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Deleted member 67076
Being the comfiest Sultanate.
Tactically that'd make a lot of sense, but that'd leave a very big border to protect.
It would require Romania to be in a much larger position of strength in order effectively 'diplovassalize' and then for something to happen where in which the Emir leaves the kingdom to Romania upon not having any heirs, which I find quite unlikely.
Anyways I know ya'll are waiting for me to continue writing- and don't worry, I haven't (I've just been busy is all, new job and what not). So have a teaser for the time being.
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When we last left off the Roman Empire was solidifying its control over its recently reconquered Anatolian holdings. The army had rebuilt from the ground up, an absolutely massive fortification program had been started around the Sakarya frontier and of course, the age old practice of settling the frontier from the heartland was once more in effect. Such methods were expensive and time consuming but the empire was able to pay them off thanks to its sustainable economic growth (despite the slowdown of recent years), its increased tax base and various loans from Italian banks based in Florence and Genoa. This was in 1370.
Let’s fast forward a bit. The year is 1393. Romania is currently reeling from an unprecedented economic recession, thereby being forced to drastically and suddenly put on hold on its construction boom and infrastructure investments of the last few decades. Fortunately, most of such projects have been completed, including the utterly extensive set of fortifications alongside the Anatolian frontier. However, this still leaves a huge problem. The decades since the Second Palaiogoi Civil War had seen spending increase dramatically and now there was not enough money coming in to manage that upkeep. In response, the empire went through hurried attempts at austerity in order to keep a positive balance. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Why is Romania in such drastic straits?
The answer to this (like many other problems in the coming future) is due to the warlord Timur. During the 1380s Timur had spent his time building up his power base with the attempt of preparing an invasion of Persia, supposedly to reunite the Mongol Empire in the wake of the Ilkhanate’s demise. To this end he undertook the task of aiding his northern neighbor reunite the Golden Horde under the Khan Toqtamysh. Now here comes the problem: When Toqtamysh heard of Timur’s planned invasion of Persia Timur went from a loyal ally to a rival that needed to be undercut. Persia was nice, weak and divided. A juicy target for a empire in search of plunder and glory. Toqtamysh could not tolerate competition and promptly declared war, believing the resources of the newly unified Golden Horde would be enough to challenge whatever resources Timur could have amassed. Stupidity in challenging Timur aside, this was a decently sound proposition. The Unified Horde *did* have quite a lot of men it could throw at whatever problem it faced.
Anyways next Toqtamysh attempted to corner the warlord near the Volga in an ambush but predictably this failed. The Golden Horde’s forces were defeated. No that’s not right, more like pummeled, crushed, slaughtered. You get the picture. As expected, Toqtamysh died ignobly resisting the force of nature that was Timur. Casualties were massive on the Golden Horde's side. So massive, that with that the Golden Horde effectively ceased to exist. The head of the snake had been cut off. And with no Khan to rule the steppes, a power vacuum appeared, plunging the steppes into chaos until a power would arise.
More importantly, the massive chaos on the steppes caused a massive disruption to the Silk Road trade, which in turn crippled the Black Sea trade. Goods from the East stopped flowing into the major trade nexuses of Constantinople, Azov, Trebizond and Crimea. This was further aggravated when Timur decided to punish the Golden Horde and go on a sacking spree of the major cities for an additional insult to injury.
But back to Romania.
With the trade routes cut off, income from trade trickled to a crawl, causing a massive fiscal crisis back in Constantinople. While it is indeed true that Rome had pursued commercial activities in many other parts of the world such as the Eastern Mediterranean and the North African Coast, the Black Sea had always been the first and foremost sector of trade and therefore provided the bulk of income from commercial dues. And now that was gone.
Panic ensued.
