CatKnight said:
It is an AGCEEP event, causing them to surrender it and become the Hedjaz, thus moving their capital to Mecca.
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It is an AGCEEP event, causing them to surrender it and become the Hedjaz, thus moving their capital to Mecca.
After the end of his war with Crimea, Emperor Ioannes IX Palaiologos began to take notice of the other European powers expansion into the continent of Africa and of this seemingly wealthy land to the far west being called “America” by German geographer Martin Waldseemuller. It turns out that its original discoverer, Christopher Columbus, believed it to actually be India, and thus the string of islands off its cost began to be called the “West Indies.” These West Indies were being rapidly colonized by Spanish conquistadors, explorers in service of the King of Spain. The colonies many founded in this New World brought vast wealth to the Spanish crown. Though Emperor Ioannes wished to taste the wealth of these colonies himself, he knew that with the Spanish in control of the straits of Gibraltar, this was but a dream at the time.
Instead, the Emperor turned his attention towards India. Though densely populated by city states and even some small kingdoms, the Empire would benefit greatly by gaining a foothold there while the rest of Europe was preoccupied with the west. With the capture of lower Egypt, the Empire had gained several important red sea ports from which it could send colonists. Mangalore seemed like a promising target, as it was inhabited only by sparsely organized tribes, and would prove an easy target for a small contingent of soldiers to subdue while colonists were landed. The first attempt to establish a colony in 1523 was met with great hostility from the natives, who butchered the Greek colonists on contact.
The Emperor, seeing that the situation would need to be dealt with more cautiously, chose to simply establish trade with the native tribes for now, and gain their trust before trying to assimilate them. A small group of 10 merchants were sent to Mangalore to establish an Imperial trading post and exchange the valuable Indian Spice for fish and other trade goods. The disorganized tribes, not knowing just how much the Empire was willing to pay for its goods, often had enormous amounts of spice extorted from them for relatively small portions of grain and fish. Indian spice began to flow into the Roman Empire, though slowly at first, the profits were almost immediately noticeable.
This was only the first step in the Emperors plans for India, however. If a more permanent foothold was to be established, the Empire would need to secure a safer rout, either by sea or land, into India. The Roman Empire was not alone in its colonial ambitions for India, however. Portugal had recently conquered the Arabic city state of Ormuz, located on the eastern horn of Arabia, and, using it as a springboard for invasion, conquered the city of Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur, with the support of the Vijayanagara Empire in India. This gave Portugal a firm foothold in India, as apposed the Empires mere trading posts in Mangalore. The Portuguese presence in India was proving to be a serious threat to Imperial interests there, and Logothetes tou Dromou, Marcellinus Sidonius suggested that the Emperor deploy spies in Portuguese Arabia to incite a religious uprising against their Catholic rulers. The Emperor approved of this plan, and the Office of Barbarians set off to incite a rebellion in the populous of Ormuz.
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Mascate, a once prosperous city in south eastern Arabia had been under Portuguese rule for nearly 8 years now. When the Portuguese first came, they disguised themselves as friends, they promised a profitable trade agreement with the Sultan of Ormuz, if he should allow their warships access to his ports. The Sultan, hoping to gain an advantage over his rival city states, foolishly trusted the infidels and allowed them to use his harbors as a staging ground for their invasion of India. When they succeeded, they returned, but this time with soldiers. They betrayed the Sultan, sacked his great capital of Al Kharam, and conquered his realms. Though the people resisted at first, the Portuguese’ advanced weaponry was simply too much for the beleaguered people of Ormuz.
Portuguese rule was harsh, when the Muslim people of Mascate were not being persecuted for their beliefs, they were being forced to hear Catholic sermons aimed at converting them, and they were forced to swear fealty to a foreign King they knew nothing of. King Joao III decreed that the Muslims of Ormuz were to be converted to Catholicism in 1520, out of fear of the Orthodox Romans, and their clear ambitions in India. Joao feared that if the Greeks were to attack his holdings directly, the Muslim populous would support them, knowing of their recent toleration of infidels and heretics. The only way to prevent this, obviously, was to turn the populous into faithful Christians, loyal to his holiness, the Pope.
However, this only served to increase tension among the residence of the colony, as they now were given the simple choice of converting or facing the persecution of the Portuguese Inquisition. All Muslim practices were banned, Mosques were burnt to the ground and Catholic churches erected in their place. Any protests were dealt with harshly, and for a short while, the Muslim population seemed subdued, and ready to except their foreign rulers. A group of men were about to change this however. On a clear spring day in may, the every day activities of the people of Mascate were put on hold, as people gathered at the town square to see the man who was allegedly preaching Jihad against the rulers of Ormuz.
Abdul-Alim stood in the center of the gathering crowd, his voice booming of the light chatter of those gathered around him. He spoke of rebellion against their Portuguese oppressors, he spoke of returning Ormuz to an independent state once more. Though in truth, Abdul was not from Ormuz, he was from Egypt. He was sent by the Roman Emperor to incite a rebellion among the people of Ormuz, in order to disrupt supplies to Portuguese India. Abdul also knew he was not the only one, there were others across the lands of Ormuz preaching the same message he preached now. As the crowd continued to build around him, he knew he would need to make haste, before the Portuguese authorities became aware of this public gathering.
“We must rise up against the infidels that have usurped the throne of our rightful Sultan, Mohammad II. We must restore our great Mosques that the westerners have cruelly burnt, and free ourselves from the rule of the enemies of God! We must restore the true faith to our lands and drive these infidels from our sacred land. Let us free Ormuz together my brothers, let us restore Mohammad II to his rightful throne!” He shouted to the crowd below him. Abdul knew it would not be long now before the Portuguese authorities came, but he was prepared to die a martyr’s death for the Emperors plan to succeed.
After his speaking, Abdul would give aid Muslims who had been injured by the Portuguese Inquisition. His popularity with the people steadily grew as he managed to dodge the Portuguese militia. He would preach in the mornings, and offer medical attention and havens for the injured and faithful. In only a few days his reputation grew immensely, as was the reputation of fellow “profits” in other cities and towns across the former lands of the Sultanate of Ormuz. However, as Abdul was preaching to his ever growing number of followers one morning, his luck at evading the Portuguese authorities finally ran out.
The sound of heavily armored soldiers running down the streets was heard in all directions, as guns were fired in the air in order to disperse the crowds. Abdul stood his ground however, as the Portuguese militiamen surrounded him. The Portuguese wasted no time in bringing him before the Inquisition, which deemed him a heretic, and a threat to the establishment after a short analysis. Abdul -Alim was brought to town square, where he was tied to a stake, as wood was placed around his feet. A priest stepped forward looking up at Abdul. “Please, I implore you, admit to your heresy and your soul will be spared the eternal fires of hell, you shall also be strangled first so that you do not suffer your cremation. God shall forgive you, if only you repent here and now…” the priest said quietly.
Abdul simply stared off into the distance, until the priest finally lowered his head and left him. A crowd had gathered around him, mostly against their will, as the piles of wood under his feet were lit by one of the soldiers. Abdul smiled slightly, knowing that his death would realize the Emperors ambitions, and drive the populous of Ormuz to rebel against their Portuguese rulers. As the flames consumed him and the pain overwhelmed his mind, the people of Mascate watched as their brave martyr was cruelly burned alive, their rage building with each scream that escaped his lips. The scent of rebellion was in the air, and there was little that could be done by the Portuguese to prevent it now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Word reached Emperor Ioannes in April of 1523 that his plot to incite a rebellion in Ormuz had been a success. Starting from the city of Mascate, the revolt quickly spread across the entire region, engulfing the former capital of Al-Kharam. Mohammad II, the former Sultan of Ormuz was called out of exile, and with his aid, central authority was restored to region in the summer of 1524. Portuguese soldiers on Bahrein were stranded without supplies, as the Sultan captured all of the merchant vessels in port when the rebellion broke out, and Portugal’s access to India was greatly strained as a result. This allowed the Empire to expand its power base without interference from the Portuguese, while at the same time weakening their rival for control of India.
With the Portuguese fleet no longer patrolling the Arabian Sea, soldiers were sent to Mangalore, the natives, now more friendly to the Roman presence thanks to the previous trade, were easier to pacify while another attempt at setting up a colony there was made. It was successful, and the colony of Alexandreia was founded in Mangalore. It would eventually grow into prosperous center of trade which would bring much wealth to Empire in later years. Portugal retained Goa for a period, even after the loss of their Arabian territories, and it would compete with Alexandreia for years until its eventual conquest by the Vijayanagara Empire. With his position in India more secure, Emperor Ioannes was free to turn his attention to Europe once more.
The free Sultanate of Ormuz
Until its gradual loss at the hands of the Lombard’s, and Norman’s, to name a few, Italy had been a vital part of the Roman Empire. Though the Eternal City of Rome had no longer been considered the center of the Empire, even before its loss, it still held an important sentimental value for the Roman Empire. After all, it was the city from which the Empire was first born, it was from Rome that the Empire first expanded, and eventually came to dominate almost all of western Europe. The Empire had never given up on Italy, though previous attempts at reconquest had failed miserably.
The Empire was in a far stronger position during the early 16th century, however, than it had been since before the conquests of Justinian, which had exhausted both the army and economy of Rome. Emperor Ioannes felt that a reconquest of Italy was well within their capabilities at that point, and ordered the ageing Ibrahim to make preparations for an invasion of the homeland of their great Empire. Though he was nearly 70 years old at the time, his mind was still as sharp as ever. In 1526, Ibrahim captured the provinces of Kirkuk, and Iraq from the dieing Mughal Empire in only two months. He knew Spain would not be a simple matter by any means, however.
Spain had a strong alliance with Genoa, and the two together had an impressive naval armada. However, the Emperor was persistent and ordered Ibrahim to make plans for an invasion of Apulia. Ibrahim recommended invading Sicily before Italy, stressing the political consequences of an invasion of Italian soil, but the Emperor refused to accept anything but Apulia, and Ibrahim was eventually forced to yield and do his best to bring the Empire an Italian victory. As the preparations for war were being made, Venice suffered a final defeat at the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor, who ended the Venetian Republic as an independent state. Though a vassal of the Eastern Roman Empire, Ioannes cared not enough for the Venetians to risk a war with the western Emperor.
The Roman Empire declared war on Spain on July 25th, 1530. It prove would be another great war of the sea, and the mightiest armada would be the victor.
The Roman Empire before the 1st Spanish War
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I thought you would enjoy some pre-Spanish war information. I didn’t bother to cover the short war with the Mughal Empire as it was horribly uneventful. And yeah, I made the Portuguese Inquisition come into existence about 10 years early.
More soon!
Instead, the Emperor turned his attention towards India. Though densely populated by city states and even some small kingdoms, the Empire would benefit greatly by gaining a foothold there while the rest of Europe was preoccupied with the west. With the capture of lower Egypt, the Empire had gained several important red sea ports from which it could send colonists. Mangalore seemed like a promising target, as it was inhabited only by sparsely organized tribes, and would prove an easy target for a small contingent of soldiers to subdue while colonists were landed. The first attempt to establish a colony in 1523 was met with great hostility from the natives, who butchered the Greek colonists on contact.
The Emperor, seeing that the situation would need to be dealt with more cautiously, chose to simply establish trade with the native tribes for now, and gain their trust before trying to assimilate them. A small group of 10 merchants were sent to Mangalore to establish an Imperial trading post and exchange the valuable Indian Spice for fish and other trade goods. The disorganized tribes, not knowing just how much the Empire was willing to pay for its goods, often had enormous amounts of spice extorted from them for relatively small portions of grain and fish. Indian spice began to flow into the Roman Empire, though slowly at first, the profits were almost immediately noticeable.
This was only the first step in the Emperors plans for India, however. If a more permanent foothold was to be established, the Empire would need to secure a safer rout, either by sea or land, into India. The Roman Empire was not alone in its colonial ambitions for India, however. Portugal had recently conquered the Arabic city state of Ormuz, located on the eastern horn of Arabia, and, using it as a springboard for invasion, conquered the city of Goa from the Sultan of Bijapur, with the support of the Vijayanagara Empire in India. This gave Portugal a firm foothold in India, as apposed the Empires mere trading posts in Mangalore. The Portuguese presence in India was proving to be a serious threat to Imperial interests there, and Logothetes tou Dromou, Marcellinus Sidonius suggested that the Emperor deploy spies in Portuguese Arabia to incite a religious uprising against their Catholic rulers. The Emperor approved of this plan, and the Office of Barbarians set off to incite a rebellion in the populous of Ormuz.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mascate, a once prosperous city in south eastern Arabia had been under Portuguese rule for nearly 8 years now. When the Portuguese first came, they disguised themselves as friends, they promised a profitable trade agreement with the Sultan of Ormuz, if he should allow their warships access to his ports. The Sultan, hoping to gain an advantage over his rival city states, foolishly trusted the infidels and allowed them to use his harbors as a staging ground for their invasion of India. When they succeeded, they returned, but this time with soldiers. They betrayed the Sultan, sacked his great capital of Al Kharam, and conquered his realms. Though the people resisted at first, the Portuguese’ advanced weaponry was simply too much for the beleaguered people of Ormuz.
Portuguese rule was harsh, when the Muslim people of Mascate were not being persecuted for their beliefs, they were being forced to hear Catholic sermons aimed at converting them, and they were forced to swear fealty to a foreign King they knew nothing of. King Joao III decreed that the Muslims of Ormuz were to be converted to Catholicism in 1520, out of fear of the Orthodox Romans, and their clear ambitions in India. Joao feared that if the Greeks were to attack his holdings directly, the Muslim populous would support them, knowing of their recent toleration of infidels and heretics. The only way to prevent this, obviously, was to turn the populous into faithful Christians, loyal to his holiness, the Pope.
However, this only served to increase tension among the residence of the colony, as they now were given the simple choice of converting or facing the persecution of the Portuguese Inquisition. All Muslim practices were banned, Mosques were burnt to the ground and Catholic churches erected in their place. Any protests were dealt with harshly, and for a short while, the Muslim population seemed subdued, and ready to except their foreign rulers. A group of men were about to change this however. On a clear spring day in may, the every day activities of the people of Mascate were put on hold, as people gathered at the town square to see the man who was allegedly preaching Jihad against the rulers of Ormuz.
Abdul-Alim stood in the center of the gathering crowd, his voice booming of the light chatter of those gathered around him. He spoke of rebellion against their Portuguese oppressors, he spoke of returning Ormuz to an independent state once more. Though in truth, Abdul was not from Ormuz, he was from Egypt. He was sent by the Roman Emperor to incite a rebellion among the people of Ormuz, in order to disrupt supplies to Portuguese India. Abdul also knew he was not the only one, there were others across the lands of Ormuz preaching the same message he preached now. As the crowd continued to build around him, he knew he would need to make haste, before the Portuguese authorities became aware of this public gathering.
“We must rise up against the infidels that have usurped the throne of our rightful Sultan, Mohammad II. We must restore our great Mosques that the westerners have cruelly burnt, and free ourselves from the rule of the enemies of God! We must restore the true faith to our lands and drive these infidels from our sacred land. Let us free Ormuz together my brothers, let us restore Mohammad II to his rightful throne!” He shouted to the crowd below him. Abdul knew it would not be long now before the Portuguese authorities came, but he was prepared to die a martyr’s death for the Emperors plan to succeed.
After his speaking, Abdul would give aid Muslims who had been injured by the Portuguese Inquisition. His popularity with the people steadily grew as he managed to dodge the Portuguese militia. He would preach in the mornings, and offer medical attention and havens for the injured and faithful. In only a few days his reputation grew immensely, as was the reputation of fellow “profits” in other cities and towns across the former lands of the Sultanate of Ormuz. However, as Abdul was preaching to his ever growing number of followers one morning, his luck at evading the Portuguese authorities finally ran out.
The sound of heavily armored soldiers running down the streets was heard in all directions, as guns were fired in the air in order to disperse the crowds. Abdul stood his ground however, as the Portuguese militiamen surrounded him. The Portuguese wasted no time in bringing him before the Inquisition, which deemed him a heretic, and a threat to the establishment after a short analysis. Abdul -Alim was brought to town square, where he was tied to a stake, as wood was placed around his feet. A priest stepped forward looking up at Abdul. “Please, I implore you, admit to your heresy and your soul will be spared the eternal fires of hell, you shall also be strangled first so that you do not suffer your cremation. God shall forgive you, if only you repent here and now…” the priest said quietly.
Abdul simply stared off into the distance, until the priest finally lowered his head and left him. A crowd had gathered around him, mostly against their will, as the piles of wood under his feet were lit by one of the soldiers. Abdul smiled slightly, knowing that his death would realize the Emperors ambitions, and drive the populous of Ormuz to rebel against their Portuguese rulers. As the flames consumed him and the pain overwhelmed his mind, the people of Mascate watched as their brave martyr was cruelly burned alive, their rage building with each scream that escaped his lips. The scent of rebellion was in the air, and there was little that could be done by the Portuguese to prevent it now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Word reached Emperor Ioannes in April of 1523 that his plot to incite a rebellion in Ormuz had been a success. Starting from the city of Mascate, the revolt quickly spread across the entire region, engulfing the former capital of Al-Kharam. Mohammad II, the former Sultan of Ormuz was called out of exile, and with his aid, central authority was restored to region in the summer of 1524. Portuguese soldiers on Bahrein were stranded without supplies, as the Sultan captured all of the merchant vessels in port when the rebellion broke out, and Portugal’s access to India was greatly strained as a result. This allowed the Empire to expand its power base without interference from the Portuguese, while at the same time weakening their rival for control of India.
With the Portuguese fleet no longer patrolling the Arabian Sea, soldiers were sent to Mangalore, the natives, now more friendly to the Roman presence thanks to the previous trade, were easier to pacify while another attempt at setting up a colony there was made. It was successful, and the colony of Alexandreia was founded in Mangalore. It would eventually grow into prosperous center of trade which would bring much wealth to Empire in later years. Portugal retained Goa for a period, even after the loss of their Arabian territories, and it would compete with Alexandreia for years until its eventual conquest by the Vijayanagara Empire. With his position in India more secure, Emperor Ioannes was free to turn his attention to Europe once more.
The free Sultanate of Ormuz
Until its gradual loss at the hands of the Lombard’s, and Norman’s, to name a few, Italy had been a vital part of the Roman Empire. Though the Eternal City of Rome had no longer been considered the center of the Empire, even before its loss, it still held an important sentimental value for the Roman Empire. After all, it was the city from which the Empire was first born, it was from Rome that the Empire first expanded, and eventually came to dominate almost all of western Europe. The Empire had never given up on Italy, though previous attempts at reconquest had failed miserably.
The Empire was in a far stronger position during the early 16th century, however, than it had been since before the conquests of Justinian, which had exhausted both the army and economy of Rome. Emperor Ioannes felt that a reconquest of Italy was well within their capabilities at that point, and ordered the ageing Ibrahim to make preparations for an invasion of the homeland of their great Empire. Though he was nearly 70 years old at the time, his mind was still as sharp as ever. In 1526, Ibrahim captured the provinces of Kirkuk, and Iraq from the dieing Mughal Empire in only two months. He knew Spain would not be a simple matter by any means, however.
Spain had a strong alliance with Genoa, and the two together had an impressive naval armada. However, the Emperor was persistent and ordered Ibrahim to make plans for an invasion of Apulia. Ibrahim recommended invading Sicily before Italy, stressing the political consequences of an invasion of Italian soil, but the Emperor refused to accept anything but Apulia, and Ibrahim was eventually forced to yield and do his best to bring the Empire an Italian victory. As the preparations for war were being made, Venice suffered a final defeat at the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor, who ended the Venetian Republic as an independent state. Though a vassal of the Eastern Roman Empire, Ioannes cared not enough for the Venetians to risk a war with the western Emperor.
The Roman Empire declared war on Spain on July 25th, 1530. It prove would be another great war of the sea, and the mightiest armada would be the victor.
The Roman Empire before the 1st Spanish War
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I thought you would enjoy some pre-Spanish war information. I didn’t bother to cover the short war with the Mughal Empire as it was horribly uneventful. And yeah, I made the Portuguese Inquisition come into existence about 10 years early.
More soon!
Last edited:
Big White Blob is getting blobbier just as you go off to war with Spain. Watch out.
Does the Emperor have plans to go for Persia at some point and link up his Indian dominions?
Great update.... with you regaining Rome's glory in the east and Met threatening the same in the west things are looking good indeed.
Hummmm..... I really need to check that the AAR is finished and not just the end of the page o Oh well.. Great updates none the less.... KUTGW!
o Oh well.. Great updates none the less.... KUTGW!
Looks good! Good luck with Spain, 'cause very soon you're going to have a big blobby neighbor
Originally the Kingdom of Leon, Castile gradually became the dominant title of this Iberian power during 13th and 14th centuries, as it began the slow, but eventually successful reconquest of Christian Spain. In 1469, Ferdinand II of Aragon wed Isabella of Castile, a marriage that would eventually lead to the formal creation of Spain in 1516, as their son and heir Charles V assumed the throne of both Kingdoms. With their new world conquests, Spanish power grew rapidly with enormous amounts of gold flowing in from Mexico, the former lands of the Incan Empire, and the Caribbean. Spain was considered by most of the nations of Europe in 1530 to be by far the dominant power of the world. It’s armada stood as invincible, and its over seas territories were truly vast.
In contrast, the Roman Empire, though holding vast amounts of land in mainland Europe, was fairly weak as far as over seas colonies go. However, this did not prevent the Empire from becoming rich: It controlled the eastern rout into India. Though by 1512 the Empire had relaxed its tariffs, during the period of 1480 - 1512, it had put an enormous toll on all foreign ships and merchants traveling through Constantinople, earning it the ire of nations like Spain and Portugal who often counted on the Indian trade goods. Some historians suspect that these high tariffs were actually the true cause of the birth of Colonialism, but this opinion is still widely debated.
While the Spanish Empire and Portugal dominated the oceans, the Roman Empire dominated the western Mediterranean and Arabian seas. Relations between the two naval powers had been growing ever more strained since 1480, and the Sicilian War of 1530 was simply the result of that last straw that broke the camels back. While Spain had an impressive navy, the Empire too had a powerful fleet, but more so, it possessed a highly trained and disciplined army. The Spanish army of the time was a collection of poorly trained conscripts, but that worked perfectly for Spain’s style of warfare. Rather than facing its enemies in massive land confrontations, Spain would attempt to cripple its adversaries fleet, thus negating their ability to effectively launch attacks against them.
Once this was done, Spain would systematically strike at its opponents weak points, valuable but lightly defended centers of trade, integral parts of a trade route, for example, starving its foe into submission. Spain’s plan was no different for the Roman Empire. Many Spanish generals recognized that any attempt to launch any long term invasion of the Balkans or Anatolia was doomed to failure, as would any amphibious assault on Constantinople, though some of the more rash minds in Spain still disagreed...Rather, they felt that after disabling the Imperial Fleet, Spanish soldiers should land in Cyprus, Krete, Corfu, and even Ionia. They would then proceed to threaten the holy land, though only as a diversion, to draw troops away from Alexandria and Egypt. They would then land their true invasion force in Egypt, and quickly take the vital coastal city of Alexandria. Spain would also be landing smaller armies in the Greek colonies of Kaffa and Kerch, cutting their black sea trade routs, while moving to take Thessalonica and eventually even Morea, putting more pressure on a no doubt starving Constantinople, and forcing the Emperor to sue for peace in Spain‘s favor.
The Imperial Fleet had already been moved into position when war was first declared, and, following Hussein Adu Ibrahim’s strategy, had separated into two halves. One was near Sicily and Apulia, while the other was near the islands of and Sardinia. Using this simultaneous attack strategy, Ibrahim hoped to prevent extended Spanish fleet actions in the Western Mediterranean by denying them friendly ports to resupply in. By rapidly taking the Spanish controlled islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, they could force King Carlos I to sign a peace favorable to the Empire, lest he risk a direct invasion of Spain itself. The Spanish garrison in Italy and Sicily reportedly equaled less than 2,000 men, and against and over all Imperial army of 25,000, it would prove to be no threat. Though the Emperor had ordered an assault on Italy to be the first move, due to the political consequences of such a maneuver, Ibrahim chose to take a great risk in disobeying his Emperors orders, and instead attacked Sicily.
After the declaration of war, the Imperial fleet wasted no time in deploying its soldiers onto the shores of Sicily and Sardinia, each army was 12,500 men strong. Sparing not a second, both armies assaulted the fortresses of their respective islands. The fighting on Sardinia was fierce as soldiers stormed forward into the breach the canon had created, the Spanish garrison fighting fiercely to keep Cagliari in the hands of the Spanish crown. The outcome in the end was a Roman victory, but at a high cost of nearly 2,000 lives. The assault on Palermo proved to be futile, though the Roman army breached the cities defenses, they were repelled after a hard fought and bloody melee. The cities garrison was greatly depleted, while the army in Sicily suffered some 3,000 casualties.
Despite the failure of the first assault on Sicily, Ibrahim kept his regiments moving, sending the victorious Sardinian army to the Balearic Islands, only a few miles off the coast of Spain. As the army of soldiers under Argyrus Sophianos began its assault on the city of Palma, Eufasius Nicomachi made another attempt to breach Sicily, and succeeded. Ibrahim, now slowly becoming decrepit with age, rarely took personal command of his armies in battle, and left it up to his generals to follow his strategies to the letter, which they often did not, usually for the worst. Despite this, the war thus far had gone in the Empire’s favor, much to the dismay of Spanish General Antonio De Leyva. De Leyva was an accomplished General in his own right, and recognized that the original plan to force favorable peace was doomed to failure, with their ports in the Western Mediterranean falling as quickly as they were.
Rather, De Leyva proposed that they attempt to isolate the eastern and Sicilian Roman armies from further reinforcements with an all or nothing attack on Greece itself. With hostile armies so close to Constantinople, he knew that the Empire would devote all of their remaining strength to defending the region. He proposed this idea to the King of Spain, Carlos I, who agreed with his plan as he too saw that this war could not be fought in the conventional style that they were use too. Though the Spanish army was in truth, not entirely prepared for a land invasion of the Balkans, De Leyva stated that it was not their objective to conquer the region, but to simply distract the bulk of the Empire’s army. This would allow them to eventually force the Empire out of Sicily and their other eastern islands, and at the very least force the Emperor to see reason and sign a truce.
As Eufasius continued on his conquest of Sicily, and Sophianos made his way to the island of Malta, Spain worked with its allies Brittany and Scotland to break through the Imperial fleet station in the straits of Otranto. With overwhelming force, the unified fleets of the three nations managed to break through the Imperial navy, thus opening the way for Spanish soldiers to land in Albania, a region in eastern Greece. The Emperor responded immediately, having two substantial armies of 30,000 men raised from both Constantinople and Bursa. The Spanish army of 26,000 that was landed in Albania was only the start, however, as Brittany and Scotland both landed roughly 10,000 men in Dobrudja. Following their orders to only loot the surrounding areas of each province, the Spanish soldiers began to pillage the land around both Kruja and Athens, hoping to draw the Emperors attention long enough for the Eastern Mediterranean fleet to turn the tide of the war in the crowns favor.
Ibrahim, though surprised that Spain would launch such a direct attack on mainland Greece, remained calm, and despite being nearly 70 years old, took personal command of the Ellenikos Stratos, the newly raised army of Constantinople. As he marched into Hellas to confront the Spanish Army, Ibrahim comments on the destruction the Spanish inflicted on the surrounding lands, speaking of the slain women and children whose corpses still lay in the field. The slaughter only served to strengthen Greek resolve to expel their hated enemies from their homeland, however. When the two armies met on September 17th, 1531 the bloody clash proved why the Spanish preferred not to engage in extended land warfare. Ibrahim’s 8,000 Veteran soldiers lead the advance of the Roman army, which wasted no time in devastating the Spaniards ranks. Ibrahim managed to isolate several Spanish regiments, killing them to the last man to avenge the lives of the citizens they had slain.
By the end of the battle of Hellas, the Spanish army had been routed with almost 10,000 casualties, while the Roman army suffered barely 2,000. Ibrahim proclaimed it a great victory for the Empire at first, however, word soon reached him of the Spanish allies landing in Dobrudja, and he quickly moved to confront them. Though the combined armies of Brittany and Scotland only equaled roughly 10,000 men, they had already made significant progress in breaching the walls of Silistra, the capital of the region. When Ibrahim arrived a week later, he found that the city had already been taken. Wasting no time, Ibrahim moved to liberate Silistra from Brittany, and met the Spanish allies in battle on September 24th, 1531. The battle was one sided and quick, as Ibrahim’s far superior force easily annihilated the Spanish allies army, most being taken to Constantinople as prisoners of war.
However, by November, Antonio De Leyva had began to turn the tide of the eastern Mediterranean conflict, which was the entire point of sending soldiers to the Empire’s European territories. With Ibrahim so distracted by the conflict in Greece, De Leyva had managed to score several key victories over the Imperial Fleet, preventing them from landing soldiers in Malta, and even driving the Imperial army from Sicily, though they had only moved into Apulia and began a new siege there. De Leyva had still yet to break through the Imperial Loyalists garrisoning the various cities in Sicily, but he felt it was only a matter of time. When word reached Ibrahim, he was amazed by the fact that De Leyva had actually outsmarted him with such a relatively simple diversion.
Ibrahim was determined not to be out done again by De Lyva, however, and had his army of nearly 30,000 loaded and enroot to Sicily by the end of November. When spies reported the Megas Domestikos’ movement’s, De Lyva sailed with his own fleet to meet Ibrahim’s before it could reach Sicily, hoping to prevent such a large force from landing and thus undoing all he had worked for. When the two fleets met in the gulf of Taranto, both commanders were eager to come to blows, knowing that their foe was a prominent general in the apposing army. De Lyva’s Spanish Armada of 124 ships, against Ibrahim’s Imperial Armada of 123, two near perfectly matched fleets, with two exceptional commanders, the first direct clash between these two great renaissance heroes.
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The sky was clear, a perfect blue, as the sun shed it’s pleasantly warm light on the cold winters sea. The water itself was calm, the winds finally relaxing for what should have been a perfect day. Indeed, for most living on the Italian peninsula it seemed to be a perfect time for a pleasant carriage ride with loved ones and family, but for the crews of the Roman and Spanish fleets, only a death at the bottom of the cold, dark sea awaited them. An elderly man made his way up the stairs from below deck, his cane pounding against the wooden steps as he struggled to reach stable ground. Finally, the warming light of the sun washed over his face as he emerged from is subterranean dwelling, the gentle heat soothing his tired bones as he looked out across the sea at the Spanish fleet slowly approaching him.
Ibrahim folded his hands behind his back, and began to slowly pace along the edge of his ship, the Andrianopolis. His ship sailed well behind the others, but he still had a fairly clear view of the coming battle. The Spanish fleet sailed towards in a crescent formation. Ibrahim rubbed his chin slowly, glancing towards his lieutenant, “Quickly, have these orders sent to the rest of the fleet: Prepare to adopt a wide reverse crescent formation, we will absorb their attack, and then, the wings of our crescent will shift and charge head on towards their flanks.” The fairly short man, no taller than 5’4 at the most, saluted sharply and shouted the orders to the soldier in the crows nest of the Andrianopolis, who in turn began to shout them to his peers in the adjacent ships to his left and right. It did not take long for the orders to reach every ship within the fleet, and they began to shift into Ibrahim’s “reverse crescent” formation.
The shifting Roman fleet in the distance caught the eye of a relatively young man, looking to be in his mid 30’s. Folding his arms, a slight smirk on his face, Antonio De Leyva barked to his lookout, “Tell them not to began the shift until they can see their faces! This needs to be perfectly timed!” The lookout saluted and began to shout his orders to his peers. De Leyva let a slight sigh escape his mouth, his breath being visible on the brisk winters air, despite the warming glow of the sun. De Leyva was eager to face the great Ibrahim, who had in the past few decades, became one of the most feared men in Europe. It wasn’t about the prestige of defeating him, no, he wanted to face the best commander the Romans had to offer, and defeat him, and thus prove the superiority of Spain once and for all. De Leyva clenched his fists in anticipation, for the battle ahead would be truly glorious.
As the two armadas approached one another, the Imperial Fleet began to shift its position according to Ibrahim’s instructions, while the Spanish Fleet continued to approach in a relatively narrow crescent. As the two armadas began to close and exchange arrow, gun and canon fire, the Spanish Fleet began to gradually narrow its crescent, slowly becoming an arrow point. As the two great fleets finally clashed, the Spanish armada’s arrow formation began to crack through Ibrahim’s reverse crescent. Ibrahim was expecting them to maintain their original formation, and was taken aback by the discipline shown by the Spaniards concerning their rapid switch in formation. The arrow broke through the center of the Imperial Navy, causing its wings to buckle inward and become separated from the main body of the fleet pre-maturely.
Ibrahim watched the chaos from the deck of the Andrianopolis, as Spanish galleys rammed into their disoriented Roman counterparts. Glancing to his left and right, he noted that his wings had been separated, and it did not take much deduction to see that his center was going to collapse sooner, rather than later. Ibrahim now realized his rivals plan, but knew it was far too late to change tactics. If they remained and fought, the Spaniards would isolate the wings of the former crescent and utterly crush them, and then turn to finish off the weakened flank. Ibrahim turned quickly to his lieutenant and quietly spoke his next order, “Sound the horn, order a retreat immediately. This battle is lost, but we should still be able to preserve most of our fleet for another day. Now, hurry, before our chance for a clean and orderly retreat is lost!” Ibrahim did not wait for his lieutenants response, before turning and quietly returning to his quarters below deck.
As he slowly made his way down the stairs, he heard the signal to retreat being sounded via trumpet, the nearest ships sound their own to ensure the message reached every ship possible. Ibrahim sat down at his desk, and pulled a quill from the small cup of ink that sat atop the old wooden table. He began to write a note home, informing the Emperor that he was unable to reinforce the men in Sicily, and recommended a landing in Apulia instead, as it is closer to mainland Greece. He knew the Emperor would be angered with him, as he had ordered Italy to be invaded first, before Sicily, but doing so could have sparked a war with one or more of the Italian city states, who could have felt threatened by the Imperial presence there. Ibrahim now felt, however, that they could potentially convince King Carlos to quickly sue for peace, since they now held Sicily, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands. Without Spanish support, it is doubtful the Italian States would try anything rash.
As Antonio De Leyva watched the Imperial Fleet make an organized retreat back into the Ionian Sea, he couldn’t help but feel partly disappointed at the indecisiveness of the battle. But still, a victory was a victory, and the Spanish military did so need a victory to boost moral. He had forced Ibrahim to retreat, after all, something few could claim, so yes, the battle had not been in vain, for it was something of a propaganda victory, even if the damage done to the Imperial Navy was relatively light. Antonio smiled slightly, gazing up at the sky as the warmth of the sun washed over him, now feeling better, and boasting a certain aura of pride for his victorious armada. “Set sail for Apulia,” Antonio spoke up suddenly, “We must resupply before they have a chance to launch another attack.”
With neither side anywhere near defeated, it seemed as if the war would drag on for at least another year, but sometimes, nature can be influential than the deadliest armada.
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After the Imperial fleet was forced to retreat to the Ionian Sea, Admiral Antonio De Leyva had a letter sent to Spanish King Carlos I, announcing his victory over the legendary Roman General Hussein Adu Ibrahim, however, as the messenger sat sail for Spain with the note in hand, he encountered a violent storm a few miles off the cost of Corsica, according to reports from Genoese fishermen in the area, they were returning to port when they saw the small Spanish galley get capsized by the storm. Though they tried to sail out to rescue any possible survivors, the storm was simply to violent and they were forced to return to port. King Carlos I, meanwhile had only just received the news of the Imperial Fleets approach to Sicily, and feared the worst.
After a week past with no further letters being received, King Carlos came to the conclusion that his grand Armada had been sunk, and feared a surely inevitable invasion in Spain itself. Carlos quickly wrote a letter to the Emperor proposing peace on the terms that Spain cede all of Sicily, Apulia, and the small island of Malta to the Empire. When the Emperor received this letter, he was quite perplexed, but ecstatic never the less. He eagerly excepted these terms, having his messenger deliver the peace agreement with all due haste. As this all happened, the Imperial and Spanish armada’s engaged each other in a series of small skirmishes, in their attempts to outmaneuver one another, as Ibrahim was continuously kept from landing troops in Italy, but at the same time was able to prevent the Spanish armada from inflicting any significant damage to the fleet, while the 9,000 Greek soldiers stranded in Italy continued their futile attempts to secure the toe of the peninsula for the Empire.
In one of the more ironic twists of fate in history, the King forced Spain to cede its Eastern Mediterranean holdings and sue for peace, just as the tide of the war had began to tip in Spain’s favor. Historians today still heavily debate if Spain could have possibly won the war had it continued, but regardless, it turned out to be a simple storm that decided the outcome of the Sicilian War, rather than the military might of either nation. Peace was officially declared by both nations on March 8th, 1532. The war had not truly ended, however, in the minds of two men, who saw one another as their greatest of adversaries.
In contrast, the Roman Empire, though holding vast amounts of land in mainland Europe, was fairly weak as far as over seas colonies go. However, this did not prevent the Empire from becoming rich: It controlled the eastern rout into India. Though by 1512 the Empire had relaxed its tariffs, during the period of 1480 - 1512, it had put an enormous toll on all foreign ships and merchants traveling through Constantinople, earning it the ire of nations like Spain and Portugal who often counted on the Indian trade goods. Some historians suspect that these high tariffs were actually the true cause of the birth of Colonialism, but this opinion is still widely debated.
While the Spanish Empire and Portugal dominated the oceans, the Roman Empire dominated the western Mediterranean and Arabian seas. Relations between the two naval powers had been growing ever more strained since 1480, and the Sicilian War of 1530 was simply the result of that last straw that broke the camels back. While Spain had an impressive navy, the Empire too had a powerful fleet, but more so, it possessed a highly trained and disciplined army. The Spanish army of the time was a collection of poorly trained conscripts, but that worked perfectly for Spain’s style of warfare. Rather than facing its enemies in massive land confrontations, Spain would attempt to cripple its adversaries fleet, thus negating their ability to effectively launch attacks against them.
Once this was done, Spain would systematically strike at its opponents weak points, valuable but lightly defended centers of trade, integral parts of a trade route, for example, starving its foe into submission. Spain’s plan was no different for the Roman Empire. Many Spanish generals recognized that any attempt to launch any long term invasion of the Balkans or Anatolia was doomed to failure, as would any amphibious assault on Constantinople, though some of the more rash minds in Spain still disagreed...Rather, they felt that after disabling the Imperial Fleet, Spanish soldiers should land in Cyprus, Krete, Corfu, and even Ionia. They would then proceed to threaten the holy land, though only as a diversion, to draw troops away from Alexandria and Egypt. They would then land their true invasion force in Egypt, and quickly take the vital coastal city of Alexandria. Spain would also be landing smaller armies in the Greek colonies of Kaffa and Kerch, cutting their black sea trade routs, while moving to take Thessalonica and eventually even Morea, putting more pressure on a no doubt starving Constantinople, and forcing the Emperor to sue for peace in Spain‘s favor.
The Imperial Fleet had already been moved into position when war was first declared, and, following Hussein Adu Ibrahim’s strategy, had separated into two halves. One was near Sicily and Apulia, while the other was near the islands of and Sardinia. Using this simultaneous attack strategy, Ibrahim hoped to prevent extended Spanish fleet actions in the Western Mediterranean by denying them friendly ports to resupply in. By rapidly taking the Spanish controlled islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, they could force King Carlos I to sign a peace favorable to the Empire, lest he risk a direct invasion of Spain itself. The Spanish garrison in Italy and Sicily reportedly equaled less than 2,000 men, and against and over all Imperial army of 25,000, it would prove to be no threat. Though the Emperor had ordered an assault on Italy to be the first move, due to the political consequences of such a maneuver, Ibrahim chose to take a great risk in disobeying his Emperors orders, and instead attacked Sicily.
After the declaration of war, the Imperial fleet wasted no time in deploying its soldiers onto the shores of Sicily and Sardinia, each army was 12,500 men strong. Sparing not a second, both armies assaulted the fortresses of their respective islands. The fighting on Sardinia was fierce as soldiers stormed forward into the breach the canon had created, the Spanish garrison fighting fiercely to keep Cagliari in the hands of the Spanish crown. The outcome in the end was a Roman victory, but at a high cost of nearly 2,000 lives. The assault on Palermo proved to be futile, though the Roman army breached the cities defenses, they were repelled after a hard fought and bloody melee. The cities garrison was greatly depleted, while the army in Sicily suffered some 3,000 casualties.
Despite the failure of the first assault on Sicily, Ibrahim kept his regiments moving, sending the victorious Sardinian army to the Balearic Islands, only a few miles off the coast of Spain. As the army of soldiers under Argyrus Sophianos began its assault on the city of Palma, Eufasius Nicomachi made another attempt to breach Sicily, and succeeded. Ibrahim, now slowly becoming decrepit with age, rarely took personal command of his armies in battle, and left it up to his generals to follow his strategies to the letter, which they often did not, usually for the worst. Despite this, the war thus far had gone in the Empire’s favor, much to the dismay of Spanish General Antonio De Leyva. De Leyva was an accomplished General in his own right, and recognized that the original plan to force favorable peace was doomed to failure, with their ports in the Western Mediterranean falling as quickly as they were.
Rather, De Leyva proposed that they attempt to isolate the eastern and Sicilian Roman armies from further reinforcements with an all or nothing attack on Greece itself. With hostile armies so close to Constantinople, he knew that the Empire would devote all of their remaining strength to defending the region. He proposed this idea to the King of Spain, Carlos I, who agreed with his plan as he too saw that this war could not be fought in the conventional style that they were use too. Though the Spanish army was in truth, not entirely prepared for a land invasion of the Balkans, De Leyva stated that it was not their objective to conquer the region, but to simply distract the bulk of the Empire’s army. This would allow them to eventually force the Empire out of Sicily and their other eastern islands, and at the very least force the Emperor to see reason and sign a truce.
As Eufasius continued on his conquest of Sicily, and Sophianos made his way to the island of Malta, Spain worked with its allies Brittany and Scotland to break through the Imperial fleet station in the straits of Otranto. With overwhelming force, the unified fleets of the three nations managed to break through the Imperial navy, thus opening the way for Spanish soldiers to land in Albania, a region in eastern Greece. The Emperor responded immediately, having two substantial armies of 30,000 men raised from both Constantinople and Bursa. The Spanish army of 26,000 that was landed in Albania was only the start, however, as Brittany and Scotland both landed roughly 10,000 men in Dobrudja. Following their orders to only loot the surrounding areas of each province, the Spanish soldiers began to pillage the land around both Kruja and Athens, hoping to draw the Emperors attention long enough for the Eastern Mediterranean fleet to turn the tide of the war in the crowns favor.
Ibrahim, though surprised that Spain would launch such a direct attack on mainland Greece, remained calm, and despite being nearly 70 years old, took personal command of the Ellenikos Stratos, the newly raised army of Constantinople. As he marched into Hellas to confront the Spanish Army, Ibrahim comments on the destruction the Spanish inflicted on the surrounding lands, speaking of the slain women and children whose corpses still lay in the field. The slaughter only served to strengthen Greek resolve to expel their hated enemies from their homeland, however. When the two armies met on September 17th, 1531 the bloody clash proved why the Spanish preferred not to engage in extended land warfare. Ibrahim’s 8,000 Veteran soldiers lead the advance of the Roman army, which wasted no time in devastating the Spaniards ranks. Ibrahim managed to isolate several Spanish regiments, killing them to the last man to avenge the lives of the citizens they had slain.
By the end of the battle of Hellas, the Spanish army had been routed with almost 10,000 casualties, while the Roman army suffered barely 2,000. Ibrahim proclaimed it a great victory for the Empire at first, however, word soon reached him of the Spanish allies landing in Dobrudja, and he quickly moved to confront them. Though the combined armies of Brittany and Scotland only equaled roughly 10,000 men, they had already made significant progress in breaching the walls of Silistra, the capital of the region. When Ibrahim arrived a week later, he found that the city had already been taken. Wasting no time, Ibrahim moved to liberate Silistra from Brittany, and met the Spanish allies in battle on September 24th, 1531. The battle was one sided and quick, as Ibrahim’s far superior force easily annihilated the Spanish allies army, most being taken to Constantinople as prisoners of war.
However, by November, Antonio De Leyva had began to turn the tide of the eastern Mediterranean conflict, which was the entire point of sending soldiers to the Empire’s European territories. With Ibrahim so distracted by the conflict in Greece, De Leyva had managed to score several key victories over the Imperial Fleet, preventing them from landing soldiers in Malta, and even driving the Imperial army from Sicily, though they had only moved into Apulia and began a new siege there. De Leyva had still yet to break through the Imperial Loyalists garrisoning the various cities in Sicily, but he felt it was only a matter of time. When word reached Ibrahim, he was amazed by the fact that De Leyva had actually outsmarted him with such a relatively simple diversion.
Ibrahim was determined not to be out done again by De Lyva, however, and had his army of nearly 30,000 loaded and enroot to Sicily by the end of November. When spies reported the Megas Domestikos’ movement’s, De Lyva sailed with his own fleet to meet Ibrahim’s before it could reach Sicily, hoping to prevent such a large force from landing and thus undoing all he had worked for. When the two fleets met in the gulf of Taranto, both commanders were eager to come to blows, knowing that their foe was a prominent general in the apposing army. De Lyva’s Spanish Armada of 124 ships, against Ibrahim’s Imperial Armada of 123, two near perfectly matched fleets, with two exceptional commanders, the first direct clash between these two great renaissance heroes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sky was clear, a perfect blue, as the sun shed it’s pleasantly warm light on the cold winters sea. The water itself was calm, the winds finally relaxing for what should have been a perfect day. Indeed, for most living on the Italian peninsula it seemed to be a perfect time for a pleasant carriage ride with loved ones and family, but for the crews of the Roman and Spanish fleets, only a death at the bottom of the cold, dark sea awaited them. An elderly man made his way up the stairs from below deck, his cane pounding against the wooden steps as he struggled to reach stable ground. Finally, the warming light of the sun washed over his face as he emerged from is subterranean dwelling, the gentle heat soothing his tired bones as he looked out across the sea at the Spanish fleet slowly approaching him.
Ibrahim folded his hands behind his back, and began to slowly pace along the edge of his ship, the Andrianopolis. His ship sailed well behind the others, but he still had a fairly clear view of the coming battle. The Spanish fleet sailed towards in a crescent formation. Ibrahim rubbed his chin slowly, glancing towards his lieutenant, “Quickly, have these orders sent to the rest of the fleet: Prepare to adopt a wide reverse crescent formation, we will absorb their attack, and then, the wings of our crescent will shift and charge head on towards their flanks.” The fairly short man, no taller than 5’4 at the most, saluted sharply and shouted the orders to the soldier in the crows nest of the Andrianopolis, who in turn began to shout them to his peers in the adjacent ships to his left and right. It did not take long for the orders to reach every ship within the fleet, and they began to shift into Ibrahim’s “reverse crescent” formation.
The shifting Roman fleet in the distance caught the eye of a relatively young man, looking to be in his mid 30’s. Folding his arms, a slight smirk on his face, Antonio De Leyva barked to his lookout, “Tell them not to began the shift until they can see their faces! This needs to be perfectly timed!” The lookout saluted and began to shout his orders to his peers. De Leyva let a slight sigh escape his mouth, his breath being visible on the brisk winters air, despite the warming glow of the sun. De Leyva was eager to face the great Ibrahim, who had in the past few decades, became one of the most feared men in Europe. It wasn’t about the prestige of defeating him, no, he wanted to face the best commander the Romans had to offer, and defeat him, and thus prove the superiority of Spain once and for all. De Leyva clenched his fists in anticipation, for the battle ahead would be truly glorious.
As the two armadas approached one another, the Imperial Fleet began to shift its position according to Ibrahim’s instructions, while the Spanish Fleet continued to approach in a relatively narrow crescent. As the two armadas began to close and exchange arrow, gun and canon fire, the Spanish Fleet began to gradually narrow its crescent, slowly becoming an arrow point. As the two great fleets finally clashed, the Spanish armada’s arrow formation began to crack through Ibrahim’s reverse crescent. Ibrahim was expecting them to maintain their original formation, and was taken aback by the discipline shown by the Spaniards concerning their rapid switch in formation. The arrow broke through the center of the Imperial Navy, causing its wings to buckle inward and become separated from the main body of the fleet pre-maturely.
Ibrahim watched the chaos from the deck of the Andrianopolis, as Spanish galleys rammed into their disoriented Roman counterparts. Glancing to his left and right, he noted that his wings had been separated, and it did not take much deduction to see that his center was going to collapse sooner, rather than later. Ibrahim now realized his rivals plan, but knew it was far too late to change tactics. If they remained and fought, the Spaniards would isolate the wings of the former crescent and utterly crush them, and then turn to finish off the weakened flank. Ibrahim turned quickly to his lieutenant and quietly spoke his next order, “Sound the horn, order a retreat immediately. This battle is lost, but we should still be able to preserve most of our fleet for another day. Now, hurry, before our chance for a clean and orderly retreat is lost!” Ibrahim did not wait for his lieutenants response, before turning and quietly returning to his quarters below deck.
As he slowly made his way down the stairs, he heard the signal to retreat being sounded via trumpet, the nearest ships sound their own to ensure the message reached every ship possible. Ibrahim sat down at his desk, and pulled a quill from the small cup of ink that sat atop the old wooden table. He began to write a note home, informing the Emperor that he was unable to reinforce the men in Sicily, and recommended a landing in Apulia instead, as it is closer to mainland Greece. He knew the Emperor would be angered with him, as he had ordered Italy to be invaded first, before Sicily, but doing so could have sparked a war with one or more of the Italian city states, who could have felt threatened by the Imperial presence there. Ibrahim now felt, however, that they could potentially convince King Carlos to quickly sue for peace, since they now held Sicily, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands. Without Spanish support, it is doubtful the Italian States would try anything rash.
As Antonio De Leyva watched the Imperial Fleet make an organized retreat back into the Ionian Sea, he couldn’t help but feel partly disappointed at the indecisiveness of the battle. But still, a victory was a victory, and the Spanish military did so need a victory to boost moral. He had forced Ibrahim to retreat, after all, something few could claim, so yes, the battle had not been in vain, for it was something of a propaganda victory, even if the damage done to the Imperial Navy was relatively light. Antonio smiled slightly, gazing up at the sky as the warmth of the sun washed over him, now feeling better, and boasting a certain aura of pride for his victorious armada. “Set sail for Apulia,” Antonio spoke up suddenly, “We must resupply before they have a chance to launch another attack.”
With neither side anywhere near defeated, it seemed as if the war would drag on for at least another year, but sometimes, nature can be influential than the deadliest armada.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the Imperial fleet was forced to retreat to the Ionian Sea, Admiral Antonio De Leyva had a letter sent to Spanish King Carlos I, announcing his victory over the legendary Roman General Hussein Adu Ibrahim, however, as the messenger sat sail for Spain with the note in hand, he encountered a violent storm a few miles off the cost of Corsica, according to reports from Genoese fishermen in the area, they were returning to port when they saw the small Spanish galley get capsized by the storm. Though they tried to sail out to rescue any possible survivors, the storm was simply to violent and they were forced to return to port. King Carlos I, meanwhile had only just received the news of the Imperial Fleets approach to Sicily, and feared the worst.
After a week past with no further letters being received, King Carlos came to the conclusion that his grand Armada had been sunk, and feared a surely inevitable invasion in Spain itself. Carlos quickly wrote a letter to the Emperor proposing peace on the terms that Spain cede all of Sicily, Apulia, and the small island of Malta to the Empire. When the Emperor received this letter, he was quite perplexed, but ecstatic never the less. He eagerly excepted these terms, having his messenger deliver the peace agreement with all due haste. As this all happened, the Imperial and Spanish armada’s engaged each other in a series of small skirmishes, in their attempts to outmaneuver one another, as Ibrahim was continuously kept from landing troops in Italy, but at the same time was able to prevent the Spanish armada from inflicting any significant damage to the fleet, while the 9,000 Greek soldiers stranded in Italy continued their futile attempts to secure the toe of the peninsula for the Empire.
In one of the more ironic twists of fate in history, the King forced Spain to cede its Eastern Mediterranean holdings and sue for peace, just as the tide of the war had began to tip in Spain’s favor. Historians today still heavily debate if Spain could have possibly won the war had it continued, but regardless, it turned out to be a simple storm that decided the outcome of the Sicilian War, rather than the military might of either nation. Peace was officially declared by both nations on March 8th, 1532. The war had not truly ended, however, in the minds of two men, who saw one another as their greatest of adversaries.
Interesting twist of fate there, and very fortuitous for Byzantium. I liked the confrotnation between the two great military minds representing their respective countries.
Great update...
When you had Ibrahim pacing on deck I rembered Nelson and thourght that Ibrahim would also be struck down by a Spanish musket but live just long enough to hear of his historic victory!!
Sir Clive.
When you had Ibrahim pacing on deck I rembered Nelson and thourght that Ibrahim would also be struck down by a Spanish musket but live just long enough to hear of his historic victory!!
Sir Clive.
Fortune has shown down upon you! What shall you do now that Spain has been humbled?
Well done, and well written. Some of your strongest work yet, I think.
Shame that Ibrahim had to taste defeat, but he is getting on in years and thus age begins to show. And a wonderful job showing that.
I'm sure Carlos is spitting mad now that he surely knows what might have happened. But as you say, it will not be the last time these great powers face off.
Shame that Ibrahim had to taste defeat, but he is getting on in years and thus age begins to show. And a wonderful job showing that.
I'm sure Carlos is spitting mad now that he surely knows what might have happened. But as you say, it will not be the last time these great powers face off.
Well, that was close
May I suggest that you work on upping your naval level and give the Hispanics a wide berth for now?
Looking at imperia romana orientalis as it stands right now, I can only say 2 things...
tech, tech, tech
and
colonize, colonize, colonize.
the +2.00 of the orthodox when it comes to colonists, should help some, but in any case point, do become a colonizing nation...
Terra australis awaits. Other than that, I can't tell what your tech level is on both land or sea. If you have achieved parity with the west, than you should wait 20 years then go against Spain to get Gibraltar and the Marocan side of it. Then you can go stateside for a visit, and buy manhattan for some colored cloth.
May I suggest that you work on upping your naval level and give the Hispanics a wide berth for now?
Looking at imperia romana orientalis as it stands right now, I can only say 2 things...
tech, tech, tech
and
colonize, colonize, colonize.
the +2.00 of the orthodox when it comes to colonists, should help some, but in any case point, do become a colonizing nation...
Terra australis awaits. Other than that, I can't tell what your tech level is on both land or sea. If you have achieved parity with the west, than you should wait 20 years then go against Spain to get Gibraltar and the Marocan side of it. Then you can go stateside for a visit, and buy manhattan for some colored cloth.
I beg to differ from popular opinion. Your first liabilty is to diploannex the poor souls in nubia, and then go south to take zanzibar and the east african trade. This would then give you an monopoly on the east india markets.
After its hard fought conquest of Sicily and the toe of Italy, the Empire devoted the next few years to rebuilding Greece and Bulgaria, which had been ravaged by Spain and its allies, as well as securing their newly acquired land. Though Apulia and Syracuse had once been great centers of Greek culture in ancient times, repeated conquests by the Italians, Arabs and Normans had almost completely wiped out all traces of their Hellenic past by the early 16th century. Once again in the hands of the Empire, Emperor Ioannes IX had to make the difficult decision of how to handle the Italians now living there, who by far were the majority in both Sicily and all of Italy. Though probably tempting, Ioannes knew that to forcibly remove them would make the conquest of Italy all the more difficult, and therefore decided to allow them to remain with their homes and land intact, as long as continued to act as loyal citizens of the Empire.
King Carlos I of Spain was enraged when word finally reached him regarding the circumstances of the supposed destruction of his armada. What he thought was a naval disaster had actually been a victory, and just as the Spanish military had began to reorganize itself, he had surrendered his western Mediterranean holdings to the Greeks. As angry as he was at this development, however, he knew that to betray his recent peace agreement with the Empire would earn him the ire of Europe, and thus, he chose to bide his time until a chance to strike at his hated enemy revealed itself. Spanish General Antonio De Leyva, who had been denied a decisive victory of Ibrahim by this untimely peace, secretly decided to slowly distance himself from the King, and eventually break away from the Spanish military in general. Though Antonio did indeed love his homeland, Carlos’ foolish declaration of peace had caused him to begin lose faith in the current monarchy, and when Carlos chose to punish the noblemen that he himself had appointed to command positions for “their” failure, it was the final straw that broke the camels back in regards to Antonio’s loyalty.
Taking the remnants of the armada that remained loyal to him, Antonio fled to the Duchy of Parma where he began to increase his personal fame by telling of his battles with Ibrahim. Eventually he signed a Mercenary Contract with the Duke of Parma, and worked for a year as a general in the army, scoring a decisive victory over the rival Duchy of Tuscany, forcing them to grant the city of Siena independence. After his contract expired, he traveled Italy selling his services to the highest bitter. Work was never difficult to find, as the Italian city states constantly warred with one another, a fact De Leyva was all too happy to exploit. De Leyva would never give his contracts a complete victory over their rivals, in order to prevent one city state from becoming too powerful, thus causing his primary source of pay to dry up. De Leyva and his band of Mercenaries were one of, if not the most in demand contracts in Italy; hiring him was notoriously expensive, usually upwards of 50,000 thalers. As high as his cost was, he always made sure to give them their moneys worth, as long as it didn’t endanger the fragile balance of power in Italy, of course.
More wars were fought in Italy between the years of 1532 and 1537 than ever before in the peninsula’s history, which, gradually over time began to take its toll on the many duchies of the region. This was in no small part due to De Leyva himself, who would often use his considerable influence to instigate conflicts between city states. His second contract after Parma, for example, was with Alessandro de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence (Tuscany), the enemy he had helped Duke Pier Luige Farnese defeat only months earlier. However, as Antonio lined his pockets with the gold of Dukes and Princes, he slowly made Italy vulnerable to the ambitions of the Emperor in Constantinople. With the city states so weakened from fighting against one another, they could be easily picked off by the Empire one at a time.
By 1537, the Roman Empire had recovered from its losses against Spain and was ready to go on the offensive against the Italian city states. However, Emperor Ioannes IX would not live to see this, having passed away in 1535 at the age of 72. His son, Mikhael X Palaiologos succeeded him on the throne, and, following his fathers aggressive policy, began to amass an invasion force. Ibrahim, though old as he was, was selected to lead the conquest of Italy. Many sources, including Ibrahim’s personal journal, indicate that the aging Megas Domestikos had tried more than once to retire, but had been forced to continue his military career by the Emperor, who was unwilling to let his most capable General live in peace. Mikhael X knew that this was the largest offensive campaign undertaken by the Empire in over 1,000 years, and if it was not executed with the utmost care, it could leave the Imperial Army ruptured and prone, and the Empire bankrupt. Ibrahim had to lead the invasion.
Such a drastic invasion would also come at a great cost politically. The Emperor feared that the Catholic community would surely see it as an Orthodox invasion of Europe, and send support to the Italians. This would be the most probable situation in most cases, but recently there had been a major division in the Catholic Church, a “heretical” sect calling themselves “Protestants” had arisen in Germany within the past decade, and after the excommunication of their leader, Martin Luther by Pope Leo X, full war had erupted in Germany. Bands of peasants looted and sacked the homes of noblemen, nearly throwing the Holy Roman Empire into the chaos of a civil war. However, Luther’s condemnation of the atrocities committed by the peasant armies lead to the rebellion coming apart at the seams. Though the actual rebellion was over, a rapid Imperial invasion of Italy, and capture of Rome, could inspire Protestants in northern Germany to take up arms against their Catholic neighbors in the south, as they would hopefully see the expelling of the Pope from Rome as a divine message from God.
Relations between the Protestants and the Orthodox Church were fairly warm at the time, as Luther had acknowledged that they could find eternal salvation outside the Catholic Church. The Emperor decided to dispatch an emissary to track down Luther with an offer of allegiance, hoping to secure the support of the protestant rebels for the invasion of Italy. The emissary was told to offer Luther an opportunity to the expel the Pope from the Holy See of Rome once and for all, if only he create a “diversion” for the German and French Catholics who would surely attempt to intervene. The Emperor believed the German and French nobles to be so infested with greed, that they would easily choose to protect their property over their Church, and was confident of Luther’s acceptance.
He was shocked when Luther refused his offer, stating to his emissary that he would not be a tool of a worldly conqueror who would use his teachings as an excuse for invasion and war. Though enraged at his lack of respect, the Emperor could do little, and knew that the Empire would be on its own for this war. All he could do was hope for the best, and trust in Ibrahim, the Empire’s greatest general, to bring him victory one last time. He knew that the Empire would need to give this invasion everything it had, for it could very well find itself facing not only all of Italy, but the armies of France and Germany as well. Ibrahim was sent to Apulia to access the situation, and determine what the best course of action would be for the start of the invasion. Mikhael X was determined to make Italy his, and secure his place in history as one of the great Roman Emperors.
As Ibrahim sailed to Italy, he knew this would be a campaign fought on a scale unseen since the Hundred Years War. No longer were they facing technologically inferior foes, swords and bow against guns and canon, this time they faced their equals, something, he admitted, he had rarely done since Venice and Hungary. With uncertainty in his heart, Ibrahim prepared for one last battle, one last victory for the Empire.
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Thought I would give you a short post before things really got underway. A bit of a look into Antonio, and the situation in Italy. Hope you enjoyed reading.
King Carlos I of Spain was enraged when word finally reached him regarding the circumstances of the supposed destruction of his armada. What he thought was a naval disaster had actually been a victory, and just as the Spanish military had began to reorganize itself, he had surrendered his western Mediterranean holdings to the Greeks. As angry as he was at this development, however, he knew that to betray his recent peace agreement with the Empire would earn him the ire of Europe, and thus, he chose to bide his time until a chance to strike at his hated enemy revealed itself. Spanish General Antonio De Leyva, who had been denied a decisive victory of Ibrahim by this untimely peace, secretly decided to slowly distance himself from the King, and eventually break away from the Spanish military in general. Though Antonio did indeed love his homeland, Carlos’ foolish declaration of peace had caused him to begin lose faith in the current monarchy, and when Carlos chose to punish the noblemen that he himself had appointed to command positions for “their” failure, it was the final straw that broke the camels back in regards to Antonio’s loyalty.
Taking the remnants of the armada that remained loyal to him, Antonio fled to the Duchy of Parma where he began to increase his personal fame by telling of his battles with Ibrahim. Eventually he signed a Mercenary Contract with the Duke of Parma, and worked for a year as a general in the army, scoring a decisive victory over the rival Duchy of Tuscany, forcing them to grant the city of Siena independence. After his contract expired, he traveled Italy selling his services to the highest bitter. Work was never difficult to find, as the Italian city states constantly warred with one another, a fact De Leyva was all too happy to exploit. De Leyva would never give his contracts a complete victory over their rivals, in order to prevent one city state from becoming too powerful, thus causing his primary source of pay to dry up. De Leyva and his band of Mercenaries were one of, if not the most in demand contracts in Italy; hiring him was notoriously expensive, usually upwards of 50,000 thalers. As high as his cost was, he always made sure to give them their moneys worth, as long as it didn’t endanger the fragile balance of power in Italy, of course.
More wars were fought in Italy between the years of 1532 and 1537 than ever before in the peninsula’s history, which, gradually over time began to take its toll on the many duchies of the region. This was in no small part due to De Leyva himself, who would often use his considerable influence to instigate conflicts between city states. His second contract after Parma, for example, was with Alessandro de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence (Tuscany), the enemy he had helped Duke Pier Luige Farnese defeat only months earlier. However, as Antonio lined his pockets with the gold of Dukes and Princes, he slowly made Italy vulnerable to the ambitions of the Emperor in Constantinople. With the city states so weakened from fighting against one another, they could be easily picked off by the Empire one at a time.
By 1537, the Roman Empire had recovered from its losses against Spain and was ready to go on the offensive against the Italian city states. However, Emperor Ioannes IX would not live to see this, having passed away in 1535 at the age of 72. His son, Mikhael X Palaiologos succeeded him on the throne, and, following his fathers aggressive policy, began to amass an invasion force. Ibrahim, though old as he was, was selected to lead the conquest of Italy. Many sources, including Ibrahim’s personal journal, indicate that the aging Megas Domestikos had tried more than once to retire, but had been forced to continue his military career by the Emperor, who was unwilling to let his most capable General live in peace. Mikhael X knew that this was the largest offensive campaign undertaken by the Empire in over 1,000 years, and if it was not executed with the utmost care, it could leave the Imperial Army ruptured and prone, and the Empire bankrupt. Ibrahim had to lead the invasion.
Such a drastic invasion would also come at a great cost politically. The Emperor feared that the Catholic community would surely see it as an Orthodox invasion of Europe, and send support to the Italians. This would be the most probable situation in most cases, but recently there had been a major division in the Catholic Church, a “heretical” sect calling themselves “Protestants” had arisen in Germany within the past decade, and after the excommunication of their leader, Martin Luther by Pope Leo X, full war had erupted in Germany. Bands of peasants looted and sacked the homes of noblemen, nearly throwing the Holy Roman Empire into the chaos of a civil war. However, Luther’s condemnation of the atrocities committed by the peasant armies lead to the rebellion coming apart at the seams. Though the actual rebellion was over, a rapid Imperial invasion of Italy, and capture of Rome, could inspire Protestants in northern Germany to take up arms against their Catholic neighbors in the south, as they would hopefully see the expelling of the Pope from Rome as a divine message from God.
Relations between the Protestants and the Orthodox Church were fairly warm at the time, as Luther had acknowledged that they could find eternal salvation outside the Catholic Church. The Emperor decided to dispatch an emissary to track down Luther with an offer of allegiance, hoping to secure the support of the protestant rebels for the invasion of Italy. The emissary was told to offer Luther an opportunity to the expel the Pope from the Holy See of Rome once and for all, if only he create a “diversion” for the German and French Catholics who would surely attempt to intervene. The Emperor believed the German and French nobles to be so infested with greed, that they would easily choose to protect their property over their Church, and was confident of Luther’s acceptance.
He was shocked when Luther refused his offer, stating to his emissary that he would not be a tool of a worldly conqueror who would use his teachings as an excuse for invasion and war. Though enraged at his lack of respect, the Emperor could do little, and knew that the Empire would be on its own for this war. All he could do was hope for the best, and trust in Ibrahim, the Empire’s greatest general, to bring him victory one last time. He knew that the Empire would need to give this invasion everything it had, for it could very well find itself facing not only all of Italy, but the armies of France and Germany as well. Ibrahim was sent to Apulia to access the situation, and determine what the best course of action would be for the start of the invasion. Mikhael X was determined to make Italy his, and secure his place in history as one of the great Roman Emperors.
As Ibrahim sailed to Italy, he knew this would be a campaign fought on a scale unseen since the Hundred Years War. No longer were they facing technologically inferior foes, swords and bow against guns and canon, this time they faced their equals, something, he admitted, he had rarely done since Venice and Hungary. With uncertainty in his heart, Ibrahim prepared for one last battle, one last victory for the Empire.
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Thought I would give you a short post before things really got underway. A bit of a look into Antonio, and the situation in Italy. Hope you enjoyed reading.
Can't wait. By the way, once you take rome will you move the capital back there? Cause that would be a sick event.
Bah! The capital is and shall remain Constantinople, Second Rome, most magnificent city in the world. Choosing a re-re-conquest of Italy during the protestant reformation is a good idea, though. Hopefully Ibrahim will last a little longer, I'm getting worried about his age.hurricanehunter said: