I think a war in the Far East with the Portuguese will happen far sooner than the 19th century , If not this century, the next.
An Age of Miracles: The Revival of Rhomanion
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I think a war in the Far East with the Portuguese will happen far sooner than the 19th century , If not this century, the next.
Evilprodigy
Donor
Well the Spanish used to rule the whole area. The region was a part of New Spain and was split between Baja (Bottom) California and Alta (Top) California which also included Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona and New Mexico. It's named as such due to an expedition in the early 1500's I think that originally thought California was an Island (confusions based on the size of Baja) and had something to do with how they thought it was ruled by someone named Calaf or something. My memory's fuzzy.
Kamchatka, well, I think there was a tribe that had a 'k' in its name that lived there.
My googling seems to indicate it was named after the natives that the Russians called Kamchadal, which means "Men of the Far East" or something along those lines.
I think Andulasia is colonizing there.
i keep wishing there will be an Eu3 mod for this... but, the thing is, it might take too much work.
Andalusi are colonizing the North-East (Recife), while the Portuguese are in the south (Rio de Janeiro). The latter are also active in the Panama region, so I guess they're setting up shop in that area.
About plans for a big country there, we don't know anything about possible trends, we only know that Andalusi and Portuguese may cooperate in dealing with the Incas.
Not necessarily. From what I understand of the EUIV modding process - I'm not an expert, so there's a good chance I'm wrong - most of the work would be done by editing text files to show who owned which provinces to to change the starting date, unless there were going to be changes to the actual provinces themselves.
Of course, unless the events are very heavily scripted, it probably wouldn't take too long for the EUIV game to become radically different from the TL.
True, but like I said, it wouldn't be particularly difficult; just tedious and time-consuming having to create and edit in every single major event and assigning a probability for each of them to fire at any given point.
As a brazilian, i think that's amusing that the Andalusi are colonizing the North East, the biggest catholic population in Brazil, i'm going to be Muslim then? Or i'm being butterflied away?
Maybe a Muslim North and a Catholic South. I suppose that in any future Iberian war (like the Peninsular one, probably going to be in Iberia) these colonies will become a big battleground. It will be better than RL history.
Well, about the EU IV, i'm trying to learn modding in Crusader Kings II (a awesome game, even better than Europa Universallis, sadly doesn't fit much in this timeline), i think that isn't very different. A heavily scripted game wouldn't be very fun, i'm afraid, but a few "modifiers" (no idea if is possible) directing countries against other countries (like Andreas and subsequent emperors trying to send Venice to the space, or the Osmanli/Eastern Kommenoi oath of Samankard, etc) could be useful.
The Emperors' League will be an alliance, and it'll form around 1650 or so. The Peninsular War will be around 1810 (give or take a few decades) and be what breaks it and its collapse will be the most common ITTL dividing line between the early modern and modern eras.
There will be tensions and war between Rhomania and the Latins in the Indian Ocean. I haven't figured out the details, but I'm thinking the Portuguese and Romans won't go all out at each other until the 1610s or so.
OTL Brazil is going to be split into two, the north called Al-Jahmr (colonized by Al-Andalus) and the south will be Brazil (Portugal). Exactly how they shape out is undetermined, but Guiana will probably be part of Al-Jahmr and Uruguay and much of Argentina part of Brazil.
An EUIV mod would be interesting. In 1444, the Timurid Empire under Shah Rukh has finished conquering China, Russia is newly formed, the Ninety Years War is finished, the Wu are just getting started, and Andreas Niketas is in his mother’s womb.
The Timurids, Rhomania, and Russia would be the clear powerhouses.
Scripting probably wouldn’t be necessary, just appropriate missions. Give the Ottomans Persia and Central Asia focused missions. Byzantium already has the ‘Annihilate Venice’ mission from EU3. A ‘Retake Crete’ one as a prerequisite would be good.
There will be tensions and war between Rhomania and the Latins in the Indian Ocean. I haven't figured out the details, but I'm thinking the Portuguese and Romans won't go all out at each other until the 1610s or so.
OTL Brazil is going to be split into two, the north called Al-Jahmr (colonized by Al-Andalus) and the south will be Brazil (Portugal). Exactly how they shape out is undetermined, but Guiana will probably be part of Al-Jahmr and Uruguay and much of Argentina part of Brazil.
An EUIV mod would be interesting. In 1444, the Timurid Empire under Shah Rukh has finished conquering China, Russia is newly formed, the Ninety Years War is finished, the Wu are just getting started, and Andreas Niketas is in his mother’s womb.
The Timurids, Rhomania, and Russia would be the clear powerhouses.
Scripting probably wouldn’t be necessary, just appropriate missions. Give the Ottomans Persia and Central Asia focused missions. Byzantium already has the ‘Annihilate Venice’ mission from EU3. A ‘Retake Crete’ one as a prerequisite would be good.
Hmm, IMO the Emperors' League will be an arrangement between Rhomania and Germany to delineate spheres of influence to prevent ruinous wars between them and to throw their weight around within their respective spheres without intervention by the other Great Power. Maybe the Peninsular War will be caused by disagreements over the disposition of central Italy, between the claims over Andreas I's empire in Italy and Lombardy (within HRE sphere)'s later vassalage over the same.
The outbreak of Peninsular war will denote the entry into the era of Great Wars, which will end once the Atomic era arrives and Russia stand over everything as a Super Power.
The outbreak of Peninsular war will denote the entry into the era of Great Wars, which will end once the Atomic era arrives and Russia stand over everything as a Super Power.
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I would suggest moving the start date to either the accession of Andreas Niketas, or his birth (to have him set as heir) for Rhomania.
Some National Ideas would also have to be rewritten I think, as well as scripting.
Some National Ideas would also have to be rewritten I think, as well as scripting.
Evilprodigy
Donor
"Peninsular War" does not mean that the war will be limited to one Peninsula. The Mediterranean has a ton of them, it would not be surprising for the war to be a large Napoleonic-style war that takes place in the peninsulas of Spain, Italy, Anatolia, Greece, Crimea, Arabia, Balkan.
But then wouldn't they call it the Mediterranean War or something, with "Peninsular War" perhaps being a joke?
Hence my suggestions for the Malay and Indian peninsulae. Heck, maybe the Scandinavian peninsula as well!
What if it's Europe? Never again will they call it Europe! Instead it will be called the Great Peninsula! On which the Peninsular War was fought.
What if it's Europe? Never again will they call it Europe! Instead it will be called the Great Peninsula! On which the Peninsular War was fought.
I got the same thought (about Europe being a peninsula, not so much about never calling it again Europe).
"It is always enjoyable fighting the Franks, for they are morons. They are incapable of scouting and thus can easily be lured into ambushes."-Andreas Niketas
1571 continued: The inhabitants of Cyprus are disconcerted when a massive fleet drops anchor in Akrotiri Bay, the imperial tetragram flying from the masts. However the demand that the grandees of the island make their submission to Empress Helena within a week is met with no opposition and quickly obeyed. The plantation owners, slave traders, and wine merchants that dominate Cypriote life know that their prosperity rests with the side that controls the sea lanes and the Aegean basin, the home of their biggest customers.
After resupplying the fleet sets sail and soon anchors off Alexandretta, which rejects a similar demand. Landing south of the city and easily brushing aside an attempt by militia to contest the landing, the Athanatoi and Varangoi march on Fort Saint Barbara, which guards the approach to the city. A modern citadel whose thick earthen ramparts and long-range culverins had seen off an Abbasid siege, with a full and stout garrison it could hold off the guard tagmata for six months at least.
But its garrison is a quarter of its recommended size and composed entirely of militia, a fact the Imperial commander, Andreas al-Anizzy, husband to Princess Alexeia Drakina, knows. Nikolaios has taken all his field troops with him, while the kastron troops garrisoning the border forts have refused to leave their posts and leave the frontier unguarded against the Turkish menace.
For two days the Roman battleships shell the fortress with the largest naval bombardment in history up to that point, a quarter million pounds of ordnance. In comparison the salvos that covered the final attack on the Lido in 1469 discharged around eighty thousand. The citadel loses only two guns and sixteen men as casualties, compared to the fifty three suffered by the fleet.
However the garrison’s morale is shattered and a frontal assault, after an initially fierce but very short resistance succeeds in capturing the fort. The loss of the ‘Key of the Orontes’ after a mere two days is extremely disconcerting to Nikolaios’ and Andreas’ partisans. Alexandretta capitulates immediately, while Antioch and its 90,000 inhabitants submit after a mere demonstration in front of the walls that defied the full fury of the Abbasid Empire.
In the north, Trebizond is a different matter. Although devastated by the Turks the city has rebounded nicely, helped significantly by both the Empress Helena and the Patriarch. Its university has been restored and print shops and shipyards line the shore again, providing employment for 37,000 people. Given the growing prominence of the Indian Ocean-Red Sea trade route and the decline of the Silk Road after the fall of the Timurid Empire, the importance of the city as a trading center has declined but it still remains one of the chief metropolises of the Empire.
The loyalty of the city is torn, since while many fear the Turk and thus favor Andreas and Nikolaios, many also remember Helena’s patronage of the city. A preliminary assault is beaten back but loss of life on both sides is minimal as the attack was not heavily supported or sustained. In the meantime the Strategos of the Skolai, Alexios Laskaris, makes contact with notables of the city. Eleven days and 200,000 hyperpyra in bribes after the initial landing Trebizond opens its gates.
In Antioch Andreas al-Anizzy is quickly met by Anizzah riders bearing alarming news from the south. Unsurprisingly, his father has elected to stay with the family that has elevated him to the upper echelons of Roman society and immensely enriched him. Shortly after Andreas Drakos and Nikolaos Polos entered central Anatolia, the Muslim populations of Damascus, Homs, and Jerusalem rose up in revolt, slaughtering the Christian and Jewish inhabitants.
They had also sent messengers to the Hedjaz and to the Ottomans requesting assistance. Despite the official neutrality policy of the Saudi sharifs of Mecca, they did nothing to prevent their efforts to promote local ghazi forces. The initial results, an army of three thousand, was closely observed by the Christian Bedouin tribes of Haddad and Owais as they entered the Ajloun region. With their support the Anizzah fell on and obliterated the ghazis at the battle of Tell Mar Eilas, despite a numerical disadvantage of almost five hundred.
The response of the Shahanshah Osman Khomeini was much colder. Despite the impressive successes of his armies, the Khorasani are regrouping and fighting hard, the Omani are rattling their sabers, and an Uzbek host eager to take advantage of the chaos has invaded Persia. No help can be expected from the Sindh where the Emirate of Sukkur is fully embroiled in a war with the Vijayanagara, whose armies are well supplied with Roman munitions sold (contrary to Roman law) to them by the merchants of Surat. He has nothing to give.
Andreas al-Anizzy’s orders had been to secure northern Syria and block the flow of supplies to Nikolaios. However with news of the rebellion he garrisons Antioch and Alexandretta with a token force and marches south. Reinforced by Christian Bedouin horsemen, the Christians of the coast and Aleppo rally to his banner, granting him a large supply of auxiliary forces and rather easily restoring Imperial control over much of the region.
Homs surrenders without a struggle. Damascus is however too large to besiege with the forces currently available to him so he bypasses it to invest Jerusalem. The Anizzah, Haddad, and Owais are given complete license to pillage and harry the environs of Damascus. Many of the inhabitants captured by the Bedouins will end up being sold to Portuguese slave traders in Gaza and worked to death on the Madeira sugar plantations.
Despite the dire news from the north, the inhabitants of Jerusalem refuse to surrender, barring the gates and firing on Andreas’ messengers sent under flag of truce, killing one. Unfortunately for them their bravery is not matched by any particular skill in the art of siege warfare; it takes only eight days before a pair of breaches have been made in the walls and trenches dug close enough to support an assault. The attack succeeds in carrying the city ramparts but the Muslims continue to fight in a horrific house-to-house struggle. Only after six days and the almost complete obliteration of the city is the last resistance quelled.
The casualties from the siege of Jerusalem have temporarily crippled Andreas al-Anizzy’s army as an offensive force but the damage to Andreas Drakos’ and Nikolaios Polos’ cause has been done. Provisions and pay from Syria have fallen to a trickle and with the fall of Trebizond even less can be expected from Chaldea. Nikolaios’ troops are growing hungry and angry, a bad combination.
It is considerations of supply that dictate Nikolaios’ next move, a lunge southwest to the lands of Thracesia. It is farther away from Constantinople, but its fertile and populous valleys can more than adequately feed and pay his troops, and the Army of the Meander is the loyalist force best positioned for being destroyed in isolation. Nikolaios moves rapidly, breaking off contact with the Army of the Sangarius.
It is three days before the Megas Domestikos of the West, Theodoros Gabras, commander of the Army of the Sangarius, realizes what is happening. Nikolaios had steadily pushed him back, but without achieving a battle of annihilation such as Germia. As he fell back to Constantinople, he had been progressively reinforced by the more stout European militia, swelling his army to 35,000, a potent match for Nikolaios in short defensive operations but an unwieldy opponent in cross-country maneuvers. Nikolaios counted on that when he lunged towards Thracesia.
The initial skirmishes with the Army of the Meander go well for Nikolaios, but not as well as he had hoped. The Thracesian tagma has numerous bowmen from Philadelphia, capable of firing seven shots to every one of a Syrian arquebusier, with double the accurate range. Many are mounted on nags, using the low-quality horses for mobility while dismounting to fight. Their actions are a significant impediment to Nikolaios’ vanguard.
Nevertheless in a week of running battles Nikolaios inflicts close to seven hundred casualties whilst taking four hundred and fifty. But news has reached him that the Army of the Sangarius is on the move, maneuvering to catch him in the rear. Nikolaios needs another Germia and he needs it now.
On October 11, Nikolaios’ vanguard, under the command of Andronikos Blemmydes, reaches the upper Meander near the town of Soublaion. Located there is what is known to the locals as the Miller’s Ford, named after the large watermill just down the river. Approaching from the southwest, Andronikos sees the Army of the Meander crossing its namesake to the northern bank. Most has already crossed, but two tourmai, the 2nd and 9th Macedonian, and at least twenty five guns have yet to cross, trapped between him, the river, and a thick wood to the east which spreads south skirting the road.
Bagging two tourmai is hardly another Germia, but it is a far better fruit than has been available in recent days. Time is short though so Andronikos immediately attacks. His four tourmai, the 1st and 6th Syrian and the 3rd and 6th Chaldean, advance in perfect order, hard and fast. They are almost upon the Macedonians when a curtain of fire crashes from the wood directly into his right flank.
The Syrians and Chaldeans are well drilled; they immediately wheel right and attack. But they are four tourmai against a full tagma, commanded by Manuel Prodotes, a tough one-eared veteran of the Long War (his left ear had been shot off by a Milanese arquebusier near Monastir). The attack is smashed almost immediately, the survivors fleeing although in relative good order.
The Army of the Meander is able to ford the river after that with no other harassment than that provided by two batteries of artillery that lob in some poorly aimed shells from extreme range. Considering its brevity (less than a hour), the Battle of Miller’s Ford is quite bloody, although one side did virtually all the bleeding. Of the 9600 soldiers engaged (the 2nd and 9th Macedonian were never involved in the action), the Army of the Meander took 319 casualties, 3.3% of those involved.
For the Army of the East, 3700 soldiers were involved, and 1322 were casualties, 35.7% of those in action. The 6th Chaldean, which was on the far right of the line, is the worst hit, reduced from a roll of 856 to 385. Five of its ten droungarioi and 28 of its 45 eikosarchoi are included in the losses.
The mood of Nikolaios’ troops in camp that night is foul. They have heard of the Muslim rebellion in Syria; many have lost family or friends and others are concerned for theirs. The inclusion of the captives from Germia also prove to be a mistake, the Opsikians and Optimatics stirring the pot of dissent. In addition Helena has agents distributing word of her promise that those who return to Imperial service promptly will be treated as if this whole affair never happened.
The only exception is for the tourmarches and strategoi, but the only punishment they will suffer is forced early retirement with a honorable discharge and access to the pension appropriate to their rank as of September 1, 1570 (Dekarchoi and above are entitled to retirement pensions that increase with rank; those below dekarchos in rank receive a discharge bonus equivalent to three months’ pay). For obvious reasons Helena does not recognize Nikolaios’ promotions as valid.
On the morning of October 12, a group of droungarioi and eikosarchoi arrive at Nikolaios’ tent to arrest him. Recognizing why they are there, Nikolaios asks for five minutes to collect his effects, which is granted. Before his time is up, a single kyzikos shot is heard from inside the tent. Nikolaios is found inside dead, a bullet in his brain. Although a suicide and therefore invalid for a Christian burial, his soldiers take his body and bury him in a nearby cemetery whose occupants were soldiers killed defeating a Turkish raiding party during the Long War.
Forewarned, Andreas Drakos flees the encampment, racing east. He is captured by light cavalry from the 7th Helladic who bring him to their strategos Manuel Prodotes. For that and his service at Miller’s Ford, Empress Helena grants him the Order of the Dragon with Sword and retracts her father’s decree concerning his family name from him and his relations up to that of fifth cousin, provided they have remained in the Empire. Manuel Doukas values that above all else.
After that ceremony comes the matter of what do with Andreas Drakos. When queried on what is to be done with her son Andreas, she replies ‘I have no son Andreas. But as for the traitor Andreas, let him suffer the fate the law demands.’ On November 3, he is executed by long knife.
1571 continued: The inhabitants of Cyprus are disconcerted when a massive fleet drops anchor in Akrotiri Bay, the imperial tetragram flying from the masts. However the demand that the grandees of the island make their submission to Empress Helena within a week is met with no opposition and quickly obeyed. The plantation owners, slave traders, and wine merchants that dominate Cypriote life know that their prosperity rests with the side that controls the sea lanes and the Aegean basin, the home of their biggest customers.
After resupplying the fleet sets sail and soon anchors off Alexandretta, which rejects a similar demand. Landing south of the city and easily brushing aside an attempt by militia to contest the landing, the Athanatoi and Varangoi march on Fort Saint Barbara, which guards the approach to the city. A modern citadel whose thick earthen ramparts and long-range culverins had seen off an Abbasid siege, with a full and stout garrison it could hold off the guard tagmata for six months at least.
But its garrison is a quarter of its recommended size and composed entirely of militia, a fact the Imperial commander, Andreas al-Anizzy, husband to Princess Alexeia Drakina, knows. Nikolaios has taken all his field troops with him, while the kastron troops garrisoning the border forts have refused to leave their posts and leave the frontier unguarded against the Turkish menace.
For two days the Roman battleships shell the fortress with the largest naval bombardment in history up to that point, a quarter million pounds of ordnance. In comparison the salvos that covered the final attack on the Lido in 1469 discharged around eighty thousand. The citadel loses only two guns and sixteen men as casualties, compared to the fifty three suffered by the fleet.
However the garrison’s morale is shattered and a frontal assault, after an initially fierce but very short resistance succeeds in capturing the fort. The loss of the ‘Key of the Orontes’ after a mere two days is extremely disconcerting to Nikolaios’ and Andreas’ partisans. Alexandretta capitulates immediately, while Antioch and its 90,000 inhabitants submit after a mere demonstration in front of the walls that defied the full fury of the Abbasid Empire.
In the north, Trebizond is a different matter. Although devastated by the Turks the city has rebounded nicely, helped significantly by both the Empress Helena and the Patriarch. Its university has been restored and print shops and shipyards line the shore again, providing employment for 37,000 people. Given the growing prominence of the Indian Ocean-Red Sea trade route and the decline of the Silk Road after the fall of the Timurid Empire, the importance of the city as a trading center has declined but it still remains one of the chief metropolises of the Empire.
The loyalty of the city is torn, since while many fear the Turk and thus favor Andreas and Nikolaios, many also remember Helena’s patronage of the city. A preliminary assault is beaten back but loss of life on both sides is minimal as the attack was not heavily supported or sustained. In the meantime the Strategos of the Skolai, Alexios Laskaris, makes contact with notables of the city. Eleven days and 200,000 hyperpyra in bribes after the initial landing Trebizond opens its gates.
In Antioch Andreas al-Anizzy is quickly met by Anizzah riders bearing alarming news from the south. Unsurprisingly, his father has elected to stay with the family that has elevated him to the upper echelons of Roman society and immensely enriched him. Shortly after Andreas Drakos and Nikolaos Polos entered central Anatolia, the Muslim populations of Damascus, Homs, and Jerusalem rose up in revolt, slaughtering the Christian and Jewish inhabitants.
They had also sent messengers to the Hedjaz and to the Ottomans requesting assistance. Despite the official neutrality policy of the Saudi sharifs of Mecca, they did nothing to prevent their efforts to promote local ghazi forces. The initial results, an army of three thousand, was closely observed by the Christian Bedouin tribes of Haddad and Owais as they entered the Ajloun region. With their support the Anizzah fell on and obliterated the ghazis at the battle of Tell Mar Eilas, despite a numerical disadvantage of almost five hundred.
The response of the Shahanshah Osman Khomeini was much colder. Despite the impressive successes of his armies, the Khorasani are regrouping and fighting hard, the Omani are rattling their sabers, and an Uzbek host eager to take advantage of the chaos has invaded Persia. No help can be expected from the Sindh where the Emirate of Sukkur is fully embroiled in a war with the Vijayanagara, whose armies are well supplied with Roman munitions sold (contrary to Roman law) to them by the merchants of Surat. He has nothing to give.
Andreas al-Anizzy’s orders had been to secure northern Syria and block the flow of supplies to Nikolaios. However with news of the rebellion he garrisons Antioch and Alexandretta with a token force and marches south. Reinforced by Christian Bedouin horsemen, the Christians of the coast and Aleppo rally to his banner, granting him a large supply of auxiliary forces and rather easily restoring Imperial control over much of the region.
Homs surrenders without a struggle. Damascus is however too large to besiege with the forces currently available to him so he bypasses it to invest Jerusalem. The Anizzah, Haddad, and Owais are given complete license to pillage and harry the environs of Damascus. Many of the inhabitants captured by the Bedouins will end up being sold to Portuguese slave traders in Gaza and worked to death on the Madeira sugar plantations.
Despite the dire news from the north, the inhabitants of Jerusalem refuse to surrender, barring the gates and firing on Andreas’ messengers sent under flag of truce, killing one. Unfortunately for them their bravery is not matched by any particular skill in the art of siege warfare; it takes only eight days before a pair of breaches have been made in the walls and trenches dug close enough to support an assault. The attack succeeds in carrying the city ramparts but the Muslims continue to fight in a horrific house-to-house struggle. Only after six days and the almost complete obliteration of the city is the last resistance quelled.
The casualties from the siege of Jerusalem have temporarily crippled Andreas al-Anizzy’s army as an offensive force but the damage to Andreas Drakos’ and Nikolaios Polos’ cause has been done. Provisions and pay from Syria have fallen to a trickle and with the fall of Trebizond even less can be expected from Chaldea. Nikolaios’ troops are growing hungry and angry, a bad combination.
It is considerations of supply that dictate Nikolaios’ next move, a lunge southwest to the lands of Thracesia. It is farther away from Constantinople, but its fertile and populous valleys can more than adequately feed and pay his troops, and the Army of the Meander is the loyalist force best positioned for being destroyed in isolation. Nikolaios moves rapidly, breaking off contact with the Army of the Sangarius.
It is three days before the Megas Domestikos of the West, Theodoros Gabras, commander of the Army of the Sangarius, realizes what is happening. Nikolaios had steadily pushed him back, but without achieving a battle of annihilation such as Germia. As he fell back to Constantinople, he had been progressively reinforced by the more stout European militia, swelling his army to 35,000, a potent match for Nikolaios in short defensive operations but an unwieldy opponent in cross-country maneuvers. Nikolaios counted on that when he lunged towards Thracesia.
The initial skirmishes with the Army of the Meander go well for Nikolaios, but not as well as he had hoped. The Thracesian tagma has numerous bowmen from Philadelphia, capable of firing seven shots to every one of a Syrian arquebusier, with double the accurate range. Many are mounted on nags, using the low-quality horses for mobility while dismounting to fight. Their actions are a significant impediment to Nikolaios’ vanguard.
Nevertheless in a week of running battles Nikolaios inflicts close to seven hundred casualties whilst taking four hundred and fifty. But news has reached him that the Army of the Sangarius is on the move, maneuvering to catch him in the rear. Nikolaios needs another Germia and he needs it now.
On October 11, Nikolaios’ vanguard, under the command of Andronikos Blemmydes, reaches the upper Meander near the town of Soublaion. Located there is what is known to the locals as the Miller’s Ford, named after the large watermill just down the river. Approaching from the southwest, Andronikos sees the Army of the Meander crossing its namesake to the northern bank. Most has already crossed, but two tourmai, the 2nd and 9th Macedonian, and at least twenty five guns have yet to cross, trapped between him, the river, and a thick wood to the east which spreads south skirting the road.
Bagging two tourmai is hardly another Germia, but it is a far better fruit than has been available in recent days. Time is short though so Andronikos immediately attacks. His four tourmai, the 1st and 6th Syrian and the 3rd and 6th Chaldean, advance in perfect order, hard and fast. They are almost upon the Macedonians when a curtain of fire crashes from the wood directly into his right flank.
The Syrians and Chaldeans are well drilled; they immediately wheel right and attack. But they are four tourmai against a full tagma, commanded by Manuel Prodotes, a tough one-eared veteran of the Long War (his left ear had been shot off by a Milanese arquebusier near Monastir). The attack is smashed almost immediately, the survivors fleeing although in relative good order.
The Army of the Meander is able to ford the river after that with no other harassment than that provided by two batteries of artillery that lob in some poorly aimed shells from extreme range. Considering its brevity (less than a hour), the Battle of Miller’s Ford is quite bloody, although one side did virtually all the bleeding. Of the 9600 soldiers engaged (the 2nd and 9th Macedonian were never involved in the action), the Army of the Meander took 319 casualties, 3.3% of those involved.
For the Army of the East, 3700 soldiers were involved, and 1322 were casualties, 35.7% of those in action. The 6th Chaldean, which was on the far right of the line, is the worst hit, reduced from a roll of 856 to 385. Five of its ten droungarioi and 28 of its 45 eikosarchoi are included in the losses.
The mood of Nikolaios’ troops in camp that night is foul. They have heard of the Muslim rebellion in Syria; many have lost family or friends and others are concerned for theirs. The inclusion of the captives from Germia also prove to be a mistake, the Opsikians and Optimatics stirring the pot of dissent. In addition Helena has agents distributing word of her promise that those who return to Imperial service promptly will be treated as if this whole affair never happened.
The only exception is for the tourmarches and strategoi, but the only punishment they will suffer is forced early retirement with a honorable discharge and access to the pension appropriate to their rank as of September 1, 1570 (Dekarchoi and above are entitled to retirement pensions that increase with rank; those below dekarchos in rank receive a discharge bonus equivalent to three months’ pay). For obvious reasons Helena does not recognize Nikolaios’ promotions as valid.
On the morning of October 12, a group of droungarioi and eikosarchoi arrive at Nikolaios’ tent to arrest him. Recognizing why they are there, Nikolaios asks for five minutes to collect his effects, which is granted. Before his time is up, a single kyzikos shot is heard from inside the tent. Nikolaios is found inside dead, a bullet in his brain. Although a suicide and therefore invalid for a Christian burial, his soldiers take his body and bury him in a nearby cemetery whose occupants were soldiers killed defeating a Turkish raiding party during the Long War.
Forewarned, Andreas Drakos flees the encampment, racing east. He is captured by light cavalry from the 7th Helladic who bring him to their strategos Manuel Prodotes. For that and his service at Miller’s Ford, Empress Helena grants him the Order of the Dragon with Sword and retracts her father’s decree concerning his family name from him and his relations up to that of fifth cousin, provided they have remained in the Empire. Manuel Doukas values that above all else.
After that ceremony comes the matter of what do with Andreas Drakos. When queried on what is to be done with her son Andreas, she replies ‘I have no son Andreas. But as for the traitor Andreas, let him suffer the fate the law demands.’ On November 3, he is executed by long knife.
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