Earlier:
The Republic of Qart Hadasht, Spring 182 BCE
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
I mentioned earlier that Gigso in 193 sacked Gergovia in an attempt to stop to Gallic incursions into Carthaginian territory. Initially, this turned out to be very successful, with three peaceful years in which saw not a single Arverni on Carthaginian lands. Gisgo, Sophet and commander of the Second Army, stationed in southern Gaul, decides to use the relative peace to retire, being already 60 years of age. Abdeshmun Oea, son of Milkherem Oea [conquerer of Italy] and commander of the Old army in Iberia takes over command of the second army, while Gisgo returns to Carthage. The old army is shipped back to Carthage to retrain and recieve a new commander.
On the other side of the Alps, Milkherem Oea's first army, after having conquered Italy, is relieved by an Italian Garrison army, comprised mostly of Italian Hastati. The latter being sufficient for the defence of Italy, the first army is shipped to Carthage.
The Year of Death
In the spring of 190 starts the year of death. It starts with the death of the Carthaginian client king in Emporion, which city is thereafter immediately and mysteriously hit by an outbreak of the plague. Fortunately for Carthage, this plague helps cull any rebellious sentiments and the territory of Emporion is added to their vast empire. In the summer dies General Milkherem Oea [Hero of Messina, conquered of Italy, destroyer of Rome], followed swiftly by Sophet Gisgo [vanquisher of the Arverni]. Both die in Carthage, having recently retired from a life of war and conquest. The senate elects Milkherem's son, Adbeshmun Oea, as the new Sophet. Meanwhile, our Lusitana client king in Oxtraca also expires, sending the province into a brief period of anarchy. Peace is only restored when a new king, backed with Carthaginian money and an army of mercenary soldiers enters the city. In the winter of the same year, a transport fleet, carrying 600 Cretan archers for service in the second African army is sunk by an Egyptian fleet, there are no survivors.
Commentarii de Bello Gallico [2]
The year 190 also marks the end of the brief period of peace. Both the Arverni and the Romans attack the Carthaginian forces continuously in the following five years. Seemingly undeterred by the sacking of Gergovia, the Arverni now attack with armies comprised of nothing but levies. In 189, an army with 2500 slaves makes battle with the Carthaginian Second Army. Armed with nothing but sticks and stones and wearing nothing but a smelly blanket, these slaves are utterly crushed by Abdeshmun Oea and his forces. Only 7 Carthaginian soldiers lose their lives in this battle.
On the Roman side of the Alps the story is much the same. Being in control of only a small section of the Illyrian coast, the Romans can no longer raise the legions of Triarii that terrorised the Carthaginian advance into Italy. Instead, armies consisting of 3000 Illyrian levies are sent against the Italian garrison. Although the Illyrians are strong soldiers, they have the morale of infants and the second their Roman general is killed they run back to their mothers as fast as their legs can carry them. After sending four such armies, the Romans acknowledge the futility of trying to cross into Italy and stop sending armies.
In southern Gaul however, the Arverni continue to be a menace. In [yet another] attempt to stop the attacks, Adbeshmun Oea takes the Second Army deep into the center of Gaul in order to sack some of the cities there, straying into the territory of the Aedui. The Aedui however, are quite different from their Arverni brothers. While the Arverni have been exhausted by the many battles against the Carthaginians, the Aedui have [effectively] been at peace for the past 20 years. When Abdeshmun Oea approaches Bibracte in the autumn of 187 he is attacked by three Gallic armies in as many months. The level of organisation is uncharacteristic of Gauls, as more than 10 000 men, half of them Aedui and half of them Arverni, attack the second army. Although, against expectations, victorious in all engagements, Adbeshmun Oea suffers such heavy losses he is forced to abandon the Gallic expedition completely and return to Tolosa and Emporion to reinforce his army. The Gauls feast and drink to the memory of their fallen heroes, seeing the retreat of the Carthaginians as a great victory.
So much then, for the situation in Europa. Although the maps are no drop of ink different than those of 10 years ago, the past decade has seen great battles being fought, great heroes rise and fall and many, many good men being slain here.
On the War in Egypt
We saw earlier how the First African Army [under Xenophiles, brother of Bodmelqart [unjustly slain]] fought a difficult and inconclusive war in the desert south of Kyrene, culminating in the capture of the Oasis town of Augila. To relieve this army the Second African Army was raised and sent to africa [under Bisaltes] in 191. Meanwhile, the Old Army [from Iberia], had returned to Carthage and after having been reinforced to full strength, was also sent to Egypt [under Ahiram Arsinoe]. As these armies march through Egypt they meet remarkably little resistance. It seems most of the Egyptian armies are fighting the Makedonians in Syria. As the 2nd African Army and the Old Army take Paraitonion and Ammonion, the 1st African Army and the 1st Army are retrained. The 1st African Army is sent back to Egypt, while the 1st Army stays, as a reserve, near Carthage to see how the situation in Iberia develops [it is at this time some of the client kings die and the cities are sent into brief periods of anarchy]. As the situation in Iberia is diffused without help from the outside, the Senate decides to send the 1st Army into Egypt as well.
Thus, in 187, the Carthaginians have four armies marching and fighting their way though Egypt, while most of the Egyptian forces are in Syria. In 189 Paraitonion is taken, in 187 Ammonion and Memphis, in 186 Alexandria falls, followed in 185 by Diospolis Megale and Hibis. In 184 Pselkis is taken, after the largest battle against the Egyptian forces in which some 6000 Egyptians are killed or captured. In 5 short years, the Carthaginians managed to take the whole of Egypt. *
On the War at Sea
The Ptolemaic fleet has ever been a thorn in the side of the Carthaginians. From the very start of the war between the two nations, the Egyptians have been raiding the African coast and setting up blockades of Carthaginian harbours. At the start of the war, when Carthage was mainly interested in Iberia, the problem was small. Only some 10 000 mnai was lost in revenue per year, which the senate deemed an acceptable amount and consequently decided to ignore the problem altogether.
As the empire grew however, so grew the need to ship troops to Europe more and more frequently. When a fleet carrying the first army was scattered near the Silician coast by and Egyptian fleet [in 205 BCE], the Senate decided to build a strong fleet. Being mostly enterprising merchants however, they also decided it should not be too costly and limited the upkeep of the fleet at 10 000 mnai per year [2500 per turn]. Being equal in number, but far from equal in experience and ship-size, the Carthaginian fleet was utterly crushed when it engaged the Ptolemaic fleet in 202. Now confident that the previous battle had weakened the enemy fleet, the Senate commissioned a second fleet even smaller than the first one. It was scattered by the enemy fleet in 200, after which the ships that managed to flee the engagement were picked off by Illyrian pirates. Not a single ship made it back to Carthage.
Enraged by the financial cost of these battles, the senate finally created a real battle fleet, costing a very unprofitable sum of 20 000 mnai per year in upkeep alone, never mind the cost to build such a monster. In 193 the fleet was sent out to locate and destroy the enemy fleet, presumed weakened from the two previous battles. Little over a year later, the enemy fleet was discovered and battle was offered near the cost of Kreta. Outnumbering the Ptolemaic fleet two to one [and with battle odds 3 to 2 in my favour] it was a huge surprise when this fleet was also utterly crushed by the Egyptians.
[Three "crushing defeats" in a row, would you believe it!? Alright, I admit, the first two were largely my fault, but I really should have won that third battle...]
Having now concluded that destroying the Egyptian fleet was too expensive an undertaking, the Senate again decided to leave naval supremacy to the enemy, focusing instead on destroying the Egyptians on land. At about the same time however, it was noted by Carthaginian Generals that the archers of Kreta [long a part of their extensive empire] were archers of exceptional quality. A force of 600 of the [4 units] was raised to supplement the Second African Army, already on its way to Egypt. As Kreta is not too far from the African coast, an attempt was made in 190 to ferry the archers across only to be intercepted by an Egyptian fleet and utterly sunk. Not one to be deterred by minor setbacks, the governor of Kreta simply raised another force of 600 archers and sent them across in 189, after carefully checking that no Egyptian fleets were in range. But, Poseidon clearly favouring one side over another, the Egyptian fleet stormed across the mediterranean and again destroyed the archers and their transports.
As the African Armies were now left without missile troops altogether, the Senate of Carthage was again forced to intervene with a fleet. This time, no expenses would be spared, as the fate of the African invasion might rest on the safe arrival of the Cretan Archers. A fleet of 100 Quadriemes was raised, at the cost of 25 000 mnai per year. Finally, when the fleets of the two nations engaged for the fourth time in 187, the Carthaginian fleet was victorious.
But the Egyptians are a most cunning people at sea. As the Egyptian fleet retreated, the Carthaginians swiftly followed, along the African coast into the Red Sea canal. It was here that the Egyptians sprung their trap, while the Carthaginians pursued one fleet towards the Red Sea another fleet was sent into the canal from the other side. Attacked from both sides, the Carthaginian fleet managed to fight off the attack, but with heavy casualties, forcing them to retreat to the port of the recently captured province of the city of Memphis. Trapped here for more than a year, when the fleet tried to break through the Egyptian fleet into the mediterranean in 184 it was completely destroyed.
And so, after twenty years of fighting, after four battle-fleets, numerous transport fleets and 1200 Cretan soldiers dead, after hundreds of thousands of mnai, either lost through naval blockades or through the raising and keeping of fleets, the Egyptians still reign supreme at sea!
On the War in the East
Having already discussed the state of affairs in Europa and Africa, I feel it necessary to spend a few words on the developments in Asia. It would seem, from looking at the current map and that of 10 years ago, much has changed, but this is nothing more than an illusion.
The Makedonian advance into Syria is stagnating, Antioch having fallen in 190 and subsequently nothing having changed. Battles are still being fought here, but no one side can gain the upper hand. In the Caucasus the war is more dynamic. Constantly cities are changing hands and the Hayastan are holding on fanatically, much against the world's expectations.
In the far east, the Pahlava managed to destroy the Saka by killing the entire royal dynasty. It would seem they would quickly annex the north-eastern territories and turn their attention west, but in fact, they have been struggling continuously against revolts among the eastern populations. Their armies roam the mountainous land here all the time, moving from one village to the next. But when a settlement is conquered and the army moves on to the next settlement, it immediately revolts. There has not been a single time in the past 10 years where the Pahlavan empire had not some sort of rebellion on its hands.
Final Notes
The main contest in the next ten years will be the race between Makedonia and Carthage to see who can reach the Phoenician homeland. Although the Carthaginians have expanded rapidly in the past decade, they will have to secure their holdings in Egypt before they will be able to move on east. Makedonia might not have been able to move into Syria much in the past decade, but with the profitable nile no longer a part of the Egyptian empire, they will crumble sooner or later. Should Makedonia take control of Tyre before Carthage and should they be unwilling to give it up, a most destructive war will surely follow.
* In 182 BCE, I have the following armies in the field:
- First Army [Theodekles], Diospolis Megale, Egypt
- Second Army [Abdeshmun Oea], Souther Gaul
- Old Army [Ahiram Arsinoe], Pselkis, Egypt
- First African Army [Xenophiles],Alexandria, Egypt
- Second African Army [Bisaltes], Memphis. Egypt
- Italian Garrison Army [no commander], Northern Italy
Also, my apologies for this enormous post. I didn't think it would get this long...
Re: Post your EB empires!
Originally Posted by blader1176
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