HISTORY CRAFTER - THE REAL AND SIMULATED HISTORY

  A PICTURE OF ABU BAKR AL SIDDIQ FROM AL-TABARI   Who was Al-Tabari?   Al-Tabari was an influential scholar and he was the muslim who compiled a huge work on early Islamic history. He was born in Tabaristan, modern Iran around 839 CE and died in Bagdad, Iraq, in 923 CE. To him, we owe a tafsir too, namely an exegesis of the Quranic verses. Every historian nowadays quote him when it comes to the Islamic early history; his work is really immense and precise and from his account we can have an internal point of view on what happened in the first centuries of the Caliphate. For this reason, I’ll use many volumes, and in particular: - the 5 th  volume, on Sasanids, Byzantines, and Lakmids - the 10 th  volume, on the conquest of Arabia, the Riddah wars, 632-633 CE - the 11 th  volume, on the challenge to the empires (633-635 CE)   As I don’t know Arabic, I’ll use the english translation.   A LETTER OF ABU BAKR AL SIDDIQ TO THE APOSTATES   In the previous post, I gave account of the elect

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 very easy catch for our soldi

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 and the same thing and

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 hand, is a m

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 AND DIVIS

  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  century; the historical map was very