Hello everyone! This is chapter twenty-seven of Romans and this is an Ottomans chapter! When we left Sultana Helena and Fatimah, they had just attempted to assert their authority in Konstantiniyye. Now, they are leading the combined remains of the Balkan Ordusu and the Kirim Ordusu against the grand army of Lady Krystyna. The Ottomans are desperate for a victory after crippling defeats at Tskhumi, Yerevan, Theodoro, and Baku but The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is desperate to avenge their loss against the Russians in the last war. A massive battle is coming, one that will send shockwaves through Europe.
The Legacy of The Romans.
Act II.
The Russo-Ottoman War.
Chapter XXVII.
Blood at The Battle of Varna.
"The Poles will try and consolidate their gains before camping for the winter. That is the time we will get to work. The main unit of the army will remain here in Tirnova. Advanced units will move forward and set up defensive works around the major crossings of the Danube. Troops have been instructed to construct palisades, place cannons on hills, and use trenches. These fortifications will slow down the Poles and Lithuanians as much as possible and inflict heavy losses. Our troops are to retreat before they are overwhelmed - though we are aware that they will likely take heavy losses. Once find where the bulk of the enemy forces are, we will move our army to favorable terrain and face them in battle." Fatimah explained. She developed an ambitious and multilayered defense scheme. This war has gone terribly for us on multiple fronts and my Grand Vizier was determined to win on this front.
The caramel skinned woman was dressed in a knee-length black dress with leather boots beneath. The outfit made her look wonderful and it was a lot more practical than either the dresses she usually wore of the black Grand Vizier robe that she was traditionally supposed to wear. Peasant women wore rags, urban women scrambled to afford two or three cheap gowns to be socially presentable, while noble women practically drowned themselves in dresses for every possible occasion. No women ever really got to wear practical clothes. The fact that female armor is virtually unheard of is proof of that. Only so many Queens have ever reigned to begin with and only a fraction of them have ever led troops into battle. Of those who did, only a fraction wore real armor. The vast majority of those suits of armor were ill-fitting suits of male armor that they made work. I haven't wore armor during either of the wars I've been involved in and, based on what I saw at Tskhumi, neither does Tsarina Anastasia. I suppose that is more of a result of the times.
Nowadays, leading armies, for the most part, does not result in rulers actually fighting in the front lines. At this point, armies are simply too large and complex for there to be any benefit to actually leading from the front. The reality is that there need to be captains in charge of individual units, those captains then report to commanders. The commanders oversee sections of armies and in turn report to a general or, in this case, my Grand Vizier. Neither Fatimah or I have very much military experience but, given that she at very least modernized the garrison in Tunis, she was more experienced than I was. Besides, it has become somewhat of a norm for Ottoman Sultans to leave the actual command of a war to the Grand Vizier. My late husband, who fancied himself a conqueror, was a bit of an exception to the rule, he wanted to be like the Sultans of old who conquered the Balkans and Constantinople. I was a bit of an exception as well given that I gave command to Fatimah yet accompanied her to the front anyway. Though, perhaps in the future, it may be wiser for at least one of us to remain in Konstantiniyye, after all, if I was in the capital and Fatimah was out fighting those future wars she not-so secretly desired, I could keep a close eye on Spartak Pasha and the other traditionalists. That way, I could truly ensure that what happened to us in Crimea will never happen again.
I wanted to spend time with Fatimah and I loved the woman, but perhaps things would be better that way. Not only would it cement my authority but it would allow her to pursue her more belligerent plans while I pursued our agenda in the capital. I wanted peace and Fatimah did love me and support me, but I know how her mind works. The traditionalists and their damned plan for invading places like Sicily - seemingly for no reason other than further conquest and war - got into Fatimah's head. Then, my brilliant Grand Vizier put her mind to it and figured out how to turn the impossible into the possible. This was a blessing and a curse. She had the mind to ensure that this war against Russia would be the only loss of my reign, however, in doing so, she would engage in various wars. Fatimah had brilliant plans for The Ottoman Empire at peace, but if she was applying herself to war and expansion, would we really have enough resources left and would she really have the capacity left to then carry out her very ambitions plans for peace? I didn't want to doubt Fatimah but surely even she has her limits. I could practically see our future plans for The Ottoman Empire unraveling before my very eyes.
"What about the Prince of Wallachia?" I asked Fatimah. In Konstantiniyye, the news was that Moldavia had fallen and that Wallachia had been drained of its forces. Last I heard, the Prince refused to raise further troops or contribute to this war anymore. I wasn't sure if that was because the Prince honestly cared for his state and didn't want to send his people to die, if he was stubbornly saving his remaining troops in defense of Wallachia itself, or if this was some form of stubborn resistance against The Ottoman Empire. In any case, the Prince of Wallachia wasn't even my biggest problem. Prince Matyas of Transylvania had openly joined the enemy alliance. Transylvania had always been a problem. To begin with, the Hungarian ruled Romanian Principality was claimed both by my Empire and the Habsburgs, meaning that the Prince paid a partial tribute to Konstantiniyye and another one to Vienna rather than paying a proper tribute to either of us. They were never dependable to begin with, now, they were openly rebelling against me. Not only was I on track to lose my homeland in Crimea and my husband's hard fought territories in Caucasia, but I was also going to lose Moldavia to the Poles and Transylvania would become an independent Bathory state pledging their allegiance to my enemies in Moscow and Warsaw. This war presented disaster after disaster.
"If he does not wish to send troops to support the Ottoman war effort, I do not wish to send troops to defend his Principality." Fatimah replied curtly. Her message was clear, if the Prince of Wallachia wanted protection from the Poles and Lithuanians, he would have to help us before we would help him. I did not know exactly what was going on with this Polish army, but I could make some guess. First of all, that they intend to protect their reputation after their loss against Russia, second of all, the wanted Moldavia for themselves so they would leave that Principality in tact. These two combined meant that the Poles and Lithuanians were only just beginning. Once they crossed into Wallachia or The Ottoman Empire proper, they will unleash everything. They will loot wealth to replenish Warsaw's coffers, they will execute prisoners to shake their enemies with fear, and they will gladly cause dissent within our Empire just to weaken us in time for another war. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth may have become Russia's ally and lap dog, but that does not mean that they have the same intentions, quite the opposite. I can only imagine that Tsarina Anastasia would want Poland to have as little autonomy as possible - she wants Poland to be entirely focused on her wars rather than on their own - while King Jan of Poland will likely resist the woman who forced him to sign a humiliating treaty. Especially now that it seems that Tsarina Anastasia is dictating policy within his own country. Turkish observers in Moldavia have revealed that a Polish noblewoman called Lady Krystyna is actually in command of this army. This woman has evidently spent some time in Moscow. There is a woman leading Polish troops with ties to Moscow - it is hardly a stretch to realize what Anastasia is up to.
This Lady Krystyna was functioning as a Russian agent. She was already there leading Polish troops and furthering Anastasia's agenda in this war. The next obvious step was to get Krystyna on the throne. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a strange and dysfunctional state. It is a state of Poles, Lithuanians, Germans, Jews, Byelorussians, Ruthenians, and countless other groups, yet the nobles themselves have been heavily Polonized. Therefore, a Polish noble from a place as far away from Krakow - Poland's largest city - as the southern end of Galicia or the most extreme corner of Lithuania will journey to the capital of Warsaw to vote for the King of Poland. It is an elective monarchy with a powerful nobility called the Sejm. This strong nobility and the relatively backwater nature of Poland has resulted in a very weak monarchy that has been unable to utilize its resources. That is why Poland lost control of The Principality of Moldavia to us and that is why they have lost Byelorussia and the Ukraine to The Tsardom of Russia. Of course, I cannot exactly hold that against them, The Tsardom of Russia is a powerful state on the rise and they will be very hard to beat. Poland has failed to beat them, we are failing to beat them, and I suspect many other states will fail against Russia and Anastasia going forward. Once again, I find myself wishing that the two of us could have found ourselves as allies.
That is The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but the brains and the brawn of this war is elsewhere. The Tsardom of Russia is our true enemy. A scant few centuries ago Muscovy was a backwater Principality of frozen forests and peasant farms under the iron first of the Mongols. Then, the little arsenal known as the Kremlin ruled by some unfortunate branch of Rurikid Princes earned the trust of the Mongols, becoming their tax collectors and enforcers. Suddenly, Pskov, Yaroslavl, Rostov, Beloozero, Odoyev, and Vladimir were sending their tributes through Moscow. The Princes grew rich and powerful at the expense of their rivals while the great Mongol Empire fractured into tiny little pieces. Khanates in Kazan and Crimea waged war with the remnants of The Great Horde while Muscovy and Novgorod emerged as the only remaining Russian states. Once Muscovy defeated Novgorod, their trajectory was clear. They turned on the steppes and on their western neighbors. The Great Horde fell, Kazan fell, and Crimea would have eventually fallen had it not become a part of The Ottoman Empire. I suppose that Crimea was falling to Russia after all regardless. In any case, in just two centuries, Muscovy went from irrelevant fortifications in the bitter cold north to a massive and powerful Empire eating away at my borders. They are extremely dangerous and they present the largest threat to The Ottoman Empire.
Austria will attempt to push further into Hungary and Croatia, The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth will likely target us again, and Fatimah's plot for Sicily will send us on a collision course with the Spanish Empire, but they are different. Spain has established some level of control over the western Mediterranean and has virtually the entire New World to attend to, but they are stretched thinner than their population can support. Spanish troops are stationed throughout Spain, in various Moroccan outposts, across the New World, around Italy, and in Flanders fighting against the Dutch uprising, all of that on top of their role in assisting their Habsburg allies in the war against the Protestants. Austria is fighting wars on every possible front already with the Protestants rising up, the Venetians refusing them access to the Adriatic, and rivalries with even their Catholic allies in Germany. I have already mentioned that Poland is ultimately a puppet and all of that leads to Russia being the single biggest threat to my Empire. This war is already lost, but we must not lose again. We will fight to beat the Poles so that we can at very least end this war with dignity and then Fatimah and I will prepare to truly win the next war.
By the spring of 1624 our defensive plan was in motion. The main crossings of the Danube were heavily protected by fortified branches of the Balkan Ordusu and the main army was ready to move up to face the Polish force proper. Scouts were constantly searching for advantageous positions to fight battles. Our scouts searched for battlefields where we could play to our advantage - we wanted cannons on the high ground with the Poles having no place to answer them, we wanted to allow whatever Tatar horsemen were left among us to have the wide open room to flank and harass the enemy, and we wanted to be able to get there from here in the Bulgarian city of Tirnova before the Poles got there - we wanted victory to be predetermined.
"My Sultana-regent! My Grand Vizier!" a messenger cried as he ran into the camp - we had messengers stationed at every crossing, ready to ride here as soon as Poles were spotted, regardless of what they did when they saw our fortifications across the Danube - we knew that once the Poles and Lithuanians reached the Danube, they would manage to force their way across sooner rather than later. Fatimah called over a few of our commanders and then I gave the messengers permission to speak "Their army is crossing the Danube near Silistra! As I rode here I heard them destroy our fortifications with their cannons. I did not stay to see what happened but it is clear to me that they are going to cross with minimal casualties!"
The messenger's words were worrying. The Poles figured out what we were doing on the Danube and decided to obliterate our fortifications with their cannons, denying us both the chance to delay them and the chance to inflict heavy casualties. There were many places to cross the Danube, but the Poles were sticking relatively close to the coast. I could imagine what the Poles were up to. First, Silistra, the capital of the province of the same name, would fall, then the Poles would return to the coast. Varna would fall, Burgas would fall, and then the road to Konstantiniyye itself would be open. I doubted that this Lady Krystyna would even think that it would be possible for Konstantiniyye to fall in a siege, but with her troops heading for the coast and Russian and Portuguese ships victorious on the Black Sea, she could certainly inflict massive damage on the capital - damage that I would not allow. I sighed, Spartak Pasha is an absolute fool and he is a power-hungry snake, however, he may not necessarily be wrong in this case. Right now, the war in the Balkans definitely seemed more important than the war in Crimea, even if Spartak Pasha only made that made to show his own political power.
"Silistra's defenses were reduced when Wallachia and Moldavia submitted to our rule. The city will last mere days." a commander named Huseyin Pasha revealed. The man was a Turk and a relative - the grandson I believe - of the governor of Athens. His relation and his skills at leading troops through the rugged and rocky terrain of the Balkan coastlines got him this high position in the Balkan Ordusu. I was usually not a fan of nepotism amongst nobles of The Ottoman Empire, but, as a close relative of the governor, he would know more about the situation of other provinces in the Balkans than most commanders. His knowledge of Silistra, likely as a result of his grandfather's attempts to make himself appear greater than the other governors in the region, has given us relevant and useful news. Though unfortunately, in this case, it wasn't good news.
"We can hold the line at Varna. Our fortifications on the Danube stood no chance against their artillery and neither will Silistra. We need a fortress or at very least a fortified city." another commander argued, this one was Bayezid of Uskub, a former Janissary from northern Macedonia who has since established himself as a capable commander in his own right after leading a combined force of Janissaries and regular troops to squash a number of minor revolts among the Serbian population. His plan seemed reasonable but, with the Poles already using their guns to devastating effect and a Russian fleet at sea, combined with Fatimah and I's recent lack of luck when it comes to fortified cities, I wasn't convinced that it was going to work.
"We cannot simply allow for Silistra to fall. It is important to our political position in the Balkans and it leaves the rest of Bulgaria vulnerable." Muhammad Ural Pasha replied. That man was a commander from the Kirim Ordusu and survived the Battle of Theodoro. The Tatar commander knew all too well how horsemen could trample the relatively flat and open lands of Bulgaria - perhaps he was even distantly related to the Bulghars who descended on the steppe between the Byzantine Empire and the Carpathian Mountains in antiquity. Unfortunately, I felt that rushing to Silistra wasn't quite the right decision either, though for different reasons. I didn't think that the Poles would seek to occupy the rest of Bulgaria, I was already confident they were going for the coast, therefore, rushing to Silistra would only leave us with less time to prepare for their attack without even giving us the benefit of fortifications. I thought that waiting at Varna wasn't good enough and I thought that rushing to Silistra would leave us unprepared, that left us with some place in between the two cities.
"Quiet!" I called and silenced the bickering of my commanders. They turned to me, showing deference to the Sultana-regent but failing to hide the expectant looks in their eyes, as if silently telling me that whatever I am saying must be important to warrant this interruption. I opted to ignore this slight as addressing it would only waste more precious time. Fatimah but her hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. I enjoyed the hot sensation against my ear for only a moment before listening to the words she said. She reassured me and told me exactly what we were going to do. I nodded and understood. Turning back to the commanders with Fatimah's support propping me up, I presented our plan "I think Silistra's fall is predetermined but I think waiting for the Poles to attack us at Varna gives them the chance to wait, establish supply lines, and potentially even contact the Russian navy on the Black Sea for assistance. I do not want to face the Poles in a lengthy siege, I want to defeat them in open battle. That does not mean a fair battle. I want you all to gather the scouts back up again and send them to find favorable terrain between Silistra and Varna. The greater advantage we can have, the better."
There, the stage was set. The scouts would find a favorable setting for us to do battle and then the fate of the Balkan campaign would be sealed. Either The Ottoman Empire would win a victory that would avenge some of our losses earlier in this war and allow us to pursue peace with dignity or we would suffer yet another defeat that would only further arouse the hungry dogs of Europe ready to pounce on our borders regardless of whether or not they are truly able to stand a chance against us or not. In any case, it was clear that, after this war, regardless of whether we would pursue a peaceful agenda or be consumed by war just like I feared, we would have to modernize and grow our army. An army as either a guarantee of peace or as an instrument of war.
The Balkan Ordusu was set up on a tall, wide hill facing a somewhat shorter hill to the north with a valley in between. The Poles would come up the northern hill and they would be completely exposed, then, in order to get to us, they would have to charge down into ditch between us and then come back up. We had the high ground and we would be able to fire on an enemy forcing itself through a perfect killing ground. This was the perfect place to wage a battle between Silistra and Varna. I glanced to my side and saw our campfire sending smoke high in the air - sending a signal directly to this Lady Krystyna and her Polish army. This was as close to a trap as we could possibly spring. Thus, all there was left to do was watch and wait for them to arrive, a handful of Ottoman scouts watching their army to report on their numbers and grant an estimate on when they will arrive.
"The reports indicate that this Lady Krystyna is moving fast, she should arrive today." Fatimah reported, carrying the relevant documents with her. This woman was a bold one but it would be her downfall. She may have neutralized our defenses on the Danube with shrewd use of her cannons before even attempting to cross the river, but, in doing so, she wasted valuable ammunition - doing so again when she occupied Silistra - and would now face the full brunt of my army rather than just a minuscule detachment with some palisades guarding a river crossing. That one group has been annihilated, but the other detachments had joined us, all of them eager to avenge their fallen brethren. The Poles are fighting to regain their honor after losing their last war, but we are fighting to regain our honor in this war. We have not yet been fully defeated and that is why we will win, because we must win.
Soon enough Poles and Lithuanians began emerging from a small forest in the distance. The soldiers emerged from the woods and formed their pike squares back up in the cover behind the hills. Next, there was a contingent of Transylvanian troops - I was hardly surprised that the treacherous Prince who thrown his lot in with the Russians and the Poles would outright lend troops to the conflict - in fact, I even spotted a Hungarian noble on horseback who I believe is the Prince himself. More Poles and Lithuanians came through the woods, showing their numbers to be large, but we would severely thin their numbers as they came down that hill and through our little killing ground between the hills. A Portuguese detachment joined the growing army and even a force of what I could only assume were some sort of mercenaries from northern Europe. This was a fearsome army already and the Prince of Transylvania seemed to be in command of this group, but something seeming very wrong. This was the vast Bulgarian steppe - where were the Polish cavalry and where were their artillery?
"My lieges!" Muhammad Ural Pasha came running up to us "Scouts are reporting that the Polish army has split apart. They are arcing around our position!"
The word came through but it was too late. We were entirely exposed on this high hill top as Polish cannons began firing upon us from behind. I turned around to see the Polish cavalry behind the cannons - meaning that, in order to attack their cannons, we would have to head down the hill, abandoning our advantageous position and expose ourselves to a Polish cavalry charge - a Polish cavalry charge that was seemingly lead by King Jan himself based on the large Polish-Lithuanian flag flying above the core of winged hussars, the heaviest and deadliest wing of the Polish cavalry. They had come around and flanked us on both sides. We could attack the Polish cavalry and cannons, which was definitely the less numerous group, however, that would expose us to a cavalry charge and give the infantry time to cross the lines and attack us from behind, boxing us in. I looked to Fatimah expectantly, hoping that my lover and wife had a solution to this problem, because I had absolutely no idea how I could possibly turn this battle around.
I watched Fatimah freeze up, completely still except her eyes. I could tell she was thinking but I could tell that she was also lost, not to mention the fact that she was under extreme pressure right now. Fatimah had committed to this plan of wearing down the Poles and Lithuanians with our Danube fortifications and then facing them in a conventional battle where we would hold all the cards. Neither of us had planned on this Lady Krystyna completely outmaneuvering us. I wondered what exactly happened. In Erivan, when the Russians cracked our defenses at the Armenian fortress town, I deduced that there was a Persian interloper, but what about this time? Was someone in my army leaking information to my enemies? Was Spartak Pasha helping my enemies in order to set himself up for a coup? Or was it something as simple as the campfire marking our position revealing too much in our arrogance? I thought and thought but it seems that the third one is what happened. We were camping on this position for awhile now and we were openly taunting them with the smoke trail. Lady Krystyna was definitely a smart one and she used our own hubris against us, turning our seemingly perfect spot into a blatant target.
The commanders, seeing us helpless, seized the battle for themselves. Fatimah and I faintly went along with it as our army decided to take on the Polish-Lithuanian cannons and cavalry. Our infantry marched towards the Poles as their cannons blew the Balkan Ordusu into pieces. I turned around to the hill top and saw our artillery crews struggling to turn the cannons around and lower them in the panic. Not only did the cannons have to face the opposite direction and point downwards, but they had to be brought across the top of the hill top or else they will accomplish nothing but shooting the dirt in front of them. Eventually, their cannons stopped firing and their incessant bombardment was replaced by a thunderous cavalry charged. Cossacks who still pledged their allegiance to The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth despite the border shifting, light hussars, western model cuirassiers, and, of course, the deadly winged hussars made their charge. I watched as impossibly long lances, deadly sabers, and vicious pistols devastated the front lines of my army. Death filled the air before finally the cavalry charge was over and the horsemen commanded by King Jan swung away and back to regroup, potentially for another deadly charge. I took the opportunity to take a deep breath.
That breath was ill-timed however as, once the horsemen were out of the way, the Polish artillery unleashed their arsenal once again - I guess they hadn't wasted all that much ammunition at Silistra and the Danube after all - but things were going from bad to worse. War cries behind us revealed that the Polish, Lithuanian, Transylvanian, Portuguese, and mercenary infantry were now coming back down the fill, the Prince of Transylvania commanding them. I scanned the top of the hill looking for our cannons but, when I found them, it only made everything worse. Polish infantry had captured our cannons and slaughtered our artillery crews. At the center of the top of the hill, I saw a small group of figures. I saw a Catholic priest on the left and a young yet decorated Polish officer on the right, but between them, I saw the woman that caused all of this. I saw Lady Krystyna. The pale blonde woman was dressed in a flowing red dress rather than any sort of military uniform. She appeared to be the picture of absolute elegance yet she was absolutely deadly. I couldn't really see her in so much detail from this distance, but I could tell that she was beautiful and I could practically feel her smirking. She was practically the definition of dangerous beauty and I knew that she would go far in this world, however, she intended to trample all over me to establish her greatness.
I glanced over at the Polish King sitting on horseback behind the Polish cannons. He tossed away the shattered wooden remains of his lance and readied his saber and his pistol for his next charge. A metal breastplate on his chest, a leopard skin adorning his saddle, and a pair of wings mounted to his saddle, designed to make his cavalry charges sound louder and more threatening while simultaneously deafening their horses so they wouldn't be so skittish around cannons. This man was the legal ruler of Poland but he had no real power, not anymore. This Lady Krystyna held all the real power. I could definitely see why Tsarina Anastasia saw potential in her and wanted her on the throne of The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but she was not a mere Russian agent. Lady Krystyna would be hard to control. Having her as an ally and would-be subject could present a far bigger challenge for the so-called Princess of the Resurrection than I could ever be. The woman raised her arm and our own cannons were turned against us. I grabbed Fatimah and held on tight as the ground shook as the Poles fired over their troops and onto our own. Discipline collapsed all throughout the Ottoman ranks and the Poles and Lithuanians were crushing us from both sides. I pulled away from Fatimah but kept my arms on her, seeing that she was okay before locking eyes with her. We both knew that we had to retreat now before our army is completely shattered. I shouted the order at the top of my lungs and my commanders carried it out as best as they could, but our troops had ringing ears and fierce soldiers to contend to. The retreat was disorderly to say the least but Lady Krystyna called her troops back. The remains of the Balkan Ordusu were shepherded away from the battlefield.
"The Poles are already capitalizing on this victory. They're saying that they avenged the Crusade of Varna almost two centuries ago. The Christian world is eating it up." Fatimah solemnly reported. Our plans worked in Arabia against the Portuguese and their allies, our plans for to develop and modernize The Ottoman Empire seemed perfect, but every single plan we've developed for this war has failed. We attacked Georgia preemptively but the Russians, while not fully prepared, were prepared enough to halt us at Tskhumi and, with the recovered Georgians, they forced us to march through the freezing Caucasus Mountains. We planned to hold the line at Erivan, but the Persians interfered and effectively neutralized the mortars that were central to the city's defense. Without the mortars, the Russian guns chewed through Erivan just like they had against the Poles at Minsk, Kiev, and even Warsaw itself. We then moved to the Crimean front and we were doing quite well, saving Azov and pushing back the Russian Army of the Ukraine. Then the Poles finished their campaign in Moldavia crossed through Wallachia unopposed by the apathetic Prince. A combination of Spartak Pasha's political motivations and the actual threat Lady Krystyna represented forced us to move to the Balkans, said crossing resulted in our navy being thoroughly defeated at The Battle of Theodoro. Now, on the Balkan Peninsula, with all the advantages in the world we couldn't win a single battle. Perhaps the Catholics were right to celebrate The Battle of Varna. Such a massive victory was unexpected because The Ottoman Empire should be so much harder to beat. We failed on countless levels on this campaign.
My husbands wars were hardly fair. He fought against Theodoro, a poor and largely irrelevant Principality in Crimea and the Italian city-states of Genoa and Venice. A pair of Italian cities with a handful of colonies dotted around the Mediterranean and Black Seas were no match for the full might of The Ottoman Empire alone. My husband's only true challenge came against the Persians. Persia is a large and impressive state, however, the Qara Qoyunlu army is more along the lines of the armies of Arabia which we easily destroyed and the armies of the central Asian steppe than those of Europe. We rested on our laurels, the armies of Europe did not. The Habsburgs and the other Germans have become hardened by constant warfare against each other in this Catholic versus Protestant conflict while The Tsardom of Russia had The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to battle against. The Russians modernized their armies and leaned on their vast, open lands to raise could no longer lean on mere numbers or think that our armies were inherently superior. We had to learn from this war, adapt from it, and modernize our army, otherwise, we are doomed to fail again and again.
That is easier said than done however. Russia, as large as it is, is a continuous mass with the ability for the Russians to travel from their Muscovite core to any corner of their Empire, our Empire straddles the Mediterranean. It is downright unreasonable for an army to travel from Konstantiniyye to Algiers by land, however, a navy can make that much easier. We intended to use our navy in this war, but our navy showed its age here...and I suppose that asking a navy to sail into battle mere months after it sailed from Konstantiniyye to the Persian Gulf and back was quite demanding. Now that our navy has been defeated in battle, every time we want to ferry troops across the Mediterranean, we will have to put up with the Venetians or the Spanish or who knows who else trying to replicate Russia's success. Therefore, what we have been doing is keeping our armies in their regions. Perhaps we should have drawn on our troops from Egypt, North Africa, or Arabia in this war, but we didn't, we fought with our Anadolu Ordusu, our Balkan Ordusu, and our Kirim Ordusu. We did not want to leave the southern half of our Empire undefended and, in doing so, we hve forced ourselves to have to completely rebuild our northern armies once this war is over.
"Where is Tsarina Anastasia now?" I asked. There was no alternative anymore, we had to call for peace. We failed in Caucasia and I thought that we could avenge our loss in Crimea and when that didn't work I thought that we could at least defeat the Poles - after all, the only reason the Poles are fighting this war is because they got humiliated by the Russians in the last war - but we couldn't even do that. Our reputation was in tatters and it would have to remain in tatters while Fatimah and I rebuild our armies and modernized them. I had a distaste for war, however, I could recognize how actually attacking Sicily could be actually what The Ottoman Empire needs in order to shake fear into the hearts of Europe itself. Then, rather than European courts hearing about how the Poles avenged their loss at Varna or how the Russians smashed The Ottomans in a war we allegedly started, the Europeans would hear about how the Turks were powerful enough and bold enough to attack Italy itself. We would be on the Pope's doorstep. It may not last long and it may even reunite Christendom against us, however, it will restore our reputation and bring us into an era of peace by making our enemies think twice about attacking us.
"Tabriz - almost seventy thousand Russians are laying siege to the fortress." Fatimah revealed. Tabriz was a major fortress and, for a long time, it served as an obstacle to our expansion into Persia. Until Tabriz fell, it was impossible for us to push into Caucasia or down along the Persian Gulf, but once the old Qara Qoyunlu fell, the door was open for further expansion. My late husband took the opportunity to take Caucasia - leading to the current predicament - the fortress was now an obstacle in our favor. As fortified as the city is, I do not think it stand very long at all against seventy thousand Russians and probably two hundred cannons. I imagined that this was the combined force of the army that took Baku and Anastasia's army that destroyed us at the Battle of Tskhumi. The Russians were driving deep into The Ottoman Empire and we had no answer to them. Even if we hadn't lost to the Poles at the Battle of Varna, this news would probably drive us to calling for peace. Fatimah and I did not want to see the Russians take Tabriz and then ransack Baghdad.
"We have to return to Konstantiniyye and call for peace. Our armies are gone, our navy is gone, and continuing will only bring the war to Baghdad and Konstantiniyye. Caucasia, Crimea, and Moldavia are not worth that amount of fighting." I declared. A little bit of Romanian and Crimean steppe wasn't worth much - yes I was sad to see my home go after finally getting the brief chance to reconnect with it, but I could not justify sending any more men to die fighting a hopeless war for a place that has far more sentimental value than real value - or some rough mountain land. The fertile coastline of North Africa was our breadbasket, the economic nexus of the Indian Ocean, the Silk Road, and the Mediterranean was our money maker, and the great cities of Islam were our religious centers. Caucasia, Crimea, and Moldavia met little to the Empire all things considered. I didn't want to lose them, but at this point, it wasn't worth it. It was clear that Tsarina Anastasia wanted these lands more. They were more valuable for Russia than they would be for us.
Russia is large land, but it is far to the north and it is cold. An endless series of freezing cold winters would likely have devastated the Russian population had they not had the benefit of New World trade crops to grow in the hardy, cold soil. Russia has no direct access to these New World crops however, therefore, this is a high cost for The Tsardom of Russia. Russia has pushed east for Siberian gold and they have pushed west into more temperate farmlands once owned by The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Byelorussia and the Ukraine provides them with a food surplus and they have apparently taken a very considerable sum from Warsaw's coffers. This wealth and this food is fueling further Russian wars. Anastasia was finally able to access the Black Sea and move on Crimea because they know they want starve or go into bankruptcy any time soon. Simultaneously, Russia pushed south from Astrakhan to finally gain more control of the lands around the Caspian Sea. Russia would gain even more farmland and access to the Black and Mediterranean Seas in Crimea and, with Caucasia, they would gain a region long disputed between Russia, Persia, and The Ottoman Empire. This gave them a frontier to militarize and a front to attack Persia should they wish to link Caucasia with Central Asia once they finally complete their conquests of our Turkic brethren in the steppe. Of course, there is more to all this than crops and trade, but for Russia, this land truly is a major difference. By gaining Byelorussia, the Ukraine, Crimea, and Caucasia already in her reign that is only just beginning, Tsarina Anastasia is laying the foundation for a Russia that shall truly be unstoppable.
Tsarina Anastasia is perhaps the most powerful woman to ever reign in Europe and I am very likely the most powerful woman in the Islamic world. If we had not been on a collision course, we could have been wonderful allies - we could have crushed the so-called Holy Roman Empire, we could have divide Persia between us, and we could have forged an alliance that would keep the peace in Eurasia in a way not seen since the height of The Roman Empire - instead, we have been bitter rivals. Fatimah and I stood no chance against Anastasia and now we must beg her for peace.
Alright guys, this has been chapter twenty-seven of Romans and I managed to keep this one short...short by this story's standards anyway. Chapter twenty-eight will be a Russia chapter and the last chapter of open warfare. The peace negotiations will cover two chapters - the first from Helena's perspective, the second from Anastasia's - and that will take care of act two. Act three will be ten chapters and complete the story.
Ciao!
