Crescent and the Cross- Kingdom of Jerusalem AAR

[Morath]

Note: This is my First time writing an AAR so I'll give a brief description of the events that lead up to this. I am playing with 2 friends, one as the Byzantine Empire, and once as Venice while I played as The Knights. Our main goal was to push back the Ottoman Empire and retake the Eastern Roman Empire for Byzantine. During this time we thought it would be fun to see if it was possible to Form the Kingdom of Jerusalem in EU4 so we went for it and thus this AAR is born. Now we only play a few times a week so if anyone even reads this be aware that it will be slow to update for this reason but I hope you all enjoy it.





A World in Chaos

The time is July 2nd 1497. After years of struggle with the Ottoman Empire, Byzantine has come back from the bring. The Glorious Knights of Saint John have fought bravely honoring their oath to the Emperor. Many years ago the first GrandMaster of the Knights Hospitaller swore an Oath to defend the Empire in exchange for aid in retaking the Holy Land.

After a secret meeting took place between the Ambassadors of the Byzantine Empire, the Knights of Rhodes and Venice a pact was agreed upon pledging military and financial aid to each other in exchange for future aid in conquests. It all started with the Armies of Venice and the Knights coming to the aid of Byzantium and pushing back the Ottoman Turks. Many great battles were fought during this time and countless dead littler the fields of battle. After many years the combined forces of the Pact were able to push the Ottoman Turks out of the Greek and Balkan territories and push them out of Europe for good, the combined fleet making sure they never again crossed into it.

It was during this time that the brave Knights of Rhodes decided it was time to retake the holy land from the Mamluk Sultanate. After the Mamluk's were weakened by their wars with Iraq and Persia it was determined that now was the time to strike and retake the Holy City of Jerusalem.

The Combined Fleet headed for the Palestinian Coast and prepared to launch their Invasion. During this time the Mighty Mamluk fleet was destroyed in the Gulf of Cyprus losing 31 ships after fighting our fleet of 64. With all enemy naval forces out of the way the Knights lead the way and stormed the beaches taking the Province of Judea and with it Recapturing the Holy city for all Christendom.

With the Province firmly secured from peace Negotiations with the Mamluk Sultanate, it was time to Reestablish the Kingdom of Jerusalem and fulfill the promise the Knights made to god.

After a few months affirming our power in the Province, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was finally Established as a Sovereign power once more under the leadership of King Conrad IV.

 

[Morath]

A Kingdom Rising

The first weeks of the new kingdom were filled with much uncertainty and trifle. After leading the Crusade to free the holy city of Jerusalem and helping create the kingdom itself, the Knights of Rhodes found themselves at odds with the new King Conrad IV.

The newest leader of the Knights of Rhodes, Grand Master Antonious the first demanded high position in the new court of Jerusalem. This did not sit well with King Conrad the IV and after an intense argument he banished the Grand master from court and with that all the knights that swore an oath to Antonious left with him back to their home.





With the loss of such an ally King Conrad IV has to look elsewhere for aid before the Mamluk Sultanate could recover and attempt to retake the holy city. The king called for the Venetian and Byzantium diplomats as they had been fundamental if the Crusade to free the holy land. After several days of negotiations it was decided Military alliances would be agreed upon under the following conditions.

-Byzantium pledges military aid in return for a Royal Marriage between themselves and the Kingdom of Jerusalem
-The Kingdom of Jerusalem pledges to hand the province of Aleppo over to the Byzantine Empire and aid in the destruction of the Ottoman Empire.
-Venice Pledges military aid in return for aid in their own military campaigns throughout Italy
- The Kingdom of Jerusalem pledges to hand the Province of Alexandria over to the Venetian's.

Under these terms King Conrad IV accepted and an alliance was formed between the three nations.

It was also during this time that many great men from across Europe fleeing from the terror of the Protestant Reformation came to the Holy land in search of a new home. As a result many great minds aided the new kingdom and it started to advance very quickly.

With the help of these new ideas, the formation of the Holy Army of Jerusalem began. A great military general who had previously distinguished himself in the Byzantine war against the Ottoman Empire was chosen to lead the new force and training of new soldiers was underway.

While the Kingdom was still relativly weak on the world stage, its nobles decided to press King Conrad IV for more privileges in the new territories.

Remembering the history of the kingdom come and gone, King Conrad IV decided it was in the kingdoms best interest to deny the Noble lords any special treatment and power.



With the threat of a Noble uprising handled the king decided to turn his attention to the first of the terms of the treaty signed with the Byzantine Empire and Venice. A Royal Marriage was declared the following day.

Several weeks had passed since the King secured his future with the Byzantines and the first 10,000 soldiers had set sail for the holy land to aid the Kingdom. The king not wanting to look weak to his ally decided to press the Army of Jerusalem into finishing its training before the Byzantine Army arrived. After a week had passed the Army of Jerusalem was ready for war.

Whilst the newly created Army paraded through the streets of Jerusalem to show off the might of the Kingdom, an enemy Agent working for the Mamluks was captured. As news of this reached the king war clouds seemed to be rising over the holy land.

 

[Morath]

War in the Holy Land

4th August 1504, A great day of joyous occasion. King Conrad IV celebrated the birth of his new heir, Godfrey. The whole of Christendom celebrated this occasion and viewed the birth as a sign from god that the cause of the crusade against the Mamluk's was true and just.

During the ensuing chaos in the region after the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem many people looked to the Religious leaders for aid. With the Catholic church firmly in place once more in the city of Jerusalem they looked to establish a hold on the people and began a campaign of charitable works to bring the people together under the banner of Christ.

A month after the church was able to bring order and stability to the Kingdom, King Conrad IV received news that his ally the Byzantine Emperor had declared a war against his arch rival the Ottoman Empire. Looking to prove the power of his newly established Army, King Conrad sent 5,000 men to aid in the war against the Ottoman Empire in hopes of bringing more military support from the Byzantines later on for his war against the Mamluks.

Whilst the Army was in Turkey fighting along side their allies against the Ottoman Empire, King Conrad IV enacted Unam Sanctam to further show his kingdoms unyielding support for the Pope and all Christendom. All the Religious leaders of the kingdom were overjoyed by this show of faith and a great cheer could be heard throughout the kingdom as people rejoiced. The Pope himself is said to have shed tears of joy over the event.

As Agents of the Mamluk Sultanate were discovered ever more throughout the kingdom, it seems as war was inevitable. As King Conrad IV prepared for the campaign word reached him from the freshly arrived ambassador of Ethiopia that the king there wished to enter an alliance and royal marriage. After careful consideration King Conrad IV agreed to enter into such an alliance to raise his position of power against the Mamluks in the upcoming war.

 

[Belgiumruler]

following

 

[Inkshootr]

Is this a mod? I wasn't aware that you could form the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Do you have to be a theocracy to do it?

 

[Dingan]

Is this a mod? I wasn't aware that you could form the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Do you have to be a theocracy to do it?

You can form it but it's released as an independent country. After this was done my guess is that they saved the game and quit, restarted, and instead of choosing the knights he chose to play as Jerusalem.

 

[Morath]

Yes as the knights I had an option to form the Kingdom and then we saved and quit and I started as them. I think you have to form the Kingdom before the Protestant Reformation tho or the option will go away and you can never form the Kingdom of Jerusalem after that.

 

[Ashantai]

Quite true.

Great choice of country, very unique! Good luck!

 

[Deaghaidh]

Personally, I might have just stayed the Knights and moved my capitol to Jerusalem. Still, nice to see how things unfold.

For our enlightenment, are there any special ideas or decisions for the KoJ?

 

[ATBKING]

I will follow this. I look forward to more!!

 

[Morath]

The Crusade Begins

14th August 1515, King Conrad IV and his allies had received word that a Mamluk army of 18,000 was on the move to attack the Kingdom and reclaim Jerusalem for themselves. With this threat in mind King Conrad IV decided to launch a bold first strike before the enemy reached Jerusalem as his allies were still sailing towards the Holy Land from Europe. He sent word to General Baldwin de Luynes, Commander of the Army of Jerusalem to launch an attack on the province of Sidon in hopes of forcing the Mamluk army north away from the Kingdom of Jerusalem and to buy enough time for their allies the Venetians and Byzantines to land their armies.

The Army of Jerusalem began its assault on the province of Sindon just as their scouts detected the large Mamluk force. Word also reached Baldwin de Luynes ear that the Venetian and Byzantium Armies had landed further north and began their march towards the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Unfortunately they were still to far away to reach there in time before the Mamluk army and so after carefully considering all the options Baldwin decided to make a stand in hopes of delaying the Mamluk army long enough for his allies to catch up.

Unfortunately the Mamluk force was so great that they shattered the Army of Jerusalem after only a few hours of battle and chased them all the way to the gates of Jerusalem itself. After making a last valiant stand with his men, General Baldwin de Luynes was wounded and taken into the city with what was left of the Army of Jerusalem who were hastily preparing defenses against the oncoming siege.

Just as all hope seemed lost at the very last moment the Mamluk Army split into 3 groups. 13,000 went north to fight the oncoming Allied Armies while another force of 4,000 went to gather supplies and more troops leaving only 1,000 soldiers to assault the City of Jerusalem.

This was the miracle King Conrad IV had been waiting for. He mustered his new force of 2,000 defenders and launched an assault on the small force left to siege Jerusalem utterly destroying them.

After rallying the troops King Conrad IV ordered the new Army of Jerusalem to assault and capture all border provinces while his allies focused on Mamluk held Egypt. After several long battles and sieges the Army of Jerusalem was able to take and capture several provinces from the Mamluks and the tides of the war began to change.

After several years of war and many victories for the Army of Jerusalem and it's allies, the Mamluks caved and offered terms of surrender. This was truly a glorious day for the Kingdom and all Christendom. The terms were the following.

Terms: The Mamluks will transfer 50% of their Trade power to Jerusalem.
The Mamluks cede the provinces of Sidon, Tarabulus, Negev and Gaza to Jerusalem.
The Mamluks will annul all treaties with Tunisia and Candar.
The Mamluks will release Hedjaz a sovereign state.

With the war over, reconstruction and converting the heretics to the true faith began.

 

[aethel27]

Have fun with rebellions, they always pop up in that part of the world, my byz game had me give up a all of Syria to stop the rebels.

 

[Nikolai]

Loving this. Hope you'll manage to reclaim the Middle East for Christ!

 

[unmerged(530816)]

For our enlightenment, are there any special ideas or decisions for the KoJ?

The NIs are not that great really, you could even say they kinda suck. I was really excited when I started a game with a friend when he was supposed to play as The Papal State, and I starting as France (wanted to have the cosmopolitan culture as primary) were to continue as The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Sure, I'm still gonna play and have fun with it, but I have this feeling that Paradox didn't give their real best when designing Jerusalem. But let's get to the point.

At first there are no visible unique national decisions whatsoever, and I think not one will appear. If its about the NIs:
Preserve our troops: Discipline +5%
Tax Reform: National Tax Modifier +5%
Regulated Contracts: Mercenary cost -10%
Contract law: Global Trade Power +5%
Peasant levy: National Manpower Modifier +5%
Mercantile Status: Trade Steering: +5%
Strenghtening Land Tenure: Production Efficiency: +5%

National Tradition:
Stability Cost Modifier -10%
Advisor Cost -10%

After getting all NIs you get: +10% Tax Modifier

I don't know why but these ideas feel so random, not attached to what I'ld imagine the Kingdom of Jerusalem should be. First of all, no ideas about missionaries quantity or their strength? Come on, I mean for me it's kinda obvious, how are you to expand in the middle of the Middle East without strong missionaries? Also, nothing about religion tolerance etc. Second of all, it's not like i don't like some of these stats (like National Manpower Modifier, Production Efficiency etc.) but +5%? Just wow, amaaazing. This could and should be so much better, and it just seems like Paradox didn't thought it through, or worse, didn't give much thought to it as it isn't and won't be a widely-played country.

I wouldn't want to come out as someone who can only bash others, so I did thought of some ideas of my own.
1. +2% missionary strength, it's easy, we came here to bring the word of little baby Jesus
2. +15% national manpower, people come from the whole europe in order to spread the true faith, redemption... and some moneyy.
3. let's say -15% cavalery cost, as nobles from all over europe come over in order to gain titles, treasures and land. make a name of their own.
4. the trade NIs are cool, as although we mostly fight arabs, when money comes in (in this situation from trade, Jerusalem would be the christian link for all of dem spices, coffee, tea etc) on the other hand the production efficency idea is kinda random imho
5. +1 prestige, I mean, we're the Kingdom of Jerusalem we hold the sacred lands and stuff
6. the tax modifier ideas are nice, you end up with 15% after getting everything, let's be honest, we're no saints, we can squeeze some juice out of those muslim peasants.

As for the unique decisions/missions, reconquesting the lost crusader's lands like Antioch, Edessa seems obvious, maybe some missions for christianizing the Eastern Mediterranean coast etc.

 

[Captain_Crunch]

Very interesting AAR you got here! As a fellow crusader who retook Judea as the knights I support your struggle!

 

[LordSolar]

those ideas are just the generic national ideas

 

[kykinson]

Very interesting AAR I will be following it!

 

[Nikolai]

Last post from the author was almost exactly a month ago, and last activity shortly after that, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[unmerged(530816)]

Yeah, you're right, I got way too worked up about this. Sorry, I guess. Still, I think a country as unique as Jerusalem deserves some unique ideas/decisions/missions.