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I have this idea for a Sassanid wank timeline where the Sassanids are able to roughly re-establish the borders of the Achaemenid Empire by the early 7th Century, due to better decisions on their part and some bad luck for the Romans. As a result the only power that was their equal is now dead and they control everything between Constantinople, Egypt, Oman and Central Asia and as a result there is no power in the region that can match them in terms of wealth and manpower and they have a near monopoly on all trade between Europe and Asia.

I was wondering where they went from their and how powerful they would be because it seems to me, from a solely geographical point of view, they would be almost unassailable and can pretty much expand in any given direction if they so chose.

The only real threats they face are from the Arabs, who, due to rising population and other factors, are due to start expanding and are situated right underneath their heartland and Turkic tribes from Central Asia who can threaten their hold over the Silk Road and can strike into Iran-proper. The former, however, don't have the advantage of attacking them when all the powers in the region are exhausted from decades of fighting and are too disunited to put up a united front and so probably won't be nearly as successful whilst the latter can be guarded against by stationing a few large armies in Central Asia which they should be more than able to afford at this point.

In terms of expansion options their control of Anatolia and the Bosporus gives them the ability to project power basically anywhere around the Balkans and Black Sea. Securing Greece would give them a spring-board into Italy. If these adventures go badly they are able to do what the Byzantines and Ottomans did and just retreat across the Bosporus to regroup and retaliate. In addition their hold over the caucuses puts them into a good position to defend from attacks in that direction and protects their northern flank. From Egypt they can go south into East Africa by both land and sea at a time when IOTL the powers in the region were going into decline due to being cut off from international trade by the Arabs, which ITTL Persia could probably replicate, as well as climate change. North Africa might be a challenge, depending on their ability to develop a naval infrastructure, but not an impossible one and from there they can launch raids into Southern Europe, although, if a power in Souther Europe is able to develop a stronger navy first they could potentially cut them off there. To the east they have India which is fabulously wealthy, politically divided and they have the advantage of attacking from the Hindu Kush, incidentally the place that every foreign power that conquered vast swaths of India, except for the British who started in Bengal and moved West, began their campaigns from, which means that they can retreat to safety if things go badly.

In short they are immensely wealthy, immensely populous, occupy territory which is ideal for attacking other people from and there are no powers in the region that can equal them.

Is there something I'm missing that would stop this timeline becoming a perpetual Persian wank where they roflstomp everyone from Spain to Bengal?
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