Recaps

John VIII's effort to recruit the Balkan states for a war against the Ottoman Empire met with little interest, so he sent Andronikos and Thomas to seek support from the Holy See and the Knights Hospitaller. Thomas reached Rhodes, where Grand Master Jean de Lastic agreed to join the campaign planned for next spring.

• John VIII told envoys from Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Hungary, and Wallachia that the Roman army was preparing to attack the Ottoman Empire, but the envoys lacked authority to join the war.
• Otto Dragases accepted his nephew's explanation and, while drunk, promised that the Dragases family would send troops; John VIII and Vitus had servants escort him to his room.
• Vitus said Rome had enough forces for the campaign and kept local garrisons in place to defend against neighboring rulers taking advantage of the expedition.
• John VIII dispatched Andronikos to Rome and Thomas to Rhodes to seek support from the Holy See and the Knights Hospitaller.
• Thomas arrived in Rhodes and met Grand Master Jean de Lastic, who agreed to join the war after learning that the Roman army planned to begin its campaign next spring.

Thomas assessed the Knights Hospitaller’s forces on Rhodes before returning to Constantinople, while Murad II and his ministers planned for the Greek army’s expected invasion of Anatolia. The Ottomans settled on reinforcing the western front and recruiting more troops ahead of next year’s decisive battle.

• Thomas estimated that the Knights Hospitaller could field three to five thousand men and preferred to return to Constantinople after several days on Rhodes.
• After learning that the Greek army numbered more than seventy thousand, Murad II summoned his ministers to determine where it would attack.
• Turahan argued that the Greeks’ logistical needs made the western front their likeliest target and proposed garrisons for the empire’s other threatened regions.
• Murad II and his commanders agreed to concentrate defenses on the western front and ordered regional recruitment and preparations for next year’s battle.
• After estimating that only eighty to ninety thousand Ottoman troops could serve on the western front, Murad II agreed to recruit Bashi-bazouk infantry.

Cardinal Cesarini warned John VIII that the Holy See could provide little help, leaving the Empire to face the Ottomans alone. As the imperial army assembled, Vitus proposed landing at Karasu, a weakly defended town at the mouth of the Sakarya River.

• Cesarini told John VIII that war in Italy prevented the Holy See and other nations from sending reinforcements to Anatolia.
• John VIII inspected the trained auxiliary brigades and considered the dangers of the available routes into Anatolia.
• Thomas proposed forming a cavalry force of wandering knights and heavy cavalry to break through the Ottoman lines and kill the Sultan.
• Vitus told John VIII that he had devised a new attack plan and promised to explain it the next day.
• Vitus showed John VIII a map and proposed landing the army at Karasu, whose flat terrain and weak defenses suited a large force.

Vitus organized a secret Roman landing at Karasu after preparing a Black Sea bay as a naval staging port and using feints to distract the Ottomans. The Tuna Legion captured Karasu, leaving Rome with a beachhead on the Sakarya River as the fleet returned to collect the next wave of troops.

• Vitus privately presented John with a plan to sail through the Bosphorus and seize Karasu, then advance along the Sakarya River.
• Vitus surveyed a bay on the Black Sea coast and ordered engineers to build piers, warehouses, cranes, and barracks.
• Vitus sent auxiliary brigades to Gallipoli as a feint while Roman legions prepared to attack Ottoman strongholds east of Constantinople.
• On March 2, the Tuna Legion and two marine battalions sailed east from the newly built port aboard the fleet.
• At Karasu, Roman warships bombarded the Ottoman forts, and the marines landed, breached the northern wall, and captured the town by sunset.

After Karasu fell, Murad II reinforced Sakarya City while Vitus brought his army ashore and marched toward it. Vitus reached the city’s northern outskirts and camped near its defenses, preparing for the siege.

• A messenger warned Bursa that Karasu had fallen, prompting panic and an emergency meeting with Murad II.
• Murad II chose to reinforce Sakarya City with troops from nearby areas while keeping Bursa’s reserves in place.
• Vitus inspected Karasu’s docks, confirmed the arrival of most troops from the Attica Legion and Fifth Legion, and ordered the army to march before dawn.
• Vitus left Karasu on March 4th with three understrength legions and an inland flotilla, then chose a faster route south despite Ottoman cavalry scouts.
• Vitus reached Sakarya City’s northern outskirts on March 5th, cleared two nearby peaks of enemy troops, and camped with the city’s walls and surrounding terrain in view.

Vitus besieged Sakarya City by digging parallel and zigzagging trenches toward its walls, while Murad II gathered a huge Ottoman army at Bursa and sent it marching. The Roman siege works continued to advance as the defenders fired on the diggers.

• Vitus ordered sappers to start a trench four hundred paces from Sakarya City, and the defenders fired at them before stopping to conserve their cannons.
• The Tuna Legion and then the Attica Legion dug a long first parallel trench and zigzagging communication trenches toward the walls.
• Murad II recalled Ottoman field armies to Bursa, where the crowded troops caused disputes with locals, supply problems, indiscipline, and poor sanitation.
• On March 12, Murad II's army set out, but the artillery at the rear had not left Bursa by the time the vanguard reached its destination.
• At Sakarya City, the Romans completed a second parallel trench two hundred paces from the walls and began digging a third communication trench to within one hundred paces.

Vitus’s forces used mortars to suppress the Ottoman defenders on Sakarya’s walls while he prepared for the possibility of Murad II’s army arriving from Bursa. The chapter ended with Vitus planning to keep bombarding the city before launching a general assault.

• On March 14, Roman soldiers dug the third parallel trench under fire, and Ottoman night raids were repelled at heavy cost.
• On March 15, artillerymen fired mortars over Sakarya’s defenses, killing Ottoman soldiers and destroying some gun positions.
• Vitus ordered siege guns moved forward once the defenders’ artillery was suppressed, then learned Ottoman cavalry had appeared south of Sapanca Lake.
• Vitus assessed the likely route of Murad II’s reinforcements and judged his forces strong enough to meet them.
• Vitus met with his commanders and planned to hold key positions northeast of Nicomedia while continuing the bombardment of Sakarya before a general assault.

Murad II and his commanders weighed their options against the forces around Sakarya, while Vitus explained to Romanus how maneuvers could shape a battle before it began. Thomas took command of the arriving heavy cavalry and hurried toward the front, where an Ottoman attack was reported, but he turned onto a path in the wrong direction.

• Murad II reviewed reports of the Ottoman and enemy forces, heard Çandarlı Halil's account of the failed attacks at Sapanca Lake, and considered a northern flanking maneuver.
• Romanus worried that the Roman forces were outnumbered, and Vitus explained that the broken terrain and pre-battle maneuvers could prevent a decisive battle.
• Thomas rode to Karasu, took command of the heavy cavalry, and led the force toward Sakarya.
• A bloodied messenger reported that Ottoman troops had attacked to the northeast and that the Roman unit there needed support.
• Thomas eagerly followed the messenger's directions but turned onto a small path leading southwest.

Thomas’s heavy cavalry struggled through the hills while friendly troops mocked their slow progress. Ahead, Boranov’s Dragoons Company reached its defensive position, built hurried fortifications, and faced an Ottoman cavalry attack.

• Thomas let Boranov’s Dragoons Company pass through the heavy cavalry column after Boranov explained their mission to seize a position.
• Boranov lost his way briefly, then identified a three-way intersection by a mill and ordered his company to build defenses.
• Ratmir and the other soldiers dug trenches, felled trees, and set up barricades around the intersection.
• Ottoman light cavalry appeared over the southern hills, and Boranov ordered his inexperienced soldiers to hold fire until the enemy came close.
• Boranov’s company fired on the charging Akıncı cavalry, killing more than twenty riders, but many defenders failed to shoot or reload effectively.

Boranov’s Dragoons endured repeated Ottoman attacks at a crossroads until Thomas’s heavy cavalry routed the Bashi-bazouk infantry and pursued more Ottoman troops. Meanwhile, the Sultan’s army stalled in the hills and abandoned its flanking plan, leaving the commanders to lament that Skanderbeg was no longer available to lead them.

• Boranov fought off Ottoman soldiers who breached the breastwork, then ordered his company to keep fortifying the crossroads while they waited for reinforcements.
• After several attacks pushed the Dragoons’ casualties toward thirty percent, Boranov spotted more than fifteen hundred Bashi-bazouk infantry approaching the village.
• Thomas’s heavy cavalry charged the Bashi-bazouks, routed them, and pursued fleeing light cavalry, later returning after defeating another Sipahi force.
• Boranov ordered his soldiers to cook while they waited for follow-up troops to relieve them.
• After three days of stalled fighting in the hills, the Sultan abandoned his flanking plan and wondered whether any of his officers could match Skanderbeg at mountain and infantry warfare.

Vitus ordered lightweight leather coats for the Dragoons and led the assault that captured Sakarya City after a prolonged bombardment. By afternoon, the Eastern Roman Empire held the city's key locations, while scattered resistance remained.

• After Dragoon officers complained about their lack of armor, Vitus designed a lightweight leather coat and ordered Carlo to convene officers and arrange an initial order of five hundred sets.
• On March 20, Vitus had the assault begin against Sakarya City's battered northern defenses.
• Greek troops seized the outer wall and brought artillery through its gate, blasting a wide breach in the inner wall.
• Mortar shells shattered the defenders' formation behind the breach, allowing the assault troops to charge into the city.
• By two in the afternoon, the Eastern Roman Empire controlled Sakarya City's key locations, and Vitus sketched the smoke-filled city from a nearby hillside.

Vitus split his forces to threaten Ottoman positions around Nicaea and draw the Sultan away from Sakarya. Murad II sent a large force to reinforce Nicaea, and Marcus prepared to withdraw when he learned the Sultan was leading it.

• An Ottoman officer reported that Greek forces had crossed the mountains toward Nicaea while another force advanced east from Sakarya, prompting Murad II to send ten thousand soldiers to reinforce the area.
• Isangai told Murad II that the reinforcements had been routed near Nicaea by Greek cavalry, and Murad II concluded that Vitus might be trying to cut off his retreat.
• After consulting his ministers, Murad II chose to reinforce Nicaea and set out with fifty thousand Janissaries and Sipahi.
• Tucha told Marcus that Ottoman light cavalry had forced his troops to abandon their outer positions and that Murad II was approaching with Janissaries and Sipahi.
• Marcus decided that his force should withdraw because Vitus had ordered him to retreat if the Ottoman main force arrived.

Vitus captured the hills north of Nicomedia and surrounded the city, establishing camps and supply docks while preparing for a siege. When Murad II’s forces attacked near Sakarya, Vitus ordered Marcus to withdraw most of his troops toward Nicomedia and fortify the city with moats.

• Marcus withdrew after learning the Ottoman main force was approaching, while the difficult terrain prevented Ottoman cavalry from outflanking his army.
• Vitus attacked north of Nicomedia, captured the hills and two passes within two days, and advanced onto the plain.
• Vitus surveyed Nicomedia’s defenses, drove away Çandarlı’s cavalry, and positioned his troops around the city while arranging coastal supply docks.
• Murad II did not attack Nicomedia, so Vitus’s army dug trenches as the docks and southern camp were completed.
• Marcus reported that Ottoman forces were attacking near Sakarya and that his troops might be forced back into the city.
• Vitus ordered Marcus to leave one auxiliary infantry brigade at Sakarya, turn the river channels into moats, and withdraw the Tuna Legion and remaining troops toward Nicomedia.

The Ottomans besieged the Sakarya Plain city with trenches, artillery, and tunnels while its defenders endured bombardment and routine duty. Ratmir passed his NCO examination, and the chapter ended with Turahan frustrated as water flooded several Ottoman siege tunnels.

• Turahan proposed filling the defenders’ trenches and digging tunnels to breach the walls, but Boranov’s artillery scattered the exposed Ottoman workers.
• Ratmir studied army regulations while on sentry duty, then endured the brigade’s repetitive meals and learned that bread was withheld because soldiers had brewed kvass on duty.
• Ratmir heard an overnight attack on the Ottomans filling trenches, then learned that the defenders had raided their workers.
• The Ottomans blockaded the Sakarya River, while a light vessel carried messages between Sapanca Lake and the city; the defenders also received word that the Emperor was besieging Nicomedia’s inner city.
• Ratmir passed the NCO examination as Ottoman artillery battered the southern wall and the enemy completed its two outer trenches.
• Turahan learned that water had seeped into three of the six tunnels dug toward the city walls, frustrating the siege effort.

Vitus and Murad II prepared for a decisive battle near Sakarya, each committing seventy thousand or more soldiers after months of losses. The battle began with a struggle for Mount Emali, and Vitus paused to choose his next move as Ottoman cavalry clashed with his forces.

• After learning that Sakarya City was threatened by Ottoman tunnels, Vitus abandoned the sieges of Gebze and Samandıra and marched into the Sakarya region with seventy-five thousand field troops.
• Murad II and his ministers decided to fight a decisive battle near Sakarya, and the Sultan committed seventy thousand soldiers while leaving five thousand to guard the siege camp.
• Before dawn on June 12, Çandarlı led Ottoman cavalry toward Mount Emali to seize the high ground and place artillery there.
• A Dragoons Brigade defended Mount Emali with Three-Pounders, halting the Ottoman foot charge, while Tatar cavalry arrived from the north and engaged the Akıncı in a confused melee.
• Vitus stopped his advancing main force after hearing of the fighting, discussed which cavalry to commit with Thomas, and explained his tactics to his commanders.

Murad II’s forces captured Mount Emali and rushed artillery to its summit as Vitus’s army approached. After a fierce artillery exchange, Çandarlı spotted enemy troops moving through the northern woods and feared they were circling toward the Ottoman siege camp outside Sakarya.

• Çandarlı led a cavalry charge that took Mount Emali, while the surviving dragoons withdrew into the western forest.
• Murad II spotted Vitus’s army approaching and ordered the Janissaries and artillery to hurry to the mountain.
• The Akıncı cavalry refused to attack until Kapikulu and Sipahi cavalry executed several agitators, then scattered and fled during their harassment attempt.
• Vitus’s artillery bombarded the Ottoman positions on Mount Emali, and the Ottomans returned fire as more of their cannons arrived.
• Çandarlı saw enemy troops moving through the woods and warned that they might attack the siege camp outside Sakarya and cut off the army’s supplies.

The Sultan debated whether to attack or retreat as he worried that Vitus’s main force might be hidden in the forests. Meanwhile, Vitus’s western army completed its march around the battlefield and advanced toward the Ottomans, who began to withdraw before Janissaries turned to block the legions.

• The Sultan, Turahan, and Isaac argued over whether to attack the apparent enemy force, search the forests, or retreat to Bursa.
• Vitus led the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Legions and the light cavalry brigade on a wide detour to the west of the battlefield.
• After resting, Vitus sent a blue signal to Damien and ordered his army to advance east in a broad battle line.
• Ottoman cavalry harassed the advancing army, while Eastern Roman light cavalry and Dragoons used arrows and volleys to keep them at a distance.
• Vitus saw Ottoman forces retreating south, but Janissaries halted and formed up to block the three legions.

Vitus led the Eastern Roman forces against the Ottoman army south of Mount Emali, using artillery, musketeer formations, and anti-cavalry squares to withstand repeated attacks. Reinforcements under Thomas arrived and crushed the Janissaries, while the Ottoman command and Sultan Murad II escaped or remained unaccounted for.

• Vitus ordered the legions north of Mount Emali to bypass the mountain and join the pursuit, then deployed the Tuna Legion and Varangian Legion against the Janissaries while artillery bombarded their line.
• The Janissaries attacked under sustained cannon fire, but Eastern Roman musketeers and Three-Pounders drove back their wings.
• Ottoman heavy cavalry charged from three directions, but the legions formed pike-and-fire squares and inflicted heavy losses before the cavalry withdrew.
• Vitus saw the northern reinforcements arrive and ordered his troops to advance southeast while cavalry harassed the retreating Janissaries.
• Thomas's heavy cavalry crushed the Janissaries, and Vitus's legions intercepted retreating Bashi-bazouks and the Ottoman baggage train.
• Vitus learned that the Ottoman high command had withdrawn, but the prisoners could not reveal Sultan Murad II's whereabouts.

After defeating the Ottoman army, Vitus marched through western Anatolia toward Bursa, leaving forces to capture Nicaea and secure Sakarya. He demanded the abolition of Ottoman nobles’ privileges, then besieged Bursa until three thousand defenders surrendered.

• Vitus occupied the Ottoman siege camp at Sakarya, assigned the Tuna Legion to rest and defend the region, and led the main force west and south.
• Vitus left Damien and the Attica Legion to capture Nicaea, instructing Damien to protect its historic buildings.
• Near Bursa, Vitus learned that Ottoman forces had burned and plundered the surrounding countryside, then discovered that the sultan and most nobles had fled east.
• Vitus rejected Bursa’s envoy’s terms and demanded that any defenders who stayed obey Roman law and give up their titles, estates, and privileges.
• After two weeks of siege works and a day of mortar bombardment, three thousand Ottoman soldiers surrendered outside Bursa.

After liberating Bursa and Nicaea, Vitus planned the campaign to retake southwestern Anatolia and reorganized the heavy cavalry to move faster and expand its ranks. He appointed Thomas to lead a rapid-response force against bandits and Ottoman remnants, then marched southwest with the main army.

• Vitus arranged new civil officials and clergy for western Anatolia and outlined a campaign to capture the southern river valleys while avoiding costly sieges of coastal fortresses.
• Vitus presented lighter heavy-cavalry armor and ordered most heavy cavalry battalions reorganized and trained in Nicomedia.
• Thomas proposed leading a force to restore order in the newly liberated territories, and Vitus gave him a mixed rapid-response force capped at 2,500 men.
• On July 12, Vitus led the main army southwest along ancient Roman roads and remarked on the fertility of the land.
• Vitus reflected on how Palaiologos policies and civil wars weakened Anatolia's defenses, allowing Ottoman expansion into Europe after the capture of Gallipoli.

Vitus’s army and fleet captured most of Smyrna, leaving the Ottoman defenders surrounded in the hilltop fortress as Vitus prepared to attack Ephesus. In Constantinople, John VIII reviewed the wartime tax and arranged a loan before moving a Gattilusio lord to the front of his audience schedule, intending to reclaim Lesbos.

• Vitus ordered Fabius to bring the Aegean Fleet to help retake Smyrna, and the army captured most of the city after bombardment while several hundred Ottoman soldiers withdrew to the ancient fortress.
• Vitus left two infantry battalions to besiege the fortress and began mapping Ephesus’s defenses for an assault.
• John VIII learned that the special wartime tax had raised eighty thousand Florins in Thrace and was expected to bring in four hundred thousand overall, so he tasked the finance minister with securing a loan.
• John VIII moved a Gattilusio lord to the front of the audience list as he considered reclaiming Lesbos Island from the family that ruled it.

John VIII secured Gattilusio’s allegiance to the Roman emperor while allowing him to keep his family holdings on Lesbos. Constantine reported the First Legion’s poor performance and proposed replacing it with the Tuna Legion in Bithynia, leaving him to consider how the First Legion needed to be reformed.

• John VIII pressured Gattilusio to abandon Genoa and swear allegiance to the Roman emperor, using the planned campaign to retake Chios as leverage.
• Gattilusio accepted the emperor’s demands after realizing he could keep his family’s holdings, and John VIII ordered him to return with warships after a few days.
• Constantine encountered Leo drawing warships on a palace wall and remembered that he and his brothers had drawn there as children.
• Constantine told John VIII that the First Legion had captured Samandıra and Gebze and taken two thousand Ottoman soldiers prisoner.
• Constantine criticized the First Legion’s battlefield performance and proposed sending the Tuna Legion home while the First Legion took over Bithynia’s defenses.
• Constantine considered copying other legions’ tactics and disbanding or reorganizing outdated units in the First Legion.

Vitus organized civil and religious administration in western Anatolia before launching campaigns to reclaim Lydia and Pamphylia. As the army marched east, Romanus learned how the Empire had urged Philadelphia to surrender and reflected on the weakened state he and his father would have to restore.

• Vitus interviewed officials and clergy, assigned administrative posts, and planned to divide western Anatolia into six provinces, with Lydia and Pamphylia still to be reclaimed.
• Vitus assigned the Tuna Legion and two auxiliary brigades to Lydia, while he led the remaining force toward Pamphylia.
• On September 12, Vitus's army left Smyrna and marched east through the Gediz Valley toward Alaşehir.
• Vitus recounted Philadelphia's surrender in 1390, and Chiron told Romanus that Emperors Manuel II and John VII had written letters urging the city to surrender at Bayezid's demand.
• Romanus reflected on the Palaiologos Dynasty's civil wars and the devastation of Anatolia, concluding that restoring the Empire would require generations of recovery and vigilance against its enemies.

Romanus and Vitus discussed the Empire’s past decline before the army reached Hierapolis, where Cotton Castle lifted Romanus’s spirits. After resting there, Vitus led the army through mountain roads and into the fertile Pamphylia Plain, assessing the region’s capacity to support a prolonged campaign.

• Vitus compared the Doukas, Angelos, and Palaiologos dynasties and persuaded Romanus that their reign was not the Empire’s worst.
• Romanus and the army saw Hierapolis’s white terraces, and Vitus camped nearby so the troops could enjoy the hot springs.
• Romanus explored Cotton Castle’s pools and ruins, while Vitus studied the army’s route and chose the faster inland passage toward Antalya.
• After four days of rest, the army traveled south through ancient roads and caravanserais, and Vitus routed several enemy forces in the mountains.
• At the beginning of October, the army crossed the final mountain pass into the fertile Pamphylia Plain, which Vitus judged able to sustain twenty thousand soldiers in a long campaign.

After capturing Antalya, Vitus ended the campaign for the winter and discussed the war’s costs and Cyprus’s role in defending Pamphylia with Theodore. In Constantinople, John faced reports of famine in the recovered western Anatolian regions and heard a proposal to fund grain relief.

• The Aegean Fleet delivered siege artillery, and Vitus’s forces captured Antalya after a two-week siege while the Fifth Legion secured the coastal plain and northern Taurus passes.
• Theodore visited Vitus and Romanus in Antalya, gave Romanus gemstones, and asked Vitus whether the campaign should continue inland or toward Cilicia.
• Vitus explained that a further offensive was impractical before winter and urged Theodore to sell his shares in the difficult-to-develop lands south of the Sahara, but Theodore refused.
• Vitus asked Cyprus to help defend Pamphylia from remaining Ottoman forces, and Theodore agreed to send support if needed.
• At Blachernae Palace, officials and clergy reported crop failures, looting, and looming famine in western Anatolia, prompting John to ask how relief could be funded.
• The finance minister proposed spending two hundred thousand Florins on grain and having local civil officials and clergy distribute it in the hardest-hit regions.