Fatamid Egypt

[christof139]

The Fatamid Caliphate of Egypt was a powerful state that had a very large heterogenous population. Many Coptic Christians lived in Egypt and served the state, and many Christian Armenians settled in Egypt when their homelands in the north in Anatolia and the southern Caucasus regions were being overrun by the Turkish tribes from the steppe. The Armenians served the state mainly as soldiers and were well respected for their military knowledge and fighting ability. After 1074AD te Armenians were a major element of the Fatamid forces, and Badr al-Jamali and his son al-Afdal, both of whom had converted to Islam, became the Vizer (Vizir) or chief aministrator/ruler/prime minister of Egypt in its everday affairs and politics, and were backed by the Caliph of Egypt. al-Afsal led the Fatamid army against the 1st crusaders at the first battle of Ascalon on 12 August, 1099. (It took about 2-months or so for this army to be mustered and march to Ascalon. Maybe in the game/mod this could be equated to one season for simplicity's sake and playability and scalability.)

The Egyptian military had a complex structure, and its troops included Armenians, Sudanese, Nubians, Arabs, Turks, Bedouin, Berbers, Persians, Daylami infantry, etc. These troops were organized in regiments with companies of 100 men. There were about equal numbers of infantry and cavalry in the regular military forces. At the Caliphal Palace in Cairo (I believe it was in Cairo, not Alexandria), which itself was also a huge barracks, there were stationed a regular army with an estimated strength of 10-15,000 infantry and 4-5,000 cavalry, and perhaps as many as 10,000 other regulars were scattered across the Caliphate.

The Armenians were primarily archers and many were cavalry archers, the Sudanese and Nubians were in the main light infantry although some were equipped with WAR FLAILS such as the Azoparts of Ethiopia, the Berbers and Bedouin were light cavalry irregulars mainly, and the Seljuk Turks provided horse archers although the number of available fluctuated according th whether or not the Fatamids and Seljuks were at war with each other but there were always Turks in the Fatamid forces, etc.

Military administration was the task of the Diwan al-Jayish (spelled 'Jaysh' by the Seljuks and headed by the Arid al-Jaysh in the Seljuk system), government salaries were controlled by the Diwan al-Nawatib, and the Diwan al-Iqta was in charge of the 'Iqta which was the raising and dispensing of money etc. for the pay and maintenance of the troops.

Three huge military arsenals/storehouses, the Khizana, were located in Cairo, and the largest of the three contained about 200,000 items ranging from personal equipment to siege weapons.

Sources: Victory in the East by J. france, Runciman's work, etc.

Please add-on and correct where necessary.

Chris

[Jingles]

I'd love to play as the Egyptians, but their campaign seems fairly fruitless without the whole Saladin/King Richard standoff.

[christof139]

The fatamids would be only in the early period, until Saladin siezed power. Saladin's victory at Hattin might be a good point to use as a distinction between ealry and late/middle periods, but you have probably picked a date for this already.

Chris