Vandal Kingdom

*** Updated to game version 1.12 ***
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The Vandal Kingdom was established on the conquered region of North Africa.
It was a region occupied by East Germanic (or Slavic) tribes under King Gaiseric.
The Kingdom was later conquered by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the Vandalic War.

The Vandals under their commander Gaiseric migrated from parts of what is nowadays Poland towards the River Rhine and into Spain while being hunted down by mercenaries. Gaiseric decided to cross the Gibraltar Strait with all his people in 429 A.D.
In 430 A.D. they laid siege on the walled city of Hippo Regius where they found Saint Augustine with his priests praying for roman intervention.
5 Years later, a peace was made betweem the Vandals and the Romans through a treaty wich gave them control of coastal Numidia and parts of Mauretania.
After some conflicts inside the Western Roman Empire, Gaiseric broke the treaty in 439 A.D.
He thought it would be voided anyway so invaded Proconsularis and besieged Carthage.
The city was captured without any resistance, as most inhabitants were attending chariot races at the Hippodrome.

Gaiseric made it his capital and proclaimed himself King of the Vandals and Alans to denote the inclusion of his Alan allies. Later he would conquer the isles of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, the Balearic Islands and launch a massive assault on the city of Rome.

After Attila the Hun died the Romans turned their attention to the Vandals who were in control of some of their richest agricultural lands.
In an effort to bring the Vandals into the Roman Empire, Valentian III offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to Gaiseric’s son Huneric.
Before this could take place however, politics as always played a crucial part in Rome.
Petronius Maximus murdered Valentian III in an effort to gain control of the Roman Empire.
Diplomacy between the two parties broke down and in 455 A.D. a letter from Empress Licinia Eudoxia was sent in where she begged Huneric to rescue her with her daughters Eudocia and Placidia.
On June 2, 455 A.D. Pope Leo the Great received Genseric to abstain him from murder and destruction.
The Vandals took valuables along with Empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters.
Valentian III was known as a ruthless king who fanatically persecuted Catholics aside from Christians.

Hilderic was Catholic and ruled the Vandal Kingdom from 523 til 530.
He was the son of Huneric and mother Eudoxia, daughter of Roman Emperor Valentinianus III.
As a Catholic favoring her religion, he wasn’t very popular amongst his own subjects.
Those were rather hard-boiled practitioners of Arianism.
Also, Hilderic was gay which made things even worse…
Thus Hilderic played an important role in the fall of the Vandal kingdom.

The Catholic King Hilderic ended the persecution of Catholics and gave them rights.
This made the Arian majority start a revolt led by his cousin Gelimer to overthrow him.
When Justinus I & Justinianus I pressed Hilderic to privilege Catholism above Arianism,
Hilderic accepted their demands by adressing a new Catholic bishop in Carthage.
The Vandal army never concerned Hilderic and left this to his younger Arianist family members.
After 7 years of reign, a revolt started which was led by his cousin Gelimer.
he was a fanatical practitioner of Arianism who succesfully mobilised the people and the army.
Hilderic was overthrown and Gelimer introduced Arianism again as the official religion.

The Roman Emperor Justinianus protested against the overthrowing of his ally Hilderic.
Gelimer refused and had Hilderic assassinated. Justinianus declared war and his general Belisarius conquered the region. The Vandal Kingdom had fallen.

By 476, the Western half of the Roman Empire fell into dissaray with the Eastern part continueing to exist as a flourishing nation.
Although it still struggled with the rapid spread of Islam.
Around the 14th century, Sultan Osman I controlled a small principality in Domaniç and Sögüt where it kept growing as an empire under following leaders.
During 1453, the Eastern Roman Empire was standing on its last legs.
The Ottoman Empire now attacked Constantinople where Byzantine forces were left weakened by the Plague which had recently swept through. The city fell and the empire collapsed.
Constantinople was made the new Ottoman capital and was later renamed Istanbul.

In this timeline however, the overthrowing of Hilderic and protest of Justinianus made
Gelimer realise a potential war with the Eastern Roman Empire.
As Gelimer knew this he reconsidered the overthrowing of Hilderic and returned him to power.
Gelimer was exiled off to Pantelleria and Justinianus I kept his ally to govern the lands.
Hilderic called for Gelimer some time later and offered him an assignment as general of his army in exange for ceasing any further actions against him. Gelimer agreed with much envy.
Eventually Hilderic died a natural death and Gelimer was made King by the voice of the arian majority.

Also, in 1453 with the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Ottomans,
the Vandal Kingdom was absorbed into the new Ottoman Empire as a vassal in 1520.
Reasons were the empire already stretched too far and patrolling the new borders of Vandalia would severely impact budget restraints. In return Gelimer promised rights to berbers, turks and privileged the practition of Islam. Later, Spain began to take territory in North Africa and conquered Ceuta and Melilla in 1457.
Vandals noticed the spanish pressence and in reaction launched their own campaign, conquering Morocco.

>>>Fast Forwards>>> Fall of the Ottomans
in 1830 a naval invasion happened and the Ottoman navy was defeated.
Western powers recognised Greece as an independent nation following it’s earlier war for independence.
Also, France didn’t took Algeria because Vandals & semi-independent Ottoman Principality.
The population was largely assimilated with the largest majority studying Islam, but a significant few were still Catholic. Also, Morocco was Vandal property.

In 1911, Italy declared war against the Ottoman Empire attacking Tripolotania and their principality in Algeria.
Tripolotania taken, but suffered a defeat against the Vandals since they held a significant army themselves.
The First & Second Balkan War and the First World War in 1912 commenced and ended normally.

The British and French carved up the Ottoman Empire in the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
The Turks were not happy with this and their Principality becoming occupied.
Mustafa Kemel and his party of nationalists came together with the Parlement in Ankara,
rejected the authority of the Sultan and refused to accept the Treaty of Servés.
In 1920 his party came victorious out of the elections but the british dissolved the parlement and found the Grand National Assembly in Ankara, starting the Turkish War of Independence led by Mustafa Kemal.
Within 3 years the Turks with the Vandals were successful in pushing out the occupying powers.
On 1st November 1922 the Sultanate was abolished and Mehmet VI fled with his family to the Ottoman vassal. The Ottoman Empire came to an end.
On October 29th, 1923, The Turkish Republic was declared and the Vandals gained independence.

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