ImperatorAlexander: An important thing to note is that the quality of Ottoman troops overall has increased substantially; Iskandar is also a good organizer. The Shahsevan are another elite corps alongside the Janissaries and many of the troops now are Qizilbash which are full-time soldiers, replacing (although not completely) the Azabs which varied from very good to pretty poor. Iskandar also has a ton of veteran troops, units, and commanders which are good (including his eldest son, soon to be introduced).
Me, like red herrings? You must be confusing me with somebody else…(Looks innocent)
JohnSmith: I’m going to have to go with ‘no comment’ since I want to avoid spoilers.
HanEmpire: History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. Other than close locations, I don’t know of any significant similarity between the battles, although blow-by-blow information on Herakleios’ battles is unfortunately quite scarce.
I’ve seen it argued that the War of the Spanish Succession should’ve been called the First World War. It’s with that argument in mind that the War of the Roman Succession is called the First World War IOTL.
Catconqueror: That’s one argument Iskandar is making to those saying this isn’t the most auspicious date for Persians to be fighting Greek-speakers.
Vasilas: I would point out though that the bad times for the Byzantines after Nineveh had nothing to do with the battle. The Eternal War is itself (loosely) based on the Long Turkish War between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs.
Dominic: I will point out that considering my (lack of) mapmaking skills, the maps should be considered as guidelines rather than definitive. Getting precise borders is rather difficult. Checking back on the narrative as of now the Lotharingians have lost Burgundy proper and the Pas de Calais to the Triunes but still retain Franche-Comte and Lorraine although their ability to hold it without (German) Imperial support is highly questionable. At this point Lotharingia is very much a Benelux state.
Yeah, there’s quite a big gap between the first-rate powers and the next tier. The Triunes, HRE, and Rhomania (Russia was here before the Sundering) all have at least 17.5 million inhabitants. The largest second-tier powers are in the 5-7 million range (Castile-Portugal, Lombardy, Georgia).
Stark: Gabras isn’t a placeholder. He’s solidly competent, but not brilliant.
Aishio: Toledo’s still the capital of Castile and Lisbon the capital of Portugal. The two countries are still in personal union, not unified, although the connections between the two below the level of the monarch are quite strong.
Arrix85: I admit I haven’t been the most consistent and thorough on this area (from the Roman perspective it’s completely irrelevant). Plus the Triunes have been generally doing a two-steps-forward, one-step-back strategy so the regions have been trading hands fairly often.
I do realize that in 1612 I said the Triunes overran Burgundy which is rather odd considering that the Lotharingians ceded Burgundy to the Triunes in 1578. As a redact I’m going to say that the 1578 cession still happened and that in 1612 the Triunes overran Lorraine (and the Franche-Comte) but were forced to give them back after being defeated by the HRE.
Nurhaci: Currently I’m using Louis XIV France as an upper limit for the Empire’s capability; it’s more organized and efficient but fewer material (particularly population) resources.
Djacir: Yeah, a giant slug-fest like this is going to look much more like an Astara rather than a Ras al-Ayn or a Dojama.
Donald Reaver: Although lots of veterans means that Iskandar has a lot of good troops to corset the newbies, which is always a good way to radically boost the newbies’ effectiveness in battle.
Babyrage: Yup, Ethiopian-Omani forces are raiding the Gulf coast. They are at least on board with Demetrios’ program.
JackExpo: Thanks! I’ll try.
Throughout much of the HRE the people think of themselves as Bavarian/Saxon/Rhenish/whatever first but do think of themselves as German second. There’s more collective solidarity particularly whenever foreigners invade, a legacy of the Hungarian Wars and now the Triunes. The Bernese though think of themselves as a distinct group and whilst a member of the HRE de jure, they’re de facto an independent state.
