Heirs of Heraclius, a no Islam timeline

[Silver01]

By Mid-November the Persians crossed the 2 rivers, under Khosrow and Abrha the Romans did not where they would strike, but most agreed that they would attack the area near Ctesiphon especially Hira which they could use to continue to attack but they also considered it suicidal as the south was defended to anticipate Arab attacks, but the Persians wanted to attack another place Kazima as it would make a perfect launchpad to roman Mesopotamia and the ghassanid kingdom.

When news of the Persian victory reached the city of kazima the Nestorian Arabs and others revolted, it was a perfect distraction but despite this, the Persians managed to trick them by making fake letters that they would attack Ctesiphon, but when scouts reported that the Persians were coming closer to the city every day, the governor of the city Leo knew that he would be attacked so he sends letters to Yazdegerd and the exchart of Mesopotamia.

Just a few days later, the Persians arrived and the siege began, despite being close to the shore the Persian general knew that the byzantine navy could not come from the sea to defend the city as the monsoon winds at this time pushed to the west thus the Romans could not send a fleet from Egypt, at least the siege would drag on as the Nestorians were expulsed before the arrival of the Persians, the siege dragged on, the Persians did not want to assault the city as they need it as much manpower for the future campaigns, and losing them here would undermine that.

5 weeks passed, and the people living in the city were close to starving, the Arab garrison who was not prepared for a siege did not have huge food reserves and even had to rob the citizens, in some cases they launched sorties to attacks and rob food in the Persian camp, but news reached that the exchart of Mesopotamia, was coming with reinforcements, the Byzantine garrison in the city, were excited and got into bolder sorties than ever before and had begun to sally out to attack the Persians directly, there had been a stalemate between the dabuyid and Byzantine forces in the siege, this stalemate continued with the regular sorties, despite not doing much there were so many that little by little they chipped away the Persian force, this with the hope that the reinforcements where coming lifted the morale of the defenders.

So Abraha devised a plan, on the next day the roman forces sortied out, and it seemed like they caught the Persians off guard and surprisingly began to push them back, it seemed like the Persian invasion would end here. But it was all rouse; the Persians came out from the left and right, the roman forces were encircling them from three sides still they fought back hard but they knew they could not win so they retreated back to the fort, now they had lost so many men and morale plummeted making any offensive action impossible but were asking where the reinforcements?

They had barely left Heraclia The reason why is that the exchart of Mesopotamia was loyal to the empress, some even said that he was his lover, so he did not want to help validate his son and especially the nobles who overthrew her, so he stalled as much possible giving confusing orders, saying that his troops need it more training anything to not march and it worked for nearly 5 weeks, but under pressure from the other commanders and the strategos forced him to leave his capital and marched, even so, he marched in the slowest pace possible.

Leo did not know this and not wanting to throw the lives of his men away he finally entered into negotiations with the Persians, which failed as the Persians wanted more money than the city had, emissaries, were also exchanged between Leo and Abraha both leaders met in person. After fruitless negotiations, the Romans finally received news that he exchart of Mesopotamia, he did not surrender and the men got motivated that they could still survive.

Seeing that he had no other option, the Persian general began to assault the walls, a day after the Persian's siege towers and men in ladders went to crash with the walls like a wave and received and a storm of arrows, oil, fire, and burning sand and like when a wave hit a rock its stops and retreats, so too did the Persians, they seeing that the assaults where nowhere tried to do a night assault, a company of handpicked warriors led by one Persian commander managed to scale the wall, kill some guard, but the Romans realized this, and fought back the fighting was heard and Leo himself led the troops to fight off the Persians after 20 minutes the Persians got kicked off the walls.

Abraha got furious and gave Leo an ultimatum, that if he did not surrender he would take the city and kill them all, but Leo refused the final assault began the next day the Persian siege towers go to the walls and what followed was a fierce melee with no grand plan just hand to hand combat, this continued for hours until some immortals and infantryman killed the men and opened the gate.

The Persians entered the city, but the fighting was far from over, Leo and his forces made a defensive formation the Persians had to fight slowly to the center, the inhabitants of the city inspired by the bravery of the governor, the men grabbed anything they could use as a weapon while from the houses the women and children threw rocks to the army, not wanting to have more casualties the Persian burned the houses, still, the fighting continued for hours, but the Persians had numbers leo then gave the order to the civilians to flee as most Persians entered to one gate they could still flee so they did as Leo held out until he was slain, the death of their leader did not demoralize the Romans rather it inspired then to make one last charge against the Persians, they were slaughter to a man.

Finally, after 4 hours the city had fallen the Persian general ordered his cavalry to pursue the fleeing civilian anyone who was not slain was captured and enslaved.

 

[Silver01]

After the conquest of kazima , the Persians continued to march north but took time as they need it to conquer many forts and this took from December to nearly late January, a roman army tried to stop the Persians, this was an army composed of thematic troops and some 7000 forces from the exchart , he did not send the worst and neither the best forces, so that suspicion on him after the siege of kazima could disappear, the Persian met the Romans near the Euphrates River, In the fighting, the roman commanders were slain and the roman army routed,the Persians killed 3 000 men, while the rest fled, this left southern Mesopotamia undefended

This defeat depleted many of the thematic forces and it was used by the exchart of Mesopotamia as an excuse not to send more men to battle the Persians, now the Persians moved to the old lakhmid capital the city of Hira, like Kazima the Nestorians were expulsed so the Byzantine commander Michael and the Arab commander did not have the numbers to meet the Persians in open battle but unlike his counterpart in kazima he had more time to make preparations, he stored food had the walls repaired conscripted more men and gave them the best training that he could give in this time short time.

By the time the Persian army arrived in early February, he had lost 9000 men since the beginning of the campaign and did not want to lose many men so he would only attack if necessary the siege dragged on, and Michael seeing he boldly launched many sallies, but not directs attacks, instead he would attack the camp and the supplies of the Persians and in some cases, they did night attacks the Persians, despite not doing many casualties this combined with the failed assaults and night raids of the Persians.

Lowered their morale, in some cases, the sortie parties and Persian assault parties met near the walls and had desperate melees where both sides returned to their respective sides not having enough men to attack the camp or climb the wall, this stalemate dragged on and Michael sent many letters to the Exchart of Mesopotamia to save them or at least sent 5 000 or anything that would allow the forces inside and the relive forces to if not crush at least give a bloody nose to make the Persians retreat, he got no response and the strategos could not help as they did not have enough men and where convinced that the city would fall

Still, the siege dragged on and the population of Hira endured famine and disease, Michael would not surrender but as minutes turned to hours, hours to days, and days to weeks he knew that he was truly alone and no relief force would come, days passed the Persians attacks got larger and every time it was harder to repulse them, Michael knew that the end was near on the night of the third of April.

At 9 pm Persian auxiliaries were sent to tire the defenders, after some hours Many of the auxiliaries were killed, but their fulfilled their objective as the roman forces were exhausted, a few hours later the Persians managed to breach into the city, but the defenders led by Michael himself drive out the defenders, then the Persians sent the immortals brutal hand to hand combat with arrows

Michael lost his eyes in the fight and rumors of his death spread, and slowly but surely the defense began to whittle but still they pushed back the immortals, but then they began the second wave and entered the city, spreading panic, Michael had not being treated for his wound, but he did not care with his eye and face still dripping fresh blood, he went back to fight.

Michael with his good eye seeing how everything was lost, led a desperate last charge against the Persians and somehow led them back for nearly a quarter of an hour the Romans outnumbered, tired and under pressure pushed them back with the idea of killing as many Persians as they could before they themselves died.

Their brave last stand was fruitless as the Persians nearly massacred them to a man then the city was torched, still the survivors that managed to flee the city gave out Michaels a final warning, he hoped that his sacrifice would at least buy the Romans time and beat the Persians, but now it was a matter of time to see if the greedy and selfish men would take note of this or have their personal ambitions and quarrels be more important than the empire.

 

[Neko Tamo]

Shame to see the Empire lose such fine men as Leo and Michael. The situation in Mesopotamia is dire and it may be due to sheer incompetence and greed that they lose this valuable territory. Still tropes tend to favor the young emperor surprising everyone, maybe even making gains against Persia. Persia and Armenia/Georgia make for excellent frontiers of Rome if they can be taken and held. Meanwhile slowly eat up Arab kingdoms by the old Roman way of making allies, Romanizing them and using them to antagonize and beat up their neighbours. Then annexing the old allies, using the new guys you beat up as your allies and repeat.
This leaves the Empire with full and safe control of the ME. Not an easy project especially taking Persia but doable in time. The fact that France and North Africa remain largely Latin in nature gives hope that those regions, and more, will also be retaken eventually making the Empire return to its full glory even if only for a time.

PS. Do you play CK2? I think Dabuyids are the guys I gave land to so I can suck up their bloodline into my own imperial line. They ironically got to rule in Mesopotamia by pure chance since that is the land I had to give out at the time.

 

[Silver01]

Shame to see the Empire lose such fine men as Leo and Michael. The situation in Mesopotamia is dire and it may be due to sheer incompetence and greed that they lose this valuable territory. Still tropes tend to favor the young emperor surprising everyone, maybe even making gains against Persia. Persia and Armenia/Georgia make for excellent frontiers of Rome if they can be taken and held. Meanwhile slowly eat up Arab kingdoms by the old Roman way of making allies, Romanizing them and using them to antagonize and beat up their neighbours. Then annexing the old allies, using the new guys you beat up as your allies and repeat.
This leaves the Empire with full and safe control of the ME. Not an easy project especially taking Persia but doable in time. The fact that France and North Africa remain largely Latin in nature gives hope that those regions, and more, will also be retaken eventually making the Empire return to its full glory even if only for a time.

PS. Do you play CK2? I think Dabuyids are the guys I gave land to so I can suck up their bloodline into my own imperial line. They ironically got to rule in Mesopotamia by pure chance since that is the land I had to give out at the time.

Yeah i don't want to spoil anything but the character of heraclius II will be very important but also very deep as I have to research something to not misrepresent the case .
Also lol I have played crusader Kings 2 before

 

[Silver01]

After taking the delta region the Persians moved north again but here Heraclius vision delayed the Persians campaign, The forts build by Heraclius son of Constans nearly 200 years ago, they were massive defensive fortifications built by the old and first exchart of Mesopotamia, in preparation of an Arab or Persian attack, it proves to be working giving the Persians a hard time as they had to take them one at a time, they also faced a Byzantine force which they managed to defeat but it inflicted substantial casualties, still the taking of the forts continued it took nearly 3 months now in mid-July the Persians finally got to their target the ancient city of Babylon.

The defenders at Babylon knew that they could not win, but they knew they could at least buy time for the other cities to prepare, the siege began with assaults as Babylon was declining city but to his surprise the city resisted, the Persian commander had no time for a long siege the Persian siege engines tried to break the city but every time they were destroyed by fire or rocks, the men climbing were killed by the same and much more arrows, oil, burning sand, killed by the Romans in hand to hand combat and heat stroke as the exhaustion of climbing and fighting in the July heat proved too much for some.

Both the Persians and Romans had hired Arab tribesmen as spies and soldiers, many of the Ibād joined the Persians while the Banu Tamin and Taghlib and some of the Qays joined them Romans as others joined the Persians, the Arabs would be used for reconnaissance for both sides , as the Persians used them to see any weakens in the walls or the Garrison and the Romans used them to spy the Persian camp and to know at what moment they were at their weakest so that they may launch a sortie.

the Romans also used the Bedouins to attack and raid the Persian camps letting them take whatever spoils they wanted, The Arabs were also used in both sides to attack the Romans used in sorties and another to counter them as the days passed casualties were mounting on both sides especially the Persian side, still, under all these conditions, the siege dragged on with assault being pushed back, nearly after a month the Persians did a massive assault but the bravery of the Romans combined with the heat of an August day proved too much even the night attack failed when midnight struck both sides stop fighting.

with staggering casualties for both sides, but commander john Knew that he could not survive another attack and despite being a brave man he knew that his forces were more valuable alive than dead, In the 34th day of the siege surrendered with the condition that the civilians and his men would not be harmed and that he would have 3 days of respite where his forces would be left alone, the Persians agreed to the deal ,his troops went to the real target of the Persians the old Parthian and sassanid capital Ctesiphon, the battle for southern Mesopotamia was coming to an end

 

[Neko Tamo]

Yes it must be very taxing for the Persians to fight the much bigger country even if only the eastern provinces are engaged right now.

 

[Silver01]

Yes it must be very taxing for the Persians to fight the much bigger country even if only the eastern provinces are engaged right now.

the persians are figthing a 2 front war with rome and the tang , but luckly for them heraclius mom purged the empire of competent leaders like otl napeopleon said

"if you build an army of 100 lions and their leader is a dog, in any fight, the lions will die like a dog. But if you build an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a lion, all dogs will fight like a lion."

 

[Silver01]

After taking Babylon the Persians advance on Ctesiphon but the siege of Babylon, Gave yazdegerd enough time to prepare for city defense. It was expected that the Persians would follow the traditional road to Ctesiphon and so they arrived the Persians arrived from the west which presented a problem; the city of Ctesiphon was the result of two different urban centers, the main was on the eastern shore of the Tigris, but to get to they need it to take Seleucia, knowing this, the city prepared well for the defense, preparing a deep trench around the perimeter of the city.

As the Persian army arrived near Seleucia, it seemed they abandoned the city, they went to the walls and start scaling, it was what the Romans waited, then they launched large stones and boulders catapults, along with a shower of arrows, with oil, fire burning sand, and tar. The Persians took many casualties and so withdrew outside the range of the roman projectiles and laid siege to the city, but the Persians knew that they could not starve the city, as the byzantine navy or at least a part of it was providing supplies, to Ctesiphon, on the other side of the Tigris.

He needed it to take the city by storm there was no other way, after nearly 5 weeks of fighting, the Persians need it to take the city of all would have been for nothing.
But first, they need it to take Seleucia, Abraha asked Khosrow for reinforcements, and the Persian sha sent 8000 reinforcements to the Persian general.
alexander Decided to launch a counteroffensive. he drew men from all sectors of the city to form a force strong enough to break through the Persian lines, there he faced a general called farrukad With his corps of about 7 000 men.

The Byzantine attack began with a concentrated shower of arrows against the Persians, then the Byzantine infantry, covered by the archers rushed through to the Persian lines with Alexander and Yazdegerd leading the assault, the Persians retreated, and farrukad himself was killed, but despite initial success, the Persian leader sent reinforcements and due to this the strategos was unsuccessful in breaking the siege, and the Romans retreated back to the fortress.

Then some days passed, The exarchs of Mesopotamia sent a 14 000 relief force but made sure that this news did not arrive at the defenders of Ctesiphon, the Persians and Arab scouts reported the approach of a Roman army, upon hearing this news, Abraha sent Ohrmazd With 6 000 troops, that force fought for the Romans and began to lose, after some fighting the Romans surrounded the Persian troops However in the midst of the battle, the Persian commander sent word to Abraha, the Persian leader arrived with 8000 men and after a 35 min battle, he routed the Roman force.

Despite his success, the Persian forces had been weakened by the withdrawal of 14 000 men to repel the roman relief force, many believe that had Alexander known about this and had Launched a sortie at this point, the defenders would have broken through the Persian lines and even lift the siege, still the Persian leader Understanding the danger of the situation, and that he had put the siege in danger by fighting the roman force so he returned as fast as he could, after some 3 more weeks and after launching another small but failed sortie, the Romans began to abandon Seleucia, as they did they destroyed all the bridges on the Tigris behind them.

Now only 750 meters of the Tigris River separated the Persians and their old capital however, the river was full and there were no boats available for them that would allow them to cross. The Persians knew that downstream where they could cross the river, but it was not too sure, the high water level was still high, but even if they could the byzantine navy could slaughter them, if they were close.

But the traitor, the exarch of Mesopotamia told the Persians that the roman ships were resupplying so the Persians could use this time to cross, and so they did, what proceeded the heaviest fighting since the beginning of the war and like the previous sortie Alexander was leading now with his son, After intense fighting, Alexander the elder , began to push the Persians back, they did this due to the small place around the city and the defensive networks that were built, it made a perfect chokepoint and made the Persian numbers became null.

The fighting continued for hours, the Persians tried in vain to push back but they could not, then the Persians retreated even though Alexander the elder prohibited forced to follow, the Romans left the defense work and the chokepoint to finally kill the Persians, fueled by bloodlust and the desire to see this war end they pushed back the Persian force.

Abraha had waited for this and led a cavalry detachment to the left of the roman forces and massacred them, Alexander the elder seeing this ordered a withdrawal and the Romans moved back at a steady pace, under arrow fire, this was the last attempt by Alexander to break the siege. Now he could not launch any more sorties, he thought that his troops were more valuable alive than dead so there would not be any last stand, and the men began to abandon the city.

After 2 months and half of the siege and after nearly more than a century Ctesiphon was in Persian hands once again, prince Khosrow invited his father who was welcomed in the ancient capital, Yazdegerd was killed and the kingdom of Mesopotamia abolished his family either submitted or fled to the court the siege of Ctesiphon was the final straw; the exarch of Mesopotamia knew that he would be executed so he defected to the Persian side, Nicephorus now was in a dire situation as the Persians now controlled all southern Mesopotamia.

 

[Silver01]

ok question what role do you think Heraclius II will take and how will he be like?

 

[Neko Tamo]

Hmm seems he was very sheltered by his mother. Little to no official training. He does not seem to have the temperament of a soldier, we don't hear of him railing against his gilded cage. Likewise he is unlikely to be a great administrator since again little education. Imo he is most likely to be of a diplomatic nature, able to understand what people need and what they think. Skilled at negotiations, balancing political interests and eventually intrigue. This could make him charismatic and if he has a natural talent for tactics an inspiring military leader. Though I do not see him being the kind of leader to win personal bouts with the sword of his namesake. So mostly leading from the 2nd line, if he is smart, could likely end up dead in battle if he tries to be too inspiring and fights in the front.

That is what I would find the most likely way for him to develop anyway. But ofc it can turn out he is an idiot who can't keep an imaginary pet or a genius who grows to become a leader for the history books excelling in all areas. His name implies more the latter and the Empire does need a hero right about now

 

[Silver01]

Nicephorus knew the Romans had the men to crush the Persians, but Martina's purges had destroyed any sensible chain of command and valuable generals with incompetent yes men, these men in a time of peace and filled could not care less about their men, border, and other forts were seen as pits of corruption to send men who and used by the sons of nobles to jump up the ranks quickly and for the courtiers to put their favorite lackeys into important positions.

And he was one of the odd ones out, as he was diligent and incorruptible, unlike others he did not see young Heraclius as a tool, at least not in the way of using him to give him an advantage. Nay, he saw Heraclius as a beacon of hope, that he was the hope they need it in this conflict, so he with his own money paid for teachers to guide the young emperor in mostly manners of war and courtly live, many nobles and courtiers noticed this and feared that if Heraclius was to become a capable commander and leader, that there corrupt and easy lifestyle would disappear, so they tried to peruse the emperor to depose Nicephorus of all his powers, the emperor did not do that but did demote him to a frontier city in the northeast, where he would most likely not see any fighting

Unknown to them, the Persians despite having conquered south Mesopotamia, could not push to the north as it was too well-fortified, so was the Caucasus and they had intact thematic armies, but the traitor told them where they could invade the place which had the least northern Iran as the no war occurred for over nearly 2 centuries the two themes there had the least experience compared to the 3 Caucasian royals.

So if the Persians could take it they could use it as a springboard to take northern Mesopotamia and Heraclia as if the city was strategically and symbolically important as it was the capital of Roman Mesopotamia and it was the site of the greatest triumph of Heraclius I, so the Persian army under the command of Khosrow and the architect of Persian victories Abraha alongside with the Spahbed of Zik moved they also stopped in the fire temple Adur Gushnasp, the same temple that Heraclius destroyed in 624 however the flame was saved and continued to this time, Khosrow gave many gifts to it and went to pray especially since the fire was linked with the warrior class.

After this they continued to march at the head of 25 000 men with armies of house Vistahm Hormizd the Spahbed of the house of Ispahbudhan and house Miran also joined attacking from the Caspian sea with 20 000 men when the roman find out about the Persian movement, Nicephorus made a gamble if he could win against the Persians, he would follow his victory and use his numbers to push the Persians out, but if he were to lose he would know that his numbers were null and he would have to train a better army.

Before that Nicephorus sent word to the nobles, to send reinforcements to guarantee victory his pleas fell on deaf ears, except for some 3 nobles who arrived with 6000 troops, but they bickered with Nicephorus that they were not under his command this is why he wanted to stay in Tauris the others wanted to destroy the Persians with their 25 000 strong armies, with them the forces Tauris, still, Nicephorus decided to advance to meet the Persians and set up his camp a few kilometers from his opponent south of Tauris in the mountains, Khosrow wanted to take the Byzantines by surprise and attacked his camp, with 4 000 horsemen, but Abraha saw Nicephorus trap, seeing this he sent his light cavalry to raid the camp.

Nicephorus knew that this was a rouse and ordered his troops not to attack, but the nobles charged to finally win and get the glory, and /or a better position to be against their rivals in the capital, they had fallen for Abraha’s trap, the Persian army descended upon the Romans, Nicephorus came out to save them, and nearly succeeded as he destroyed the Persian vanguard sent against him, but it was too late the Roman army was surrounded and the roman general could no nothing but flee. The forces were killed and the survivors were enslaved. Nicephorus was then to Constantinople to be tried for his failure, the roman court was ready to eat him alive, but the general did not break even under torture, when questioned, he avoided the traps of the courtiers after hours of interrogation he responded this to the emperor

“My lord, your court is asking me to take responsibility for the misfortune, yet they ignored my request to drill your troops and refused to send reinforcements, the defeat was not a result of my negligence or lack of vision on the battlefield but the fault of the nobles for they even as I told them not to follow the Persian horses, did so for their lack of vision, or the idea of victory not for you basileus but for themselves.
Therefore it’s your nobles, not I that should be held accountable for the defeat.”

The court was stunned by his words, Heraclius believed him, his record under Constantine V and the way he and his father said about the general convinced the emperor to not only allow him to live but make him leader of the whole army and with that Nicephorus knew that numbers would not win the war and that he needs it to sacrifice land for a time, the commander's troops and the new Emperor would be trained to deal with this war he only hopes by the time he is finished the Persians won't be at the gates of Constantinople.

 

[Silver01]

812

After their victory the Persians continued to punch into the roman territory from there they entered quickly and took Tauris while to the east the Parthian armies crossed the mountains and laid siege to Ardabil, after the Persians did the Romans thought they would go south so prepared a bigger defense of norther Mesopotamia following Nicephorus strategy of trading time for land, however, Khosrow would leave them as his father died, however, the prince did something unexpected he called some of the nobility and the grand priest to Ctesiphon and there he was crowned as the sha of Iran the first one since Gil Gavbara, to the north the siege of Ardabil had dragged on its garrison refusing to surrender, but they fell in the 63rd day with the survivors been killed and captured, seen how the Romans offered more resistance than the Persians though they would now seek a Potential Ally in the north as sha Khosrow III would later join them he needs to secure his throne first.

As he did the Persians moved again, the army under Abraha moved to attack Armenia while the Parthians with some Dabuyid contingents moved to the north to Caucasian Albania, the second force moved unposed till they reached the Araxes river they tried to cross the river some kilometers from Baylakan however unknown to them they were been watched once half of their army crossed prince Stephen II of Albania charged out with his force and caught the Parthians of the guard with their back against the river most fled and most of the force that had crossed had been killed or captured, the defeat while not total the Dabuyids had underestimated their foe.

To the west would attack the many cities taking in one month pushing to the Araxes river and taking the city Zarawand and Sewan and now he entered roman Armenia, the Romans had a stereotype since the times of Heraclius, that the Armenians were the bravest soldiers in the whole empire and the Armenians tried to live up to that belief, the Persian army was to show whether this belief was true or false the Persians went to Van the defense of the castle and the settlement was expected to last a few days it lasted 3 weeks with all of the defenders killed but the Persians suffering 2000 casualties at this point the general was short on ideas.

He knew marching west was not possible it would be overextending his supply line and he would attack and he could not much to the north as the failure on Albania would lead to him been outnumbered, he had sent word to Khosrow before and he had already assembled a 25 000 strong army that would split one going to him and one to the east to Caucasian Albania join the houses, this new force under the command of Braham attempt to cross the same way but this time the prince of Albania was tricked into attacking too early.

Despite this the fighting was hard and of the 12 000 strong Dabuyid force that managed to cross defeat the prince 10 000, with him suffering 2000 casualties and the Persians suffering 3000 but after all their forces crossed they still had 21 000 that now crossed into Caucasian Albania, but the victory fulfilled its purpose as now the prince was distracted so the other Persians marched to the north till they reached Dariunk were the old prince Theodore II grandson of Ashot (died 773) and son of Grigor who participated in the second roman Khazar war (died 791) the same war when he young 16-year-old Theodore also participated now the 58-year-old was in the city preparing a counteroffensive but soon the Persians caught them off, guard.

By this time, the prince had sent his son to Dvin he also told his general Vardan to leave as well but he refused so he was outnumbered, low on supplies garrison was facing the massive Persian force Vardan and Theodore had to experience deal the Khazar war and raids, but despite this, they began talking about terms, the Persian general here committed a mistake, he offered them terms and by some sources, the Armenian prince who was very pro roman rejected immediately but others said that he considered the terms but then Abraha told him that he needs to convert to Zoroastrianism, while Khosrow III did want this he made it clear that this was not to be told until after they won the war his slip of the tongue made the zealous king has fully rejected the treaty as he in his own words preferred death over apostasy.

the Armenians resisted and the Persian wave dissipated when it hit the Armenian rock, each attempt at an assault failed as the Armenians held the like every time and drove off the Persians, also the prince of Iberia and other Armenian forces sent forces that harassed the Persians following Nicephorus strategy of avoiding direct conflict and targeting the supply chain.

After the first weeks, both Armenian and Persian alike began to starve until Khosrow arrived, a sortie was made with many casualties on both sides, but the Persians pushed back and decapitated the Armenians and put their heads as a display to show the defenders the hopelessness of their stand in response Theodore ordered his men to take the captives they had from previously failed assaults and send them back one with no eyes another with no tongue, no ears and the poor few that had 2 or all 3 of these, as the siege dragged on the Armenians began to kill the pets in the city to feed the Garrison and even then they refused to surrender, to everyone the question was clear? Were the Roman armies and why have they not come for their aid?

A night assault was made spearheaded by the immortals they managed to kill the guards and opened the gates all of the immortals and some Persian regulars entered the city, the Armenians noticed this and set ablaze to the grass near the gate so that fire and the unbearable smell of the smoke would not allow the rest of the Persian army to come and aid those who entered, the immortals stuck in the city had no option but to win and street fighting began with Theodore leading his men, the Persian elites carved the defenders with their swords and slowly advanced every centimeter of ground cost many lives, and after much fighting and it may seem that the siege would be over but then collapse the Persian elite had broken upon the streets and then all of them were massacred.

The sha was furious about this and even tried to kill some of his subordinates, especially his general as it was his fault, but he calmed down, and then the Persian Sha wrote a letter to Theodore to name any price and he would give it as long as he surrendered the city, Theodore said that the Sha would pay to take the city but the cost would not be gold, nay it would be blood, he would only pay in Persian blood for every Armenian killed he promised that 4 Persians would die, the siege dragged on, after 4 months and 2 weeks another Persian assault was repulsed but then the same day they did a night assault and they managed to open the gates this time the Armenians being exhausted did not notice and the Persians entered the city.
By the time Theodore and his men found out it was too late, but even here despite many saying that at least he should flee he refused, the Armenian leader led his troops to one last defense, he took up defensive formation and was the first to kill one Persian then another and another and if Persian sources are to be believed he slew 13 more, even now when the city was being burned they offered resistance to the last man.

4 hours it took 4 hours before they stopped fighting after all the Garrison lay dead and 1/4 of the city was burned, after that the Persian Sha made sure the city would punish every single person was slain except for those who converted to Zoroastrianism only a few managed to escape the massacre and even less converted as both civilians and soldiers were killed including Vardan who was captured these would be known as the 7000 martyrs of Dariunk, despite the victory the siege was so costly that the Persians would not launch more offensives, The sha when he came to bolster the numbers had in total 38 000 at the beginning of the siege against the 8000 defenders by the end of it 14 000 Persians had died. Theodore II had fulfilled his promise, In the meantime, Nicephorus would do everything to prepare the Romans to beat the Persian empire, and make to some sources he was so moved that he promised he would defeat the sha.

 

[Silver01]

813 Was a quiet year, the Persians did not attack the romans as the previous siege was a Pyrrhic victory for them, meanwhile, they focus more on the tang there was a battle after the siege an 18 000 strong force of eastern Anatolia came from by more sources a general called Constantine aiming to take advantage of the weakened Persians some Armenians and Iberians bolstering his numbers to 25 000 joined him he met them near the city they had conquered little is know about the fighting but the roman right broke which resulted in route, Nicephorus was not even surprised but could do little as he was busy with the whole empire, but sometimes he spent his time helping the emperor, he convinced Heraclius to train and Heraclius even swore to his father figure Nicephorus that despite how harsh the training was he would not use his authority as emperor to make it easier for him, and to give his trainer authority over him.

It might seem dangerous, as this person could manipulate him, but Nicephorus trusted him .the one in charge of training the young emperor was john the Iberian, A retired and seasoned commander also from the time of Constantine V and a close friend of Nicephorus, he was a strategos of Armenia , a man that looked for any sign of imperfection in the troops to blame the commander for inadequate training, due to this he was arrested during the reign of Martina, but he was free in 811, he had been training Heraclius since mid-812. He saw Heraclius as a man child, and no better than the courtiers that he so vividly hated, for this he was even harsher to Heraclius when he was training him.

He tough the emperor was to hide his emotions, and not show any kind of weakness, that his father was dead, his mother was probably dead, and no one but him could stand up for himself and the empire, to be brave even in the face of death, for a kid who had been sheltered his own life and to be thrown into this was really a crash course to him and annoyance to this instructor. John was almost time shouting at the young emperor for any minor error he did in his early training even something as small as not doing the fighting stance the way he wanted it,but according to his own words, what Heraclius most dreaded was His physical training.

I was forced to carry in my full suit of armor, and our supplies and weapons forced to carry this for 5 μίλιον (7.5 km) , to the place where I would be trained , 5 times I collapsed from exhaustion to the dislike of my instructor who only gave me half an hour to rest before I trained under the heat of Anatolia, then In the days where john was unhappy I was forced to run with the armor for a minimum of 15 minutes . I was also tough how to swim, and saved me twice as I nearly drowned in the Bosporus.

After those exercises, I had to vault onto wooden horses mounting and dismounting from both the right and the left with my wooden weapons, when I did it right I was forced to do it faster.

for the emperor The sword lessons where synonymous with beatings as the older did not restrain him with the wooden sword: I was trained the basics stances and attacks with a wooden stake after nearly a year I was ready to train with him, and how an enemy would respond, it started small, but if I ever committed to many mistakes he would strike and I would try to desperately defend myself to no avail, as he broke through my defense and striking me till I could not bear it anymore

He demanded that I get up, and I responded that I can’t, he continued to demand that I get up, this happened 4 many times before he left me and scolded me for being to cowardly.

Heraclius teaches on matters of tactics with less physical but he would be heavily scolded him for getting battle formations wrong. This training would affect the emperor, while the emperor's training was going on, was supervising the training of the Roman army, his inspections were dreaded by the commanders, as he was known for his harsh punishments and his strict discipline.

But there was one case, Nicephorus visited a fort, he just investigated it and just said well done, the fort leader was the son of a Mesopotamian commander, a man not much older than the emperor but showed distinction compared to many, Alexander the younger would soon go up the ranks, later that year Bulgaria saw that the romans were losing the war so the anti-roman and expansionist factions wanted to invade the empire, the pro roman and other factions said the only reason why they got rich and trade and thus the second Bulgarian civil war began, but this one would not last as long due to an old ally, aging the king of the franks was informed about this, so Charlemagne himself came to Bulgaria.

They met near a city called Belograd, the pro romans and franks had 25 000 while the anti-romans had 14 000, during the night the leaders of the anti-roman factions knowing they did not have the numbers went to attack the franks and the pro roman Bulgars, the franks and Bulgars reacted to this in time, Charlemagne had sent 1000 horse men behind the anti-roman line, by the time the pro roman forces kicked the anti-romans out of the camp, the Frankish cavalry attacked, and the anti-romans got surrounded and then massacred. This battle destroyed the rebellious and limited the civil war, Charlemagne on his way back to Frankia got sick and died in January 814

 

[Silver01]

In 814 the Persians continued their attack on the Persians in Caucasian Albania but in march was Partaw were again prince Stephen II again managed to defeat the Persians, while the sha moved to the capital Dvin the new 22 year old prince Ashot II wanted to like his father to fight but he had a young son if he died the Persians would conquer Armenia so he was sent to Caucasian Iberia for safety, the siege dragged on the brave Armenians refused to surrendered, the 5000 garrisons like the garrison of Dvin used all that they could to slow down the Persians, and used any means possible Held out as long as they could, in this case, it was just two months, still the Armenians gave the Persians a bloody nose as 7500 Persians laid dead and many siege engines were burned.

Then the Persians moved Valarshapat, this siege only lasted 3 weeks, still, the Armenians killed 4000 more, the defenders but especially the Armenian Iberian thematic troops where the cause of the high casualties the Persians tried to provoke them to battle but they were one of the few troops that were disciplined due to Khazar raids, a small respite occurs till 815, But Khosrow III actions finally paid off and by this time the Khazars attacked as well, the reason why they did not attack earlier was since the times of Constans III and Martina The nomads had expanded to the north expanding and making Volga Bulgaria, they expanded southeast to the Aral sea and expended to the Bog river which area was controlled by the Magyars which were vassals of the Bulgar khan and they came fleeing from the Khazars they ruled the lands beyond the Dniester till the Bog River.

With northern expansion reaching a limit and Bulgaria being too hard they began looking to the south, the Khazars took advantage of the war to launch bigger raids but refused to send large armies or join the Persians despite their pleading with them since they knew from experience that wars with Rome were more costly than any gains they could have, and small to medium scale raiding was cheaper and at least they gained something, but now in since 813 with the Persians had taken much more land, with it seeming like they were winning, and due to the thematic forces concentrated on them the Khazars sent bigger raids, then the sha promised if they helped him win the war they could take the Caucasus, the Khazar khagan was convinced and sent an army.

The thematic armies had to split to deal with Stephen II who had been holding the Persians at bay and now had to divide his forces to concentrate on the Khazar threat, due to this the sieges would now become cheaper in terms of loss of men and siege engines, the Persians then moved to Mauricopolis and the city fell in 1 month and a half, then a southern force took balaleison and the northern one took Kars, many other towns and cities fell but stopped in late 815 as they need it to wait for more supplies and reinforcements, to the north from mid to late 815 the Khazars crossed the Alan gates raided many Roman cities but laid siege to Derbend, the problem was that with the lake the nomads could not starve the city and unlike the Turks who faced a weakened Sassanid Persian city the Khazars were facing a Roman fortress still the siege began

Stephen II sent his general David to hold out in the north as he tried to stop the Persians, with the thematic army being distracted and the other Roman armies not coming it seemed like the nomads and Persians would win.

 

[Silver01]

816

The siege of Derbend dragged on the thematic forces to know how to deal with the Khazars . The nomads used their conquer people to assault the walls but they failed each and every time they were close, in the night the navy left more supplies and reinforcements, the siege dragged on for months, and the Khazars also sent forces to raid these were met with mild success as the thematic troops limited the crossings of the Caucasus.

While that occurred the Persians began to launch their offensive. They laid siege to the ancient fortress of Singara, the Romans gave fierce resistance and held out as long as they could but the Persians took it in mid-816, then Bethzabde was put under siege and fell in late 816.

In early 817 the Persians moved against Nisibis it lasted a few months still this made problems with the Romans as many were losing faith, then the hated city by the Sassanid was besieged, Dara after a 2-month siege fell, and another byzantine army also disobeyed and faced the Persians only to be destroyed near Dara.

And then in late 817 Heraclia, the city capital of Roman Mesopotamia, and the sight of the great victory of Heraclius were put under siege, when the Persian army arrived, the Persian scouts went to inspect the city wall and found it to be extremely strong. As a result, the Persians hesitated to storm the city However; the new exchart of Mesopotamia being Heraclius' brother, Constantine selected a group of soldiers and led them out of the city at night in secret. Then he ordered the trumpets blown and charged the sleeping Persians. Taken by surprise, the fighting war was hard and lasted till sunrise.

By that time the night attack troops was annihilated, and Abraha instructed his men to cut off the heads of the fallen, later he showed to the defenders to try to intimidate them, again and others hurled catapults into the city itself. The sight caused great consternation and lamentation among the inhabitants of the city, who saw their kin, friends, and governor where dead; but they remained determined to resist, and threw back an attack led by Abraha.

This one failed, a few weeks later, He then sent his archers and catapults against the defenders while attempting to scale the wall using ladders. The city held, and soon called off the siege. He now decided to blockade the city for a while, meanwhile, his engineers began to design and construct more significant siege engines.

By late 817 The third massive assault began on the city, this time the Persians used much more effective siege machines against the city of Heraclius, but they were still unable breakthrough Meanwhile, the Romans kept just out of range of the archers so that they could still attend the walls but not be killed by the bombardment of arrows and stones.

Abraha soon employed the use of a battering ram on the walls, but this was to no use. While the Romans were focusing on the battering ram, the Persians began to scale a section of the wall, and then they killed the guards, now the Persian army began to pour into the city. The defenders quickly formed a defensive line within the city, but it was too late. The Romans were routed and fled back into the streets, the soldiers were allowed to plunder, and kill the inhabitants.

Finally in January 818 after 5 months and 13 000 casualties, the Persians took the golden apple of Roman Mesopotamia.

Heraclia fell and khowsrow ordered that the statue of Heraclius was to be destroyed, around the same time after 2 years the nomads took Derbend.

 

[Neko Tamo]

However; the new exchart of Mesopotamia being Heraclius brother, Constantine selected a group of soldiers, and led them out of the city

Wait Heraclius has a brother and he just died? Significant morale loss, second in line for the Empire and all that.

Anyway very painful to watch, I hope Rome can rally and punish Persia for this opportunistic and vindictive treachery. Perhaps a new statue of a new Heraclius can be built, this time on the Persian plateau.

 

[Silver01]

Wait Heraclius has a brother and he just died? Significant morale loss, second in line for the Empire and all that.

Anyway very painful to watch, I hope Rome can rally and punish Persia for this opportunistic and vindictive treachery. Perhaps a new statue of a new Heraclius can be built, this time on the Persian plateau.

Heraclius has 2 brothers one of them now is dead
And we'll heraclius II character is really going to be expanded I can tell you one thing he was the most hardest to write

 

[Silver01]

Early 818
Nicephorus, Heraclius, and John were leading the roman relief force to Heraclia , but close to Still they did not return and moved back to the territory by this time more armies had poured into Mesopotamia taking most if it by the end of 817, Khosrow III army heard about Heraclius and Nicephorus met near Martyropolis, the battle began with the Persians concentrated their best troops in the right and then charged the Roman line.

They began to break the roman left line, they tried to counter-attack to no avail, and the left cavalry had to retreat Then Heraclius attempted to save his left, but they retreated in was at this point in the battle where his advisors convinced him to flee to avoid capture, and he did.
Nicephorus discovered the Persian ambush, and sent part of his cavalry behind it and destroyed it, with that the fighting continued john sent a force to the left and thus he saved it from collapse then the roman numbers after hours finally won the day once the Persians knew that the ambushing party had been slaughtered.

Each side had about 6000 casualties, the Persian advance was halted, and finally, after nearly 10 years of war the Romans had a victory, but some soldiers began to doubt the authority of the emperor, that maybe he was not the correct leader, Nicephorus noticed that the emperor looked like he had an emotional down and he found him weeping for being a coward and blaming himself for the death of his brother, he tried to confront him but he refused his help and called for his wife.

John explained that this behavior was not uncommon; sometimes during the training, Heraclius had emotional ups and was very motivated, but also many emotional downs and he had some feelings of emptiness, as when he did he did not care about his training even when john yelled and beat him, blaming himself for the situation of the empire, he only felt better when he was with his wife and his son who was born in 812.

John despite his harsh treatment really cared about the emperor as he spent years with him, and was worried about him, Still, the soldiers celebrated their victory, but just as the victory in the west occurred new events occurred in the east.

Ever since 812 the tang empire was at war with the Persians, the tang crossed into Persian territories and their Karluk mercenaries raided, but these were limited as the defenses of the Oxus River were formable, with many small battles that devolved in the tang crossing the Oxus River, and then the Persians driving them out, one time they pushed as far, near to the city of Merv.

After the fall of Heraclia, the Romans asked the Chinese to make a massive assault and so they did, the Tang decided to send one of their best generals with 40 000 troops, the Persian general Piruz let the enemy advance, stretching their supply lines, and chose a suitable, highly defensible position were to confront them, near Merv he avoided a direct confrontation, instead of launching raids on his opponent's supply lines he had to learn this from the roman thematic army, and he waited for either sign of weakness or the beginning of a retreat; he then launched his Turkic mercenaries to the tang.

Qi took the bait, and on the early morning hours led a large part of his army against the Persians deploying his troops for then the Chinese would try to attack the Persian defensive lines, in order to draw the Persians out to the open field, where his superior numbers would win, Qi sent 1000 of his cavalry to outflank the defensive hill and provoke the Persian to attack.

The Persian commander sent only 700 of his horsemen, the two cavalries clashed and their fight forces lasted for some time but proved indecisive until both sides withdrew to their lines. apart from this and minor skirmishes, the two armies maintained their standoff from about 1 pm, where a large part of the army went on a massive flanking maneuver.

Seeing this Persians troops left their assault, the Chinese held the line, and the tang army began to buckle under the pressure, however in the midst of the fighting the tang commander received an arrow to the throat and was killed this spread panic and confusion, many officers were not able to calm their men in time, seeing disorder spreading in the tang army, the Persians with the commander himself spearheading the attack at the head of his cavalry.

Despite some parts of the line collapsing the tang still held and the battle could still go in either side as if the flanking maneuver arrived the Persians would be slaughtered, but the battle was decided when the Persian commander sent a part of his cavalry to the extreme left and they broke through the tang lines, this with coupled with the arrival flanking Turkic cavalry, caused the complete collapse of the tang army trapped between the Persians and Turks from both extremes the tang soldiers broke their lines, at that moment the tang flanking force arrived but saw the chaos and retreated, more than 10 000 Chinese were taken prisoner, and the rest fled to Transoxiana. The rout of the tang meant that the Persians now had the advantage in the east

With this victory the tang were being pushed back and the Persians now had less pressure on the east, it seemed now that the campaign in the west would decide the outcome of the war

 

[Neko Tamo]

Seems the emperor is bipolar or something like it. Not sure if that bodes well for the struggles Rome will face in this era.

Meanwhile Persians are fighting at peak performance, but will it be enough when pressed by the giants that are Rome and China. It would have been interesting if China actually won that battle and took parts of Persia or India. Not that I think they could hold them, eventually some disturbance would destabilize China and those distant territories would fall away. However the cultural imprint of Imperial China would remain greatly changing the culture and mindset of those regions, kind of like Britain in our timeline.

PS. How are Roman armies looking in the age of Heraclius II? It has been a long time since I learned about Heraclian reforms in school but Thematic armies like local autonomous levies that are able to face smaller challenges like raids and brigands on their own right? And Tagmatic forces are the professional core of the army I think?
But also how well armed are the Romans, do they use mail or segmented armor? Are their cataphracts less or more heavy than OTL? Any technological advantage they have like crossbows or some Greek fire application?

 

[Silver01]

Seems the emperor is bipolar or something like it. Not sure if that bodes well for the struggles Rome will face in this era.

Meanwhile Persians are fighting at peak performance, but will it be enough when pressed by the giants that are Rome and China. It would have been interesting if China actually won that battle and took parts of Persia or India. Not that I think they could hold them, eventually some disturbance would destabilize China and those distant territories would fall away. However the cultural imprint of Imperial China would remain greatly changing the culture and mindset of those regions, kind of like Britain in our timeline.

PS. How are Roman armies looking in the age of Heraclius II? It has been a long time since I learned about Heraclian reforms in school but Thematic armies like local autonomous levies that are able to face smaller challenges like raids and brigands on their own right? And Tagmatic forces are the professional core of the army I think?
But also how well armed are the Romans, do they use mail or segmented armor? Are their cataphracts less or more heavy than OTL? Any technological advantage they have like crossbows or some Greek fire application?

Well The Roman army Is The central army ie the tagmata of the core regions being Anatolia and the balkans
Whole the theme where in the north and southeast
The rest are the normal forces of the pre heraclian era
Things would work better but the purges made the whole chain rot except for the northern thematic armies as they could not afford to be incompetent since the khazars launch small sacles raid regularly
The Romans have chainmail and scale amour
Greek fire