AHC:Axum unites Ethiopia and Nubia and conquers Egypt
- Thread starter kasumigenx
- Start date
I think the general reason Ethiopian expansion didn’t occur much IOTL was because it was a rather decentralized and divided nation for a very long time. By the time it did centralize, it was far too weak to contest those regions with nations like the Mamluks or Ottomans. I guess the PoD needed is an early centralization, but I don’t know enough about Ethiopian history to come up with a good way to do it.
Would be interesting if Ethiopia could become kind of an African China if it centralizes early on.
perhaps we can stop judith, the queen of aksum from reigning in the first place.
kholieken
Banned
No. Coastal Country generally had difficulty launching invasion through hundred miles of plateau, mountains, desert, swamp, and jungle.
Africa is big. Ethiopia is big.
also, remember that Axum had no small part of its gaze drawn to other wealthy coastal regions in modern day Yemen and around the Red Sea, as they provided a more obvious reward for expansion and could be reached by ship a lot easier then some great trek across multiple biomes and thousands of miles inland.
Mero was raised/sacked by Askum during it's decline at some point, but outright conquest is hard to fathom.
Keep in mind Askum wasn't Ethiopia Geographically. Askum was in Modern day Eritrea, which means it has to go through the Ethiopian highlands or the Sudanese Desert to reach Meroe, logistically speaking that's hard.
Now it could form a Red Sea Empire along Eritrea, Coastal Sudan, Yemen, and the Hedjaz, but logistically speaking this would be connected by boats, not roads, which makes inland expansion harder.
Keep in mind Askum wasn't Ethiopia Geographically. Askum was in Modern day Eritrea, which means it has to go through the Ethiopian highlands or the Sudanese Desert to reach Meroe, logistically speaking that's hard.
Now it could form a Red Sea Empire along Eritrea, Coastal Sudan, Yemen, and the Hedjaz, but logistically speaking this would be connected by boats, not roads, which makes inland expansion harder.
Even this Read Sea empire may be very fragile. The divided Arab Hijazi tribes managed to decisively drive the Aksumites forth. Likewise an army of only 4,000 Sassanid warriors managed to completely overturn the Aksumite kingdom's powerbase in Yemen in less than two years. That 4,000 warriors representing only 7% of the total military force the Sassanids could muster if it wished. Indeed, Aksum was a relatively minor state, even in its height.
I wouldn't call it minor, although being considered as one of the four major powers in the world during its time (as some have) is overrated.
I thought Askumite Yemen fell due to a rebelling Askumite general, whole kingdom then fell to the Sassanids?
Also, Askumite's and decline and downfall was mostly economical and evironmental, which is what led to political instability and military weakness. Askum at it's height could pack a punch (although regionally limited).
Yeah it's easy being 4th when one totally glosses over India despite the fact that any given point in time you had maybe half a dozen polities with more people than the Aksumite empire at its peak, plus it's easy when China and Rome hold 1/4 of the world population each and the Sassanid hold another 1/8.