History of the Rise, Glory, Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire

[jim panse]

Hello there!

I postponed the creation of my "Battle of Guadalcanal" to February (University holidays ) and decided to create a scenario about the Birth, Rise, Glory, Decline and Fall of the once mighty Ottoman Empire.

I will start creation around christmas meanwhile i´m reading books, magazines and some other stuff to gather information about the topics.

The scenario will kick of in the 2nd half of the 13th century when muslim tribes from Turkestan were forced to leave their homes in Central Asia by the invading Mongol Armies and started to walk westwards. In this period the Turks reached the borders of the (East) Roman Empire.

The parts of this scenario pentalogy may be:
> The Birth (1326-1402, from the founder´s death to the Mongol invasion)
> The Rise (1413-1520, from the recovery from the Mongol invasion to Sultan Soliman II the Great)
> The Glory (1520-1568, the regency of Soliman II and the peace of Adrianopolis as the most glorious years of the Ottoman Empire)
> The Decline I (1571-1739, from the Battle of Lepanto to the peace treaty of Belgrade)
> The Decline II (1788-1856, from Sultan Selim III to the Crimea War)
> The Decline III (1856-1908, from the Crimea War to the Turkish Revolution)
>The Fall (1908-1918, from the Turkish Revolution to the end of World War I)

Any ideas, suggestions, questions etc. are highly welcome and recommended. Within the next weeks i will update any information about this epic scenario pentalogy.

[Cyrion]

A "pentalogy" in 7 parts? Now that is something new!

Otherwise, seems like a huge amount of work, good luck with it!

BTW: congratulations for the Euro 2008 that we will be organizing together!!

[Dr. Nick]

Cyrion, you never heard of the five book trilogy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"?

[jim panse]

ok folks, joke´s over now. you have to imagine the decline in three parts (or books, if you like )

any ideas or whatsoever?


by the way, yeah, let´s be looking forward to the 2008 European Championships!

[Prometeus]

Ottomans, huh? Montecuccoli and prince Eugene, eh ehe ehehehe...

Anyway, take a look here...

http://jagor.srce.hr/husar/

[Valuk]

Brilliant, Jim, brilliant!
I've been waiting for this for some time.
BTW, Montecuccoli's great victory at Monoster(Szentgotthard) was achieved using elite troops from the federal state of Kranjska(Krain), which is exactly where I live
Also, my ancestors were able ti drub the Turks at Ljubljana(1683), and more importantly, Sisak(1693), where half of the Bosnian nobles perished.
So, if you have any questions...

[SetuSinger]

What's up with your scenario about the japanese invasion of the phillipines?

[Palaiologos]

Why are you ending your "pentalogy" with WWI?
Why don't you end it in 1922 and the creation of the modern Turkish state?.

After WWI the terms of the peace treaty seemed a huge burden for the Turks who rebelled against both the Ottoman goverment in Constantinople, and the Allied powers. The only available army in the region to implement the peace treaty was the Hellenic army. It was the world's finest at the time, hardened by 10 years of continiuous fighting, and lured by Allied promises took up the task. After a titanic three year war the Greek advance was halted by a stout defence of the Turks near Saggarios River, less than 100 Km from Ankara. Although a tactical victory for the Greeks, Saggarios river proved a strategical failure for the Hellenic army which had depleted its manpower.

The Turks under Kemal launched a counteroffensive the next year and captured Smyrna which they burned to the ground, putting an end to 3000 years of history of the Ionian Greeks.

The Greek army already disorganised by political turmoil in mainland Greece failed to protect the orthodox populace from Turkish atrocities and its retreat turned quickly into a rout. More than 25.000 Greeks soldiers perished in Asia Minor(among them my great granfather )

Kemal then proceeded to modernize Turkey and transform it into a secular state. He introduced Latin alphabet and forced the european dress upon the Turks thus putting Turkey into the "Western World".

[jim panse]

Re: Palailogos

I´m sorry about your grandfather.

I thought on the things you mentioned before i started the thread. I also know about Venizelos´ war against Kemal Ataturk in Minor Asia. I also know that the Sultan retreated officially 1922, declaring the Caliphate* has ended.

I also thought about how i may show th circumstances after WW1. Turkey was divided in different zones between the European Mights (Italy, Greece, France and, of course, GB). I think it will be not really possible to conquer these huge parts of Turkey in one single turn without Paratroopers, Tanks etc. It will need an own part.

Let´s try a consensus :
I will add another part, expanding this pentalogy into a Heptalogy. This 6th part will be called "The End" (it´s a rather bad name, i know) or something like "Out of the End into the Future", i actually don´t know.
It will cover the years from 1918-1922, from the End of WW1 to the constitution of the modern, secular State of Turkey.

I also got some details for Valuk: I guess you are quite proud of some parts of our common history.
It is interesting because a few years earlier the Habsburg Monarchy got not the best (ho, euphemism )
notes by the follower states of the former monarchy. i´m not a monarchist but i think we can´t change our history and therefore we should not forget it.

[Prometeus]

Sorry for your grandfather, Palaiologos...

You are not the only one...

One of my ancestors fought at Lepanto, enroled in Spanish regiment Tercio de Cerdeña, the Don Juan arquebusiers.

[Palaiologos]

No need to feel sorry for him.

He died as a man, in service of his country.

He was my great grandfather's brother actually. My great grandfather (Johanes) survived the war.

How do you know of your relative in Lepanto, Prometeus, that was 450 years ago!

[Prometeus]

Originally posted by Palaiologos


How do you know of your relative in Lepanto, Prometeus, that was 450 years ago!

The Tercio's service list, as well as all of the standards, was stored in Cagliari's cathedral archives. An acquired uncle of mine, a lawyer, did some research a few years ago about our family genealogy tree.

[Swampthing]

I'm curious.

How would you handle the rise and decline of the Jannisaries, and how would you implement the Timar system that was the mainstay of the Empire.

Also,

The Turkish Sultan Bayazid I lost his fight against Timur in part because of his growing tendency towards Autocratic statism in the Byzantine style, which put him at odds with the traditionally tribal Turkish elites. Apparently in the battle a large contigent of his forces abandoned him.

Since the first chapter ends with the Timurid invasion, have the next begin with the Battle of Ankara, and the full-scale invasion, and the job of the player is to rebuild the empire?

[jim panse]

* The rise and the decline of the Janissaries will be a tough nut, i know. i´m thinking about multiple unit graphics combined with the technology tree (one tech learned/acquired, the Janissaries units shall vanquish [actually i don´t know how to handle this exact but i´m quite creative ])

i´m gathering information all around but the next week i´m quite busy due to my studies at university. i´m doing what i can.

* The Timar System is really a much harder nut than the Janissaries are. I think i will handle this together with the Kul-Devshirme System. First i thought to manage these things with a Hot Seat scenario but that is not satisfying. You know why
Anyway, i have no evident idea right now about the Timar System. one solution could be to implement this basic socio-economic system into the city improvements and/or wonders. (that is, too, not satisfying ) if you know a better solution i´d like to know it .....

*The last thing mentioned was the question if you may have to fight back a large-scaled invasion and rebuild the realm later or not. i´m planning to include both but in a way that doing both at the same time is impossible. first you should only to be able to expand your military and after having defeated the invaders you are able to rebuild your realm.


and now for something completely different (Monty Python rules )

after considerations (thanx to palaiologos ) i decided to add another part to the ottoman history: the way from 1918 to the constitution of the modern turkish state.
the parts will be (December 15, 2002):
I - The Birth
II - The Rise
III The Glory
IV - The Decline (in 3, maybe 4 parts)
V - The Fall (maybe in 2 parts: pre-WW1 and WW1)
VI - The Humiliation

now it´s a heptalogy

[tanelorn]

now it´s a heptalogy

Not quite yet, you need one more (7).