Authors Note
Welcome to my new timeline. This one will all be in posts separated by the time period. I hope you guys will like this timeline. No spoilers. Other than it involves the badass Komnenos dynasty.
Foreword
The grand city of Constantinople had it's day. But the true Romans rule in Trabzon now. The empire was weak, decentralized, asking for it's doom. Slowly it has died off. Now all that remains is the mighty Komnenos family. After all the empire has gone threw we still remain. No one can change this now. We are Rome.
Chapter 1: Ottoman Threat
"The entire Roman world was at its knees. The Turks marched in on us once more. But who won't forget history. Which emperor defeated then Turks. Alexios Komnenos, our greatest leader. Not even Justinian could pull off what he did, he had Belisarius, Alexios had a military mind. The Komnenos haven outlasted them all. Now in our greatest time of need, we needed a new leader. A powerful smart leader. We need a new Alexios." -A speech from Alexios V Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (1476)
As Ottoman forces marched on Constantinople. We had a slight feeling of relief. The empire had been destroyed but we still remained. As a true successor the great empire of Constatinople, we felt that we had become the true empire. Our leader, David of Trebizond lead the empire to higher greatness. In 1461, instead of demanding a lift of tribute, asked to become a vassal state of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. Mehmed, whom wanted to destroy Trebizond, was unhappy of this but still allowed for the vassalage of the Emperor. David and his family worked hard into the Ottoman government, trying to place themselves in high positions to strengthen their control in Anatolia.
Emperor David's nephew, Alexios, was meant to become emperor, and in his years of youth he despised of his uncle and why he had not become emperor. This led to a family feud and Alexios losing it. He fled to the Constantinople in 1471, and seemed help from his high sultan, Mehmed. In a way Mehmed wanted to kill David so he could quickly conquer Trebizond from one of his meager relatives. So Memhed offered his support to the young prince and Alexios took it. Threw out his many days in Constantinople Alexios gained higher respect among the people and was given a home in Constantinople, which was later known as Alexio Manor. He then with his support of the Sultan and his title claims, invaded Trebizond.
The war was short and subtle, the Ottoman navy blockaded Trabzon, while the. Turkish infantry landed west of the city before breaking holes in the walls with their artillery. The soldiers managed to get into the city with Alexios and open the gates. The army was not allowed to sack the city as Alexios was going to spread a majority of their treasury to the Sultan and his high generals, hoping to gain their further trust. Mehmed did not like where this was heading as even his vizier had taken a liking to the young Alexios. Mehmed decided that Trebizond was basically apart of his empire and no longed needed to be conquered.
By the year 1476, Trebizond was far more secure under the vassalage of Mehmed, and the righteous rule of Alexios V of Trebizond. Alexios married to Gevherhan, daughter of Mehmed, strengthening his ties with the Ottomans. Between 1476 and 1491, he had four sons; John, Konstantios, Stephanos, and Manuel and two daughters; Eudocia and Aelia. He became fluent in Turkish and Arabic to help with diplomacy with his neighbors and the Ottomans. The threat of the Ottomans was weakened with the vassalage but even more with Alexios' high place in the Ottoman government and his marriage to Gevherhan. The state of the Empire was going well as Alexios was appointed as Grand Vizier in 1494. In the time of the vassalage, Orthodoxy grew in power and Greek people returned to the capital. Also Alexios was a fine military leader conquering the Albania as general. He was allowed to keep the title of Doux of Epirus, and has his son John V take the title.
Chapter 2: Rise of John V
"Greece. An ancient land of war and culture. The Turkish came here and conquered. They were to be the bane of the Greeks. but when John V became the Doux of Epirus and led the Greeks back from the dead. The Greek people were in his debt. And they did not like the Turks." - An excerpt from the book Sons of Rome by Manuel Akropolites (1520)
The year was 1496. The Ottoman Empire had expanded and so had Trebizond. Now controlling the majority of Greece and Armenia, the vassal state is now at a turning point. With the state split between the Trebizond and Epirus, turmoil was splitting the two, so Emperor Alexios V proposed that all direct successors must rule the Greek territories. This lead to the Beydom of Thessaly becoming a vassal of John. His father died on a cold winter night in 1496. Johns first act as the Emperor was to restore the Roman world. He attempted to gain control of parts of Asia Minor by swaying Turkish beys to his lead. Threw this time he married Helena of Moscow whom was a relative of Constantine IX of the Byzantine Empire (her great uncle). John had 2 sons; Manuel, Isaac and 1 daughter; Gevherhan.
Bayezid fell ill years later and John, a Graeco-Turk of Ottoman royalty tried himself for succession. He was contesting with his cousins, the sons of Bayezid, whom were the rightful sultans. He came to his uncle whom had liked his father very much, to see that he be the next Sultan reviving a true Roman Empire. Bayezid was induced to do this as he wanted to be the one who could create a true Sultanate of Rum. Bayezid decided that his eldest son, Selim should still become Sultan. This angered John as he was a much better suited Sultan. Bayezid passed away in 1509 and was a strong leader and supporter of the Komnenos.
The new Sultan Selim, his cousin had a fairly good relationship with him, leading John to become the official representative of the Greek people within the Ottoman Empire. He followed Selim on the conquests of Syria, Egypt and Wallachia, all in which he gained more and more land. With each passing year the empires Orthodox population increased as the Komnenos influence continued to grow. The invasion of Egypt was the most profitable for John and his winnings allowed him to become the Grand Vizier and a almost deputy Sultan level. The governing were annoyed by the fact a Greek Orthodox was so high in their state, but he was half a Turk and that was good enough for him. By the time John was 45, he controlled most of Pontus and Greece plus his lands in Egypt (John became the Doux of Alexandria in 1523).
After the conquest of Egypt, John slowed down and gave his son, Manuel, more power. As he winded down, Selim continued his conquests in Moldavia and Crimea. Soon after John settled in a newly built villa outside Trabzon and decided to abdicate so his son could rule. His contributions to the Ottoman and Trebizond Empires were not forgotten and his remembered as a national hero for both states. By then Trebizond had grown so much that it had become known as the Kingdom of Komnenos, the third Rome.
Chapter 3: Turkish Komnenos
"The first Rome was Latin, the second Greek, but will the third be Turkish? That is what I asked myself when I converted. To my great Uncle, Bayezid, whom I barely got to know, I will continue your journey to the new world, a Roman world. A Turkish world"' - A speech by Mehmed (Manuel) Komnenos (1538)
The Komnenos Family was struck by a storm in 1538. When the beloved leader, John V died, our state was shaken by Manuel, his son. Being tutored by Selim most his life, he decided to become Turkish and convert to Sunni Islam forcing his family to do so. The Greek people were horrified by this and pled for Isaac, still a dedicated Greek to move to Eprius and become their leader. Most of Trabzon agreed with Manuel's (now Mehmed) Turkificationt policies. Mehmed was appointed as Sultan of Rum by Selim and revived the title, compromising of all of Eastern Anatolia. The new Turkish Komnenos line was founded and the Greek remained in Epirus.
As the Epriot Komnenos declined, Trebizond grew rapidly as a Turkish noble family. Mehmed continued to reign from Trabzon and helped Selim invade Mesopotamia conquering even more lands. Selim looked on Mehmed above up his own weak sons as a new heir, as a descendant of Osman. His Greek brother despised of his pro-Turkish ways and even with all his hate, modestly asked that if he could try to save his sorry soul from the wrath of Selim's successor. What Isaac didn't know that Mehmed was actually Selim's successor.
In 1541 Selim died of a heart attack and Mehmed was crowned on the 12th of May in the Hagia Sophia. As Sultan, his first act was to suppress the influence of his brother, Isaac and his uncle Konstantinos. Konstantinos had been in the shadow of John V and was the leader of the Epriot military and had a royal marriage with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Habsburg. The Austrian support led to a war between Austrian supported Epirus and the Ottoman Empire.
The Austro-Ottoman war was a long and seemingly hopeless war. Although Dürres was taken in 1545, and Konstantinos captured, Isaac fled to Vienna to lift a massive army to retake his lands. This earned him the name of Isaac the Coward, which gave him disrespect among his Greek brothers. Konstantinos was kept in Constantinople under house arrest and died there in 1547 in his sleep. Throughout the late 1540s the Austrians conquered Ottoman Croatia while the Ottomans were able to secure Epirus and Dalmatia. Mehmed's forces destroyed Austrian fortifications in Istria and flooded into central Austria. This allowed the Ottomans to siege Vienna and Graz in 1551 and led to the Austrians surrendering Isaac and Croatia back to the Empire. Mehmed had Isaac tortured and put in a monastery in Adrianople.
Soon after the war had ended, Mehmed made the Komnenid reforms, which gave all the cities back their Roman names and the Roman coat of arms was adopted once more. The new Rome had been founded as a legal successor to Rome. All they were missing was Rome itself. Mehmed prepped an invasion of the Aragonese Italy but was pulled back when the Safavid Invasion of Armenia occurred in 1553. Although the Ottomans successfully defended Armenia, the Safavids pillaged Trabzon and killed many members of the Komnenos family. Mehmeds own uncle, Stephanos was killed in the siege. He grieved for his uncles death and took his cousins under his wing, sending his eldest cousin Ioannes to the Ottoman Military Academy.
Chapter 4: Sons of Rome
"The city of Rome captured by the Ostrogoths over 1000 years before the Ottoman army reached its gates. The Ottomans were a Roman state, being ruled by the Roman descended Sultan, Selim II. They wanted the mother city. They needed the mother city. They conquered the mother city." - An excerpt from the book "Conquests of the Sultans" - 1623 Kagan the Younger
Mehmed Komnenos, the Great Turk as he was known, died in battle with the Safavids in 1553, as he conquered their capital in Baghdad. His eldest son, Georgios the Greek, was forced to not become Sultan as he was Orthodox and followed his mothers beliefs not his fathers. His younger brother Timur (not related to the badass conqueror Timur became Sultan and continued his fathers plans and prepped and launched an invasion of Italy in 1555. His brother displeased by his actions journeyed to Vienna and requested the help of his cousin Heinrich, a Habsburg prince to try and stop his brothers mad Turkish ways.
As his Heinrich prepped an army across the Holy Roman Empire, Timur's invasion of Italy was strongly for the Ottomans except for the religious advantage Aragon had over Italy, plus the Popes support from Rome. Quickly into the invasion, Heinrich and his forces attacked the Ottoman army at Naples, saving the city and stalemate the invasion. Heinrich followed Ottoman forces down to Tarantino but were almost obliterated by Ottoman reinforcements from the Levant. The battle was epic and decided the fate of Ottoman power in the Western Mediterranean. But although the Ottomans won, their forces were still threatened by the remaining minor Italian states and Aragon.
The Ottomans started their long campaign, quickly retaking the cities of Capua and Naples. The Pope and his cardinals fled to the city of Vienna hoping they could protect them from the approaching heathens. The river Tiber held out Italian control from north of Rome but this was no protection compared to the advanced Ottoman artillery. The city of Rome fell in 1558 to Timur's forces. Although the great Sultan decided the city should be the coronation place for him as the Emperor of Rome.
As Timur took the title Roman Emperor, the Holy Roman Emperor was de facto denoted to the German Emperor, which angered the proud Emperor Charles V who ordered a grand papal crusade of Italy and the Balkans. Historians there forth called it the Grand Crusade, as of its political involvement with most the large powers of Europe. The city of Rome was bombarded by Aragonese and Venetian forces while the French and Germans sent down forces from Florence, an Italian holdout in Tuscany.
Before Timur could attack his forces were destroyed by the Franco-German cavalry before the Aragonese infantry even arrived at the city. The city fell in a matter of days as the garrison fled all but a small few, including the Emperor. In his final moments before the Battle of Rome led to his death, he told his messenger to send his brother a final message. "The game is up you take the reins now." The day Rome fell in 1564, the Byzantine Empire was formed once more. After a century of wars and strategy, Georgios the Greek had become the emperor of a Turkish land.
Chapter 5: An Empire Divided
"The Byzantine Empire fell in 1452 when their great leader, Constantine XI refused surrender and was killed in battle, leading his empire to collapse and the capture of Constantinople. Trebizond was a successor of the true empire and saw to restore in to its former greatness under the lead of the Komnenos family. The family ruled threw the next century gaining control of the ancient capital by inheriting the closely related Ottoman Empire. Although the Ottomans still ruled until Georgios the Greek claimed to it to be the legal successor of the Byzantine Empire, their family lived on in the descendants of Mehmed Komnenos, the first and only Islamic and Turkish cultured leader in the Komnenos family. The Byantine Empire ruled, but the Turks had a mighty nationalist thought." - An excerpt from the book 'Chronicles of History' by James Sanders (1872)
At Geogrios' crowning in 1564, the Grand Vizier attempted to kill him, but did not succeed, and was executed in front if him by his loyal guard. Although he was a Greek Emperor of a a Turkish Empire, many of his subjects still liked him as his was son of Mehmed the Great Turk, many of the nationalist Turkish people in the empire took up arms against their new leader. The rebels quickly took most of central and south west Anatolia. With the opportunities present, the Armenians in Cilicia rebel and found the new Principality of Cilicia. Within a few years most of the Turks in the military had fled the Empire or converted to Eastern Orthodoxy under the Greek Reforms of 1565. Although the Grand Crusade had fulfilled its objectives their troops attempted to reclaim southern Italy but were blockaded by a new wall that was dubbed the Italian Divide, built by the great Turkish engineers.
The newly reformed Byzantium nearly fell in 1569 when Turkish rebels (already controlling most of Byzantine Anatolia), sacked Chalcedon, their mercenary ships (traded from Genoa) blockaded the Bosporus and ceased naval trade, angering the mercantile Venetians so much that they actually sent mercenary ships to destroy the rebel navy. This saved the city from devastation from the Turks and the Empire finally saw peace agreements with the rebels were given the borders of the Sultanate of Rum (in around 1200) except for in the south west of Anatolia which was given as a seafaring exit/entrance to their state.
The rebellion was finished but not was the same for the rest of their problems. As Georgios owed his title to the manpower of the Austrians for invading Italy and killing his brother, and they demanded a physical reward. Georgios offered the Austrians the remaining Byzantine lands in Istria. Not only this but the Turkish Egyptian governor demanded automony from the weakened empire. He had to agree to this but offered many veterans to settle in the Levant and Arabia to strengthen their claims.
The Empire was at its knees to its once obdient vassals, and the sons of Timur were not pleased with their uncles actions. They joined together and started to work threw the power of the Turks in Anatolia, and achieved high general positions within the state by 1576. At this time they launched an invasion of Syria and Palestine, quickly taking them except for the coastal cities which had been stolen by Venetian forces in 1572. Now with Syria at hands the two sons of Timur prepped an invasion of the weak province of Egypt. As it was an automous vassal, it had power over the area and decided to become completely neutral and offer up the Sinai to Turks, fearing the immense new power held by these warlords. Luckily for Georgrios, his Turkish allies in Syria and Palestine did their work and established partial control in Lebanon and captured the city of Tripoli from the Armenians in 1575. In the spring of 1575, Emperor Georgrios died in his sleep and was succeded by his son Alexios Komnenos (the third good one).
Chapter 6: Turn to the New World
"The Empire had been in strife for years but finally saw to a new way of life, the New World. Columbia was a land of new, and gave hope to the weak and needy for a new home outside the overpopulated lands of Europe and Asia. So that is why in 1576, the Emperor at the time, told his subjects and generals that he would not let them down. The New World would be theirs." - An excerpt from the book "The Way of Byzantium" by Justin of Thessalonkia (1709)
The Empire in 1575 was finally stable once more, gaining on the overexpansion weakening of Turkish Anatolia. But with Egypt gone from their midsts, and the Balkans finally united, the new emperor Alexios decided to send ships with the granting and support of allied Austria, to the unknown of the New World. In 1489, Genoan explorer Christopher Columbus with the support and granting of King John of Portugal, found a place he named after himself, Columbia, or better known as the New World. The Portugese quickly took the islands of the New Azores (OTL Carribean), and set up trading posts on the mainland (OTL Yuctan Peninsula), and fought but lost to the Aztecs, whom were later defeated by an Aragonese coatiliton. Now in the 1570s Columbia was beginning to be claimed by Castile, France, England and the Kalmar Union which all (excluding Castile) focused on the northern part of Columbia.
The ships arrived in New Stockholm (OTL New York) in 1578 and headed south to what the Empire claimed and called, New Thrace. (OTL Delaware). This colonial outpost grew threwout the reign of Emperor Alexios and eventually he founded the new colonial settlement of Komnosia (OTL Maryland/Virginia). Also the Austrians founded a colony (New Burgundy) in the south (OTL Georgia) to be as a brotherly colony to the fresh Byzantine settlements. The new colonial empire was not the empires only great achievement threwout the reign of Alexios. He also battered down the Commonwealth in Sevestapol (in 1583) and expanded to conquer (for a short time) the city of Kiev, before loosing it back to the Commonwealth in 1586. The Kingdom of Geogria became a client state in 1582 and was adopted into the empire as an "automous petty kingdom" in 1590.
The bane of the reign of Alexios came in 1590s when he came into war with the Safavids after they literally destroyed the Turks in Anatolia, and swiftly came and begun to siege Constatinople once more. The capital was saved and most of Anatolia was regained (as a Turkish vassal state), but all of the Levant (excluding Venetian territories) were lost to the Safavids or Egypt, which was now under the rule of Alexios' cousin, Bayezid of Eygpt, which was one of Timurs sons and was known as "The True Ottoman Sultanate of Egypt" by Bayezid himself (and his subjects). Alexios continued to campaign in the Levant against the Safavids until he desicively defeated in the Battle of Tyre (1601).
As Safavid rule weakened in Anatolia and the Levant, a new sacaren state calling themselves the Palestinian Sultanate was founded in Palestine in 1597 by claimed descendants of Abraham, father of the Abrahamic religions, and sought to bring the Levant under its rule. Threwout the next decade they conquered Syria and went to war with the Byzantine Doux of Trebizond Manuel Komnenos (Ioannes Komnenos' son), and was defeated in Trabzon in 1603. He fled to the capital and pled for the help of his 2nd cousin, Emperor Alexios. The emepror oblidged to his family namesake and went with Manuel to battle in Trebizond. This was a decisive win for Emperor Alexios bit he was mortally wounded in battle, abdicating in 1605 for his eldest son Theodore.
Welcome to my new timeline. This one will all be in posts separated by the time period. I hope you guys will like this timeline. No spoilers. Other than it involves the badass Komnenos dynasty.
Foreword
The grand city of Constantinople had it's day. But the true Romans rule in Trabzon now. The empire was weak, decentralized, asking for it's doom. Slowly it has died off. Now all that remains is the mighty Komnenos family. After all the empire has gone threw we still remain. No one can change this now. We are Rome.
Chapter 1: Ottoman Threat
"The entire Roman world was at its knees. The Turks marched in on us once more. But who won't forget history. Which emperor defeated then Turks. Alexios Komnenos, our greatest leader. Not even Justinian could pull off what he did, he had Belisarius, Alexios had a military mind. The Komnenos haven outlasted them all. Now in our greatest time of need, we needed a new leader. A powerful smart leader. We need a new Alexios." -A speech from Alexios V Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (1476)
As Ottoman forces marched on Constantinople. We had a slight feeling of relief. The empire had been destroyed but we still remained. As a true successor the great empire of Constatinople, we felt that we had become the true empire. Our leader, David of Trebizond lead the empire to higher greatness. In 1461, instead of demanding a lift of tribute, asked to become a vassal state of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. Mehmed, whom wanted to destroy Trebizond, was unhappy of this but still allowed for the vassalage of the Emperor. David and his family worked hard into the Ottoman government, trying to place themselves in high positions to strengthen their control in Anatolia.
Emperor David's nephew, Alexios, was meant to become emperor, and in his years of youth he despised of his uncle and why he had not become emperor. This led to a family feud and Alexios losing it. He fled to the Constantinople in 1471, and seemed help from his high sultan, Mehmed. In a way Mehmed wanted to kill David so he could quickly conquer Trebizond from one of his meager relatives. So Memhed offered his support to the young prince and Alexios took it. Threw out his many days in Constantinople Alexios gained higher respect among the people and was given a home in Constantinople, which was later known as Alexio Manor. He then with his support of the Sultan and his title claims, invaded Trebizond.
The war was short and subtle, the Ottoman navy blockaded Trabzon, while the. Turkish infantry landed west of the city before breaking holes in the walls with their artillery. The soldiers managed to get into the city with Alexios and open the gates. The army was not allowed to sack the city as Alexios was going to spread a majority of their treasury to the Sultan and his high generals, hoping to gain their further trust. Mehmed did not like where this was heading as even his vizier had taken a liking to the young Alexios. Mehmed decided that Trebizond was basically apart of his empire and no longed needed to be conquered.
By the year 1476, Trebizond was far more secure under the vassalage of Mehmed, and the righteous rule of Alexios V of Trebizond. Alexios married to Gevherhan, daughter of Mehmed, strengthening his ties with the Ottomans. Between 1476 and 1491, he had four sons; John, Konstantios, Stephanos, and Manuel and two daughters; Eudocia and Aelia. He became fluent in Turkish and Arabic to help with diplomacy with his neighbors and the Ottomans. The threat of the Ottomans was weakened with the vassalage but even more with Alexios' high place in the Ottoman government and his marriage to Gevherhan. The state of the Empire was going well as Alexios was appointed as Grand Vizier in 1494. In the time of the vassalage, Orthodoxy grew in power and Greek people returned to the capital. Also Alexios was a fine military leader conquering the Albania as general. He was allowed to keep the title of Doux of Epirus, and has his son John V take the title.
Chapter 2: Rise of John V
"Greece. An ancient land of war and culture. The Turkish came here and conquered. They were to be the bane of the Greeks. but when John V became the Doux of Epirus and led the Greeks back from the dead. The Greek people were in his debt. And they did not like the Turks." - An excerpt from the book Sons of Rome by Manuel Akropolites (1520)
The year was 1496. The Ottoman Empire had expanded and so had Trebizond. Now controlling the majority of Greece and Armenia, the vassal state is now at a turning point. With the state split between the Trebizond and Epirus, turmoil was splitting the two, so Emperor Alexios V proposed that all direct successors must rule the Greek territories. This lead to the Beydom of Thessaly becoming a vassal of John. His father died on a cold winter night in 1496. Johns first act as the Emperor was to restore the Roman world. He attempted to gain control of parts of Asia Minor by swaying Turkish beys to his lead. Threw this time he married Helena of Moscow whom was a relative of Constantine IX of the Byzantine Empire (her great uncle). John had 2 sons; Manuel, Isaac and 1 daughter; Gevherhan.
Bayezid fell ill years later and John, a Graeco-Turk of Ottoman royalty tried himself for succession. He was contesting with his cousins, the sons of Bayezid, whom were the rightful sultans. He came to his uncle whom had liked his father very much, to see that he be the next Sultan reviving a true Roman Empire. Bayezid was induced to do this as he wanted to be the one who could create a true Sultanate of Rum. Bayezid decided that his eldest son, Selim should still become Sultan. This angered John as he was a much better suited Sultan. Bayezid passed away in 1509 and was a strong leader and supporter of the Komnenos.
The new Sultan Selim, his cousin had a fairly good relationship with him, leading John to become the official representative of the Greek people within the Ottoman Empire. He followed Selim on the conquests of Syria, Egypt and Wallachia, all in which he gained more and more land. With each passing year the empires Orthodox population increased as the Komnenos influence continued to grow. The invasion of Egypt was the most profitable for John and his winnings allowed him to become the Grand Vizier and a almost deputy Sultan level. The governing were annoyed by the fact a Greek Orthodox was so high in their state, but he was half a Turk and that was good enough for him. By the time John was 45, he controlled most of Pontus and Greece plus his lands in Egypt (John became the Doux of Alexandria in 1523).
After the conquest of Egypt, John slowed down and gave his son, Manuel, more power. As he winded down, Selim continued his conquests in Moldavia and Crimea. Soon after John settled in a newly built villa outside Trabzon and decided to abdicate so his son could rule. His contributions to the Ottoman and Trebizond Empires were not forgotten and his remembered as a national hero for both states. By then Trebizond had grown so much that it had become known as the Kingdom of Komnenos, the third Rome.
Chapter 3: Turkish Komnenos
"The first Rome was Latin, the second Greek, but will the third be Turkish? That is what I asked myself when I converted. To my great Uncle, Bayezid, whom I barely got to know, I will continue your journey to the new world, a Roman world. A Turkish world"' - A speech by Mehmed (Manuel) Komnenos (1538)
The Komnenos Family was struck by a storm in 1538. When the beloved leader, John V died, our state was shaken by Manuel, his son. Being tutored by Selim most his life, he decided to become Turkish and convert to Sunni Islam forcing his family to do so. The Greek people were horrified by this and pled for Isaac, still a dedicated Greek to move to Eprius and become their leader. Most of Trabzon agreed with Manuel's (now Mehmed) Turkificationt policies. Mehmed was appointed as Sultan of Rum by Selim and revived the title, compromising of all of Eastern Anatolia. The new Turkish Komnenos line was founded and the Greek remained in Epirus.
As the Epriot Komnenos declined, Trebizond grew rapidly as a Turkish noble family. Mehmed continued to reign from Trabzon and helped Selim invade Mesopotamia conquering even more lands. Selim looked on Mehmed above up his own weak sons as a new heir, as a descendant of Osman. His Greek brother despised of his pro-Turkish ways and even with all his hate, modestly asked that if he could try to save his sorry soul from the wrath of Selim's successor. What Isaac didn't know that Mehmed was actually Selim's successor.
In 1541 Selim died of a heart attack and Mehmed was crowned on the 12th of May in the Hagia Sophia. As Sultan, his first act was to suppress the influence of his brother, Isaac and his uncle Konstantinos. Konstantinos had been in the shadow of John V and was the leader of the Epriot military and had a royal marriage with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Habsburg. The Austrian support led to a war between Austrian supported Epirus and the Ottoman Empire.
The Austro-Ottoman war was a long and seemingly hopeless war. Although Dürres was taken in 1545, and Konstantinos captured, Isaac fled to Vienna to lift a massive army to retake his lands. This earned him the name of Isaac the Coward, which gave him disrespect among his Greek brothers. Konstantinos was kept in Constantinople under house arrest and died there in 1547 in his sleep. Throughout the late 1540s the Austrians conquered Ottoman Croatia while the Ottomans were able to secure Epirus and Dalmatia. Mehmed's forces destroyed Austrian fortifications in Istria and flooded into central Austria. This allowed the Ottomans to siege Vienna and Graz in 1551 and led to the Austrians surrendering Isaac and Croatia back to the Empire. Mehmed had Isaac tortured and put in a monastery in Adrianople.
Soon after the war had ended, Mehmed made the Komnenid reforms, which gave all the cities back their Roman names and the Roman coat of arms was adopted once more. The new Rome had been founded as a legal successor to Rome. All they were missing was Rome itself. Mehmed prepped an invasion of the Aragonese Italy but was pulled back when the Safavid Invasion of Armenia occurred in 1553. Although the Ottomans successfully defended Armenia, the Safavids pillaged Trabzon and killed many members of the Komnenos family. Mehmeds own uncle, Stephanos was killed in the siege. He grieved for his uncles death and took his cousins under his wing, sending his eldest cousin Ioannes to the Ottoman Military Academy.
Chapter 4: Sons of Rome
"The city of Rome captured by the Ostrogoths over 1000 years before the Ottoman army reached its gates. The Ottomans were a Roman state, being ruled by the Roman descended Sultan, Selim II. They wanted the mother city. They needed the mother city. They conquered the mother city." - An excerpt from the book "Conquests of the Sultans" - 1623 Kagan the Younger
Mehmed Komnenos, the Great Turk as he was known, died in battle with the Safavids in 1553, as he conquered their capital in Baghdad. His eldest son, Georgios the Greek, was forced to not become Sultan as he was Orthodox and followed his mothers beliefs not his fathers. His younger brother Timur (not related to the badass conqueror Timur became Sultan and continued his fathers plans and prepped and launched an invasion of Italy in 1555. His brother displeased by his actions journeyed to Vienna and requested the help of his cousin Heinrich, a Habsburg prince to try and stop his brothers mad Turkish ways.
As his Heinrich prepped an army across the Holy Roman Empire, Timur's invasion of Italy was strongly for the Ottomans except for the religious advantage Aragon had over Italy, plus the Popes support from Rome. Quickly into the invasion, Heinrich and his forces attacked the Ottoman army at Naples, saving the city and stalemate the invasion. Heinrich followed Ottoman forces down to Tarantino but were almost obliterated by Ottoman reinforcements from the Levant. The battle was epic and decided the fate of Ottoman power in the Western Mediterranean. But although the Ottomans won, their forces were still threatened by the remaining minor Italian states and Aragon.
The Ottomans started their long campaign, quickly retaking the cities of Capua and Naples. The Pope and his cardinals fled to the city of Vienna hoping they could protect them from the approaching heathens. The river Tiber held out Italian control from north of Rome but this was no protection compared to the advanced Ottoman artillery. The city of Rome fell in 1558 to Timur's forces. Although the great Sultan decided the city should be the coronation place for him as the Emperor of Rome.
As Timur took the title Roman Emperor, the Holy Roman Emperor was de facto denoted to the German Emperor, which angered the proud Emperor Charles V who ordered a grand papal crusade of Italy and the Balkans. Historians there forth called it the Grand Crusade, as of its political involvement with most the large powers of Europe. The city of Rome was bombarded by Aragonese and Venetian forces while the French and Germans sent down forces from Florence, an Italian holdout in Tuscany.
Before Timur could attack his forces were destroyed by the Franco-German cavalry before the Aragonese infantry even arrived at the city. The city fell in a matter of days as the garrison fled all but a small few, including the Emperor. In his final moments before the Battle of Rome led to his death, he told his messenger to send his brother a final message. "The game is up you take the reins now." The day Rome fell in 1564, the Byzantine Empire was formed once more. After a century of wars and strategy, Georgios the Greek had become the emperor of a Turkish land.
Chapter 5: An Empire Divided
"The Byzantine Empire fell in 1452 when their great leader, Constantine XI refused surrender and was killed in battle, leading his empire to collapse and the capture of Constantinople. Trebizond was a successor of the true empire and saw to restore in to its former greatness under the lead of the Komnenos family. The family ruled threw the next century gaining control of the ancient capital by inheriting the closely related Ottoman Empire. Although the Ottomans still ruled until Georgios the Greek claimed to it to be the legal successor of the Byzantine Empire, their family lived on in the descendants of Mehmed Komnenos, the first and only Islamic and Turkish cultured leader in the Komnenos family. The Byantine Empire ruled, but the Turks had a mighty nationalist thought." - An excerpt from the book 'Chronicles of History' by James Sanders (1872)
At Geogrios' crowning in 1564, the Grand Vizier attempted to kill him, but did not succeed, and was executed in front if him by his loyal guard. Although he was a Greek Emperor of a a Turkish Empire, many of his subjects still liked him as his was son of Mehmed the Great Turk, many of the nationalist Turkish people in the empire took up arms against their new leader. The rebels quickly took most of central and south west Anatolia. With the opportunities present, the Armenians in Cilicia rebel and found the new Principality of Cilicia. Within a few years most of the Turks in the military had fled the Empire or converted to Eastern Orthodoxy under the Greek Reforms of 1565. Although the Grand Crusade had fulfilled its objectives their troops attempted to reclaim southern Italy but were blockaded by a new wall that was dubbed the Italian Divide, built by the great Turkish engineers.
The newly reformed Byzantium nearly fell in 1569 when Turkish rebels (already controlling most of Byzantine Anatolia), sacked Chalcedon, their mercenary ships (traded from Genoa) blockaded the Bosporus and ceased naval trade, angering the mercantile Venetians so much that they actually sent mercenary ships to destroy the rebel navy. This saved the city from devastation from the Turks and the Empire finally saw peace agreements with the rebels were given the borders of the Sultanate of Rum (in around 1200) except for in the south west of Anatolia which was given as a seafaring exit/entrance to their state.
The rebellion was finished but not was the same for the rest of their problems. As Georgios owed his title to the manpower of the Austrians for invading Italy and killing his brother, and they demanded a physical reward. Georgios offered the Austrians the remaining Byzantine lands in Istria. Not only this but the Turkish Egyptian governor demanded automony from the weakened empire. He had to agree to this but offered many veterans to settle in the Levant and Arabia to strengthen their claims.
The Empire was at its knees to its once obdient vassals, and the sons of Timur were not pleased with their uncles actions. They joined together and started to work threw the power of the Turks in Anatolia, and achieved high general positions within the state by 1576. At this time they launched an invasion of Syria and Palestine, quickly taking them except for the coastal cities which had been stolen by Venetian forces in 1572. Now with Syria at hands the two sons of Timur prepped an invasion of the weak province of Egypt. As it was an automous vassal, it had power over the area and decided to become completely neutral and offer up the Sinai to Turks, fearing the immense new power held by these warlords. Luckily for Georgrios, his Turkish allies in Syria and Palestine did their work and established partial control in Lebanon and captured the city of Tripoli from the Armenians in 1575. In the spring of 1575, Emperor Georgrios died in his sleep and was succeded by his son Alexios Komnenos (the third good one).
Chapter 6: Turn to the New World
"The Empire had been in strife for years but finally saw to a new way of life, the New World. Columbia was a land of new, and gave hope to the weak and needy for a new home outside the overpopulated lands of Europe and Asia. So that is why in 1576, the Emperor at the time, told his subjects and generals that he would not let them down. The New World would be theirs." - An excerpt from the book "The Way of Byzantium" by Justin of Thessalonkia (1709)
The Empire in 1575 was finally stable once more, gaining on the overexpansion weakening of Turkish Anatolia. But with Egypt gone from their midsts, and the Balkans finally united, the new emperor Alexios decided to send ships with the granting and support of allied Austria, to the unknown of the New World. In 1489, Genoan explorer Christopher Columbus with the support and granting of King John of Portugal, found a place he named after himself, Columbia, or better known as the New World. The Portugese quickly took the islands of the New Azores (OTL Carribean), and set up trading posts on the mainland (OTL Yuctan Peninsula), and fought but lost to the Aztecs, whom were later defeated by an Aragonese coatiliton. Now in the 1570s Columbia was beginning to be claimed by Castile, France, England and the Kalmar Union which all (excluding Castile) focused on the northern part of Columbia.
The ships arrived in New Stockholm (OTL New York) in 1578 and headed south to what the Empire claimed and called, New Thrace. (OTL Delaware). This colonial outpost grew threwout the reign of Emperor Alexios and eventually he founded the new colonial settlement of Komnosia (OTL Maryland/Virginia). Also the Austrians founded a colony (New Burgundy) in the south (OTL Georgia) to be as a brotherly colony to the fresh Byzantine settlements. The new colonial empire was not the empires only great achievement threwout the reign of Alexios. He also battered down the Commonwealth in Sevestapol (in 1583) and expanded to conquer (for a short time) the city of Kiev, before loosing it back to the Commonwealth in 1586. The Kingdom of Geogria became a client state in 1582 and was adopted into the empire as an "automous petty kingdom" in 1590.
The bane of the reign of Alexios came in 1590s when he came into war with the Safavids after they literally destroyed the Turks in Anatolia, and swiftly came and begun to siege Constatinople once more. The capital was saved and most of Anatolia was regained (as a Turkish vassal state), but all of the Levant (excluding Venetian territories) were lost to the Safavids or Egypt, which was now under the rule of Alexios' cousin, Bayezid of Eygpt, which was one of Timurs sons and was known as "The True Ottoman Sultanate of Egypt" by Bayezid himself (and his subjects). Alexios continued to campaign in the Levant against the Safavids until he desicively defeated in the Battle of Tyre (1601).
As Safavid rule weakened in Anatolia and the Levant, a new sacaren state calling themselves the Palestinian Sultanate was founded in Palestine in 1597 by claimed descendants of Abraham, father of the Abrahamic religions, and sought to bring the Levant under its rule. Threwout the next decade they conquered Syria and went to war with the Byzantine Doux of Trebizond Manuel Komnenos (Ioannes Komnenos' son), and was defeated in Trabzon in 1603. He fled to the capital and pled for the help of his 2nd cousin, Emperor Alexios. The emepror oblidged to his family namesake and went with Manuel to battle in Trebizond. This was a decisive win for Emperor Alexios bit he was mortally wounded in battle, abdicating in 1605 for his eldest son Theodore.
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