Project Odysseus
1815
Dear King Alexiadis
I wish to congratulate you on successfully managing to hold onto your crown. Part of this is no doubt due to your decision to marry a member of the russian family, a part of this was due to your eagerness to learn greek, to convert to the true orthodox faith and of course your worthwhile decision to change your name to something more fitting of a Greek king.
I know Napoleon was a dear friend of ours, and his loss pains us all, but your decision to choose expediency over past loyalty was wise. A king of Greece must be loyal to Greece first and foremost, and you have done so.
This brings us to our next point of order.
I understand your desire to go to war with the turk, I really really do. When I went to compass, I went there with the intention of freeing the greek people from their despotic rule. That has been accomplished, but we must face facts.
The turks are strong, they rule a large and rich empire with millions of people, we know nothing of their defenses. Our treasury barely has any money, our navy is small and weak and our army small. Our land, though rich in history and culture, is poor in mineral wealth and it's ability to grow food is anemic at best.
Greece as it presently stands, due to reasons of its current geography, is weak, poor and is surrounded by great powers that are hostile to it. Especially since our nation was created by Napoleon. If we go to war, we will be crushed and every thing we have worked so hard for will be destroyed.
If we build an army now, the great powers will notice and crush us. If we build a navy right now, the same will happen. I know it looks hopeless but I have read a book that has opened my eyes. A book by some man from China named Sun Zoo. It is called the art of war, and in it I have discovered what we should focus on. We should create a spy network. Now, I know you are an honorable man but the turk is not an honorable enemy and should not be treated as such.
To beat him we must use guile, we must bide our time, sharpen our blades and find ways to weaken him.
1816
Your Highness, I thank you for having the wisdom to listen to me. First of all, after a long search we have managed to identify the turk's spies in Greece. I know your first reaction is to kill them, and I understand this desire to kill traitors and saboteurs, but that would be unwise. The better decision is to turn them into double agents and use them to feed the turks false information.
The tempting thing to do is, of course, imply that we are strong and can defeat any army they send. This would be, in my humble opinion, a bad idea. Right now the Turk has two enemies who threaten its borders, Russia and Persia. We need them to concentrate their attention on these borders and neglect their defenses against us. Especially as we rebuild our fragile nation, this is not the time for conflict not when we are still so weak.
1817
We have managed to get some of our spies into the enemy capital, the enemy has officially closed themselves off to trade but its not difficult to fake the right papers that official merchants have. Information about enemy troop movements, the lay of the land, fortresses, trade, all of it is slowly coming in. The magic mirrors and carpets help, though we have to use them carefully.
The good news is that, despite the turk's screams of piety, corruption is actually pretty common. We are slowly getting agents in place, taking over brothels, and working our way slowly into the Calif's inner circle.
1819
We have managed to find a low level worker for the sultan himself. Thanks to some rather damning blackmail he is willing to work for us. I know it's tempting to squeeze him for everything he has but another thought occurs to me. We have agents in Russia and Persia now, we could use our information to help our mole rise faster. At the very least we can spread rumors.
1821
War, war between Persia and the Turk, we have used our spies to feed information to our young mole, and he is starting to rise up the chain of command. That said this war presents oportunity, there is a split between the Turk and the faith of the Persian. This is something we have ignored for far too long. The turk is a Sunni and the Persian is Shia, this split is much like the one between catholics and our true faith, but it is a split just the same.
The turk's lands in mesopotamia have large number of Shia. If we could provoke a rebellion, this could prove promising. In other news the russians are looking southward to expand. It would be counter productive if they actually captured Anatolia, which remains our main goal, if only because Russia's thirst for conquest can not be satiated.
But this is not too much of a worry. Russia is over extended, in swallowing Poland it found itself with a meal that is hard to digest. If we could start an incident and enrage Russia, we could let them do the job of bleeding the enemy dry.
1822
We have managed to harness the rage of the turkish court. They have clothed themselves more and more in religion, in their faith and nothing quite upsets a fanatic as much as someone who practises the same ideals differently. We have spread rumors and managed to intercept mail, making it appear like the Shia in mesototamia are not loyal.
This has finally born fruit, all Shia have been ordered to convert to Sunni islam upon pain of death. I'd love to take all the credit for the rebellion that is sure to happen, but this is something that has been building for awhile, we have merely lit the fuse.
1823
The south is in full rebellion, the Persians are gleefully backing it and we have finally managed to cause an incident. Through careful manipulation, and some enchantments on a few cannons, a Russian ship was fired upon.
With our mole we found out who could be bribed in the inner circle, guises were taken and the flames of war were fanned. The straits have been closed and the Turk is now at war with both the Persian and the Russian. I know it's tempting to join in but the turk is still currently strong, we must continue to appear weak and build up our forces and our strength.
1825
A peace treaty now exists between Persia and the Turk, despite our best efforts. We have managed however to help keep the Shia rebellion alive through misinformation and other underhanded means. We managed to successfully scuttle the peace deal between russia and the Turk. The war continues.
1827
Our mole in the inner circle has managed to convince the sultan that the single best way to control the rebellious Shia south is to send reliable Turkish settlers, to take their land and watch the Persian.
The turk holds Anatolia too tightly, too strongly, but if we can convince them to move into the empire and draw off their strength we can weaken their hold. To this end we have managed to continue to fan the flames of religious zeal and hopefully make peace a distant dream.
1830
Your father was a good man, I considered him one of the greatest leaders Greece has ever had. I know he looked weak to you but that was a part of the plan, a plan you must continue.
The turk and the Persian are at war again over the slaughter of their fellows in the ottoman empire, the Russian and Turkish armies remain at a stalemate and rebellion covers their lands.
The turkish resettlement plan is starting to slowly drain away the second and third sons of the turks further south, but there are worries that there are not enough farmers. To this end our agents have suggested that christians around the empire have their wealth stripped from them and be enserfed in Turkey.
I know it is hard to see good christians suffer, but we are laying the seeds of a great plan. If they are closer to us it will be easier for us to liberate them when the time is right.
1853
The shia rebellions have been put down, they have either fled to Persia, were converted by force or have been killed. Their property has been seized and a great exodus of turks is now taking place, meanwhile christian serfs replace the former Turkish farmers.
In other news the turkish financial system has been dealt a crippling blow. Jews handled much of the empires finances and banking. Our agents in the empire have managed to work with the current sultan's paranoia and now they are officially expelled from the empire upon pain of death.
The young nation of Israel has agreed to take in these refugees, and I have arranged for Greek ships to help ferry them, making us a profit of course. Without the means to raise funds properly the Turk will be forced to enact harsher laws and put down more rebellions.
Also the war between the Russian and the Turk continues at its slow pace.
Just as planned.
1856
That was close, our agents barely managed to scuttle the peace deal between the Turk and the Russian. The war continues on, our Magi forces have grown, as has our population and economy. Peace has been good to us, allowed us to grow stronger but it is not yet time.
1860
Another war between Persia and Turkey, it is doubtful that this conflict will last long, but it has prompted the sultan to accelerate the colonisation of Mesopotamia. Christians now outnumber the turks in Anatolia. They might be serfs but their numbers are growing as the turkish numbers slowly shrink.
1863
The war with Persia is over, the war with Russia continues. The Ottoman empire's wealth once seemed inexhaustible but it is now measurably smaller then before. There is hunger even in the capital and the Sultan grows ever more paranoid.
Our forces grow stronger in secret, our new air force and Navy are growing stronger. The great powers have dismissed us and I know that hurts one's ego but victory, in this case, comes only with deception.
1871
Despite the british empire's efforts to prop up the Ottomans as part of the great game, the empire is on the brink of self destruction. Their treasury is empty, their money is gone and generations of turks have died in meaningless battle. Despite the all encompassing zeal, despite the propaganda, after 50 years of nonstop war the turk is tired.
Likewise, Russia even though they did not put nearly as much personal, forces or effort into the conflict is also tired of it.
We must scuttle the next peace deal at all costs. They are on the ropes, the turk who once was the majority of Anatolia is now less then a tenth of the population. Without gold the sultan has been forced to use land, forced to scrap more christians to serve as serfs and now he is outnumbered.
Our forces must modernize and prepare.
1873
The long war between the Turk and the Russians is over, a peace deal has been signed, and the sultan has defaulted on his debts to the british and french empires respectively.
This has angered them greatly, the empire has called for mass demobilization, they are out of money, they are tired, exhausted and have been bled white. Now is the time to strike.
1875
50,000 magi, a middling sized navy, a small army and our airforce struck the capital of constantinople, liberating it. The Turk did not prepare proper defenses, not with a weak country on its borders, not with our long peace. We captured the city instantly, the sultan is dead, his family was dead and without leadership the exhausted turk could not fight as a coherent force. Within two years we captured the entirety of Anatolia.
Our campain was quick and rapid, we destroyed their armies, wrecked their navy and we have captured their defences and built new ones. The remaining turks have fled south and with no clear leadership the empire has gone into civil war.
We are victorious.
