Naples

Naples, officially the Kingdom of Naples, is a country on the Italian peninsula, and the official antagonist in Season 1 of Brazilian's Varna series. After breaking free from Aragonese rule and joining Sardinia and Venice in an alliance, Naples would go on to form the Italic Union by orchestrating the demise of Venice.
== Before the Series (763-1448) ==
Naples was “born” in 763 when the Byzantine Empire released the Duchy of Naples as a vassal state. In 840, it became an independent state, but that meant that it had no protection. This, along with their decision in 1027 to help the Normans in their war against Capua, would prove to be fatal, as in 1137, the city was taken over by the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Under Sicilian rule, they would become “a pawn in the dynastic game."
Naples was liberated in 1282 by the Capetian House of Anjou. which maintained their rule over Naples for over 150 years. In 1436, the Kingdom of Aragon declared war on Naples, with the aim of subjugating the Neapolitan kingdom and incorporating it into the Aragonese realm.
== Independence and Consolidation (1448-1460) ==
Aragon intervenes in the Hundred Years' War in 1448, on the side of the English. After a massive failure in the Battle of Provence in 1450, Naples secedes from the Aragonese realm, declaring independence. Aragon surrendered to Castilian and French forces in 1451, and in the resulting Treaty of Barcelona, Naples gained full independence, annexing Sicily with it.
In 1453, Venice is at a predicament, with the Serbo-Bosnian Pact, formed earlier that year. Naples approaches Venice, in turn asking for an alliance between them. Venice, uncertain of Naples' power, rejects the alliance proposal at first. Naples then declared war on Albania and demonstrated great skill on the battlefield. The Albanian leader Skanderbeg had previously fended off the Ottomans, so to see him lose to Naples was enough for Venice to reconsider. The alliance is formed, and Venice invades northern Albania.
The Italian League is then officially created in 1460, between Venice, Naples, and Sardinia.
== Further Expansions and Projections (1460-83) ==
During the First Maghrebi War, a Tlemceni army had been trapped on the Cape Bon Peninsula. Tlemcen begged for Naples to allow the men to flee, but Naples sat and watched as the Tlemceni army was destroyed by Tunisian forces.
The Italian League invaded Genoa in 1468. Following the declaration, Milan joined the war to defend Genoa. Naples supported Venice in the invasion of Milan. The concluding Treaty of Cagliari determined that Naples would gain no territory, but Venice and Sardinia expanded their realms into former Genoese territories.
After a decade of relative peace, November 8th, 1478 saw the formation of a rival alliance known as the Maghrebi League, led by the Mamluk Caliphate. Naples, in particular, took it as a threat to the Italian domination of Mediterranean trade, but soon the Italian League went to war, to defend Ragusa from an imminent Bosnian invasion.
"We know of your silly pact with Serbia. Call him if you want. It would only mean more ports for us. Zeta is looking nice today..." 
- Naples to Bosnia, January 1479.
The First Adriatic War did not begin well for the Italian League. Naples' and Venice's Balkan possessions were quickly overrun by Serbian and Bosnian forces, but this was expected, and meanwhile Venice was able to blockade the Adriatic. Venice suggested that the League should wait before an attempt at landing in the Balkans, but Naples ignored this suggestion and landed their forces in Zeta. The invasion failed horrendously, as Neapolitan forces were defeated after the capture of Kotor. Most of the invasion force was destroyed at Kotor, although some Neapolitan troops escaped to the coast. It was not all for naught, however, as the Bosnians had pulled troops away from Dalmatia, allowing Venice to facilitate a landing there.
The war expanded into a First Balkan War when Bulgaria joined the war, taking Skopje from Serbia, and thus distracting their forces. Naples and Venice land a force in Ragusa to break the siege. Bulgaria in turn was soon invaded from two sides by Wallachia and Byzantium, and a rebellion in Prilep also distracted the Serbians and Bulgarians. Naples and Venice were able to lift the sieges on their port cities in Albania, and so they started their invasions into Herzegovina and Zeta.
In the Treaty of Niš, Naples annexed Zeta from Serbia, thus increasing their influence over the Adriatic, as well as their trading power.
== Rivalry with the Mamluks and the Liberation of Italy (1483-1505) ==
After consolidating control over the Red Sea in the summer of 1488, they began blocking Europe from the Indian spice trade, thus antagonising the Italian League and the Iberians (Portugalicia, Castile and Aragon). Portugalicia therefore began to search for an alternative route to India.
During the War of Dutch Independence, Venice joined the war to attack the Austrians, with a little support from Naples and Sardinia, who both gained nothing.
The new century began with the Third Lombard War, after the secession of the Shadow Kingdom from the Holy Roman Empire. As Austria and the State of the Church declared war on the seceding states, the Italian League stood by the former Shadow Kingdom. Naples launched a successful invasion of Benevento and Papal Marche, but suffered defeats in Campania and Southern Lazio.
In 1501, Venetian and Neapolitan forces linked up in Romagna and Marche, The Papal States surrendered in 1502, shortly before the Austrians. In the resulting Treaty of Milan, Naples annexed Marche, and supported the independence of the Duchies of Romagna and Urbino.
After the war, the Iberians and the Italian League discovered that Morocco had sent a fleet to attempt and find the new routes to India that they had found. Naples suggested that they destroy the fleet, but Venice reasoned with Naples, saying that they should fund pirates instead.
In 1505, the duke of Provence dies. Due to dynastical ties with the Provençal family, the Neapolitans became the rulers of Provence. However, Provençal citizens revolt against Naples, and the people of Sicily were soon inspired to do the same. Naples called in their allies, and together the three Italian League nations defeated the rebellions.
== Behind the Shadows (1506-08) ==
Sometime in 1506, Naples approached Romagna and Urbino. The Neapolitan King, Ferrante di Sancarlo, for the first of many times, used the "You owe me your life" excuse to convince Romagna and Urbino to help him take down the Venetian spy network through bribery for about a year. When Romagna told Naples that the work was done, Naples told them that their work would be going to a great cause. The year after, Venice was apparently distracted, so King Ferrante called a Mamluk delegation to Malta, to sign the infamous Malta Agreement, where Naples would withdraw from large battles in the upcoming war that both sides were expecting. Though it did not seem that Naples had anything to gain from this, Ferrante would reap the benefits later...
Category:Varna Countries