HISTORY CRAFTER - THE REAL AND SIMULATED HISTORY

THE BEGINNINGS: THE UNIFICATION OF ARABIAN PENINSULA (633-635 CE)   Welcome to a new series of alternate history with Crusader Kings II !!!   We are currently playing with Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, the leader and successor of the Arabic Sultanate and Caliph of the Muslims.   The first mission entrusted is the liberation of the Arabian Duchy, which, in 633 CE, when the game starts, is held by a vassal of the Persian (Sasanid) Empire. In the alternate history I create, the war to conquer the last part of the Arabian Sultanate began in 633 CE.   On April 3, 633 CE, the war began, and our troops are ready to fight to expand the borders of the nascent Caliphate,  and the contested  territories will be ours very soon, as you can see from the picture below. Some months later, in September, as you can see from the picture below, our troops begin to occupy the Arabian lands still held by the Persian Emperor. The main battle takes place in the province of Al-Ula, and is a ...

The Caliphate in history: Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, a trustworthy Muslim and Leader   In this and the next posts, we will begin to discover how events unfolded in real history; at first glance, we can present a rough timeline with the main events from 630, when Makkah was conquered by Islamic forces, and 661, the end of the rule of Ali, the 4 th  Caliph.   In the picture below, you can see the historical timeline:     As you can see, there have been 4 Caliphs in 34 years, and this period coincided with the first expansion of Islam and the Caliphate. As a matter of fact, Islam has been tied to the Caliphate from the very beginning; furthermore, it is a feature that will mark Islam forever, until our time. It seems impossible, in fact, to conceive Islam without, at least, the aspiration to the Caliphate. In other words, there is and there never will be a purely spiritual Islam, or a purely secular Islam, as the two ‘institutions’, the State and the True Religion are one...

PERSIAN EMPIRE IN 790'S CE: ZOROASTRIANISM EXPANDS FURTHER IN THE ARABIC PENISULA!!! Welcome back to our adventure with the Persian Empire in Crusader Kings II; Zoroastrians expanded their reach, as you can see in the map below, around 790 CE.   Compared to 756 CE, the changing is significant, as you can see from the picture below. It seems that our politics of conversion is beginning to work, although slowly, as it is reasonable to expect, both in reality and in the simulation as well.   Interestingly, the two Holy Cities of Islam surrendered to Zoroastrianism, and abandoned their former beliefs; let’s see if this event will enrage and encourage the Muslims to get back their lands and restore the Islamic faith.   As you can see, Makkah is no longer Muslim and this is a very powerful blow to the Islamic forces and rulers; there are some provinces that were formerly Zoroastrian and now embraced some heresies in the same religious group. The Sunni tradition, on the other ha...

RELIGION IN CRUSADER KINGS II   One of the most intriguing aspects of Crusader Kings II is surely the incorporation of real religious traditions in the simulation; alternatively, one can opt for new ones or reform the pagan religions and make a new one. This can prove controversial, since religion is a very sensitive topic; for this reason, it should be clear that religion is no matter to play with. It makes sense to include it in the simulation, though, as it get more realistic and enjoyable; on this matter, the same general considerations of this projects can be applied. In particular, we should remember that we are here to play a game and make historical hypothesis, and this does not mean in any way to disrespect any religion or culture. Looking at the picture above, we see that the Arian religion is widespread in Italy in 756 CE, in our scenario; but, who was Arius and who were the Arians? That’s what we’re gonna try to find out in this post.   ARIUS AND COSTANTINE: UNITY ...

  Welcome back to our simulation and our alternate history!!! In the previous post about the simulated history, we have considered the period between 654 CE and 693 CE. Now it’s time to have a look at the VIII  century, to see how things evolved; well, our Emperor, as you can see from the image below, is Keyghobad, known as ‘The Wise’, who began to rule at the end of 753 CE.   Our timeline, as is evident in the picture above, has evolved a lot, and new emperors came to power; in particular, the current one is the 9 th  descendant of the founder of our dynasty, the Samanids. In fact, as far as the simulation is concerned, the first half of VIII  century proved very dynamic, although the succession has been regular and undisputed so far. As a matter of fact, there have been no major disruptions and revolts, and no one challenged the rightful heir to the throne.   The map has not changed, and we hold the same territories as shown at the end of the VII  ce...

MONETA DELL'ETA' DI KAVAD I (Copyright Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. / CREATIVE COMMONS) L’IMPERO SASSANIDE NEL QUINTO SECOLO DELL’ERA VOLGARE     Il quinto secolo dell'Era Volgare si presenta come un periodo di significativi cambiamenti; i sovrani che regnano in questo periodo, in effetti, sono generalmente deboli e ve n gono contrastati dai nobili e dalla classe sacerdotale. I tentativi di riportare il controllo saldamente nelle mani del sovrano, poi, furono scarsi ed ebbero poco successo. Si pensi, a tale proposito, a Yagzdgerd I, che cerco di ridurre il crescente potere della nobilt à  e dei sacerdoti zoroastriani, ma senza riuscirvi; l'impero rimaneva, comunque, altamente centralizzato, conservando la sua efficacia. In effetti, la complessit à  raggiunta dall'apparato amministrativo era tale da riuscire a sopravvivere nonostante la corona fosse debole. Una situazione del genere, come si pu ò  facilmente intuire, indeboliva ulteriormente il sovrano, ...

(COPYRIGHT: THOMAS COLE/PUBLIC DOMAIN) La sorte dell’Impero Romano d’Occidente nel Quinto Secolo E.V.   Gli storici solitamente indicano il 476 dell’E.V. come l’anno in cui cade l’Impero Romano d’Occidente ed inizia l’era nota come ‘Medio-Evo’; una tale narrazione, tuttavia, sottende una concezione della storia errata. In effetti, sembrerebbe che nella storia succedano eventi improvvisi, che farebbero da spartiacque ad un ‘prima’ ed un ‘dopo’. Anche se il 476 E.V. rimane una data importante, essa, nondimeno, è frutto di una scelta arbitraria; effettivamente, l’evento che si consuma nel corso dell’anno in menzione non è accaduto ex abrupto . Al contrario, come sempre succede con gli eventi storici, si tratta di processi molto lunghi che esplicano i loro risultati nel corso del tempo, ed il 476 dell’E.V. non fa certamente eccezione. Nel quinto secolo dell’Era Volgare, in realtà, si sta consumando un processo storico molto importante, ovvero la fine dell’antichità; per questa ragione,...