18th century depiction of the Battle of Bekes by Jean-Philippe Le Paon
The Breaking of Hungary (1515 AD – 1522 AD)
As the empire recovered from the last decade of internal conflicts, Kyriake’s mind turned to military adventure. In Islamic Hungary, the ruling Achaemenid dynasty had been overthrown in a civil war at the turn of the 16th century. The state had undergone significant shifts, first winning independence over the Rev Mehran Sultanate then subjugating them, after Tsar Dominik Achaemenid had crippled the sultanate in the early 15th century. Emir Aldis Achaemenid became the first Sultan of Hungary in 1568 and would rule for another five years before being succeeded by his son, Bernadin. Unfortunately, Bernadin was killed tragically early after being shipwrecked on his way to Hajj and his young daughter, Frinella, was placed on the throne. The Qadariyah faith, while more egalitarian than other Islamic sects, still had issues with a female ruler.
With a child on the throne and a regent from the harem, powerful nobles pounced on the opportunity. For seven years, Hungary was torn apart by civil war before Tomas Basarab claimed primacy as the new Sultan of Hungary. He had all remaining Hungarian Achaemenids put to death to eliminate the risk of any claimants and set about repairing the fractured realm.
Tsaritsa Kyriake was mortified at this grievous attack on her family, no matter how distant or heathen they may have been and she plotted revenge. However, it had to put off for the first decade of her reign as the court dealt with internal issues. Finally in 1515 AD, she ordered her armies to march into the Pannonian Basin. Their faithful ally, the Bosporan Kingdom, joined the war effort, aligned on the need to avenge the Achaemenid massacre and hopeful of grabbing territory at the expense of Kiev, Hungary’s ally.
The initial battles were inconclusive as the empire’s armies were distracted by internal uprisings and the fact that the Achaemenid army was still unwilling to utilise cannons as part of their military doctrine. Mihail Krum was a military genius but he was a traditionalist and believed in the bravery of men’s hearts over the cold and unreliable nature of those copper contraptions. The Hungarians would penetrate deep into Old Bulgaria while the imperial army divided its attention on the Rev Mehran lands in the west and supported the Bosporans in subduing Kyiv. Eventually, the greater manpower of Kyriake’s armies told. Kyriake called in favours from her Muslim allies in Jerusalem and Eran for recruits to put down the Qadariyah heresy and they duly obliged, sending thousands to the strange jihad these ghazis were co-opted to. Buoyed by these Muslim auxiliaries, the Field Strategos Esvios Achaemenid would drag the Sultan to a decisive battle at the field of Bekes.
The Battle of Bekes
The Battle of Bekes took place on the rolling plains near the city of Bekes, where the Hungarian army gathered to face down the main imperial Kara in the late spring of 1518. At dawn, the Hungarians tried an enveloping maneuver, relying on swift cavalry wings while cannons fired to soften up the Achaemenids. Esvios countered with a flexible center – he drew the Hungarian cavalry inward and denied the guns an open shot, then struck with reserves. The heart of the clash was fought by the Achaemenid heavy infantry in tight phalanx, bracing for Hungarian charges. Despite repeated assaults by the Hungarian cavalry, the Achaemenid pike lines held firm. Late in the afternoon, Esvios unleashed his own cavalry from a concealed position along a tree line. Hitting the Hungarian rear caused panic in Sultan Diodorus’s ranks and the abandonment of his cannon emplacements. The Achaemenids prevailed with comparatively moderate losses, while the Hungarians sustained heavier casualties in their retreat. More importantly, the way into Pannonia was now open.
Diodorus’ realm was exhausted by the multipronged strikes of the Achaemenids and Bekes was one battle too many for them. Esvios would march on the capital of Pest while smaller armies would capture and occupy the remaining holdouts of the Sultanate. By 1519 AD, the Sultan would offer his unconditional surrender. The Symbalion was in no mood to be gracious in victory despite Kyriake’s chivalric inclinations and enforced humiliating terms on Hungary, carting off any wealth they could carry and claiming all lands south of the Danube. Kyiv was annexed by the Bosporan Kingdom, much to the happiness of Tsar Anselmo Achaemenid. The Bosporans ruled a large realm, but it was poor and sparsely populated. With the integration of Kyiv, they now had enough influence to control the trade across the steppe and build wealth independent of the charity of Achaemedia.
Over the next decade, Hungarian weakness would be preyed upon by the other Christian powers who sought to expand their own domains at the expense of the Muslims. Vesalian, Savia and Austria would all carve out significant chunks of the Sultanate and leave it with just a sliver of its old territories. Achaemenid vengeance had unleashed the wolves and it was expected that Hungary as an idea would disappear in the near future. Fate would have other ideas and we’ll come back to it in the future.
In the meantime, the treasure brought back from Hungary went to the repayment of loans and backpay for the mercenaries after the struggles of the last decade. The empire seemed to be in recovery and there was even more significant news for the dynasty – proof that God truly watched over his chosen nation.
A Heir is Born
The Tsaritsa had never been too affected by her inability to sire an heir but the court and patriarch were growing increasingly concerned about the succession. They had begun to plan for different scenarios including an idea of entering a union with the Bosporan Kingdom if Kyriake or her younger sister, Emiliya failed to provide progeny. Others such as Esvios Achaemenid put forth themselves as an imperial candidate but his claim was ignored as his grandfather was bastard-born by Tsar Dominik’s sister and the church would never accept such an illegitimate bloodline as god’s regent. So a miracle came to pass and the prayers of all were answered when Emiliya became pregnant at 47. The infant girl was christened Darya Achaemenid, at the expense of her father’s family name. Named crown-princess by Patriarch Denuos, Darya’s name was symbolic – a female adaptation of the famous Darius of heroic times – and soon became a darling of the court, fawned after and adored. Kyriake herself paid little attention to the girl but Tsar-Consort Manuchehr would take on a father figure role and oversaw the child’s education.
Manuchehr himself had begun to assert himself more strongly within the court. Once assumed to be a princely fop, the man had taken the initiative to attend to the Symbalion councils on behalf of Kyriake while she was off hunting or enjoying a play. His father offered advice from across the Bosphorus as the consort became de facto commander of the empire, especially after Mihail Krum passed on in 1520 AD. One of his immediate decisions was the integration of cannon technology into the military strategems of the imperial Karas. Though their skill and ability with gunpowder was still in its infancy, Manuchehr had at least started the work – just in time for the coming storm.
The Turks Cross the Bosphorus
While the empire caught its breath after its exertions, the tiger of the east grew restive and seized the opportunity. Both Achaemenid dynasties in Achaemedia and Zapozhia had lost many soldiers in the war against Hungary. The ghazis who had been seconded to Kyriake were intensely questioned by the Ottomans as they returned to their homelands through Anatolia. The Sultan Iollas II was eager to understand Achaemenid doctrine and military preparedness as he sought to strike while the iron was hot. The Ottomans declared war on the Bosporan Kingdom in 1521 AD and Kyriake was honour bound to defend her ally and blood-relative, Anselmo, against the Ottomans. The careful alliance network set up by Tsaritsa Artanis failed as Jerusalem and Eranshahr rejected coming to aid the Achaemenids in their moment of need, refusing on religious and diplomatic technicalities as they had no treaty with the Bosporans who were being attacked, only with Achaemedia.
The Ottomans marched on Nicaea and Kyriake commanded the Eastern Kara to defend her vassal and father-in-law, Konstantin Rhangabe. The Battle of Nicaea was a disaster as Strategos Mehrab Trichinopodes was outsmarted by the cunning Sultan. Of the 50,000 Achaemenid soldiers who crossed the Bosphorus, only half made it back to Achaemedia, spreading panic and rumour of the invincible Turk marching to destroy Achaemedia.
The morale-shattering defeat shook the strategoi ranks and they debated how to defeat a foe who boasted similar military strength to the empire and marched with indefatigable belief in their faith. The Achaemenids had seemingly forgotten how to fight an evenly matched foe. Nicaea fell quickly to siege and Manuchehr was horrified to hear of the capture and imprisonment of his father. At sea, the much-vaunted Achaemenid fleet was brushed aside as Iollas had built up his naval forces in secret and blockaded the Dardanelles to completely cut off Nicaea.
Now, the red apple of Achaemedia was in the Sultan’s reach and he sought to completes the ancient prophecy foretold by the prophet. The city that the prophet’s children had captured once, was now going to be home to the next great Islamic empire again. All of Islam supported the cause, sending ghazi warriors to join the righteous war or sending shipments of gold to aid the effort. The Doom of Achaemedia was at hand as cannons began bombarding the Darian walls built more than 1,000 years ago.
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