Continuing Development of the Achaemenid Empire in the Absence of Alexander

Dorozhand

Banned
If the conquests of Alexander of Makedon had not taken place, or had been not nearly so extensive, and the Achaemenid Empire were to continue its development intact for the time being, what other fates might have come to the Persian state?
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
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Monthly Donor
Have it last as a political unit for enough centuries, it might become an "eternal empire" like China that always re-forms after breaking apart, and has a mix of "native" and "conquest" dynasties.
 
Isn't that basically OTL?

Sort of, but the various invasions of the medieval period really did a number on Persia to the point that it become a much less significant state. Persia persisted like China, but was never again the dominant hegemon (barring the Great Seljuq Empire, briefly) of the Mideast.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
Isn't that basically OTL?

Not at all. I'm talking about the full extended Achaemenid Empire, the one that ruled not just Persia (an enduring and re-forming country) and not just Persia and Mesopotamia (like the Safavids briefly and the Sassanids for a long time).

Rather, the whole enchilada included the fertile crescent, Egypt, Asia Minor and Thrace and extended almost east to the Indus.

Now I can certainly imagine any of these peripheries being lost for some periods, but for later Persian empires to be comparable to the Achaemenid, they probably need to have a Mediterranean cost and a Black Sea coast almost continuously.

If that large a space of southwest Asia becomes an "eternal empire", history going forward is radically different.
 
Not at all. I'm talking about the full extended Achaemenid Empire, the one that ruled not just Persia (an enduring and re-forming country) and not just Persia and Mesopotamia (like the Safavids briefly and the Sassanids for a long time).

Rather, the whole enchilada included the fertile crescent, Egypt, Asia Minor and Thrace and extended almost east to the Indus.

Now I can certainly imagine any of these peripheries being lost for some periods, but for later Persian empires to be comparable to the Achaemenid, they probably need to have a Mediterranean cost and a Black Sea coast almost continuously.

If that large a space of southwest Asia becomes an "eternal empire", history going forward is radically different.
I think it's geographically impossible for it to become an eternal empire, the periphery in this case are too many, both the Caucasus, Anatolia and Central Asia can't be reliably part of this state, you basically have the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and maybe half of Persia, but there is too geographically distant and isolated to be long term part of the core.
 
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