Consolidation after hibernation
I promised not to let this one die!
Introduction:
It was October in the year 1483 of the prophet Isa. The Emirate of Granada had enjoyed a peaceful year thus far. By its own standards, that is! For not all was well in the realm. Rebels battered against the red walls of the Alhambra and the mysterious African kingdoms of Songhai, Ashanti, and Benin had declared war on Granada. To the common man these names meant nothing, and nobody knew what power or intentions these kingdoms had.
Known, however, was the strength of Granada's main enemies: France and accursed Spain. Like a cancer, France had rapidly grown to a size rivalling Granada's. But where the Iberians strength was handicapped by religious and cultural differences within the realm, France was largely homogeneous. This gave France a stronger, better equipped, military, and the economic strength to fuel it. Should the hostility between the two countries escalate to war, Granada would be in dire straits indeed.
In contrast, Spain was a cripple which stubbornly refused to die. Her power in Iberia was shattered, but Catelonia was still hers. Only by conquering all of Spain's scattered holdings would the Sultan be able to finally complete the Muslim conquest of Iberia. Thus far, his - and his predecessors' - hands had been full with defending what he had. There was no spare strength left to send to battle far away from the heartland.
The situation in numbers:
Bad Boy rating: 24,1
Stability: -2
Relations:
Military:
* 11 warships in the Mediterranean Sea.
* 8,000 cavalry in Iberia.
* 1,500 cavalry on the Azores.
* 3,000 cavalry on the Baleares.
Military Alliance with: Morocco
Vassals: Guyenne
Main enemies:
Spain
Allied with Papal States, Brittany, Naples, Tuscany, and Sienna.
France
Allied with Bourbonnais (also a vassal), Mainz, Mantua, Berg, Modena. No casus belli against us at the moment.
Timeline:
Luck had not been with Granada lately. The last emir's love scandal and capture by the infidels had made Granada look weak and ridiculous. Some Granadians expressed their outrage by revolting and laying siege to the core province Granada.
Given Granada's rocky nature, rooting them out out would prove difficult and costly. The Emir was at loathe to sacrifice any more men than necessary, and thus decided to wait until the rebels came out of the mountains. They wouldn't come out until the province was completely in their hands, of course, but temporal loss of the capital seemed preferable to losing thousands of expensive cavalrymen.
Granada fell in June 1484. This easy victory inflated the self confidence of the rebels, and they marched on to neighbouring Andalusia. When their host had assembled on the province's plains, the Emir's army descended upon them. None of the rebels survived, while losses on Granada's side were marginal.
But just when was ready to siege defenceless Granada, news came in from the western end of the empire:
Hah! Roussilion a Muslim province! How that must irk the French infidels!
But what to do now? Win Granada back, or crush the rebels in Roussillion? Rebels in the Alhambra were a national disgrace, but smoking them out would take time. Maybe long enough for Roussillion to fall. A frightening scenario, given that France was desperately looking for an excuse to annex it.
It was decided to crush the rebels first, and deal with Granada later. The rebel scum proved to be ruthless fighters, quite capable of dealing death to Granada's cavalry. In the end, however, they all lay slain and the emir was free to concentrate on winning his capital back. 2000 new horsemen were ordered to replace the losses and the siege of Granada began in January 1485. In order to be able to storm castles in the future, training began for 3000 would be men at arms.
But just when it seemed like the emir was finally getting a handle on the situation, fate struck again. It struck in the form of a declaration of war by Spain! Before the emir could react, Spain's ally Naples had already began to siege Roussillon. Spain moved her host to Gerona and began a siege. Again the sultan was faced with a choice between winning his capital back, or meeting hostile forces on the field.
This time, he opted to finish the siege first. By January 1486, Granada was under Granadian control again. The price for this success was the loss of Gerona to Spain. Rather than freeing them right away, it was decided to conquer Catalonia fist. Meanwhile Granada's navy had been involved in fierce battles with Spain's Italian allies. Their ships were more advanced than Granada's which often gave them victory. Eventually Naples succeeded in landing troops on the Baleares. Not enough for a siege, however, thanks to the determined opposition of the island's defenders.
In October 1487 Catalonia fell, and the army moved on to liberate Gerona. The Spanish troops there were easily defeated thanks to a superior number of cavalry. By September 1488, Gerona was liberated. The host moved on to Roussillon, from which Naples had withdrawn.
The next year started with a shock, when the emir abdicated! He explained the reason for his baffling decision were a "string of defeats at the hand" of the Spanish monarch. Nobody could quite imagine what he meant with that, given that the war had went acceptable, and the only major defeats were inflicted by Naples' navy. (I think this was the last Granada specific event. What a relief!)
With the new emir came increased stability, which he promptly used to give his subjects more rights. It was bad enough that Granada's armed forces had to fight with obsolete equipment and tactics - they shouldn't also have to suffer a morale penalty for being serfs. The year ended with the re-capture of Roussillon. Finally all provinces were under Granadian control again!
Well, the Baleares were still ravished by plunderers from Naples. It took until July 1490 to root them out. Spain would hear nothing about peace talks, so the emir hatched a daring plot:
For the first time in the nation's history, Granadian soldiers were to take the battle to Spain's allies. 8,000 cavalrymen embarked and were shipped to Siena in Italy. Siena was poorly defended and the local garrison was quickly dealt with. The Granadian general found Italy in chaos, with England and France fighting against Italian factions, and Italian factions fighting among themselves.
After looting Siena, they went on to Rome. The Eternal City was better defended, but they still had to yield in the end. While the army wasn't strong enough to siege Rome, it freely plundered the province!
Over the next couple of years, the Granadian expedition force defeated countless Spanish-Italian armies. This took a toll on them as well, however, and by 1493 only some 3,000 were left. But Spain was now finally ready for peace:
The emir accepted without a second thought. While he didn't doubt that Spain would attack again as soon as the trunce ended, he had a feeling that Granada's internal problems were finally at an end. Granada would be stronger in five years, while Spain's power would continue to stagnate.
The current balance of power.
The situation in numbers:
Bad Boy score: 22,7
Stability: 1
Treasury: 104
Research:
Land -> Late Medieval 3. Due in 1495
Naval -> Late Medieval 3. Due in 1495
Trade -> Late Renaissance 3. Due in 1661
Infrastructure -> Early Baroque 4. Due in 1804
Where to go next?
Assuming France continues to leaves us be, we may be able to something beyond mere survival. The following options occurred to me:
Option 1: Tripolis
Tripolis is an independent one city state. Relations are +70 at the moment, and Tripolis is member of no alliance. With some bribery, we may be able to lure them in, setting them on the path to vassalage.
Advantage: Next to no military risk. Tripolis is a Muslim nation.
Disadvantage: Costly bribes with no guaranteed payoff. The Tripolis itself has little strategic relevance that i can see, and it would be hard to defend. Income is low.
Option 2:Tlemcen
Tlemcen is a former ally, then a former vassal of our ally, and now independent. We could either attempt to win them back, or try to crush them. They currently hold one province in Iberia (Bearn), which has Medium Income. It shouldn't be hard to capture. Northern Africa is the natural choice of future expansion, since our income from there wouldn't be slashes by religious and cultural differences.
Problems:
* We have Military Access with them. Cancelling it would cost us stability.
* Further upping our Bad Boy score would risk incurring the wrath of France.
* We only have a time frame of about 5 years before the treaty with Spain runs out and they will declare war again.
Option 3: Spain
They will never give up. While Spain is no threat on her own, she has powerful allies. Namely, the Papal States and Naples. Both can rise impressive armies which would cause a serious headache, if they managed to transport them to Iberia.
So we either have to wait for Spain's alliance to fall apart, or we have to take them out. This would mean at least one amphibious assault onto a well defended rocky island (Sardinia). I have never done this and would welcome advise.
Option 4: Granada
All provinces save the Baleares have bailiffs, but we could invest into speeding up research. Or save money to pay back loans. We currently have two, one due in 1494 and one in 1495. If we cut spending now, we might be able to pay back the '95 one.
Option 5:
Something i haven't thought of.
Feel free to give input on the best course of action and help shape the future of Granada and Europe!
! Good to see the AAR continued 
.
. So the best alternative to get their provinces is... war! 
