The Seas of the Sultan, Ottoman New World

Here it is, after much discussion, a TL about this is finally here.


Part I

Battle of Torvioll

In the summer of 1444, Skanderberg, and his small army of 10 000 men faced off against 40 000 Turks under the direct command of Ali Pasha. Thorough scouting and reconnaissance along with captured war plans reveal to the Turks the positions of the cavalry to their rear. A large force Janissaries and Light Cavalry scour the Cavalry into open ground and slaughter it. The rest of the army turns to faces Skanderbeg’s main force. In the ensuing battle, the Ottomans win a decisive victory, capturing Skanderberg and the survivors of his army. Skanderberg is executed, along with his army, effectively ending large scale Albanian resistance. Guerilla bands take to the coastal areas under the command of Dukagjini, but the Venetians along with the Ottomans successfully defeat them. The survivors take to the mountains, only to emerge and raid the occasional caravan.

Murad was now free to advance and meet the Crusaders at the Battle of Varna, the successful victory granted the Ottomans uncontested rule until Hungary.




Part II


Seige of Constantinople


(OOC: Seige goes much as OTL)


The Ottomans under Mehmet the Conqueror advance on Constantinople with 80 000 soldiers, and the Great Turkish Bombards to lay seige to Constantinople. The paltry defenders of the great city stand a little chance against the massed foes. Though the fight valiantly, they are simply overwhelmed, when the walls are breached and the thousands of Turks move in to pillage the city. For several days looting and sacking of the city takes place, thousands are killed, and the Turks sustain heavy losses. But Mehmet the Conqueror orders the Azaan read from the Hagia Sophia, and the first Jamaat is held in the city. After several months, the city is repopulated with Turks, and the capital is moved to Konstantinnye.



Mehmet, calling himself the Ceaser of Romans, now sets his sight on the First Rome...
 
Part III

Oranto Campaign 1465

Mehmet, now calling himself Ceaser of the Romans, had made extensive and intricate plans for the conquest of Rome and Italy. A large force of 5 000 Turks and 70 ships landed on the Apulian coast, and attacked Otranto. The garrison and citizens retreated into the castle, but the castle was breached, and the garrison killed. Another force of 15 000 landed on Calabria and began ravaging the countryside, and the cities. The Ottomans achieved moderate sucess, as the Italians were not prepared for a large scale Ottoman invasion.

An additional 150 ships were to take the smaller islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and afterwards reinforce the Calabrian Contingent.

Several months of heavy fighting, and large casualties for the Ottomans, the Ottomans realized their goal, they were at the gates of Rome, while the land to their rear lay in ruins. An Ottoman force of 65 000 laid siege to Rome, the city capitulated, with the Pope himself riding out to give the keys to Mehemt II. A leading Cardinal escaped to Avigonon, and proclaimed himself Pope there, with the French and Spanish backing.

The athaan was ordered to be called from the St.Peters Basilica, and then converted into a mosque. The Pope became a figurehead, controlling the Catholic populations inside the Empire.

Meanwhile, the "True Pope" as he styled himslef called for a Crusade to take back Rome and Constantinople, and drive the Heathens back into the dessert, among those who answered the call were France, Tuscany, Lombardy, Castille, Aragon, Hungary. Venice did not join, as it had just signed a costly peace treaty with the Ottomans...
 
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Rough Ottoman Map of their holdings in 1475

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So Otranto landings were in 1465, and 10 years later half of Italy+Sicily were Ottomans.

But I found it hard to see that the Ottomans could simultaneously conquer Sicily and half of Italy without Spain and France doing nothing. :confused:
 
What Spain? Where's Venice at this point? You're completely ignoring the sole power that would prove a thorn in the Ottoman's ass for 300 years.

Prediction: the Ottomans manage to debark an army into Italy but Venice is still queen of the sea and manages to isolate it from the Ottoman supply chain. After conquering Otranto, the Ottomans are forced to surrended to the Napolitans, reinforced by the Pope and an Aragonese army.
 
So Rome falls in the 1460s? That's only some 10 years after the last anti-popes of the 15th century died. I would assume that there would a return of those now that Rome has fallen and the pope is in Aragon, if nothing else because it is an excellent opportunity for some less scrupulous bishops to attempt a power grab.

EDIT: Also, it looks on the map as if the Ottomans have annexed all of Venice's possessions, including Venice itself (!). How did that happen?
 
What Spain? Where's Venice at this point? You're completely ignoring the sole power that would prove a thorn in the Ottoman's ass for 300 years.

Prediction: the Ottomans manage to debark an army into Italy but Venice is still queen of the sea and manages to isolate it from the Ottoman supply chain. After conquering Otranto, the Ottomans are forced to surrended to the Napolitans, reinforced by the Pope and an Aragonese army.

Nope. The Ottomans defeated Venice in a war in OTL in the same era. If Mehmed had put resources into a fleet, there's no chance the Venetians can keep up. And why would they bother? They're a trading city. Always likely to take the "if you can't beat them, join them" strategy. Or rather "If it's more profitable to ally with them, why bother trying to fight them?"

I do wonder how the Ottomans ended up with Crete and Cyprus here, though - especially Cyprus - there isn't a very compelling reason to bother with it. Perhaps he just intends that Venice is an Ottoman vassal, which is not unrealistic.

I tend to think the Papacy would move to Avignon, not Aragon, though.
 
There hadn't been a pope in Avignon for the last 100 years in 1465, and the last Avignon pope relocated to Aragon for his last years anyway.

That was an anti-pope. The Papacy relocated directly from Avignon to Rome. It seems unlikely to me that the Pope would eschew his considerable Avignon estates and facilities for the relatively inaccessible Zaragoza.
 
That was an anti-pope. The Papacy relocated directly from Avignon to Rome. It seems unlikely to me that the Pope would eschew his considerable Avignon estates and facilities for the relatively inaccessible Zaragoza.

The last anti-pope died in 1449, 16 years before Ottoman conquest of Rome ITTL.

Though you have a point about the holdings in Avignon. The papacy did have a significant amount of land there at the time.
 
Would the Ottomans really convert St.Peters to a mosque? I was under the impression that St. Peters was a rather important to catholics.

Also, did turkey really have the population to resettle people in Italy. I really doubt their'd be an exodus of italians. Most people never left their land in those days. I doubt the peasantry would get up and leave.

Besides, wouldn't it be in Ottoman interest to keep the Italians there so they could keep their christian tax base?
 
Would the Ottomans really convert St.Peters to a mosque? I was under the impression that St. Peters was a rather important to catholics.

Also, did turkey really have the population to resettle people in Italy. I really doubt their'd be an exodus of italians. Most people never left their land in those days. I doubt the peasantry would get up and leave.

Besides, wouldn't it be in Ottoman interest to keep the Italians there so they could keep their christian tax base?
I'm fairly sure they could transfer people, but it would cause them to suffer somewhere else. They would be less likely to take from the Balkans because that would strengthen the non-Turks a bit too much, the likeliest place I think, is Anatolia which is still pretty decently populated in this period in the Ottoman lands. That might mean Karaman becomes stronger and certainly Uzun Hassan will have a much better time of it if the Ottoman attention will be focused on Italy, and if they've gone this far, it will have to be centered westerward for some time.
 
Would the Ottomans really convert St.Peters to a mosque? I was under the impression that St. Peters was a rather important to catholics.

Also, did turkey really have the population to resettle people in Italy. I really doubt their'd be an exodus of italians. Most people never left their land in those days. I doubt the peasantry would get up and leave.

Besides, wouldn't it be in Ottoman interest to keep the Italians there so they could keep their christian tax base?

Was Hagia Sophia important to Orthodox Christians? They're still demanding it be restored to a church!

However, the old St. Peter's was falling into ruin in this period, so it would probably be demolished to build a glorious new high-Ottoman style mosque.

There would be no exodus of Italians, or at least not any sort of major one. There might be some Turcomans settled there, but probably not to a major extent. There would be garrisons of troops, however, and that would be a fairly significant new demographic. In addition, Muslims weren't welcome in Medieval Europe - Ottoman conquest will cause the formation of large merchant colonies, and you will probably see some degree of comversion to Islam for the social and tax benefits - albeit nothing large-scale.
 
My TL states that many Italian peasants were killed during the brutal Ottoman Invasion, leaving rich farmland which would be an incentive to some poor Turkish peasants, and land grant would be given to soldiers.
 
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Part III The Crusade of Rome[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]After several years of preparation, the large Crusader army advanced, some said it numbered more than 100 000, French, Spanish, Austrian, Hungarian, Italian and other soldiers. Each one was a volunteer, steadfast in religion and service to the Pope and King. Pope himself lead the army (in figure, the actual military component was handled by apt Christian Generals) 45 000 Crusaders would invade the Italian Peninsula and push the Turks out, while a fleet of 250 ships and 65 000 soldiers would sail to the Dardanelles, capture Thrace, and lay siege to Constantinople, reinforced by those who had captured Rome. Christians inside the Ottoman Empire were encourage to rebel, and Hungarians, Greeks, Serbs and Croats, revolted in large numbers.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Divine Rains” [FONT=&quot][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the year 1477, the fleet gathered in Narbonne, and set sail for Constantinople, about 3 km from the coast, dark ominous clouds were seen. Many captain were with the idea to retreat back to Narbonne and wait the storm out, but the commanders, fiery in their zeal ordered the fleet onwards, claiming the Lord would protect them. They were wrong, the entire fleet sunk, and several Italian ships survived and reached Naples, where the Ottoman garrison captured them, and paraded them throughout, showing the prisoner’s misfortune as a sign of God’[FONT=&quot]s displeasure. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Battle of Norcia[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Battle of Norcia took place of August 14 1478. The Crusader Armies mood had dampened, with the vicious onslaught of torrential rains, and the destruction of the fleet. The zeal of yesteryear had all but gone away. 40 000 Crusaders camped near the town of Norcia. Several contingents of English and French Musketeers wandered into the town, and got drunk in one of the local taverns. A brawl ensued, when several musketeers began harassing a village girl, and the villagers went to the girl’s aid. Fighting broke out into the streets, Crusaders from Umbria dashed to stop the English and their despicable behavior, before the chain of command had any time to react, the town of Norcia was in a state of conflict. The rest of the army rushed to subdue to the belligerents, and they were able to achieve success. While this was going on, an advance scout party had been watching the incident; they rushed back and alerted the commander Ali Pasha. The Sipahi Cavalry was sent forward, and they galloped ahead full speed. They caught the Crusaders at the exact opportune moment. 15 000 Pitched Cavalry Warriors rode full speed into the thick of the Crusaders. The Crusaders at the rear retreated back, and those who were not able to escape (4-5000) were slaughtered in the middle of the town of Norcia. The Crusaders retreated towards Perugia[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Battle of Perugia[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Crusaders, their morale at an all time low, made camp near Perugia. Reports came in that the Ottomans were at their peak strength and hot on their heels. Desertion was high in the Crusader Army. High Command decided that any more retreats would lower the already low morale. The final stand would take place near Perugia. The Ottoman Army, with all its glory and splendor, was seen to arrive the next day. General Ali Pasha wasted no time, and began making earthen ramparts for guns, and set about readying troops. The Crusaders, in an attempt to heighten morale, attacked the Ottomans with some moderate success. But heavy concentrated fire pushed them back. The Turks had placed 10 000 Cavalry in the hills to the rear of the Christians, and they descended upon the Crusaders, giving the Ottomans a much needed victory. Ottoman casualties were heavy, and the survivors retreated further back, and the Ottomans didn’t have the strength to chase them, but the work was done. The True Crusade of Rome fell apart after the Victory at Perugia. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Afterwards, Mehmet ordered Ibrahim Pasha to crush the rebellions in the Balkans, with 25 000 Prime Troops. After much bloodshed and violence the rebellions were ensued, for now…[/FONT]
 
My TL states that many Italian peasants were killed during the brutal Ottoman Invasion, leaving rich farmland which would be an incentive to some poor Turkish peasants, and land grant would be given to soldiers.

Hey! Ottoman invasions weren't brutal. Especially in this time period, rules about treatment of civilians were rather strict. The only people who are going to suffer are residents of towns and cities that resist.
 
Part IV

In the year 1479 Mehmet the Conqueror, Ceaser of the Romans, and Lord of the Turks, died. Leaving two sons Cem, and Bayezid. Cem had recently put down a revolt by the Karamanid Turks, and was riding to Istanbul to exploit his victories, but Bayezid being in Thrace, reached Istanbul quicker, ordering a burial of his father and proclaimed himself Sultan.

Cem, with an army from Anatolia advanced towards Istanbul, with the intention of taking the throne by force. Bayezid ordered the death of his brother by poisoning. He invited Cem and his advisors for a feast, to sit and talk an agreement, but the food had been poisoned. Cem died and, his army fell apart without a master. The first order of rule that Bayezid laid down was large land grants to Janissary and Sipahi officers in Italy and the Balkans, and pacifying the Italian lands
 
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Hey! Ottoman invasions weren't brutal. Especially in this time period, rules about treatment of civilians were rather strict. The only people who are going to suffer are residents of towns and cities that resist.

The Pope urged many towns to resist the heathen invasions, and they fought back fiercely...



So how is this TL so far, my first one
 
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