Utharska - A History Fiction

Chapter 1

Many nations were formed in the steppes of Anatolia. From the Hittites to the Byzantines, there was always a dominant power in here.

Except for now, 1320. Anatolia lacks a strong power, as the Mongols have split into five, and many are damaged. Uthar, the leader of a Turkic tribe and a Muslim, is one of the people who wants to use this lack of a political power. He settles in a small part of Marash alongside his tribe.

Within just a few years, his fame reaches all the way to the Byzantine palace. One of the most important things he has done is the education system he has formed. In this system, there were three types of schools: Enderun, Mekteb-il Fakr, and Medrese. Enderun was created to teach intelligent people who had a chance of becoming a high degree officer. Medreses were for teaching as many students as they can, and people who succeeded were either transferred to Enderun or were taught a profession. Mekteb-il Fakr was the most interesting one. It would teach poor people about agriculture in a sped-up programme. Then, they would be sent to either empty lands, or to a nearby beylik. In there, they would form a small tribe, and when needed, they would rebel against the beylik.

This education system helped his nation a lot. The nearby beylik Dulkadir had to give them many lands so that they wouldn't interfere with their internal events. Eventually, they banned all the Uthar people out of their lands.

Yet, that wasn't enough. As many people were getting educated, with the help of Veli Pasha, he formed a spy organization. Many spies were sent to cause havoc in the Dulkadir palace. They were successful, and in a year, all of Marash was in the control of Uthar.

They didn't stop there. They formed many organizations that helped people in general. These were paid with lands that were given to them. Rest of the lands were split into smaller parts. These parts would be given to soldiers, and those soldiers would raise other soldiers. Ones that got achievements in wars and battles were gifted lands. Meanwhile, people like the Sadrazam, the most influential person in the government after the bey, would be given big chunk of lands as payment. They had to raise their own army too.

That was the first mistake of Uthar. Veli Pasha had a lot of land, and an army up to thousand men. These men were directly loyal to him. When another pasha had risen to power, being the most likely candidate of being a Sadrazam, Veli Pasha wasn't happy.

He threatened Uthar that he would start a war with his army if Bayram Pasha wasn't executed. However, before Uthar could even do anything, Bayram Pasha had managed to unite most of the army and even some peasants under his control. He marched to the palace on 23 of May, 1323.

The army was supposed to demand the execution of Veli Pasha. However, with the help of some people in the army who didn't like Uthar, the ideas of a full-on rebellion rose in the army. Bayram Pasha couldn't silence them. They were demanding Bayram Pasha to become the bey.

Yet Bayram Pasha was more clever than that. He organized the peasants into a position. He also talked with many other pashas inside the army.

Now, the battle was three sided. Veli Pasha's army, Bayram Pasha's army and an independent army that wanted a new bey. Soon enough, Enver Pasha rose to power in that independent army.

Something had to done. Otherwise, the beylik would lose most of it's army, leaving it unguarded against other beyliks.

In the end, Uthar complied. He made reforms to the government. Bayram Pasha was declared the main general of the army, and Veli Pasha remained as the Sadrazam. A small parliament was opened to make the army participate. There were only five pashas in this parliament. Enver Pasha, Bayram Pasha, Veli Pasha, and two other unimportant pashas.

But Uthar didn't stop his reforms. He wanted stability in his realm. So he created a new army, one that was taught from their childhood, and an extremely disciplined one. He opened many schools to teach this army. Meanwhile, many villages were joining them as they envied this great rule in the beylik.