NationStates Jolt Archive

The History of Parthia begins with the incursions of the Arabs into Persia, with the Sassanids weakened by a long war with the Byzantine Empire. The struggle of more than twenty years devestated both nations, and the inspiration of the Arabs with their new faith of Islam left the Arabians with a new strength compared to Sassanid weakness.

It was in 641 that the Arabs first crossed the frontier in significant numbers and assembled outside the town of Nahavand. Opposing them, Shah Yazdegird III had assembled the greatest army a weakened empire could. On the night before the expected battle Yazdegird claimed to have experienced a vision of Ahura Mazda telling him to avoid defeat which the vastly larger number of Arabs would surley give to him on the following day. Instead, Ahura Mazda told him to abandon Ctesiphon and flee into the Zagros mountains to make his stand. When the Shah awoke, he immediatley ordered his men to march into the mountains while a group of messengers were dispatched with the order to evacuate Ctesiphon. Those who could packed up what they could and fled into Media or Persia, leaving only the beggars, criminals, and empty buildings stripped of all items. The very walls of the Imperial palace were stripped of friezes and valuable items for transport.

Six months after the last group of migrants had left, the Arabs took the city. Angered at the lack of plunder, the Arabs decided that it was necessary to march into Media so the Sassanid monarch would finally be defeated. In 647 the Arabs moved out of Ctesiphon and marched into the Zagros mountains. As they moved through the Mesopotamian countryside, they found homes deserted and crops burned by fleeing Persians and Medes. Slowly the Arabs were running out of food and starving by the time they reached the foothills of the Zagros. The Arab hordes, decided that it was necessary to continue on, for once the Zagros were crossed, there was nothing to stop them. They reformed their army into a marching column and began moving through one of the the widest mountain passes. Within two days, they encountered the army of Yazdegird III, still smaller than the Arab hordes, though new recuits had been collected from Media and Persia. The Arabs were confident of victory, and charged the Persian army with the expectation of honor and glory. However, it was not their day, all the hand of fate would deal was death. From the top of the mountain pass, previously hidden archers and slingers began to rain down arrows while heavily armoured
cataphracts charged down the shallower slopes to hit the Arabs in the flanks and rear. The Arabs began to break as the main Persian force moved in and crushed the routing Arabs, killing over 50,000 in the course of battle.

Until his death in 660, Yazdegird III continued to hold the Arab armies west of the Zagros mountains. When it was finally his time Yazdegird called forth his son Piruz and told him, "Rule what I have given thee, though I may have lost much, we have preserved our people against the hordes of Arabia. Fight on my son, for Persia, for Ahura Mazda, for our people, you must deliver us from their hordes until it is your time." Within minutes Yazdegird had died and Piruz was Shah, now, the fate of Persia lay in the hands of the young and inexperienced Piruz II.

-to be continued

Thank you for oppressing the Arabs that was nice of you. It's easier for people to read to read stuff when you separate stuff although it was pretty good.

Thank you for oppressing the Arabs that was nice of you. It's easier for people to read to read stuff when you separate stuff although it was pretty good.


Oppressing the arabs? How so?

Just confused for a moment.

Dam this remind me to write up my own mirror history for the Ottoman Empire,nice job!

Dam this remind me to write up my own mirror history for the Ottoman Empire,nice job!

Thanks, I look forward to seeing yours.

Nicely done. You have a long way to go and I look forward to reading it.

Nicely done. You have a long way to go and I look forward to reading it.

Thanks.

Your history is good too though!

Piruz II mounted the throne in 660, still unexperienced and defending a dying empire. The old capital of Ctesiphon was gone now, and so it would remain for 1444 years that Ctesiphon would remain in Muslim hands. Persia was being drained defending the Zagros with the men he could find and in the same year of his sucession, ordered the construction of a chain of forts, each guarding a mountain pass. Teams of workers were drafted from as far away as Kabul and Merv for labour on the defensive barrier. By 665, most major passes were walled in several spots and forts with large garrisons had been constucted.

Before the defenses were fully complete, an Arab army marched out of Iraq and began crossing the Zagros mountains. This time, three colums took different paths, while lightly armed horse raiders blazed through undefended narrow paths and raided the countryside around Susa. The raiders burned ten villages and masacred thousands by the time an Imperial army engaged them in a decisive battle near Susa, breaking the Arabs with a cataphract charge and killing 5000 of the 10,000. 1500 were captured prisoner and marched into Susa, where they were drowned in pigs' lard after being tortured into confessing the routes they had used for infiltration. The remainder wandered around the countryside towards Arabia, separated into small groups. It has been said that only 500 of the raiders returned to Samarra after their great raid into Persia. As the raiders fled in terror from Persia, the main columns were each about to encounter the new defences. The first column advancing towards Susa was suddenly struck by the epic size of the walls and fort in front of them. Over 75 feet high and 25 feet wide, with a fort on the top of the cliff and connected down with a series of stairs and underground passages, it was an awesome sight. From the corners of their eyes, they could see horse archers on the cliff tops and then they knew that with little seige equipment and a poor strategic position, they would have to retreat. As they turned tail, the horse archers above them fired a cloud of arrows, turning the retreat into a rout. From the gates, regiments of cataphracts emerged and began to chase down the fleeing Arabs. No mercy was shown to the Arabians as the cataphracts charged in and impaled soldiers in lances or hacked them with swords, taking only 300 prisoners, who were drowned in pigs' lard. The other armies were also broken in a similar manner, smashed upon the walls of the Zagros.


The Shah was pleased with this victory which had smashed Arabian military power and ordered a swift counterblow to make the Arabs suffer. A force of 12,000 horse archers and light cavalry quickly marched into Iraq and began a campaign of terror, burning villages and hanging the inhabitants. Mosques were stripped of valuables and pigs were killed in there and left to bleed, contaminating it. The Persian troops then marched towards Samarra, and lacking the means to besiege the city,the Persians devestated the countryside around it. For three months, the Persians roamed and burned before heading back into Persia.

A month later, the Caliph sued for peace when he heard a Parthian army was being mobilized to march on Samarra and burn the city. The Shah set high demands: 50,000 pounds of gold, 500 rolls of silk, 100,000 pounds of silver, and the promise that the Caliph would not attack Persia again. Without, any strength, the Caliph agreed to the terms and sent the gifts to the Shah.

With peace secured, the Shah turned his attentions to building. He improved the roads of his Empire, paving unpaved ones and widening those already paved. In the cities, he built hundreds of public buildings: bathouses, libraries, academies, ports, aquaducts, and many other structures. His greatest achevement, however, was Persepolis. In 671 he declared his intention to rebuild Persepolis Palace and to found a city a few miles south. Though his palace would not be finished in his own, nor his son or even his grandson's lifetime, it would be a truly wonderful work of art.

When Piruz II finally died in 705, he had left the empire many times richer and more powerful than when he had first taken the throne. The treasury was now possibly the richest on Earth at the time and peace made the empire a place of high culture. To his son Narseh, Piruz granted a powerful state.

-to be continued

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I like it. Keep writing.

I like it. Keep writing.

Thanks.

In 705 Shah Narseh II ascended the throne of Persia with a full treasury and a strong army. With a domain stretching from the Indus to the Zagros mountains and from the Oxus river in Turkestan to the Persian gulf, Persia was still a poweful nation, even after the loss of Mesopotamia. Across his entire empire, a new system of wide, paved roads, the greatest since the fall of Rome, connected major cities all the way from Susa to far off Kabul. Caravans from far off China brought valuables like silk, tea, jade, and porcelain
to his empire, making Persia a wealthy state. Small kingdoms of India were often tributaries to the Shah, bringing rubies, spices, gold, and slaves to the palace of Firuzbad. The borders had been secured by fortresses and walls to fend off Arab incursions, now nonexistent thanks to the earlier peace treaty. To the northwest, Byzantium was too weak to launch an invasion of Persia again and Persia benefitted too much from the Byzantine presence, which distracted the Arabs from attacking Persia. To the north, the Turkestanis were kept out by a series of earthen walls and with a regular military attack on Turkestani camps when they encroached upon the Persian frontier. The only real trouble was to the east, where Indian Rajahs often neglected to pay tribute to the Shah when it was demanded.

In 712 the Indian princes formed into a coalition against the Persians, refusing to pay tribute as requested by the Shah. In response, Narseh called up his army and marched into Gujarat after crossing the Indus. Assembled before him, the armies of the Indian princes stood ready for battle. There was a fundamental difference between Indian and Persian armies, while those of the Shahs of this time were professional, full-time soldiers of good morale and training, the Indian armies were made up of conscripted part-time soldiers and only a small contingent of professional troops. Though India had assembled a larger army, they were broken to bits by the Persian forces. A charge of Persian cataphracts, cavalry armored from head to toe with armored horses, tore into the armies of India. The part-time soldiers quickly
broke ranks and fled, with Persian horse archers in pursuit. Only 10,000 Indian troops were left on the battlefield when the main Persian army moved in to finish them off. Persian infantry quickly swarmed the outnumbered Indians and cut them to pieces. With his victory, Narseh laid the city of Nandipur to seige. Within three weeks the Shah had stormed the starving city and put the people to sword while his troops went on an orgy of pillage. Thousands of pounds of gems, gold, silk, and spices went into the Shah's coffers. Leaving the burning city behind, the Shah placed the city of Karnavati (modern Ahmedbad) under siege, sacking it after a mere week. In the meantime, light raiders moved freely around the countryside, burning hundreds of villages and killing hundreds of thousands of people. A famine struck Gujarat and killed even more by the time the Shah's armies moved across the Indus for the year. Next year, the coalition sued for peace in return for a 100% increase in tribute, the Shah was pleased with the result and utilized many of the valuables in the construction of Persepolis palace.

For the next ten years, the Shah continued work on Persepolis palace and improving public works throught Persia. The empire had become amazingly wealthy under his rule, often, the Shah had no idea with what to do with all the money. The Shah often would throw massive feasts and polo tournaments with his nobles. During one such feast in 722, he fell from his horse during a polo game. The Shah broke several ribs and three days later, he developed an infection and died. His 29 year old son Bahram was crowned Shah the same day as the old Shah's funeral, marking the end of one of the greatest conquerors since the loss of Ctesiphon.

Awesome job, The Parthians! Keep up the nice work!

Awesome job, The Parthians! Keep up the nice work!

Thank you.

This may be a long story by the time you get to 2004. Lol, good job though.

With the coronation of Bahram VI in 722, Persia entered a time of great peace and prosperity. With the roads finished and the cities vastly improved and a stream of wealth flowing into the empire. The Shah was no great leader, however. He was a weak willed man with no desires but those of the Harem. In actuality, his brother Sassan controlled the government and all things in relation.

With the completion of the improvements to his cities. Full attention was turned to construction of Persepolis palace. Great colums of marble hauled from Greece and other massive and expensive works began to spring up from the mountainous plateau Persepolis sat upon. Gardens and ponds began to take shape while the pillars and domes of Persepolis rose from the ground. Finally, in 734, the palace's first form was done. It was a massive structure, a versailles of its day. Within it, the Shah spent the remainder of his days in the Harem maintaining a relativley peaceful empire until 742

OOC: Btw, have you seen my factbook yet?

OOC: Btw, have you seen my factbook yet?

nope, you got a link?

nope, you got a link?

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=349368

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Thank you for bumping my thread, I'll have a new post in the next week.

The post has officially been bumped by bumpdor the bumpinator

Thank you for bumping my thread, I'll have a new post in the next week.

You're welcome.

Btw, did you see my updated factbook?