Part 1: The Dilemma of Kilij Arslan
Nikea, 15 September, 1087
Ahmad hurried through the corridors of the palace, eager to be the first to break the news: bearers of good news were often rewarded handsomely by the Sultan. Kilij Arslan looked up from the document he was studying as his Visier entered: "What do you have to report?"
"Excellent news, my liege, the enemy forces have been scattered and their leaders captured: I fancy that there will be no more trouble from the Kayseri Greeks."
To Ahmad's surprise Kilij frowned in mock puzzlement. "Tell me, Ahmad, are we engaged in war with a foreign lord?"
Ahmad was taken aback: "Uhm...no, sire"
"And is one of my warlords trying to sieze the throne?"
"No, my Lord"
The mock puzzlement gave way to anger:"Then why am I fighting a war, Ahmad? Why am I losing men every day at the hands of the Greeks?"
"Sultan, do not dispair, the Greeks will come to accept your rule in time, and the rebellions will cease, just as the Persians have accepted your kinsmen as their rightful lords."
"Oh, I have no doubt that we will win, Ahmad, but at what cost? As I commit scarce resources to fighting my internal war the Rhomanians on one side and the Syrians on the other are plotting my downfall. No, we need internal peace. I want you to have this translated into the language of the Greeks and distributed."
Ahmad took the document and began to read, his frown deepening: "...general amnesty...religious freedom...lands will be granted to their rightful owners provided they recognise the Sultan as their lord...sire, this is not a peace treaty, it is a surrender! What of the rights of your generals? They will not stand for this, they will demand the spoils of war!"
The Sultan's face hardened "You will do as I have commanded! I am not ruling a nation of generals, I am ruling a nation of Greeks, I must build alliances with them if we are not to be brought down by civil war. As for their "rightful spoils", ask this of them: do they wish to rule spoils, or an Empire?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Concordat of Nikea was one of the defining moments of Roman history, and is the reason that Kilij Arslan is often called "the Peacemaker". Granting the displaced Greek nobles substantal land in Anatolia significantly diffused the tension between the Greeks and the Turkish nobility. But it was more than just a temporary measure. Arslan encouraged intermarriage between the two ruling elites, and as a skillful diplomat managed to weave together a functional state from a chaotic and divided land. The strategy of assimilating yourself into the culture of those you have conquered was a tradition going back to Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia, and had been used to great success by Arslan's forefathers after their own conquest of Persia. However, the assimilation did not all go one way, while the ruling elite slowly began to speak Greek, the majority of the Greek nobility had converted to Islam by the end of the century. The Christian commoner majority were granted substansial freedoms (for the period), although they were still required to pay the Jizya they could worship freely and hold many government posts.
The Armenian Partition
With his internal control consolidated, Arslan turned his attention outwards, to the small Kingdom of Cilicia, which had formed from the former Byzantine province of Armenior Inferior in the chaos of the Turkish invasion. Taking advantage of Rhomanian distraction in yet another civil war, and in a rare exampe of co-operation between the fractious Eastern and Western Seljuks, the two sultanates agreed to partition the land between them, with Rum gaining the majority of the land and the Seljuk Empire gaining minor territorial adjustments on its eastern border and rights to the strategic port city of Seleukia. The tiny nation put up little resistance.
Rum after the Armenian Partition
In the space of just 10 years, Kilij Arslan had unified his people and expanded his borders, but the best was next to come. Tune in next week for the conquest of the Queen of Cities!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that's my first entry of my first AAR. I'd appreciate comments, suggestions to improve my writing etc. as I have very little experience.