#REDIRECT [[ IslamicMuslim conquest of IranPersia]] ▼
The Sassanid era is considered to be one of the most important and influential historical periods in [[Iran|Iran (Persia)]]. Very few empires lived twice and even fewer lived with their former glory and power, one of them was [[Sassanid dynasty]] which indeed was the true heir of older Persian empire of [[Achaemenid dynasty]]. With its fall, Iranian (Persian) society saw major changes. There are a numbers of reasons why Sassanids with all their power and glory finally saw its end not by its arch enemy the [[Byzantine empire]] but by muslim arabs of its southern borders
== Social problems ==
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The society was divided to four classes : the priests, warriors, secretaries, and commoners. The later formed the bulk of the society but nearly all the wealth was in the hands of the higher classes of the society which were scot-free but commoners were subjected to annual taxes, this would put alot of pressure on them specially in drought years which sometimes resulted in mass discontent among people. Rigid social stratification
In the final years of sixth century and beginning of seventh century when [[Khosrau II]] was in his ambitious conquest of Byzantine, the taxes had risen dramatically and majority of people were not able to pay due to years of constant Sassono-Byzantine wars had ruined the trade routes and most of the industry. Economic decline was one of the consequences of these fruitless wars.
religin wise, [[Zoroastrian]] priests had lost their influence on the people with introduction of [[Mazdakism]], it shattered the beliefs of people in Zoroastrism. Buddhism in the eastern borders of the empire and christianity in the west, also played an important role in this religious unrest. Their call wouldnt be heeded as before among the people.
Sassanids were further weakened by the increasing power of the provincial landholders, and a rapid turnover of rulers. Over a period of fourteen years and twelve successive kings, the Sassanid Empire was weakened considerably, and the power of the central authority passed into the hands of the generals. It took years for a strong king to emerge from a series of coups, but the Sassanids never completely recovered.
== Military ==
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Years of warfare between Sassanids and Byzantines had exhausted both armies. With problems in administration and the delay of [[Rostam-e Farokhzad]] in dispatching an army against the Arabs, it seemed that everything was in favour of the invading muslim Arabs.
While heavy cavalry proved efficient against Roman armies, it was too slow and regimented to act with full force against agile and unpredictable lightly-armed cavalry and rapid foot archers; the Persians who had in the early seventh century conquered Egypt and Asia Minor lost decisive battles a generation later when nimble, lightly-armed Arabs accustomed to skirmishes and desert warfare attacked them. Hired lightly-armed Arab or East Iranian mercenaries could have served them much better.
On the other hand war-elephants initially seemed to be able to stop the Arab army and were a winning force for the Persian army, but when Arab veterans returned from Syrian fronts where they had been fighting against Byzantine armies, they taught the Arab army how to deal with these beasts, so war-elephants became obsolete and no longer a blocking force for progression of the Arab army.
All of these factors contributed to the decisive Sassanid defeat at the [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah]]. Thereafter, the Persian army was again defeated in several battles culminating in [[Nahavand|Battle of Nahavand]] which was the last major battle of the Sassanids. The Sassanid dynasty came to end in the following year with death of [[Yazdegerd III]].
== See also ==
▲[[Islamic conquest of Iran]]
[[category:Sassanid dynasty]]
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