[ETW AAR] "The Ottoman Art Of War" (Chapter 8 added 9th-Jan)

[samsmithnz]

This is my 2nd Empire Total War Grand Campaign. I noticed that there weren't many Ottoman Campaigns, so I thought I'd try one. I've been researching the Ottoman Empire and why it was in the situation it was for weeks, as well as reading all about engineering revolutions in ETW. I really liked the idea of having an underdeveloped empire and then found it was not difficult to imagine that the people would have some revolution leanings. I also just finished reading Sun Tzu's "Art of War" and I thought I'd fold everything that I've learned into this game. I have a rough idea of where I want the story to go, from there the story unfolded by itself - but we'll see where the game actually takes me. I hope you enjoy my story, I plan to update most Fridays.

Prologue: 1699

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It was 1699, and the extremely rich and old Ottoman merchant Ali was was distraught. After the infamous Ottoman loss at the battle of Vienna in 1683, the resultant Karposh Rebellion in the Balkans and then the infamous and and costly loss at the battle of Zenta, the Sultan had no choice but to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz to end the great 14 year Austrian-Ottoman war - the aftermath of which Austria seized Hungary and Transylvania. The Ottoman Empire had reached it's peak size and was now rapidly shrinking, an official period of stagnation had begun. The treaty was a disgrace to the Ottoman Empire and Ali was ashamed of what his once proud country was becoming - a former great power. It was no longer good enough to just send hundreds of thousands of troops to fight the Austrians. The Austrians had better strategies and technology, and were consistently winning with less men.



Although Ali knew that it was treason and punishable by death, he began to use his money to campaign for his new cause, and using his vast network of trade routes and powerful (rich) contacts around the empire, started spreading the word. The word was... it was time for REVOLUTION and to overthrow the Sultan! Ali was not greedy, he did not want to rule the empire himself, he just wanted to be proud of his country again and to have a good life for his children and grandchildren. It was at this time that Ali heard about a brilliant and young scholar from a Mosque deep within the heart of Turkey. The scholar's name was Ahmed. Ahmed was only 18, but had showed great promise, knowledge and potential to lead the Ottoman Empire out of these dark times. You see, Ahmed was a scholar in the art of war, the teachings of of Sun Tzu - an ancient Chinese scholar and general from the 5th century BC...


Ali brought Ahmed before a secret council of revolution friends in the capital Istanbul. Ali asked Ahmed to prove to them all that he had the qualifications to lead the country. After all - they were all taking a huge risk putting the country in the hands of such a young boy - what made Ahmed so special that one so young should lead such a great country? Ahmed explained the story of Sun Tzu, a Chinese general who was largely unknown in Europe at this time, and then asked Ali to provide him 300 of his concubines and a week to train them into a fighting unit. Ali was intrigued and agreed.


Ahmed returned a week later, and before the council, divided the concubines into two companies of 150, appointing the two concubines most favored by Ali as the company commanders. When Ahmed first ordered the concubines to face right, they giggled. Ahmed turned towards Ali and explained that the general - in this case himself - was responsible for ensuring that soldiers always understood the commands given to them. Turning back to the 2 companies, he reiterated the command, and again the concubines giggled. Ahmed withdrew his sword and swiftly executed the two company leaders - Ali's two favored concubines. Ali was initially furious and protested, but Ahmed carefully explained that if the general's soldiers understood their commands, but did not obey, it was the fault of the officers. Once a general was appointed, it was their duty to carry out their mission, even if the king protested. Two new officers were then chosen to replace the killed concubines. For the rest of the test, both companies performed their maneuvers flawlessly. Ahmed then went on to explain that the problem with the Ottoman armies was that they did not work together - they were encouraged to fight as individuals instead of a well drilled army. Ahmeds methods and strategies would change this...


Ali and his peers were extremely impressed, and promised Ahmed the position of Grand Vizier of the new Ottoman Empire. Grand Vizier's in Ottoman history typically had considerable independence from the Sultan, with almost unlimited powers of appointment, dismissal and supervision. This is the story of Grand Vizier Ahmed, a great Turkish general who led a Revolution and overthrew the Sultan, creating a new Turkish superpower, and with the support of the people, and the military arts of Sun Tzu, Ahmed took on the world...

[Ares_Casai]

Another samsmithnz AAR! Now I have something to read at work!

Seriously, though, I'm intrigued by the idea of an Ottoman Revolution.

[Jack Aubrey KB,MP,JP,FRS]

God this looks good

[ulti]

Lookd excellent, have subscribed, would give you some rep but i have to share it around before givin you some more (I gave some for your other ETW AAR)

[samsmithnz]

Chapter 1: 1700 - 1709 Revolution!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In 1700, Ahmed and Ali met in a secret basement deep within Istanbul. Ali handed Ahmed a report with all the information he had requested about the state of the empire. The Ottoman Empire stretched from South-Eastern Europe to across the Turkish peninsula to deep in the Middle East and Egypt.



Ruled by 36 year old Sultan Mustafa II, the Ottoman Empire was in a decline and the people were not happy about it. It's regions were all underdeveloped, ravaged by war, under protected, and overtaxed.


Many of the Ottoman neighbors had shaky truces, the Austrians and Poland-Lithuania to the North, the Venetians to the West, the Georgians to the Northeast, and the Persians to the Southwest. The Ottomans were currently at war with Russia, although the two countries had not fought a major battle since Russia had captured the Black Sea Fortress of Azov in 1697. The Barbary states and Crimean Khanate were both protectorate vassal states allied with the Ottoman Empire. The Barbary States protectorate were constantly and openly raiding anyone and anything on the Mediterranean sea. Ahmed thought this was a dangerous policy and would likely drag the Ottoman Empire into many wars it did not need to fight in the coming years. The Crimean Khanate protectorate were at a stalemate in their war with Russia, despite Russia being a much more powerful state. The horde like strategies the Crimean Khanate's currently used, (a remnant of their Genghis Khan origins), were enough to keep the Russians from getting close enough to their capital, but it would only be a matter of time before the Russians brought a large army to the capital - and would then undoubtedly need help from it's Ottoman allies.


Ahmed had been extremely busy helping to organize the revolution to overthrow the Sultan. Ali had assembled an underground group, mostly his wealthy friends who were unhappy with the Sultans policies and taxes. Organizing a revolution was not easy and their were daily challenges. As well as being personally dangerous, there was no guarantee the revolution would even work. With Ali's vast sums of money and many powerful friends, the group started by bribing several high ranking officials. If bribing didn't work, the officials 'disappeared', replaced by officials who could be bribed. They sabotaged the Sultan's supplies, in turn causing the Sultan to raise taxes - which angered the people even more. The result of higher taxes helped to persuade more people to join the cause. Finally in December of 1700, workers around Istanbul began to go on strike...


The Sultan responded with brutal force, forcing workers back to work and raising the taxes even further. This did little to quell the unrest. Early 1701 brought more open protests and riots against the Sultan.


On August 14th, 1701, Ali finally reached the goal he had worked for so long, and revolution was declared. Ahmed hastily assembled an army of rebels. They didn't have much time to organize and march into Istanbul where an army loyal to the Sultan were attempting to save the defend Istanbul. Finally Ahmed was ready to attack Istanbul.


The Battle for Istanbul
Ahmed rode in front of the motley collection of troops that had been assembled in front of him. They were mostly peasants and Ahmed could see that he had a lot of work ahead of him.


Inspecting the regiments, he mentioned to Ali, "Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend and harmonize the different elements thereof, before pitching his camp". Ali looked at him blankly as if to say "What does that mean"? Ahmed sighed, and explained: "it means that as a general rule, those are waging war should get rid of all the domestic troubles before proceeding to attack the external foe. This is the first step towards the Ottoman Empire being the largest and greatest empire in the world!!" He then turned and gave the signal to attack.


From the walls, the Sultan waited and watched as the young man on the horse rode in front of the rebel army. "Those scum" he thought, "just wait until I have their heads...". He then ordered his entire company of men to the top of the West wall.


Riding in from the West, Ahmed ordered the army to split into 3 companies, to attack from the North, South and West. One of his Generals tried to argue that their army was not big or experienced enough and they should just attempt a simple frontal attack. Ahmed denied his request and commented that Sun Tzu's greatest teaching was that "All warfare is based on deception". By splitting the forces - as inexperienced as they are, the Sultan will also have to split his forces.


With the revolution forces in position, Ahmed ordered the attack, and the revolution forces converged on the Sultan's.


The battle on the walls was short and sweet. Although the Sultan could hold the West wall, with no one to defend the North and South walls, the revolution armies had direct routes to the rear of the Sultan's troops and he was forced to withdraw to the center of the fortress courtyard.


Once in the center, Ahmed again ordered his regiments to spread out and form an even circle around the Sultan, and then he closed the noose, ordering them to charge into the middle. The Sultan's men lasted less than 5 minutes before they surrendered.


The Sultan was captured and swiftly executed.


Republic
The revolution was a success!!! In the Sultan's place a temporary republic was formed - where leaders were elected from the people. Ali now had the support of the lower classes, but still needed to sway the upper classes to create a government type that would encourage growth, trade and justice - but still have a leader with the power to make important decisions. In all of this confusion, Georgia sent a message, they had declared war on the Ottoman's, and intended to annex Armenia into their own growing empire.


This only incensed the growing discontent amongst the upper classes, who began to openly resist the new government. In the Spring of 1704, a counter revolution was launched, and Ahmed was made the general of an counter-revolution army to take Istanbul back from the Ottoman nobles.


In what became known as the 2nd battle for Istanbul, Ahmed once again crushed the resistance.


Constitutional Monarchy
With the Counter Rebellion successful, the republic was canned, new elections were held, and a new Sultan was crowned, Mustafa III, a 33 year old nephew of Ali. With this new government, the people were happy. They had a powerful leader, a parliament of elected officials who could run the country, and at the new Sultan's right hand was Ahmed, the Grand Visor. No one had absolute power, but there was still a leader to help with important decisions. The long cycle of revolutions had been costly for the empire which was now almost bankrupt. Taking his place behind the Sultan, the Grand Vizier Ahmed began to make plans with Ali to lead the country to glory.


Reconstruction
The first few weeks involved long meetings and planning. Ahmed worked with the Sultan and parliament to begin rebuilding the empire. Ahmed laid out his plans to build new and improved highways to connect the regions that would allow troops, supplies and trade routes to move to the borders quicker, allowing the empire to react to events faster. He also laid out a complicated budget that allocated money to border countries to train troops, reallocated existing regiments to border states, and called for the improvement and construction of farms and factories throughout the empire. Governors were elected to each region and Ahmed personally visited them all on a long 6 month tour, adjusting strategies and rebuilding efforts as each state required. Meanwhile, although Ali was getting old - he was now into his 90's and ready to retire, he travelled tirelessly throughout Europe, securing a valuable new trade agreement with England.


The Defense of Armenia
It was in October of 1704 that Ahmed received news that the Georgians had sent an army across the Armenian border. Ahmed immediately travelled there to personally lead the defense. Once there, he learned that the Georgian's were pillaging the countryside. Ahmed was angry, because he knew from Sun Tzu's teachings that "In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good." Hastily assembling 300 men - only of which 60 had rifles, he marched to intercept the Georgians.


Ahmed marched to where scouts had reported the Georgians to be camping. It wasn't hard to track them, they had truly raped the lands, burning and looting villages as they moved. When finally close to the enemy Ahmed noted that the terrain was a forest with many clearings containing long grass. Ahmed plan was simple, they would hide in the forests and sneak up on the enemy.


The Georgians were finally spotted. Ahmed ordered the men to crouch and quietly creep ahead in the forest and long grass. Slowly they snuck down the hill to the enemy camp.


The forest ended about 100 meters from the camp and Ahmed gave the order to charge. It must have been quite a sight as 300 Ottoman soldiers appearing seemingly out of thin air. As the unprepared Georgians scrambled to arm themselves, a volley of Ottoman rifles from the West side fired into the camp.


Ahmed was impressed by the Georgians. They were definitely better trained, but not ready. Attaching their bayonets, the Georgians attempted to launch a brave counter-attack, but by then, the numbers were in Ahmed's favor. With the Ottoman on higher ground, the Georgians were defeated and attempted to run from the field of battle.


Only 3 men made it home to tell the tale.


Persian Treachery.
In February of 1705, Persia declared war on the Ottoman Empire and attacked Armenia. Ahmed was still in the region helping to train troops. Although Persia declaring war was unexpected, he had been expecting the Georgians to send another invasion force. This was potentially a much better situation as the Persian forces would be equivalent to the Ottoman's - not nearly as powerful as the Georgians. Word was then received that the Persians were less than a days ride away, and Persian reinforcements were just behind them. Reports indicated that Ahmed would have about 1100 men, compared to 900 Persians - although these extra 200 men were mostly armed peasants. Ahmed remembered Sun Tzu's wise words "If our troops are no more in number than the enemy, that is amply sufficient; it only means that no direct attack can be made", which comforted Ahmed as he made final plans to meet the enemy.


Ahmed lined up the forces on a field just outside of town and divided them into 3 companies. The bulk of the Persian forces were directly East of Ahmed, but reinforcements were coming from the South. The initial plan was to send one company to cut off the reinforcements, using the other two to maneuver and distract the Persians until the 3rd company could return, flank and crush the invasion force. Things didn't go from plan right from the beginning. The Persian reinforcements were on a forced march and arrived much earlier than Ahmed anticipated. The 3rd company attempted to intercept, but ended up stuck in the middle and suddenly surrounded. The regiment was trapped and fell apart, routing.


Meanwhile the 2 main Ottoman companies were exchanging fire with the main Persian force. The air was smokey and dark. It was difficult to tell what was happening, but Ahmed was dug into a strong defensive position.


A regiment of Persians briefly attempted to flank through the town, but the citizen's helped to alert Ahmed, who sent a regiment to head them off. The townspeople helped by throwing anything and everything at the enemy. Knives, forks, beds, drawers, anything sharp or heavy was thrown from above. The Georgian regiment retreated.


The battle continued, with much maneuvering on both sides. The battle was fought in circles from East to West, North to South, West to East, as each army maneuvered and waited for the other opponent to make a mistake.


The attrition on both sides was shocking, there were dead and dying men all over the battlefield. Even though 90% of Ahmed's army had been defeated, the remaining men held their ground. Ahmed could see they were close to breaking... Then fate smiled on Ahmed and he saw an opportunity. The Persian general had his back to his cavalry as they were fighting a regiment of Ottoman Bashi swordsmen. Ahmed ordered his bodyguard unit to charge and sent his cavalry into the rear of the Persian's unit. With the initial charge, nearly a dozen of the bodyguards including the Persian general himself were killed. This caused a huge panic throughout the remaining Persian forces and they began to rout and retreat.


Ahmed finally had the upper hand - the battle was won. It was definitely his most difficult battle to date, with only 277 out of 1134 men still able to fight. In the chaos of their withdrawal, the Persians were reduced to less than 50 men. Ahmed ordered a regiment of mounted camels to chase down and kill as many of these men as possible. They must not escape. It took several weeks, but the remnants of the Persian invaders were hunted down North of Baghdad.


Ukraine
In the winter of 1706, Ahmed left Armenia - with the soldiers there in good spirit. They had learnt a lot from the general, and as well as being battle hardened, they were more confident in their abilities of their war leader. Ahmed had unexpectedly received news that the Crimean Khanate protectorate had captured Kiev in the Ukraine region and was rushing back to Istanbul to see what the Ottoman Empire could do to support them. Ahmed was expecting to have to allocate troops to fight the Russians, but if he could send supplies to the Crimean Khanate instead of troops, he's have more flexibility to defend the Austrian border and fight the Persians and Georgians.


By the time Ahmed arrived back in Istanbul he was disappointed to hear that Russia had recaptured Kiev when reinforcements arrived from Moscow. Creating a new plan, he assembled two personally trained regiments and began the long march North to the Russian border.


In 1707, another (much smaller) Persian invasion force was defeated South of Baghdad and another (even smaller) force was wiped out on the Eastern Armenia/Persian border. Using the new tactics and strategies that Ahmed had taught the commanders, both victories were overwhelmingly one-sided. The Eastern Armenian battle was particularly satisfying as the enemy was completely surrounded and slaughtered.


In late 1707, Ahmed arrived with a total army of 729 men, many that had joined him on the trek through Moldavia. Ahmed's spies had reported that Ukraine was nearly completely undefended, so he wasted no time in crossing the border and attacking Kiev. Losing only 20 men fighting mostly untrained militia and peasants, Ahmed had expanded the Ottoman Empire and for the first time in 20 years!!


Kiev's Moscow reinforcements made an appearance shortly afterwards when they laid siege to the Crimean Khanate capital Bakhchisaray in Crimea...


Poland-Lithuania Enters the War
As Ahmed was about to leave Kiev and travel South in an attempt to help defend Bakhchisaray, he discovered that Poland-Lithuania had declared war on Crimean Khanate. This wouldn't do. Ahmed sent a message to the Sultan to make sure that the Ottoman Empire was 100% behind their allies. The Sultan replied a short time later with a letter assuring Ahmed that Poland-Lithuania was indeed now an enemy of the Ottoman Empire.


Scouts then reported to Ahmed that Poland-Lithuania had two armies on the Northern Moldavia border. Ahmed really wanted to help defend Bakhchisaray, but the Ottoman Empire had to come first. Turning to the Southwest, Ahmed marched quickly towards the nearest Poland-Lithuania army. Ahmed was sure that they would not be expecting an attack from the North, remembering Sun Tzu's wisdom "Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy's uneasiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots." Discovering the Poland-Lithuania camp, Ahmed's scouts reported that enemy reinforcements were only a day way. It was time to act now. Ahmed prepared the troops for battle.


It was a cold and wintery day. Slushy snow was falling and visibility was low. Between the two armies was a series of walled pastures. It was here that Ahmed decided to fight, as the low stone walls would provide good cover. Marching forward, 2 regiments of Semeny riflemen crouched behind the walls and started to fire. The Polish-Lithuanian army followed a similar strategy and both sides exchanged fire across the farmland for several minutes.


With the rest of the army, (mostly Bashi swordsmen), not armed with rifles, they were marched to the North and South to attempt to flank and distract the enemy. In reaction to this strategy, the Polish-Lithuanian forces started to rotate around to face the flanking swordsmen. This in turn brought them out from the cover of the walls and they were now vulnerable to rifle fire. It was a vicious circle for the Polish-Lithuanian men, and many paid with their lives.


Casualties started to build up, so the Polish-Lithuanian commander ordered the troops back away from the farm in an effort to find better ground. It was then that the flanking Bashi swordsmen charged. Now the enemy was stuck in open ground, as the rifles continued to riddle their exposed armies.


Finally the Polish-Lithuanian commander gave the word to retreat - but retreat to where? There was no where to go, and as they panicked and attempted to flee the battlefield every last man was captured or killed. Ahmed was victorious again, and with the borders clear, Ahmed was able to leave a reasonable garrison of troops in Moldavia and travel back to Istanbul.


The Ukraine Gift
Arriving back in Istanbul, Ahmed met with the Sultan and parliament to discuss the future of Ukraine. Many members of parliament wanted to reinforce it as soon as possible, whereas the Sultan was campaigning more to abandon the region - it was surrounded by enemies on all sides and it could be expensive to focus on defending it at such a fragile time for the Ottoman Empire. Eventually they agreed on an interesting compromise, and Ukraine was gifted to Crimean Khanate in a three pronged strategy.
1. Gifting the region would distract the Russians from attacking Bakhchisaray
2. Gifting the region would fortify relations with Crimean Khanate
3. The region would give Crimean Khanate the taxes, men and supplies to really take the fight to the Russians, as well as creating a region buffer between the Russian and Ottoman Empires.


The gift lifted the sprits of the Crimean Khanate people, and they rallied together and broke the Russian siege at Bakhchisaray, decisively defeating the Russian invaders. In the following celebrations, 8 galleys - one for each regiment of Russians that were defeated - were loaded and shipped with wine and figs (Bakhchisaray's major exports) to Istanbul. The gifts were then distributed to the families of soldiers, and the people of Istanbul were happy. Ahmed didn't have time to celebrate - he packed up his bags and headed for Baghdad. While in Ukraine he had received reports that minor skirmishes with the Persians and Georgians had been occurring regularly - so far the Ottoman's had not been defeated, but attrition was starting to take it's toll. It was time for Ahmed to develop a long term strategy for the region, and possibly defeat the insurgents there once and for all.


Persian Invasion
Ahmed arrived in Baghdad in 1709, where Ottoman spies showed intelligence reports that indicated that the Persian capital was currently undefended - the Persians had foolishly sent all of their resources North to fight Armenia. Sun Tzu once said "Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day." Knowing that Armenia was in a good position to defend the capital, Ahmed created an invasion army and immediately marched East to Esfahan, the Persian Capital. Ahmed was sure that this was an opportunity that may not present itself again soon. On the border a small Persian border defense force of 120 men was found, but was small and unprepared for an invasion. Ahmed's forces killed every man, without losing a single Ottoman.


Continuing to march across the Persian Mountains, Ahmed found himself at the gates of Esfahan at the beginning of November 1709. Spies indicated that a Persian force had discovered the Ottoman plans and were chasing with reinforcements. Ahmed knew that capturing the undefended city was more important than defeating the reinforcements. Sun Tzu's teaching of course backed this strategy up: "the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities".


Arriving at the city outskirts, Ahmed was disappointed to receive a new spy report that indicated that the city was not as under-defended as previously thought, with 1000 men defending it. Ahmed had only brought 650 men. With the Persians in hot pursuit there were two options:
1. Attempt to escape into the wilderness
2. Attack Esfahan anyway.
Setting up camp outside the city, Ahmed mediated and reviewed his strategy scrolls. After reading half of the first page, Ahmed had his inspiration he was looking for. "Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him." Further espionage showed that the enemy was distributed throughout the city in small pockets. Ahmed reasoned that perhaps if he probed and attacked these pockets one at a time - and managed to keep the other pockets isolated - he could still defeat the enemy. In essence he would be improving the odds by having 650 men fight 100 Persians at a time, instead of pitching 650 men vs. 1000 Persians all at once.


Sometimes things just don't go to plan. No sooner had the Ottoman army reached a stones throw from the town, then the Persians rushed out of the North side of the city and attacked Ahmed in the open field. There was little Ahmed could do but dig in and get as much cover as possible.


Then things started to look up, sometimes not going to plan is a good thing. It seemed that the Persians were particularly bad shots - and as an added bonus, Ahmed's Semeny Riflemen were all excellent shots. The Persians were torn to threads and quickly retreated into the city. It suddenly became apparent that most of the Persian fighters were in fact peasants dressed in soldier uniforms!


Ahmed resumed his original plan and slowly crept into the city, defeating regiments and taking each buildings one by one. Soon the city hall was surrounded and Ahmed ordered a regiment of Bashi swordsmen to charge inside and clear it.


The remaining poorly trained Persians were cowardly fighters and started to retreat, but Ahmed's careful and methodical positioning of troops prevented many from escaping. The battle was over in less than 20 minutes, with all the Persians killed or captured, and only 58 Ottoman casualties. Persia was now a part of the Ottoman empire.


Back to Armenia
With Esfahan captured, the Persian reinforcements called off their chase and retreated North to Azerbaijan. Persia was safe for the near future. Relieved, Ahmed made his way back to Baghdad where he received news that Armenia was in serious trouble. Georgian, Russian and Persian armies were all ravaging the Armenian countryside. Whether they were working together or independently was unknown, but it was truly time for Ahmed to prove himself, as the Ottoman army stationed in Armenia was not large enough to fight all three armies at once. Ahmed left for Armenia immediately...

[Jack Aubrey KB,MP,JP,FRS]

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME

[Ares_Casai]

Now that I've been a member long enough: (drumroll please .....) +rep!

[uzi716]

OMG I can't even tell you how long I have waited for an Ottoman AAR

[Heavy Weapons Guy]

At last some Ottoman AAR! +rep

[samsmithnz]

Chapter 2: 1710 - 1719 "The Fight To Expand"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Georgian, Russian and Persian Hordes
Ahmed arrived in Armenia's capital Yerevan just a few days after New Years Day, 1710. He sat in his quarters and listened as his scouts explained the dire situation. There was a Georgian army about a weeks march from Yerevan on the Georgian/Armenia border. Further afield on Armenia's Black Sea coast, a Persian Army and a Russian Army were raiding villages and mines there. It was still unclear if the armies were acting as an alliance or independently. Sun Tzu said "Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy", so Ahmed waited in Yerevan for the situation to change - he certainly couldn't defeat all three of these armies. One or maybe two - but not all three. Ahmed decided to instead concentrate on defending Yerevan from possible siege.


Less than 6 months later, the Georgians made the move Ahmed was waiting for and attacked Yerevan. Ahmed successfully defended the Armenian capital with an army almost double the size of the Georgians, but it was costly, with 3 Ottoman soldiers killed for every 2 Georgians.


A Northern Front
Further afield, Ahmed began to receive word that Istanbul had sent an army led by General Keeiboynuzu Mehmet II North to probe the borders between Moldavia and Polish-Lithuanian controlled region of Galicia & Podolia and had discovered that Lwów was all but undefended. General Mehmet II had captured the city with little resistance.


Over the coming weeks, Ahmed continued to receive regular dispatches about General Mehmet II's progress. Just outside of Warsaw, he was stopped by a large Polish-Lithuanian army just outside of the city. While fighting in the snow, the Polish-Lithuanian's received word that Warsaw was being attacked by the Prussians in a sneak attack from the North.


The Polish-Lithuanian army quickly retreated back to their homeland, where they were defeated by the Prussians who captured Warsaw. The Ottomans did not have any treaties with the Prussians and were forced to withdraw back to Moldavia.


In Moldavia, General Mehmet II's redirected his army to travel North through the forests and mountains towards Minsk, capturing it easily. It seemed that the Polish-Lithuanian forces were too busy to defend their own capitals.


The next several years Ahmed settled in Armenia, training new recruits and old troops, preparing to invade Georgia. In 1713 off the coast of Greece, a Ottoman fleet led by Admiral Limberakis Gerakaris sailed into the Mediterranean sea to investigate several missing trade ships. It was in a cove South of Greece that he discovered a Moroccan raiding party. He swiftly defeated them, capturing a few ships. With the evidence of the Moroccans actively attacking Ottoman fleets, Admiral Gerakaris was ordered to patrol the Mediterranean sea further afield for other Moroccan fleets.

A few weeks later there was more news of a major naval victory against Morocco off the Southern coast of Italy. As well as that, The Moroccan capital Tangiers was captured by the Spanish for 3 days, before they set fire to the city and retreated North back to Spain. The Sultan sent the King of Spain a large shipment of Turkish Delights to thank them for fighting against a common enemy.



Georgian Invasion
In 1714 Ahmed was ready to invade Georgia and set out with his large force towards the Northwest. He purposely made it well known he was not travelling directly towards the Georgian capital. He wanted to draw the Georgians out of the capital and into the open ground.


The plan worked, but it worked too well. A Georgian army nearly 1400 men strong attempted to ambush Ahmed's army of only 700. If not for Ahmed's Sun Tzu experience he would have been completely surprised, as Ahmed was able to identify the ambush before it occurred by the jittery birds and deer in the region, (Sun Tzu said "The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an ambush. Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is coming"). Ahmed had just enough time to get on a small hill where he observed the Georgian forces making there way through a small town towards the Ottoman position. The Georgians were spread out but marching quickly. As they got closer the skies completely opened up, the downpour was almost deafening, not exactly good fighting weather.


Lining up across the hill, the Ottoman riflemen began to fire into the advancing Georgians. The ground was wet and slippery, so it was slow going for the Georgians as they crept up the hill. Ahmed then ordered two regiments of swordsmen to sweep around the left flank to hit the Georgians from the side.


In the rain and confusion, Ahmed briefly had the upper hand and the first wave of Georgians were forced to retreat - most of the regiment did not see the Ottoman swordsmen charging from the left.


The swordsmen pursued the Georgians down the hill - only to run right into a large regiment of Georgian Pike men. The swordsmen were lightly armored and no match for the long pikes, routing almost instantly with terrible losses.


Visibility became a serious problem, and Ahmed could do little but stand firm at the top of his hill. Georgian artillery arrived and began to fire towards Ahmed, so he ordered the army to march down the hill. Ahmed could feel the battle slipping away from him, he couldn't fight the Georgians directly, but with the large numbers marching towards him, he also couldn't flank them. The next Georgian surprise was a cruel one, as the cannons weren't loaded with round shots for this battle, they were loaded with Grapeshot. Usually marching towards the cannons was relatively safe - especially as Georgian artillery was notoriously inaccurate and slow - but grapeshot cannons - although still slow to reload, weren't hard to aim. With the ranks of Ottoman being so close together it was a very deadly few minutes. One shot in particular went right into an Ottoman regiment killing 34 of 60 men instantly. With those sorts of weapons, it was nearly impossible to keep order - and without ranged artillery of his own, Ahmed was forced to call a retreat.


It was the worst defeat against the Georgians, with nearly 70% (500 men) of the Ottoman force killed, compared to 500 Georgians (only 30% of their army). Ahmed vowed he would be back on Georgian soil soon...


Ahmed needs a victory
In 1715 Hungary declared itself independent from Austria. It was interesting to note that Austria's wars were taking a heavy toll on itself - and it was probably the main reason they had not yet attacked the Ottoman Empire to the South. The Mughal Empire, Portugal, and Hungary all signed Trade agreements with the Ottoman Empire in 1715. Ahmed sent a message to General Baltaci Mehmet I in Esfahan, Persia requesting help to fight the Georgians. General Mehmet I responded at once, but no sooner had the army left then Esfahan was attacked by a Persian army hiding in the Mountains. He pursued this army North, only to discover that it was a diversion to empty Esfahan. Persian forces rushed into the capital capturing it from the Ottoman Empire. This was the 2nd major setback in as many years. This was not good for Ahmed or General Mehmet I. General Mehmet I tried to make amends, by crushing the diversion force, but was then forced to abandon any hope of recapturing Esfahan - for now.


While Ahmed waiting for his reinforcements from Persia to arrive, Venice unexpectedly declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Some money was diverted to Greece to shore up the borders, but then nothing happened. It seemed that the Venicans had declared war a little prematurely and were in fact not ready to fight yet. While waiting, Ahmed fought and won a small battle on the border of Armenia where a Georgian invasion force was intercepted and crushed.


Taking the most direct route, the army from Esfahan travelled North through Azerbaijan. Spies reported that the capital Ardabil was barely defended, so it was captured. Mehmet I won easily when the Persians marched across an open field towards the Mehmet who was camped behind a long stone wall. The Persians did not even get close enough to touch swords before they surrendered.


Poland-Lithuania
General Mehmet II's campaign in the far North was getting much better results. In 1716 the capital of Vilnius in Lithuania was captured when General Mehmet II took a small but experienced army across the border from Minsk. He had begin to hear reports that it was under defended and that a Russian force was approaching it from the West.


Pouncing quickly, General Mehmet II captured it first, in a short battle.


In 1717 reports began to appear that another Morocco fleet was blockading Ottoman trade routes off the coast of Portugal. There were also reports that a large English fleet has sailed into the Mediterranean and that the ships were loaded with English invaders. The target was still secret, but all Mediterranean nations were nervous. The Ottoman Empire was not - they had a strong trade agreement with England and were sure they would not be invaded or attacked.


Admiral Gerakaris sailed towards Portugal as fast as he could, defeating another large Moroccan fleet off the coast of France.



Hungry
In 1718 Hungary declared war and marched an army of nearly 700 men West to attack Lwów. In a lucky coincidence, reinforcements from Istanbul were just a day away.


The next morning the siege was broken. It was a long day and the battle was hard fought, but ultimately one sided. Having nearly twice as many men as Hungary, the Ottoman forces were allowed to completely surround the Hungary forces.


With attacks coming from all sides, Hungary didn't have a chance and were driven away.


Georgian Invasion
In October of 1718, the reinforcements from Persia finally arrived. General Mehmet I sat with Ahmed and discussed his plan. Ahmed asked that General Mehmet keep the secret until the day of the battle. When queried about why, Ahmed explained that there were many Georgian spies in the camp and that Sun Tzu said that you should "Confront your soldiers with the deed itself, but never let them know your design". The next morning, Ahmed and Mehmet attacked Georgian capital Tbilisi with two large armies.


On the spine of a hill facing the main Georgian force coming from the Northeast, Georgian reinforcements were also coming from the Northwest, and Ottoman reinforcements were coming from the Southeast.


With the Ottoman's high on the hill, the Georgians had no choice but to leave the shelter of the trees and advance up the hill to get into range. With the height behind them, Ahmed's forces were able to start shooting at the Georgians much earlier.


Some Georgian cavalry attempted to flank on the Northern side, but with the height of the hill behind them and some juggling of order in the ranks, (sending 2 regiments of swordsmen to reinforce the North side), Ahmed was able to drive them off the hill.


The main Georgian force was now in disarray and Ahmed attacked it from the East side. The Georgians retreated to join with it's reinforcements. At the same time the Ottoman reinforcements led by General Mehmet began to engage with the oncoming Georgian reinforcements, specifically targeting regiments that were unmatched with the Ottoman camel cavalry. Facing towards the West now, Ahmed realigned the Ottoman army in line for the final attack from the reinforced Georgians.


With the height of the hill still behind him and the Ottoman reinforcements roaming and cleaning up stranded Georgian regiments out in the field, the Georgian army was now truly a mess. The Georgian General was desperate to recover now, and attempted one last attack, marching the Georgian's up the hill towards the Ottoman. Bringing the roaming camel regiments to attack from either flank and the rear, the envelope began to close on the Georgians.


The Georgians suddenly realized that they were completely unmatched. As they began to pull away, Ahmed gave the order to charge, and they were utterly and decisively defeated.


With 98% of the Georgian army defeated, Ahmed marched directly into the town square of Tbilisi almost unchallenged. After 18 long years, the Georgians were defeated.


Aftermath
Ahmed had a glorious trip back to Istanbul where a huge parade was held in his honor. Once in Istanbul, word came that the Mughal Empire had offered an alliance, but after carefully analyzing the state of Mughal affairs, it was rejected. The Mughal empire was in serious decline, surrounded on all sides by it's enemies, with several key regions recently lost.


News also came from Tripoli, the Barbary states were no more. The English invasion force had landed off the coast of Tripoli and captured the capital there. Ahmed was both outraged and pleased. The Barbary states were partly a liability - as a protectorate state they had been barely controllable, and they produced almost no revenue - diverting their entire economy into building ships for pirating. But at the same time, the Barbary states were also Islam brothers... This was not the time for war, but Ahmed was going to watch the English carefully - they had better not advance on Egypt...



Far in the North, news began to filter down that the Polish-Lithuanian's were preparing a large counter-attack... it was time for Ahmed to be on the move again...

[dezikeizer]

Great story! I'll keep an eye on this one.

[samsmithnz]

Note: I had some technical difficulties (random crashes) with Fraps playing through this period, and some of the battles are therefore a little shorter than I would have liked. Sorry about this.

Chapter 3: 1720 - 1729 "Eastern Europe"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Istanbul
In early 1720, Ahmed and the Sultan met in Istanbul to discuss strategy, and were peering over a large map of Europe. It had just been completed by Ottoman scholars and was said to be most current and accurate map to date. The Ottoman Empire controlled most of the Middle East, all of Greece, and much of Eastern Europe. The war again the Polish-Lithuanian had recently taken a turn for the worst, especially now that the Lithuania and Belarus regions were cut off from direct supply lines. Luckily the alliance with the Crimean Khanate allowed supplies to safely travel through their lands, but it added weeks to travel of merchants. It was imperative that Lwow be recaptured to rejoin the empire, it was of critical strategic importance. With Georgia finally conquered in the Southwest, only Persia was a threat, and even then, the campaign against them was going very well. It would be going better, but the vast distances meant that it took months and years to capture regions - compared to Europe where a region could be captured in a matter of days or weeks.


Admiral Gerakaris was continuing to fight against Morocco pirate fleets on the Mediterranean Sea. England, France, Spain and the Knights of Malta were all very active in the area too, as everyone's trade routes were at risk.


The Persian capital Esfahan was finally wrestled back from the Persians in 1721, and plans were made to ensure that this time the hills were clear of hidden Persian armies.


Lisbon was also finally captured by the Spanish, ending the Portugal Empire. The Barbary states staged a brief revolution against the English before the capital Tripoli was recaptured. The Ottoman view on this remained the same, it was sad to see their Barbary allies defeated, but there were no plans in the near future to recapture these poor and strategically unimportant states - not to mention that the empire was in no state to go to war against England.


The Greek Isles
The Morea region was attacked and captured from the Venetian States in a short battle. This was an important victory as it allowed troops to be reallocated to the Austrian border in the North. The Venetian States had captured Morea during the Morean War of 1684-99, so it was also satisfying to restore Ottoman rule to the region.


In 1722 Cherkessk was captured in the Don Voiska region, (located on the East side of the Black Sea, below Russia and above Georgia), finally defeating Persia. A direct result of this was that the last Persian region Afghanistan became an independent nation. The Sultan immediately sent an envoy to work on a trade agreement and alliance with the Afghans, which was promptly signed.


The Battle of Lwow
In 1724 Ahmed travelled North to Lwow, in an attempt to recapture it from Poland-Lithuania. Putting the city under siege, Ahmed waited for the enemy to break the siege and face the Ottoman Empire on the open field. Ahmed had no intention of attacking the fortress. Finally the Polish-Lithuanian forces marched out of the fortress and lined up, led by the Polish Crown Prince, Iwan Wlodyga II, in preparation of ejecting the Ottoman invaders. Ahmed waited at the top of a small hill, where a stone fence provided excellent cover. Sun Tzu said that "It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill", and Ahmed had no intention of leaving his position at the top of this hill.


The Polish-Lithuanian forces marched directly up the hill...


Finally within range of one another, volleys were exchanged between the two armies. Ahmed chuckled as his men were able to crouch behind the walls for cover as they reloaded. The Polish-Lithuanian forces had no such cover.


Attempting to even up the playing field, Prince Wlodyga ordered his cavalry to charge, reasoning that the Ottoman troops could not fight his powerful knights. Ahmed was prepared for this, and had explained to his troops that there had to appear to be weak spots to draw the enemy into traps. One of Sun Tzu's most common teachings was about the art of deception. Sun Tzu even said "Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; where we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away we must make him believe we are near." As the cavalry approached, 3 regiments fired simultaneously from behind the walls, cutting down 2/3's of the charging regiment. We only 13 men left in the original cavalry regiment of 45, they turned and fled.


With his cavalry defeated, Prince Wlodyga next ordered the infantry to march at the Ottoman Empire. When the enemy reached the stone wall, a bloody hand to hand battle began - but by then more than half of Prince Wlodyga's men had already been killed before they reached the main ranks of Ahmed's Ottoman army...


It was not long before Prince Wlodyga called for a retreat and Lwow was recaptured. Prince Wlodyga had lost 700 men - compared to only 200 Ottoman. Ahmed was able to quickly capture the Prince. With the stale mate that the long war has bought, Ahmed arranged a truce ending Poland-Lithuanian war using the Prince as a ransom. Sweden sent a diplomat with an offer of a lucrative trade agreement in 1725, apparently in response to the peace treaty with Poland-Lithuania. The Sultan immediately signed, this was an excellent deal for the Ottoman Empire.


Transylvania
With the Northwest borders finally secure, Ahmed began work on finally getting revenge against the Austrians. It had been 30 years since either side had been at war, but a lot had changed in that 30 years. The Ottoman Empire was now better managed, with better generals leading it's armies, and thanks to the strong leadership and strategy of Ahmed, the Ottoman armies were now leading victorious campaigns. On the other hand, the Austrians had their hands full, with wars against all of their Northern neighbors, Poland-Lithuania, France, Prussia and Sweden. An Ottoman Diplomat was sent with the standard offer - surrender or face destruction, and the standard response was received (The diplomats head in a nicely craved box). War was declared against Austria.


The city of Klaucaburg in Transylvania was the first Ottoman target - mostly because the Ottoman Empire surrounded it on 3 sides.


The defense of Transylvania was led by the Austrian general Staylemberg, the Ottoman troops were being led by General Imran, a young and recently promoted General. Ahmed was also present as an advisor and observer - the Sultan had expressed an interest in Ahmed training his generals so that multiple campaigns could be fought at once. It was a beautiful September day when Imran and Ahmed lined up a long line of Ottoman troops. The Austrians scurried around, and then sat back and fired cannons into the Ottoman troops.


On the whole this strategy was generally unproductive, but the 3rd shot was very unlucky - it landed directly on General Imran, killing him and his horse instantly, and then bouncing and proceeding to kill 5 other men in his regiment standing behind him. Combine this with a loud squishing noise and an explosion of blood. It was a ghastly scene...


Ahmed was swift in taking control of the army, but General Staylemberg's spies had already realized what had happened and ordered the Austrians to charge while the Ottoman chain of command was broken.


Ahmed charged around the right side of the main army and charged directly into the flank of the artillery, killing every last man responsible for Imran's death.


Turning back towards the main battle Ahmed ordered the infantry on the outsides to slowly march into a large semi-circle, to collapse and flank the Austrian army. The strategy worked and General Staylemberg panicked and withdrew into a corridor of Ottoman fire. Every last Austrian was butchered and killed, to such an extent that in Transylvania, Ahmed henceforth nicknamed "Prince Vlad"...


"Prince Vlad" Aftermath
Far away in the distance, a small company of men led by Austrian King Leopold I observed the entire battle. Leopold had originally planned to join in the defense, but had not arrived in time and had elected to instead watch from a hill overlooking the battle. Leopold was furious, and ordered a scotched earth retreat, burning everything. As Leopold turned his horse and left on the long march back to Vienna - he began to plan a booby trap for Ahmed - as it was time he removed the Grand Visor - he was beginning to be quite a thorn in his side. Leopold attempted to call on his Hungarian allies, but was disappointed to discover that Hungary had no intention of continuing their alliance with Austria. A short internal war began and Hungary was re-captured by Austria in 1728.


Goodbye Egypt
In 1729 Afghanistan lost their independence after being captured by the Martha Confederacy. In an attempt to help the Martha Confederacy take it's focus off it's only Northern border with Persia, A now 99 year old Ali was sent to arrange a complicated agreement was made to swap Egypt for the Indian region Sindh. (This would be Ali's last journey, as he passed away peacefully in his sleep on the long trip back). This agreement created a buffer (Egypt) between the Ottoman Empire and England, and opened up the entire Mediterranean for the Martha Confederacy. While expansion into India was a goal in the near future, the Martha Confederacy had a huge stronghold there, and the buildup needed to be subtle - now this could be achieved inside Sindh...

As the decade finished, Ahmed reflected on several promising steps forward for the Ottoman Empire, and relished the opportunity to finally take what he had learned and conquer the Austrians...

[dezikeizer]

Great update. Going into India huh? Good luck!+rep

[samsmithnz]

Chapter 4: 1730 - 1739 "Becoming Relevant"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

State of the Nation
It was 1730, and the Sultan and Grand Visor Ahmed had just received the latest maps of Europe from the Sultan's calligraphers. In the South, the Ottoman Empire now extended across the entire Middle East to the Northern outskirts of India. In the North the empire extended out into two very distinct arms, one deep into Southeastern Russian, and the other covering most of Eastern Europe. The war against Russia was going well. The Russians had mobilized most of their forces on their Western front, so the Eastern parts of the Russian Empire were all but undefended. Capturing a region simply consisted of capturing region capitals that were defended by up to 90% farmers. Russia wasn't the primary concern though, Austria was proving to be a huge headache. The Austrian forces were extremely well trained, more advanced and better equipped. Since Ahmed had captured Transylvania, the war had reached a stalemate. 3 months earlier, Austria had attacked Croatia, and although the Austrians were repulsed, the casualties were very high on both sides. The Sultan really wanted to charge straight for Vienna, but because the Austrians had such large garrisons in the nearby Hungary city of Preliburg, Ahmed had to have an army large enough to cope with both armies.


Meanwhile, General Kilavuz Mevlana was continuing to lead the assault on the Russians from behind. Even though his army was relatively under equipped, his 7 regiments were now battle hardened and experienced. In the Spring of 1731, General Mevlana approached Arkhangelsk, and found it nearly completely undefended.


India and the Maratha Confederacy
A diplomat arrived in Istanbul in 1731 with a decree from Queen Tarabai I, of the Maratha Confederacy. Officially the Ottoman Empire was allied with the Mughal Empire and had been providing support for the Mughal Empire's war against the Maratha Confederacy for nearly 30 years. Relationships between the Ottomans and Maratha Confederacy were strained, but had never reached the stage where war was declared - mostly because of the distance between them. The Confederacy diplomat first announced that the Mughal Empire had been completely defeated, and then he asked for the Ottoman Empire to surrender or face destruction, as the Confederacy expansion plans now included Persia and the Middle East. The Sultan was upset by this news, and the diplomat was immediately expelled. Ahmed knew the Empire wasn't ready to fight the Austrians AND the Maratha Confederacy, the distances and logistics involved were complicated just to think about, let alone plan. Coupled with the simple fact that the Confederacy now controlled most of the Indian Continent, some difficult decisions had to be made. Arranging an emergency meeting, the Sultan, Grand Visor Ahmed and all members of parliament debated and planned for 7 days, before coming up with a strategy that just might work.


First, plans were immediately drawn up to recapture Egypt. The troops that had pulled out of Egypt had luckily not been deployed far away, and were able to invade Egypt quickly. Arriving in Egypt with 350 men, General Kilavuz Aali defeated a very small regiment of 80 Confederacy men to recapture Cairo quickly.


With the Maratha Confederacy removed from Egypt, the threat of invasion was confined to just the Eastern front, specifically concentrated on the Sindh region. In Sindh, General Baltaci Melt was handed orders sent directly from Grand Visor Ahmed himself, which read simply: "Hold back the invasion with any means possible". The message came delivered with a heavy pot filled with gold to supply the defense. General Melt to had been stationed in Sindh for just 2 years, mainly because he was involved in an 'incident' in Istanbul that involved one of Sultan's daughters, and was not happy with his assignment. Despite his questionable wisdom being involved with the Sultan's daughter, we was smart enough to recognize that defending the region could be his way to get back into favor. It was only the next day when a message arrived informing General Melt that a Maratha Confederacy invasion force was just South of the Indus River. General Melt was able to defeat the first invasion force relatively easily, but knew that this was only the first of probably a dozen more.


Venice
Sitting in a cold Croatian castle in early 1732, Ahmed was frustrated. While he was buoyed by the positive reports he was regularly receiving from General Melt in Sindh, since Transylvania, he had personally been unable to make progress into the Austria. For 2 years now he had been struggling to make use of his limited resources to build a large army, and it was very much two steps forward and one step back as he continued to spar with Austrian forces on the borders. The problem continued to be that Vienna and Pressburg were so heavily fortified and less than 60 miles from each other. Essentially attacking one city meant you had to commit to attacking the other - and with the Austria having thousands of men all within a days march of each other, it was a delicate situation. With the Ottoman empire having so many borders to protect - with the Russians to the North and the Maratha Confederacy in India, and now even the Venetian's in the West were causing issues. Another week went by and news arrived from the French that they had defeated the small nation of Savoy. More details trickled in, apparently Savoy had boldly attacked France, before Queen Mary relatiated and attacked back. Savoy didn't have a chance against the French superpower. This gave Ahmed had an idea. If he couldn't attack Austria, why not attack Venice? It was a large trading center, but none of the larger European nations (France, Spain, England) would be upset, as the Venetian's had declared war on all of them. Ahmed might even be rewarded for removing the Venetians! The best thing about this strategy was that Venice was only a short 2 week march from Croatia. Ahmed prepared his men - while leaving a significant garrison behind in Croatia - and departed immediately, leaving orders for reinforcements from Transylvania to probe the Southeast side of the Austrian border to keep Austria busy and distracted from invading Croatia. Arriving on the outskirts of Venice, the Venetian General Sansone Tucci was completely surprised and scrambled to assemble 800 Venetian's to defend Venice.


Arranging his forces behind a grove of trees just outside of town, Ahmed found that he could obscure most of his forces, while still enjoying the protection of a strong wall. Sun Tzu once said that "By discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy's must be divided." General Tucci was eager to remove the Ottoman threat and marched on the attacking Ottoman forces - even though he could not see them all, he knew he outnumbered them. The attackers became the defenders...


Coming out of the trees, the Ottoman forces did not have long to fire at the Venetian's. Soon enough the Venetian's were close enough to fight hand to hand.


Even as the Venetian's jumped the ancient stone walls, they were still being cut down as the Ottoman's hacked and shot at their exposed legs. For the first time, the battle was to the Venetian's advantage as both sides were on even footing.


Realizing the battle was in danger of turning, Ahmed ordered his cavalry to charge from behind forcing the Venetian's to retreat into the trees. General Tucci responded by ordering his cavalry to charge into the rear Ottoman cavalry, while Ahmed ordered 4 regiments into the forest to hide in the underbrush. From high up on the hill General Tucci could not see the 4 regiments moving into the forest, and the Venetian cavalry were so high up on their horses, they could not see the hidden Ottoman soldiers either -until it was too late...


The Venetian cavalry were quickly defeated, and with nothing left, Ahmed moved through the forest and up the hill towards the Venice, where General Tucci finally surrendered to Ahmed. The Venetian's had been defeated!


The Venice Aftermath
Most nations in Europe were surprised by Ahmed's bold move and the defeat of Venice. Previously the Ottoman Empire was viewed to be be relatively far away and irrelevant to most of Europe. Now that there was a Ottoman presence in Italy this view was changing for everyone. Some nations, such as the Italian States - just south of Venice - immediately declared war. The Pope was not happy of the prospect of an Islam nation based so close to center of the Catholic church and Rome. News from other nations was much more favorable and respectable, as Spain and France both sent trade offers that were accepted. Seeing opportunities that such bold moves provided, France proceeded to invade and defeat the United Provinces, and working against it, Quebec declared itself independent from the French, (word was it that the French had their hands so full with the American Indians in North America that they were not able to provide significant resources to Quebec), and Morocco was captured by Spain. It was truly a dynamic year in Europe! With the new wealth from trade routes and Venice, the Sultan was able to invest more into the economy, developing factories and farms in the central states around Istanbul. This pleased the people and the economy expanded! Things were really looking up... until mid 1733, when General Melt sent news of new battles in South Sindh...


One of the Confederacy's greatest generals, General Balrishua Indukri, attempted to charge almost single handedly into the Sindh capital to capture it.


Ahmed had not fought any battles against Elephants, but knew of their reputation and was pleased to hear that although an entire Ottoman cavalry unit had been destroyed, the Elephants were no match for Ottoman Artillery, with General Indukri crushed to death after his own personal elephant lost a battle of beast vs. cannon ball...


General Melt Sindh fought off another Martha Confederacy invasion a month later against an even more prestigious individual, General Jaril Rawat. He too was overconfident and was ultimately killed along with his invasion force that was basically too small. Sindh had been defended again, and General Melt was promoted and given a title, "India Defender". Melt was hopeful to be relocated closer to his hometown, but the Sultan had still not forgotten his adventures with his daughter.


Russian Roulette
In 1734 Venice was attacked for the second time in 2 years, again from an unexpected direction, and this time from the Austrians. The battle was short and victorious. Ahmed had little to report about the battle, except that the Austrians had a poor strategy and were defeated easily. Word was received a few weeks later that Karclia had been captured from the Russians. Denmark sent a trade agreement that was signed. A week later Sweden also agreed on trade agreements with the Ottomans. Once Denmark learned that their mortal enemies the Swedes had also signed a trade agreement, Denmark then proceeded to cancel the trade treaty, also declaring war. Once the Sweden learned that the Ottoman's were at war with Denmark, they offered an alliance - which was also accepted. Ahmed found this constant back and forth diplomacy tiring - war was his game. Late in the year news came that the United Provinces had succeeded in overthrowing their French occupiers.


In 1736, St Petersburg was captured from the Russians, but the Russians quickly counterattacked, unexpectedly arriving on the doorsteps of Tatariya in the far Eastern reaches of the Russian empire and capturing it with a very large force. At the same time Moscow was discovered to be undefended and also quickly captured. This was a major reversal of fortunes, as the Russian war on the Ottoman Eastern front had mostly been a stalemate for the last 10 years. With the loss of Moscow and St Petersburg within weeks of each other, the Russians asked for a truce. The Russians had been at war with the Ottomans for at over 40 years, so this was an interesting development. In the last few years, every Russian region had been conquered and ravaged by war, and the Russians needed time to regroup and rethink. The Sultan accepted - rightfully reasoning that the battles were one sided for both the Russians and Ottoman at the moment, as neither had forces in the right places and only the peasants would suffer. As well as this, Moscow had stayed in open revolt - the people were NOT happy at all to be under Ottoman control, and a large garrison was required there to defeat the rebellions that kept spawning around the city.


Late in 1736, the Maratha Confederacy suddenly appeared out of the desert in the Northeast of Persia with a very large invasion force and proceeded to march directly to the capital Esfahan. Ahmed was outraged and ordered an adjustment to his spy strategy, so that spies were working in bordering enemy states, and not wandering deep within enemy lands. Ahmed hoped that by spying on troop movements he could prevent such a big surprise again. Esfahan was defended safely, but it took 4 years to defeat the remnants of the Confederacy invasion force who hid in the hills in the North of Persia.


The Popes Last Ship
In 1737, a small Italian States army attacked Ahmed in Venice. At the same time a large land battle was being fought against Austria in the Hungarian highlands. The Ottoman Empire was victorious in all engagements. At the same time, a Italian States fleet sailed up to Athens and blockaded the port off the coast of Greece. Admiral Gerakaris was close at hand, and sailed the Ottoman fleet to intercept the Popes fleet.


The battle was chaotic with 30 ships of different shapes and sizes jostling for position. Unlike the Italian States, Admiral Gerakaris had a clear strategy, and started by strafing the fleet, before turning twowards the middle of the Italian fleet...


Driving directly between the middle of the enemy fleet, Admiral Gerakaris isolated the Italian ships into two small groups, and was able to fire at both groups at the same time. The battle quickly became a trivial affair, and with minimal loss of Ottoman life, the entire Italian fleet was defeated.


Sultan Ahmed
In 1739, Sultan Mustafa III died at the age of 64. The entire empire observed the traditional 3 days of mourning. Following this, a grand tomb was constructed in Istanbul. The Sultan had helped Grand Visor Ahmed through a rebellion, several years of growth and expansion. Ahmed would miss Mustafa.


36 year old Ahmed III was elected to replace Mustafa III. He was well known by Ahmed, as he was one of Grand Visor Ahmed's favorite grandsons. Ahmed III's first task as the new Sultan was to deal with Russia's constant demands to return it's regions as payment for what they considered the wrongful occupation of Russian regions. The Sultan sent a very short answer back to the Russian grand chancellor. There was to be no negotiation on this. Russia responded by breaking the truce and raiding a factory South of Moscow, the Russian/Ottoman war was back on!!


Rome
In late 1739, Ahmed left behind a small garrison in Venice and started marching South toward Rome. While Ahmed had not beeen initially interested in entering further South into Italy, he began to hear about the work of another famous Italian man, the Renaissance man known as Machiavelli. Machiavelli was infamously known for writing several revolutionary books on political science in Italy, but he was also known for writing his own version of the "Art of War". Ahmed was keen to get to Florence and research more about this man - but first - Rome had to fall. A days march North of Rome, the Pope personally led his forces to attack Ahmed's invasion force. Ahmed placed his forces on a hill behind a stone wall. His soldiers were becoming very familiar with this strategy, and knew that it worked well, easily defeating the small Papal advance force.


Next the army marched on Rome itself in full formation.


A few artillery regiments were left behind on the right flank to bombard the city, with 2 regiments of footmen to defend them. The Pope sent 2 regiments of cavalry to remove the artillery, but they never returned. The grapeshot fire from the cannons and the brave Ottoman footmen made sure that no one was left to report back to the Pope.


The main battle was surprisingly short. Marching directly into St. Peter's Basilica, Ahmed could not find the Pope. It seemed that he had escaped at the last minute, probably to Naples in the South, where the Catholic nation Spain would likely accept his exile.



New Beginnings
Ahmed celebrated the end of 1739 from within the Sistine Chapel. This was a glorious victory for the Ottoman Empire. Even Ahmed himself did not expect to be freely walking in Rome, just 40 years after he started his great campaign. Ahmed couldn't wait to search Florence for it's treasures. Remembering Sun Tzu's writings "When you plunder the countryside, let the spoil be divided amongst your men.", Ahmed left Rome to be plundered by his men. It took less than a week to travel to Florence with a small security force and setup a camp in an abandoned mansion there. Ahmed planned to spend the next few months here researching Machiavelli's writings, with the hopes that he could learn something new and be an even better leader. Who knew what he might find buried in the writings there... surely there were secrets that could give him insights into planning the next step of the Ottoman Empire's expansion... It was time to finally remove the Austrian's once and for all - and the by holding on to Sindh, Ahmed was now confident that he could make headway into India and defeat the Maratha Confederacy!

[dezikeizer]

Great as always.

[AcidJiles]

As always excellent +rep

[Dave Strider]

Please continue this.

[samsmithnz]

Please continue this.

Working on an update for this weekend right now.

[Dave Strider]

Where is it?

[samsmithnz]

Where is it?

It's about 90% there, but because this chapter is the climax of the Austrian/Ottoman war, there is a lot to do. Have patience, this isn't anywhere dead yet.