The Darling of the World - A Persian TL

[Vinization]

Ooooh, I wonder who this conquerer would be...

Dun dun dun dun!

Anyway, I really should have created a footnote out of this in the last update, but I didn't, so here it goes.

Because of China's meddling in Central Asia, the migrations of the Kidarites and the Hephthalites are happening earlier and faster than OTL. The Kidarites, in particular, apparently almost destroyed the Gupta Empire in the mid 5th century IOTL, during the reign of Kumaragupta I. Since they're going for the Punjab in the mid 4th century ITTL, it is very likely that they will fight the Guptas during the reign of hyper competent monarchs like Samudragupta and Chandragupta II.

 

[Vinization]

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Part 20: The Tiger, the Jackal, and Their Feats

The origin of the Huns is still a subject that causes some controversy, despite the existing consensus that they are, if not direct descendants, then a people who were closely related to the Xiongnu, a mighty steppe confederation from East Asia who suffered multiple devastating defeats at the hand of the Han dynasty, which ruled China before the Three Kingdoms arose. The intellectuals who oppose this consensus argue that there are substantial differences between these two peoples in multiple aspects, such as their art and physique (the Xiongnu were said to have beards, while the Huns of the fourth century were described as clean shaven) and the fact that there is a two century gap between the last recorded activities of the Xiongnu and the first records of the Huns. These critics also argue that the link between them is greatly exaggerated, such a feat being the work of 14th century nationalistic Anatolian historians who desired to create a long, arduous and glorious history of their own people, exalting their Hunnic ancestry (***).

Anyway, by the mid fourth century they lived in the vast steppes of Central Asia, inside and outside the borders of the Sasanian Empire as a fiercely independent people. When Shi Le's troops came in from the east, bringing all the lands of Transoxiana under the banner of the Celestial Empire, the Huns initially resisted, but were cast down and forced to migrate to the west once more. By the 340s, after more than a decade of traveling, they had reached the banks of the great river that the Slavs would later call the Volga (1).

As the river was crossed, the leader they had elected, Uldin, a man who was in his late thirties if stories are to be believed, faced a dilemma that could be easily solved: if he and his people continued to march to the west, they would find the fertile pastures of the grassy steppe that lies to the north of the Black Sea, an excellent environment in which they could feed their horses and maybe even launch raids into the Second Roman Empire if they were able to get away with it. The second option was to move southward, crossing the dangerous Caucasus Mountains and take advantage of Iran's internal instability, perhaps later settling either Armenia or Anatolia, a course of action that could bring huge rewards but was probably not worth the risk. The harsh, mountainous terrain completely neutralized their advantages in the battlefield, and they could be slaughtered were they ever caught in an ambush. This was worsened by the fact that there were only two passes in the entire mountain range, the Derbent Pass and the Iberian Gates. Both passes were under Iranian control and were heavily fortified.
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The fearsome Iberian Gates.​

Thus, Uldin's decision to face the mighty Caucasus was astonishing to contemporary and later historians, and the fact that the Huns followed his lead showed just how charismatic and respected the nomad leader was among his people. The Iranian authorities were clearly also surprised, since they made no opposition to the Hunnic advance and often scattered whenever they made contact with the enemy. By the time the recently empowered Yazdegerd I became aware of what was going on in the north, sometime around mid 343, Uldin and his soldiers were running amok in Armenia, a longtime client kingdom of the Sasanian dynasty, and were growing stronger by the day, collecting large amounts of loot in hit-and run attacks against local Armenian troops. Finally, in the beginning of winter, the king, a fellow by the name of Tiran (or Diran), a subordinate of the Shah in paper but in reality an autonomous ruler, set out to face the Huns in person and end their raids once and for all.

It was a disastrous decision, since he was killed in a battle that took place in an unknown location in December. Flush from his glorious victory and the spoils that were captured from his defeated enemy, Uldin entered the rich royal capital of Vagharshapat and proclaimed himself the "Great King of Armenia", a title that was last used by Tigranes the Great, the most powerful king from the age before Rome began to expand in the Middle East. It was the beginning of a series of campaigns that spawned the legend of the wise, noble and invincible Tiger From the North.

Now comes the question that many people ask whenever they hear about Uldin's rise to power: Where in the world was Yazdegerd I when this was all happening? After all, the whole tale could all have ended right before it began had the King of Kings crushed the nomadic upstart turned conqueror with an overwhelming force.
​

A coin of Uldin the Hun, in which his appearance was obviously inspired by that of Tigranes the Great (2).​

The answer to that question was simple: the King of Kings had much bigger and more dangerous fish to fry. While Uldin was busy conquering and later consolidating his power in Armenia, the Hephthalites, led by a king named Mihirakula (3), had created a powerful kingdom that stretched from Merv in the west to the Hindu Kush in the east, becoming quite rich thanks to the Silk Road that crossed its territory. Unsatisfied with what he already had, and aware of Iran's internal weakness (with said country being led by a teenager and all that), Mihirakula started a long, grueling war to take over the empire, claiming the title of Shahanshah for himself and minting coins in his image that looked just like Sasanian ones, complete with a sacred flame on one side and all. Most of the first movements of the war were large raids that devastated a large amount of territory, disrupting trade routes and burning farmlands, but not taking any large cities. Because of his ambition to replace the Sasanians in Ctesiphon with his own dynasty, as well as the great deal of death and devastatation that his campaigns caused (although some numbers are being challenged by modern historians (4)), Mihirakula became known to contemporary Iranian scholars as the Jackal, an opportunist who took advantage of the aftermath of the death of Ardashir II.

The war reached a new level of violence when an Hephthalite army unexpectedly attacked Nishapur in 346 AD, bringing along with it siege engines to reduce whatever fortifications the city had. The defenders didn't prepare themselves properly, and thus had few supplies and weapons, since the nomads had never attacked an urban center directly before, and never with weapons such as siege towers and onagers, the knowledge behind building and using them probably coming with the Chinese armies that kicked them out of their original lands in Central Asia. After a brief siege, Nishapur quickly surrendered after it became clear that its citizens couldn't defend it on their own for long and that any potential relief armies were too far away to help, and a prolonged resistance would only lead to a sacking. Content with his victory and the relatively small amount of bloodshed, Mihirakula spared the inhabitants from his wrath, and marched to the west in the hopes of capturing Spahan, the seizure of which would be a decisive step in achieving his ultimate ambition.

It seemed that he had finally bitten off more than he could chew when he reached Spahan's walls, which had been considerably reinforced with men and provisions from many regions of Iran. Yazdegerd received word of what had happened in Nishapur relatively quickly, and since the two places were many hundreds of kilometers away from each other, he had plenty of time to prepare for Mihirakula's arrival: the civilian population, with the exception of a few ""patriotic"" volunteers and some more stubborn elements, had been largely evacuated, ensuring that there were fewer mouths to feed in case a long siege took place, and earthworks such as trenches and artificial hills were erected, which would make the operation of the Hephthalite siege engines considerably more difficult. To make matters worse, the invading army, which was traditionally composed mostly of horse archers and elite heavy cavalry (a very mobile force, perfect for raiding) advanced through Iranian territory much more slowly than usual, thanks to the need to drag along heavy siege equipment.
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A coin depicting king Mihirakula as a worthy claimant of the title of King of Kings.​

By the time the exhausted Hephthalite king and his soldiers reached Spahan in the last months of 346, the odds that stood before them were daunting indeed. They were deep in enemy territory, had to face a fully prepared fortress in the middle of winter, and Yazdegerd was surely out there somewhere assembling a relief force that in all likelihood dwarfed any troops available to the invader numerically. To make matters worse, the defenders had dug several trenches and erected other earthworks that prevented the enemy onagers from getting close enough to batter down the city walls. Frustrated, Mihirakula ordered the men under his command to surround Spahan, an action that wouldn't have major consequences by itself until much later, but with a twist: as they set up their positions, they began to build a wall that in time would completely seal the city's defenders from the outside world, a tactic that Julius Caesar used to great effect against the Gauls of Alesia centuries ago (5). The defenders probably had no idea of what was happening, since they made no attempt to stop the circumvallation's construction before it was too late.

To say that Yazdegerd was surprised when he arrived at the head of a mighty host of around 100.000 men (a force that probably outnumbered the Hephthalites two-to-one) that was assembled at great cost in January 347 was the mother of all understatements. The Shahanshah and his numerous spahbeds had hoped to vanquish the besiegers in one great open battle and break the blockade after that, and were thus completely unprepared to organize a siege themselves. With no adequate equipment to breach the circumvallation, the Iranians were forced to hunker down and hope to outlast the barbarians until they could build the necessary weapons, a monumental task considering how large their own army was. As if that weren't enough, the imperial force couldn't communicate with the Spahan garrison and mount a double attack against the besiegers, something that would surely spell their doom. The stage was set for one of the most brutal and romanticized sieges in Iranian history, and both sides' commanders, Yazdegerd and Mihirakula, were perfectly willing either win or die trying (6).
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The walls of the important fortress of Derbent, in the Caucasus. It is likely that the fortifications that protected Spahan were somewhat similar.​

While the two titans and their subordinates were busy fighting for their lives in the Plateau, Uldin was in Vagharshapat, from where he was busy enjoying the perks of the newly acquired wealth and power that he now had, as well as planning his next move. If the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (7) is to be believed, the king of the Huns planned to take advantage of the empire's eastern troubles and launch a massive raid into Mesopotamia which, although unlikely to take any cities, could still give him and his people a large quantity of plundered wealth. Yazdegerd probably knew that the little upstart was a threat, but there was nothing he could do since any movement to the west would be seen as abandoning Spahan to the Hephthalites, something that would have catastrophic consequences. There was nothing the pious Shah could do other than pray and hope that God would somehow keep Uldin from turning his plans into reality. The prayers would have to be answered soon, since the Huns were already gathering thousands of men in Armenia's southern border, all just waiting for their king to give the order.

Miraculously, Yazdegerd's prayers were answered in exactly the right time. Just as the Huns were about to launch their offensive, a Greek army invaded Armenia from the west, forcing Uldin to call of the attack and defend his kingdom from this unexpected aggressor. And here's where things get really, really vague: because of the lack of historical records from Anatolia in the period right after the demise of the Palmyrene Empire, we have no idea if the army that attacked Armenia was an experienced, trained force or simply a ragtag levy raised by some frontier Hellenic warlord. Sadly, because of this we also don't know if the man who led this force, supposedly named Artemidoros (a very Greek name) was an experienced general, a wealthy landowner who could hire his own private army, or even a king who sought to expand his power at the expense of the Huns. What we know for sure is that Uldin utterly crushed the Hellenic army that opposed him in an unknown location, and either killed Artemidoros in the heat of battle or had him executed afterwards. Despite his glorious victory, Uldin decided to call off the attack against Iran altogether, and would focus the rest of his reign conquering Anatolia, perhaps to prevent new invasions from the west, strengthening the theory that this invader was just one of many strongmen, all of whom could become a threat if left alone for too long.

The Hunnic conquest of Anatolia was a long, slow process that was marked by many indecisive battles, raids, and long sieges, and only ended years after Uldin's death. It resulted in the depopulation and deurbanization of large parts of region, especially the central plateau, which became a staging area for raids into Ionia and Bithynia after the fall of Ancyra and Iconium in 351 AD and 356 AD respectively. This allowed the peninsula's ethnic makeup to be changed forever, and is also the main reason why most contemporary scholars question the noble image that was built around Uldin, many believing that its main builder wasn't his military exploits, but rather the Huns' very important role in Iranian internal politics. These people also question Mihirakula's infamous reputation, since his court in Bactra became an important center of trade and culture, and the Hepthalites' movements accross Iran are seen as one of the main reasons why said country began to adopt the use of paper in the early 5th century (8).
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The Huns looting Iconium.​

Not that Yazdegerd himself would reap any benefits from this exchange, of course.

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Notes:

(***) This is an edit I made heeding an observation made by @Lautréamont, who argued that people ITTL would have a much better clue of where the Huns came from due to the circumstances surrounding their settlement, such as the fact they settle in Anatolia rather than the relative backwater that was ancient Pannonia. I decided to go with the idea that they are descendants of the Xiongnu.

(1) IOTL, the Huns reached the Volga in the 360s, and then migrated to the Black Sea coast, causing a ton of trouble for the Romans in the process.

(2) That's actually a coin of Tigranes the Great.

(3) He has nothing to do with the OTL Mihirakula, who devastated much of northern India along with his father and predecessor, Toramana.

(4) Biased contemporary accounts? What are you talking about?

(5) Here.

(6) Nobody knows if the soldiers were, though.

(7) An OTL historian.

(8) That's about three or four centuries earlier than OTL. Does anyone know why it took so long for the art of papermaking to move to the west?​

 

[Vinization]

Fresh new map! Once again, sorry if some places seemed off.

 

[Vinization]

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Part 21: In Spite of Everything

While Uldin was busy settling his people in Anatolia and fighting the Greeks who already lived there, causing much devastation in the process, two mighty monarchs and the soldiers under their command were locked in a brutal struggle for control of one of the most important cities of the Iranian Plateau. The siege of Spahan, which had started in late 346 A.D., dragged on and on for many months afterward, and winter gave way to spring, which was finally succeeded by an extraordinarily hot summer. As temperatures began to rise, the conditions became unbearable for both the defending Iranians and their Hephthalite besiegers, with thousands perishing every day from disease and starvation due to lack of supplies. Desperate to end the siege, and aware that he would be in a great disadvangate if his men were forced to fight the defenders and the relief army at the same time, Mihirakula ordered attack after attack on the Spahan city wall, hoping to capture it before Yazdegerd's massive army breached the circumvallation that protected the invaders. The Shahanshah and the spahbeds had the same idea, and as the summer of 347 went on, a number of breaches began to appear and grow along both walls.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Iranians launched an all out assault against multiple weak points along the circumvallation sometime in July, when temperatures were at their highest and any more dithering would lead to mass desertions. Surprisingly, this assault was not only completely successful, but also resulted in few casualties among the attackers, with many of the higher-ups wondering if the Hephthalites had already been pushed past their breaking point by hunger, disease and the heat. The real reason, however, was much more cruel: while the relief army bickered and discussed the exact date of their grand attack, the Hephthalites launched their own assault against the bloodied and exhausted defenders of Spahan, capturing the city and burying all prisoners alive in a mass grave as punishment for their prolonged resistance, something that greatly contributed to Mihirakula's bloodthirsty reputation. This discovery enraged Yazdegerd, who ordered a final, bloody attack against the nomadic invaders within the devastated city, a brutal battle that had no clear winner. Having had enough of this humiliating and ultimately useless spectacle, the spahbeds forced their young sovereign to disband what was left of his army, a far cry from the 100.000 men that were initially mustered at the beginning of the siege, and returned to their estates.

Although nominally victorious, Mihirakula lost just as much as Yazdegerd. With his own force devastated by the double siege, he abandoned his imperial ambitions and limped back to his own kingdom in Central Asia, where he would spend the rest of his reign turning the royal capital of Bactra into a center of trade and culture, as well as forge diplomatic connections with the Celestial Empire that had originally expelled his people out of Transoxiana. In time, these links with not so distant Luoyang would lead to the widespread adoption of paper as well as the techniques to fabricate it (obviously) sometime during the rule of his successor Khushnavaz, who sponsored it (1). In the end, the Jackal's only lasting conquest in Iran was that of Nishapur and its surroundings, which would be used as a staging area for further attacks by Khushnavaz. However, the Iranian-Hephthalite border would remain largely peaceful for the following years, since neither side was willing or capable of waging a long war.​

The Hephthalite Empire after Mihirakula's death in 371 A.D.. Khushnavaz would greatly expand it.​

The King of Kings that ruled Iran after the siege was profoundly different from the one that preceded it: humiliated and beaten, Yazdegerd, still as pious as he always was, never again went on a military campaign, believing that this great defeat was a punishment from God because of his own dreams of glory, much like his father's horrible death almost certainly was. Rarely leaving the capital of Ctesiphon, the monarch spent the rest of his reign much like his archenemy, focusing on the maintenance of internal stability and a reasonable, peaceful foreign policy. The fact that the Sasanian dynasty had no powerful foreign enemies also helped (Egypt was busy doing its own things, the Huns were busy conquering Asia Minor from the Greeks, and the Hephthalites were too exhausted to do anything worth of note just yet). Unlike the glorious, legendary, outrageously successful but ultimately short-lived Ardashir II, Yazdegerd proved himself to be a forgettable, average ruler, who was more dedicated to praying and performing ordinary tasks and ceremonies than pursuing glory and opulence. This was exactly what the empire needed at the moment, a long period of peace that allowed it to recuperate.

However, although Yazdegerd himself was a rather boring individual, his reign was far from being such. Thanks to the monarch's relatively hands-off approach to governing, as well as his blatant support of the Magi, which dissatisfied many nobles who saw that as a threat to their own power, a great deal of intrigue took place within the palaces of major cities like Istakhr, Antioch and obviously Ctesiphon. As the years went on and the Shah began to sire many children, ensuring that the Sasanian dynasty would retain the throne, he became increasingly less interested in actually doing his duties as head of state, handing over more and more power to a man named Tiridates, a clergyman who not only held the position of Moabadan-Moabad ("Priest of Priests"), but was also recognized as a member of the wuzurgan (the high nobility) and held many privileges that naturally came with these titles. Though he couldn't allow other faiths to be persecuted (he wasn't a fool), Tiridates was still dead set on strengthening the Zoroastrian faith in Iran, sponsoring the construction of new fire temples in places like Antioch, Damascus and even Jerusalem, the last of which infuriated the local Christian and Jewish population (2).​

A tower of silence that was built during Tiridates' administration as Priest of Priests. This photo was taken in 1481 (3).​

A particularly difficult task that fell onto Yazdegerd and inevitably Tiridates' hands was the resettlement of the citizens of Spahan, for said city had been thoroughly devastated first by the long siege and then by Mihirakula's victorious soldiers, though there wasn't much left for them to loot. In the end, as many as 100.000 people (maybe more, considering Spahan was one of Iran's larger cities, and had become even more important during the Age of Division) were settled in northern Syria and Mesopotamia, as a way to strengthen the government's control over these regions, especially in case the currently distracted Huns of Armenia and Anatolia ever got any ideas. This obviously wasn't an easy process, and there was a lot of friction between the new arrivals and the people who already lived in these areas, especially in Syria. However, this was nothing that a few good years of peace and prosperity couldn't fix, especially since the Tyrian pirates who once made maritime trade practically impossible were now gone, and the ports of Caesarea, Seleucia and Laodicea could function normally once more.

Thus, far from being the stereotypical shadowy, malevolent statesman who controlled the king behind the throne for his own benefit, the mighty cleric became the archetype of the so-called "Good Vizier", a clever ruler who carried out his sovereign's will and ensured the maintenance of order, respect and stability, ensuring that Iran properly recovered from the traumatic period that started with the death of Ardashir II and ended with the Siege of Spahan. It is said that, when Tiridates passed away from old age in 361 A.D., after ruling Iran in all but name for fourteen years, Yazdegerd wept as if he had lost a second father: indeed, it is likely that he truly was, since the Shah's biological one passed away when he was just ten. The Priest of Priests' legacy is preserved in the many new buildings (especially fire temples) that were erected during his administration, and by the works of contemporary and future historians, their words being unanimosly positive whenever he was referred to.​

Tiridates' inscription near the ancient Achaemenid capital of Persepolis (4). ​

However, there was one forgotten, yet very damaging part of his legacy, the fact that he more and more powerful at the Shahanshah's expense. Though this wasn't a problem while Tiridates was still alive, by the time he died, Yazdegerd was still only 37 years old (older than his father, though), and wasn't going away anytime soon thanks to his healthy lifestyle. but very few people still respected him, and fewer still believed that he was able to truly run the country on his own, considering that he spent more than a decade doing almost nothing worthy of note. But despite having no great ambitions anymore, he was tired of sitting on the sidelines, and reasserted his own power largely because nobody disliked the Shah to the point of risking life and limb, plus spend a lot of energy, to actually depose him. But there was an issue that not even Yazdegerd the Grey's boring nature could solve: his very ambitious sons, all of whom were nothing like their father, and though murdering him was off the table, "ensuring" that he was succeeded by the "correct" individual was not. But it would take time for these plots to take place, considering that Yazdegerd was still a young man, and Ardashir, Shapur, Narseh and Kavad were just children for now.

There were still a lot of good times ahead.

EDIT: Summary:

347 A.D. -- After a brutal siege that lasted at least six months, Spahan is captured by the Hephthalites and its defenders are massacred. Humiliated, Yazdegerd I retreats from public life, leaving his Priest of Priests, Tiridiates, in charge of things.

354 A.D. -- The resettlement of Spahan's citizens into northern Syria and Mesopotamia is completed.

356 A.D. -- The Jerusalem Fire Temple is completed, to the outrage of the local Christian and Jewish communities.

358 A.D. -- The Royal Road begins to be constructed (5).

361 A.D. -- Tiridates dies from old age, and Yazdegerd "the Grey" returns to power after years in the sidelines.

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Notes:

(1) Thank you @LostInNewDelhi for your input on papermaking in page 8.

(2) Even smart men make stupid decisions every now and then.

(3) 1281. You read that right. I've edited the date of the photo to 1481. Looking back, having photography develop in the 13th century was a bit too fast.

(4) That's actually Kartir, the High Priest who had Mani executed.

(5) We'll have a teeny tiny update specifically on this road later.​

 

[Vinization]

Dear souvikkundu25140017 , I hope this update anwers your question.
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Part 22: The Lands of Vikramaditya

Despite being one of the richest corners of the Earth, the vast Indian subcontinent has spent most of its history divided into multiple small kingdoms that often fought each other, unlike China or even Iran, which were often united even if not completely centralized like the former. However, under fortunate circumstances, a great conqueror could arise and bring most of the lands between the Indus and the Ganges under his rule, and from there control most of the subcontinent. Two such conquerors were Chandragupta Maurya and his more famous grandson Ashoka Maurya, who, from their capital of Pataliputra, controlled a territory that stretched from Qandahar to the Gulf of Bengal and from the Himalayas to the Krishna river, a mighty empire that was populated by as many as sixty million people. Unfortunately, this realm quickly collapsed in the decades that followed Ashoka's death, and was replaced by the usual mess of petty kingdoms.

By the late third century, as Iran fought for surviival against its new Syrian foe, Rome rebuilt itself and China reunited, the foundations of another great Indian empire were laid in the important kingdom of Magadha. Magadha was quite wealthy and powerful on its, but it had the potential be much, much, much more than that, as proven by the already mentioned Maurya dynasty, which turned said kingdom into the center of its power. The new family that would lead it back to greatness was started by a king named Gupta, who is known from only a few sources, but apparently left for his descendants a promising and stable realm from which they could build on. His grandson, Chandragupta I, who ruled from 319 to 350 A.D., was the first member of the dynasty to be given the title of "Great King of Kings", which showed just how Magadha's power had grown under the rule of the early Guptas, and how it could grow even further. In 350 A.D., Chandragupta was succeeded by his son, Samudragupta, who would become one of the dynasty's greatest members and was already planning to lead his kingdom to new heights of grandeur by subjugating the southern kingdoms of the subcontinent.

These dreams were brutally smothered in the cradle.

A well preserved coin that was made during Samudragupta's reign.

In the 340s, a massive invasion took place in northwestern India. The Kidarites, who had been expelled from Transoxiana, their homeland, by the Celestial Empire, crossed the Khyber Pass in large numbers and settled in the fertile valleys of the Punjab, the land of five rivers, home to large cities such as Taxila, famous for its university, which attracted scholars and students from regions such as Greece, Mesopotamia, Iran and even China, and fielded professors that were among the very best in their respective subjects, such as medicine, philosophy and even politics (one of its most famous students was Chandragupta Maurya himself). The arrival of the Kidarites, surprisingly enough, did not devastate the region, with Taxila becoming the capital of a powerful new state, with its king, a formidable warrior named Kidara. converting to Buddhism and becoming an important sponsor of said religion, refurbishing many monasteries and similar centers of learning everywhere, especially in Gandhara, the area where Taxila was located (1). After spending the rest of the decade consolidating his power and getting used to it, Kidara was ready to expand it once again, and his new target was none other than Magadha.

While this was all happening, Samudragupta had just been crowned Maharaja, and was planning to subjugate or perhaps even conquer the kingdoms of the south in a single grand campaign. This campaign would never materialize, for the Kidarites surged from the west with a massive army that captured every city that stood before it with no opposition (since most of the Gupta soldiers were massed in the south in preparation for the war that would erupt there), marching along the course of the Yamuna and later the Ganges. By the time the king of Magadha finally realized what was happening, Kidara's troops had already captured the critical city of Kausambi, and his next stop was Pataliputra. After calling off his plans and gathering all the soldiers that were left (which numbered tens of thousands, actually) for a desperate defense of the capital, whose gates would otherwise be wide open for the invaders (2).

While many events in this period of history are often known only from a few broken sources, making it very difficult to pinpoint when and where they happened, the monumental confrontation between Kidara and Samudragupta is a glaring exception, with it being documented by poets, historians, musicians and multiple other intellectuals, including many who studied in Taxila. The battle between the two kings and their anonymous soldiers, one of the largest and bloodiest ever to happen in the subcontinent, took place near the town of Sasaram, located right on the immediate vicinity of Pataliputra, in the autumn of 353 A.D..

A mural depicting the Battle of Sasaram.

Contemporaries say that both armies had one million men each, and half of both perished on the battlefield, with the waters of the Ganges ran red with blood for a month due to the scale of the carnage. Though these accounts are obviously exaggerated, it does give an idea just how massive and brutal the Battle of Sasaram was (3). However, at the end of the day, the Magadhis controlled the battlefield, and although his army was tired and bloodied, Samudragupta could finally breathe a sigh of relief, for his capital was safe from enemy hands for the moment. The was was not over just yet, and the Maharaja spent the rest of the year reoccupying the lands that had been overrun by the Kidarites along the Ganges and the Yamuna, starting with the reconquest of Kausambi. By the time 353 reached its end, the status quo ante bellum had been restored, with Kidara deciding that abandoning all of his new conquests and limping back to Taxila was a better idea than fighting an emboldened enemy right in the middle of their homeland.

Although he was safe for the moment, Samudragupta knew that it would be only a matter of time before the Kidarites invaded Magadha again, and, if historians are to be believed, he believed that he had no choice but to pre-empt their attack and invade the Punjab before they could recover. Gathering a mighty force that may have had as many as 100.000 infantrymen and 40.000 horsemen, as well as hundreds of elephants, Samudragupta crossed the Yamuna in the spring of 355 A.D. and marched northwest, bent on capturing Taxila and after that seal off the Khyber Pass from any additional invaders that could lay beyond it. In a curious role reversal, Kidara had no choice but gather the soldiers that he had left, a formidable 100.000 men, and sally forth to meet his foe in the wide plains of Tarain, right on the border of the two kingdoms (4).

Though it ended up becoming the most celebrated of all of Samudragupta's victories, the Battle of Tarain was actually a very even, hard fight right until its last moments, despite Kidara's obvious numerical inferiority. The reason for that was due to the fact that the Kidarites were excellent warriors in their own right, and the horse archers that they had were especially deadly, often spreading panic into the Magadhi ranks by creating a seemingly endless rain of suffering and death. This martial prowess was magnified by Kidara's talent as a military leader, which showed when he, according to some sources, organized his army in a way that allowed his soldiers to outnumber the Magadhis in a few crucial points, a strategy that, if successful, would allow him to break up Samudragupta's massive army and defeat it in detail. However, it seems that he didn't realize just how many elephants the Maharaja had, and they caused just as much terror among his own soldiers as his horse archers did to the enemy. In the end, as his army began to buckle, under the numerical weight of its foe, who was no slouch either, Kidara was hit in his right eye by a stray arrow, dying shortly after. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, and the Kidarites force quickly devolved into a panicked mess that was easily wiped out.

Samudragupta's army marches in triumph after the Battle of Tarain.

Without any forces left to oppose him, and the Kidarite kingdom now leaderless due to the death of its king, Samudragupta had no difficulties in conquering it within a few years. By the time he died in 375 A.D., after ruling Magadha for twenty five years, all of the punjab was under his authority, and the critical Khyber Pass had been heavily fortified, with a fortress being built just outside of the town of Purushapura (5). The Maharaja went down in history as one of the greatest monarchs of Indian history, a ruler who not only saved his land from the brink of destruction, but also vanquished his greatest enemy and conquered his kingdom instead, sealing off the subcontinent from northern nomads such as the one that he defeated for many years to come. But even his legacy would eventually be overshadowed by that of his son, the legendary Chandragupta II.

Little is known about Chandragupta's early life, other than the fact that he accompanied his father in a few of his campaigns in the Punjab, and received a first-class education, evcen being sent to the University of Taxila, where he spent a few years learning the arts and sciences, especially political ones (6). Because of this upbringing, he became a great patron of Buddhism, with some sources even saying that he converted to said religion, while others disagree on that regard. However, all agree that he sponsored the construction of new monasteries and schools all over the Indo-Gangetic Plain, from Purushapura to Pataliputra, becoming the single most powerful sponsor of Buddhism since the days of emperor Ashoka. His greatest material and intellectual legacy by far was the construction of the University of Varanasi, a world famous institution that exists to this day, just like its counterpart in Taxila. Working in unison, these universities would create an immense number of bureaucrats, philosophers, artists and inventors for the next centuries, being directly responsible for the creation of things such as the first known hot air balloon and eventually the first modern steam engine (7).

The ruins of Varanasi's first university. As the years passed, the institution was moved to different buildings.

But far from being just an intellectual, and unlike the pacifist Ashoka, Chandragupta II was an eager, ambitious and very successful conqueror, even surpassing his father. The first major offensive was made against the kingdom of the Western Satraps, a state that controlled the fertile region of Sindh (the area where the Indus met the ocean) and Gujarat, a place whose cities had become quite wealthy thanks to maritime trade. This conquest brought Magadha's wealth and power to new heights, since it allowed the cities of the Indus and the Ganges to trade directly with regions such as Iran, Axum and Egypt, with the port of Patala, located right on the mouth of the Indus, becoming especially rich thanks to that, with many spices and silks and other valuable materials flowing through it every day. However, Chandragupta's most celebrated military achievement, the one that gave him the title of "Vikramaditya" (Vikramaditya being a legendary, ideal emperor) was the crossing of the Hindu Kush, a massive expedition that happened in 390 A.D. and led to the conquest of Kabul, Ghazni and eventually Qandahar, and also assisted in the destruction of the massive Hephthalite Empire that had been created by Mihirakula and Khushanavaz, both of whom were too busy trying to conquer Iran to notice the mighty new foe that was rising in the east until it was too late (8).

Summary:

Late 3rd century A.D. -- The Gupta dynasty begins to rise in Magadha.

319-350 A.D. -- Reign of Chandragupta I, first emperor of the Gupta dynasty.

340s -- The Kidarite kingdom rises in the Punjab.

350 A.D. -- Accession of Samudragupta.

353 A.D. -- The battle of Sasaram takes place, and although it is a tactical draw, it is a decisive strategic victory for the Magadhis, who manage to stop the Kidarite invasion of their country.

355 A.D. -- Samudragupta decisively defeats and kills Kidara in the battle of Tarain. The Punjab is captured shortly after, with Taxila capitulating after a brief siege.

367 A.D. -- The fortress of Purushapura, located right outside the city with the same name, is completed, sealing the Khyber Pass from foreign invasions for the time being.

375 A.D. -- Samudragupta dies from old age, and is succeeded by his son Chandragupta II.

386 A.D. -- Chandragupta conquers the Western Satraps, adding the regions of Gujarat and Sindh to Magadha. From now on, all of India north of the Narmada river is united under Gupta rule (8).

390 A.D. -- Chandragupta conquers Kabul, Ghazni and Qandahar after crossing the Hindu Kush mountains. This, combined with Khushnavaz's defeat at the Battle of Valashabad, causes the destruction of the Hephthalite Empire.

403 A.D. -- The University of Varanasi is opened, and begins to function shortly after.

415 A.D. -- Chandragupta II dies and is succeeded by Kumaragupta I.

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Notes:

(1) The Kidarite conquest of the Punjab didn't cause much devastation IOTL, so I don't see why that would be different here.

(2) IOTL, Samudragupta's southern campaign became a reality, and the kingdoms of that region became tributaries. Here, that doesn't happen, leading to a Gupta Empire that is more focused on the north.

(3) IOTL, Sasaram was the capital of the Sur Empire, an entity that, for a brief time, expelled the Mughals from India.

(4) The Battle of Tarain that happened IOTL led to the eventual establishment of the Delhi Sultanate and Muslim rule in northern India.

(5) Peshawar.

(6) That is a butterfly spawned from the fact that Samudragupta was more focused on the north than OTL.

(7) That's right, India will be the first region in the world to industrialize.

(8) The northern focus of the Guptas butterflies the invasions of Toramana and Mihirakula, which IOTL devastated northern India and greatly contributed to the decline of Buddhism, away.

 

[Vinization]

And here it is!

An important thing to note is that not every single bit of land in here is under direct control of the emperor (though having an expanded bureaucracy surely helps, as do the rivers, since they provide easy transportation), with some areas being more autonomous than others.

 

[Vinization]

Announcement

Ladies and gentlemen, I am more than happy to say that this TL is alive, despite its hiatus! I intend to write a new update either this week or the next one, focusing on the second half of the reign of Yazdegerd I and the four princes (and their mothers) who will fight for the right to take his place as Shah after he dies.

However, before doing so, I would like to know what is your opinion of this TL.

Is it plausible, or are some details a bit outlandish? Did I build hype at the end of a part or two, only to create a disappointment later? I would like to know before writing the next update.

 

[Vinization]

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Part 23: A Steady Hand

The decades that marked the later half of the reign of Yazdegerd I, following the trend established during Tiridates' tenure as Priest of Priests, were marked by peace abroad and growing prosperity at home. His pacifistic foreign policy kept thousands of lives and dirhams (the empire's currency) from being wasted in potentially unnecessary wars and also allowed international trade to flourish, which was extremely important since much of the Iranian economy depended on routes such as the Silk Road, which passed through the domains of the Hephthalites, who were by far the empire's greatest foreign adversary at the moment.

This isn't to say that it didn't irritate some of the more jingoistic factions of the nobility, who controlled most of the military and were always eager for more glory and lands to directly control in the name of their monarch. These people, perhaps best personified in the figure of Farrukhan Suren (1) (whose family, one of the Seven Great Houses, controlled Sakastan as their personal fiefdom before the arrival of the Hephthalites) were especially outraged by Yazdegerd's unwillingness to do so much as recapture Nishapur, arguing that the city, by remaining under outside control, served as a dagger pointed straight at the heart of the empire, an allegation that would later be proven right. Another decision that ruffled some feathers, but really just a few, was the recognition of Egypt as an independent kingdom through a treaty in 370 A.D. (2).

This isn't to say that the military was neglected, not at all. In the years following his return to power, the Shah ordered the construction of two fleets: a smaller one, based in the island of Hormoz, to protect the ports and trading vessels of the Persian Gulf from Arabian pirates who controlled the southern shores, and a much larger one, based in Haifa, to protect the Levantine ports from enemy blockades. The crews of this second fleet, however, were of questionable loyalty at first, considering that the cities they came from, while not outright rebelling against Iranian domination, chafed and grumbled, nostalgic of the glory days of the Palmyrene Empire.​

Ruins of the ancient port of Haifa, which began to grow at an extremely fast rate in the last decades of the fourth century (3). Parts of the modern city are visible nearby.​

Staying true to his reputation as a gray and boring ruler when compared to his more spectacular ancestors and descendants, Yazdegerd was content with doing little more than provinding a steady hand, rarely rocking the boat, if ever. His main priority was to leave a strong, stable and wealthy state for his successor to rule, and he ordered the construction of multiple infrastructure works such as irrigation canals (especially in Mesopotamia and Khuzestan, the most fertile regions of Iran), roads and bridges, leading to a steady increase in the degree of urbanization in the regions they were built, which would later help future Shahs in their attempts to centralize the state. While the Sasanian dynasty generally favored refurbishing and founding new cities, the Age of Division, and the economic slump that followed it, did much to slow or perhaps even halt that trend, which began to progess once more after stability was restored.

When it ccomes to building things, however, Yazdegerd is best remembered for two things: the Royal Road and the founding of the city of Peroz-Ardashir. The first project, as its name indicates, was a superbly maintained highway built in the mold of the homonymous one that was created by the Achamenid Shahanshah Darius the Great, who the Sasanians always sought to emulate. Starting from the city of Meshan, an important port in the Persian Gulf, the road followed the banks of the Tigris until it reached Ctesiphon, then following the Euphrates until Dura Europos. From there, it went westward into Syria, reaching Damascus and finally the port of Haifa.

Since its completion, the Royal Road quickly became the economic and logistical backbone of the Iranian empire, providing a path that could be traveled with great speed by both traders and armies alike, strengthening Ctesiphon's authority over the Levant. Not only that, it led to an immense amount of trade between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean by creating an alternate path that, stretching from the Persian Gulf to Palestine, bypassed the Aksumite stranglehold over the Red Sea and allowing European markets to buy Indian and Chinese goods (such as spices and silk) at lower prices. Thus, it also caused a slight decline in Aksum and Egypt's revenues (the latter not by much) since they no longer controlled the only maritime route from the Far East to the West.

Sitting right on the middle of the path of this great highway, close to where the proud capital of the Palmyrene Empire once stood, the city of Peroz-Ardashir was founded. As stated in its very name ("Ardashir the Victorious"), it was, first and foremost, a monument dedicated to the glorious victories of Ardashir II, with a giant, six meter tall statue of said Shah standing right on the middle of its main plaza (4). In time, the city would grow into a prosperous center of commerce and eventually manufacturing, especially of textiles, but its main purpose was to serve as a statement that the days of the children of Odainat were long gone and would never return. It was, in the words of the famous Chinese Manichean traveler and missionary Xuanzang, who visited Iran and later Europe in the sixth century, "the proof of the extent of human pettiness. Though prosperous, this place's true reason to exist is to be nothing more than an insult to people who died long ago".​

Yazdegerd's other priority was ensuring the survival of his dynasty by having as many heirs as possible, should something very bad happen to one or two of them. So worried he was that it is believed that he had two official wives instead of just one, like previous Sasanian kings did. While it is known that the Shah usually had a harem (an institution that existed since the days before the Achaemenids) composed of multiple wives and more concubines, there was usually a single chief consort who sired the heir to the throne. Whether the women in question, Boran and Shirin (the latter of whom is believed to have been a Christian), actually shared the position is unknown, but the fact they were political adversaries who desired for one of their children to become King of Kings following the incumbent's death was a certainty.

Boran, who most sources indicate to have been the chief consort, had the upper hand in the succession dispute right from the get go by giving Yazdegerd two healthy sons, Ardashir and Shapur, who were born in 349 and 356 respectively. Both were given a superb education, and Ardashir in particular began to show great promise and intelligence from a young age, and began to be introduced to state ceremonies and council meetings after reaching the age of fourteen. However, this blatant favouritism also gave him an arrogant, impetuous and abrasive personality, which only worsened after being appointed to the governorship of Osroene (to the east of Syria) after his twenty first birthday. Sure that he would eventually take the throne, the elder prince built a large retinue around himself, and the military experience earned by fighting Hunnic raiders from Anatolia created fears that he would overthrow his aging father at the first opportunity.

Shapur, meanwhile, was a completely different character. Trapped under his brother's shadow, he grew into an envious and cunning individual, eager for glory, fame and most importantly, power. As governor of the province of Palestine, he proved himself to be an able politician, earning the respect of the local Christian and Jewish communites through the construction and restoration of many churches and synagogues. He also forged connections with nobles who were put off by Ardashir's arrogance, and cultivated good relations with Yazdegerd by behaving like an obedient son, while the actual heir seemed hellbent on eclispsing him.​

An eleventh century artist's impression of prince Ardashir (on the right, riding an armored horse) in battle against the Huns.​

Shirin, in comparison, was far more unlucky than her competitor. Her first surviving son with the Shah, Narseh (born in 353), was born with a withered right arm, which was supposedly twenty centimeters shorter than his healthy one, a birth defect that almost completely disqualified him from the line of succession, despite his sharp mind (5). Because of this, he was completely disinterested in politics, choosing instead to become a scholar who eventually amassed a great collection of books and manuscripts that focused on multiple subjects, from poetry to astronomy and mathematics. The ruins of his private library can still be seen today in Shushtar, and he was one of the first prominent Iranians to realize that the material known today as paper could be very useful to the imperial bureaucracy.

It was Shirin's second son, Kavad, that truly buried her hopes of having one of her children take the throne. Born in 361, right after Tiridates' death, Kavad proved himself to be a difficult child to say the least, rarely paying attention to his tutors and often sleeping during lessons. That was when he showed up at all, since the prince often fled from the palace, only to be found days later mingling with commoners, which was basically the ancient version of skipping school. Thus, after reaching adulthood, Kavad was seen as a lazy, uneducated individual who was nothing more than a country bumpkin who had way too much time and money on his hands, wasting both of them on extravagant parties that had way too much alcohol. In short, he was a source of embarrassment to his parents. However, there were always ambitious nobles who hoped to use such a person as a puppet while they did the real ruling, and Farrukhan Suren, eager to recover his family's ancestral lands, was one such noble.

Yazdegerd I, King of Kings since 334, was struck down by a severe fever at the age of sixty-one in 385. Though he refused to die at first, everyone knew that his time was running out, and he was now powerless to stop his sons from starting a chain of events that would lead Iran to the brink of destruction.

Far, far to the east, a man watched these events unfold with a satisfied smile in his face. With a countless number of spies all over Iranian territory, many of whom were nobles who had grown tired of the bickering Sasanians, he was keenly aware of everything that was going on in the country, and was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to seize it all for himself. The man had already humbled the armies of the Celestial Empire, long believed to be invincible, but his appetite for glory and wealth wouldn't cease until he became the undisputed master of the entire world.

It was said that the mere mention of his name made the earth itself shake in fear. And the people of Iran, noble and humble alike, would do so for many years.

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Notes:

(1) Remember this guy's name, he is important.

(2) A recognition that Egypt just isn't worth conquering right now, not until a counter to Syrian Fire is discovered.

(3) That's actually Caesarea Maritima.

(4) Think of this statue, but for a different Shah.

(5) He suffers from Erb's palsy. It's the same condition that gave German emperor Wilhelm II his crippled left arm.​

 

[Vinization]

The Four Princes in 385

Ardashir, age 36

Base of support: Osroene and Northern Mesopotamia

Pros: The legitimate heir, has plenty of administrative and military experience, is known for his personal bravery.

Cons: An arrogant, fiery personality that alienates many potential allies.

Narseh, age 32

Base of support: No one.

Pros: Intelligent, would likely be a good bureaucrat if circumstances were better.

Cons: Would only take take the throne if it was forced upon him.

Shapur, age 29

Base of support: Palestine and Syria

Pros: A competent administrator, capable of doing compromises. Attracts nobles put off by Ardashir's arrogance.

Cons: Is a bit too eager to prove himself, to the point of perhaps making stupid decisions.

Kavad, age 24

Base of support: No one, except for a few nobles looking for a puppet.

Pros: Maybe the guy pulling the strings could be a decent statesman.

Cons: Completely unqualified, for the moment.​

 

[Vinization]

------------------
A Summary of the World in 385 A.D.

​

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Second Roman Empire

Capital: Mediolanum (de jure), Several (de facto)

Summary: Ever since the Tetrician Reform of 334 A.D., the authority of the Roman emperor had never been so low, and real power lay in the hands of the duces, local governors who were independent kings in all but name. While the reform accomplished its main goal of preventing massive civil wars like the ones that ripped the First Rome apart in the third century, the duces often quarrel among themselves. Despite, or perhaps because of, this extreme decentralization, there is a great deal of economic interdependence among the dioceses, and the trade that rises from these internal interactions (and from interactions with the Germanic peoples from beyond the Rhine and the Danube) propels the economic recovery of the regions that suffered the most with the Crisis of the Third Century, especially Italia.

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Kingdom of the Huns

Capital: Caesarea

Summary: Born from the Huns' epic migration out of Central Asia and into Anatolia, the kingdom they created finally subdued the last remaining Hellenic city-states in western Asia Minor in the early 370s, a conquest that greatly offset the loss of parts of Armenia to the Iranians. Though still an unified entity led by Octar, son of Uldin, the kingdom is heavily decentralized, with many tribes acting on their own accord, which causes all sorts of diplomatic issues since some of them have become either pirates or raiders who attack the eastern Mediterranean and northern Syria/Mesopotamia alike. Though its leaders retain their distinct culture and religion, a growing number of them are converting to Christianity, the dominant faith in Anatolia.

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Egypt

Capital: Alexandria

Summary: The last remnant of the once proud Palmyrene Empire, the kingdom of Egypt, despite its great agricultural and commercial wealth, is increasingly plagued by stagnation and corruption, as well as a population that is increasingly discontent with both of those things. Many still remember how Lucius Zabbai, the kingdom's first ruler, set the Nile ablaze in a desperate attempt to prevent its conquest by Ardashir II. The decision, while preserving Egyptian independence, also destroyed many farms along the great waterway's course, with ordinary people often believing that it was a divine curse that caused the river to burn. Although the population is overwhelmingly Chrisitan, most of the aristocracy still clings to their old religious beliefs, widening the gap between the state and the masses.

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Kingdom of Aksum

Capital: Aksum

Summary: Stretching from Nobatia to the Ethiopian Highlands, and also controlling Himyar, the Kingdom of Aksum is, pound for pound, probably the richest state on Earth. Not only it is blessed by fertile farmand that is more than capable of feeding the more than five million souls that reside within its borders, but it also posesses a stranglehold over one of the world's busiest trade routes, the Arabian Gulf, and merchants from Europe, India and China all visit its ports. Aksum also has no major foreign threats to speak of for now, with its current "archenemy" being the many pirates that use the island of Socotra as their base, from where they prey on unlucky trade ships. As the first state to be led by a Christian king, Aksum uses its spectacular wealth to sponsor the spread of Christianity to all the corners of the world, with Aksumite missionaries and traders traveling to Arabia, India and the Swahili city-states of eastern Africa. In time, these missionaries would reach the distant coast of China and all the islands that stood in their way.

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Empire of Iran

Capital: Ctesiphon

Summary: Despite losing wealthy eastern provinces like Transoxiana and Bactria to the Hephthalites, Iran has flourished under the skilled and steady leadership of its Shahanshah, Yazdegerd I. However, it has two strong neighbors (the Huns and the Hephthalites) eager to pounce upon its riches at the first sign of weakness, and a general struggle for the succession is brewing at the moment. An empire is its own worst enemy, after all.

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Hephthalite Empire

Capital: Bactra at first, then Bukhara

Summary: Already a great power at the time of the death of its founder Mihirakula, the Hephthalite Empire's strength and wealth reached new heights under the leadership of his son and successor, Khushnavaz, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest and most legendary generals of his age. Taking the crown after his father's death in 371 A.D., Khushnavaz more than tripled the area of land under his people's control by waging a brilliant five-year campaign (374-379) against the Celestial Empire which saw the destruction of multiple Chinese armies (that had grown stagnant thanks to the decades of peace) that often outnumbered his own by three to one, and the expulsion of them from Transoxiana and the Tarim Basin, putting an end to the Protectorate of the Western Regions. The war ended when the Hephthalites reached the gates of Chang'an itself and forced the Wu dynasty to sue for peace.

Covered in glory, ruling a multicultural empire that stretches from the Yumen Pass to the Caspian Sea, and leading an army composed primarily of horse archers, cataphracts and fearsome siege engines whose morale couldn't be higher, Khushnavaz was now ready to avenge his father's shameful defeat and conquer Iran once and for all, a task that, if fulfilled, would make him the most powerful monarch in the world.

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Gupta Empire

Capital: Pataliputra

Summary: Experiencing a cultural and economic golden age, the Gupta Empire, led by the skilled emperor Chandragupta II, who would be immortalized by his title of Vikramaditya, is on the verge of conquering the decaying state of the Western Satrapss and unifying northern India. With more than sixty million people living within its borders, it is the most populous country in the world.

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Celestial Empire

Capital: Luoyang

Summary: Long believed to be invincible, the Celestial Empire is now reeling after suffering the successive blows of foreign incursions, palace intrigues and outright rebellion, a cycle that began with Khushnavaz's conquest of the Western Regions. The glorious days of emperor Taizong now a distant memory, it is unknown if the emperors of the Wu dynasty will manage to overcome these problems or be extinguished. Despite its troubles, China is still an extraordinarily vast and rich nation, and whoever leads it may very well preside over an economic revolution if skilled enough.

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Kingdom of Silla

Capital: Seorabeol

Summary: A vassal of the Celestial Empire since the time of emperor Taizong, the kingdom of Silla seized the opportunity created by the Hephthalites to stop paying tribute to Luoyang and completely expel the Chinese from the Korean peninsula, only stopping its offensive after reaching the Yalu river. While nowhere near as obscenely wealthy or powerful as its former overlord, Silla is still a respectable state in its own right, with the capital city of Seorabeol alone sustaining a population of almost a million people.​

 

[Vinization]

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Part 24: A Matter of Priorities

Throughout his life, Yazdegerd I was an overall healthy individual,usually recovering quickly whenever he fell ill. Because of this, he likely believed that he would live a very long life, not realizing just how fragile his body was becoming right until the time his health declined catastrophically in 385. Suddenly struck by a fever that was likely caused by malaria (the same disease which is believed to have killed Alexander the Great), the Shahanshah was bedridden, mostly delirious and unable to organize his own succession, which explains the chaotic series of events that followed.

The first prince to hear about what was happening in Ctesiphon was Shapur, thanks to his position as governor of Palestine and the fact that the Royal Road led right into his seat of power in Haifa, allowing any messengers from the capital to reach him faster than usual. Gathering his entourage and as many loyal soldiers as he could (around 10.000 men), Shapur quickly departed for the province of Asoristan, the beating heart of the empire, as fast as possible. It was then, however that he was faced with a terrible surprise as soon as he crossed the Euphrates near Dura Europos.

Ardashir had heard the news as well, even if a few days late, and was standing in his younger brother's way.​

An illustration of the "battle" of Dura Europos.​

The confrontation that followed was less a battle and more of a massacre. Ardashir not only counted with an army that outnumbered Shapur's by at least two to one, but he was also a much better general, and the soldiers under his command were hardened veterans thanks to their constant clashes with the Huns. But although the elder prince had turned his opponents into a mountain of bodies, he was not satisfied with the result, not one bit, for his brother was not among the dead (1). Part of him wished to scatter his men to find Shapur before he could start an uprising or worse, run into the arms of a foreign king who could use him as a puppet, but he knew that he couldn't waste any time: unless Ctesiphon was completely under his control, anything could happen.

Days after the victory at Dura Europos, Ardashir triumphantly marched into the capital and, even though Yazdegerd was still alive, if barely, was crowned as the third Shah of Iran to have that name. There was a good reason to believe that Ardashir III would be a king worthy of his name, for he was not only a brave and experienced soldier, but also a man of unquestionable administrative ability, having been governor of Osroene for fifteen years and keeping said province's finances and security in good shape.

However, he was also very paranoid, and the fact that Shapur was still on the loose didn't help either. Not used to the extremely busy streets and ceaseless intrigues of Ctesiphon, having spent many years in smaller cities such as Edessa or in the field of battle with his soldiers, the new Shah ordered the imprisonment and outright execution of many nobles and magi, several of whom were in fact allies of Shapur.

But there were many who weren't, and their families began to get angry.

Narseh, fearing for his life even though he had no political ambitions, fled to Meshan, where he boarded a trading vessel and escaped his Ardashir's agents while Kavad was, miraculously, not only spared from his brother's wrath but was actually awarded the governorship of that very same province. It is likely that he wasn't seen as a threat thanks to his indolent and pleasure-loving personality, and that this apointment was actually a way to get him and his embarrassing antics out of Ctesiphon while at the same time put him on a place where he could be put under close scrutiny in case he or any nobles close to him had any ideas.​

A coin depicting Ardashir III.​

As 385 gave way to 386, Ardashir managed to alienate several important people despite being in power for less than a year, but there were no plots against his life just yet, for they needed something big to happen first. That 'something big' turned out to be the news that Shapur was not only still alive, but had fled to the territoryof the Huns, where he was received by their king, Octar, in an elaborate ceremony. The Shah was predictably enraged when he heard the news, ordering a new round of executions against people who were accused of protecting the runaway prince in his escape, and began to raise an army to either subjugate the Huns or force them to hand Shapur back so he could be executed as well.

Farrukhan, a respected member of the wuzurgan (high nobility) thanks to his status as a member of the House of Suren, argued that the real threat to his rule wasn't in Anatolia, but rather in Central Asia, and the army (which had around 60.000 men) should be used to attack the Hephthalites before they attacked first. This simple disagreement was seen as evidence that he was involved in a conspiracy against the life of the King of Kings, and Farrukhan was sent in chains to the Castle of Oblivion, a decision that convinced the remaining notables of Ctesiphon that Ardashir had to die, lest they be the ones to suffer that fate. However, the Shah departed the capital in March, before the conspiracy had reached the point where it could become reality, a delay that would cause Iran a lot of pain in the future.

For while the Shah had plenty of experience in fighting raiders, he realized soon after crossing the Cilician Gates, in May, that conquering an entire kingdom was an infinitely more difficult task. Instead of betting everything on a single decisive battle, Octar adopted a scorched earth strategy, burning crops, villages, poisoning wells and attacking the Iranians' supply lines. Eastern Anatolia was already an arid, mountainous land, and the Huns' actions made it almost uninhabitable for the invaders, who began to die from starvation and disease in growing numbers as the time passed.

A different commander would have ordered a withdrawal, but Ardashir was dead set on not stopping until Shapur's head was given to him, so he continued, even after receiving news that something was going on in the east, something that required his full attention as soon as possible (2). Months passed, during which major cities like Caesarea (the Hunnic capital), Iconium and Ancyra were captured, but they were all deserted, having been plundered by their own inhabitants in order to deny any possible resources to the Iranians. And Shapur was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, the inevitable happened, and Ardashir III, who became forever known as "The Blind" thanks to his obsession with killing his brother, was murdered on August of 386, his death having been ordered by Izadgushashp, a member of the House of Spandiyadh and one of the spahbeds who accompanied him on his doomed campaign. Soon after the deed was done, the general ordered a general withdrawal... only for much of the army to be obliterated in a devastating ambush at the Cilician Gates.​

The Cilician Gates today.​

Out of an original force of 60.000 soldiers, only a quarter made it back to Syria, being closely followed by Shapur, who now returned with a vengeance and an army of around 15.000 Hunnic warriors, most of them horse archers, who rallied to his cause hoping to be given land grants and other privileges in exchange for their service. Izadgushashp, not willing to sacrifice his own life and that of his tired, hungry soldiers for nothing, chose instead to support the prince, allowing him to march straight to Ctesiphon virtually unopposed, although his very much autonomous allies did cause plenty of trouble in the way, often sacking towns and farms they came across and causing riots in larger cities.

Nevertheless, the prince reached Ctesiphon in September 386 and was formally acclaimed as Shapur II by the nobility and clergy. He ordered the release of all those who were imprisoned during Ardashir's brief and tyrannical reign immediately after taking over, rehabilitating the names of those who were executed (3). The prominent members of the Christian and Jewish communites of the capital were particularly happy with the new Shah's rise, since they were aware of his record as governor of Palestine and could expect privileges or positions in his administration. As for the Huns, Shapur intended to settle them throughout Mesopotamia and Khuzestan as well as found a new city built especially for them as a reward for their help.

None of these plans would be completed, since Khushnavaz had already begun his invasion. And while Ardashir was busy wasting valuable time and men in Anatolia, he was busy gathering new allies to help him avenge his father's defeat by the Sasanians.

And he had many.

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Timeline:

385 A.D.: Ardashir III is crowned Shahanshah of Iran after defeating his brother Shapur in a battle at Dura Europos. Narseh flees abroad while Kavad is appointed governor of Meshan, and multiple nobles and magi are executed.

March 386 A.D.: The Shah departs Ctesiphon at he head of an army of 60.000 men, hoping to subdue the Huns who sheltered his brother.

May 386: The Cilician Gates are crossed.

August 386: Ardashir the Blind is murdered on the orders of Izadgushashp, one of his spahbeds.

September 386: Shapur II is acclaimed Shahanshah by the nobility and clergy, and the people imprisoned on the orders of his predecessor are all released. He has no time to rest, however, for the cataclysmic, dramatic final war between Iran and the Hephthalites has already begun.
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Notes:

(1) Predictably, "What if the future Shapur II died in Dura Europos?" is a rather popular POD in this world's equivalent of AH.com.

(2) Truth be told, Ardashir was probably not informed of just how severe the situation really was until it was too late. Maybe he intended to withdraw? Who knows...

(3) Farrukhan is among those who were released.​

 

[Vinization]

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Part 25: Counterattack

After spending a whole year on the run and then in exile, always fearing for his life, it is likely that Shapur II expected to be finally given a break after his acclamation as Shah of Iran. It is only after he was duly installed that he realized that his position was already quite shaky from the get go, and worsening, the man himself being overwhelmed by an avalanche of bad news that came from the eastern corners of the empire, and they weren't all just regarding the military situation.

Khushnavaz attacked almost immediately after Ardashir's doomed army crossed the Cilician Gates (May/June 386), and he had months to do whatever he wanted without Ctesiphon doing so much as lifting a finger to stop his advance. Starting his campaign by besieging the important fortresses of Gorgan and Bam, the former personally, and both of them fell in months after their defenders realized that help wouldn't arrive in time, if at all. The entire Iranian Plateau was now vulnerable, but the Hephthalite king did not take advantage of that and plunder the country the way he could have, despite the fact that his highly mobile army was perfect for such a task.

No, he intended to completely replace the Sasanians with his own dynasty, just like they did with the Arsacids, and for that, he intended to take advantage of one of Iran's most important political characteristics: the fact that the country was still very much a confederation, even if a more centralized one than before. Vast tracts of land were under the control of powerful nobles, especially those of the Seven Great Houses, and an immense variety of vassal kingdoms such as Albania and Armenia, all of whom he intended to sway to his side by framing himself not as a foreign invader like Alexander or Odainat, but rather as the rightful Shah of Iran. In order to ensure that this strategy was successful, the vast army Khushanvaz commanded, which was composed of multiple nationalities (Hephthalites, Sogdians, Tocharians, Turks - the first time they are mentioned as a people - among many others) had to be put under strict control in order to avoid any large scale atrocities that could be used as propaganda against him.​

A coin depicting Khushnavaz, clearly showing his intent to legitimize his claim to the throne of Iran.​

Thus, although Shapur's military situation seemed better than it should have been, the reality was that he was in dire straits, and unless he did something fast, the nobles and magi at his side would desert him. The entire House of Suren had already defected, its only remaining loyal member of note being Farrukhan, who was predictably seen with extreme suspicion, while the Ispahbudhan, Mihran and Spandiyadh remained loyal. The others (Zik, Karen and Varaz) waiting to see how the situation developed before making their move. The Shahanshah needed to raise an army as fast as he could so he could defeat his enemy in battle, but this was a difficult and time consuming task considering that many powerful aristocrats were potential spies and traitors (1). It took months, but eventually a force of 35.000 soldiers was mobilized in December 386, a small number considering the size of the army lost in Anatolia, but they were bolstered by the 15.000 Huns who came with the new Shah, totaling 50.000 men.

Khushnavaz used the time he had left to solidify his control over the territory occupied by his troops and expand said territory at a slow but steady pace. By the time the Sasanian army had crossed the Zagros, in February 387, the invader's force, which numbered about 65.000 men, were camped outside Ray, the king himself negotiating the terms of the surrender of the vital city. These negotiations were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the Iranian army, which, although nominally commanded by Shapur II, was really led by shpahbed Izadgushasp, since the Shah, while an able politician and schemer, was definitely not a decent general.

Khushnavaz, in comparison, was not only experienced but also a genius, and he had an extensive record to prove it. This was the first battle in his career where his army outnumbered that of the enemy, and considering that these were the same soldiers (and, most importantly, horse archers) who won so many victories against the Celestial Empire, a state infinitely more powerful than Iran, he had a good reason to believe that the Sasanian dynasty needed to collapse was one more push, an assumption that was likely correct.​

The Battle of Ray.​

The Battle of Ray, which happened on March 4, 387, was a very nasty shock to him.

The confrontation was quite straightforward at first. Both forces' infantry lines crashed straight into each other head on, creating a brutal slugfest that lasted for hours without either side emerging as the winner, the horse archers' projectiles only causing more chaos. The cataphracts didn't have much luck either, their impressive armor making them almost invulnerable both to enemy arrows and each other's lances and maces.

In time, however, the Hephthalites' numerical advantage, combined with their better morale, began to tip the scales in their favor, and the Iranian army, tired from weeks of marching, began to buckle under their onslaught. Seemingly afraid that a prolonged engagement would only cripple what little forces he had under his control, Izadgushasp ordered a general retreat. Believing to be on the verge of yet another glorious victory, Khushnavaz commanded his soldiers to pursue their enemies, an order which was eagerly obeyed. The Hephthalite force, believing that the battle was won, disorganized itself.

And it was at this crucial moment that the Huns, who suddenly turned around and began firing volley after volley into their enemies, proved their worth.

The invaders' already strained army quickly devolved into a chaotic mob, and now it was time for the Iranian cataphracts to change course and charge straight into them, their lances impaling multiple men, followed by limbs and skulls alike being broken by their maces. Khushnavaz, so sure that this would be the day that he would become Shahanshah, had fallen into one of his favorite traps, the feigned retreat, and his soldiers paid dearly for his (and their own) overconfidence. The Battle of Ray ended with the Hephthalites suffering 25.000 casualties -a quarter of their force- and retreating back to Gorgan. There were other armies on the way, ready to reinforce their king, but it would take time for them to arrive.

Shapur was predictably jubilant, the cause of his dynasty suddenly experiencing a massive boost in prestige thanks to the victory, and the nobles who were on the fence at first became far more cooperative. Thus, the arduous task of raising soldiers from their estates became much easier. However, the army had suffered too many casualties -around 13.000 in total- to immediately embark on a pursuit of its defeated foes. Thus, the Shahanshah and his spahbeds had no choice but to spend the following months in Ray and its famous castle, licking their wounds and resting.​

The Castle of Ray was built and continuously used since the days before the Achaemenids. The inscription below was carved during the reign of Yazdegerd the Magnificent (1).​

The Iranian army, which had grown into a mighty force of 80.000 thousand men (which included Daylamite infantrymen, Persian cataphracts, Hunnic horse archers and many other nationalities) resumed its march in June, its new objective being the recapture of Gorgan. Khushnavaz, who used the time he had to replenish his losses and now fielded an army of 68.000 men, intended to prevent that by setting up an ambush near what is now the village of Ziarat, located in a valley within the heavily forested region of Hyrcania. But while Shapur was eager to score another victory, he still listened to Izadgushasp and other spahbeds, who advised their monarch to send scouts ahead of the main force, just in case. These scouts warned the Shahanshah of the impending danger, and so he ordered the army to cross another pass instead.

This move not only prevented Khushnavaz from scoring what would likely have been a great victory, but also allowed the Iranians to retake Gorgan without suffering a single casualty. The Hephthalite king had no choice but to immediately retreat before he was cut off and annihilated, departing to Nishapur and narrowly avoiding battle while continuing to give ground to his pursuing enemy, only stopping after he reached Merv. Shapur, who had by now reconquered almost all of Khorasan, was right behind him, hellbent on not stopping until the eastern border of the Sasanian empire, which used to stretch all the way to Samarkand and the Hindukush, was restored in its entirety.

Neither he nor the spahbeds were aware that they were walking straight into a trap.

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Note:

(1) That inscription was actually made during the reign of Fath Ali Shah Qajar (1797-1834).​

 

[Vinization]

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Part 26: Disaster​

Izadgushasp (in green) is killed.​

To fully understand how the crushing Iranian defeat at the Battle of Merv came to be, we must first remember the events that preceded it. Shapur II had been on the offensive against Khushnavaz ever since his great victory at Ray, undoing all of the latter's conquests in the months that followed it and, most spectacularly, retaking Gorgan without losing a single soldier. By the time the Sasanian army had reached the outskirts of the city of Merv, the last Hephthalite holdout in Khorasan, it had been on the move for almost three months now, and although its soldiers were tired from the constant marching, they were confident that any confrontation would have a victorious conclusion. How could it not, considering that they had prevailed even when outnumbered?

They had failed to take into account that their opponent, while reeling, was far from beaten. No, this was just a hiccup. And he would prove that in August 26, 387.

The Iranian and Hephthalite armies, each numbering 80.000 and 68.000 men respectively, initially engaged one another in a series of small, inconclusive skirmishes the days preceding the decisive battle while their commanders planned what to do. Izadgushasp and his fellow spahbeds agreed on the standard, proven tactic of pinning the enemy center down with the infantry while the cataphracts routed whatever forces guarded the flanks before charging at the rear, the horse archers meanwhile raining chaos and fear with their arrows, killing many and wounding more.

The battle began in the late morning, both forces nervously staring each other down in anticipation for a few hours before their respective commanders ordered them on an all out charge. The King of Kings, watching everything from a safe distance (he still had bad memories from Dura Europos), liked what he was seeing: everything was playing out exactly like he and the spahbeds wanted, and he could already imagine himself returning to Ctesiphon, covered in glory and spoils. After what would surely be a magnificent parade, he would finally be crowned (the situation was too urgent so he was only acclaimed) with all the splendor he deserved.

Then everything went to hell after Khushnavaz unveiled his big surprise the moment before the swords clashed: more than fifty mangonels.

The mangonel, also known as the traction trebuchet, was basically the Chinese equivalent of the Roman onager, except it was less complex and had a higher rate of fire. The Hephthalite king came into contact with these weapons during his war against the Celestial Empire, eagerly adopting them after taking several enemy engineers captive in the Battle of Xianyang, his final, decisive victory against them (1). These mighty siege engines not only had plenty of ammunition nearby in the form of several large stones, but these stones were also covered in a combustible substance that could be easily set alight.​

A Chinese traction trebuchet.​

Predictably, the sudden appearance of burning rocks raining from the sky was a terrifying sight for the Iranian soldiers, most of whom had never seen anything like it in their lives before, thanks to the long years of peace, and they began to believe that the flames of hell itself were falling upon them. The tenacity of their Hephthalite adversaries, whose morale was boosted after they realized that their king's gamble was working, contributed to that belief, and soon enough the Iranian infantry's resolve began to break. Izadgushasp, hoping to prevent a general rout and guarantee an orderly withdrawal at the very least, personally got into the fray in an attempt to rally his men. However this had disastrous results, for he was shot in the back by an enemy arrow and fell from his horse.

The spahbed's death turned what could have been a stinging but manageable defeat into a massacre. While the cataphracts and horse archers stood firm and suffered relatively small losses, the center devolved into a panicked mob that was readily cut down by its enemies.

By the end of the day, over 20.000 Iranian soldiers (most of them infantrymen), along with one of their most experienced and respected commanders, lay dead or wounded on the battlefield. A further 15.000 were taken prisoner and would later be deported to distant corners of the invader's empire, meaning that almost half of the Shahanshah's army had been lost in a single battle. The Hephthalites, in comparison, suffererd only 4.000 casualties, a stinging loss considering their empire's small population when compared to Iran's, but one that was more than worth the price.

Now it was Shapur's turn to pull a 180 and run away, and he did so until holed himself up in the walls of Gorgan in mid September. He was advised to keep retreating, however, since Khushnavaz obviously had more than enough siege engines to turn the fortress to dust if he so desired, and the Shah desperately needed to reinforce his army if he were to survive another battle. However, at this decisive moment, Shapur dithered, since another part of him thought that he could be caught in the open field and then slaughtered, and yet another part wanted to avenge Izadgushasp's death.

A few days later, the King of Kings ordered his battered army to abandon Gorgan to the enemy and retreat to friendlier territory to the west. Unfortunately, the time he wasted allowed Khushnavaz to catch him somewhere west of the great fortress (2). With the Hephthalite army blocking the way, mountains to the south and the Caspian Sea to the north, there was really only one way the following battle could go. So Shapur did the one thing no one expected him to do: he ordered his 45.000 soldiers to lay down their arms, then surrendered on October 8, 387.

It was a horrible mistake.

Khushnavaz had no interest in being merciful, not to the man who had humiliated him so thoroughly just months before. So he ordered half of the Iranian soldiers who were taken captive - around 20.000 men - to be decapitated on the spot, their heads then being piled up into a pyramid as an example to what would happen to those who defied him, while the other prisoners were sold into slavery. Shapur, who, horrified, saw the very scenario he wanted to avoid unfolding before his eyes, had his nose cut off, a wound that disqualified him from being Shahanshah, before being sent to Bukhara in chains.

It would take a long time before word about what was happening in the front reached Ctesiphon.

And there was only one man left who could take the crown.

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Notes:

(1) Xianyang is a city right next to Xi'an (Chang'an).

(2) Somewhere near Kordkuy.​

 

[Vinization]

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Part 29: Slowdown

Meshan, December 2, 387

Though he had read the letter's contents several times, Kavad still couldn't believe the scale of the catastrophe that had taken place in the east: a force of eighty thousand men, led by the rightful Shah himself and some of the most experienced spahbeds, and including elite troops such as the cataphracts, composed of men who were some of the most esteemed members of the Iranian nobility, and the renowned Daylamite foot soldiers, had been completely annihilated only months after their initial, glorious victory at Ray. To make matters straight up insulting, the last survivors of this mighty army weren't slain in battle, but shamefully executed or sold into slavery. And Shapur was now probably rotting in Bukhara, if he was still alive that is.

The prince, now twenty-six years old, had served as governor of Meshan for two years now, was a profoundly different individual than he was before he was appointed to the office by the late Ardashir III. The once debauched, idle alcoholic had finally been given a healthy outlet for his seemingly limitless energy, and even though he wasn't particularly well educated (that was partly his own fault), he proved himself to be a fast learner and a clever, cunning individual who knew how to hide his true intelligence, a task made easier by his infamous reputation back at the capital, and allowed him to discover several spies who underestimated him.

Now he almost wished he hadn't changed.

Kavad would be lying to himself and his friebds if he denied that he wanted to take the throne, but he never thought such a thing was possible, and definitely not under such daunting circumstances. Two huge armies had been lost in the span of a year and now an ogre from the steppes was likely rampaging his way through the Plateau, and if the rumors of flaming rocks raining from the sky and huge pyramids made out of human heads were real, he seemed to be almost invincible. There were spies everywhere, even if Meshan was by now largely free from their presence, and there were strong suspicions that Farrukhan, a good friend he made during his more indolent days back at Ctesiphon (the more cynical side of him now believed that the noble was really after a puppet to control) was one of them.

Damn it, what was he supposed to do? Considering the amount of time that had passed between the events that ocurred and the when he received the precious message, there was a real possibility that Khushnavaz had already crossed the Zagros and reached Mesopotamia. Even if he hadn't, how was he supposed to fight him when he had almost no good soldiers left and a den of snakes that could easily stab him on the back?

"My Lord," Pabag, a scribe and one of the prince's closest confidants, entered the dimly lit room, which was full of disorganized documents everywhere, in a type of chaos that was oddly organized. "You have been awake without doing so much as taking a nap since long before sunrise, and it's well past nightfall now. And you didn't sleep well yesterday either..."

"Not yet." The tired prince replied, eyes still fixated on the letter, his mind clouded by the immense number of variables he was juggling with at the moment,

"If I may be so bold, sir, you will not make a sound decision without a few hours' bed rest first, along with a good meal and drink. Please."

Kavad sighed before getting up from his seat. "I know, I know..." The migraine plaguing his head at the moment wouldn't go away without some good wine, anyway.

He wondered what his mother, Shirin, would think of him after he returned to the capital. If he wasn't murdered before getting there, that is...

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Though the Sasanian position seemed to be on the brink of ruin, the Hephthalite one wasn't ideal, either. Despite delivering two devastating counterpunches and recovering the initiative on the military front, Khushnavaz soon realized that the treatment given to Shapur and his soldiers had been excessively cruel, for soon enough nobles who were once apathetic or receptive to his diplomatic advances now began to have reservations about whether or not he truly deserved their support, since many of the soldiers slain or taken captive came from their estates or were their colleagues in case of the cataphracts. Still, they were afraid of sharing the same gruesome fate, so there was no widespread resistance to his advance just yet.

Hoping to capitalize on his victories and aware that the Sasanians probably didn't have many soldiers left and were temporarily leaderless, Khushnavaz divided his army of 64.000 men into two forces of roughly equal size, so as to diminish the strain on their logistics and enable them to occupy as much land as possible. Both halves had the same destination in mind, the province of Adurbadagan, but they traveled on different paths, one of them (led by the king himself) marching through Mazandaran and Daylam, on the coast of the Caspain Sea, while the other marched further inland, through Ray. Once they combined themselves near Lake Urmia, the Hephthalites would then cross the Zagros and attack Mesopotamia before finally besieging Ctesiphon.

Though an extremely risky strategy, thanks to the possibility of being defeated in detail since both armies were separated from each other by the imposing Alborz mountains, it bore fruit since the advance of the two wings was, at first, practically unopposed, the southern one, led by a general named Khingila, took Qumis, Ray, Shahin (1) and eventually Ganzak, capital of Adurbadagan, with no resistance, sometime on October. Khushnavaz largely mirrored his southern subordinate's movements, but he suddenly faced an unexpected opponent right as he was about to meet up with him once more. That adversary was Urnayr, king of Albania.​

A map of the Caucasus in the third century. Albania is in the northeast.​

A vassal of the Sasanian monarchy, Urnayr saw a chance to secure his kingdom's independence and sent his army south to secure that chance, unexpectedly putting himself the middle of Khushnavaz's path. The two kings skirmished fruitlessly against one another near the town of Ardabil, and their armies, which were roughly equal in size, seemed to be on an inevitable collision course. However, the Hephthalite ruler opted to be diplomatic rather than fight, even though the scales were tipped heavily in his favor (his army was composed of hardened veterans, while the Albanian one was made out of peasant levies), and sent diplomats under a flag of truce. He couldn't affort to suffer any unnecessary casualties, and he desired to be seen as a reasonable ruler to his future Iranian subjects.

But Urnayr was skeptical of the invader's words. Shapur, who had surrendered his soldiers in the hope of sparing them from harm, suffered a horrible fate, one the Albanian was not willing to go through. He would much rather be killed in battle with his men rather than see them being decapitated en masse helplessly. Khushnavaz assured him that he would be merciful to those who didn't resist him (Shapur being the physical embodiment of such resistance), and that Albania's independence would be fully recognized, but negotiations still dragged on for weeks. It wasn't until Khingila, tired of waiting on the shores of Lake Urmia for his ruler to arrive, marched straight to Ardabil on his own, a decision that convinced Urnayr to surrender at last, in November.

By then, however, it was too late to cross the Zagros, for winter had set in and passing through those mountains was now suicide (2). Though infuriated at not being able to vanquish the Sasanians in one fell swoop, Khushnavaz could at least content himself with the fact that he had gone further into Iran than his father had ever been. Sadly, that was only the beginning of his troubles, for ruling an empire that stretched from Lake Urmia to the Hindu Kush and the Yumen Pass was not an easy task, and it showed: while he was in Tabriz, where he intended to stay until spring came along and allowed him to attack Mesopotamia, the Hephthalite king received word that a number of tribes were stirring up trouble back in Central Asia, and the local garrisons weren't strong enough to put them down.

He had no choice but to shelve his great ambition for the moment and make a long, time-consuming trip back to Transoxiana, detaching garrisons to defend strategic fortresses such as Tabriz, Ray and Gorgan in the meantime. By the time Khushnavaz entered Nishapur, sometime in March 388, the situation had escalated into an all out civil war, and the outskirts of Bukhara itself had been raided multiple times. The king saved the capital and defeated his adversaries in a series of battles, but then he realized that he had more enemies than he thought: a worrying number of nobles and traders were unhappy with the how long the war against Iran was becoming (since warfare disrupted the Silk Road), and a larger number still feared that they would lose their importance and status if Ctesiphon was taken, since the king would likely make said city his new capital.

Thus, Khushnavaz was forced to waste even more time than he anticipated, since his presence was critical in ensuring that order was maintained. He could not allow the empire that had been built by Mihirakula and expanded by him to fall apart due to some aristocratic conspiracy. In the following months, multiple prominent individuals suspected of being traitors were either imprisoned or executed. Feeling that his position was secured once more, the invader departed Bukhara in July, hoping to make it to the Zagros as soon as possible... before finding out that the Daylamites, who were always a fiercely autonomous people, decided that the Hephthalites had overstayed their welcome. Such a potential threat to his army's supply line could not be tolerated, and Khushnavaz embarked on another time-consuming campaign to bring them to heel.​

The modern city of Ray, with the Alborz Mountains in the background. These mountains were the Daylamites' refuge from those they saw as foreign invaders.​

After months of raids and counter raids that failed to subdue the Daylamites completely, but nevertheless diminished the threat they posed, the Hephthalites continued on their march west. By now realizing that he had likely lost a second opportunity to attack Mesopotamia, the Hephthalite king decided instead to expand and consolidate the area already occupied by his troops. Thus, he ordered them to take the imposing castle of Nahavand, which, if captured, would not only give him complete control over Media, but also open a new, shorter path to Ctesiphon, rather than the more northern passes, which led first to cities that could be potential obstacles, such as Arbela.

It was a much more difficult task than anticipated. The House of Karen, which controlled the fortress, was repulsed by Khushnavaz's treatment of the defeated Shapur II, and rejected all offers to surrender it peacefully, declaring that they would never bow to a foreign usurper. There was no alternative but to besiege Nahavand, starve its defenders and then take it by assault, a course of action that would take a long time to be completed and inevitably lead to multiple casualties that couldn't be replaced. The harsh, rugged terrain didn't help things either, and positioning the many formidable mangonels the invaders had would also be very hard to do.

Meanwhile, in Ctesiphon, Kavad was making the best of what time he had left before the war inevitably came to Mesopotamia. And although it had started two years ago, it clearly wasn't going to end any time soon.

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Timeline:

387 A.D.:

October: After a long march throughout northern Iran, Ganzak, capital of Adurbadagan, is captured by the Hephthalite general Khingila, who commanded half of the invading army. The other half, led by Khushnavaz, gets bogged down in Ardabil because of the interference of the king of Albania, Urnayr.

November: Urnayr agrees to return to his kingdom in exhange for a recognition of its independence, By then, it is too late to attack Mesopotamia.

December: Kavad I is acclaimed Shahanshah in Ctesiphon. Meanwhile, Khushnavaz is forced to march back to Central Asia in order to put down a revolt, leaving garrisons to prevent important strongholds from being retaken by the enemy.

388 A.D.:

March: The rebels, who at one point threatened Bukhara itself, are defeated in a series of battles. The king has to stay in the capital to prevent a similar uprising from happening.

July: Khushnavaz embarks on a new offensive against the Sasanians, but has instead to fight the Daylamites, who rose up against his authority. By the time a reasonable amount of order is restored, it is once again too late to cross the Zagros, or so he believes.

November: After a few months of resting, the Hephthalites begin their siege of Nahavand.

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Notes:

(1) Modern day Zanjan.

(2) To this day, many historians ITTL believe that Khushnavaz could've crossed the Zagros in the middle of winter. Hannibal crossed the Alps, after all, so why couldn't he do the same, considering how many years he spent fighting the Chinese? The answer is that he became more conservative and less reckless with age, perhaps too much so. Also, despite the huge empire under his control, the elite core of the army remained relatively small, and couldn't take severe casualties from either battle or worse, attrition.​

 

[Vinization]

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The War in 388 A.D.

 

[Vinization]

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Part 30: Breakthrough

Kavad, first King of Kings to bear that name, knew before taking office that the task ahead of him was likely an impossible one. Huge amounts of money and tens of thousands of soldiers had been lost in the last couple of years thanks to the brief civil war, Ardashir III's attempt to subdue the Huns, which ended catastrophically, and finally Khushnavaz's invasion of the east, which led to the defeat of Shapur II and the utter destruction of his mighty army. His enthronement ceremony was, perhaps unsurprisingly now but not to his contemporaries, nowhere near as dazzling and bombastic as it was supposed to be. Not that the man himself cared: he had mingled with commoners anonymously since his childhood, after all, and had grown to privately despise the excessive pomp and snobbery of the inner court, which reminded him of his more indolent, wasteful days.

Nevertheless, it was still a reminder of just how little gold there was left in the treasury. Were he to even have a slim chance of winning the war, Kavad needed more money fast, and there was no easy way of getting that, so tough, controversial measures were required. The first such move was to promove Farrukhan to the extremely prestigious and important position of wuzurg framadar ("grand lord", practically a prime minister) soon after being enthroned, a decision that caused an uproar inside the court thanks to the suspicions that the Surenid noble, the last of whom still loyal to Ctesiphon, was a traitor.

Though we'll likely never truly know what was in the Shah's mind (and the sources, from Pabag of Ahvaz (1) to Honorius of Olissipo, all contradict each other) we can always speculate why he acted the way he did:
​

1. First, the Shah and Farrukhan were old acquaintaces, and the promotion could be a way of rewarding the very wealthy noble and showing that he hadn't been forgotten during his days as governor of Meshan;​
2. A way to sway Farrukhan from Khushnavaz's camp, in case he was truly an enemy spy;​
3. A way to put him on a position where he could be closely scrutinized and dealt with as soon as possible if necessary.​

But if this was a controversial decision, it was nothing next to what became infamously known as the Samarra Decree, which was given this name because Kavad briefly fled to the city in question to excape its immediate aftermath. Said decree ordered that every single valuable religious image or decoration, no matter which faith it belonged to, be given to the state in order to finance the training of a new army. Fire temples, churches (whether Christian or Manichean) and synagogues were all pillaged and laid bare by soldiers enforcing the order, who likely saw a chance to enrich themselves in the process. Though the members of the clergy tried to reassure their followers that this was being done for a good cause, lack of proper communication and acts of brutality commited by the enforcers led to the eruption of riots in multiple cities, the situation in Ctesiphon itself only calming down after two weeks and thousands of deaths.​

Iranian soldiers destroying a church on the orders of Kavad I (left), as shown in a Roman manuscript.​

But while the short term effects of the decree were horrendous, in the end it had its intended results as the treasury suddenly received a massive influx of cash in the following months, cash that was duly invested in the military immediately after. No expense was spared, and soldiers were raised from every possible source: common citizens were conscripted (and sometimes straight up abducted) to serve as paighan infantrymen (a light levy armed with spears and wicker shields), while Hunnic horse archers, renowned for their proven skill, as well as hardy Arab tribesmen were hired as mercenaries. Even a few ambitious Romans, looking for a way to get rich, answered the call, the most famous of them by far being Honorius of Olissipo, due to his long life and many travels as a mercenary and later a civilian (2).

But while this force began to steadily grow to a formidable size, it was desperately lacking in both heavy infantry and cavalry, since the former's primary recruting grounds were in Daylam, outside of the Sasanians' reach, and the latter's numbers were slaughtered. And unless this new army was given some time to be trained properly, it would be annihilated in a pitched battle. The sudden influx of internal troubles and misfortunes that befell Khushnavaz's enourmous empire gave them exactly that, but would that be enough? No one wanted to answer.

All they could to do now was gather their strength until the invader inevitably crossed the Zagros, and Kavad had already done multiple preparations for that. Wanting for the Hephthalites to come from through the northern passes, the longest route to Ctesiphon, the Shahanshah ordered for their defenses to be deliberately undermanned. Canals and ditches were dug along the Tigris, so they could be deliberately flooded and slow down the enemy's advance, so that by the time they finally reach the capital and attempt to besiege it, they would be exhausted, trapped between the city walls and the field army, and finally starved until they had no choice but to surrender.

But these preparations would take a long time to be completed, and the siege of Nahavand suddenly put the whole strategy at risk, since there would be nothing stopping Khushnavaz from taking the shortest rout and invading Asoristan from Media if the fortress was taken. Thankfully, the garrison, composed of around 10.000 men, was more than able to defend itself, at least for the moment, repelling multiple enemy frontal assaults and even torching much of their siege equipment in a daring night sortie. But as time went on and the Hephthalites settled in for a long siege instead of fruitlessly trying to scale or breach the walls, supplies began to dwindle for the defenders.

By the fourth month of the siege (so around February 389) the situation was getting desperate, and the commander of the garrison, a noble of the House of Karen named Vistahm (or Bistam) managed to slip through the besiegers to Ctesiphon a message that said that unless something was done quickly, he would have no choice but to surrender.​

The mighty castle of Nahavand.​

Kavad, not willing to risk his entire army to relieve the fotress, contemplated abandoning it to its fate, but then decided to send a small raiding party in a diversionary attack directed to Adurbadagan, hoping that it could be enough to distract the besiegers. This force, composed of lightly armored and fast Arab and Hunnic mercenaries, was strictly ordered to wreak as much havoc as possible until Khushnavaz either gave up or loosened the siege to stop them. 10.000 men, led by a certain Shahin, crossed the northern passes of the Zagros and, as instructed, burned and looted everything on their way, not stopping to attack any important settlements but devastating the landscape around them.

Pabag of Ahvaz, the most important historian of the war and someone who usually described the many atrocities of the war in great detail, was, perhaps unsurprisingly considering his main sponsor was the Shah himself, rather vague when describing what happened in Adurbadagan, but, considering other, scarcer sources, it is safe to say that many civilians were killed in this campaign. The only place worthy of note to not suffer any damage was the great fire temple of Adur Gushnasp, since pillaging what is to this day one of the most important places in the Zoroastrian religion would surely whip the Magi into a burning rage to the point where they would deliver Kavad's head to Khushnavaz on a silver platter. The Samarra Decree was bad enough.

Although the invader wanted to press on the siege with his entire army, fully aware that victory was now within his sight and that the raid was made out of desperation, in the end he was trapped between a rock and a hard place: if he simply let the raiders have their way in Adurbadagan, they would eventually move into other provinces and devastate them as well, and besides, the Iranian nobles loyal to him would return to the Sasanian fold if he didn't try to defend their estates. With a heavy heart, the king split his army in half, leaving one to press on against Nahavand's defenders while the other one, under his personal command, scattered the Huns and Arabs before they could return to Mesopotamia.

Neither of these aims were achieved: the raiders quickly retreated back to friendly territory with all their booty as soon as the army meant to crush them got close, while the besiegers were unable to prevent a convoy full of supplies and reinforcements from reaching Nahavand. But even though Khushnavaz was infuriated, he had no intention to withdraw now. The success of that convoy was only a matter of luck, all that had to be done was make sure none of those slipped through again, with hunger and disease doing the rest of the work for him.

But things could always get worse. Much, much worse.

Everything began when several diplomats arrived in the port of Meshan and made their way to Ctesiphon as fast as they could, where they duly informed the Shahanshah that help was in the way. Kavad was perplexed at who this new ally could be, but he needed any assistance he could get.

That ally just so happened to be the mighty emperor of Magadha, Chandragupta II.​

A coin depicting Chandragupta II.​

After the men returned to their homeland and brought the news to their sovereign, a huge fleet composed of hundreds of ships, most of them transports, entered the Persian Gulf in May and landed in Meshan, its richly decorated occupants, all of them wearing expensive silks and carrying several jewels, marched in an enormous, splendid procession to Ctesiphon. This huge group was led by none other than the long lost prince Narseh, who fled to India in order to escape the wrath of Ardashir III and had, as the years passed, become a member of the Gupta court. Said court had no interest in allowing Khushnavaz to fully conquer Iran, since India may well become his next target, and so they sent many gifts to the Sasanian dynasty in order to strengthen their position, the most important of them being:
​

1. 20.000 heavily armored elite infantrymen;​
2. 100 war elephants;​
3. At least two tons of gold.​

Now you may ask, why would Chandragupta send so many people and valuables on a long journey where several things could go horribly wrong? Other than the reason said above (preventing the Hephthalites from conquering Iran while also winning over a new ally) there was also the simple reality that, at this point, such an amount of money and soldiers was nothing to him. As the undisputed ruler of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, one of the richest regions on the planet, he could easily replace any losses in case this particular enterprise went south thanks to, say, a storm.

Kavad was overjoyed when he received the news, and Narseh reputedly refused to believe at first that the fine, hardworking man who stood in front of him was, in fact, his embarrassing younger brother. After the initial shock from this dramatic reunion was overcome, the Shahanshah eagerly signed a treaty of alliance and already intended to cement it by marrying one of Chandragupta's daughters once everything was over.​

An Egyptian artist's impression of Kavad I (seated, wearing blue) receiving a Gupta ambassador (wearing green).​

Predictably, word about the new alliance and the magnificent ceremonies involved spread like wildfire and soon reached the ears of the Hephthalite king, who was thrown into a panic over the possibility of fighting a war on two fronts. He could hold his own against the Guptas and definitely could defeat the Sasanians, as his previous successes showed, but fighting both of them at the same time was suicide. Knowing that he couldn't keep wasting time anymore, but go straight for the heart, Khushnavaz lifted the siege of Nahavand (whose garrison successfully resisted him for seven months) and set about assembling one of the largest armies ever organized by what was still primarily a nomadic empire. Alongside its elite, veteran core, Iranian nobles and even the king of Albania were pressed and bribed into giving troops to him, swelling Khushnavaz's army to a whooping 100.000 men.

Upon receiving the news that the castle had been saved, Kavad also ramped up his own preparations, knowing that a Hephthalite crossing of the Zagros was now imminent. Ctesiphon's civilian population was slowly evacuated, a task that was more easily said than done considering that the Iranian capital, though not exactly deserving of the title of "Darling of the World" just yet, still had at least 500.000 people living within its walls. If these people, who began to march along the Royal Road to Syria and Palestine, stayed, it would be impossible to supply the local garrison in case of a siege.

Starting in August, reports came in from the northern passes that the Hepthalites were sending probing attacks that were only barely repulsed by the soldiers stationed there. Soon enough, the main army would barge in.

All the court had to do was wait while their city slowly became less and less busy as its people were sent away.

Any moment now, a message would come in, and the ditches and canals that were built on the backs of thousands of hardworking laborers would prove their worth.

Any day now...

Finally, the invaders had come!

Wait, what do you mean they're coming from the south?​

The Hephthalites attack Ahvaz.​

Rather than take the bait and sweep from the north, Khushnavaz led his soldiers into crossing the Persian Gates, which were unguarded since they were deep within Sasanian territory, and blitzed into Khuzestan with lightning speed. By the time Kavad and the rest of the court got word of what was happening, the invaders were already on the gates of Ahvaz, capital of the province, and brushed the defenders aside effortlessly.

Since Pabag's words about what happened to the city and its surroundings are very... charged, for obvious and very understandable reasons (Ahvaz was his birthplace, after all) we'll use Honorius' version of the aftermath of what happened to the provincial capital and its surroundings:

"The people hid in any place they could find - forests, wells, graves, pits, no place was too foul - and a great many of them, all ill-dressed, starving and afraid, lacked noses, ears and hands. Even those whose bodies were otherwise unharmed clearly carried horrible scars on their souls. The city (Ahvaz), not comparable to the shining metropolis on the Tigris (Ctesiphon) but still a respectable place, had been reduced to ashes, a fate shared by the surrounding villages and fields. Any items, be they food, water or gold, were taken away by the invaders." (3)

Although some details should be taken with a grain of salt, considering Khushnavaz's concern with showing himself to the Seven Great Houses as a reasonable, just ruler rather than a barbaric conqueror, an army as large as the one he commanded at that time was surely not only very difficult to control, but also consumed extremely high quantities of supplies. Combining these factors with the fact that Khuzestan, along with its neighboring province of Meshan, were very loyal to the Sasanians, their loyalty second or third only to Pars and Asoristan, it is possible that the Hephthalite king turned a blind eye to these atrocities not only out of necessity but also because he knew he just wasn't going to win any local inhabitants or notables over.

Now it was Kavad's turn to panic. He had placed most of the defenses on the north, and only a few in the south, and these were only put due to Farrukhan's constant nagging about how it was always prudent to be prepared for the worst, as if their position wasn't already really bad (4). Ctesiphon was flooded by thousands of terrified refugees, ruining the Shah's steady, slow evacuation of the place. It was now impossible for the shining jewel of the Tigris to withstand a prolonged siege.

After they were done pillaging Khuzestan, the Hephthalites moved into Meshan and, using the Royal Road that had been built by Yazdegerd I more than a decade ago, advanced to the Iranian capital at lightning speed, reaching the outskirts of the city on September 8.

With no choice but to throw his carefully elaborated plan out of the window or witness the destruction of his dynasty, Kavad sallied forth with his own army (which, numbering 120.000 men, was slightly larger than the enemy force but also a mishmash of mercenaries and levies) to meet them in a pitched battle, the exact scenario he so desperately hoped to avoid.

One of the bloodiest battles in the history of the Middle East was about to begin.

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Notes:

(1) The same Pabag from the previous update.

(2) A soldier-historian not too different from someone like, say, Ammianus Marcellinus.

(3) What did you think of that? If you guys like it, I might put similar citations in future updates.

(4) So, was Farrukhan a spy or not? We'll likely never know. It is safe to guess that his biggest concerns, as with any good prominent noble, were his own safety and status.​

 

[Vinization]

So, y'all remeber that one time I put a photo dated from 1281 a particular update? Looking back, I decided that, while I want technology in this world to advance at a quicker pace than OTL, having photography develop in the 13th century was a bit too much considering my plans. Thus, I changed the photo's date from 1281 to 1481.

 

[Vinization]

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Part 31: Decision

Valashabad, September 8, 389 A.D.

"I'm such a fucking idiot..." The mercenary silently cursed himself in Latin.

First, an introduction.

The man, Honorius, was far from a stranger to violence. Born to a poor family in Olissipo sometime during the late 340s, he was exposed to the uglier side of Roman society at a very young age, and he, like most of the lowborn men of his time, joined the military at the age of nineteen in order to escape from a life of poverty. Upon becoming a member of the army of the dux of Hispania, he spent his early years in garrison duty, during which he did little more than just patrol his home city's streets as well as arrest (and sometimes be bribed by) the occasional criminal. All in all, a pretty safe if boring life.

Everything changed when the first news came in about a major revolt that erupted in the far north. From what few sources are left about what happened, it seems that the Cantabri and Vascones, two Iberian peoples who were only somewhat romanized, rose up against the diocese's authority over them due to a series of incidents related to an abusive taxation system that finally pushed the locals past their breaking point. Honorius was among the 15.000 soldiers sent to crush the uprising, which went on for three very long years (372-375) before the northerners were firmly under Tolentum's control once more. The man from Olissipo was handsomely rewarded with a promotion and an increased salary thanks to his bravery.

But something in that war changed Honorius. He had never left his home city before, and was amazed by the places he passed through in his travel to the north.

Thus, the soldier, with his quality of life already secure thanks to his service, decided to become a wandering mercenary of sorts and visit as many places as he could, going first to the dioceses of Mauritania and Africa, where he took part in the not quite brutal but also seemingly perpetual war between local Romans and the Berbers. Growing bored after doing this for a few years, he traveled to Britannia upon hering rumors that the dux there found a respectable gold mine to the north of Hadrian's wall, on the very edge of the known world, and participated in another endless war, this time against the Picts and Caledonians (1). That service completed, he was given a very handsome reward and offered a chance to settle down in Londinium. But Honorius, the fool he was, refused that offer, saying that he still had many years left to live and many places to visit.

Now he was about to fight and very possibly die for a king whose country fought against his own countless times over in the last centuries. The Roman breathed in deeply as he saw a group of clibanarii (2), who were quite probably the only men in this mess of an army to have some decent armor (other than Honorius himself, of course (3)) inspect the very long line of infantry he was a part of. One of them, whose armor was particularly well decorated (probably the king, he thought), took off his helmet and began to address the thousands of men in a language he couldn't understand. Once the speech was over, most of the soldiers cheered and raised their simple spears and wicker shields (4).

This was going to be a bloodbath.

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If there is one single word that can describe everything to do with the Battle of Valashabad, it is desperation. Both sides of this cataclysmic engagement were stretched to the very limit of their financial and logistical capabilities, with practically their entire armed forces, from city garrisons to hastily assembled militias, being mobilized to participate in this single event. Whichever empire lost would collapse like a house of cards, and the walls of Ctesiphon, looming on the horizon, were a constant reminder of what was at stake for both the kings who personally led their armies as well as the countless anonymous soldiers who did most of the work.

Practically everything to do with the battle has been mythologized by now, starting with the fact that the field was supposedly silent in the moments before everything came crashing down, a sign that the local wildlife wanted nothing to do with the huge massacre that was about to take place. Not even the vultures.​

The Battle of Valashabad. Though this painting has more errors than I can count (is that a phalanx in the middle?) it does highlight the apocalyptic atmosphere quite nicely (5). Just look at the sky!​

Both Kavad and Khushnavaz organized their armies in a fairly orthodox manner, with the bulk of the infantry being organized into a single long line whose flanks were guarded by the cavalry. Though both sides were evenly matched when it came to the number and quality of the horsemen, the Iranian army's huge disadvantage when it came to the infantry was obvious to everyone. Despite the presence of a few good units here and there, such as hardy axe-wielding hillmen from Corduene (6) who would in time become as famous as the Daylamites, most of the defending army's center was composed of paighan soldiers armed with spears and wicker shields, nothing more than cannon fodder.

To make matters worse, the Shahanshah insisted on keeping the Indian soldiers granted by Chandragupta II were kept away from the front line, even though their heavy armor made them perfectly capable to withstand the full brunt of the fighting. And as if that weren't enough, they were divided into two groups of roughly equal size and put near the flanks, rather than the very vulnerable main center.

Khushnavaz was clearly aware of this weakness to some degree, as he organized his own line in an oblique manner, with the middle containing a larger number of soldiers than usual, so as to punch a hole through the enemy center and break the opposing force into smaller, more manageable pieces (7).

Everything began with an exchange of missile fire from both sides' skirmishers and horse archers, one which inflicted noticeable casualties among the Iranian infantry since their shields, although large, were easily pierced and broken by Hephthalite arrows and javelins. That is not to say that the invaders didn't suffer any losses during this opening stage either, but they were much less severe.

After that, the two armies engaged each other in close combat. And to say that the Iranian position was dire right from the get go would be the understatement of the century.

While the cavalry battle was at first somewhat even or perhaps even favorable for the outnumbered Sasanian horsemen, the infantry suffered horrendous casualties and was gradually back as time went by. However, the first part of the army to give way wasn't the center but rather the right wing, and the Hephthalite cavalrymen on this sector, rather than chase their defeated opponents, decided to roll up and smash the Iranian flank, a sound decision considering that many of them were cataphracts and thus ill suited for a long pursuit.

However, due to the dust cloud raised by the ongoing mayhem, they didn't see that they weren't charging into the vulnerable enemy rear, but rather straight into the waiting spears of the Indian soldiers, who promptly slaughtered and routed them. This enabled the retreating Sasanian horsemen to rally themselves and rejoin the fight. On the other end of the line, the Iranian left, led by Kavad in person, held its own against the Hephthalite right, which was also led by Khushnavaz himself. Both kings were hellbent on impaling one another with their lances as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

But these little successes couldn't offset the catastrophe that was about to happen in the center. Indeed, it was quite admirable that the paighan held their position for so long in spite of the horrific casualties they were suffering, but now they were about to break and there was no time for the right wing to make a difference. Kavad had no choice but to deploy his secret weapon.

He ordered the elephants to attack.​

​

Once said order was received, all 100 of these terrifying living battering rams charged into action, each indiscriminately trampling scores of Hephthalite and Iranian soldiers alike and impaling dozens more with their enormous tusks, some of which had blades attached. The archers on top of them were more careful with their target selection for obvious reasons, and only contributed to the chaos. Kavad hoped they wouldn't need to be deployed, thanks to the risk of these huge creatures running amok and slaughtering his own soldiers in the process. Thankfully, the mahouts (riders) managed to keep them under control somewhat. And in the meantime, the right wing fell upon the Hephthalite flank like a hammer, its mighty cataphracts ditching their kontos for maces better suited for close combat.

The tides turned decisively, but Khushnavaz refused to order a retreat even though it was now his army which was on the verge of annihilation. The invader knew that this was his last chance to take the Iranian throne from the Sasanians, and the walls of Ctesiphon loomed tall over him showed just how close he was to his objective. Perhaps he hoped that the elephants would finally run amok due to the chaos and bloodshed.

However, it was not to be: desperately trying to keep his horsemen from breaking, Khushnavaz was hit in the shoulder by a stray javelin and collapsed unconscious on the ground soon after. Presuming that his king had been killed, Khingila ordered a general retreat that quickly turned into a disastrous rout after the news spread. Khushnavaz woke up many hours later, upon which he was promptly informed that he was now a prisoner.

In time, an endless number of poets, historians, musicians and other such intellectuals would eventually call the Battle of Valashabad the Victory of Victories.

70.000 men lay dead on the battlefield, and a greater number still were wounded for life, with missing limbs and scarred minds (8). To those lucky few who escaped unscathed, this was anything but a glorious triumph. Still, at least they could sigh in relief that the carnage had ended.

It was all over, and Kavad had won. This was no time to celebrate, but rather to mourn.

Mourn and, after that, finish this stupid war once and for all.

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Notes:

(1) The Tyndrum gold mine.

(2) "Oven-bearers". This was the how the Greeks and Romans referred to the cataphracts.

(3) Since he's just one very foreign soldier in the middle of a multi-ethnic army, Honorius doesn't know about the Indians.

(4) Kavad certainly addressed the paighan either in Middle Persian or Aramaic. Either language is a must learn for a successful Shahanshah for obvious reasons.

(5) That's because the painting portrays the Battle of Issus. You can see the word "Alexander" written with a bunch of other Latin stuff on top.

(6) Kurdistan.

(7) Here's a map of the Battle of Leuctra to give you an idea of what an oblique order looks like.

(8) 70.000 men on both sides. This was a very, very costly victory.​

 

[Vinization]

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Part 32: Triumphant

With the Battle of Valashabad over and Khushnavaz now in Iranian custody, the mighty Hephthalite army, its capacities already under great strain due to the long war (which had begun three years ago), was entirely broken, and would never threaten Ctesiphon again. But although the capital was safe and the invaders decimated, the war wasn't over yet, for Khingila survived the battle and rallied the remaining soldiers still loyal to his king's banner, a fraction of the force that once numbered 100.000 men, and immediately ordered a retreat that only stopped when they reached the fortress of Gorgan in November 389. Kavad didn't even try to pursue them.

Why, you may ask? He had, after all, scored the greatest victory of his entire career. Even if most of the planning and tactics were elaborated by the spahbeds rather than the man himself, something that was conveniently omitted. The main reason was that the Shah's army, while victorious, had suffered horrible casualties and was utterly exhausted. Had he ordered a pursuit, a good chunk of the soldiers would've likely deserted and returned to their homes, especially the paighan.

Of course, there was also another very important reason why Kavad had to be in Ctesiphon, something that would be much easier at the current moment since the bulk of his forces were just outside its walls. Khushnavaz had to be taken care of, and the King of Kings wanted to preside over the fate of the man whose ambitions almost destroyed his empire and dynasty in person.

And everyone knew what was going to happen to him.

Paraded in chains through the streets of Ctesiphon before being brought to the main square, and watched by a jeering crowd of tens of thousands of people, many of them refugees from Ahvaz and other places devastated by the war (not necessarily by Hephthalite soldiers, but in their view he was the one who started everything), Khushnavaz, second and last king of the Hephthalite Empire, was beheaded. The man who managed to humble China itself had finally bitten off more than he could chew, and he paid for that mistake with his life on October 8 389, exactly one month after the Battle of Valashabad (1).

Among the important figures who witnessed this event were Kavad and the rest of his court, along with several foreign diplomats.​

Kavad humiliates Khushnavaz by using him as a human footstool. Please overlook the fact everyone in this painting is wearing 13th century Western European clothing and armor.​

With the enemy king now dead, the King of Kings finally departed the capital at the head of an army 70.000 men, which crossed the Zagros through Nahavand and made a beeline for Gorgan, where he intended to destroy the last Hephthalite army once and for all. Were this force any larger, feeding it would be an almost impossible task, especially since Khingila's force plundered as much of the countryside as they could during their retreat, slowing the Iranians' advance.

Reaching the walls of the great fortress on January 390, Kavad dispatched multiple envoys to Bukhara to notify the city's aristocrats of Khushnavaz's fate and convince them to pledge their allegiance to him, with the guarantee that they would be treated mercifully. Meanwhile, Farrukhan and 20.000 soldiers were detached from the main army and marched eastward, his orders being to reconquer Sakastan, the House of Suren's ancestral sub-kingdom and homeland. Retaking the citadel of Bam through treachery and suffering minimal casualties as a result, the wuzurg framadar quickly marched toward Zaranj, which too fell without resistance in early March.

His next target was Qandahar, but before he could even march in its direction he was contacted by the envoys of Chandragupta II, who had already captured said city and now desired to officialize his alliance with the Sasanians by having Kavad marry one of his daughters. With his work now completed and not having anything else to do for the moment, Farrukhan set about organizing Sakastan's administration (said province having been under Hephthalite control for decades) and working out a treaty with the Gupta emperor to who he and his sovereign owed so much in both monetary and military terms. Said treaty would require the Shahanshah's final approval to take effect, of course, but it was better than starting from square one. Besides, he wasn't overstepping his authority as he was already the equivalent of a grand vizier.​

A meditating Buddha dating from the Gupta era found in Qandahar.​

Meanwhile, back in Gorgan, Kavad and his soldiers prepared for a long siege. Khingila knew that his position was hopeless and dispatched multiple messages to the Shahanshah straight up admitting it and offering to surrender in exchange for mercy, but all of these requests were refused. The Shah was willing to forgive the civilian populations of cities such as Merv, Nishapur, Samarkand and obviously Bukhara, but it was personally and politically impossible for him to extend this treatment to Khushnavaz's direct accomplices. Many prominent Iranian nobles lost relatives as well as huge amounts of material property due to the war, and they cried out for vengeance.

Thus, Kavad's only reply was that the Hepthalite general and his soldiers would be granted a warrior's death. And that was exactly what happened on April 26 390.

By that point Gorgan was under siege for three or four months, and one of its walls suddenly collapsed after its foundations were steadily undermined by Iranian sappers. The rest of the besieging army flooded through the breach and the defenders, outnumbered, demoralized and starving, were unable to hold their positions. Khingila was killed in this massive assault, and by the end of the day every single Hephthalite soldier was either dead or in captivity. These unlucky few survivors were then sold into slavery while the dead had their heads cut off and arranged into a pyramid just outside the fortress. No one would dare to oppose the Shahanshah now (2).

The capture of Gorgan ended the Hephthalite-Sasanian War of 386-390. The March of Victory, which immediately succeeded it, was less a military offensive and more of a triumphant parade, since all cities on Kavad's path opened their gates and pledged their allegiance to him, and the aristocrats of Bukhara in particular received their new overlord with great pomp and fanfare. They were more than ready to submit themselves to a distant sovereign, since doing so would grant them more autonomy, and most were just happy that the war was finally over.

But one very particular resident was happier than most.

That man was, of course, the noseless former Shah Shapur II. Fully aware that his disfigured face and almost three year long imprisonment disqualified him from retaking the throne, he was nevertheless understandably overjoyed upon learning that he could finally return home before hugging his younger brother with tears in his eyes.​

Kavad and Shapur hug one another while onlookers celebrate.​

The war was finally over, and the Hephthalite Empire, once Iran's most powerful enemy since the days of Odainat, was no more.

The Shah's main priorities now were to rebuild his own empire and pay his soldiers. The latter task was covered by the two tons of gold Chandragupta sent him before the Battle of Valashabad, while the fulfillment of the former would be assisted by the arrival of a groundbreaking new material.

The Paper Revolution had begun (3).

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Notes:

(1) It takes time to prepare such a massive ceremony.

(2) An eye for an eye...

(3) Four centuries earlier than OTL.​

 

[Vinization]

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Part 33: The Perpetual Peace and the Paper Revolution

Kavad first received news of Farrukkhan's dealings with the Guptas when he was still in Bukhara, busy consolidating his conquest of the city and its surrounding areas. Though slightly miffed that he wouldn't be able to completely restore Iran's eastern borders to what they were in the days of Ardashir I, the Shah was fully aware that recognizing Chandragupta's control over Qandahar was more than a reasonable price to pay for the invaluable economic and military aid the Maharaja provided him, and thus approved of the treaty. He was delighted with the possibility of marrying one of his mighty eastern neighbor's daughters, something that would forever bind their dynasties.

Thus, he approved and signed the document that would become known as the Treaty of Perpetual Peace someday on July 390. Once everything was set and the diplomats dispatched to send the good news to Pataliputra, Kavad left Bukhara and returned to his own capital, Ctesiphon, personally seeing the devastation caused by the four year war against Khushnavaz. It would take at least a decade for the empire to fully recover, and certainly more for the horrific losses the main army suffered to be replaced. If the words of Pabag of Ahvaz are to be trusted, the Shah prayed every day that God would grant him the time he needed and keep the empire safe from foreign invasions.

As it turned out, he would not only have plenty of time to rest, but he would also gain access to a revolutionary new substance that would make the daunting task administrating Iran much easier: paper. The official starting year of the process that became known as the Paper Revolution was 397, when a group of notales and scholars from the eastern provinces, likely seeking favor from the King of Kings, entered the imperial court, presented several manuscripts written in paper (the contents of said manuscripts were sadly lost) to the monarch in person, explained how to produce it in large quantities and, finally, its advantages over the writing materials that were used at the time, namely parchment, vellum and papyrus.
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The imperial court in Ctesiphon receiving its visitors with a banquet.​

Though Kavad himself was unsure of the idea, prince Narseh enthusiastically supported it, arguing that such a cheap and abundant material could allow the central government to greatly expand its bureaucracy without crippling its finances. Within twenty years (so around 417), said bureaucracy reported that there were five major paper manufactories in Ctesiphon, Arbela, Shushtar, Istakhr and Qumis, while there were dozens of smaller ones spread throughout Iranian territory. Unsurprisingly, the number of surviving documents focusing on all sorts of subjects, from economics to medicine, exploded, since it was now much easier and cheaper to produce them. In fact, some say that, had paper not been introduced, it is quite likely that many priceless texts written by intellectuals such as the poet Ferdowsi (1), the already mentioned historian Pabag of Ahvaz and Azarmidokht of Qumis, known as the grandmother of modern dental medicine, would either decompose with the passage of time or be burned along with most of Ctesiphon in the worst days of the Zanj Rebellion (2).

Of course, the adoption of paper wasn't the only good thing to happen to Iran during the reign of Kavad I. Five years before that, in 392, and after two years of meticulous preparations, the Shahanshah and his newest wife, Sandhyagupta, were wed to one another in a ceremony whose pomp and circumstance suited the marital union of two of the most powerful dynasties in the world (3). Immediately promoted to the position of chief wife, showing just how serious the king was about making sure that his eventual successor had both Sasanian and Gupta blood flowing in his veins, Sandhyagupta set about making herself at home in this strange yet eerily familiar place and learning the complexities and intrigues of Iranian palace politics, first of all by learning the Middle Persian language, a must if she hoped to be a player and not just a pawn. Her position in the court improved further after she gave birth to a healthy son named who was named after his uncle, Narseh.
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A 5th century silver plate celebrating Kavad and Sandhyagupta's marriage.
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The Perpetual Peace, along Sandhyagupta's influence, brought great and lasting gains to Iran. In the decades that followed, trade between India and Iran intensified and only grew as each empire conquered new territories, increasing their revenues and strengthening their governments. Important goods (and ideas) were exchanged between the two empires, goods that changed them forever: India acquired the knowledge of papermaking and went through many of the changes Iran did before it, while the latter got its hands on a sweet substance that would, in centuries, simultaneously bring it to an age of unbelievable prosperity and, in an instant, to the brink of ruin.

I am, of course, talking about sugar.

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Notes:

(1) Not the OTL guy, of course.

(2) Don't worry, there will be plenty of glorious days to come before that awful event arrives.

(3) Special thanks to @LostInNewDelhi, @Madhav Deval and @Shahrasayr for helping me come up with a good name for a Gupta princess.​