Perang Granada

Provokasi dan tindak balas

The truce of 1478 was still theoretically in effect when Granada launched a surprise attack against Zahara in December 1481, as part of a reprisal for a Christian raid. The town fell, and the population was enslaved. This attack proved to be a great provocation, and factions in favor of war in Andalusia used it to rally support for a counterstrike, quickly moving to take credit for it, and backed a wider war. The seizure of Alhama and its subsequent royal endorsement is usually said to be the formal beginning of the Granada War. Abu Hasan attempted to retake Alhama by siege in March, but was unsuccessful. Reinforcements from the rest of Castile and Aragon averted the possibility of retaking Alhama in April 1482; King Ferdinand himself formally took command at Alhama on May 14, 1482.
The Christians next tried to besiege Loja, but failed to take the town. This setback was balanced by a twist that would prove to aid them greatly: on the same day as Loja was relieved, Abu Hasan's son, Abu Abdallah or Boabdil, rebelled and styled himself Emir Muhammad XII. The war continued into 1483. Abu Hasan's brother, al-Zagal, defeated a large Christian raiding force in the hills of the Axarquia east of Málaga. However, at Lucena the Christians were able to defeat and capture King Boabdil. Ferdinand II and Isabella I had previously not been intent on conquering all of Granada. With the capture of King Boabdil, however, Ferdinand decided to use him to conquer Granada entirely. In a letter of August 1483, Ferdinand wrote "To put Granada in division and destroy it We have decided to free him.... He [Boabdil] has to make war on his father." With Boabdil's release, now as a pseudo-Christian ally, the Granadan civil war would continue. A Granadan chronicler commented that Boabdil's capture was "the cause of the fatherland's destruction."
In 1485, the fortunes of the Granadan internal conflict shifted yet again. Boabdil was expelled from the Albayzín, his base of power, by Hasan's brother al-Zagal. Al-Zagal also took command of the nation itself, dethroning his aging brother, who died shortly thereafter. Boabdil was obliged to flee to Ferdinand and Isabella's protection. The continuing division within the Muslim ranks and the cunning of the Marquis of Cádiz allowed the western reaches of Granada to be seized with unusual speed in 1485. Ronda fell to him after a mere fifteen days, thanks to his negotiations with the city's leaders. Ronda's fall allowed Marbella, a base of the Granadan fleet, to come into Christian hands next.
Tidak lama kemudian Boabdil dibebaskan daripada perlindungan Kristian untuk menyambung tugas beliau memerintah Granada. Untuk tiga tahun seterusnya, beliau bertindak sebagai de facto vassal di bawahh Ferdinand dan Isabella. Beliau dijanjikan kemerdekaan terhad untuk Granada dan perdamaian dengan penduduk Kristian; daripada Monarki Katolik, beliau memegang gelaran Duke untuk mana-mana kota yang beliau boleh mengawal.

Pengepungan Málaga

Málaga, merupakan pelabuhan utama bagi Granada, dan merupakan objektif utama bagi tentera Castile pada tahun 1487. Tindakan perlahan Emir al-Zagal dalam mengerakkan cubaan untuk melepaskan kepungan dan tidak mampu untuk menyerang tentera Kristian kerana perang saudara yang masih berlangsung; meskipun selepas beliau meninggalkan kota bagi membantu Málaga, beliau dipaksa meninggalkan tentera beliau di Alhambra untuk menentang Boabdil dan pengikut beliau.
Kota utama yang pertama diserang, Vélez-Málaga, ditawan pada 27 April 1487, dengan sokongan pasukan Boabdil yang secara terus membantu tentera pengepung Kristian. Málaga bertahan semasa pengepungan yang berlangsung daripada 7 Mei 1487 sehingga 18 Ogos 1487; komandernya lebih mati daripada menyerad diri, tentera Afrika dan tentera upahan Kristian (yang telah memeluk agama Islam) memberi tentangan hebat, gusar akan akibat sekiranya kalah. Menjelang penghujungnya, para bangsawan di Málaga akhirnya menawarkan penyerahan diri, tetapi tidak diterima oleh Ferdindad, di sebabkan terma-terma yang baik telah ditawarkan sebanyak dua kali. Apabila kota ini ditawan, Ferdinand menghukum hampir kesemua penduduknya di sebabkan kedegilan mereka dengan menjadikan mereka sebagai hamba, sementara askar-askar upahan dibakar hidup-hidup atau ditikam. Walaubagaimanapun, Yahudi MAlaga terselamat kerana Yahudi Castile telah membayar tebusan bagi menyelamatkan mereka daripada perhambaan.
Sejarawan William Prescott menganggap kejatuhan Málaga merupakan peristiwa terpenting dalam perang ini; sebagai pelabuhan utama Granada, Granada tidak mampu terus berdiri sebagai sebuah negeri berdaulat tanpanya.

Pengepungan Baza

Al-Zagal kehilangan prestijnya ekoran kejatuhan Málaga, dan Boabdil mengambil alih keseluruhan kota Granada pada tahun 1487; beliau juga mengawal kawasan timur laut negara iaitu Vélez-Rubio, Vélez-Blanco, dan Vera. Al-Zagal masih lagi menguasai Baza, Guadix, dan Almería. Boabdil tidak mengambil tindakan meskipun tentera Kristian merampas beberapa tanah jajahan beliau, mungkin menganggap ia akan dipulangkan semula kepada beliau tidak lama kemudian.
Pada tahun 1489, tentera Kristian mula membuat kepungan panjang yang menyakitkan ke atas Baza, kubu paling penting yang masih dikuasai oleh al-Zagal. Baza memiliki pertahanan yang kukuh yang mana menyebabkan tentera Kristian memecahkan pasukan tentera mereka, dan artileri tidak banyak digunakan ke atasnya. Penyediaan bekalan kepada tentera ini menyebabkan kekurangan dana yang besar kepada Castile. Ancaman sekali sekala perlu bagi memastikan kehadiran tentera di medan tempur, dan Isabella datang sendiri ke kawasan pengepungan bagi mengekalkan moral kepada bangsawan dan tentera. Selepas enam bulan, al-Zagal menyerah diri, meskipun perbatasan beliau masih kukuh dan tidak diancam; beliau percaya bahawa tentera Kristian serius untuk mengekalkan kepungan selama yang mungkin, dan tentangan lanjut adalah sia-sia tanpa bantuan, yang mana tiada tanda-tanda akan tiba. Baza telah diberi terma-terma penyerahan yang sangat baik, tidak seperti Málaga.

Tentengan terakhir di Granada

With the fall of Baza and the capture of al-Zagal in 1490, it seemed as if the war was over. Ferdinand and Isabella certainly thought this was the case. However, Boabdil was unhappy with the rewards for his alliance with Ferdinand and Isabella, possibly because lands that had been promised to him were being administered by Castile. He broke off his vassalage and rebelled against the Catholic Monarchs, despite holding only the city of Granada and the Alpujarras Mountains. It was clear that such a position was untenable in the long term, so Boabdil sent out desperate requests for external aid. The Sultan of Egypt mildly rebuked Ferdinand for the Granada War, but the Mamluks that ruled Egypt were in a near constant war with the Ottoman Turks. As Castile and Aragon were fellow enemies of the Turks, the Sultan had no desire to break their alliance against the Turks. Boabdil also requested aid from the Kingdom of Fez (modern Morocco), but no reply is recorded by history. North Africa continued to sell Castile wheat throughout the war and valued maintaining good trade relations. In any case, the Granadans no longer controlled any coastline from where to receive overseas aid. No help would be forthcoming for Granada.
An eight-month siege of Granada began in April 1491. The situation for the defenders grew progressively dire, as their forces for interfering with the siege dwindled and advisers schemed against each other. Bribery of important officials was rampant, and at least one of the chief advisers to Boabdil seems to have been working for Castile the entire time. After the Battle of Granada a provisional surrender, the Treaty of Granada, was signed on November 25, 1491, which granted two months to the city. The reason for the long delay was not so much intransigence on either side, but rather the inability of the Granadan government to coordinate amongst itself in the midst of the disorder and tumult that gripped the city. After the terms, which proved rather generous to the Muslims, were negotiated, the city capitulated on January 2, 1492. The besieging Christians sneaked troops into the Alhambra that day in case resistance materialized, which it did not. Granada's resistance had come to its end.

Kekuatan tentera yang terlibat

Concerning the real strength of the armies involved, according to original sources the Castilian armies reached between 50 and 70,000 soldiers the years of the greatest military effort (1482, 83, 86, 87, 89 and 91), or 10,000 to 29,000 the more quieter ones (1484, 85, 88 and 90), strength which is accepted by modern scholars as Ladero Quesada. Nevertheless, according to García de Gabiola to keep, pay and feed armies of such strength were beyond the resources of the recently birth modern states. For the campaigns in Italy (1494-1503) the Spanish armies were of 5,000, 9,000 or 15,000 men maximum, so it is rather surprising the numbers recorded 5–10 years before for Granada. If we take into account the revenues of Castile during the period (130 to some 200 millions of maravedies per year) it is hardly difficult that Castile could have organized more than 8,000 to 20,000 soldiers. In fact, Ladero Quesada register the number of grain loads contracted by Castile in several years and García de Gabiola has calculated the number of soldiers that could have been fed through these grain loads, and his conclusions are 12,000 men for 1482 (siege of Loja); 8,000 men for 1483 and 1484 (Granada fields sacking); 10,000 men in 1485 (Ronda siege); 10-12,000 soldiers in 1486 (2nd Loja siege); 12,000 for 1487 (Malaga siege); 10-12,000 in 1488 (1st Baza siege); 20,000 soldiers in 1489 (2nd Baza siege, the greatest grain loads contracted, that also coincides with the largest revenue of Castile during the campaign, some 200 millions); and 10-12,000 men for 1490-91 (final siege of Granada). A 20% of them should be cavalry.
Related to the Muslim armies, according to García de Gabiola, the strengths mentioned by the sources (15,000 to 50,000 infantry, or 4,500-7,000 cavalry) should be also discarded. Some strengths also mentioned that are more trustful are 3,000 horses (1482), 1,000 to 1,500 (1483, 85 and 1487) or even 3-400 riders (1489 and 1491). Concerning the infantry, De Miguel Mora states that a Muslim soldier captured by the Castilians during the siege of Baza confessed that the real infantry strength of the garrison was 4,000 men and not 15,000. So, the Muslim armies would not pass of some 4,000 infantry. At the end they were 2 or 3-to-1 against the odds in comparison to Castilian armies.
The Granada War would prove to be valuable training for Castile's participation in the Italian Wars, where the Castilian armies and tactics such as the tercio would acquit themselves well.

Akibat

The surrender of Granada was seen as a great blow to the Arabs and a triumph to the Europeans. Other European states offered their sincere congratulations to Ferdinand and Isabella, while Arab writers reacted with despair. In Castile and Aragon, celebrations and bullfights were held. People rejoiced in the streets.
The treaty's terms for Granada's surrender were quite generous to the Muslims, considering how little they had left to bargain with. They were similar to the terms offered to towns which surrendered earlier, when the outcome of the war was in doubt. For three years, Muslims could emigrate and return freely. They were allowed to keep weapons, though not firearms, a provision that however was to be annulled a month later. No one would be forced to change religion, not even former Christians who had converted to Islam. Boabdil was offered money and the rulership of a small principality in the mountainous Alpujarras, an area that would have been difficult to control in any case. At first, most of conquered Granada was treated respectfully and was therefore predominantly stable for seven years, though the Alhambra Decree of 1492 expelled the Jews that were not converso Marranos.
King Boabdil soon found his position intolerable. He left for Morocco in Oct 1493, where he would die some forty years later. Eventually, Castile started to revoke some of the more tolerant attributes of the treaty. This initiative was led by Archbishop Cisneros, who ordered mass conversions, the burning of valued Arabic manuscripts and other measures detrimental to the Muslims (and Jews).
This sparked a revolt that ended in many Muslims being forced to choose between baptism, exile, or execution. Tensions from then onward would remain high, and Castile was obliged to maintain a large military force in Granada to deter future revolts. Isabella also strengthened the Spanish Inquisition, and Ferdinand brought the Inquisition to Aragon where previously it had not held power.
Castile was the main beneficiary of the war, as it had also spent by far the majority of the money and manpower to prosecute it, and completely annexed Granada. The conquest of Granada meant little for Aragon's strategic position, but it did help secure Castilian support in Italy and France, where Aragon's interests lay.
Increasing oppression of the Moors—now known as Moriscos or "New Christians"—led to the Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568–71). After the defeat of the Moors, which was not easy, almost all the Moriscos of the former Kingdom of Granada were exiled to other parts of Spain.

Pengaruh budaya

An entire genre, romances fronterizos, developed around stories of the war and the battles on the Granadan frontier which reached their culmination in Granada's fall. Ginés Pérez de Hita wrote an early example of historical fiction, Guerras civiles de Granada, a romantic account of the war that emphasized chivalry and heroism on both sides. A number of stories and songs appear to have been sponsored by the royal government to help steel morale for the long struggle; Sobre Baza was a poem written in 1479 encouraging persistence in the long siege. The song "Setenil, ay Setenel", written in 1484, hoped that Ferdinand would conquer "as far as Jerusalem." The song "Una sañosa porfía" by Juan del Encina puts the depiction of the war in the lips of King Boabdil himself. English playwright John Dryden wrote a heroic drama The Conquest of Granada, published in 1672, which focuses on a romantic love triangle and clashing loyalties in two feuding Granadan factions, leaving the besieging Castilians in the background.
The Día de la Toma de Granada is a civic and religious festival held each year in Granada on the anniversary of the city's reconquest, January 2.