From shepherds to Caliphs, Rise of the Ottoman Empire

Okey, my new story about the turkish peoples starts now. In this, semi-historical, story the mighty ottoman empire is being recreated (hopefully).

From shepherds to Caliphs, Rise of the Ottoman Empire

In 1270 young man, Osman, ruled a small Ghazi Emirate near the borders of now rapidly declining Byzantine Empire. Osman had already seen war while fighting against the Seljuk Turks, but the war he was planning now was like non other.

When Osman saw that the time had come to finish of the remnants of Byzantine Empire he gathered all his horsemen, archers and, most importantly, newly invented cannons to the hills of Sögüt Southeast of Byzantion the Byzantine capital.



As the army marched towards Byzantion Osman's scouts rode back to the main army and informed that the once mighty Byzantine capital had been suffering from plague and most of Byzantine's armies were disbanded. Osman realized that this was a once in lifetime oppurtunity and he ordered his fastest horsemen to attack the city before its defences could be reassembled.



These fearless horsemen took some losses, but finally they defeated the defending swordmen guard. Osman himself arrived in the city soon after and renamed it Istanbul.

And so it begins

:'( So falls the once mighty Constantinople.

Love reading RFC stories. Looking forward to another.

News of Osman's great victory traveled fast throughout the Anatolian peninsula and Osman send emissaries to the Persian cities of Artaxata, Rasht and Sur, which agreed to abandon the degenerating Persian Empire and join Istanbul in order to create a new more powerful empire. Osman also founded a new city on the south coast of the Black Sea, Sinop.

The rising of this new power created chaos in the Persian Empire, which resulted to one Persian General, turkish born Orhan, and his veteran battallions to agree to join the Turkish army. In order to test his loyalty Osman ordered him to attack his former Persian masters and the Persian main force in the heavily defended city of Shush.

Meanwhile, Osman lead the main turkish army towards the remaining Byzantine cities of Apollonia, Salona and Athens. Osman also had heard stories about a rising Kingdom of Russia futher to north. Therefore he wanted secure the Black Sea completely under his rule, so he ordered settlers from Istanbul to travel north and found new cities on the shores of this strategically important sea.

As Osman's army advanced towards Athens a small Byzantine city of Apollonia was burned to the ground. Osman also sent his newly equipped Knights to conquer Salona.

Meanwhile in Middle East, Orhan officially declared war on Persia and entered Persian lands.



The last standing fortress of once mighty Byzantine Empire, Athens, was heavily defended and Osman was forced to lay siege on it for half a year before attacking it with his main army and the veteran Knights from Salona.

At the same time Orhan and his army laid siege on Shush and started bombard it's towering walls. Osman's alliance also faced another threat as plague started to spread in the Persian Empire. Could his young nation survive wars against the legendary Byzantine and Persian Empires together with a devastating plague?

The Persian plague never spread to Osman's lands as he increased border patrols and ordered everyone crossing the Persian border to be executed on the spot.

In north the settlers from Istanbul encountered powerful nations of Russia and Germany while securing the Black Sea under Osman's control by founding the cities of Akkerman and Azak.



After minimal losses Osman's army took control of the heavily bombarded Athens and continiued its march towards Sparta in order to conquer all of Greece. Spartan phalanxes fought bravely, but they were no match to Osman's techologically advanced army. The city of Sparta was razed in order to end the hostilities between Sparta and Atina for good. Osman now controlled Greece and he didn't see any threats coming from west, so he ordered his armies to travel through Anatolia and to join Orhan army, which was stuck at the gates of Shush. He himself stayed in Istanbul for while were he offially formed the Ottoman Empire. The empire was named after himself as Osman's birth name was Othman I El-Gazi. Osman was also crowned as the First Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Osman I.

Two victory goals to go!

Before Osman's army reached Shush, Orhan decided to prove himself in front of the new Ottoman Sultan and attacked the city with his army. The long siege had done it's task and the Persian main army was exhausted due to lack of food. However, Osman had ordered Orhan to raze the city, since he wanted fill the fertile lands of Mespotamia with new Ottoman cities. Orhan razed the city and his troops slaughtered the Persian population.

The Persian Empire was not yet defeated since even on a time of it's degeneration it spread as far north as Margus. Osman's emissary and his Knights from the west rode to Orhan's camp near the ruins of Shush and gave Orhan new orders: the Persian capital is to be conquered along with Margus, which will become the northeastern Ottoman outpost rest of Persia can be looted and burned. Orhan's army was on the move once again.



Meanwhile in Istanbul, Osman established diplomatic connections and traded technologies along with resources with other nations, because he wanted to make his empire the most advanced in the world. Then he left Istanbul in order to meet with Orhan at the gates of Parsa.

Orhan's army arrived on the hills west of Parsa and his cannons started pound Parsa's walls. The Persian Empire was crumbling and Orhan commanded city to be taken even before Osman arrived at his camp.

When Osman finally arrived the city was under ottoman occupation and the Knights were ready to attack and burn the small city of Sijaris. The city was quickly surrounded. Osman also started the constructions of another palace in Parsa in order to stabilize the eastern parts of his growing empire.

If you're going for the UHV you should consider capitulating Persia ASAP.

BurnEmDown said:

If you're going for the UHV you should consider capitulating Persia ASAP.

Click to expand...

Well perhaps, but they usually collapse and I have played little ahead from this and I currently have two vassals and non of them is Mali.

The Persian defences at Sirajis were quickly overrun by the superior ottoman forces. The great ottoman army lead by Osman and Orhan then turned northwest towards the last persian cities of Baminyan, Margus and Toshkent.



The scattered persian troops were no match to the massive ottoman army and they were quickly beaten. Persian Empire ceased to exist. The mighty Persian emperor, Cyrus, was killed in action on fields outside Margus and he received an emperor's burial, since Osman had great respect for his late opponent.



Osman had already made plans for his next campaign against Arabia, when a disaster struck: King Peter of Russia had been following the ottoman campaign in the very carefully and he decided to act at the same time when ottomans marched to Margus. Peter declared war on ottomans and laid siege on the city of Azak.

However, Peter had underestimated the ottoman army's strenght and capability of its generals. Osman himself wanted retaliate this insult by the russians and he gathered the strongest ottoman Knights around him and rode to Azak's aid. The russians were expecting a charge so soon and the Osman platoons overran the russian troops instantly. They then burned the city Stavropol as a revenge.

King Peter was stubborn man and he futher insultet Osman with his peace conditions, which were in no comparision with the Osman desires. Osman was outraged and he rode north to capture the small city of Sarapol with only handful of knights and ordered the main army, lead by Orhan, to approach Moskva.

These actions, however, sealed the faith of Osman I as he was ambushed by superior russian force on his way back to the main army. Osman's knights fought bravely to protect the sultan, but they finally beaten by mercenary german landsknecht battallion. The grudge that the Ottoman Empire had against the germans was started by this action, though it wasn't ended until centuries later.

Osman died at the age of 63. His son, Murad I, had been killed in an obscure hunting accident, so his 19 years old grandson Murad II followed him to the throne of Ottoman Empire.

The winter of 1515 was one of the coldest winters in ages and Orhan's army was freezing on the southside of Moskva and there was also a river between the ottoman army and the russian capital. The situation seemed hopeless and Peter realizing this had cut off the peace negotations until the new Sultan arrives.

Orhan at the age of 56 had seen more wars and battles than he cared for. He also knew that he had to act quickly in order to force a proper peace treaty that would honor the memory of Osman. Luckily the moskva river was frozen and could probably carry even Orhan's heavy cannons. He decided to take a risk and attack the city over the river with infantry and cannons, while his his Knights would flank over the river and attack the city from east.



The battle for Moskva was long and exhausting. A whole generation of men was lost on bothsides of the city walls. Finally, when all hope seemed to be lost, Orhan's Knights broke through from the east and the city fell. At the point of defeat, King Peter still refuced to negotiate with anybody else except the Sultan Murad II himself.

When Murad arrived with reenforcements Peter finally realized his hopeless situation and the endless mighty of the Ottoman Empire. He bowed down, offered a complete surrender and to become Murad's vassal, if his nations would only be spared for futher bloodshed. Murad agreed and he also liberated Moskva and Sarapol under russian control in order keep his northern allies strong.

The rumours of mighty Ottoman Empire had spread throughout Europe and the King of a small nation of Portugal, Joao II, seeking protection against the aggressive Queen of Spain, Isabella, offered to become a vassal of ottomans as well. Murad agreed and promised to protect Portugal against any spanish aggressions.

Meanwhile in Asia, Persepolis completed the construction of Osman's palace. However, the palace was named Forbidden Palace and sealed forever by Murad II, since its master could never inhabit it.

"Refuses to talk" Aha now I get it

Great story.

Brave (at first I thought foolish) riding deep into Russian territory. But you pulled it off.

Where is Russia's capital now? Novgorod?

Murad's next task was build up the ottoman economy, which had been suffering from the long wars. During the next years the empire flourished, while new improvements and buildings were constructed all around. During this time young Murad and Orhan, who was now 89 years old, took council about the empire's future. They both agreed that the strong Arabic nation on the southern borders of the empire had to defeated in order to maintain the growth of the ottoman influence. Murad also wanted spread the empire to the vast lands of Africa. As secretly as he could Murad started to prepare a new war against the arabs.

Tension on the eastern border also grew when Murad closed the borders to keep the heathen buddhist missionaries from spreading their misguided beliefs outside India.

Orhan had already died and Murad was middle aged, when he finally thought that the time has come to wipe out the arabian threat for good. The Ottoman Empire declared war on Arabia and his completely rearranged and equipped army crossed the southern border to Egypt.



The Arabs were not expecting an attack that would devide their empire into half. The citizens of San El-Hagar were stunned when the ottoman cannons opened fire and the arabian soldiers were running around without any real will to fight. Murad's army commanded by Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha easily took the city with only few casualties. Rüstem Pasha had also sent couple of his platoons outside Mecca to raid the Arabian countryside, so that Saladin's main army in Mecca would be occupied and he could not send reenforcements to Egypt.

The proffessional Ottoman army marched forward in egypt without meeting significant opposition it laid siege on Al-Uqsur, while the Rüstem Pasha's cavalry platoons continued their march to northwest towards the city of Kem Kesir.

Kem Kesir was suprisingly light defended and the mighty ottoman cavalry did not hesitate to crush the desperately fighting arabian guard. The city was taken.

Regardless of this great success, Rüstem Pasha was not satisfied. His army was scattered around Egypt and he had heard nothing about the main Arabic-African Army, which he had been tracking before the declaration of war. He was ready to send orders to his cavalry in Kem Kasir to scout the deserts around the city, when a scout hastily approached him and shouted that a massive arabian army is closing in on Kem Kasir from the west. Rüstem Pasha reacted quickly and revised his orders. He ordered his cavalry platoons to challenge the army on open field before it could reach Kem Kasir. But in his mind he feared that can the army be stopped.