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The Age of Gunpowder: The Fuse Is Lit

Habashah stands alongside the Ottoman Empire, the Safavids, and the Mughals as the four premier Islamic powers of the early modern period. All four would acquire gunpowder artillery and small arms using these to expand or enforce their territories as the feudal military organization gave way to a professional one. Not only achieving great technological progress which in some aspects could be referred to as Proto-Industrial they would complete great cultural achievements ushering in what could be considered a golden age for each of the four states.

Of the four, it was the Ottoman Turks and the Habashabs who were already established dynasties and empires prior to the the beginning of the Gunpowder Age while the Mughals and Safavids rose to power during the timeframe which runs roughly from the 16th to 18th centuries. The Habashabs transformed into a Gunpowder Empire in two stages during the 15th Century, the first stage being known as the “Portuguese Fuse” and the second stage known as the “Safavid Fuse”.

“Portuguese Fuse” is in reference to the early Habashab-Portuguese War of 1506 - 1518 where in response to Portuguese expansion in the Indian Ocean the two powers had come to blows. Primarily, the importance of this first stage in development was the transmission of technology from captured Portuguese ships, guns, and personnel. As the Gunpowder Guilds derived from the Mewlewi Orders greatly expanded Habashab artillery and naval technology and techniques over the course of the decade long war. Primarily these developments lent themselves to the Habashab navy rather than the army however and would spawn what would become an out of control epidemic of trade and piracy throughout the Indian Ocean - but this was something the Negus Jamal was content not to harness.

His eyes were focused inland.

With peace with the Portuguese established and the Mamlukes temporarily toppled by the Ottomans, Negus Jamal and his son, Prince or Lij Negash Jamal turned his eyes toward the southern and western borders of Habashah. Up until the Habashab-Safavid War they would expand their borders and establish various vassalages around the Great Lakes of Africa and into the Sahel. However, the process was slow and fraught with various difficulties for Jamal and his armies. For one, while they had begun to incorporate small arms and artillery cannons into the military this development was small and uneven as the Habashabs drew their men from the feudal and tribal levies. The quality and quantity of the men Jamal could draw up ranged across the spectrum of middling to worse and further to this his campaign seasons were cut short often due to feudal contracts mandating only short periods of service. Along with being at the whim of planting and grazing seasons where most of his levies would have to return home meant that he could not maintain a strong presence of Habashab troops in the regions for long and would have to resort to more dubious politicking

This would be the start of Jamal and Negash’s dissatisfaction with the state of the army, especially in comparison to what they had been told and seen of the Ottoman and even the Safavids. Though the issue had always been present in Habashab military history previous conquests had been slow and multi-generational and the expansion that the Negus and Lij hoped to achieve was too much for the Habashab military system. Another concern would grow from Guleed Ali who had so bravely lead the Habashab defeat of the Portuguese in Mogadishu and along the Swahili Coast. As a result of his fame and upswell of support he had established his own series of personal vassalages along the Swahili Coast after kicking out the Europeans. While de jure these vassalages owed allegiance to the Habashabs, in de facto they were more of a powerbase for Guleed and later his sons. Given the distance from the Habashab heartland of support any attempt to curb Guleed’s power would have been noticeable well before any attempt to strengthen Imperial control could get close to the Swahili Coast and Jamal knew it would likely lead to unrest against his rule.

Thus without a quick sword to strike, Jamal was forced to accept Guleed’s autonomy to the south.

The second stage of Habashab development, the “Safavid Fuse” would not arise until 1530 and the death of Jamal and the ascension of Negus Negash Jamal.

By 1530, tensions had been building between the Habashabs and the Safavids. As a result of the power vacuum left by the Portugese, Habesha piracy had skyrocketed leading to many attacks of Persian ships and coastal raids around the Persian Gulf leading to many losses for the Safavids. Part of these attacks did take on a religious conotation- as the Imranid Habesha were still considered a sub-section of Sunni Islam and were rivals to the Shia Safavids. The situation continued to deteriorate as the Muscat Emirate situated at the mouth of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula exploded into civil war.

Both the Habesha and the Persians had a long history of intervention in the Arabian Peninsula that stretched back into ancient history. Each one at various times maintained directly controlled territory, the Persians in the Bahrani Coast and the Habesha in Arabia Felix. The Muscat Emirate had been an vassal to the Safavids, but the civil war threatened to upend Persian control as one of the two rival emirs,, was supported by the Rais of Aden - Sa’ad ibn Malak - a direct vassal of the Negus. Unwilling to let their interests fall, Tahmsap I, Shah of Iran, declared his support for his emir and ordered an offensive against the Habashabs. The Persians, mainly with naval support of their vassal as the Safavids were not a naval power, crossed the Strait of Hormuz and began to attack the Habesha aligned pretender. Sa’ad seeing this rallied the Arab vassalages of the Hebesha and attempted to push the Safavids back into the sea but were defeated in a series of short battles thanks to the Persian artillery.

Retreating back to Aden, Sa’ad called upon Negus Negash to intervene and push back the Safavids who had followed the Habesha Arabs into the vassalages with Aden in the direct path of the Safavid army. Negash, eager to win for himself a military victory, called forth his vassals across Ahmara and Tigray and crossed the Red Sea to Aden. As much as he had seen earlier in Africa, the organization of Negash’s forces were all over the place with commands split between each of the more powerful Rais. When the Habesha attempted to stop the Safavids at the Battle of Mukala the Habashabs were defeated by the artillery and cavalry columns of the Persians. When the Habashabs attempted to form a wide line to surround the Safavids their opponents launched a series of lightning attacks with their cavalry and artillery units that caused the larger Habashab force to take heavy casualties and flee the field. Attempts to concentrate their own artillery and musket units were hampered by the unwieldy nature of flinging together various bands of untrained musketeers and hoping they would be able to coordinate their shooting into a coherent attack.

Negash was only able to score a victory against the Safavids when a sandstorm blew directly into the path of the Safavid advance scattering the army and fouling their horse and artillery that negated the Safavid advantage enough to allow his army to swarm the Persians. The victory may have checked the Safavids but it was not enough to win him the war. Knowing the Safavids would be able to advance again once they regrouped, Negash sued for peace. The Safavids preserved their hegemony over the Muscat Emirate and the Habashabs were forced to pay reparations to the Shah for damages from the war and Habesha piracy.

Defeated, Negash returned to Great Barara fuming over the loss but with the resolve that the next time the Habashabs fought they would not be the losers. Fortunately, after his return he was soon met by the Ottoman Ambassador who offered a way to reform their military for another fight with the Safavids.