lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 20, 2018 15:07:09 GMT
Interesting. Bad for the Poles as their both seeing a pretty brutal conquest and losing country of their country. However it could be that the Hapsburg's are going to suffer serious over-stretch as their likely to be public enemy No. 1 with such power. True they don't have the Spanish lands of OTL Charles V or their American colonies but with Poland, a claim to Hungary and their HRE lands their going to look very threatening to just about all their neighbours, as well as many of their 'subjects'. I think you mentioned possibly expanding the HRE to include Hungary [or at least those bits they hold) and Poland but how would that be done. Would it be creating new imperial circles and also would there be any new electors. [The latter may be doubtful as unless their clerical the new lands would have Hapsburg rules so would further concentrate power in their hands. However not doing so would leave those sizeable new lands without representation which would cause resentment]. Lithuania is large but I think relatively lightly populated. A lot of forests, marshes and relatively unsettled plains. As such their going to have serious problems paying the reparations the Hapsburg's are demanding. Which could be part of the plan, to keep them weak. That is indeed the case, but let's not forget that Philip the Handsome and his wife doesn't have children yet. Anything can happen between the current time and when Maximillian dies. As such, we could also see the HRE have a new dynasty as well, and unlike the Hapsburgs, the Hohenzollern family have plenty of children to put on the thrones of the HRE, Poland and Hungary. Realistically speaking, Poland and Hungary are too large to have a single elector, so I suspect that the HRE would split Poland into several electorate provinces: Lodomeria, Prussia, Poland proper and Mazovia. For Hungary, it would be split until three provinces: Nitra, Transylvania and Hungary proper. Also, you're also forgetting that the Ottomans might also take a chunk out of Hungarian territory too, like Croatia, the Sanjak of Temešvar and Syrmia, which would be added to Serbia. There is also the possibility of Transylvania breaking away from Hungary and joining the Ottomans as a vassal state, and it kinda happened with John Zapolya. So, lets say King Philip I of Poland dies before he has a heir to the throne, who get the Polish throne, might Sigismund try again ore his brother, we could have a Polish-Lithuania War on our hands. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 20, 2018 15:33:30 GMT
We could have a Second War of the Polish Succession on hand here, only it's Jagiellons vs Hohenzollerns .It would also depend on which candidate they choose for the throne. Let's not forget that both Sigismund and Alexander aren't married either and have no children, so that might have a major effect on Lithuania as well. There is also Frederik Jagiellon, but it is unsure as to whether he would be allowed to take the Lithuanian crown at all. Unfortunately he would die in 1503 as well.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on May 20, 2018 20:43:47 GMT
Interesting. Bad for the Poles as their both seeing a pretty brutal conquest and losing country of their country. However it could be that the Hapsburg's are going to suffer serious over-stretch as their likely to be public enemy No. 1 with such power. True they don't have the Spanish lands of OTL Charles V or their American colonies but with Poland, a claim to Hungary and their HRE lands their going to look very threatening to just about all their neighbours, as well as many of their 'subjects'. I think you mentioned possibly expanding the HRE to include Hungary [or at least those bits they hold) and Poland but how would that be done. Would it be creating new imperial circles and also would there be any new electors. [The latter may be doubtful as unless their clerical the new lands would have Hapsburg rules so would further concentrate power in their hands. However not doing so would leave those sizeable new lands without representation which would cause resentment]. Lithuania is large but I think relatively lightly populated. A lot of forests, marshes and relatively unsettled plains. As such their going to have serious problems paying the reparations the Hapsburg's are demanding. Which could be part of the plan, to keep them weak. That is indeed the case, but let's not forget that Philip the Handsome and his wife doesn't have children yet. Anything can happen between the current time and when Maximillian dies. As such, we could also see the HRE have a new dynasty as well, and unlike the Hapsburgs, the Hohenzollern family have plenty of children to put on the thrones of the HRE, Poland and Hungary. Realistically speaking, Poland and Hungary are too large to have a single elector, so I suspect that the HRE would split Poland into several electorate provinces: Lodomeria, Prussia, Poland proper and Mazovia. For Hungary, it would be split until three provinces: Nitra, Transylvania and Hungary proper. Also, you're also forgetting that the Ottomans might also take a chunk out of Hungarian territory too, like Croatia, the Sanjak of Temešvar and Syrmia, which would be added to Serbia. There is also the possibility of Transylvania breaking away from Hungary and joining the Ottomans as a vassal state, and it kinda happened with John Zapolya.
That would cause even more problems I suspect as your talking about pretty much doubling the number of electors. Unless you break up those territories into separate states under different dynasties, which would be somewhat less disruptive of the balance of power. Don't forget that the existing electors of the time, or even later when more were were added they only directly rules parts of the existing HRE.
I'm not forgetting that the Ottomans might well take chunks of Hungary but even if they take most of it, as OTL, the rump Hungary would be a significant addition to the empire - albeit possibly less than the costs of defending it against the Ottomans, but then whoever borders them will have problems until that empire is in clear decline.  However even if they lost all of it there would still be the problem of adding substantial Polish lands to the empire. Including presumably the at least partially Germanised Prussian territories. Not sure what has happened to them after the end of the war as the Teutonic Knights have ceased to be a factor. Are they now under the kingdom of Poland, under Brandenburg rule or something else?
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 20, 2018 20:54:45 GMT
Another realistically option to the potentially disruptive nature of the HRE would be to establish separate crowns in this case. A German crown, an Italian crown, a Polish crown and a Hungarian crown. Reducing the electors within the HRE itself might be inevitable if it might go the same way as OTL. OTL HRE had that problem with Charles V ruling both the Austrian and Spanish territories. However, there might also be an event where any loss of Hapsburg territory may be beneficial in the long run, and it might have something to do with a conflict that will take the place of the OTL Italian Wars. Which nation would gladly take advantage of the HRE's overreach? (Hint: it shares a border with it)
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stevep
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Post by stevep on May 20, 2018 22:14:03 GMT
Another realistically option to the potentially disruptive nature of the HRE would be to establish separate crowns in this case. A German crown, an Italian crown, a Polish crown and a Hungarian crown. Reducing the electors within the HRE itself might be inevitable if it might go the same way as OTL. OTL HRE had that problem with Charles V ruling both the Austrian and Spanish territories. However, there might also be an event where any loss of Hapsburg territory may be beneficial in the long run, and it might have something to do with a conflict that will take the place of the OTL Italian Wars. Which nation would gladly take advantage of the HRE's overreach? ( Hint: it shares a border with it)
At this point its not which but how many. France, Lithuania and the Ottomans are the obvious ones and Denmark/Calmar Union are likely to be a bit worried as well at the growing monster to their south. Even if they don't provide fertile ground for the coming 'reformation' as they did OTL.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 20, 2018 23:40:48 GMT
Another realistically option to the potentially disruptive nature of the HRE would be to establish separate crowns in this case. A German crown, an Italian crown, a Polish crown and a Hungarian crown. Reducing the electors within the HRE itself might be inevitable if it might go the same way as OTL. OTL HRE had that problem with Charles V ruling both the Austrian and Spanish territories. However, there might also be an event where any loss of Hapsburg territory may be beneficial in the long run, and it might have something to do with a conflict that will take the place of the OTL Italian Wars. Which nation would gladly take advantage of the HRE's overreach? ( Hint: it shares a border with it)
At this point its not which but how many. France, Lithuania and the Ottomans are the obvious ones and Denmark/Calmar Union are likely to be a bit worried as well at the growing monster to their south. Even if they don't provide fertile ground for the coming 'reformation' as they did OTL.
That is indeed true. Even Muscovy wouldn't want a stronger but super sized Holy Roman Empire at all (Maximillian pretty much ruined any hope of rapprochement between the Hapsburgs and Rurikids) and they don't share a border with the HRE itself. Out of the three nations that were listed in your post, France would be the most likely candidate due to longer recovery time from their disastrous Irish adventure, courtesy of their English pals, and Lithuania had just finished a succession war with the HRE. The Ottomans, as we will see in the next update that I'm making as we speak, would be taking advantage of the overreach for something else entirely. One other area that I will try to cover will be the aftermath of the Aq Qoyunlu's defeat at the hands of the Safavid-Shirvan alliance, and hopefully the Kazakhs. Yep, I'm doing an update on Central Asia as well as the Ottomans. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 21, 2018 22:01:13 GMT
Case Study #11: Ottoman Empire, Persia and Central Asia
In between 1494 and 1501, the Ottoman Empire had slowly gotten themselves into the meat grinder that was the Croatian conflict, imposed on them by a weak king with little legitimacy. The story of the Komoroglu clan was not unusual for its time, as various Croatian noble families faced two difficult choices of re-aligning themselves with the Hapsburgs or becoming Ottoman vassals. As was with their Serbian counterparts who became Turkish vassals, the Croatian noble families who submitted to Ottoman rule now became more important in the conflict against John Corvinus. In March of 1495 Zagreb was besieged by Gazi Husrev Beg's army while Sehzade Ahmet and Sehzade Korkut moved their forces towards the Adriatic, but another order from Sultan Bayezid II to Sehzade Korkut had instructed him to make his way towards the Republic of Ragusa. Sehzade Ahmet on the other hand, was given instructions to conquer the mountainous terrain of Dalmatia in order to acquire naval bases from which he can strike at the Italian Peninsula. Bayezid II's decision to attack Dalmatia however, had triggered a hostile reaction from the Republic of Venice, whose control of Dalmatia was rather shaky at its finest. In the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1495-1501, the Ottomans were more than just contesting land in the Adriatic and the Aegean Seas region: they were determined to expel any potential Venetian influence in the region that may give Ottoman Rumelia's Balkan subject any thoughts of rebellion. In addition, the Ottomans also expanded their navy through constructions of galleys in various Turkish coastal cities with the hope of taking on the might of Christian Europe. Venetian military forces were mostly naval, so they had to seek help from the other powers. The three Iberian kingdoms had just finished conquering Granada, and were in no condition to help. The Holy Roman Empire had also finished securing the Hungarian kingdom for Maximillian, and thus they couldn't help as well. While France was interested in helping, they were more concerned with courting England and keeping the Auld Alliance afloat. The rest of the Italian states could only send monetary support, meaning that Venice would have to expand its fleet in order to protect its possessions. Kemal Reis was an Ottoman admiral who made a name for himself in this conflict with Venice. Having worked in the Ottoman navy for most of his life, his appointment as the admiral of the Ottoman fleet by Bayezid II was crucial in his career, as he would be credited with most of the maritime victories won by the Ottomans. In fact, his first mission in the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1495-1501 was to support the ground invasion of Dalmatia undertaken by Sehzade Ahmet by providing naval support through bombardment of Dalmatian port cities. In the first few months between July and September of 1495, half of Dalmatia between Zadar and the border with the Ragusa Republic fell under Ottoman control. Unlike previous engagements between the Ottomans and their Christian enemies, their occupation of Dalmatia had a different approach. Because of their valuable position as a trading hub between the two sides of the Adriatic and their proximity to Venice itself, the Ottomans kept the existing structures in place, with the Venetian traders being evacuated to Venice while the Croatian inhabitants of Dalmatia became Ottoman subjects, subjected to the same restrictions as other Ottoman Christians living in Ottoman Rumelia. In fact, Mirko Kasun or Azad Komoroglu, the Croatian-born convert to Islam, was appointed as the advisor to the new Ottoman Sanjak Bey of Dalmacya, Hadim Suleiman Pasha. It was Kasun or Komoroglu who helped Hadim Suleiman Pasha with crafting the policies that protected the Croatian population of Dalmatia and even advocated for religious tolerance. It was said that the policies of both Komoroglu and Hadim Suleiman Pasha had allowed the Savonarolists who were based in France to set up a base in Dalmatia. A Friar Domenico, another one of Savonarola's friends who didn't leave France yet, was appointed as the new head of the Savonarolist movement in Dalmatia. Though his mission was to acquire followers from among the Croats of Dalmatia, the propagation of Savonarolian ideas also attracted a few Serbs who lived in the area. Dalmatia became the first region under Ottoman control to recognize the Savonarolist movement as a legitimate movement, but their presence in Dalmatia had only added the anger to the Papacy. It also added a bit of anger and irritation to the Patriarch of Constantinople because their message of piety and charity, along with advocating for challenging the traditions of that era would have threatened his position. The Orthodox Christians living under Ottoman rule were automatically lumped together into the Rum millet, under the control of the same Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. To have a movement that challenged their authority was intolerable, and even more so, to tie such a radical movement like Savonarolism (as the main branch of the Uniate movement eventually became known) to ethno-nationalist sentiments with historical grievances against the fallen Byzantine Empire (ie: Bulgarians, Serbs), it was practically a ticking time bomb waiting to explode into the Ottoman Empire. Christians in Bosnia, whether Catholic Croat or Orthodox Serb, eventually grew more receptive to the ideas that the Savonarolists of Dalmatia were preaching. A few of them made the journey into the Dalmatian mountains where Savonarolan missionaries began preaching. Among the Christians of Bosnia who made the journey was a religious priest from the town of Rudo by the name of Dmitrije Sokolovic. Dmitrije was fascinated by the ideas that the Savonarolists of Dalmatia were preaching that he even joined their group, taking his family along with him on their journey. Dmitrije, his family, and his close followers, started to build Savonarola villages along the Dalmatian coast, and some of its islands. Korcula, Makarska, Sibenik, Biograd na Moru and Zadar became the center of Savonarolist activity within Ottoman occupied Dalmatia, and a militia consisting of 3,000 locals were recruited to help the Ottomans with law enforcement, though their reputation slowly degraded since the other locals who didn't join them viewed the 3,000 local militiamen as collaborators who forsake the Christian faith. Yet at the same time these militiamen were diverse: Italians, Croats, Serbs, even a few Albanians, Bosnian Christians who were formerly Bogomilists, and Jewish converts to Christianity consisted of the Dalmatian militia. They aided Sehzade Ahmet in the subjugation of other parts of Dalmatia while the Ottoman navy made raids as far as Venice itself. The devastation of Venice contributed to its economic and social decline as Ottoman raids had disrupted Venetian mercantile trade with its neighbors. Unfortunately for the Ottomans, the Venetians were far from being beaten. Quite the opposite: it aroused anti-Muslim feeling in Europe, and buoyed by the recent Castilian-Aragonese-Portuguese victory over the Granadan Emirate, there were calls for a new Crusade against the Ottomans, but Pope Alexander VI was more concerned with the Savonarolists than the Ottoman menace. Venetian naval dominance was still strong, leading to several naval engagements between the two powers: Corfu (May 23-26, 1497), Modon (July 21, 1497), Herceg Novi (September 19, 1498, though it was a Venetian attempt to capture the town from the Ottomans) and the major victory that the Ottomans acquired was the Conquest of Naxos in February 14, 1499. The fall of Naxos also resulted in the other Greek islands around the Dodecanese region surrendering to Turkish control. However, the final years of the campaign between the Ottomans and the Venetians would take place in the Adriatic. By August of 1499, the Ottomans had landed troops in the vicinity of Rijeka and began the Siege of Rijeka. Rijeka at that time belonged to the short lived Kingdom of Croatia that was ruled by John Corvinus. His presence at Rijeka didn't raise the morale of the troops stationed there, and in fact a mutiny broke out in that city, which led to his murder at the hands of angry Croatian nobles who insisted on having Maximillian himself show up with the Black Army. A mixed Ottoman-Dalmatian force hastily built on orders from Azad Komoroglu and Hadim Suleiman Pasha was led by the former while the latter later joined Sehzade Korkut on their way to Zagreb. With the death of John Corvinus, the Croatian nobles responsible for his murder then turned on each other as they fought for the Croatian crown. The ensuing chaos would eventually lead to the rapid capture of Zagreb by September 23, 1499, as the Ottomans found the city in such a horrendous condition that Azad Komoroglu was appointed the provisional head of Zagreb. For his contributions to the development of the Dalmatian region and his expertise in anything related to Croatia, Bayezid II would bequeath him the rank of Bey in the same month. The fall of Croatia was the heavy price Maximillian paid for the acquisition of the Hungarian crown, which only made his determination to put Philip the Handsome on the throne of Poland a lot stronger. It also sent him into a collision course with Bayezid II directly as the Ottomans now controlled Slavonia, and were now within striking range of Vienna itself. Croats who now found themselves under Ottoman rule faced the similar conditions that their Bosnian and Serb neighbors faced when they were conquered by the Turkish forces that now control their land. Unlike the Serb Orthodox Christians who were lumped into the Rum Millet and were under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Croatian Catholics had a rather mixed status. Because they were Catholics of the Latin Rite, they cannot be lumped into the Rum Millet. Even worse, they began to face harsher persecutions due to their ties to the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. As a result, the Ottoman authorities quietly gave approval for increased efforts at making the Croatian Catholic Church independent of the Vatican and even allowed the Savonarolists to take up positions within the newly created Autocephalous Catholic Church of Croatia. The independent Croatian church became the first serious attempt at combining the practices of both Catholicism and Orthodoxy, but giving allegiance to neither the Vatican nor the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Many of the Croatian Savonarolists who lived in Savonarola villages were chosen to attend the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy for Higher Learning, but they wouldn't be able to attend until 1506, after the War of the Polish Succession had died down. --- While fears of the Georgian civil war was brewing, the fallout from the defeat of the Aq Qoyunlu at the hands of Ali Reza Safavi and his Shirvan allies was significant: Persian civilians who saw the decline of their overlords now began to champion for Ali Reza to liberate them from the oppressive rule of the declining Aq Qoyunlu. Moreover, the death of Gazi Beg in Kapan had resulted in Ali Reza taking control of the Shirvanshah, much to the protest of the late Gazi Beg's brothers who saw Ali Reza as a usurper. Fortunately, Ali Reza managed to kill his opponents quickly before they could gather more support. In December of 1498 the Safavids annexed the Shirvanshah and attached it to Ardabil, creating the core of what would become the Safavid Empire. Not wanting to stay idle, Ali Reza sent a Qizilbash military officer named Husayn Beg Shamlu on a cross-Caspian expedition to find a suitable place to build a new fortress and port to facilitate cross-Caspian trade and to set up a future base for the implementation of the Shia Muslim faith. In July of 1499 Husayn Beg Shamlu and 3,000 Qizilbash troops plus 5,000 Shirvan auxilliaries had landed on the mouth of the Amu-Darya River and declared it the first territory of the new Safavid state. He named the new settlement Alirezabad[1], in honor of Ali Reza, and gave orders for the construction of a new fort there. Another Qizilbash force landed further south and constructed another fort there on the settlement later named Celeken. Taking advantage of the internal turmoil that gripped the declining Timurid Empire, Alirezabad and Celeken became the first Safavid attempts at colonizing Central Asia, from which they would build their bases for the conquest of Persia. The two settlements also became the center of the Shia Muslim faith, with the construction of madrassas in addition to mosques staffed by Shia clerics invited by Ali Reza from all over the Middle East, primarily in eastern Mesopotamia and Khuzestan where the Musha'sha'iyah were the strongest. Invitation for all Shias living under Sunni Muslim rule, particularly in the Timurid and Ottoman territories were also extended, including the Persophone but Turkic looking ethnic group called the Hazaras. Descendants from Genghis Khan's armies who settled in Afghanistan, the Hazaras would eventually consist of one of the major ethnic groups that dominated the Safavid Empire, and an additional Hazara population would later be settled in the Ural River border area, courtesy of the Kazakh Khanate. In 1500, Ali Reza and several tens of thousands of soldiers, including Qizilbash, his own personal army and Dagestani auxilliaries, made their way to the important city of Tabriz. Just at the age of 19 (he was probably born in 1482), Ali Reza would launch an attack on the important economic hub of the Aq Qoyunlu, resulting in its fall within just three days from June 13, to June 16. Claiming the title Shah of Azerbaijan, he would consolidate his rule through stabilizing missions and proclaiming the Twelver School of Shia Islam as the main faith of the new Safavid state. However, he also allowed the Zaidiyyah and Ismaili sects to flourish within his territory, hoping to take from each school of Shia Islam every good points to create a brand new reformed Shia Muslim faith. Though Ali Reza Shah of Azerbaijan had under his rule the many diverse groups, such as the Azeris, Persians and other Circassian migrants who moved to his domains, he had to cultivate good relations with every one of them. For that matter, he began to integrate the Qizilbash and Persian soldiers into a single, cohesive unit with the hopes of forging a strong bond. Unfortunately, this solution posed a new set of problems, as the Qizilbash were mostly illiterate. Luckily the madrassas in Alirezabad and Celeken also invited most of the Qizilbash troops to learn how to read and write. Husayn Beg Shamlu himself was taught the Perso-Arabic script by an Ismaili imam who also knew the Azeri Turkic language in addition to Persian and Arabic. Finally, Ali Reza started to persecute the Sunni brotherhoods who dominated each Sufi order by forcefully converting them to Shia Islam or killing them outright. Ali Reza Shah, true to his word, respected the independence of the Georgian statelets and even supported in their endeavors to resurrect the Armenian state as a a debt of gratitude to the Armenians of the former Melikdom of Karabagh who fought against the Aq Qoyunlu. Between 1501 and 1505, Ali Reza Shah would launch a campaign to bring northern Persia under his control, and the campaign would take years to complete. In addition, Ali Reza Shah had taken for himself an Armenian noblewoman, who was the daughter of a minor noble who was among the slaughtered victims in the infamous Slaughter of the Meliks. Originally named Anush, she was converted to Shia Islam and adopted the name Faizura. Faizura Khanum, as contemporary sources named her, was surprisingly smart for a woman of her generation. She would be a moderating influence on Ali Reza Shah, just as her Jagiellon counterpart, Elizabeth Jagiellon, would have a moderating influence on Vasily III. In the midst of the northern Persian campaign, Faizura Khanum (1484-1567) would give him four children: - Rustam Mirza (1503-1548): the Crown Prince of Persia, Rustam Mirza was the oldest son, but he was tragically killed during the Persian campaign against the Baluchis to the south in 1548. - Soraya Khanum (1506-1573): the eldest daughter of Ali Reza Shah, she would eventually marry a son of Qasym Khan of the Kazakh Khanate. - Afsarara Khanum (1510-1513): another daughter who died in infancy. - Jahangir Mirza (1515-1578): Ali Reza Shah's successor as the Shah of Persia. It would be Jahangir Mirza who would initiate a groundbreaking pact with a European power: Muscovy. --- Kazakh Khanate – A New Power in Central Asia:
The Kazakh Khanate had arisen from the steppes of Central Asia to become the dominant regional power there. Initially a part of the Golden Horde, it later broke away from the Uzbek-led confederation under the command of the two brothers, Janibek and Kerei Khan. However, Kerei Khan had died first, leaving Janibek Khan as the sole leader of the Kazakh Khanate. The Kazakhs had for the first time, organized themselves into a single cohesive entity and were nominally Sunni Muslim until Khanzade Qasym 's fateful encounter with a Qizilbash soldier in Alirezabad. Khanzade Qasym was the son of Janibek Khan who would become influential in the cultural development of the Kazakh Khanate, as his partnership with the Safavids in Persia (established in 1511 during the early years of his successor Adiq Khan's reign) would inevitably bring in numerous Persian influences on his state, including Shia Islam. Muhammad Shaybani, the leader of the Uzbek Khanate, tightened his control of the remaining territories in the Khorasam region and viewed the emergence of the Safavid state as a dangerous rival for the control of all of Persia. Unlike the Safavids, the Kazakh Khanate would host a multitude of Muslim sects who co-existed with each other. Whether Sunni, Sufi or Shia, these sects of Islam had enriched the cultural diversity of the Kazakh Khanate. Ironically, the Kazakh Khanate would give refuge to Sunni Muslim refugees who fled from the forced conversion to Shia Islam at the hands of the Safavids. Their religious tolerance would also play a role in the hosting of several Christian communities within the state, especially Russian Orthodox Christian merchants based in the western provinces of the khanate. In fact, the Kazakh Khanate was so well organized that even the Muscovite state (and later Russian Tsardom) preferred to seek them as allies in their wars against the remaining Tatar states. Qasym's father, Janibek, had initially appointed his older son, Buryndyq, as the new khan of the Kazakhs but Qasym's military experience through wars with the Uzbeks made him more popular, as was their other brother, Khanzade Adiq. Ultimately, it was Khanzade Adiq who would succeed both of his brothers as the Khan of the Kazakhs. In April of 1502, Qasym led an army in the defense of Taraz against an Uzbek invasion force led by Muhammad Shaybani, another one of the Genghisids who was the descendant of Genghis Khan's eldest son Jochi. However, in the midst of the battle, Qasym was shot with an arrow right through his lung, killing him instantly. Though the Uzbeks would eventually conquer the city of Taraz, a month later Khanzade Adiq would retake the city and even move towards Tashkent, pillaging it until they were compelled to retreat. Sozak was established as the main capital of the Kazakh Khanate, and thanks to the plundered treasures taken from Tashkent, Khanzade Adiq would make Sozak the center of trade inside the Kazakh state. However in 1504 Adiq would authorize the construction of a new capital city, far from the reaches of the Uzbeks, but still economically competitive within the Silk Road area. A fort was built there, followed by a marketplace, a mosque, a madrassa and several relief stations for caravans to rest up. Situated along the Aral Sea, Adiq will name this new city Saray-Qasym [2], or Qasym's palace, in honor of his late brother. Saray-Qasym was built from 1504 until 1514 because of the difficulties in transporting resources needed to build the city. The same problem presented itself in the construction of another city called Saray-Janibek [3], but unlike Saray-Qasym, Saray-Janibek had an easier access to much needed resources. As a city located in the steppes, Saray-Janibek is well suited to become the agrarian center of the Kazakh Khanate, which persisted to this very day. These two new cities were linked to each other through the constructions of new roads and extensions of the Silk Road were also made possible, thereby allowing them to establish trade links with the other Tatar statelets and later on, the Grand Duchy of Muscovy. Trade caravans were relieved that they can sell their goods in those market places and it was also much easier to go through Saray-Qasym and Saray-Janibek than to go through Timurid territory in order to reach Europe. The Kazakh society was almost egalitarian in nature, partly due to their policy of religious tolerance and their nomadic lifestyle. Though sedentary lifestyle was difficult to accept, it gradually caught on. In the Kazakh Khanate, the Sunnis and Shias lived side by side, and within the Twelver School of Shia Islam, there was even a man who advocated for social and spiritual reform for Islam. Originally born in Shirvan but of Azeri Turkic origin, the reformer originally belonged to the Alevi school of thought. His name was Derbentolu Aybek Hodja (1463-1531), and his religious education was completed in southern Mesopotamia, under the watchful eye of the Musha'sha'iyah mullahs. Aybek Hodja had championed for a more progressive form of Islam that moves away from the heterodoxy of the Sunni and orthodoxy of the Shia faiths. However, one of his controversial statements made regarding the four caliphs was that while Muhammad had the authority to appoint a successor, the council had appointed Abu Bakr without any legitimacy at all. While this isn't meant to curse the other three first caliphs as was required in Shia Islam, the statement had aroused Sunni accusations of Aybek Hodja being a Shia sympathizer. Yet in another statement Aybek Hodja also said that the age and experience had to be taken into account, and that Muhammad's appointed successor Ali, was inexperienced and young and that the council that appointed Abu Bakr was necessary in order to prepare Ali for his role. Such a confusion had already complicated matters within the Islamic world. The Qizilbash soldiers who stayed in Alirezabad and Celeken eventually became permanent settlers there, spreading the Alevi faith, to which Aybek Hodja depended on for his ideas. Though it is naive to say that Aybek Hodja would have been the Islamic equivalent to Girolamo Savonarola, the stark difference is that under Islam, there was no corruption imbedded within the Sunni and Shia clerics, though intolerance remains a reality. Aybek Hodja's adoption of certain Alevi tenets, along with the policies and thoughts from the other Shia Muslim schools of thought, and mystic elements of Sufism had made the new movement called the Aybekki school of thought mostly a mix of Shia-Sufi faiths. The Aybekkis as their followers were known, had also watched their cousins in the Ottoman Empire, the Bektashis, develop their doctrines and were encouraged to come to the Kazakh Khanate in order to spread their influence. Aybek Hodza's daughter Gulnaz Khatun would eventually marry Adiq, from whom the union would give birth to three children: Nurasyl (1505-1567), Shamil (1508-1566) and Ayaulym (1511-1571). The growing influence of the Aybekki sect, along with the Kazakh Khanate's growing power, had made the other Tatar statelets and successor states to the former Khanate of the Golden Horde nervous and fearful that the sect would become popular in their own lands.  The first flag of the Kazakh Khanate. The Kazakhs changed their flag three times in their history.--- [1] Alirezabad is TTL's name for Turkmenbashy, Turkmenistan. It is also known at one time as Kyzyl-Su. [2] Saray-Qasym is TTL's name for Aralsk, Kazakhstan. [3] Saray-Janibek is TTL's name for Shalkar, Kazakhstan
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 25, 2018 5:14:56 GMT
Case Study #12: Eastern Europe
Lithuania after the War of the Polish Succession was left weakened with a huge war indemnity to pay to the Holy Roman Empire Totaling around 3 million ducats, the Lithuanian senate realized that such a huge amount of reparations will take almost a hundred years to pay off, and with a smaller population than their Polish neighbors, Lithuania is hard pressed to rebuild itself. On the other hand, Muscovy has received an extremely rude awakening to the reality it faced when it sent volunteers to help prop up the Jagiellons: unless they press forward with their reforms, Muscovy will find itself left behind by ten to a hundred years. The separation of Poland and Lithuania had caused more economic hardships for the Lithuanians, but the ones who were mostly affected were the Byelorussian and Ruthenian/Ukrainian subjects of the now-declared Lithuanian Kingdom. Their hard won conquests in the region of Prussia was sadly reversed with the 1504 Treaty of Warsaw when Maximillian insisted that the lands formerly belonging to the Teutonic Order were to be ceded to the Holy Roman Empire, from which they would create a new state called the “Duchy of Prussia”, under the rule of Albert von Hohenzollern. For a while the Prussian state managed to establish itself throughout its existence until the realization that the Teutonic Order had in fact given up their lands by the previous Grand Master's decision to evacuate to Saxony had forced Maximillian to reconsider. So while Poland was allowed to keep its conquered Prussian lands, they had to allow the expelled Germans who were kicked out of their homes to come back, often expelling the Poles who took their homes in exchange.
At the same time, another problem had arisen from the acquisition of the Polish crown on behalf of Philip the Handsome: the decentralized nature of the Holy Roman Empire itself had resulted in a large amount of electors who chose a new emperor every time the previous emperor dies. The status of the Free Cities had also made it harder to administer, so in 1505 the Reichsreform was introduced. Maximillian had originally wanted to introduce it back in 1495 but the recent acquisition of the Hungarian crown forced him to delay, and the recent acquisition of the Polish crown had added yet another delay. Luckily, the delays had given Maximillian enough time to come up with a new centralization plan that would eventually solve the problems caused by decentralization. Thus in one of the Reichsreforms of 1505, Maximillian's proposed semi-centralization of the HRE would be as follows:
- The new establishment of Imperial Circles consisting of: the Saxon Circle (Lower and Upper Saxon merged together), the Netherlands Circle (Lower and Upper Netherlands), the Rhineland Circle (both the Westphalian and Upper Rhenish Circle merged together, although a later Reichsreform in 1515 would split it into the Upper Rhineland and Lower Rhineland Circles), the Swabian Circle, the Austrian Circle, and the Greater Bavarian Circle (Bavarian and Franconian Circle merged together).
- A Perpetual Peace that outlawed feuds as a part of the conflict resolution methods that were often used during medieval times. The Imperial Judicial system would be overhauled to meet the increasing demands of court settlements from feuding families now affected by the Perpetual Peace.
- The lands belonging to the Polish and Hungarian crowns would have their affairs taken care of by the Saxon and Austrian Circles, respectively. As Maximillian realized the potential problems of ruling the HRE, Poland, and Hungary at the same time, the marriages between the Houses of Hapsburg and Hohenzollern would allow the ascendance of the Hohenzollerns should the House of Hapsburg become extinct (ie: if Philip the Handsome died without siring any children at all, the next heir in line would either be Duke Casimir or Duke Georg). Thus the Edict of Dresden made in July of 1505 declared the Hohenzollern family as the potential successors to the Hapsburgs should they become extinct.
- Religious tolerance for the Jews living within the Holy Roman Empire would be extended, and invitations for the Jews from the Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Hungary to settle within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire would be extended. This would also allow the Jews to gain prominent positions within the Holy Roman Empire, as well as to allow them to govern the HRE's finances.
- The establishment of additional Imperial Circles to help administer the Italian territories under its control: the Padanian Circle (Po River valley region), the Ligurian Circle (lands surrounding the Ligurian Sea) and the Holy See (the autonomous Papal States under the direct jurisdiction of the Roman Pope). In 1578, the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, both of which were under the personal union of the Crown of Aragon, would be transferred to the Holy Roman Empire in exchange for recognition of the Viceroyalty of San Lazaro as a separate portion of the Spanish Empire.
The Reichsreform also allowed Maximillian to ease up on the collection of taxes and the recruitment of soldiers into the army. A unified Holy Roman Army was established with the Imperial Circles being in charge of the soldiers from those areas. For example, a Bavarian army would consists of troops from the Bavarian circle, and troops from the Franconian region would be under the jurisdiction of the Bavarian circle. In addition, the Reichsreform officially outlawed the Savonarolan sect and Maximillian would be given Papal approval by the Pope to call for new crusades, either against the Ottomans, the Muscovite-Lithuanian alliance or the Savonarolists themselves. In effect, Maximillian would introduce the Inquisition to the territories of the Holy Roman Empire, and in what became known as the Era of the Great Bloodshed, over 19,000 dissident Catholics who opposed the Pope would be murdered, between 1505 and 1525. Reformist minded clergymen were not spared from the carnage, and heretical sects were subjected to the worst torture of all: impalement, being drawn and quartered and beheadings. Some of the German dissident Catholics who managed to evade the Inquisition found refuge in the Kalmar Union, France, England and in Lithuania where some of them who worked as teachers would eventually help establish different universities in other parts of Lithuania and Muscovy.
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Kalmar Union – The Great Alliance:
The Kalmar Union was among one of the two European nations to establish relations with the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, and unlike the Holy Roman Empire, the Kalmar Union had continued to maintain diplomatic ties with Muscovy, even after they transformed into the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. Back in 1496, Ivan III of Moscow had imprisoned the merchants belonging to the Hanseatic League and was pressured by John of Denmark to start a war against the Swedish rebels, to which Muscovy agreed. Yet the promised territories that was assigned to Muscovy was in fact denied to them by the Kalmar Union. The breach of the Concert of Budapest had complicated matters because of Vasily Ivanovich's marriage to Elizabeth Jagiellon, and the subsequent growing ties between the Jagiellons and the Rurikids. At the same time, various Danish nobles and even his eldest surviving son, Christian of Oldenburg, who eventually became Christian II of Denmark, was displeased with his father's broken promise made to Muscovy and led a negotiation team to Muscovy where the Danish and Muscovite delegates worked out on details regarding the territories that was originally promised to the Muscovites in exchange for their support in cracking down on the Swedish separatists. In another blockbuster deal that was reminiscent of the deal made between Muscovy and the former Polish-Lithuanian union, Ivan III agreed to hand over his daughter Helena's hand in marriage to Prince Christian. Another segment of the deal stated that Helena isn't required to convert to Catholicism and her children would be free to choose which religion they wanted to be raised as. Though Helena was five years older than Christian, the marriage was a strategic move that cemented another great alliance: the one between Denmark and Muscovy, later on Russia.
In addition to the declining power of the Kalmar Union, Denmark had also strengthened its alliance with France in the face of the growing power of the Holy Roman Empire. In fact, it was because of Prince Christian's initiative that the English and French envoys would be sent to help establish diplomatic ties with the Muscovite state. By 1515, both England and France would eventually build diplomatic missions within Muscovite territory. There were also talks of trade treaties between the three nations, but the main problem was the lack of access to Muscovy from either England or France, but Denmark certainly did have a common border with them. By 1521, Danish tradesmen, English merchants and French shipbuilders would expand the Muscovite port of Kola as the only port in the Arctic. Meanwhile, Sweden's pro-independence factions began to organize themselves politically and militarily as the clashes with Muscovy had demonstrated to them that neither the Muscovites nor the Danes would be willing to give them independence. Thus back in 1503, Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, would travel to the Holy Roman Empire to seek an audience with Maximillian, who saw the Swedes as another potential ally in the struggles within the Catholic Church. In a meeting in Lubeck, Sten Sture and Maximillian had discussed a series of issues that they themselves felt needed to be addressed, namely the spread of Savonarolist heresies in Denmark (thanks to the Franco-Danish informal alliance there) and Sweden's decision should they become independent, to stick with the Catholic Church. It was even suggested that the current Archbishop of Uppsala, Gustav Trolle, should become the Bishop-Prince of Sweden until a suitable candidate would be selected. However, Maximillian also suggested the candidate for the Swedish throne would come from the House of Hohenzollern, as they have more chances of installing princes into various thrones, as opposed to the House of Hapsburg.
Denmark's unique position as the gateway between the North and Baltic Seas meant that it is able to control the flow of maritime trade that goes through the Danish straits wedged by the islands of Zealand (where the capital Copenhagen is located) and Funen. As a result, it has been able to levy an extra fee on merchant ships seeking to cross through the Danish straits in either direction while carrying their goods. Moreover, its control of Norway also allowed the Danes to annex the territories of Greenland and Iceland, placing it under direct Danish rule. Overall, its growing mercantile culture would also play a pivotal role in the modernizing economies of Europe in centuries to come. At the same time, its border with the Holy Roman Empire is heavily fortified: the territories of Schleswig-Holstein is under Danish rule but is claimed by the HRE. Furthermore, Denmark's own territorial design on the Holy Roman Empire wasn't helping with the growing anti-Hapsburg crisis since the acquisition of the Polish crown meant that the HRE is now surrounded by enemies on all sides. Thus it is odd that Denmark would find itself being grouped together with France and the Ottoman Empire in the anti-Hapsburg camp. In addition, the Pact of Ravenna's provisions was later revised in 1517 to include any anti-Catholic power with designs on Imperial territory.
In what is becoming known as the Great Alliance, it was Denmark who initiated it in 1507 with the signing of the GA treaty in Copenhagen on April 4, with England, France and Denmark as the signatories of this alliance. Muscovy would join this alliance in 1510, making it one of the most ambitious geopolitical alliances made in the Early Modern Era. The Pact of Ravenna responded by admitting Philip the Handsome's Polish domain three months later, expanding the pro-Catholic alliance further, while in 1512 a surprising addition was made to the Pact of Ravenna: James IV's Kingdom of Scotland, who had grown rather disillusioned with the growing alliance between England and France, as well as its victories over them in Ireland. The two opposing sides became entrenched in the earlier form of a cold war, where covert actions dominated the geopolitical struggle instead of open warfare. The Savonarolists who gradually acquired all positions of power in the member states of the Grand Alliance had fully expanded the Savonarola villages to the entire alliance. Problems that led to various peasant revolts were tackled effectively, allowing the peasants to produce more crops to sell and give to their landlords as payment in lieu of money. Denmark's unforgivable weather conditions in its Norwegian, Icelandic and Greenlandic territories forced them to rely on fishing as their main industry, though in the 1600s whaling also became a popular form of industry. In the area of mercantile trade, Denmark had taught Muscovy how to negotiate trade treaties with other nations, as well as introducing them to the art of shipbuilding. Because both Denmark and Muscovy are closer to the Arctic, polar sailing techniques were jointly conducted in the port of Kola and the trading post of Mangazeya. The Arctic sailing techniques that both nations developed eventually became useful for their later explorations. For Denmark, it helped them explore and locate the fabled Northwest Passage, a western route to Asia. For Muscovy, it helped them navigate and chart the northern coasts of the vast Siberian lands that would later be claimed and colonized by the succeeding Russian Tsardom.
The expanding relations between Denmark and Russia had garnered panic and hostility on the part of the fledgling Swedish independence movement, who now believed that only the Holy Roman Empire would be able to help them secure their independence. Among the leaders of the Swedish independence movement was the Archbishop of Uppsala, Gustav Trolle. Initially a believer in the unity of the Kalmar Union, he changed his mind once Denmark began to give refuge to the English Lollards and the Italian Savonarolists who didn't flee to France. In 1508, Denmark officially became the first country to give political asylum to prominent Scottish Christian reformists who were fleeing from James IV's increasingly anti-reformist state. In fact, Gustav Trolle and James IV of Scotland advocated for closer relations with the Holy Roman Empire as a result of the growing tide of anti-Papal anger and the popularity of Savonarola's ideas. Swedish Christians in favor of religious reform were forced to move to Denmark, while Danish anti-reformist Catholics moved in the other direction. The decline of the Kalmar Union also contributed to the language development of the Danish and Swedish language respectively, and with it, the connection between religion and ethnicity. Danes now began to see themselves as Danes with the Reformed Christian faith (as the Uniate faith was called in its earliest days), while Swedes began to see their nation as one that is tied to the Catholic Church. The Dano-Swede split also had an effect on the other two Scandinavian entities, Norway and Finland. Finns who were a part of Sweden were subjected to assimilationist policies imposed on them by the Swedes, while Norway was torn apart between Catholics and Reformists. The final nail in the coffin of the Kalmar Union would be struck when in 1510 a riot occurred in Oslo where Norwegian Catholics were involved in a theological argument with the Reformists. One of the overzealous reformists struck a Catholic parishioner with a blunt object, causing him to die. Ten Catholics lynched five Reformists in return, escalating the conflict further until the gendarmes were called in to stop the fight. In what became known as the Oslo Bloodbath, thirty Catholics and fifty pro-Savonarolists were murdered. The event happened on November 10, 1510. A similar event happened in Finland, but under different circumstances.
Finland's pressure to succumb to Swedish cultural integration had resulted in an enormous backlash as the Finns feared the loss of their language and ethnic identity once they accepted the offer for cultural integration into Swedish society. Although the Finns had been devout Catholics, some of the Finns began to question some aspects of their faith. However, Finland was the last country to become influenced by Savonarolan ideas as they took in the Savonarolists who lived in Denmark between 1510 and 1525. Additionally, Finland was also influenced by the events taking place in neighboring Muscovy and the Kingdom of Lithuania, where the main source of educational reforms were also taking place. Lithuania's batch of university students who were educated at the Polachak-Brudzewski Royal Academy of Higher Learning would go on to establish several more universities throughout Lithuania and Muscovy. Finnish students like Erik Fleming were sent to the school mentioned above for higher learning, and it was he who would build Finland's first university modeled on the one in Polotsk and its spiritual ancestor, the Cracow University. In 1513, work was started on the building of the Helsinki-Fleming National Academy, and the first teaching staff there was educated in Polotsk. Erik Fleming would eventually become the first headmaster of Helsinki-Fleming National Academy, and that academy would create future Finnish leaders like Erik Sorolainen [1], who would rise to become the first Prince of Finland (then King of Finland).
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[1] Erik Sorolainen IOTL was the Bishop of Turku.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 25, 2018 7:35:37 GMT
Case Study #12: Eastern Europe
Lithuania after the War of the Polish Succession was left weakened with a huge war indemnity to pay to the Holy Roman Empire Totaling around 3 million ducats Nice update TheRomanSlayer, question, looking at google i found that many ducats where made of gold, is this the case here as well. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on May 25, 2018 11:23:01 GMT
TRS
Interesting update. A couple of questions with the changes in the HRE. a) I'm rather surprised the various regional rulers weren't massively up in arms about this as they greatly valued their independence and it sounds like a lot of this is being lost with the centralising of power. OTL even the Papacy were giving some tacit support to the anto-Hapsburg forces in the 30YW as they didn't want them becoming too powerful. Also I think a reason why many lords supported the reformation, as well as the ability it gave to seize church estates, was to help secure their power against both empire and pope. As such I'm wondering if there isn't going to be a hell of a lot of unrest at some point.
b) With the reference to the difficult of ruling HRE, Poland and Hungary and to the ruling that allowed the Hohenzollern to become their potential successors if the Hapsburg line became extinct, is that talking only about Poland, if Philip died without heirs or the entire Hapsburg empire? I doubt the line would become entirely extinct so assuming the former but just to clarify.
Can see a big war brewing in the not too distant future as the two blocs are increasingly locked into combat. Spain seems to be the only substantial Christian power not in either bloc although for reasons of geography and religion its likely to side with the Hapsburgs. [Although there could be some resentment at the loss of their rich and strategically very useful lands in Italy]. Plus Venice and Milan and some of the other Italian states are likely to be concerned at the current imperial-papal alliance. Would be ironic given their long rivalry to see an Ottoman-Venician alliance but sounds quite possible.
I get the feeling that Denmark could well be the big player in OTL Canada at least, although the NW passage isn't likely to be very useful to them, especially with the ongoing Little Ice Age. They also face the danger, having such a close border with the HRE and also dissent in Sweden, possibly also in Norway that they could end up being worn down by this conflict. .
Are there any other 'protestant' reformers other than the Savonarolists? Just as there were Calvinists and assorted other sects OTL along with the original Lutheran rebels/reformers. I would also expect there would be some unrest in the regions their gaining influence. Possibly less by ordinary people as they seem to be doing fairly well out of the economic and social reforms, although the Catholic church is likely to have some influence, but more from the lords and barons who feel their position is being undermined. You probably said but what is happening with clerical lands in the Savonarolists controlled areas please?
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 25, 2018 14:53:07 GMT
Case Study #12: Eastern Europe
Lithuania after the War of the Polish Succession was left weakened with a huge war indemnity to pay to the Holy Roman Empire Totaling around 3 million ducats Nice update TheRomanSlayer , question, looking at google i found that many ducats where made of gold, is this the case here as well. Yep, since it's the only thing that I can think of for the currency of the Early Modern Era so far. TRS
Interesting update. A couple of questions with the changes in the HRE. a) I'm rather surprised the various regional rulers weren't massively up in arms about this as they greatly valued their independence and it sounds like a lot of this is being lost with the centralising of power. OTL even the Papacy were giving some tacit support to the anto-Hapsburg forces in the 30YW as they didn't want them becoming too powerful. Also I think a reason why many lords supported the reformation, as well as the ability it gave to seize church estates, was to help secure their power against both empire and pope. As such I'm wondering if there isn't going to be a hell of a lot of unrest at some point.
b) With the reference to the difficult of ruling HRE, Poland and Hungary and to the ruling that allowed the Hohenzollern to become their potential successors if the Hapsburg line became extinct, is that talking only about Poland, if Philip died without heirs or the entire Hapsburg empire? I doubt the line would become entirely extinct so assuming the former but just to clarify.
Can see a big war brewing in the not too distant future as the two blocs are increasingly locked into combat. Spain seems to be the only substantial Christian power not in either bloc although for reasons of geography and religion its likely to side with the Hapsburgs. [Although there could be some resentment at the loss of their rich and strategically very useful lands in Italy]. Plus Venice and Milan and some of the other Italian states are likely to be concerned at the current imperial-papal alliance. Would be ironic given their long rivalry to see an Ottoman-Venician alliance but sounds quite possible.
I get the feeling that Denmark could well be the big player in OTL Canada at least, although the NW passage isn't likely to be very useful to them, especially with the ongoing Little Ice Age. They also face the danger, having such a close border with the HRE and also dissent in Sweden, possibly also in Norway that they could end up being worn down by this conflict. .
Are there any other 'protestant' reformers other than the Savonarolists? Just as there were Calvinists and assorted other sects OTL along with the original Lutheran rebels/reformers. I would also expect there would be some unrest in the regions their gaining influence. Possibly less by ordinary people as they seem to be doing fairly well out of the economic and social reforms, although the Catholic church is likely to have some influence, but more from the lords and barons who feel their position is being undermined. You probably said but what is happening with clerical lands in the Savonarolists controlled areas please?
A) As we will see soon enough, there are a lot of regional rulers who wouldn't be happy with this kind of arrangement. Although TTL's Reichsreform is a crude attempt at federalization of the Holy Roman Empire, there are also factions that would still oppose this kind of move. The Swiss in particular, would be most unhappy with this kind of arrangement, as well as certain regions of the Low Countries. It is exactly this kind of unhappiness that France and Denmark would exploit to its fullest. B) The entire HRE. Let's keep in mind that Maximillian has only one son, and everything hinges upon the survival of Philip the Handsome. Knowing the Early Modern Era, I would suspect that any wrong turn could result in the extinction of the Hapsburgs and the rise of the Hohenzollerns. As I did mention earlier, Spain is in a bloc, the Pact of Ravenna to be exact, although they're still the 'three Iberian kingdoms of Aragon, Castile and Portugal'. On the other hand, we won't see an Ottoman-Venetian alliance arise anytime in the future due to the Ottoman invasions of Dalmatia and other territories that Venice holds. As a matter of fact, Venice might start looking at forming partnerships with the other Italian states that harbor anti-Turkish sentiments. Genoa and Venice might be possible partners, although another area that would be explored will be a partnership between Venice and the Two Sicilies (Sicily and Naples). Or alternatively, Sardinia and Venice would be the nucleus of a Po River valley based nation that would act as the Italian equivalent of OTL Kingdom of Prussia. C) Yep, and with Denmark wedged between two hostile Catholic powers in this case, it is only a matter of time before they are invaded. In this case, Denmark might actually become a bit more militaristic as they would expand their army and navy to defend themselves from both the Swedes and the HRE. However, I did give a hint at a possible independence of Finland, seeing as there aren't any TLs that feature an early independent Finland. D) So far, we've seen only the Savonarolists and Lollards leading the Reformation, although in the future we may also see other reformists creating their own school of thought, so to speak. William Tyndale, who may or may not exist ITTL, would be the more radical of the Savonarolists, and we might even see the Savonarolan movement branch out further as Savonarola in this case would grow old and die at some point. There may be some unrest in areas under Savonarolan control, which would come most likely from the Catholic Church and rich landowners unwilling to part with their land. IOTL Maximus the Greek had opposed ecclesiastical ownership of property, so ITTL the Savonarolists would be the major backer of the king's confiscation of Church lands, which would definitely lead to a civil war. As we will see soon enough, we will cover the land issue. However, there are places that I've neglected for an update, namely the Caucasus and the Far East. I will also focus more on what's happening in Mongolia and China, especially since the Northern Yuan is still gathering steam. However, I'm also aiming for a Yuan restoration that would be a better alternative to either the Shun or the Qing. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on May 26, 2018 10:03:25 GMT
TRS
Hell I forgot that the Swiss were still technically part of the HRE at this point. They definitely wouldn't be happy with a more centralised state and still have some pretty formidable forces in their pike units at this point.
Not sure about the Low Countries as much if the empire hasn't infringed on their rights as much, especially with an unfriendly [to the emperor anyway] France next door. Mind you those reforms might be the trigger.
As you mention one thing that might keep the assorted nobles in line is that Savonarolists land reform sounds like it threatens their estates as much as the churches whereas OTL Lutheran reforms, which enabled nobles to seize church lands made it attractive to a lot of them. So the empire may have less problems with nobles this way.
Forgot that the Turks were attacking Dalmatian lands as well, plus probably any remaining Venician colonies in the Greek islands. That is a major barrier to any such alliance.
Didn't realise the Hapsburg's were so near to at least the male line dying out. Only takes one accident or knife in the back and the Hohenzollerns gaining dominance of the empire, which could of course be attractive to some of the latter. Doesn't Philip have any sisters who might marry and their husbands could claim some of their lands? After all in 1740 the dynasty technically became the house of Lorraine-Hapsburg.
Mind you even if the Hohenzollerns inherited all the Hapsburg lands, which would give them a number of the electorates, it wouldn't necessary make them automatically emperors. [Although given the religious situation the bishoprics would very likely vote for their succession to the throne.]
Looking forward to seeing developments elsewhere. Apart from anything else looks like the Caucasian Christians might have a better time of it here, at least for the moment. A Yuan restoration sounds interesting and might result in a more open, but possibly more expansive as well, China.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 26, 2018 19:56:50 GMT
TRS Hell I forgot that the Swiss were still technically part of the HRE at this point. They definitely wouldn't be happy with a more centralised state and still have some pretty formidable forces in their pike units at this point. Not sure about the Low Countries as much if the empire hasn't infringed on their rights as much, especially with an unfriendly [to the emperor anyway] France next door. Mind you those reforms might be the trigger. As you mention one thing that might keep the assorted nobles in line is that Savonarolists land reform sounds like it threatens their estates as much as the churches whereas OTL Lutheran reforms, which enabled nobles to seize church lands made it attractive to a lot of them. So the empire may have less problems with nobles this way. Forgot that the Turks were attacking Dalmatian lands as well, plus probably any remaining Venician colonies in the Greek islands. That is a major barrier to any such alliance. Didn't realise the Hapsburg's were so near to at least the male line dying out. Only takes one accident or knife in the back and the Hohenzollerns gaining dominance of the empire, which could of course be attractive to some of the latter. Doesn't Philip have any sisters who might marry and their husbands could claim some of their lands? After all in 1740 the dynasty technically became the house of Lorraine-Hapsburg. Mind you even if the Hohenzollerns inherited all the Hapsburg lands, which would give them a number of the electorates, it wouldn't necessary make them automatically emperors. [Although given the religious situation the bishoprics would very likely vote for their succession to the throne.] Looking forward to seeing developments elsewhere. Apart from anything else looks like the Caucasian Christians might have a better time of it here, at least for the moment. A Yuan restoration sounds interesting and might result in a more open, but possibly more expansive as well, China. That is true, and if there is to be a conflict between the HRE and the Swiss, it would be extremely bloody indeed. Good points on the Low Countries, especially if France might exploit the situation to expand at the HRE's expense. Even England might also help out in undermining the HRE as well, though the Hapsburgs might also prod the Scots into invading some of England's northern territories as well. The nobles and the Church inside the HRE who are both landowners would have a good reason to feel nervous about Savonarolists and their demands that the rulers of their respective domains be allowed to take away their lands, and would launch any potential reprisal against the Savonarolists. However, the Holy Roman Emperor might not be keen on seizing Church lands just yet. Let us not forget that even the HRE (especially Austria) might also be tempted to take Venice out of the equation as to prevent the Ottomans from capturing the Venetian heartland. Such a feat might give the Austrian portion of the HRE access to the Adriatic, but it might also cause panic within the Italian states because of Austrian expansion at their expense. Maximillian doesn't have a lot of children though: Margaret of Austria, who was supposed to marry Charles VIII of France IOTL, is married to Philibert of Savoy. Other than that, the House of Savoy might become a surprising contender for the throne of the HRE, but they have a slim chance compared to the Hohenzollerns, Wittlesbachs or Wettins. The Caucasus will have a massive development due to the absence of Ismail of the Safavids because his older brother is alive and well. IOTL Ismail vassalized most of Georgia and conquered Armenia, creating a negative development there. Here, not only we will see a resurrected Armenian state that will attract most of the Armenian diaspora to return to their homeland, but it might also give Georgia a chance to stay alive. When Muscovy will be on its way to become Russia, the power dynamics in the Caucasus will be huge. Coupled with what is happening in Lithuania and we will have a huge Orthodox/Uniate bloc from the Arctic to Mount Ararat. And as we will see in the next update, there is one younger son of the Hongzhi Emperor of the Ming who will survive. That alone would be a massive change in the history of the Ming Dynasty as well, plus if I have some time, I will briefly cover Korea and Japan. Korea is also going through a turbulent phase in this time period, and the rise of Seongjong of Joseon will also be highlighted. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on May 27, 2018 0:31:49 GMT
Case Study #13: The Caucasus and the Far East
Although Persia was on its way to resurrection following the victory of Ali Reza Safavi against the Aq Qoyunlu, unresolved issues remained unsolved in the Georgian statelets. The Three Georgian Kingdoms Period, as it was known in Georgia and Armenia, had its origins in the War of the Kartlian Succession when it erupted in 1498. The main reason for that succession war was because of Alexander I of Kakheti's death during the campaign against the Aq Qoyunlu in Shusha and the seizure of the Kakhetian throne by his infamous son, George II, or George the Kinslayer. David X of Kartli prepared his nation for the inevitable civil war that would change the fate of the entire Caucasus region. Although the regions of Circassia was left untouched during this period, three main contenders fighting for control of all of Georgia arose to court the Circassians: David X of Kartli, George II of Kakheti and Kaikhosro I Jaqeli of Samtskhe. Kaikhosro I Jaqeli came to power in 1498 after his father Qvarqvare II Jaqeli had died. In addition, Alexander II of Imereti also had ambitions to reunite the Georgian lands but found himself confronted by David X of Kartli. It is also worth noting that during the campaign against the Aq Qoyunlu in Karabagh, the previous king of Georgia, Constantine II, was also killed in this fight. Both the fledgling Safavid state and the Ottomans watched the conflict with interest as they waited to see who would emerge victorious.
Surprisingly, it was David X of Kartli who launched the first attack against George II of Kakheti when he launched an attack on Telavi, the main stronghold of Kakheti. The attack began on May 21st, 1498, with 12,000 Kartlian troops against 9,000 Kakhetian defenders of the city. Taking advantage of their mountainous barrier, the Kakhetian defenders laid traps to impede the Kartlian advance into their city. George II had surprisingly put up a fierce resistance to the city, which withstood the siege after just five days of siege. Though Kartli was slow to reinforce its armies, Kakheti managed to fortify most of its cities. Thus George II's strategy of forcing David X of Kartli to expend his resources on taking every single fortress in his domain would work well for him. In addition to the fortresses, George II also recruited a small but effective amount of irregular troops who actually carried out the guerrilla warfare in the mountains. It was these guerrillas who made life difficult for the Kartlians whenever they advanced into a village, a river, a valley or a mountain pass. Casualties among the Kartlians reached 3,000, mainly through these attacks. Once the Kartlians had decided to retreat, George II decided to launch his offensive. By January 6, 1499, the Kakhetians finally moved against the Kartlians by attacking the border village of Satischala, which they managed to take after just twenty hours of fighting. However, like his Kakhetian enemy, David X of Kartli opted to fortify most of his cities in order to slow him down, and George II of Kakheti realized this too well when he lost over 3,500 regular troops during the advance on the village of Vaziani. Tblisi was well fortified at this point, but David X of Kartli also kept an eye for any potential Imeretian incursions into his domains. While Alexander II of Imereti wanted to join in the war against David X of Kartli, he wasn't comfortable letting George II of Kakheti take over all of Kartli, and so he decided to keep his forces in reserve in case things went awful.
Unlike most of the wars of successions that Europe has seen so far, the War of the Kartlian Succession only lasted for a year and a half. The main reason for that was because George II of Kakheti had made promises of restoring the unity of the Georgian nation-state after he dispatched all of his rivals. When it appears that the Kakhetians would emerge victorious, Ali Reza Safavi had sent him a message, giving him support in any future diplomatic tussles involving a third party. Thus in March of 1499 the Georgian-Persian Treaty of Diplomatic Relations was officially signed, with Persia, or rather, the Safavid state of northern Persia, recognizing the independence of Kakheti, as well as the recognition of George II of Kakheti as the rightful king of the reunited Georgian lands. Not wanting to be upstaged by the Safavids, Sultan Bayezid had sent an envoy to Alexander II of Imereti, promising him aid in exchange for an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. Seizing on the potential loss of Imereti to the hated Turks, George II of Kakheti would make plans for war with the Imeretians after he disposed of David X of Kartli. Two months after Kakheti and the Safavids established diplomatic ties, George II would besiege the Kartlian capital of Tblisi. The Siege of Tblisi, from May 19th to July 15th, was the bloodiest siege in Georgian history. Out of 23,000 Kartlian and 29,000 Kakhetian troops (both regular and irregular), 21,250 Kartlians and 25,310 Kakhetians would perish in the siege. It was at this very siege that George II and David X of Kartli would duel each other to the death, and the legendary slaying of the Kartlian king would forever brand George II of Kakheti the epithet of 'the Kinslayer' in reference to the slaying of a rival king who would technically be considered a family member.
The fall of Tblisi to George II of Kakheti had resulted in the annexation of Kartli to George II's Kakhetian state, which was made official on August 23rd, 1499. Yet the sudden rise of Kakheti as a potential player to reunite the Georgian lands had made Alexander II of Imereti's fears come true, and with the news of Imereti's closer relationship with the Ottomans, George II of Kakheti only needed to make a few negotiations with Kaikhosro I Jaqeli of Samtskhe in order to convince him that a war with Imereti to stop the Ottoman presence there was needed. Thus the War of Imeretian Conquest happened a year later on April 24, 1500.
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Georgia – Of Bagrationi and Mukhraneli
Within the House of Bagrationi, there was a cadet branch that would later grow to become one of the most powerful Caucasian based royal dynasties in the world. Its origins lay with Prince Bagrat himself, whom he was entrusted with the castle of Mukhrani by George II of Kakheti for his neutrality. However, it was merely a facade, for Bagrat of the House Bagrationi was furious and vengeful at his supposed overlord for killing his brother and annexing Kartli. At the same time, he also feared Alexander II of Imereti's growing relations with the Ottomans and rallied the survivors of the Siege of Tblisi and journeyed into the border between Kartli and the Armenian inhabited lands. Seeking support from the other survivors of the anti-Aq Qoyunlu conflict, Bagrat of Mukhrani managed to gather 6,000 Armenian highlander warriors in addition to the measly 1,500 soldiers that survived Tblisi's fall. By the time the conflict between Kakheti and Samtskhe on one side and Imereti on the other side began, Bagrat would slowly take control of the ancient Armenian city of Yerevan and make it his headquarters while the conflict in neighboring Kakheti erupted.
Imereti under its ruler, Alexander II of that state, had been wary of entangling his country with the great powers of the Middle East, particularly the growing Safavids and the Ottomans. However, a new threat arose from Kakheti as George II the Kinslayer had taken over Kartli and was in the process of eradicating his opponents. The result was that Imereti and Kakheti went to war with each other, and Samtskhe had joined in, hoping to stop Alexander II of Imereti's pro-Ottoman policies from destroying any hope of a Georgian reunification. In the midst of the civil war, George II of Kakheti's younger brother Demetre began to make his journey towards Ottoman territory, hoping to convince the Ottoman authorities there to invade with the intentions of deposing George II and even offers himself in Ottoman service. Unfortunately George II had caught wind of what has happened and apprehended his brother on June 3, 1500 while making his way to Ottoman territory. After revealing what he wanted to do, George II would execute him by impalement, as a warning to Kakhetians who betray their own country.
News of the execution had reached Bagrat of Mukhrani's camp in Yerevan, where he was currently staying. While he stayed in Yerevan, he had a fateful encounter with a noblewoman whose father died during the defense of Kapan from the Aq Qoyunlu. The woman was called Elena, from a minor clan called the Darbinyan clan, hailed from the Karabagh region and were one of the few Armenian clans who survived the Aq Qoyunlu onslaught. Elena Darbinyan though, was one of the two last surviving members of that clan, the other one being her younger sister Lucine. A chance meeting with Bagrat, Prince of Mukhrani happened on one ordinary summer night in 1500 while he rode his horse throughout Yerevan. He approached Elena for directions to a church, to which she gladly showed him the way. The interaction continued until he boldly asked for her hand in marriage, to which she reluctantly accepted. The couple was married inside the church later revealed as Katoghike Church in December of 1500, though their first child wouldn't be born until 1505. The Armenian population of Yerevan had long dreamed of rebuilding their homeland, and Bagrat, through Elena's persuasion, had finally proclaimed the revival of Armenia as a kingdom, under the House of Mukhrani. Crowning himself “King of Armenia”, officially Bagrat would be called Bagrat III of Armenia, while Elena would be declared the Queen of Armenia. He also switched from Georgian Orthodoxy to Armenian Apostolicism in order to make common cause with his new Armenian subjects, but the 1,500 Mukhranian soldiers weren't happy with their prince's supposed apostasy. Bagrat III of Armenia as he was officially known now, sent envoys to the Ottomans, the Safavids, the Muscovites, and to Europe for recognition. Unfortunately, only Ali Reza recognized the independence of the Armenian state and even made the same deal that he made with George II of Kakheti. In another bold move, Bagrat III of Armenia offered to aid George II of Kakheti in reunifying the Georgian statelets in exchange for his recognition as the new King of Armenia, to which the Kinslayer reluctantly did. Now encouraged by the arrival of Armenian reinforcements, George II of Kakheti, along with Kaikhosro I Jaqeli of Samtskhe and Bagrat III of Armenia (formerly of Mukhrani), launched an offensive against Imeretian positions. Gori and Borjomi were attacked by Bagrat III while Kaikhosro I Jaqeli moved towards Batumi and Poti, and by February of 1501 Imereti was being besieged on two sides. In Gori, Alexander II of Imereti made his last stand against the incoming forces of George II of Kakheti and Bagrat III of Armenia. While George II and his cavalry made their advances, Imeretian pikemen moved to stop the advance, and arrogantly presuming that the pikemen will melt away before his advance, George II galloped faster, unaware that one of the pikemen was aiming for his horse. The pikeman who struck the Kakhetian king's horse in the legs fell down, causing him to fall. Though he survived the fall, an Imeretian archer had shot an arrow through his neck. The King of Kakheti paid for his arrogance with his life, but not before Bagrat III of Armenia led his own cavalry charge towards the Imeretian position. This time he began to duel Alexander II of Imereti, and in a surprising twist, when the Imeretian King lost the duel, he surrendered.
The peace terms that was offered to Imereti was surprisingly light, given that Alexander II was not the instigator of the war. However, he was forced to sever ties with the Ottomans in exchange for Bagrat III of Armenia's recognition of his authority on the Imeretian throne. In exchange, Alexander II was given Kartli and Kakheti while recognizing the sovereignty of Armenia. Thus Alexander II of Imereti now became the King of both Kartli and Kakheti, and on February 28, Alexander II declared the reunification of the Georgian lands. He once again became known as King Alexander II, Sovereign of All Georgia. The situation in the Caucasus is now calm.
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Northern Yuan – Resurgence
Across from the massive Eurasian continent, there was a state that was the shell of its former self. The relic of a medieval empire that brought massive chances to Europe and Asia has now settled just north of the Great Wall of China. The Northern Yuan Dynasty was a Mongol entity that arose after the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty and the rise of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and subsequently the Ming and the Northern Yuan had constantly fought against each other. Before the rise of the one they later call Dayan Khan, the Mongols were split into several tumens, each with an ambition that outmatches the other. The Oirat supremacy over the eastern Mongols collapsed with the efforts of Dayan Khan and his wife Mandukhai the Wise. It was Mandukhai Khatun the Wise who actually called the shots in the Northern Yuan Dynasty while her younger husband reigned. In 1496 there was a plot to assassinate the newly proclaimed Jinong (or Crown Prince), Ulusbold, carried out by a Mongol double agent who actually worked for the Ming. The general's name was Esmel, or Ismail, and before he could carry out his plot, Mandukhai summoned him to her yurt where she charged him with attempted murder on her eldest son. Though the plot was legitimate, Mandukhai viewed it as a convenient excuse to carry out the most brutal purges in Mongol history by eliminating her enemies through assassinations of her own. Her loyal agents carried out the purges, targeting the Three Right Wing Tumens for their relations with the Ming Dynasty while simultaneously bringing the Khalkhas to prominence, replacing the murdered leaders of the Three Right Wing Tumens with Khalkha nobles who proved their worth on the battlefield.
Throughout both Dayan Khan and Mandukhai Khatun's joint reign, trade with the Ming decreased while seeking new allies everywhere. In 1502 when Adiq Khan of the Kazakh Khanate rose to power, he sent envoys eastwards to seek diplomatic relations. One of those envoys ended up in the Northern Yuan Dynasty, where he met the representatives of the Mongol state. Dayan Khan in return sent three Khalkha envoys to the Kazakh Khanate in order to reciprocate, allowing the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Kazakh Khanate and the Northern Yuan Dynasty. While maintaining a close watch on the Ming in northern China, Dayan Khan decided to focus more on establishing a stable society, mainly through stopping the raids on Ming territory for a while. During the same year as the establishment of relations between the Northern Yuan and the Kazakh Khanate, Dayan Khan also approached the Ming on a Forty Year Non-Aggression Treaty between the two nations, promising not to launch raids in the future in exchange for the Ming to open up Chinese markets for Mongol merchants to trade in. Another reason why Dayan Khan was desperate to pry open the access to Chinese markets was so he can direct the Kazakh merchants to head towards Beijing and Luoyang with goods coming from Europe through Kazakh and Northern Yuan territories. The Mongol judiciary system was reformed to allow the sentencing of criminals and to speed up the process of giving justice to the victim of a crime.
Dayan Khan also sent envoys to the Joseon Kingdom where the current king, Seongjong, had reigned. Though there were legal obstacles for the Mongols of the Northern Yuan in terms of sending an envoy through Ming territory into a tributary state like Joseon, the Mongol envoys were able to arrive safely in the Joseon capital of Hanseong. There, Seongjong told the Mongol envoys to return to their homeland and even gave them gifts to be given to Dayan Khan. The gifts Seongjong gave to the Mongol envoys consisted of three treasures of gold and silver coins minted in China and Korea, as well as jewelry. Upon returning to Karakorum, the Northern Yuan used the treasures brought from Korea to initiate a series of public building projects in the capital in order to legitimize the Northern Yuan state.
Ming Dynasty – The Unheard of Son
In 1495, there was a young boy who lived in the vicinity of the Forbidden City who was sickly and thought to be dying soon. The unknown boy was known as Zhu Houwei, the second son of the Hongzhi Emperor who ruled the Ming Dynasty. For a year, Zhu Houwei suffered from various illnesses until March of 1496 when a healer was sent to the Imperial court from a distant province within China. Throughout the night, the healer worked constantly on curing the younger son of the Hongzhi Emperor, while the aforementioned ruler was always by his son's bedside. After a couple of hours of meditation and constant vigilance, Zhu Houwei finally survived the illness. The Hongzhi Emperor thanked the healer and had her placed in charge of the young prince's well being. Zhu Houwei eventually became more interested in the human anatomy as he wanted to learn how diseases came to being and how to cure them. In addition to his Confucian classic studies, Zhu Houwei also learned about biology from several Muslim tutors who stayed in Beijing upon the recommendation of the Hongzhi Emperor himself. Though he wasn't interested in religion in particular, he finally understood the disease that nearly killed him. Sweating sickness was something that he feared throughout his life, and with his father's encouragement, Zhu Houwei also began to study martial arts in order to keep himself healthy.
Although his elder son Zhu Houzhao was just as talented as his younger brother, he suspected that Houzhao became more jealous of his younger brother. That jealousy showed whenever the two brothers sparred in hand to hand combat, or with wooden swords. The relationship between the two brothers was never amicable at best, even coming close to borderline hostile.
By 1505, the Hongzhi Emperor died at the age of 34. Contemporary Chinese sources claimed that the Hongzhi Emperor died from an undisclosed illnes, but a few skeptics claimed that he was poisoned by rival courtiers as a part of an ongoing power struggle. Zhu Houwei's sister Zhu Xiurong, the Princess of Taikang, also survived her illness by the same healer who healed Houwei. Upon the ascension of their brother as the Zhengde Emperor, Zhu Houwei made his way to Suzhou where most of the scholars were gathered and began studying law, mathematics and military arts. When Houwei began his formal military training, he was placed under the supervision of a veteran military general called Qi Jingtong [1], who was descended from a military leader who fought for the Hongwu Emperor when they overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. The veteran general noticed how Houwei had picked up the techniques that was taught to him, but he wasn't well adapted to fighting with spears, preferring either swords or arrows. While Houwei was proficient with the bow and arrow, he nearly lost his arm during an exercise involving a three eyes cannon, or the San Yan Chong. Though no one knows when the San Yan Chong was first invented, it was a powerful weapon that was just as deadly as the European arquebuses. Such power had terrified the young Houwei, which was why he didn't want the weapon to be the mainstay of the Ming army. It was not until the first interaction between the Ming and the Spanish (or rather, the Portuguese sailing from the east and the Aragonese sailing from the west) that he became enamoured by the power of the Spanish arquebuses that he purchased 100 of them and commissioned a Spanish gunsmith to build an arsenal where arquebuses can be manufactured.
While Houwei was also being trained in military related matters, the Zhengde Emperor and his new empress became involved in a lot of indulgent activities to the point where even his ministers were powerless and frightened by his irresponsibility. Though the prosperity continued, there was corruption everywhere in the Ming court. Zhu Xiurong was particularly furious at one of the eunuchs who tried to bribe her elder brother with land in exchange for giving positions of power to the eunuch's friends. In 1510 Zhu Xiurong fled from Beijing and took up residence in Shaanxi, where the Prince of Anhua resided. The eunuch who bribed the Zhengde Emperor was called Liu Jin, and he led a clique called the Eight Tigers, a group of notorious eunuchs known for their corruption. The Zhengde Emperor's disinterest in the daily responsibilities of ruling a large empire like China allowed Liu Jin and his Eight Tiger colleagues to reform the tax system that not only increased state revenue, but it also introduced a military tax rate where soldiers were required to pay a large sum of money to support the state treasury funds. This created resentment among the soldiers stationed in Shaanxi, and coupled with the appearance of Zhu Xiurong in that province, it seemed that the rebellion was fast in brewing. On the other hand, Houwei and Qi Jingtong relocated to Jiangxi province in the summer of 1510 to supervise the formation of another army there. Qi Jingtong experienced first hand of what the corruption that Liu Jin had brought into the state and agreed to hatch a plan to get rid of the Zhengde Emperor. In what would become known as the Revolt of the Two Princes, both Zhu Xiurong and Zhu Houwei would be pitted against the Zhengde Emperor in a struggle that would be brutal and costly.
Joseon Dynasty of Korea – From Tyrant to Fratricide
Korea after the death of Kong Seongjong had resulted in the rise of his eldest son, Crown Prince Yeonsan, or Yeonsangun as his contemporaries had called him. Although he was a gifted young man, the trauma of his mother's death had awakened a violent side of the Crown Prince, and seeking answers as to what really happened to the unfortunate Lady Yun, Yeonsangun began to target officials and concubines opposed to his mother for assassinations. He became so violent that he even killed his grandmother, the Dowager Queen Sohye, by pushing her down on the ground. The violent side of the Crown Prince also manifested in the first political purges of the Joseon Dynasty, in what was to become the Two Korean Literati Purges. The first purge was the result of the criticism of the usurpation of Joseon's throne by his ancestor, King Sejo, in which the Hungu faction had manipulated Yeonsangun into arresting and executing the entire Sarim faction (the opponents of Sejo of Joseon). However, the purge not only killed the Sarim faction, but many yangbans suspected of harboring animosity towards the memory of Sejo and for that matter, the dignity of Yeonsangun, were also killed. Political opponents responded by making anti-Yeonsangun slogans written in Hangul and Hanja (the Korean name for Chinese characters), causing the unstable king to ban both scripts from being written. The second literati purge was even more violent than the first because it was related to the discovery of his mother's fate. In a sense of rage and insanity, Yeonsangun ordered the mass execution of the Hungu and Sarim remnants by beheading in 1506. Not only was the order carried out, but several Seodangs (elementary schools) were also burned down as to deprive the youth of Joseon of a much needed education. The burning of several Seodangs had aroused fury and outrage from Yeonsangun's own siblings, as they had friends who studied in the burnt Seodangs. In another violent episode that was to result in the Joseon Civil War of 1507-1511, Yeonsangun had personally killed his half-brother Yi Yeok in another altercation that was far more brutal than the accidental death of Dowager Queen Sohye. The fratricide within the Joseon court was recorded in the Annals of the History of Joseon, and it was this kind of violence that finally provoked a civil war. By 1511, both the Ming and Joseon Dynasties would face rebellions and civil wars as a result of court intrigues and irresponsible management of the state.
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[1] Qi Jingtong is the father of the famous Qi Jiguang, the man credited with wiping out the Wokou piracy in the East China Sea. Here, butterflies might create a different situation for the Wokou.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on May 27, 2018 8:38:11 GMT
Case Study #13: The Caucasus and the Far East
Although Persia was on its way to resurrection following the victory of Ali Reza Safavi against the Aq Qoyunlu, unresolved issues remained unsolved in the Georgian statelets. The Three Georgian Kingdoms Period, as it was known in Georgia and Armenia, had its origins in the War of the Kartlian Succession when it erupted in 1498. The main reason for that succession war was because of Alexander I of Kakheti's death during the campaign against the Aq Qoyunlu in Shusha and the seizure of the Kakhetian throne by his infamous son, George II, or George the Kinslayer. David X of Kartli prepared his nation for the inevitable civil war that would change the fate of the entire Caucasus region. Although the regions of Circassia was left untouched during this period, three main contenders fighting for control of all of Georgia arose to court the Circassians: David X of Kartli, George II of Kakheti and Kaikhosro I Jaqeli of Samtskhe. Kaikhosro I Jaqeli came to power in 1498 after his father Qvarqvare II Jaqeli had died. In addition, Alexander II of Imereti also had ambitions to reunite the Georgian lands but found himself confronted by David X of Kartli. It is also worth noting that during the campaign against the Aq Qoyunlu in Karabagh, the previous king of Georgia, Constantine II, was also killed in this fight. Both the fledgling Safavid state and the Ottomans watched the conflict with interest as they waited to see who would emerge victorious. Surprisingly, it was David X of Kartli who launched the first attack against George II of Kakheti when he launched an attack on Telavi, the main stronghold of Kakheti. The attack began on May 21st, 1498, with 12,000 Kartlian troops against 9,000 Kakhetian defenders of the city. Taking advantage of their mountainous barrier, the Kakhetian defenders laid traps to impede the Kartlian advance into their city. George II had surprisingly put up a fierce resistance to the city, which withstood the siege after just five days of siege. Though Kartli was slow to reinforce its armies, Kakheti managed to fortify most of its cities. Thus George II's strategy of forcing David X of Kartli to expend his resources on taking every single fortress in his domain would work well for him. In addition to the fortresses, George II also recruited a small but effective amount of irregular troops who actually carried out the guerrilla warfare in the mountains. It was these guerrillas who made life difficult for the Kartlians whenever they advanced into a village, a river, a valley or a mountain pass. Casualties among the Kartlians reached 3,000, mainly through these attacks. Once the Kartlians had decided to retreat, George II decided to launch his offensive. By January 6, 1499, the Kakhetians finally moved against the Kartlians by attacking the border village of Satischala, which they managed to take after just twenty hours of fighting. However, like his Kakhetian enemy, David X of Kartli opted to fortify most of his cities in order to slow him down, and George II of Kakheti realized this too well when he lost over 3,500 regular troops during the advance on the village of Vaziani. Tblisi was well fortified at this point, but David X of Kartli also kept an eye for any potential Imeretian incursions into his domains. While Alexander II of Imereti wanted to join in the war against David X of Kartli, he wasn't comfortable letting George II of Kakheti take over all of Kartli, and so he decided to keep his forces in reserve in case things went awful. Unlike most of the wars of successions that Europe has seen so far, the War of the Kartlian Succession only lasted for a year and a half. The main reason for that was because George II of Kakheti had made promises of restoring the unity of the Georgian nation-state after he dispatched all of his rivals. When it appears that the Kakhetians would emerge victorious, Ali Reza Safavi had sent him a message, giving him support in any future diplomatic tussles involving a third party. Thus in March of 1499 the Georgian-Persian Treaty of Diplomatic Relations was officially signed, with Persia, or rather, the Safavid state of northern Persia, recognizing the independence of Kakheti, as well as the recognition of George II of Kakheti as the rightful king of the reunited Georgian lands. Not wanting to be upstaged by the Safavids, Sultan Bayezid had sent an envoy to Alexander II of Imereti, promising him aid in exchange for an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. Seizing on the potential loss of Imereti to the hated Turks, George II of Kakheti would make plans for war with the Imeretians after he disposed of David X of Kartli. Two months after Kakheti and the Safavids established diplomatic ties, George II would besiege the Kartlian capital of Tblisi. The Siege of Tblisi, from May 19th to July 15th, was the bloodiest siege in Georgian history. Out of 23,000 Kartlian and 29,000 Kakhetian troops (both regular and irregular), 21,250 Kartlians and 25,310 Kakhetians would perish in the siege. It was at this very siege that George II and David X of Kartli would duel each other to the death, and the legendary slaying of the Kartlian king would forever brand George II of Kakheti the epithet of 'the Kinslayer' in reference to the slaying of a rival king who would technically be considered a family member. The fall of Tblisi to George II of Kakheti had resulted in the annexation of Kartli to George II's Kakhetian state, which was made official on August 23rd, 1499. Yet the sudden rise of Kakheti as a potential player to reunite the Georgian lands had made Alexander II of Imereti's fears come true, and with the news of Imereti's closer relationship with the Ottomans, George II of Kakheti only needed to make a few negotiations with Kaikhosro I Jaqeli of Samtskhe in order to convince him that a war with Imereti to stop the Ottoman presence there was needed. Thus the War of Imeretian Conquest happened a year later on April 24, 1500. --- Georgia – Of Bagrationi and Mukhraneli
Within the House of Bagrationi, there was a cadet branch that would later grow to become one of the most powerful Caucasian based royal dynasties in the world. Its origins lay with Prince Bagrat himself, whom he was entrusted with the castle of Mukhrani by George II of Kakheti for his neutrality. However, it was merely a facade, for Bagrat of the House Bagrationi was furious and vengeful at his supposed overlord for killing his brother and annexing Kartli. At the same time, he also feared Alexander II of Imereti's growing relations with the Ottomans and rallied the survivors of the Siege of Tblisi and journeyed into the border between Kartli and the Armenian inhabited lands. Seeking support from the other survivors of the anti-Aq Qoyunlu conflict, Bagrat of Mukhrani managed to gather 6,000 Armenian highlander warriors in addition to the measly 1,500 soldiers that survived Tblisi's fall. By the time the conflict between Kakheti and Samtskhe on one side and Imereti on the other side began, Bagrat would slowly take control of the ancient Armenian city of Yerevan and make it his headquarters while the conflict in neighboring Kakheti erupted. Imereti under its ruler, Alexander II of that state, had been wary of entangling his country with the great powers of the Middle East, particularly the growing Safavids and the Ottomans. However, a new threat arose from Kakheti as George II the Kinslayer had taken over Kartli and was in the process of eradicating his opponents. The result was that Imereti and Kakheti went to war with each other, and Samtskhe had joined in, hoping to stop Alexander II of Imereti's pro-Ottoman policies from destroying any hope of a Georgian reunification. In the midst of the civil war, George II of Kakheti's younger brother Demetre began to make his journey towards Ottoman territory, hoping to convince the Ottoman authorities there to invade with the intentions of deposing George II and even offers himself in Ottoman service. Unfortunately George II had caught wind of what has happened and apprehended his brother on June 3, 1500 while making his way to Ottoman territory. After revealing what he wanted to do, George II would execute him by impalement, as a warning to Kakhetians who betray their own country. News of the execution had reached Bagrat of Mukhrani's camp in Yerevan, where he was currently staying. While he stayed in Yerevan, he had a fateful encounter with a noblewoman whose father died during the defense of Kapan from the Aq Qoyunlu. The woman was called Elena, from a minor clan called the Darbinyan clan, hailed from the Karabagh region and were one of the few Armenian clans who survived the Aq Qoyunlu onslaught. Elena Darbinyan though, was one of the two last surviving members of that clan, the other one being her younger sister Lucine. A chance meeting with Bagrat, Prince of Mukhrani happened on one ordinary summer night in 1500 while he rode his horse throughout Yerevan. He approached Elena for directions to a church, to which she gladly showed him the way. The interaction continued until he boldly asked for her hand in marriage, to which she reluctantly accepted. The couple was married inside the church later revealed as Katoghike Church in December of 1500, though their first child wouldn't be born until 1505. The Armenian population of Yerevan had long dreamed of rebuilding their homeland, and Bagrat, through Elena's persuasion, had finally proclaimed the revival of Armenia as a kingdom, under the House of Mukhrani. Crowning himself “King of Armenia”, officially Bagrat would be called Bagrat III of Armenia, while Elena would be declared the Queen of Armenia. He also switched from Georgian Orthodoxy to Armenian Apostolicism in order to make common cause with his new Armenian subjects, but the 1,500 Mukhranian soldiers weren't happy with their prince's supposed apostasy. Bagrat III of Armenia as he was officially known now, sent envoys to the Ottomans, the Safavids, the Muscovites, and to Europe for recognition. Unfortunately, only Ali Reza recognized the independence of the Armenian state and even made the same deal that he made with George II of Kakheti. In another bold move, Bagrat III of Armenia offered to aid George II of Kakheti in reunifying the Georgian statelets in exchange for his recognition as the new King of Armenia, to which the Kinslayer reluctantly did. Now encouraged by the arrival of Armenian reinforcements, George II of Kakheti, along with Kaikhosro I Jaqeli of Samtskhe and Bagrat III of Armenia (formerly of Mukhrani), launched an offensive against Imeretian positions. Gori and Borjomi were attacked by Bagrat III while Kaikhosro I Jaqeli moved towards Batumi and Poti, and by February of 1501 Imereti was being besieged on two sides. In Gori, Alexander II of Imereti made his last stand against the incoming forces of George II of Kakheti and Bagrat III of Armenia. While George II and his cavalry made their advances, Imeretian pikemen moved to stop the advance, and arrogantly presuming that the pikemen will melt away before his advance, George II galloped faster, unaware that one of the pikemen was aiming for his horse. The pikeman who struck the Kakhetian king's horse in the legs fell down, causing him to fall. Though he survived the fall, an Imeretian archer had shot an arrow through his neck. The King of Kakheti paid for his arrogance with his life, but not before Bagrat III of Armenia led his own cavalry charge towards the Imeretian position. This time he began to duel Alexander II of Imereti, and in a surprising twist, when the Imeretian King lost the duel, he surrendered. The peace terms that was offered to Imereti was surprisingly light, given that Alexander II was not the instigator of the war. However, he was forced to sever ties with the Ottomans in exchange for Bagrat III of Armenia's recognition of his authority on the Imeretian throne. In exchange, Alexander II was given Kartli and Kakheti while recognizing the sovereignty of Armenia. Thus Alexander II of Imereti now became the King of both Kartli and Kakheti, and on February 28, Alexander II declared the reunification of the Georgian lands. He once again became known as King Alexander II, Sovereign of All Georgia. The situation in the Caucasus is now calm. --- Northern Yuan – Resurgence
Across from the massive Eurasian continent, there was a state that was the shell of its former self. The relic of a medieval empire that brought massive chances to Europe and Asia has now settled just north of the Great Wall of China. The Northern Yuan Dynasty was a Mongol entity that arose after the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty and the rise of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and subsequently the Ming and the Northern Yuan had constantly fought against each other. Before the rise of the one they later call Dayan Khan, the Mongols were split into several tumens, each with an ambition that outmatches the other. The Oirat supremacy over the eastern Mongols collapsed with the efforts of Dayan Khan and his wife Mandukhai the Wise. It was Mandukhai Khatun the Wise who actually called the shots in the Northern Yuan Dynasty while her younger husband reigned. In 1496 there was a plot to assassinate the newly proclaimed Jinong (or Crown Prince), Ulusbold, carried out by a Mongol double agent who actually worked for the Ming. The general's name was Esmel, or Ismail, and before he could carry out his plot, Mandukhai summoned him to her yurt where she charged him with attempted murder on her eldest son. Though the plot was legitimate, Mandukhai viewed it as a convenient excuse to carry out the most brutal purges in Mongol history by eliminating her enemies through assassinations of her own. Her loyal agents carried out the purges, targeting the Three Right Wing Tumens for their relations with the Ming Dynasty while simultaneously bringing the Khalkhas to prominence, replacing the murdered leaders of the Three Right Wing Tumens with Khalkha nobles who proved their worth on the battlefield. Throughout both Dayan Khan and Mandukhai Khatun's joint reign, trade with the Ming decreased while seeking new allies everywhere. In 1502 when Adiq Khan of the Kazakh Khanate rose to power, he sent envoys eastwards to seek diplomatic relations. One of those envoys ended up in the Northern Yuan Dynasty, where he met the representatives of the Mongol state. Dayan Khan in return sent three Khalkha envoys to the Kazakh Khanate in order to reciprocate, allowing the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Kazakh Khanate and the Northern Yuan Dynasty. While maintaining a close watch on the Ming in northern China, Dayan Khan decided to focus more on establishing a stable society, mainly through stopping the raids on Ming territory for a while. During the same year as the establishment of relations between the Northern Yuan and the Kazakh Khanate, Dayan Khan also approached the Ming on a Forty Year Non-Aggression Treaty between the two nations, promising not to launch raids in the future in exchange for the Ming to open up Chinese markets for Mongol merchants to trade in. Another reason why Dayan Khan was desperate to pry open the access to Chinese markets was so he can direct the Kazakh merchants to head towards Beijing and Luoyang with goods coming from Europe through Kazakh and Northern Yuan territories. The Mongol judiciary system was reformed to allow the sentencing of criminals and to speed up the process of giving justice to the victim of a crime. Dayan Khan also sent envoys to the Joseon Kingdom where the current king, Seongjong, had reigned. Though there were legal obstacles for the Mongols of the Northern Yuan in terms of sending an envoy through Ming territory into a tributary state like Joseon, the Mongol envoys were able to arrive safely in the Joseon capital of Hanseong. There, Seongjong told the Mongol envoys to return to their homeland and even gave them gifts to be given to Dayan Khan. The gifts Seongjong gave to the Mongol envoys consisted of three treasures of gold and silver coins minted in China and Korea, as well as jewelry. Upon returning to Karakorum, the Northern Yuan used the treasures brought from Korea to initiate a series of public building projects in the capital in order to legitimize the Northern Yuan state. Ming Dynasty – The Unheard of Son
In 1495, there was a young boy who lived in the vicinity of the Forbidden City who was sickly and thought to be dying soon. The unknown boy was known as Zhu Houwei, the second son of the Hongzhi Emperor who ruled the Ming Dynasty. For a year, Zhu Houwei suffered from various illnesses until March of 1496 when a healer was sent to the Imperial court from a distant province within China. Throughout the night, the healer worked constantly on curing the younger son of the Hongzhi Emperor, while the aforementioned ruler was always by his son's bedside. After a couple of hours of meditation and constant vigilance, Zhu Houwei finally survived the illness. The Hongzhi Emperor thanked the healer and had her placed in charge of the young prince's well being. Zhu Houwei eventually became more interested in the human anatomy as he wanted to learn how diseases came to being and how to cure them. In addition to his Confucian classic studies, Zhu Houwei also learned about biology from several Muslim tutors who stayed in Beijing upon the recommendation of the Hongzhi Emperor himself. Though he wasn't interested in religion in particular, he finally understood the disease that nearly killed him. Sweating sickness was something that he feared throughout his life, and with his father's encouragement, Zhu Houwei also began to study martial arts in order to keep himself healthy. Although his elder son Zhu Houzhao was just as talented as his younger brother, he suspected that Houzhao became more jealous of his younger brother. That jealousy showed whenever the two brothers sparred in hand to hand combat, or with wooden swords. The relationship between the two brothers was never amicable at best, even coming close to borderline hostile. By 1505, the Hongzhi Emperor died at the age of 34. Contemporary Chinese sources claimed that the Hongzhi Emperor died from an undisclosed illnes, but a few skeptics claimed that he was poisoned by rival courtiers as a part of an ongoing power struggle. Zhu Houwei's daughter Zhu Xiurong, the Princess of Taikang, also survived her illness by the same healer who healed Houwei. Upon the ascension of their brother as the Zhengde Emperor, Zhu Houwei made his way to Suzhou where most of the scholars were gathered and began studying law, mathematics and military arts. When Houwei began his formal military training, he was placed under the supervision of a veteran military general called Qi Jingtong [1], who was descended from a military leader who fought for the Hongwu Emperor when they overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. The veteran general noticed how Houwei had picked up the techniques that was taught to him, but he wasn't well adapted to fighting with spears, preferring either swords or arrows. While Houwei was proficient with the bow and arrow, he nearly lost his arm during an exercise involving a three eyes cannon, or the San Yan Chong. Though no one knows when the San Yan Chong was first invented, it was a powerful weapon that was just as deadly as the European arquebuses. Such power had terrified the young Houwei, which was why he didn't want the weapon to be the mainstay of the Ming army. It was not until the first interaction between the Ming and the Spanish (or rather, the Portuguese sailing from the east and the Aragonese sailing from the west) that he became enamoured by the power of the Spanish arquebuses that he purchased 100 of them and commissioned a Spanish gunsmith to build an arsenal where arquebuses can be manufactured. While Houwei was also being trained in military related matters, the Zhengde Emperor and his new empress became involved in a lot of indulgent activities to the point where even his ministers were powerless and frightened by his irresponsibility. Though the prosperity continued, there was corruption everywhere in the Ming court. Zhu Xiurong was particularly furious at one of the eunuchs who tried to bribe her elder brother with land in exchange for giving positions of power to the eunuch's friends. In 1510 Zhu Xiurong fled from Beijing and took up residence in Shaanxi, where the Prince of Anhua resided. The eunuch who bribed the Zhengde Emperor was called Liu Jin, and he led a clique called the Eight Tigers, a group of notorious eunuchs known for their corruption. The Zhengde Emperor's disinterest in the daily responsibilities of ruling a large empire like China allowed Liu Jin and his Eight Tiger colleagues to reform the tax system that not only increased state revenue, but it also introduced a military tax rate where soldiers were required to pay a large sum of money to support the state treasury funds. This created resentment among the soldiers stationed in Shaanxi, and coupled with the appearance of Zhu Xiurong in that province, it seemed that the rebellion was fast in brewing. On the other hand, Houwei and Qi Jingtong relocated to Jiangxi province in the summer of 1510 to supervise the formation of another army there. Qi Jingtong experienced first hand of what the corruption that Liu Jin had brought into the state and agreed to hatch a plan to get rid of the Zhengde Emperor. In what would become known as the Revolt of the Two Princes, both Zhu Xiurong and Zhu Houwei would be pitted against the Zhengde Emperor in a struggle that would be brutal and costly. Joseon Dynasty of Korea – From Tyrant to Fratricide
Korea after the death of Kong Seongjong had resulted in the rise of his eldest son, Crown Prince Yeonsan, or Yeonsangun as his contemporaries had called him. Although he was a gifted young man, the trauma of his mother's death had awakened a violent side of the Crown Prince, and seeking answers as to what really happened to the unfortunate Lady Yun, Yeonsangun began to target officials and concubines opposed to his mother for assassinations. He became so violent that he even killed his grandmother, the Dowager Queen Sohye, by pushing her down on the ground. The violent side of the Crown Prince also manifested in the first political purges of the Joseon Dynasty, in what was to become the Two Korean Literati Purges. The first purge was the result of the criticism of the usurpation of Joseon's throne by his ancestor, King Sejo, in which the Hungu faction had manipulated Yeonsangun into arresting and executing the entire Sarim faction (the opponents of Sejo of Joseon). However, the purge not only killed the Sarim faction, but many yangbans suspected of harboring animosity towards the memory of Sejo and for that matter, the dignity of Yeonsangun, were also killed. Political opponents responded by making anti-Yeonsangun slogans written in Hangul and Hanja (the Korean name for Chinese characters), causing the unstable king to ban both scripts from being written. The second literati purge was even more violent than the first because it was related to the discovery of his mother's fate. In a sense of rage and insanity, Yeonsangun ordered the mass execution of the Hungu and Sarim remnants by beheading in 1506. Not only was the order carried out, but several Seodangs (elementary schools) were also burned down as to deprive the youth of Joseon of a much needed education. The burning of several Seodangs had aroused fury and outrage from Yeonsangun's own siblings, as they had friends who studied in the burnt Seodangs. In another violent episode that was to result in the Joseon Civil War of 1507-1511, Yeonsangun had personally killed his half-brother Yi Yeok in another altercation that was far more brutal than the accidental death of Dowager Queen Sohye. The fratricide within the Joseon court was recorded in the Annals of the History of Joseon, and it was this kind of violence that finally provoked a civil war. By 1511, both the Ming and Joseon Dynasties would face rebellions and civil wars as a result of court intrigues and irresponsible management of the state. --- [1] Qi Jingtong is the father of the famous Qi Jiguang, the man credited with wiping out the Wokou piracy in the East China Sea. Here, butterflies might create a different situation for the Wokou. Nice update TheRomanSlayer, learn something evry time when you posted, never knew that there was a House of Bagrationi. |
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However even if they lost all of it there would still be the problem of adding substantial Polish lands to the empire. Including presumably the at least partially Germanised Prussian territories. Not sure what has happened to them after the end of the war as the Teutonic Knights have ceased to be a factor. Are they now under the kingdom of Poland, under Brandenburg rule or something else?