WI: Arabs Accepted Sassanid Offer For Tigris River Border

[Cerulio]

During the siege of Bahurasīr, a Sassanid emissary relayed a message from Shahanshah Yazdegerd III to the Arabs, proposing a new border along the Tigris River, with the lands to the west designated as Arab territory and those to the east as Sassanid. IOTL, this offer was rejected, and the Arabs would go on to capture Ctesiphon, eventually conquering all of Persia shortly after. So, what if the Arabs accepted this offer for whatever reason?

Here are some questions for consideration:

• Was the Sassanid offer genuine, or was it made to buy time to recuperate their army?
• Would the Sassanids have maintained their legitimacy within their realm, or would internal dissent or challenges to the throne have arisen?
• How would the Romans have reacted to this?
• How long could this peace have lasted?

 

[Silver01]

This one if those impossible scenarios zagros possible but this no after their defeat in 636 with rostam dead and the army crushed this was not going to occur

 

[Stellar_Lights]

Arabs could easily conquer Mesopotamia by that time, because the Sassanids were too weak. They could have Mesopotamia as their own, and they did have it later. They would negotiate only if the Sassanids were too powerful OR, too rich. In the first case because the Arabs would be defeated, and in the second case, they can get generous payouts from the Sassanids, that would offset the results that would have been achieved, if the Sassanids were attacked. Sassanid Empire was neither. So, it would be impossible.

 

[Evil Crusader]

As a rule of thumb, when the losing party offers peace terms, they always tend to be better than the apparent situation on the field.
At any rate, I don't think the offer was genuine, or tenable, and of course the Romans would have loved to have a counterbalance to the Caliphate.
Hostilities would definitely eventually resume, if they ever stopped at all.

 

[Karl der Große]

Stopping jihad for a paltry bribe when the Muslims had everything going for them? Not gonna happen. They're going against a decaying, decadent empire ravaged by decades of disastrous war and a plague, while the Muslims are now united, endlessly victorious, led by undefeated generals, and with God on their side. They're not gonna accept. Any leader who tries to (suicidally) accept will be mutinied against and replaced.

 

[Math]

There is only one way for this to happen the Sasanians decisively defeat the Arabs, that will give time, OTL the Arabs stopped on tours after being decisively defeated by Charles martel and in Constantinople For not being able to enter the city, The best the Sasanians can do is defeat the Arabs decisively and buy time to organize and prepare for the next invasion. In the long term the Sassanids should be pushed back but slowly, if they manage to organize themselves. they may be lucky enough to get in touch with the Turks first and get Persianize them or even convert them to Zoroastrianism and use them against the Arabs.

The disadvantage in the scenario is that 1: the Sasanians do not have an inviolable city like the Byzantines, 2: they are very close to the Arabs And Does not border a major state allied With they or hostile to the Arabs like the iberian peninsula With the french, the life of the empire will depend for a long time on giving the Minimum possible of land in each Arab attack and invasion, they will have to ally with the Byzantines but initially any coordination will be difficult with the Arabs between the two empires

 

[Zenevidas]

if they manage to organize themselves. they may be lucky enough to get in touch with the Turks first and get Persianize them or even convert them to Zoroastrianism and use them against the Arabs.

Were the Turks even there yet?

 

[Evil Crusader]

Were the Turks even there yet?

Believe they're talking about the Gokturks.

 

[Zenevidas]

Believe they're talking about the Gokturks.

I mistook them for the Oghuz

 

[Collondi]

As everyone else has said, I don’t think this specific POD could work. However, I do think you could get an Arab expansion halted at the Tigris with an earlier POD

OTL the Arab invasion occurred at the worst possible moment for the Sassanids, right in the middle of a massive civil war. I think this could work if you delayed the unification of Arabia until at least 642-ish. The Sassanian empire is still dysfunctional, but some of the civil war has died down. If Yazdegird III is even still alive, he’s only a puppet. The governors and lords are all basically independent and central control is nonexistant.

First of all, the Roman Empire has also been given more time to recover. Let’s say the Arabs still conquer Egypt and Syria, but it takes longer, buying the Persians time, and takes more Arabian manpower. It’s reasonable that they could have formed enough of a coalition to repel Muslim attacks in Iran but not in Mesopotamia, hence the Tigris border. The Muslim armies aren’t that big, so not that much of a coalition would have been required.

Would the Sassanids have maintained their legitimacy within their realm, or would internal dissent or challenges to the throne have arisen?

Given that the last Sasanian was a child, I think the best case scenario is that they become puppets. What’s more likely IMO is that they get overthrown and replaced by another dynasty like the Mihranids. This would be like a neo-Parthian empire, where it’s a confederation of nobles basically.

 

[Hearkener]

In the long term the Sassanids should be pushed back but slowly, if they manage to organize themselves. they may be lucky enough to get in touch with the Turks first and get Persianize them or even convert them to Zoroastrianism and use them against the Arabs.

I am rather doubtful of the Turks' effectiveness against the Arabs. The Rashiddun had an insanely powerful army in their time: more importantly, they were united under a single, absolute government up until the First Fitna. This kind of narrative has power, a real and tangible one, that motivated them to fight with a ferocity and determination that is extremely hard to replicate, let alone counter. Their conquests stand, to me, as one of the most impressive ideological achievements in history.

The Turks don't really have anything comparable to that degree of political and religious unity.