501, Shams ad-Din had managed to evict Altai from his fortified camp and catch him in a trap from which the khan only barely escaped, and from which much of his army did not. Now badly outnumbered, Altai had no choice but to fall back down the Ganges, pursued by the Bengalis, and Arghun was ordered to march directly on Patna lest the Ganges front collapse entirely. Shams ad-Din was forced to detach forces from the pursuit of Altai to oppose Arghun's advance and strength the garrison of Patna, and with the numerical balance partially restored Altai was able to slow the Bengali advance. Arghun invested Patna late in 1502, but his initial attempt to storm the fortifications was beaten off, and he was forced to settle in for a siege.
(+2 Delhi Prestige, +1,000,000 taris to Delhi's treasury, -500,000 taris from Bengal's revenue, -32 Delhi Companies, -56 Delhi Levy Companies, -27 Bengali Companies, -43 Bengali Levy Companies)
In the aftermath of the sack of Bhubaneswar, central authority in Orissa collapsed. Three separate claimants to the Raja's throne emerged, local nobles claimed authority in the countryside, and peasant rebels ran rampant. By the end of 1502, practically nothing remained that could be called an Orissan state. A few of the feuding nobles who now run the former territories of Orissa have accepted zamindar status from Delhi, but for the most part Orissa is an anarchic mess.
(-Orissa)
The Nanhai despatched a small, newly-formed all-cavalry army into Mongol territory, with orders to raid, organize rebellions, and generally cause mischief. While too small to have a really significant impact, it was annoying enough that in 1502 Mandukhai ordered a few thousand cavalry to hunt it down. While raiding along the Yellow River, the relatively inexperienced Nanhai were ambushed by the larger Mongol detachment and badly mauled.
(-11 Nanhai Companies, -4 Mongol Companies)
Despite anticipating an attack in the south, the Nanhai deployed a relatively small portion of their vast new army to the front with Guangzhou. They were strongly prepared for an attack on the southern bank of the Pearl River. Unfortunately for the Nanhai, Grand Master Gong Li had no intention of attacking the southern bank of the Pearl, being far more concerned with the Nanhai forward positions near Guangzhou itself. In the winter of 1500, a strong Guangzhou force attacked the Nanhai outposts closest to Guangzhou. The badly outnumbered defenders were rapidly overwhelmed, and the Nanhai commander was forced to abandon his fortifications to preserve his force. It briefly appeared that a major breakthrough was imminent, and the Nanhai rapidly transferred regiments from the west to contain the Guangzhou offensive. Contrary to Nanhai fears, however, the aims of the Guangzhou commanders were relatively limited, and having secured their objectives with unexpected ease they turned to digging in, repairing Nanhai fortifications and constructing new ones. A Nanhai counterattack in the winter of 1501 was defeated with heavy losses, and stalemate thereafter ensued, the Nanhai lacking the forces to drive back the Guangzhou, and the Guangzhou lacking the inclination to undertake offensive action. In the west, a minor Guangzhou attack against the weakened Nanhai presence in 1502 gained some territory and a couple of fortresses, before being forced to halt. On a lighter note, both sides have spent considerable time on efforts to deny the passage of the Pearl to the opponents navy, despite neither navy having any inclination to attempt such a passage.
(+1 Guangzhou Prestige, -11 Guangzhou Companies, -17 Nanhai Companies)