[Music] on January 2nd 1510 Alfonso de Albuquerque had maneuvered his Fleet into position Southwest of the city of calut the Cannons on his ships were primed and his men while tired from their long Voyage from Coen were ready for any hostile action Alonso had only become governor of of India 2 months prior after emerging from what was essentially house arrest by the prior Viceroy Francisco de almea almea had at this point already departed from India to make his way back to Portugal leaving Alonso in charge but very soon afterwards D Fernando coutinho the Marshall of Portugal had arrived he was a young very Hefty ambitious man who was desperate for Glory however he was also arrogant Reckless some would call all fool hearty and compared to Albuquerque inexperienced especially when it came to military tactics and strategy despite that the Marshall had come with a fleet of 15 ships and 3,000 men making him the DEA facto Portuguese commander in the Indian Ocean he simply carried a bigger stick coutinho was determined to make this fact clear as he approached Alonso who just also happened to be his cousin the Marshall declared that he would wipe out Cal and its king the zamorin in a single blow aonso had great reservations about this plan but in the end he had to acquest to an attack on the city if nothing else honor demanded it the plan was for coutinho to attack with a larger force from the north of the city Albuquerque would approach from the south as more of a diversionary assault the two men would have to land simultaneously and Lead their respective forces quickly in a two-pronged attack the two pincers would close in on a beautifully ornate Royal Pavilion known as the sarame its impressive doors which were intricately carved and inlaid with gold silver and jewels were to be the Marshall's trophies it would be he and only he that would have the honors of seizing the doors and he and again only he that would deliver them personally to King Manuel the first Glory was there for the taking all they had to do was perfectly execute their military [Music] operation 2 hours before Dawn on January 3rd 1510 a signal fire was lit from coutinho's Flagship over 1,500 men draped in armor and thirsty for spoils made their way to shore the Marshall however did not understand the currents of the water which could be fierce and his contingent got carried well to the north of his intended Landing Zone delaying the timetable in entirely Albuquerque meanwhile tried to keep his men in line to compensate for this delay but the need for discipline was overcome by the need for plunder facing a potential breakdown in his formation Alonso opted to launch his attack yelling out his battlecry Santiago his men surged forward the Defenders of Calicut rushed out to engage and all along the beach Fierce fighting erupted Albert answered this Counterattack by having his ship fire broadsides into his crowded enemies with Naval support the Defenders broke and ran Albuquerque's soldiers pushed on into the city fighting Street to Street house to house aonso masterfully conducted his men and within one hour they had managed to fight their way to the sarame meanwhile the Marshall and his men who were weighed down by their heavy armor were still marching along the beach when they heard the gunfire the explosions and the fighting Fernando coutinho was Furious that his cousin would dare to attack without him but his anger was only about to explode further when he finally arrived at the Royal Pavilion he saw that the famous exotic doors of the sarame his prize had not only been cut out but had already been packaged up and taken back to a ship now keep in mind that Albuquerque had not done this to steal the glory in the honor but more so for safekeeping as his men were in the midst of a fever pitched looting frenzy the men of Portugal were basically stealing or destroying anything that wasn't already on fire but this didn't matter to the Marshall who exploded in Rage he had been denied his trophy Albuquerque tried to reason with him he tried to calm him down but at this point coutinho only had wrath in his veins and would Roar back what is this Alonso do Albuquerque your words mean nothing more than air this honor is your doors and I want none of it at which point the Marshall ordered the hard one doors to be thrown into the sea D Fernando coutinho now needed something even greater to satisfy his honor he called into his presence Gasper de Gama now known as Gasper the almea Gasper was a jack of all trades renowned for his intellect his charm and most of all his ability to survive he was truly an international Man of Mystery and spoke at least six different languages and as luck would have it he just happened to know the way to the zamorin Palace which was located about 3 mil to the east of Calicut in the jungle now while this was a very dangerous path the palace was also home to the king of Cut's vast treasury Albuquerque knew that this was going to be a very bad idea and once again he tried to reason with the Marshall he was remembered by a chronicler as saying quote I beg of you for pity's sake don't take that road from here to the houses of the king it's a long way the roads are bad men can only go in single file you will put yourself in deep trouble getting there you'll arrive exhausted and there you will find many of these Niar Warriors highly spirited and well-armed I'm telling you the truth I beg you with all my heart for pity's sake don't go end quote it was a good warning rational of thought which of course was taken as both a threat and a challenge to the young corpulent commander who immediately made his way into the jungle with 400 men and a small contingent a cannon to seek his glory Albuquerque had no other choice but the follow which ran against every fiber of wisdom and experience he had he would say to his men we must be ready today we will see what God Wills many of those you see going won't come back the road was exactly as aonso described long winding narrow flanked by jungle the men of Portugal had to walk single file by now Calicut was also engulfed in flame the smoke that came out of the city blew to the east which dropped the already low visibility to zero as the Marshall made his way he began to encounter the zamorin Nar Warriors small groups at first but resistance grew as they approached the palace regardless kutino was determined and despite taking significant losses he eventually arrived at his destination as they arrived a huge fight broke out but Portuguese steel was unmatched and the palace guards were quickly routed the zamorin's treasury was now ripe for plunder Roger Crowley in his book The conquerors describes what happened next quote the Looting began locks were smashed off with axes inside was an Aladdin's cave there were chests that were stuffed with Rich clothes worked with silk and gold thread velour and brocades from Arabia and wooden reliquaries that were ornamented with gold and silver the Fidos got their servants to pile up their private stashes guarding them jealously in a ferocious competitive grab the chance to become fabulously wealthy swept away all caution they left their lances and their weapons outside the better to scoop up armfuls of prizes for 2 hours the plunder continued the morning wore on the day was becoming hot but the looters failed to see what was coming end quote the Niar Warriors now had sufficient time to regroup and bring in reinforcements the zamorin now had the Portuguese fastly outnumbered by the time aonso de Albuquerque had arrived the Counterattack had begun aonso ordered his men to protect the road back to the city he then rushed into the palace to convince his cousin the Marshall to retreat immediately Fernando coutinho after an extensive persuasion SL argument only agreed to depart if he was the last to go for him honor demanded it the Portuguese then began to make their way back aonso and his men took up the lead while Fernando's men took up the rear guard and the Marshall himself came in at the very tail of the procession with his cannons keeping the Nars at Bay the zamorin men masterfully used the jungle for cover and brought down several trees to block the road the Cannons which needed to be wheeled in now had to be abandoned as they couldn't be moved over the obstacles when the Nars saw that their opponents had lost their big guns they Unleashed and all out attack coutinho meanwhile was exhausted in his plate armor he and his men were soon overwhelmed a slicing attack by a fierce Nar from the rear found the literal Achilles heel in his plate mail the slash cut the large man's foot right off the Marshalls men tried in vain to get the man back up but they themselves were soon surrounded and then all of them were cut to Pieces when the dust finally settled the Nars took their heads and their banners as prizes Albuquerque meanwhile had made it back to the city and there he was supervising a last ditch defense on the beach it was at this point that he got word that his cousin the Marshall of Portugal had fallen he tried desperately to Rally his men to go back and retrieve the body but no one came forward to do the job Indeed as he watched Portuguese soldiers from the ranks of the footman to the Fidalgo were pouring out of the Jungle in Mass Panic the Nars were right behind them as the Portuguese ran they threw their weapons and their armor to the sides seeing this Albuquerque knew that the expedition was in serious Jeopardy he was now the man in charge and he knew he had to do something quick but he wouldn't have time to take command for long an arrow struck him in the arm followed by another arrow in the neck and within a minute a bullet hit him directly in the chest he collapsed to the ground and there he felt his blood and his life seep from his [Music] body as night fell the remainder of the Portuguese evacuated to the safety of their ships there they were protected by their cannons the casualties for a coutinho's reckless charge were immense 300 men had died another 400 were wounded and most of these would later die as well of their wounds in all nearly a third of their Force had been wiped out it was later determined that 70 noblemen were killed and it was thought that Gasper the almea was one of the Fallen but his death was never confirmed and by some accounts he lived on for another 10 years albeit under a different name and in a different country for the zamorin it was even worse over 2,000 men had been killed or wounded large portions of his city were reduced to Ash the merchant ships in the harbor which provided his main source of income were also destroyed miraculously that night Alonso de Albuquerque would awaken in the Captain's Quarters on board his Flagship drenched in his own blood the arrow in his arm and neck had been carefully removed and the bleeding had stopped despite that his Physicians had felt at one point that he would not make it but surprisingly the wound to his chest was not fatal the bullet would eventually be extracted by his doctor and again his luck would have it infection would not set in however Alonso would live from that day onwards with limited ability in his left arm and a new respect for death over the next few days he'd recover his strength he went immediately into his new role that is with the death of the Marshall most of the Portuguese forces would fall into alonso's lap 12 the 15 ships that coutinho had brought would now be under his command Albuquerque now had a sizable force and for the first time the governor of India was in a position to [Music] govern the debaca Calicut would serve as a constant reminder to Alonso de Albuquerque of what not to do brute force was not always the way to go that said Alonso like his King Manuel I shared a common conviction that Portugal needed to establish an Empire and drive Islam from any place that it encountered but the governor knew knew that resources were limited and the Indian Ocean was a brutal theater of operations that bled men and material dry alonso's brush with death also instilled in him the notion that time was short thus the governor went to work and came up with a bold new plan Portugal was a relatively small country with a small population as such it didn't have the manpower to field large armies and therefore hold massive tracks of land aonso had come to the conclusion like some of his predecessors that instead of a large land Empire the better way to go was to control key strategic points on the map if those areas could come under subjugation Portuguese power could be extended and exerted nearly everywhere else alberquerque was eager to begin his strategy but unknown to him at the time he was about to embark on one of the greatest conquests in history [Music] aonso was a brilliant man and not just in terms of strategic Vision but also when it came to politics tactics and economics first and foremost the governor got to work appeasing his King unlike his predecessor almida Albuquerque would send Manuel the first a constant flow of information justifying his every move and when necessary inflating the king's ego second he made sure that the spice fleets met their quotas and made their way back to Lisbon keeping the Royal treasury full if not overflowing third aonso took control of everything in his theater of operations the king of Portugal fearful of a coup had divided the leadership of the Indian Ocean into three separate commands Albuquerque theoretically was in charge of the central part which comprised the western coast of India but Africa had a separate Commander as did the lands and the islands to the east which included Mala now while this division kept anyone man from becoming too powerful it also hamstrung the Portuguese ability to expand further as no one had sufficient Force aonso knew he could not go against his Majesty's rules about a divided leadership at the same time he wasn't going to let that stop him in the end he came to the conclusion that he was going to bend the rules a little no make that a lot into his favor he masterfully diplomatically and definitively under the Royal radar convince the other two commanders to unify all of their power thus bringing an otherwise scattered military under one supreme command with one supreme commander which would turn out to be him finally the governor got to work revitalizing the military Roger Crowley explains the need for the change quote the massacre a cal cut had highlighted the shortcomings of the way the Portuguese fought the military code to the Fidalgo valued personal heroic Deeds over tactics victories were gained by acts of individual Valor rather than by rational planning the Portuguese fought with a ferocity that stunned the peoples of the Indian Ocean but their methods were Medieval and chaotic and not too infrequently suicidal Albuquerque was keenly aware of the military Revolution sweeping AC across Europe in the Italian Wars of the late 15th century professional Swiss mercenaries drilled to March and fight and his organized groups had revolutionized Battlefield tactics highly maneuverable columns armed with Pikes and halberds had steamrolled their opponents in tight massed formation the governor with the energy of a zealot set about reorganizing and instructing his men in the tactics and disciplines of this new warfare end quote coochin became a military Camp cores of troops were trained to march in formation and use halberds and Pikes Portuguese strength would now move towards the goal of using organization and discipline rather than the need for Honor though it still would be a while before this mentality was fully integrated the ships of the fleet were also fully refitted and by early February of 1510 Alonso had 23 ships with 1600 soldiers along with several thousand Mercenaries Albuquerque was now ready to begin his campaigns of Conquest the real question was where was he going to begin reports had come down the line that the mamlock were creating a new Fleet at the Port of Suez it was said that the sultan had his shipyards Working Day and Night the mamlock were after all Keen to avenge their catastrophic defeat at the Battle of du the year prior th Albuquerque sailed out of Co chin and then North along the coast however he told no one of his true destination by February 13th of 1510 he was anchored off the coast of aneda Island as his men were in the process of taking on fresh water a fleet of ships approached them it was commanded by a man named timi timi was a Hindu pirate who had fought his way up the ranks he had a formidable reputation and was well versed with everything that happened along the coast of India now in the past he had encountered the Portuguese before he had first met Vasco de Gama and was impressed with the commander albeit at that time he initially did try to kill him a few years later at the city of anavar uji had witnessed Francisco de almea and his son Lorenzo unleashed the destructive power of the Portuguese Armada the Wy pirate had decided then and there to side with the Europeans and had been a valuable informant ever since timi now told Albuquerque that the mamlock had taken refuge in a city that was not that far away there they were building not just a new Fleet but amassing an army furthermore he explained that the population of this city was mostly Hindu but they were governed by Muslims who had taxed them extremely cruy that is the people were ready to revolt all they needed was just a little guidance timi also pointed out that the city was situated on an island between two rivers thus giving it a defensive Edge and even more appealing it had one of the most impressive deep waterer ports in India aonso was sold initially he had plann to go to the Red Sea instead he set course for a place that up until now the Portuguese somewhat ironically had completely ignored his Portuguese Armada now made its way to a new destination in its path was the city of Goa and there Glory awaited him be [Music]