erez87
Lord of Random
Is that Carthage?
Alternate History Thread V
- Thread starter Dachs
- Start date
I think this is 480 AD. The dark grey is Leon. The dark yellow is the Visigoths. The small red area or the purple area is the Burgundians. The large red area is the Ostrogoths. The turquoise area is the Allemanni. The light blue is the (Ripuarian?) Franks. The dark blue area is the Kingdom of Aegidius and Syagrius. Orange is the Bavarians. Yellow is the Lombards. Dark green is the Vandals.
Chapter V: Times They Are A-Changin
Greatness is nothing unless it lasting. - Napoleon Bonaparte
1285-1289: In China the last vestiges of the Song have been crushed. The Yuan Dynasty is one of the largest in Chinese history, and the first to conquer Japan. Unfortunately, the Yuan are unable to totally enjoy their triumphs. The Ilkhanate is beginning to appear as a challenger to its appearance as the first khanate. Normally one of the most submissive of the Khanates, the Ilkhans have grown increasingly militant and are trying to impose their will on both the Golden Horde and the Chagatids. To add to their woes, many of their attempts to conquer the Khmer and the Vietnamese have failed.
The Sultanate of Delhi has struck back at the Chagatids, scoring several victories and gaining back much of the territory that they lost in the invasion of the 1280s. The Chagatai Khanate was weakened by its own civil conflicts of the past few years as a Muslim faction and a traditionalist Pagan faction fought over the Khanate of the Chagatids. Experiencing similar unrest to what the Ilkhanate did in the early 1280s and late 1270s, eventually the Muslim faction harnessed popular support and won the civil war.
The Muslim Rebellions have finally ended. The Ilkhan was forced to provide serious compensations to many of his Muslim subjects in order to bring peace to his realm. They are no longer subject to the harsh religion-based taxes of the past, they are given the freedom to practice their religion, and they now have complete legal rights comparable to those of Christians. The Ilkhan Arghun is leaning on his vassals in Cilicia, Antioch, and Jerusalem (the Egyptians had already been forced to adopt these reforms by their somewhat desperate situation). The Cilicians quickly acquiesced, as did the Antiochenes. These two states were submissive to the Ilkhanate because often not only did they respect its great authority, they greatly needed its influence to prevent a revanchist Jerusalem from engulfing them both. Jerusalem has refused to amend its laws regarding Muslims, increasing the tension between it and its nominal liege. Also, although its Muslim subjects had gained many new rights, Muslim nobility amongst the Mongolians were still heavily disfavored by the Ilkhanate. Most of these Muslim nobles eventually emigrated to the Chagatai Khanate, where they would receive more favorable treatment. Many of these nobles were viewed as criminals by the Ilkhanate, and Arghun Khan demanded that they be returned and executed for treason. The Chagatids refused and war (which had been escalating for years since the inconclusive end of their last conflict, the increasingly bellicose behavior of the Ilkhans who wished to assert their authority, and the opposed religions) began between the two khanates in 1288. The early stages of the war were dominated by the Ilkhanate, but eventually the Chagatids were able to divert enough armies from their Indian front the blunt their advance.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem continues its rise. It has become one of the most stable and wealthy states in the Middle-East drawing. Conrad IIIs wife Mary has given him two new sons, in 1286, and 1289. He has laid claim to Egypt by rights of inheritance through his wife Mary and her first-born Godfrey grandson of Kitbuqa. Yet the Ilkhan Arghun reasonably fears the unification of Egypt with his most defiant vassal and his enabled the heirs of Khugen, supposed temporary successor of Kitbuqa first Mongol king of Egypt. This has infuriated Conrad III, but he still fears a complete break with the incredibly powerful (albeit somewhat morbid) Ilkhanate. Speaking of Egypt, large chunks of been claimed due to the deployment of three tumens (30,000 men) to conquer it. There are still significant holdouts in the western part of the country, many of the Mamluk petty lords supported by the Mongol Khan of Tripolitania, who fears a reckoning that may come of his rather open rebellion if a land link is established to him across North Africa.
Charles of Anjou made attempts to unify Sicily. The only barriers in his way were the Aragonese and the Genoans. To deal with the Genoans, he sold his nominal over lordship to the Duchy of Achaea in exchange for their portion of Sardinia. Unfortunately for him the Aragonese were much more implacable. He attacked swiftly into their possessions but was soon excommunicated by the Pope. He triumphed in Sardinia and then even moved on to besiege Rome. A crusade was called against Charles, and the decimation of his realms was saved only by his (extremely) timely death in 1289. His son Charles II realized his untenable position and immediately began making concession to the Papacy and the other Ghibbelines. He ceded Sardinia to a partition between the Genoese and Pisans (probably for the sake of spiting the Aragonese). He had to give up many of his inherited possessions in northern Italy, and in Tuscany a portion of a separate Duchy of Tuscany was established and part of the Duchy was granted to the Papacy. Charles II of Anjou was confronted with a collapsing realm, and granted the Kingdom of Tunisia to his brother Phillip. He retained the territories of Naples and Sicily, and was busy asserting his sons right to Hungary, presuming his territories to be safe after such a substantial trimming-down.
The Byzantine Empire has succeeded in re-unifying through marriage with the Despotate of Epirus. Although it maintains some autonomy domestically, by and large its affairs are run from Constantinople. Elsewhere in the Byzantine Empire, raids from the increasingly aggressive petty emirs of the disintegrating Selchuk Sultanate have become a major nuisance even coming threateningly close to Nicaea. The only remaining Latin state in the East is the Duchy of Achaea, propped up by the Genoese.
The Teutonic Order has continued to capitalize on the increase on Crusading enthusiasm by expanding further into Lithuania and even Poland.
War has erupted between the English and French in 1286. To add to this tumultuous conflict, the Scottish were invaded by Norway to assert their monarchs claims to the throne of Scotland after an inheritance crisis and the Scots appealed to England for aid. England has embraced a two-front war, and Norway and France have entered into a more formal alliance intended to stifle the ambitions of the Angevin kings of England. Initially the war has begun poorly for the Britons, with French and Norwegian progress.
1290-1294: The forces of Louis X have reclaimed most of Gascony from the English in their war with them. The English have enlisted the burghers of Flanders in their conflict against the French as well. They have largely established dominance over the English Channel and have begun troop landings in Normandy. Rouen was under siege to the British and on the edge of falling. To the north England was increasingly establishing controls over Scotland, and soon both theaters of the war were run from Whitehall, owing to the absence of a Scottish King. This worked in the favor of the Norwegians, who played off Scottish nationalists (the term is at least mildly appropriate) to aid them in the fight against the English. The Norwegians promised them much greater autonomy then they would have had under the English. Many of the most powerful Highlander barons have risen in support of the Norwegian King.
The slow fall of the Pisan Republic has accelerated this year, when the Aragonese seized control of Corsica. They had the aid of the Genoese fleets, who were promised preferential access to Aragonese markets.
The former realm of Charles of Anjou has continued its collapse. In 1290 all of Sicily rose in open rebellion against Charles II, with the revolution sweeping across the island far faster than the French could even hope to repress. With the Senior Capetians busy with the English control of Sicily was quickly lost. It took all the efforts of Charles II to prevent the revolt from spreading to Naples, and even by 1294 it was not completely suppressed in the twin boots of Italy. The Sicilians temporarily had no form of government, but all of them fondly recalled the rule of the Hohenstaufen on their island. Thus, after a council in Palermo the crown of Sicily was offered to Conrad III, King of Jerusalem. Conrad accepted Sicily for his second-born son Baldwin. His plan is to create a Duchy of Sicily, mostly independent but also a vassal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Until the majority of Baldwin in 1302 Conrad will hold the Duchy of Sicily as a possession of the Crown of Jerusalem. He has already been forced to distribute power somewhat liberally to the various barons of Sicily, as he has no hope of holding without the complete support of the populace.
The Marinid Caliphate continues its rise, and is growing a more and more aggressive rivalry with the Castilians. Both of their fleets have engaged in limited confrontations in the past few years. The Kingdom of Tunisia has also begun to fear the power of the Marinids, and has appealed for a new Crusade from the Church.
Poland has been united under one king for the first time in many years. King Przemysl was crowned the King of Poland in 1292. He ascended to power largely without opposition after the vast humiliation of the other major claimant Ottokar II in the civil war in the Holy Roman Empire. He has adopted an aggressive policy towards Belarussia, and has negotiated plans for an alliance with Novgorod Republic. Elsewhere in the Baltics the Teutonic Order and their Livonian subordinates have continued their vicious attacks on the Lithuanians, reducing them to a minor state. Sweden has raided into Livonia, perhaps precipitating a hostile future between the two states.
After the death of King Rudolph of Germany, his son Albert managed to succeed to the throne. In a search for allies, the Pope agreed to crown Albert as Holy Roman Emperor in exchange for some territory in the north of the peninsula. Albert ceded the territory out of the Empire because of his desperate need for legitimacy and fears that Germany would again fall into chaos after the death of his charismatic father.
The Byzantine Empire has increasingly cultivated warm relations with Serbia. Bulgaria has turned to the Golden Horde for protection against the Byzantines, and is now paying the Khan tribute.
The Ilkhan Arghun passed away in 1291, leaving the reigns of his realm to his son Ghazan. Ghazan is a reasonable and actually isnt ambitious as a khan, his main goal is to eliminate dissent among his own high-ranking nobility. Namely, that means encouraging conversion to Christianity and encouraging adoption of at least some Middle-Eastern principles. He is a moderate who offends no one, yet is still a good ruler who is held with esteem by his contemporaries. His reign has also began a revival of good relations with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, partially due to his cultural tact and ability to speak many languages. While he refuses to recognize Conrads claims as King of Egypt, he also does not recognize the current Mongol ruler of Egypt as any more than a regent. Ghazan offered Jerusalem a reduction in their tribute payments if they would renounce their claims to Antioch, but Conrad refused. Ghazan also concluded peace with the Chagatids,
uti possidetis. The Egyptian offensive continued, with the final Mameluke coalition positioned in Cyrenaica, with funding coming in from (clandestinely) both Tripolitania and Jerusalem.
The Ayyubid Sultanate concluded peace with the Makurians after they nearly sacked Mecca. They now pay them a massive tribute in return for a ten year peace agreement. Also, the Ayyubids were the victim of a large invasion by the Ilkhanate, which gave the Ilkhanate a port on the Red Sea.
The Khmer Empire has grown more powerful in the face of several failed Mongol assaults. They have scored several victories against the Dai Viet and are becoming a growing threat to Yuan authority in Southeast Asia. The Yuan themselves are undergoing their own signification yet continue their prejudice against the Han for positions of authority in the khanate. Kublai Khan died, and he was succeeded by his grandson Temur. Momentously, the Ilkhanate has refused to acknowledge him as the Great Khan as the heathen king of China. He is also losing support among the Mongolians, who only acknowledge him as a partial regent of Mongolia. The Chagatids are the sole group the recognizes his ultimate authority. Seeking to shore up his support among ethnic minorities, Temur took the daughter of the Kamakura shogun as his wife.
1295-1299: The Khan of the Golden Horde died at the dawn of 1295 and a kuriltai was immediately convened. They were at an important crossroads: They could choose a traditional, likely Muslim candidate who would continue them on the slow path to insignificance (and continuing raids by the Rus) or an altogether more momentous decision. If they chose the Ilkhan Ghazan as Khan it would unify the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate permanently, as the Ilkhanate had recently instituted royal primogeniture for purposes of inheritance. After much deliberation Ghazan was chosen as the new Khan, possibly making him the most powerful man in the world. In Egypt the Mongolians suffered a critical defeat at Benghazi, as they were on the eve of the conquest of Cyrenaica. Fearing a Mameluke attack into Egypt, the Ilkhanate concluded peace with the lone ruler of Cyrenaica, Ali. The Mameluke ruler must pay a heavy tribute in return for his freedom. In 1298 Ghazan passed away, leaving the succession up in the air. Eventually, his extremely skilled and beloved son Baghatur (in the Church, known as Joseph) grabbed the throne. The Golden Horde also accepted the greatly respected Baghatur, who as a teenager became a hero in the Chagatid wars. He succeeded to the throne at age 25. In 1299, Baghatur led a raiding expedition into the Selchuk Sultanate, toppling the final Sultan and formally making the dozens of petty beyliks his vassals. Relations between Jerusalem and The Ilkhanate have also continued their chill in relations with the Kingdom Of Jerusalem, with Baghatur appointing his own brother as Regent of Egypt, a title also claimed by Conrad III of Jerusalem.
In a naval battle this year, Conrad captured Malta from Charles II of Naples, cutting one of Charles closest links to his brother and nominal ally Phillip, King of Tunis. Conrads position in Sicily grows a little more tenuous, as the notoriously unruly barons of Sicily have begun to dislike being ruled from afar again. To assuage their concerns, Conrad has continued to grant them land and is already making laws to limit his own sons power, when he comes to power.
The 10th crusade was launched in 1296 towards Granada, and met with success until reinforcements were brought in by the Marinid Caliphate. They scored victories against the Castilians, but they were largely immoveable from their forward positions. The result was a peace ceding much of the former Granada to Castile (largely uti poseditis). At the very end of 1299, the Granadan Sultanate was added to the growing Marinid realm, by claims of the inability of the Granadan sultans inability to protect his own people.
The war between the English, French, Scottish, and Norwegians has continued to rage. The English kings have made great progress in Normandy, conquering nearly all of it, while French progress in Gascony has stalled. The English have scored several victories against the French, especially when the Capetian forces had to divert a Flemish offensive headed straight towards Paris. The English have begun attempts to woo the Britons into the war, but as of yet the court of Brittany has been largely unresponsive, and is perhaps waiting for further English victories before they take action. In the north the Norwegians have continued to score victories against the Scottish, who were caught off guard when the Norwegians did not even attempt to take Edinburgh, instead going for a campaign to capture all of western Scotland and the Highlands through their excellent ports in the Irish Sea and their main hub, the Isle of Man. Many Scottish soldiers are stuck in France, and after pleas from the various lords of Scotland King Edward sent aid to Scotland. Many of those English soldiers have acted quite roguishly, even in the land they are supposed to be defending. This has only fanned the fires of anti-English sentiment in Scotland and there continues to be defections to the Norwegian cause.
In Italy the King of Naples has begun forming new alliances with many of the Ghibbeline cities of Northern Italy (and is in limited correspondence with the newly crowned Emperor Albert I). They are designing on limiting the growing secular power of the Papacy in Italy. The Pope has been somewhat taken aback by these developments, and is forming an alliance with the former Papal enemy and Hohenstaufen, Conrad III of Jerusalem.
As part of the enthusiasm surrounding the 10th crusade, many northern barons unable to travel to Spain volunteered in the Baltics, and helped the Teutonic Order launch another, possibly mortal, blow to Lithuania. They made major progress and barring extreme circumstances it seems all of Lithuania may soon fall to the Teutonic Order. Central government is nowhere to be found, and the only defense the Lithuanians now have is there will for independence as a people.
The Yuan Dynasty has increasingly become the rival, rather than the overlord, of the Ilkhanate in the campaign for supremacy across Asia. While the Mongolians have reluctantly supported the Yuan recently, they have been making overtures toward the Ilkhan, perhaps in an attempt to get further concessions and subsidies from Beijing. The Chagatids have begun leaning into the Yuan camp, but the Ilkhanate is able to offer them much more protection from the Delhi sultans.
The Khmer have successfully attacked the Champa, annexing great chunks of land in the south and making them a vassal state.
The two maps are of 1290 and 1300, respectively. I am aware the map quality isn't exactly great, but I hope I can get someone to help me fix it up a little before the start of the NES. The only areas not quite affected yet TTL are Southern India, Indonesia, Alodia, and Ethiopia so if you have appropriate corrections for 1300 in those areas they are more than welcome. I know it may seem like I'm getting rid of nations to make the modding effort easier (at least it seemed like that to me) but I promise that not only is it completely coincidental, in a couple of decades things, specifically in the Near and Middle East, will get much muddier.
Greatness is nothing unless it lasting. - Napoleon Bonaparte
1285-1289: In China the last vestiges of the Song have been crushed. The Yuan Dynasty is one of the largest in Chinese history, and the first to conquer Japan. Unfortunately, the Yuan are unable to totally enjoy their triumphs. The Ilkhanate is beginning to appear as a challenger to its appearance as the first khanate. Normally one of the most submissive of the Khanates, the Ilkhans have grown increasingly militant and are trying to impose their will on both the Golden Horde and the Chagatids. To add to their woes, many of their attempts to conquer the Khmer and the Vietnamese have failed.
The Sultanate of Delhi has struck back at the Chagatids, scoring several victories and gaining back much of the territory that they lost in the invasion of the 1280s. The Chagatai Khanate was weakened by its own civil conflicts of the past few years as a Muslim faction and a traditionalist Pagan faction fought over the Khanate of the Chagatids. Experiencing similar unrest to what the Ilkhanate did in the early 1280s and late 1270s, eventually the Muslim faction harnessed popular support and won the civil war.
The Muslim Rebellions have finally ended. The Ilkhan was forced to provide serious compensations to many of his Muslim subjects in order to bring peace to his realm. They are no longer subject to the harsh religion-based taxes of the past, they are given the freedom to practice their religion, and they now have complete legal rights comparable to those of Christians. The Ilkhan Arghun is leaning on his vassals in Cilicia, Antioch, and Jerusalem (the Egyptians had already been forced to adopt these reforms by their somewhat desperate situation). The Cilicians quickly acquiesced, as did the Antiochenes. These two states were submissive to the Ilkhanate because often not only did they respect its great authority, they greatly needed its influence to prevent a revanchist Jerusalem from engulfing them both. Jerusalem has refused to amend its laws regarding Muslims, increasing the tension between it and its nominal liege. Also, although its Muslim subjects had gained many new rights, Muslim nobility amongst the Mongolians were still heavily disfavored by the Ilkhanate. Most of these Muslim nobles eventually emigrated to the Chagatai Khanate, where they would receive more favorable treatment. Many of these nobles were viewed as criminals by the Ilkhanate, and Arghun Khan demanded that they be returned and executed for treason. The Chagatids refused and war (which had been escalating for years since the inconclusive end of their last conflict, the increasingly bellicose behavior of the Ilkhans who wished to assert their authority, and the opposed religions) began between the two khanates in 1288. The early stages of the war were dominated by the Ilkhanate, but eventually the Chagatids were able to divert enough armies from their Indian front the blunt their advance.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem continues its rise. It has become one of the most stable and wealthy states in the Middle-East drawing. Conrad IIIs wife Mary has given him two new sons, in 1286, and 1289. He has laid claim to Egypt by rights of inheritance through his wife Mary and her first-born Godfrey grandson of Kitbuqa. Yet the Ilkhan Arghun reasonably fears the unification of Egypt with his most defiant vassal and his enabled the heirs of Khugen, supposed temporary successor of Kitbuqa first Mongol king of Egypt. This has infuriated Conrad III, but he still fears a complete break with the incredibly powerful (albeit somewhat morbid) Ilkhanate. Speaking of Egypt, large chunks of been claimed due to the deployment of three tumens (30,000 men) to conquer it. There are still significant holdouts in the western part of the country, many of the Mamluk petty lords supported by the Mongol Khan of Tripolitania, who fears a reckoning that may come of his rather open rebellion if a land link is established to him across North Africa.
Charles of Anjou made attempts to unify Sicily. The only barriers in his way were the Aragonese and the Genoans. To deal with the Genoans, he sold his nominal over lordship to the Duchy of Achaea in exchange for their portion of Sardinia. Unfortunately for him the Aragonese were much more implacable. He attacked swiftly into their possessions but was soon excommunicated by the Pope. He triumphed in Sardinia and then even moved on to besiege Rome. A crusade was called against Charles, and the decimation of his realms was saved only by his (extremely) timely death in 1289. His son Charles II realized his untenable position and immediately began making concession to the Papacy and the other Ghibbelines. He ceded Sardinia to a partition between the Genoese and Pisans (probably for the sake of spiting the Aragonese). He had to give up many of his inherited possessions in northern Italy, and in Tuscany a portion of a separate Duchy of Tuscany was established and part of the Duchy was granted to the Papacy. Charles II of Anjou was confronted with a collapsing realm, and granted the Kingdom of Tunisia to his brother Phillip. He retained the territories of Naples and Sicily, and was busy asserting his sons right to Hungary, presuming his territories to be safe after such a substantial trimming-down.
The Byzantine Empire has succeeded in re-unifying through marriage with the Despotate of Epirus. Although it maintains some autonomy domestically, by and large its affairs are run from Constantinople. Elsewhere in the Byzantine Empire, raids from the increasingly aggressive petty emirs of the disintegrating Selchuk Sultanate have become a major nuisance even coming threateningly close to Nicaea. The only remaining Latin state in the East is the Duchy of Achaea, propped up by the Genoese.
The Teutonic Order has continued to capitalize on the increase on Crusading enthusiasm by expanding further into Lithuania and even Poland.
War has erupted between the English and French in 1286. To add to this tumultuous conflict, the Scottish were invaded by Norway to assert their monarchs claims to the throne of Scotland after an inheritance crisis and the Scots appealed to England for aid. England has embraced a two-front war, and Norway and France have entered into a more formal alliance intended to stifle the ambitions of the Angevin kings of England. Initially the war has begun poorly for the Britons, with French and Norwegian progress.
1290-1294: The forces of Louis X have reclaimed most of Gascony from the English in their war with them. The English have enlisted the burghers of Flanders in their conflict against the French as well. They have largely established dominance over the English Channel and have begun troop landings in Normandy. Rouen was under siege to the British and on the edge of falling. To the north England was increasingly establishing controls over Scotland, and soon both theaters of the war were run from Whitehall, owing to the absence of a Scottish King. This worked in the favor of the Norwegians, who played off Scottish nationalists (the term is at least mildly appropriate) to aid them in the fight against the English. The Norwegians promised them much greater autonomy then they would have had under the English. Many of the most powerful Highlander barons have risen in support of the Norwegian King.
The slow fall of the Pisan Republic has accelerated this year, when the Aragonese seized control of Corsica. They had the aid of the Genoese fleets, who were promised preferential access to Aragonese markets.
The former realm of Charles of Anjou has continued its collapse. In 1290 all of Sicily rose in open rebellion against Charles II, with the revolution sweeping across the island far faster than the French could even hope to repress. With the Senior Capetians busy with the English control of Sicily was quickly lost. It took all the efforts of Charles II to prevent the revolt from spreading to Naples, and even by 1294 it was not completely suppressed in the twin boots of Italy. The Sicilians temporarily had no form of government, but all of them fondly recalled the rule of the Hohenstaufen on their island. Thus, after a council in Palermo the crown of Sicily was offered to Conrad III, King of Jerusalem. Conrad accepted Sicily for his second-born son Baldwin. His plan is to create a Duchy of Sicily, mostly independent but also a vassal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Until the majority of Baldwin in 1302 Conrad will hold the Duchy of Sicily as a possession of the Crown of Jerusalem. He has already been forced to distribute power somewhat liberally to the various barons of Sicily, as he has no hope of holding without the complete support of the populace.
The Marinid Caliphate continues its rise, and is growing a more and more aggressive rivalry with the Castilians. Both of their fleets have engaged in limited confrontations in the past few years. The Kingdom of Tunisia has also begun to fear the power of the Marinids, and has appealed for a new Crusade from the Church.
Poland has been united under one king for the first time in many years. King Przemysl was crowned the King of Poland in 1292. He ascended to power largely without opposition after the vast humiliation of the other major claimant Ottokar II in the civil war in the Holy Roman Empire. He has adopted an aggressive policy towards Belarussia, and has negotiated plans for an alliance with Novgorod Republic. Elsewhere in the Baltics the Teutonic Order and their Livonian subordinates have continued their vicious attacks on the Lithuanians, reducing them to a minor state. Sweden has raided into Livonia, perhaps precipitating a hostile future between the two states.
After the death of King Rudolph of Germany, his son Albert managed to succeed to the throne. In a search for allies, the Pope agreed to crown Albert as Holy Roman Emperor in exchange for some territory in the north of the peninsula. Albert ceded the territory out of the Empire because of his desperate need for legitimacy and fears that Germany would again fall into chaos after the death of his charismatic father.
The Byzantine Empire has increasingly cultivated warm relations with Serbia. Bulgaria has turned to the Golden Horde for protection against the Byzantines, and is now paying the Khan tribute.
The Ilkhan Arghun passed away in 1291, leaving the reigns of his realm to his son Ghazan. Ghazan is a reasonable and actually isnt ambitious as a khan, his main goal is to eliminate dissent among his own high-ranking nobility. Namely, that means encouraging conversion to Christianity and encouraging adoption of at least some Middle-Eastern principles. He is a moderate who offends no one, yet is still a good ruler who is held with esteem by his contemporaries. His reign has also began a revival of good relations with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, partially due to his cultural tact and ability to speak many languages. While he refuses to recognize Conrads claims as King of Egypt, he also does not recognize the current Mongol ruler of Egypt as any more than a regent. Ghazan offered Jerusalem a reduction in their tribute payments if they would renounce their claims to Antioch, but Conrad refused. Ghazan also concluded peace with the Chagatids,
uti possidetis. The Egyptian offensive continued, with the final Mameluke coalition positioned in Cyrenaica, with funding coming in from (clandestinely) both Tripolitania and Jerusalem.
The Ayyubid Sultanate concluded peace with the Makurians after they nearly sacked Mecca. They now pay them a massive tribute in return for a ten year peace agreement. Also, the Ayyubids were the victim of a large invasion by the Ilkhanate, which gave the Ilkhanate a port on the Red Sea.
The Khmer Empire has grown more powerful in the face of several failed Mongol assaults. They have scored several victories against the Dai Viet and are becoming a growing threat to Yuan authority in Southeast Asia. The Yuan themselves are undergoing their own signification yet continue their prejudice against the Han for positions of authority in the khanate. Kublai Khan died, and he was succeeded by his grandson Temur. Momentously, the Ilkhanate has refused to acknowledge him as the Great Khan as the heathen king of China. He is also losing support among the Mongolians, who only acknowledge him as a partial regent of Mongolia. The Chagatids are the sole group the recognizes his ultimate authority. Seeking to shore up his support among ethnic minorities, Temur took the daughter of the Kamakura shogun as his wife.
1295-1299: The Khan of the Golden Horde died at the dawn of 1295 and a kuriltai was immediately convened. They were at an important crossroads: They could choose a traditional, likely Muslim candidate who would continue them on the slow path to insignificance (and continuing raids by the Rus) or an altogether more momentous decision. If they chose the Ilkhan Ghazan as Khan it would unify the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate permanently, as the Ilkhanate had recently instituted royal primogeniture for purposes of inheritance. After much deliberation Ghazan was chosen as the new Khan, possibly making him the most powerful man in the world. In Egypt the Mongolians suffered a critical defeat at Benghazi, as they were on the eve of the conquest of Cyrenaica. Fearing a Mameluke attack into Egypt, the Ilkhanate concluded peace with the lone ruler of Cyrenaica, Ali. The Mameluke ruler must pay a heavy tribute in return for his freedom. In 1298 Ghazan passed away, leaving the succession up in the air. Eventually, his extremely skilled and beloved son Baghatur (in the Church, known as Joseph) grabbed the throne. The Golden Horde also accepted the greatly respected Baghatur, who as a teenager became a hero in the Chagatid wars. He succeeded to the throne at age 25. In 1299, Baghatur led a raiding expedition into the Selchuk Sultanate, toppling the final Sultan and formally making the dozens of petty beyliks his vassals. Relations between Jerusalem and The Ilkhanate have also continued their chill in relations with the Kingdom Of Jerusalem, with Baghatur appointing his own brother as Regent of Egypt, a title also claimed by Conrad III of Jerusalem.
In a naval battle this year, Conrad captured Malta from Charles II of Naples, cutting one of Charles closest links to his brother and nominal ally Phillip, King of Tunis. Conrads position in Sicily grows a little more tenuous, as the notoriously unruly barons of Sicily have begun to dislike being ruled from afar again. To assuage their concerns, Conrad has continued to grant them land and is already making laws to limit his own sons power, when he comes to power.
The 10th crusade was launched in 1296 towards Granada, and met with success until reinforcements were brought in by the Marinid Caliphate. They scored victories against the Castilians, but they were largely immoveable from their forward positions. The result was a peace ceding much of the former Granada to Castile (largely uti poseditis). At the very end of 1299, the Granadan Sultanate was added to the growing Marinid realm, by claims of the inability of the Granadan sultans inability to protect his own people.
The war between the English, French, Scottish, and Norwegians has continued to rage. The English kings have made great progress in Normandy, conquering nearly all of it, while French progress in Gascony has stalled. The English have scored several victories against the French, especially when the Capetian forces had to divert a Flemish offensive headed straight towards Paris. The English have begun attempts to woo the Britons into the war, but as of yet the court of Brittany has been largely unresponsive, and is perhaps waiting for further English victories before they take action. In the north the Norwegians have continued to score victories against the Scottish, who were caught off guard when the Norwegians did not even attempt to take Edinburgh, instead going for a campaign to capture all of western Scotland and the Highlands through their excellent ports in the Irish Sea and their main hub, the Isle of Man. Many Scottish soldiers are stuck in France, and after pleas from the various lords of Scotland King Edward sent aid to Scotland. Many of those English soldiers have acted quite roguishly, even in the land they are supposed to be defending. This has only fanned the fires of anti-English sentiment in Scotland and there continues to be defections to the Norwegian cause.
In Italy the King of Naples has begun forming new alliances with many of the Ghibbeline cities of Northern Italy (and is in limited correspondence with the newly crowned Emperor Albert I). They are designing on limiting the growing secular power of the Papacy in Italy. The Pope has been somewhat taken aback by these developments, and is forming an alliance with the former Papal enemy and Hohenstaufen, Conrad III of Jerusalem.
As part of the enthusiasm surrounding the 10th crusade, many northern barons unable to travel to Spain volunteered in the Baltics, and helped the Teutonic Order launch another, possibly mortal, blow to Lithuania. They made major progress and barring extreme circumstances it seems all of Lithuania may soon fall to the Teutonic Order. Central government is nowhere to be found, and the only defense the Lithuanians now have is there will for independence as a people.
The Yuan Dynasty has increasingly become the rival, rather than the overlord, of the Ilkhanate in the campaign for supremacy across Asia. While the Mongolians have reluctantly supported the Yuan recently, they have been making overtures toward the Ilkhan, perhaps in an attempt to get further concessions and subsidies from Beijing. The Chagatids have begun leaning into the Yuan camp, but the Ilkhanate is able to offer them much more protection from the Delhi sultans.
The Khmer have successfully attacked the Champa, annexing great chunks of land in the south and making them a vassal state.
The two maps are of 1290 and 1300, respectively. I am aware the map quality isn't exactly great, but I hope I can get someone to help me fix it up a little before the start of the NES. The only areas not quite affected yet TTL are Southern India, Indonesia, Alodia, and Ethiopia so if you have appropriate corrections for 1300 in those areas they are more than welcome. I know it may seem like I'm getting rid of nations to make the modding effort easier (at least it seemed like that to me) but I promise that not only is it completely coincidental, in a couple of decades things, specifically in the Near and Middle East, will get much muddier.
Dreadnought
Deity
Quick question: what is keeping Ghazan from steamrolling the Byzantines? Opportunities elsewhere?
Well, for now, Baghatur (recent successor to Ghazan) is busy securing Russia and Egypt. The Ilkhanate is already a little over-extended, but there is a possibility
mischief that in the next decade or so a major Ilkhanate offensive into Europe will come from Anatolia. So yeah, in other words you pretty much guessed exactly what the Ilkahanate is doing next.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
I think that is what he is trying to find out.
Kraznaya
Princeps
I find the original post behind the idea. In any case, if das is willing, I too would like elucidation on this map, probably along the lines of the series of questioning that Thlayli did for the Arcadia TL, although hopefully with much better eventual result.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
If by better you mean not suck then I totally can't wait.
Chapter VI: The Day That Never Comes
Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge. Niccoló Machiavelli
Note: Past this point, it is safe to say a sizeable amount of all divergences from our time line will not be described. If you are confused or curious about something simply ask. It is likely I either have an answer for it and have forgotten, neglected, or decided not to include it in the time-line or it is possible I have not thought about it. In that case, I shall get an answer by combing through the time-line to bring you a satisfactory answer based on what seems most plausible.
1300-1309: The war in the northwest of Europe heated up and then finally wound to a conclusion this decade, with some very surprising results on both sides. The battle of Coquelles was perhaps one of the most decisive, particularly owing to the death of Louis X in battle. After suffering continuing defeats against the English and the Flems, and with the interior of France itself in chaos as no clear ruler emerged, the majority of barons in France wanted peace. A coalition of the leading French Dukes agreed to this proposal, owing to the infancy of King Louis X of Frances oldest son. This proposal returned all of Gascony to the English, and as much of Normandy as they held at the conclusion of the treaty. In the north, an altogether surprising finish was reached with the declaration of the United Kingdom of Norway-Scotland, through the marriage of the sole surviving female descendant of the last king of Scotland. The various lords of Scotland have been promised a huge amount of autonomy, and both Bergen and Edinburgh will serve as joint capitals in this new realm. France has fallen into internal disorder, with central power disintegrating back to the stage of a century or more ago.
The Marinid Caliphate has continued to consolidate its power, and is likely the most powerful Muslim state in the world.
War has broken out in Italy again, with the Pope and his supporters fighting against the Capetian King of Naples and his allies in Tuscany. Into the fray joined the Genoese and the Venetians, on the side of the Pope and the King of Naples respectively. Pisa, swayed by the large Papal armies on their border entered the war against Naples. In the initial stages, the predictable naval battles occurred between Venice and Genoa. Most notably, the Venetians and Byzantines staged a joint invasion of the Duchy of Achaea, agreeing to a partition afterwards. The Genoans also managed to seize the remainder of Sardinia from the declining Pisans.
The Teutonic Order has embarked on another crusade, aiming to strike a blow against the Orthodox Rus. They have invaded the Belarussian and their Novgorod allies under the guise of fighting for Catholicism. They have met with some success thus far, allying with Sweden. Poland has also joined in on the conflict seeking to stem the growth of the aggressive Teutonic Knights.
In the Middle-East the Ilkhan is becoming increasingly intertwined with his duties as secular (and to some extent spiritual) head of the Eastern Church. Recent defiance from the Byzantines has infuriated Baghatur, and he has dispatched a massive army to conquer the Greeks. This is a two pronged attack, somewhat by design and also by coincidence. To begin with, it is important to note that the composition of the Ilkhans armies, while still based around the traditional Mongol cavalryman has evolved greatly. Traditional Muslim fashioned infantry hordes, with a large contingent from the loyal subjects in the Caucasus. They often fight under regional commanders. While foreign the Ilkhanate is now generally recognized as the undisputed ruler of the immediate area, and is able to draw up soldiers from across their empire. One can even find contingents of Frankish knights, fighting under the banner of Antioch in Baghaturs hordes. He even has a small navy for the crossing of lesser bodies of water such as the Aegean. The first, and largest force (60,000 men) is crossing through Bulgaria and has not yet quite lain siege to Constantinople. Another more diverse force is striking in Anatolia, using the power and ambition of the Beyliks to strike blows at some of the Greeks most important centers. The most quickly growing and explosive beylik is the Esrofoglu, which has fast emerged as one of the leaders of the various petty Turkish beyliks. Their rise has culminated with the climactic fall of Smyrna in 1309. Earlier in the decade, it conquered the Beylik of Ladik. Several of the other beyliks have advanced into Byzantine Anatolia as well. The Byzantine hierarchy is in a state of panic. Unfortunately for them, the Italians have been particularly distracted by their own war. The King of Jerusalem did attempt to stem, in their own way, the Ilkhans advance against their Byzantine allies, but with disastrous results. They laid siege to Antioch, and were on the verge of receiving a surrender from the prince, but soon an envoy arrived from the Ilkhanate promising aid. Soon, a massive army under the command of Baghaturs brother arrived, fighting the Jerusalemite army surrounding Antioch to a draw broken by the sallying of the Antiochene garrison. The two armies are now embroiled in conflict across Palestine, with the momentous alliance of the Emir of Damascus to Jerusalem. In a more positive note for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Conrads son Frederick has become the official Duke of Sicily.
The Chagatids have finally begun to gain some ground against the Sultanate of Delhi, scoring several victories this decade. They have also drifted more into the camp of the Yuan Dynasty, who promises them some protection against the Ilkhanate. The Mongolians, though, have begun to drift somewhat more into the camp of the Ilkhanate, distraught by the growing Sinification of the Yuan, as opposed to what they see as the lesser evil of Christianity among the Ilkhans.
The Khmer Empire has invaded the Dai Viet, and subjugated them to a greater extent.
1310-1319: At the beginning of this decade (which coincidentally promises to be far more exciting than the previous one) the Japanese have begun a rebellion against their Chinese-Mongolian overlords. This has initially met with success, and they have scored several victories against the Mongolians. Unfortunately for them, by 1319 it seems that their luck has largely run out as the massive superiority of the Yuan in almost every facet of warfare is coming to bear. For now, an independent Japan seems to have its days numbered. The Khmer have also continued their meteoric rise, defeating a small regional Chinese army that sought to protect the Dai Viet.
The Chagatids have continued their advance into India, even establishing beach-heads on the south-side of the Indus River, albeit not without quite a few setbacks.
Shock rang all over the West as Constantinople fell to the forces of the Ilkhanate. Surprisingly, it was not sacked and its holy places were not dismantled. The city itself was treated with great respect, probably owing to the Christianity of its conquerors. The handling of the capture of Constantinople highlights a stark divide between the Ilkhanate of now and its ancestors. Constantinople avoided the Baghdad treatment, and there was no massive pile of skulls outside its walls and right hands were not collected by its conquerors. Asides from the execution of the reigning emperor and Patriarch (which has obviously drawn an extremely strong reaction from the Serbians, and has also undermined the support of the Serbians to an extent. The Byzantines have also been ravaged in Anatolia, with Prusa the only major port still standing on the Anatolian Coast. All minor Turkish progress in the Aegean, in one of the few bright spots for the Byzantines, has been totally reverse by the vastly superior Byzantine Navy with some limited support from the Venetians. Initially the Genoans supported the Bulgarians and the Mongolians, yet after being threatened with a crusade by a rare joint initiative from the Emperor and the Pope they immediately stopped. As opposed to the situation after the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Byzantine government has been able to maintain order in the (large) territories they still control, and are ready if the Ilkhan attempts to advance south into Greece. Serbia has allied with the Byzantines amidst support from Venice and the Pope and has invaded Bulgaria making significant progress and coming close to a capture of the capital until a critical defeat against the forces of the Ilkhanate. They are now in a general retreat, but they have managed to do severe infrastructural damage to Bulgaria. In Palestine, the alliance of Damascus and Jerusalem eventually failed, resulting in a terrible sack of Damascus and the general defeated of their forces. Forces from Egypt also invaded in the south of Jerusalem, forcing a partition of Conrads forces. Eventually, forces finally free from Baghaturs Balkan conquests laid siege to Jerusalem itself through sheer numerical superiority. To avoid a sack of his capital and possibly his own death Conrad agreed to humiliating terms, relinquishing his claims to Egypt, and Antioch and naming himself as a mere steward of Jerusalem for Baghatur. These terms are often referred to as the Second Humiliation of the Hohenstaufen, after their removal from Germany and Sicily. Surprisingly, while Conrad was forced to pay some tribute no territory was taken from the Kingdom itself, perhaps because Baghatur was no longer willing to fund an aggressive war in what is supposed to be the confines of his own kingdom. Also in the south, the Ayyubids have Egypt have accepted the protection of the Nubian Kingdom of Makuria in return for large tribute, liberalizing their laws towards Christians and allowing proselytizing by Christian missionaries in their territories (excepting of course Mecca and Medina). Baghaturs massive army has now been deployed north, to deal with the increasing independence and martial nature of the Russian states. The Principality of Tver has been raiding across the Ilkhanates possessions, and its leader Vladimir has denounced the Ilkhan as a heretic and heathen for propagating the superiority of his branch of Christianity, with Baghatur more and more usurping the authority of the rightful patriarch. When Baghaturs massive army arrived, they crushed the forces of Tver in one massive battle at (the Principality of Tvers losses included their particularly anti-Mongol and bellicose leader Vladimir and his first-born son).By 1319 the Tver had been subjugated again as a vassal of the Ilkhanate and Baghatur was making preperations for an invasion of the increasingly revanchist Novgorod Republic.
On the western side of Russia the Teutonic Knights had battled to a standstill with the Novgorod Republic. A Teutonic attempt to take Novgorod itself failed miserably, yet their efforts in Belarus have met with much more success. After the capture of parts of Pomerania by the Swedes, both the Poles and Russians were willing to conclude peace, and the Teutonic Order also was somewhat forced into a peace. This is because, owing to the present circumstances in the Balkans, war between Christians was looked upon quite poorly by both the Pope and the noble volunteers the Teutonic Order depended on to keep it vital. The peace decided upon took no territory from Novgorod, very nearly halved Belarus and gave Sweden a small piece of Pomerania.
The Marinids of North Africa invaded the Kingdom of Tunisia in 1317, scoring major successes against a Kingdom that found it difficult to defend itself against. After peace was concluded with help from the Castilians, Neapolitans, and the Tripolitanians (who fear the expansion of Marinid power across more of North Africa) Tunis has been reduced to nothing more than a collection of coastal fortress along the Mediterranean.
In Italy, the war was concluded as a victory for the Guelphs. Pisa has also been confirmed as a completely inconsequential player in Italian politics. Tuscany has been reduced to a client state of Rome and Naples (and its inherited ambitions from Charles of Anjou) has turned its look to the south, looking to support its brother dynasty in Tunis. Genoa and Venice concluded a peace with Genoa slightly more powerful than before, but this is largely due to the great losses of Venices allies in the Mediterranean.
Things between the English and French have begun to heat up again, as a very junior branch of the Capetian Dynasty has succeeded to power. London disputes the legitimacy of this new kingdom and perhaps will look to pounce on its growingly weak neighbor to the south. In Ireland, English rule continues to weaken. The Norwegian rule in Scotland has strengthened, yet a new law mandates that each election of a new king must be confirmed by a Diet of the leading Scottish barons leading to somewhat of an undermining of traditional primogeniture in Norway.
1320-1329: The war between the English and French has heated up again. This one began when a daughter of the deposed senior Capetian branch came to the English court, asking for aid in reclaiming her throne. She was quickly wedded to John, son of the English king. This gave the English a claim to France, and after a slight border conflict in Normandy which gave them a half-decent reason to invade France in 1323. Unfortunately for the English, they have begun the decade with some reversals, and their progress into France has either been completely stymied or even reversed slightly, particularly in Normandy. By the end of this decade the war had wound down, with the English having to deal with a rebellion in Wales and the French exhausted from this long war on their own soil. The English kings had largely forgotten about further expansion into Ireland, as while there holding in much of the island had already been eroded their settlements in the east especially surrounding Dublin remained very secure and had not been attacked for generations. This opened the door to Scottish expansion, largely sponsored by particularly powerful barons. They begin to marry into purchase land in Northern Ireland. Many lesser free-holders also immigrated there. In other news for the Norse, the settlements in Greenland have been rejuvenated by the Norwegian link through Scotland with new immigrants arriving and more support from Europe.
In the Holy Roman Empire the Habsburgs have lost the kingship in the most recent election. It has passed into the House of Luxembourg relatively peacefully, but the House of Habsburg has already begun posturing among the lesser electors for position in the next election.
The Marinids and their aggressive caliph Battuta al-Haqq have continued their campaign against the Christian Kingdom of Tunisia. Their king Charles II is now limited to a small demesne of land surrounding Tunis. The Christians have been reinforced by the Castilians and the Neapolitans. In return for their support and their invasion of Morocco, Charles IIs son has been forced to give up his claims as the King of Tunisia. King Juan of Castiles second son Sancho married to the daughter of Charles II is now the heir apparent to the Tunisian throne.
The Serbians were completely driven out of Bulgaria this decade, and the Byzantines did not even attempt to retake Constantinople. Instead they have focused on their weaker opponents, the beyliks of Anatolia. They have consolidated the land they do still hold, especially around Bursa. The Esrofeglu beylik is the only one (including the Osmanoglu) that has been able to stand against the Byzantine military, rebuffing all attempts to retake Trebizond, even an extremely ambitious joint effort between the Byzantines and Venetians. Neglecting the relatively lesser outpost of Tunis and perhaps trying to make amends for the affronts of 1204, Pope Pius IV called for a crusade against the Ilkhanate, the Turks and the perfidious Bulgars, aimed at retaking Constantinople and propping up the Byzantines. An army has also departed from the Holy Roman Empire for this 10th crusade. Into this coalition the Serbians and Hungarian have joined the Byzantines, with hostilities restarting on their border. Most of the forces of the Ilkhan are indisposed either in the inner empire or in Russia yet conflict has already erupted in the Balkans and Central Europe.
The Kingdom of Makuria annexed more of the Ayyubid lands in Egypt this year as a commencement of a rabid series of pogroms against Muslims their ultra-pious ruler initiated. Eventually the Ayyubid ruler ransomed himself, his dynasty, and saved Medina and Mecca from being ravaged by paying a massive gold ransom to the King of Makuria. The Ayyubids are now left with the Arabian Holy Land and a sliver of territory in Egypt itself.
Elsewhere in North Africa the Emirate of Cyrenaica and The Khanate of Tripolitania went to war. Despite initial Cyrenaican victories the huge navy and wealth of the Kingdom of Jerusalem managed to drive back the Muslim forces and get a white peace for Tripoli. While not the main cause for the war, afterwards the Khan of Tripoli (Mark I) declared Conrad III the rightful King of Egypt.
The Ilkhanate finally invaded the Republic of Novgorod, with help from their allies in the Principality of Tver. They repeatedly crushed the disunited forces of Novgorod and their allies. Baghatur the Conqueror, as he is know called, annexed the vast majority of these lands (perhaps overambitiously) and left a small tributary state centered around Novgorod. Needless to say, his reign in northern Russia is a little unstable, and he was forced to leave large contingents of his army in Russia, transplanting thousands of Mongols and Persians in the process. He and his main guard have now turned southwards, for an invasion of either Mecca and Medina or Yemen. He has already dispatched one of his premier generals to Constantinople, uninterested in defending territory, for only the glory of new conquests appeals to him. Elsewhere in the Ilkhanate one of Baghaturs similarly opportunistic brothers has invaded the Chagatai Khanate, mostly for their allegiance to the Yuan instead of the Ilkhans. This was tripartite invasion, stemming from Mongolia, Persia, and even allying with the Sultanate of Delhi. Great progress has been made, and it appears the Chagatids days may be numbered especially due to the difficulty for the Yuan allies of the Chagatids to reinforce their friends. The Chagatids are on the verge of collapse, with no strong armies except those veteran ones on their Indian border and one enclosed in a small pocket of land, yet is led by the most experienced and brilliant commander in the whole war, Muhammad, nephew of the Khan. In another theatre of the war, border skirmishes between the Mongolians and the Yuan have heated up.
The Khmer have incorporated Annam into their Empire and have made increasing gains in the South-East of the Yuan Empire at the expense of the less vital Yuan Empire. In the first note on the Indonesian Archipelago in this time-line, Srivijaya has been unable to expand their power into the Malay Peninsula and Singapore further owing to the Khmer support of the local chiefdoms.
Well this is the second-to-last installment. I know its getting shorter, but I'll probably elucidate on some of the holes in the Pre-NES. The maps are in chronological order in ten year installments. I apologize for their ugliness.
Upon this, one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge. Niccoló Machiavelli
Note: Past this point, it is safe to say a sizeable amount of all divergences from our time line will not be described. If you are confused or curious about something simply ask. It is likely I either have an answer for it and have forgotten, neglected, or decided not to include it in the time-line or it is possible I have not thought about it. In that case, I shall get an answer by combing through the time-line to bring you a satisfactory answer based on what seems most plausible.
1300-1309: The war in the northwest of Europe heated up and then finally wound to a conclusion this decade, with some very surprising results on both sides. The battle of Coquelles was perhaps one of the most decisive, particularly owing to the death of Louis X in battle. After suffering continuing defeats against the English and the Flems, and with the interior of France itself in chaos as no clear ruler emerged, the majority of barons in France wanted peace. A coalition of the leading French Dukes agreed to this proposal, owing to the infancy of King Louis X of Frances oldest son. This proposal returned all of Gascony to the English, and as much of Normandy as they held at the conclusion of the treaty. In the north, an altogether surprising finish was reached with the declaration of the United Kingdom of Norway-Scotland, through the marriage of the sole surviving female descendant of the last king of Scotland. The various lords of Scotland have been promised a huge amount of autonomy, and both Bergen and Edinburgh will serve as joint capitals in this new realm. France has fallen into internal disorder, with central power disintegrating back to the stage of a century or more ago.
The Marinid Caliphate has continued to consolidate its power, and is likely the most powerful Muslim state in the world.
War has broken out in Italy again, with the Pope and his supporters fighting against the Capetian King of Naples and his allies in Tuscany. Into the fray joined the Genoese and the Venetians, on the side of the Pope and the King of Naples respectively. Pisa, swayed by the large Papal armies on their border entered the war against Naples. In the initial stages, the predictable naval battles occurred between Venice and Genoa. Most notably, the Venetians and Byzantines staged a joint invasion of the Duchy of Achaea, agreeing to a partition afterwards. The Genoans also managed to seize the remainder of Sardinia from the declining Pisans.
The Teutonic Order has embarked on another crusade, aiming to strike a blow against the Orthodox Rus. They have invaded the Belarussian and their Novgorod allies under the guise of fighting for Catholicism. They have met with some success thus far, allying with Sweden. Poland has also joined in on the conflict seeking to stem the growth of the aggressive Teutonic Knights.
In the Middle-East the Ilkhan is becoming increasingly intertwined with his duties as secular (and to some extent spiritual) head of the Eastern Church. Recent defiance from the Byzantines has infuriated Baghatur, and he has dispatched a massive army to conquer the Greeks. This is a two pronged attack, somewhat by design and also by coincidence. To begin with, it is important to note that the composition of the Ilkhans armies, while still based around the traditional Mongol cavalryman has evolved greatly. Traditional Muslim fashioned infantry hordes, with a large contingent from the loyal subjects in the Caucasus. They often fight under regional commanders. While foreign the Ilkhanate is now generally recognized as the undisputed ruler of the immediate area, and is able to draw up soldiers from across their empire. One can even find contingents of Frankish knights, fighting under the banner of Antioch in Baghaturs hordes. He even has a small navy for the crossing of lesser bodies of water such as the Aegean. The first, and largest force (60,000 men) is crossing through Bulgaria and has not yet quite lain siege to Constantinople. Another more diverse force is striking in Anatolia, using the power and ambition of the Beyliks to strike blows at some of the Greeks most important centers. The most quickly growing and explosive beylik is the Esrofoglu, which has fast emerged as one of the leaders of the various petty Turkish beyliks. Their rise has culminated with the climactic fall of Smyrna in 1309. Earlier in the decade, it conquered the Beylik of Ladik. Several of the other beyliks have advanced into Byzantine Anatolia as well. The Byzantine hierarchy is in a state of panic. Unfortunately for them, the Italians have been particularly distracted by their own war. The King of Jerusalem did attempt to stem, in their own way, the Ilkhans advance against their Byzantine allies, but with disastrous results. They laid siege to Antioch, and were on the verge of receiving a surrender from the prince, but soon an envoy arrived from the Ilkhanate promising aid. Soon, a massive army under the command of Baghaturs brother arrived, fighting the Jerusalemite army surrounding Antioch to a draw broken by the sallying of the Antiochene garrison. The two armies are now embroiled in conflict across Palestine, with the momentous alliance of the Emir of Damascus to Jerusalem. In a more positive note for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Conrads son Frederick has become the official Duke of Sicily.
The Chagatids have finally begun to gain some ground against the Sultanate of Delhi, scoring several victories this decade. They have also drifted more into the camp of the Yuan Dynasty, who promises them some protection against the Ilkhanate. The Mongolians, though, have begun to drift somewhat more into the camp of the Ilkhanate, distraught by the growing Sinification of the Yuan, as opposed to what they see as the lesser evil of Christianity among the Ilkhans.
The Khmer Empire has invaded the Dai Viet, and subjugated them to a greater extent.
1310-1319: At the beginning of this decade (which coincidentally promises to be far more exciting than the previous one) the Japanese have begun a rebellion against their Chinese-Mongolian overlords. This has initially met with success, and they have scored several victories against the Mongolians. Unfortunately for them, by 1319 it seems that their luck has largely run out as the massive superiority of the Yuan in almost every facet of warfare is coming to bear. For now, an independent Japan seems to have its days numbered. The Khmer have also continued their meteoric rise, defeating a small regional Chinese army that sought to protect the Dai Viet.
The Chagatids have continued their advance into India, even establishing beach-heads on the south-side of the Indus River, albeit not without quite a few setbacks.
Shock rang all over the West as Constantinople fell to the forces of the Ilkhanate. Surprisingly, it was not sacked and its holy places were not dismantled. The city itself was treated with great respect, probably owing to the Christianity of its conquerors. The handling of the capture of Constantinople highlights a stark divide between the Ilkhanate of now and its ancestors. Constantinople avoided the Baghdad treatment, and there was no massive pile of skulls outside its walls and right hands were not collected by its conquerors. Asides from the execution of the reigning emperor and Patriarch (which has obviously drawn an extremely strong reaction from the Serbians, and has also undermined the support of the Serbians to an extent. The Byzantines have also been ravaged in Anatolia, with Prusa the only major port still standing on the Anatolian Coast. All minor Turkish progress in the Aegean, in one of the few bright spots for the Byzantines, has been totally reverse by the vastly superior Byzantine Navy with some limited support from the Venetians. Initially the Genoans supported the Bulgarians and the Mongolians, yet after being threatened with a crusade by a rare joint initiative from the Emperor and the Pope they immediately stopped. As opposed to the situation after the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Byzantine government has been able to maintain order in the (large) territories they still control, and are ready if the Ilkhan attempts to advance south into Greece. Serbia has allied with the Byzantines amidst support from Venice and the Pope and has invaded Bulgaria making significant progress and coming close to a capture of the capital until a critical defeat against the forces of the Ilkhanate. They are now in a general retreat, but they have managed to do severe infrastructural damage to Bulgaria. In Palestine, the alliance of Damascus and Jerusalem eventually failed, resulting in a terrible sack of Damascus and the general defeated of their forces. Forces from Egypt also invaded in the south of Jerusalem, forcing a partition of Conrads forces. Eventually, forces finally free from Baghaturs Balkan conquests laid siege to Jerusalem itself through sheer numerical superiority. To avoid a sack of his capital and possibly his own death Conrad agreed to humiliating terms, relinquishing his claims to Egypt, and Antioch and naming himself as a mere steward of Jerusalem for Baghatur. These terms are often referred to as the Second Humiliation of the Hohenstaufen, after their removal from Germany and Sicily. Surprisingly, while Conrad was forced to pay some tribute no territory was taken from the Kingdom itself, perhaps because Baghatur was no longer willing to fund an aggressive war in what is supposed to be the confines of his own kingdom. Also in the south, the Ayyubids have Egypt have accepted the protection of the Nubian Kingdom of Makuria in return for large tribute, liberalizing their laws towards Christians and allowing proselytizing by Christian missionaries in their territories (excepting of course Mecca and Medina). Baghaturs massive army has now been deployed north, to deal with the increasing independence and martial nature of the Russian states. The Principality of Tver has been raiding across the Ilkhanates possessions, and its leader Vladimir has denounced the Ilkhan as a heretic and heathen for propagating the superiority of his branch of Christianity, with Baghatur more and more usurping the authority of the rightful patriarch. When Baghaturs massive army arrived, they crushed the forces of Tver in one massive battle at (the Principality of Tvers losses included their particularly anti-Mongol and bellicose leader Vladimir and his first-born son).By 1319 the Tver had been subjugated again as a vassal of the Ilkhanate and Baghatur was making preperations for an invasion of the increasingly revanchist Novgorod Republic.
On the western side of Russia the Teutonic Knights had battled to a standstill with the Novgorod Republic. A Teutonic attempt to take Novgorod itself failed miserably, yet their efforts in Belarus have met with much more success. After the capture of parts of Pomerania by the Swedes, both the Poles and Russians were willing to conclude peace, and the Teutonic Order also was somewhat forced into a peace. This is because, owing to the present circumstances in the Balkans, war between Christians was looked upon quite poorly by both the Pope and the noble volunteers the Teutonic Order depended on to keep it vital. The peace decided upon took no territory from Novgorod, very nearly halved Belarus and gave Sweden a small piece of Pomerania.
The Marinids of North Africa invaded the Kingdom of Tunisia in 1317, scoring major successes against a Kingdom that found it difficult to defend itself against. After peace was concluded with help from the Castilians, Neapolitans, and the Tripolitanians (who fear the expansion of Marinid power across more of North Africa) Tunis has been reduced to nothing more than a collection of coastal fortress along the Mediterranean.
In Italy, the war was concluded as a victory for the Guelphs. Pisa has also been confirmed as a completely inconsequential player in Italian politics. Tuscany has been reduced to a client state of Rome and Naples (and its inherited ambitions from Charles of Anjou) has turned its look to the south, looking to support its brother dynasty in Tunis. Genoa and Venice concluded a peace with Genoa slightly more powerful than before, but this is largely due to the great losses of Venices allies in the Mediterranean.
Things between the English and French have begun to heat up again, as a very junior branch of the Capetian Dynasty has succeeded to power. London disputes the legitimacy of this new kingdom and perhaps will look to pounce on its growingly weak neighbor to the south. In Ireland, English rule continues to weaken. The Norwegian rule in Scotland has strengthened, yet a new law mandates that each election of a new king must be confirmed by a Diet of the leading Scottish barons leading to somewhat of an undermining of traditional primogeniture in Norway.
1320-1329: The war between the English and French has heated up again. This one began when a daughter of the deposed senior Capetian branch came to the English court, asking for aid in reclaiming her throne. She was quickly wedded to John, son of the English king. This gave the English a claim to France, and after a slight border conflict in Normandy which gave them a half-decent reason to invade France in 1323. Unfortunately for the English, they have begun the decade with some reversals, and their progress into France has either been completely stymied or even reversed slightly, particularly in Normandy. By the end of this decade the war had wound down, with the English having to deal with a rebellion in Wales and the French exhausted from this long war on their own soil. The English kings had largely forgotten about further expansion into Ireland, as while there holding in much of the island had already been eroded their settlements in the east especially surrounding Dublin remained very secure and had not been attacked for generations. This opened the door to Scottish expansion, largely sponsored by particularly powerful barons. They begin to marry into purchase land in Northern Ireland. Many lesser free-holders also immigrated there. In other news for the Norse, the settlements in Greenland have been rejuvenated by the Norwegian link through Scotland with new immigrants arriving and more support from Europe.
In the Holy Roman Empire the Habsburgs have lost the kingship in the most recent election. It has passed into the House of Luxembourg relatively peacefully, but the House of Habsburg has already begun posturing among the lesser electors for position in the next election.
The Marinids and their aggressive caliph Battuta al-Haqq have continued their campaign against the Christian Kingdom of Tunisia. Their king Charles II is now limited to a small demesne of land surrounding Tunis. The Christians have been reinforced by the Castilians and the Neapolitans. In return for their support and their invasion of Morocco, Charles IIs son has been forced to give up his claims as the King of Tunisia. King Juan of Castiles second son Sancho married to the daughter of Charles II is now the heir apparent to the Tunisian throne.
The Serbians were completely driven out of Bulgaria this decade, and the Byzantines did not even attempt to retake Constantinople. Instead they have focused on their weaker opponents, the beyliks of Anatolia. They have consolidated the land they do still hold, especially around Bursa. The Esrofeglu beylik is the only one (including the Osmanoglu) that has been able to stand against the Byzantine military, rebuffing all attempts to retake Trebizond, even an extremely ambitious joint effort between the Byzantines and Venetians. Neglecting the relatively lesser outpost of Tunis and perhaps trying to make amends for the affronts of 1204, Pope Pius IV called for a crusade against the Ilkhanate, the Turks and the perfidious Bulgars, aimed at retaking Constantinople and propping up the Byzantines. An army has also departed from the Holy Roman Empire for this 10th crusade. Into this coalition the Serbians and Hungarian have joined the Byzantines, with hostilities restarting on their border. Most of the forces of the Ilkhan are indisposed either in the inner empire or in Russia yet conflict has already erupted in the Balkans and Central Europe.
The Kingdom of Makuria annexed more of the Ayyubid lands in Egypt this year as a commencement of a rabid series of pogroms against Muslims their ultra-pious ruler initiated. Eventually the Ayyubid ruler ransomed himself, his dynasty, and saved Medina and Mecca from being ravaged by paying a massive gold ransom to the King of Makuria. The Ayyubids are now left with the Arabian Holy Land and a sliver of territory in Egypt itself.
Elsewhere in North Africa the Emirate of Cyrenaica and The Khanate of Tripolitania went to war. Despite initial Cyrenaican victories the huge navy and wealth of the Kingdom of Jerusalem managed to drive back the Muslim forces and get a white peace for Tripoli. While not the main cause for the war, afterwards the Khan of Tripoli (Mark I) declared Conrad III the rightful King of Egypt.
The Ilkhanate finally invaded the Republic of Novgorod, with help from their allies in the Principality of Tver. They repeatedly crushed the disunited forces of Novgorod and their allies. Baghatur the Conqueror, as he is know called, annexed the vast majority of these lands (perhaps overambitiously) and left a small tributary state centered around Novgorod. Needless to say, his reign in northern Russia is a little unstable, and he was forced to leave large contingents of his army in Russia, transplanting thousands of Mongols and Persians in the process. He and his main guard have now turned southwards, for an invasion of either Mecca and Medina or Yemen. He has already dispatched one of his premier generals to Constantinople, uninterested in defending territory, for only the glory of new conquests appeals to him. Elsewhere in the Ilkhanate one of Baghaturs similarly opportunistic brothers has invaded the Chagatai Khanate, mostly for their allegiance to the Yuan instead of the Ilkhans. This was tripartite invasion, stemming from Mongolia, Persia, and even allying with the Sultanate of Delhi. Great progress has been made, and it appears the Chagatids days may be numbered especially due to the difficulty for the Yuan allies of the Chagatids to reinforce their friends. The Chagatids are on the verge of collapse, with no strong armies except those veteran ones on their Indian border and one enclosed in a small pocket of land, yet is led by the most experienced and brilliant commander in the whole war, Muhammad, nephew of the Khan. In another theatre of the war, border skirmishes between the Mongolians and the Yuan have heated up.
The Khmer have incorporated Annam into their Empire and have made increasing gains in the South-East of the Yuan Empire at the expense of the less vital Yuan Empire. In the first note on the Indonesian Archipelago in this time-line, Srivijaya has been unable to expand their power into the Malay Peninsula and Singapore further owing to the Khmer support of the local chiefdoms.
Well this is the second-to-last installment. I know its getting shorter, but I'll probably elucidate on some of the holes in the Pre-NES. The maps are in chronological order in ten year installments. I apologize for their ugliness.
das
Regeneration In Process
EDIT: Yeah, that's the one! I still don't remember much of anything about it though, but I might figure something out a bit later.
Kraznaya
Princeps
das
Regeneration In Process
Alright, the idea is WWI a la Napoleon: Wilhelm wins on the Western Front, but gets overextended elsewhere while fighting against Britain, America and their remaining allies, continues to suffer from economic problems and eventually the German Mitteleuropa collapses messily. Revolutions galore, civil wars, etc.
I imagine that a further prolonged war will have led to a serious political crisis in the UK by the end of 1918; for the purposes of the timeline and because it was probably the most likely outcome by that point, this will result in Lloyd George temporarily assuming dictatorial powers. Temporary is temporary, but those extended powers still allow further extension into War Socialism, and when the Irish inevitably begin acting up, the evacuated British army puts them down ruthlessly due to fears of German connections. The mass uprising and reprisals against it set back Home Rule by decades, though not for the lack of trying on both sides to somehow resolve this bloody quagmire. Britain itself is even more shaken by the war than in OTL, and the additional burdens of the French colonies that have been taken over when it was feared that they might otherwise fall prey to a short-lived "pro-peace" collaborationist government in Paris, as well as gains made in the Middle East, had made things even worse. Economically Britain is floundering badly and it is also set upon by bitter social and political strife: the Liberals are done for as in OTL, but Labour and the Conservatives have to contend with a more-radical-than-thou Communist Party and a National (read: fascist) Party, the latter of which might well rise to power by the time in question.
France ostensibly "won" the war, but came out of it materially and morally so much the worse than in OTL, and wasn't even in any position to take it out on the Germans. Post-war, political strife is intensified (keeping the British from returning the colonies as Paris sees a second Commune and other fun stuff like that); ultimately, somewhere in the 1920s the new Integralist party puts an end to this tomfoolery and establishes a right-wing dictatorship, which leads a highly-paranoid foreign policy while also trying to rejuvenate France economically and expand the colonial presence in Algiers and Tunisia. French Integralists and British Nationalists hate each other very much, being two widely divergent variations on the same overall theme: Integralists are, well, Integralist, with focus on France and the Gallic race first, while the Nationalists are all about the British Empire.
Germany was pushed headfirst into a civil war after its defeat, and the Spartakists won. Initially they established a Socialist Republic (with all sorts of parliamentary parties... as long as they're socialist) that managed to hold off half-hearted Polish and French interventions (the British couldn't care less by this point) and took over Austria. Subsequent conflicts over the extent of needed social and economic transformations resulted in a brief NEP-like compromise and the apparent triumph of moderate Swedophilic social-democrats before an economic crisis (an earlier and weaker version of the Great Depression) and a technically successful, but still highly embarrassing war with Poland led to the rise of a hardliner ("Bolshevist") chancellor who implemented a series of military reforms that not unpredictably culminated with a coup d'etat and a new constitution that led to a limited purge of dissenting characters, a stronger executive and later, the creation of a consummate system of war-oriented state socialism. Also, the annexation of the rump Czech Republic (which lost Sudetenland and Slovakia much earlier), as a new and improved socialist Germany flexes its muscles and begins to look beyond its borders.
Italy has, somehow, survived the collapse of France in WWI, and after its enemies collapsed as well was able to help itself to Illyria and Cilicia, despite some weak protests from its allies. Between this, Serbian (as opposed to Yugoslavian) radical nationalism and a conservative Hungarian "regency" (read: yet another military dictatorship), Croatia didn't stand a chance, though none of the partitioners are particularly happy with each other. Italy still suffered from post-war economic problems, but its irredentism has been satisfied well enough, and fascist movement has failed to coalesce into the "force" it was in OTL; the parliamentary monarchy has somehow struggled through to this day and even made a partial peace with the socialists.
Turkey got carved up (sorry). Britain and America were far more eager to support Greece in this world as Turkish nationalists continued to align themselves with Germany to the end, Italy has gotten itself involved as well, and the Soviets weren't there to help Turks/stab Armenians in the back. Greece is, basically, kinda like Italy, except de facto it has already turned into a reasonably courteous military dictatorship a few years ago. Both Armenia and Georgia are socialist republics after the early German model, by the way. Kemal Mustafa had to make do with what territory he could hold on to; luckily for him, the British were not unwilling to make concessions in northern Syria after the war was over, after realizing what they have gotten themselves into (that's a Hashemite kingdom in the Levant, by the way. So are the ones in Hejaz and Iraq, ofcourse).
Poland is a nationalist republic with a strong military presence, not unlike OTL. Ukraine I see as starting out as a left-leaning parliamentary republic, then going through a period of Petlyura-led dictatorship, and now sort of stumbling around between the two versions as Petlyura is dead. It is still rather more successful as far as establishing a nation-state goes than the OMD Ukraine. European Russia is either a straightforward military dictatorship or a strongly right-wing democracy that is still basically a military dictatorship; the army that grew out of the White movement remains a strong political force and likely will be for a long time in the future. All left-wing parties are banned, but overall the regime is not all that strict, and there have been signs of successful technological modernisation and economic recovery, though a lot of it is, once again, connected with the army; a powerful military-industrial complex has successfully coalesced over the years. This situation is helped by the rise of Russian nationalism in post-war years. Inevitably, this has also led to a strong irredentist sentiment. While (relatively) few people in Russia now care much for Balkan matters or the restoration of pre-war borders, the overwhelming sentiment is that Siberia, Karelia and the Russian Far East must be reclaimed and reunited under the Moscow government (sentiment on the Ukraine is divided). The state in Central Siberia is, as far as I could recall my plans for it, an eSeR haven and not unsympathetic to the idea of reunification as long as they retain some internal autonomy and the SR party is legalised in Russia Proper. The Far East is divided between an American military dictatorship puppet state and a Japanese military dictatorship puppet state. Turan in Central Asia is a pan-Islamist
Ofcourse, even just stretching the war into 1919 would kick USA into isolationism even stronger than in OTL, but on the other hand the Japanese success in establishing a puppet "Far Eastern Russian State", taking over French Indochina and displacing Britain in Asia commercially would force America out of isolationism more quickly as well, leading to an intense cold war throughout the Pacific Area. I imagine that's what's happening in China, too: the Beijing military government is allied with Japan while the Republic of China is forced to draw entirely on American assistance for the lack of the Soviet Union or anyone else who cares enough to step in. The Chinese Communists have undergone a schism; a large moderate, "nationalist" faction is allied with the Republic, which is more of a, well, Republic in this world, while the others are waging a thus far ineffective guerrilla war against everyone in Western China. The Germans do not as yet know what to do about all this and whether to get involved at all.
Lorraine-Alsace was supposed to have been returned to France, by the way, Dachs, and I really disagree with the colour chosen for European Russia (can't see rivers too well, and it just isn't a very good colour at all. Bring back old-style military uniform green!). Don't know what to do about the Hungarian-Romanian border, but something must be done about it as well.
Kraznaya
Princeps
Well, I can't come to any bright ideas purely from period knowledge but from first glance it seems the Franco-Ottoman alliance had much more success than OTL. If you wanted more interests or deductionary questions you could always come on #nes or something.
das said:
I love you das <3; thanks a lot for that. The rather different explanation you give for the German loss of Poznan and Alsace-Lorraine than before (simply due to socialist regard for self-determination) is much more palatable to me (and Dachs, I suppose, although he won't like the result), although the vastly different implications it has for irredentist movements do seem to put this Spartakist Germany (love the name, by the way) into more of a Third Reich analogue.
In any case the eventual plan for this is NES-hood, and I will begin on stat generation once I can get a handle on a ruleset for the early modern age and WWII-esque militaries that this will encompass. At that point I will have more specific questions as they come up country by country. But for now, a few general points of interest:
How has the French economy done after the rise of the integralists? Did the civil wars in Germany help turn the demographic tide any in regards to population disparity? Is France still widely regarded as the strongest European army on paper, or has someone else (Germany) seized that mantle?
When you say the great depression was 'weaker' but then make comments about the entire structural problems of the British Empire, did the epicenter of the financial collapse happen in Britain and not America, then?
At what specific points are the British Empire crumbling under its own weight? Have the various Indian independence movements gained any more traction than they have OTL?
How icy are diplomatic relations between the various Eastern European military dictatorships, and for that matter, Italy and Greece?
If the radical communists in China are insurgencies, what is the Xinjiang (Uyghurstan?) and Gansu based states there? Of the Far Eastern Siberian republics, which is the American and which is the Japanese puppet?
Does the Beijing military government fall along the lines of the Wang Jingwei puppet state established in OTL WWII, or does it have greater autonomy than that?
How the hell did the American politicians convince the American public that a more ambitious Japan was sufficient cause for breaking its tradition of isolationism, especially the complete (even moreso than OTL) failure of America interventionism in WWI?
Have there been any major population transfers a la the OTL Treaty of Lausanne or the entirety of Poland moving west after WWII?
Transylvania must be returned to her rightful Magyar lords, then.
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
So, did all the Romanovs and their main noble cronies get offed, or exiled, or what?
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