Balkan and Near East Wars and chaos 1825-

[Galveston Bay]

December 1825
the news that the Russian Tsar has died and thus ended what appears to be an increasingly likely threat of a new war with the Russians, the Sultan Mahmud is able to sigh in relief.   Or so he thinks briefly

What he does not know as that Muhammed Ali, the Khaldeve of Egypt, and the leader of Janissaries have been secretly plotting, as has the head of the Ottoman Navy.   In late December the entire Egyptian Fleet (with large numbers of Libyan ships as well) along with much of the Egyptian Army (which has benefited the most from French training) leaves from ports in Egypt and Libya sailing north.

The Europeans in Egypt take note of this but think little of it as rumors of increasing raids by Arabs against Syria and Mesopotamia have been heard.

[Galveston Bay]

January 1826
Attempting a quick coup
The Egyptian fleet divides into 2 segments. The bulk sails for Beruit, but 2 frigates and a collection of transports with Muhammed Ali and 5,000 experienced and well trained (and armed) troops sails for Gallopolli, where this fleet links up with the Ottoman Fleet. These two forces unite on January 18.

However they are supposed to rendevous on January 16, but a storm delayed the Egyptians. The Janissaries, which know they are facing disbandment in the near future after failure in Greece and Serbia have plotted with Ali to make him Sultan and Supreme Porte of the Ottoman Empire. They planned their move for January 18, when the combined Navy was supposed to be sailing into the harbor on that afternoon. However the Sultan manages to get wind of this move at the last moment, and thus his Imperial Guard (1 regiment each of cavalry and infantry, 1 battalion of artillery, 2,500 me3n total) are ready when the Janissaries attempt to storm the palace of Topkapi. Meanwhile the Janissaries also attempt to take over control of the Anatolia and Ankarra Armies by arresting their leadership and taking control. This turns out to be fatal for the Janissaries but news reaches the capital well after the fact.

I AM USING THIS BATTLE AS AN EXAMPLE
so I will be showing how the mechanics work for this one. I will not usually as I prefer a more prose heavy narrative when I can
The Imperial Guard are long service elite professionals so proficiency 9 and defending an urban position so +1, plus have the best weapons purchased from Britain (better tech +1) so total effectiveness rating of 11
the Janissaries are well past their prime, equipped with standard TL 3 weapons, so are proficiency level 7. The Imperial Guard has the advantage and gets first fire. I am using regiments here as the battle is relatively small, so 3 defending units vs 4 attacking units. The Imperial Guard scores 2 hits first fire, and then in mutual combat scores 2 more. The Janissaries score 1 hit, shattering the Imperial cavalry.
Day 1 2400 Janissary casualties vs 300 Imperial Guard casualties. The cavalry unit is eliminated, while that night the 4 shattered Janissary regiments are combined into 2.

The attempt to seize the throne and the Sultan has failed however. Sultan Mahumud II orders a call up of the city militia, and orders the garrison (a garrison division) to defend the throne.

As the garrison division has not been mobilized, it can only field 5 infantry regiments and lacks its full firepower or durability. Only 2 of those regiments are initially available.
the Army troops are proficiency level 5, as they are glorified police. The militia is organized but not particularly trained, so is proficiency level 2 (5 brigades of them).

Meanwhile that night the Rebel Navy sails into the Sea of Marmara, and is in position to begin unloading troops as dawn breaks on January 19

January 19
The Battle of the Port.
The Sultan has information that the Egyptians are actually behind this move, and orders the army garrison to storm the port before the Rebels can be unloaded. Defending it are the remaining 2 regiments of Janissaries (Proficency 7 +1 for difficult terrain) and the Janissaries gain 2 hits in first fire, 2 more in mutual combat (REFEREE is rolling a lot of good rolls, plus the DRM for the Janissiaries is +2 for better troops and good terrain). The Garrison troops fail to score a hit and are rebuffed having suffered 3,000 casualties. They regroup at the palace.

The arrival of 3,000 Naval troops and 5,000 Egyptian regulars intimidates the militia, and 4 of the 6 brigades desert to their homes. The remaining 2 retreat to the palace.

January 20
2nd Battle of Topkapi
The Janissaries and Egyptian troops march on the palace, leaving the sailors to guard their port. (7,000 high quality troops, average morale now . The Imperial Guard (2,000 men) is proficiency 9, the Militia is profiency 2 (5,000 men) and the Garrision troops are at profiency 6 (2,000 men). Average defending proficiency is 5, +1 for better terrain so is a 6. The better tech advantage is lost due to large numbers of lesser tech.

First fire to the attackers. Who fail to score 2 hits (with a +2 DRM), shattering both militia. The attackers fail to score any hits on the army or guards, and the guards score a hit, shattering an Egyptian regiment. However that night the Sultan and his troops escape from the palace and make their way into the city to secure a gate as word has reached the Sultan that the Army at Adrianapolis has slaughtered the Janissaries (4,000 of them dead, plus 8,000 Army casualties) and is marching to his relief but will not arrive for 6 more days (January 27).

January 21
Muhammad Ali secures the palace and declares himself Sultan and that Sultan Mahmud II as a traitor to Islam and the Empire for his failures in Greece and Serbia. There is a lull that day as both sides secure their position.

January 22
the Militia return to the colors as outrage fills the air in Constantinople as this Egyptian dares to call himself Sultan. 4 Militia brigades return to the colors plus the survivors of the previous mlitia fill out what they are missing. Sultan Mahmud orders an attack on the docks to threaten to cut off Ali, and has the militia (10,000 of them) and army troops (2,000 of them) attack in waves. The Sailors are proficiency level 7 (long service professionals with a -1 one for being sailors instead of marines or soldiers) and there are 3,000 present, plus 3 battleships are availavble for fire support (Treat each as an artillery brigade for this purpose). The Militia suffer 4 hits, but the soldiers reach the barracades and vicious fighting hits are managed on 1 of the naval units and both army units are shattered. (6,000 militia and 1200 army casualties and 600 naval casualties) Although the port area is carpeted in bodies, Ali is unsure if Mahmud can do that again and now word reaches him that 50,000 loyal troops are within days of the city and Mahmud holds the gate and has just been reinforced by 4 more militia brigades and is regrouping the 6 shattered ones.

January 23-27
Ali decides he cannot hold the city and trying to will only further undermine his claim. Better to fall back to his secondary plan. He and his troops evacuate, along with the overwheming majority of the families of the navy and janissaries who remain, and also along with vast amounts of loot stripped from Topkapi. As the Loyal Army of Adrianople marches into the city the Rebel fleet sails away.

Meanwhile in Syria the Army of Damascus declares for Ali and comes under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, Ali's young but highly gifted son (who is a Great Captain in game terms)

In Ankara the Janissary revolt is defeated quickly at the cost of 2,000 loyal troops and 20,000 Janissaries and their family members are executed.

As February and March continue the remaining armies of the Sultan Mahmud declare their loyality to him but of these, the Balkans, Danube and Euphrates armies must remain in place.

Meanwhile the Hashamites of Mecca declare for Ali in exchange for limited independence (and getting to keep their Haj income)

Both Ali and Mahmud begin shopping overseas for weapons and supplies....

[Galveston Bay]

in the Spring of 1826, the two Turks, Ottomans, Greeks and Russians are all shopping to modernize their army. The Turks and Egyptians are also both reaching out to the British and French for aid, advisors and assistance.

[Galveston Bay]

As the two Sultans try to solidify their support both at home and abroad, new actors enter the fray.

The Russian government informs the ambassador in St Petersburg that Russia and the Ottoman Empire are in a state of war effective June 1. This war can be averted if the Ottomans cede Moldoava/Bessarabia to Russia, grant Wallachia independence, grant Bulgaria independence, cede Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete to Greece, and return the Hagia Sofia to the Greek Orthodox Church.

No later than July 1

This ultimatum is sent on April 4, reaching the Europeans in Paris on May 1

[Galveston Bay]

Fall 1826
The Turkish Army in the Balkans marches to Sarajevo and Tirane, trailed by thousands of dependents and tens of thousands of Muslims who are terrified by the idea that they will lack the protection of the Sultan from the possible (indeed probable) hostility of Christan neighbors (Catholic and Orthodox). Meanwhile the Army in Bucharest marches to Constantinople similarly trailed by tens of thousands of civilians. A large stream of ships leaves Balkan Black Sea ports heading south as well, filled with Ottoman civil servants and their families.

Both armies leave most of their heavy equipment behind, particularly artillery, which are seized by impromptu militias springing up behind them.

Russian troops march into Bessaradia and Moldova and secure it.

Muhammad Ali and his forces meanwhile firmly solidify their control of Syria, Palestine and smaller areas like Amman while the Hashamites firmly declare their loyality to the new Sultan of Arabia. Ali has also ended up with nearly the entirity of the former Turkish Navy as it had sided with him as an institution and only a few thousand sailors and workers at the Turkish naval yard at Smyrna and 5 Brigs remained loyal (mostly because those Brigs were undergoing refit at the time).

in the Balkans however, centuries of resentments and repression and other after effects of the Turkish conquest and rule is about to come home to roost.

[Galveston Bay]

Summer 1826 The German Bund mobilizes and this triggers near panic in Hungary and Prussia, both of which do the same. However negotiations seems to defuse things in Hungary which remains mobilized but is apparently cooperative with the Germans. Not so reassured are the Prussians who remain mobilized and nervous as summer turns into fall.

In early fall German troops march through Hungary, with the Hungarians providing access to food and fodder as they pass, although the Hungarian Army watches carefully all the same. Two German Armies, the Army of the Danube (Innsbruk starting location) and the Army of Sava (Graz starting location) supported by an engineer brigade and Jaegerkorps are commanded by Field Marshal Von Zietan. Both armies enter Serbia in early October and are met with no resistance and grudging cooperation as the Kingdom of Serbo-Croatia is announced.

As the Germans match through however heavy rain is followed by snow and ice and both armies are forced to go into winter quarters early due to conditions.

Meanwhile in Sarajevo and Tirane, the Muslims are disinclined to accept German authority without considerably more persuassion and with the declaration of the Kingdom of Serbo-Croatia, they enter into talks with Christians in Montenegro to form the Republic of Albania which includes Kosovo, Bosnia, Albania and Montenegro with special status. Turks and other Muslims from all over Rumelia flee to Albania or into Turkish Thrace until winter closes off further travel.

A significant number of people die, well into the thousands, but there are few records during this period as the Ottoman civil service disintegrates and local officials are still trying to establish some kind of government structure during this period. There are also rumors of massacres and mass robberies.

The German Army meanwhile is able to extend stability into Croatia but little further as winter comes early in 1826

[Galveston Bay]

Late Fall 1826 the Balkans
The Germans are attempting to make the entire region their region of influence and hegemony. How long the various nationalities in the region will tolerate that is to be seen. Although the Turks have lost their political control, there are still very large numbers of Muslims in the region who are unhappy about the thought of German Christian rule. Meanwhile Eastern Orthodox Christians see much more in common with their Greek and Russian friends to the south and northeast than Germans or Turks. A large Jewish community is also in the region, as are large numbers of Catholics who share some commonalities with the Germans but look more to Italy as their natural friend.

With the withdrawal of the Turkish Army in 1826, the central government authority collapses with some exceptions. In Wallachia, a framework that remains due to its special status as a principality under Ottoman domination, and thus it quickly manages to recover. It looks at Hungarian dominated Transylvania (and its majority Romanian population under a obnoxious Hungarian authority) with distaste and now worry as the Germans may bring the same to them.. Exchanging one overlord for another hardly brings enthusiasm. Although Russia might seem a natural ally, its occupation and absorption of Bessarabia and Moldova is even more worrisome than the Germans. For now the Romanians wait for spring and what will follow with German occupation.

Wallachia considers Silestria and Venn part of the Romanian peoples and seeks to incorporate all 3 into an independent state. Lacking an army aside from some hurriedly put together militia and a few guards, that aspiration is at the hands of the Germans for now.

to the south in Bulgaria a long awaited explosion occurs. As the Turkish Army retreats toward Istanbul along the coastal trails, Christians in Sofia rise up and begin an orgy of rape, looting and slaughter as 5 centuries of the forced Islamization and heavy handed oppression of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Empire has left generations of hatred. Tens of thousands of Muslims are slaughtered, although thousands of Christians die too as riot spreads throughout the countryside. Muslims flee south in late Autumn rain and snows, leaving a trail of bodies like a carpet all the way south.

Some local militias finally manage to create some order, at least sufficient to get through the winter, but the region has effectively collapsed economically. Famine remains at bay but there is considerable hunger that winter..

In Greater Albania ( Bosnia, Herzogovina, Albania and Montenegro) there is sufficient economic support to keep 2 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry regiments and 8 infantry regiments under arms, which is more than enough to maintain order throughout the region. Although hunger is rife that winter as Muslim (and some Christian for that matter) refugees flee areas where they were minority in the east, the sale of 6 battalions worth of field artillery and necessary equipment to the Republic of Sicily is enough to allow the provisional government to buy food overseas and feed everyone sufficiently to avert actual famine.

n Dalmatia, Croatia, as well as Serbia, the German Army is in charge and outrages are limited to isolated areas cutoff from German supervision by weather conditions. The economy recovers reasonably quickly as the German soldiers are willing to buy food, drink, and clothing from local merchants. The Serbs are indeed pleased by what they see as a remarkable expansion of their country although wary of German future plans.

Meanwhile in Istanbul (which is the city of Constantinople is now renamed), the Sultan is angered by the reports of slaughter in Bulgaria and demands that the Germans allow him to do something if they do not soon.

[Lefty]

Late Fall 1826-Winter 1827

Generalfeldmarschall Graf von Zieten is tasked by the Diet in Magdeburg to oversee management of the Balkans. He begins his preparations throughout the winter at his HQ in Belgrade. He is given two field units, one Jaegerkorps, and an engineer brigade to establish order and ensure that Germany's role is firmly established. The Diet has opened its wallet (at least for 1827), and an army of lawyers and diplomats trails behind. Lastly, he is informed that a young prince from a mediatisized principality will arrive in the Spring, with the expectation that he will be crowned Tsar of Rumelia.

He sets the German army to drill during the winter to keep them busy, as the strictest discipline will be required during this thankless task.

His orders are to ensure the territorial integrity of the Rumelian state. He originally hoped that the Bulgarians would lead the Rumelian state, but the chaos in those lands make that unlikely for now. Instead he determines to make contact with the two most organized groups: the Albanians and the Vlachs.

He proposes to the Wallachian prince and the Commander in Albania that both swear an oath to the incoming Tsar and pledge their forces to his cause. In exchange, the Rumelian state will act as a triple monarchy, with the Tsar ruling over Wallachia, Albania, and Bulgaria from the capital in Vidin. Each territory will retain significant self-government and a militia capable of keeping the peace. The Tsar will govern a Royal Army consisting of conscripts from each of the regions and formulate a bureaucracy to manage economic development of the lands. He will also establish a Rumelian church to unite the Christians, while Muslims will be allow to freely worship in Albania. If the Wallachian Prince and the Albanians agree, their current leaders will retain their positions. He also pledges financial support to both if they open their markets to trade with the Germans.

Turning to the new Serbo-Croatians, he notes that in 1827 the Croatian Military Frontier will be handed control to the Serbo-Croatian Kingdom, including operational control of their armies. He recommends that the Kingdom retain close ties with the German army including attendance of their senior officers at the German War College. As far as Bosnia goes, von Zieten recommends to the Croatian Sabor in Zagreb that the Bosnians be granted freedom of worship at minimum if not a degree of self-governance to ease the transition.

He also writes to the Sultan in Istanbul that his primary mission is the establishment of order and the end of violence in the region, and thanks the Sultan for his ultimately unnecessary offers of support.

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