5 years of Caliphate

[KaRei]

Caliphate, 1466 - 1474

The abnormal AI activity after load of game is killing me. Only two days after the start Qara Koyunlu declared war upon our eastern neighbor. This time it's not Timurid Empire, but Uzbek Khaganate.
I have enough of my own work at home, so although I "officially" joined the war, I left it solely on Qara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu. In alliance with Uzbek Khaganate is Nogain and Golden Horde. Soon we discovered fourth member of alliance, Kazan.

Qara Koyunlu with more than 30k army entered Tabaristan - a province because of which I have no rest. Ak Koyunlu is splitting it's powers and helps Qara Koyunlu in Tabaristan and also disturbs Golden Horde to the north.

In this time Imams are finishing their teaching of Quran in Basrah and to be prepared on their possible failure I place there my army. After I left the borders, a major force of Uzbek Khaganate arrived to Tabaristan and chased Qara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu away. Subsequent reinforcements raised their numbers to 60k!
Basrah accepted Sunni Islam and I returned my army back to borders. The colossal army in Tabaristan is not a cup of my tea. Because I have mainly cavalry in the army I rather select plains of Ahwaz over hills of Hamadan. In a case the Uzbeks would move south to Kaliphate, with a luck I would be able inflict more damage to them on open terrain, although still it would be a massacre.

It was however luck for me that Uzbecks targeted the one who attacked them. And a luck for Qara Koyunlu that Ak Koyunlu came in time to help them in Tabriz.
Together they again returned to Tabaristan. Uzbeks made several unsuccessful attempts to relieve Tabaristan from the siege and when they saw the situation hopeless, they sued for peace.

I was in the meantime building tax collectors in Basrah and Hamadan, and persuading Ahwaz about the right path of Sunni Islam. I also founded one more trading post. Oman was so kind that they annihilated all the natives from Massawa, that I couldn't leave the province without any population.
I colonized it as soon as possible before Oman would expand there by itself.
Oman army then left to Keren, where they met another natives. It so happened, that the natives from Massawa were like their brothers, and so Keren's natives then did to Oman troops the same what Oman did to their neighbors. Poor Oman army. I hoped they would clean for me another province I could then easily grab...

Not long after that my mood was improved by a peace with Golden Horde.

Then came time for reforms. Over the decades I managed to orientate our army slightly more on quality than quantity, and with fall of Timurid Empire was further army improvements not that much important.
This time I took a slider of trade by one step to Free Trade.

After Uzbek Khaganate and Golden Horde subscribed peace, we lost access to Kazan and Nogai, and the war was supposed to fade out over time.

In Kaliphate some people probably noticed, that during my administration our inflation reached enormous heights. The event "Poor Government Policies" really hit the spot.

Conversion of Ahwaz ended successfully too, although the predictions were just 27%.
I started conversions of Damman and Hamadan before building the fortifications there. I wanted to convert them as soon as possible to increase the income.

In 1472 the inflation reached 34%, on the other side the expansion that consumed so much money and raised our inflation increased our income 3x-4x.
Basrah and Ahwaz are already converted to Sunni and both are fortified.
In Hamadan and Damman is conversion already in progress and cash reserves should be able to cover a second missionary in Hamadan if needed.
After long years of minting I am slowing down and technology reasearch see again some gold from the budget.

With Oman we had some quarrels about the boundaries between Qatar and Al Kharam, but it did not have some severe impact, except that some people sensed the tension and didn't feel too much comfortable.

Damman successfully converted and only Hamadan was remaining. I was saying to myself that I should already move the army to Hamadan to wait there on the result of conversion, but somehow I forgot to send comands.
In April 1474 nobles asked again for some rights above cities. As earlier their demands were refused. This time it was however not Ahwaz, but Hamadan, who showed it's displeasure with the decision. Only few months before Imams would finish their conversion of Hamadan, the Shiite nobles overtook the city and chased the Imams away. I recalled the army into Iraq, where I waited on the rebells. They were crushed without some larger problems and order in Hamadan restored. But conversion of Hamadan was lost only because of missing fortifications and a delayed order for the army.

Money that was supposed to cover possible 2nd missionary in Hamadan were spent in relation improvements with Hedjaz and with Qara Koyunlu. I wanted try vassalize the Hedjaz, but they refused. Improvement with Qara Koyunlu was for the purpose of their annexation.

Now I'll hopefully have a rest from the east, since warlike Qara Koyunlu is pacified...

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Good progress on the conversions and nice work handling the wars. That inflation though, it is looknig pretty bad.

 

[unmerged(144242)]

It's nice that the annexation succeeded, though now your country has become the road to battle for countries on both sides that go to war with each other. It's no longer possible to join a war and sit back like you did with the last one.

Will you be punishing Oman for that border dispute or do you want to keep them stronger so they'll attempt to expamd to Africa some more (and clear the coastline for you/produce colonies that you can conquer in future wars)?

 

[KaRei]

It's nice that the annexation succeeded, though now your country has become the road to battle for countries on both sides that go to war with each other. It's no longer possible to join a war and sit back like you did with the last one.

Annexation of Qara Koyunlu was a step to ensure peace. They were provoking Uzbek Khaganate too much and at any moment the Uzbek armies were able turn to the south. The last war was a bit of luck that Khaganate targeted just on Qara Koyunlu. Next time it may not be that easy. So Qara Koyunlu had to be pacified.

With Uzbek Khaganate I am maintaining relatively good relations through royal marriages. So I am not much afraid from the war from Uzbek side. Also my allies are now cut off from Uzbeks so there is a very little chance they would declar war upon the Khaganate. Worse it would be if Ak Koyunlu would attack Golden Horde to the north, who are allied with Uzbek. Then would begin a real test of power. But I think that relations between Golden Horde and Ak Koyunlu are similar as between me and Uzbek Khaganate. So the area seems to be quite safe

Will you be punishing Oman for that border dispute or do you want to keep them stronger so they'll attempt to expamd to Africa some more (and clear the coastline for you/produce colonies that you can conquer in future wars)?

For now they serve their purpose of territory cleaners

 

[Xrybnix]

It is about time to try and take the trade center in isfahan

 

[KaRei]

Ah, that's so tempting....

Timurid Empire is divided into three parts and they have problems in getting troops from one part into another. More importantly the Empire is ruled completely by rebels. Every few years I see a message that rebels successfully broke the government there. Timurids don't have time to build troops before new wave of rebellions arise.
Isfahan, Hormuz and Fars are making one of the three parts. It would be quite easy to take them since Timurids are de-facto without troops. And then I could just wait until rebels take the remaining provinces and whole the section could be mine...

In the beginning of the game I however decided that I'll try to play the Caliphate as it would be the holy representative of Islam, i.e. respecting Islamic rules in the game as much as possible.
This means I can't declare war so easily. There must be some defensive pretext for it, like in case of Oman I declared war upon them as a help to Aden against oppressors.
And when I am at war, I should accept peace as soon as the other side wants end the war, and not stay at war longer than really necessary.

 

[KaRei]

Caliphate, 1474 - 1485

When Qara Koyunlu accepted to join our realm, their vast forces in Tabriz came under my control. The total army was now above 50 thousand, exceeding our granary capacities by a lot. Buying grain from neighbors would be very costly and so the court decided to release 17k men from service, leaving only as many as we can feed.
It did not take long and Ak Koyunlu entered war with Georgia.

Ak Koyunlu immediately entered Georgian territory with 17k men, but during crossing of the borders from Armenia, Georgian forces invaded neighboring Daghestan. As I wanted at first keep that war on Ak Koyunlu and not investigate much in it, 20k Christians in arms in Daghestan could be a bit problematic for the fluency of the war. I persuaded Caliph that we should help Ak Koyunlu in securing their own territory.
All our forces, counting 28 thousand men, left Baghdad and was marching through Kirkuk and Azerbaidjan, supportend with 10 thousand cavalry on wings.
It was end of the year and it played greatly in our favour. Georgian troops suffered heavy losses due starvation, and the remaining were crushed by us.

Current situation of Georgia was not very optimistic. Azow was under control of Veneto, Antalya under Magyar and capital besieged by Ak Koyunlu. I decided to enter Sochi and lay there siege while Ak Koyunlu is occupied by besieging Georgia. For this was 10k men of foot separated from the main army, while the remaining forces returned home.

After Ak Koyunlu finished Georgian capital, they joined our siege and retook the command over it. So I kept there only a little cover to gain VPs for the siege and the rest I returned to Iraq, saving them from starvation.
In May 1476 came a hard blow for Ahwaz. A plague spread there and many died. This remembered us the path that may be easily lost by greed. Soon after we sent a delegation to Georgia with offer of peace, taking only some cash as indemnities.
After that followed several years of peace, during which we sold some offices to get money...

... centralizes a bit the government ...

... and saw an end of one old feud between two families, which forced us to take a loan to cover the expenses for a gift for them.

In the beginning of 1481 I sent a gift to Hedjaz to improve our relations, and in February offered them to come under governance of Caliph. They accepted and Caliph's influence thus expanded also over Mekkah and Medina, although indirectly for now.

In the second half of the year Ak Koyunlu declared another war upon Georgia. It was still in war against Veneto, who was now besieging their capital. I used only one thousand men there to get VPs from siege, but not lost many men. After Veneto conquered Georgia, they subscribed peace and Azow was permanently lost for Georgian people.
Georgia thus came under our cover and we remained in command of the siege even after Ottoman Empire came there to take a bit of the Georgian cake too. To secure the siege I sent there another 4k men.

During the war some enthusiasts in Qatar rebuilt their trade ships into war ships - Caliphates first fleet.
Shiites in Isfahan and Fars declared independence on Timurid Empire, and called themselves a Persia.
And in 1484 a new feud between noble families started. Although Caliph wanted settle the issue between them, it was a month before our repayment of our debt to Bank and we could not afford go below 200$. Not likely, we had to let them fight it out.

In July of 1484 Georgia signed another peace with their enemis, lossing Antalya to Hungary. That province was hardly accessible for us and reduction of Georgia just on Sochi and their capital was secretly welcomed.
In December we conquered also Sochi and with Caliph's banner risen over both Georgian provinces it was easy to persuade them to accept our governance. Their religion will be respected by the Islamic law and they will be governed with kindness. They must only pay a tax.

Despite several attempts to incorporate Georgia into the alliance and secure thus its safety against other countries, Georgia remains just as our vassal. I'll have to declare a protection over them by more expensive way - grant them independence against other countries.
Who on the other side accepted our proposal to join the alliance was Baluchistan.

 

[unmerged(45368)]

very nice update! I just caught up with this AAR and really am impressed with the progress you made so far, having 3 vassals and controlling the lion's share of the arabian peninsula. However, your alliance is somewhat squeezed between the Ottomans and the Uzbek Horde, which look pretty tough as well... hope you can manage! Definitely will watch this AAR

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Good to see Arabia coming under your hegemony. How long until you break the alliance with Ak Koyunlu and declare war on them?

 

[Xrybnix]

Nice update, keep them coming.

 

[unmerged(144242)]

Good to see Arabia coming under your hegemony. How long until you break the alliance with Ak Koyunlu and declare war on them?

He won't probably, he's not just playing an AAR, he's roleplaying one along the lines of 'benevolent muslim rule' (and that's not sarcasm). So he probably won't DoW another muslim country just for more power.

 

[KaRei]

Caliphate, 1485 - 1496

After I vassalised Georgia, I was thinking about bringing it under our protection. But it's situation was after peace with us still uncertain, even if we would grant them independence. Georgia was still in war with Ottoman Empire and Crimea, who after department of Caliphate's armies put the Georgian cities under another siege. At this moment I regretted that I did not wait, keeping the war opened and protecting the Georgian provinces by Caliphate's occupation. Ottoman Empire would soon become bored by waiting and would sign a White peace with Georgia. But now... I had just to look how the little country is overrun by turks. When ottoman Empire ended with it's run, it signed with Georgia a separate peace, demanding Sochi as a tribute. Georgian capital remained just on its own and still in war against Crimea. When voice of cannons sounded for the third time over the Caucasian mountains, the city was more dead than alive. That was end of Georgian realm - separated now among three countries - Genoa, Ottoman Empire and Crimea.

In the end of the year the Uzbek Khaganate got once again a taste on some piece of Timurid Empire. Once a powerful and large realm, now ruins where everybody wants take a bit of the remnants. Pressure on Timurid Empire attracted Baluchistan, our newest ally, to join the lust. "One more war on the east," I sighted.
I sent our fleet out of the port to guard Strait of Hormuz against Gujarat, a Timurid ally. Many sea battles was fought there with various successes. ONe victory for Caliphate, another for Gujarat. When we brought new galleys from Basrah, Gujarat brought support from Kutch. When we came with more ships able to fight, Gujarat sent there some transports that distracted us from more valuable targets.
When we managed to secure the strait firmly, the war between Uzbek and Timurid was over.
Baluchistan controlled Qandahar and Kabul, but our doubtful successes on sea against Gujarat was making almost any peace for Timurid Empire unacceptable. We neede to get to Timurid capital with our forces to persuade their ruler about useless continuation of the war. But Samarkand is separated from us as well as from Baluchistan. Uzbek Khaganate and Nogai refused grant us military access, only in Transoxania they were more opened.
10k troops - 5k infantry and 5 cavalry - was separated from main army in Iraq and marched along the coast to Qatar, where Our fleet was guarding the strait. Because of insufficient fleet capacity the army had to be transported by halves. They unloaded in Baluchistan.

From there the army continued through Qandahar to Kabul, where a little enemy force of 3k was disturbing. What a surprise however that the little force repelled our 10k army!
Nevertheless the ruler of Timurid Empire was getting exhausted and send an emissary with a peace proposal. No gold, no territory, just a calm of weapons. Caliph agreed. There was no need to continue in this nonsense war. It took 4 years to come to this agreement.
Our troops were transported back, where the border regions with Uzbek Khaganate was beginning to shave in fear because of one little village in the midway beween Tabriz and Tabaristan.

It was a little village in the hills. No proper road lead there. Long time ago that village was tributary to Qara Koyunlu, and so because Qara Koyunlu territories were absorbed by Caliphate, the village was of course supposed to belong to Caliphate. Who knows how it happened that it was paying tax to Uzbek Khaganate. A dispute about this little village shook drastically with our relations with our eastern neighbors.

Solution of a sudden danger from Uzbek Khaganate had to wait however, because surprisingly not long after we returned from Baluchistan, the Aden decided lead a war against Persia. That country was formed by rebelling coastal provinces of Timurid Empire - Isfahan and Hormuz. They were separated by Fars, which until the last war with Uzbek Khaganate remained loyal to Timurid Empire. Now it was subject to Uzbek.
Our ally Ak Koyunlu is relatively often refusing participation in any of our wars. They require help when it is in their own interests, but when an ally asks for help, they show their back. Caliph did not know about this their habit, because I always sent a diplomat that persuaded them to join the alliance back. So in the end they were always, or in most case on our side. All good diplomats was now however abroad and I had to wait when some will appear.
In the meantime Caliph decided to solve the war with Persian quickly. Whole Iraq army has been sent to Isfahan.

When Isfahan came under siege, the force has been split and the second half was supposed to travel by sea to Hormuz. But in the moment when I was giving orders for army and fleet to messenger, a man ran into my office, hardly catching his breath.
"Honorable lord," he said, "the Ak Koyunlu... they..."
"They what?" I asked.
The man took a cup of water I had on my table and drunk it. Then he said: "...they are on borders preparing for attack."
"WHAT?" I did not believed.
"Ak Koyunlu declared war upon us," the man said what I would never expect.
It was not more than just few months after they dishonored our alliance. I was only afraid that they may join somebody else, like Golden horde or Ottoman Empire, and that we would thus lost a possible ally, but war against them?

Immediately we hurried to Caliph. There we told him everything. He too was surprised about their turn. He was silent for a moment, but then he said: "Traitors! Show them how treachery is rewarded!"

On the yard I was then giving commands: "Messengers to Aden and The Hedjaz, ask them for help. Inform Baluchistan that we won't arrive and that Hormuz is just on them. Regiment from Ahwaz must return to Baghdad immediately! And to all provinces - recruit as many soldiers as they can!"

That was the plan. Absolute mobilization. 15k men in Isfahan had to be kept there, because that was the only front which was now secured. To train the other forces I had to take a loan of 400$. I begin minting because I will need later the money pay back to bank.

November 3, 1489 - Ahwaz regiment is entering Hamadan on their way to Iraq, while Ak Koyunlu forces are crossing the borders.

November 23, 1489 - The capital is besieged by Ak Koyunlu and Ahwaz regiment failed to relieve us from the siege. Cannons damaged northern part of the palace.

January 30, 1490 - After two months without sleep, listening just to sound of fire against Baghdad's walls, the Ahwaz regiment returned and chased Ak Koyunlu away.

The recruitment now ended and we are able give those traitors a lesson. Kirkuk is heavily defended, so instead of risking heavy losses I am sending the troops around - through Hamadan and Tabriz to Azerbaidan.

The Hedjaz attacked Kirkuk when we was on march and chased the Ak Koyunlu more to north. We met the refugees in Azerbaidan and sent them even more into their territory without many losses. There I split the force, sending the second half to besiege Nuyssaybin.
In August 1490 the Isfahan was finally taken and a peace with Persia was signed, they paying some gold. I could use now the southern army to besiege Daghestan. 4 of 6 provinces are now under siege. Ak Koyunlu army stays all the time in Kurdistan and does not even try to break the sieges.

The Hedjaz conquered Kirkuk and Ak Koyunlu offers peace. They offer 24$. When Caliph read the message with proposal, he burned it above the candle in front of the eyes of Ak Koyunlu's diplomat.
"Tell Your lord, that His proposal was burned as he burned our trust in His loyalty to alliance," the Caliph said.

One by one the provinces are taken over, until in September 1492 only Kurdistan remains.

It took 3 attempts to break the defense there and besiege the city. 16k of fleeing Ak Koyunlu's forces placed then themselves in Armenia and tried to get that province back. I had just 20k in Kurdistan, not enough to split and attack with half against the more numbered enemy hiding in mountains. I hoped that we will break walls of Kurdistan earlier than Ak Koyunlu in Armenia, and that after that I would be able send all 20k men against them. Ak Koyunlu took Armenia 14 days earlier however than Kurdistan capitulated. I moved the force north and crushed Ak Koyunlu army below 10k, so their number was not sufficient to besiege any of their city. But for me it meant one more long siege.
It took 4 years since our first attempt to break the defense in Kurdistan to our final victory. Ak Koyunlu was then vassalised.

We minted during the time enough money to pay back the loans, and we used something extra to send a large state gift to Uzbek Khaganate to improve the relations again.
When we was ending war with Ak Koyunlu, one of the Uzbek allies went into war in far east (Shagatai Khanate against Tibet). This war did not find a support in her alliance and it fragmented. I did not wait long and immediately sent a diplomat to Uzbek with invitation to "our" alliance. Thanks to Allah and the gift we sent earlier the Uzbek Khaganate agreed and our alliance reached its highest extend it had so far.

 

[KaRei]

I added the pictures to my yesterday's entry. So enjoy

 

[unmerged(144242)]

Man what a rollercoaster! Some silly war, a petty war and a war of vengeance!

Ak Koyunlu should pay for it's arrogance with a future annexation.

 

[Xrybnix]

The Caliph is surely minting a lot of money.
I wonder whether that will haunt him some day when people start to lose faith in the currency.

 

[KaRei]

The Caliph is surely minting a lot of money.
I wonder whether that will haunt him some day when people start to lose faith in the currency.

Me too :rofl:

I agree that I am minting quite a lot. Probably most of the situations could be handled without the loans. I must learn again how to play Eu2

But 40% of total inflation after 100 years? That wouldn't be that bad in real life

 

[unmerged(45368)]

Nice update. You sure teached those Aks a lesson! How did you do that so totally? Probably some sufficient minting? I never try to get loans myself (I simply hate loans) but it sure is a good option when playing a minor country (if I can still count your Caliphate as a minor). But perhaps you could've survived the Ak Koyunlu with a little less minting. Then again, its always a balance in how much you mint. Anyway, enjoy having the Aks as vassals because it sure looks cool

So, your latest diplomap looks very peaceful! Any new enemies in mind? perhaps Persia or the Mameluks?
Good luck

 

[KaRei]

Nice update. You sure teached those Aks a lesson! How did you do that so totally? Probably some sufficient minting?

You would wonder how Muslims fight when they fight for the right thing

Well, from the loans I built 20k new troops. A great help in the war was then Ak Koyunlu's passivity. When The Hedjaz chased them from Kirkuk, and I subsequently from Azerbajdan, they stationed in Kurdistan for the rest of war. I had enough troops to besiege 3 provinces with "Small" fortress, which means half of Ak Koyunlu's territory.
Ak Koyunlu made a fatal mistake that during the sieges she not even tried to attack my troops. As you can see on the screenshot, Ak Koyunlu has 30k men available, while I am scattered around her territory (armies about 10k each). You can imagine that it was very easy for Ak Koyunlu to stop my progress if she would try.
Who knows why the army stayed all the war just in Kurdistan...
Thanks to this I did not build any other reinforcements during the war. I was minting just to be able pay back the loans and not go bankrupt.