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woodsman2b — Parviz (The Undefeatable), 622-623 AD
Published: 2014-11-12 12:42:57 +0000 UTC; Views: 1263; Favourites: 14; Downloads: 4
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Description
During the last Roman-Persian war (cf The Elephants Graveyard, 628-629 AD ), Rome has been on the brink of annihilation.For 2 decades, the Sassanid armies were winning battles and seizing Roman cities... And they were virtually unopposed !
Every confrontation led to a new withdrawal, a new humiliation for Phocas and his successor Heraclius.
Heraclius, son of the exarch of Carthage, knew energetic decisions had to be taken : devaluation, appropriation of the clergy financial resources,
reduction of the soldiers' and civil servants' pay... Then he finally launched his campaigns into Anatolia in 623 AD.
The situation was critical : the Sassanids were in position of rebuilding the Achaemenid empire (Persian Empire (Achaemenid Dynasty) in 500 BC )
while in Europe, Slavs and Avars were devastating the Balkans...
Heraclius chose to be bold to surprise the Persians. Instead of staying inside the walls of his capital to protect the remnants of his empire, he sent his armies
far away in Persian lands... And he allied himself with Turkic peoples... This strategy was so reckless that it actually worked ! In less than 5 years, Heraclius
regained all that was once lost... Khosrow II, no longer undefeatable, contested amongst the Persian nobility, is overthrown in 628 AD...
Peace was back in the Middle East, the elephants graveyard...
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Comments: 16
Now, this is a HUGE nitpick and it's very debatable but, I personally don’t think that Anatolia should be shown as entirely conquered by the Persians. Cilicia was definitely lost after the failure of the attempt to recapture Antioch and cities like Ancyra and Chalcedon were occupied by Sassanid armies but, unlike in Syria, Egypt and Palestine were Mazbans were dispatched to govern the regions, the Persians had decisive control only over the western cost of Asia Minor where was Sharbaraz. And even then, that didn’t stopped Heraclius from leaving Constantinople and go to train his new army in Cilicia (according to Theophane) and he was virtually unopposed until he finally started to march against Mesopotamia where Khosrow recalled his armies from the west, which proves that effective Persian control in eastern Tukey wasn’t as strong as in other conquered territories.
I just think that showing Anatolia in maybe a lighter shade of purple would’ve been a bit more clear but then again, a solid color shows much better how close Khosrow was to becoming a new Darius.
And also, I just noticed that small green point in Arabia... Probably nothing important...
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First of all, thanks a lot for the fave on this map !
Also, you point out something I planned to do a few months ago but have still not managed to do...
And this is a re-doing of this map because as you said so justly, Persian control over Anatolia was not as strong as the map shows !
You were also right in saying that this way of coloring the map was there to show how Khosrow was close to becoming a new Darius hehe that was exactly the point
but as soon as I can I will make another version of this map with a lighter shade for Anatolia, and also Libya.
So thank you a lot for commenting !
Also, yep this is so insane to think that this small point in Arabia will expand as much as we know it has !
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For years his armies kept winning and advancing into Roman territory,
going as far as Egypt, Ionia and Chalcedon...
For some time it looked like Persia could put an end to the domination
of Rome in the Ancient Near East.
I guess he didn't get this nickname in his last years of reign!
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His epithet was more than a little premature also didn't Shahrbaraz do the majority of the heavy lifting in fact wasn't the fact that he switched sides one of the main reasons why things went so well for Heraclius?
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Indeed it was a turning point!
It changed the course of the end of the war for sure.
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Indeed another turning point in persian history is the death of Kavadh II which shatters the parthian-sassanid confederacy
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Yes, after the deaths of Khosrow and Kavadh the empire just imploded
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think the future of the persian empire would've looked different if Shahrabaraz had managed to concolidate the various factions and not get assassinated?
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I am not sure he would have had the time to do so as the Arabs were consolidating their power
at the same time...
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I meant more that a reconsolidation of the empire would've strengthened it and without the degeneration of the military they might have resisted the arabs in the long run
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Yes I think they could have resisted for more time
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Wonderful description! Honestly one of the best I read from you recently! Also, its a great idea to show a map from a middle of a war! Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you ! Indeed I wanted to show how close the Persians were to defeating the Romans once and for all...
Interesting parallel between the Sassanids and the Achaemenids on that point...
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Wow, pretty amazing! It's an incredible achievement that Rome actually managed to rise from the ashes after this!
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Indeed ! Heraclius was a military genius so it seems...
And he didn't hesitate to sell all the precious crockery to get an army
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