[Abe Sargent]

Eu4 – The Re-Reconquista of Iberia

Early 711 dawns and with it the change from one era to another in Europe, Africa, Asia, and especially Iberia. The Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad disembarks in Gibraltar in an area later known for him as Jabal Tariq. Tariq’s arrival begins the conquest of Iberia by the Muslim powers and begins a long campaign of push and counter-push over the dominant religious powers in Iberia. Tariq conquers much of Iberia, and in 6 years has established enough of a foothold to invade over the Pyrenees and strike Gaul and take part of southern France as well. It’s ultimately pushed back by Charlemagne, and by 788 the major initial invasion has concluded with Muslim powers now controlling much of Iberia from Lisbon to the Pyrenees and only the small nations of Navarre in the mountains and Asturias remained in the north west to push back.

The Islamic rule of Al-Andalus begins.

This would begin an era of pendulum swinging as first one side would gain momentum and then the other would. There were Muslims helping the Christian nations and Christians helping the Muslim ones.


The initial few hundred years were not seen as Muslim vs Christian with this idea of a holy war write large, and instead merely as a battle between various powers. But then the Crusade era arrives, and a Crusade is called for the “Reconquest” of Iberia which gives the rebellion more of an us vs them mentality for Europe where it previously had none.

It’s not until 1492, after much back and forth, that the nation of Granada is brought under Spanish rule and thus the final Muslim power falls, 781 years later after Tariq arrived at Gibraltar. The aftermath of the 1492 war ended the tolerance in Iberia as all Jews and Muslims remained were forced to convert to Christianity or die by the sword.

But the writing was on the wind for a while, it was not as if Granada’s fall in 1492 was sudden, nor something not foreseeable.


So what would happen if, instead of falling then, Granada was able to foresee the obvious future parabola and then to remove itself from the potential storm by pushing back?


What if Granada had followed the footsteps of Asturias and Leon and instead grew large and strong rough that it was able to take out the rest of Spain?

What if Granada Re-Reconquista’d Iberia?