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European Series - "Rise of Persia": Iranian Plateau, Rise of Persia

"Rise of Persia": Iranian Plateau, Rise of Persia

By guanjianwenti001Published 2 years ago 7 min read
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Since "Persia" will immediately represent Asia and become a big trouble for Europeans for the first time, it is necessary for us to temporarily turn our attention to the Iranian plateau to see how the "Persian Empire" was formed. In terms of time, the Iranian plateau entered the kingdom era a little later than when the Greeks ended the dark age and returned to the city-state civilization. In the 7th century BC, the "Kingdom of Media", which rose in the northwest of the Iranian plateau, became the controller of the tribes of the Iranian plateau.

In fact, judging from the distance between the Iranian Plateau and the Mesopotamia, it seems that this geopolitical plate should have the opportunity to usher in the dawn of civilization earlier. However, on the one hand, the distance between the Iranian plateau and the Eurasian steppe is too close. The nomadic Indo-European tribes from southern Russia and the Central Asian steppe will always affect the interior of the plateau in the continuous process of going south. Civilization process; on the other hand, the Iranian Plateau is a "plateau basin area" surrounded by high mountains on its edges. The arid continental climate of the interior leaves it without alluvial plains of sufficient size to help form an agricultural civilization strong enough to resist nomads.

However, compared to the almost pure nomadic Mongolian Plateau, there is still an opportunity to add agricultural elements to the classical economy of the Iranian Plateau. Among them, the higher accumulated temperature brought by lower latitudes played a crucial role. In this case, you can refer to the dividing line between agriculture and animal husbandry in the Central Asia-Western Regions. For example, the Junggar Basin with a higher latitude was a nomadic area in most of the classical periods; while the Tarim Basin in the south developed oasis agriculture.

With the climatic conditions in the hinterland of the Iranian plateau, the final economic structure is bound to form a mixture of animal husbandry and extensive agriculture. Such economic conditions can certainly imitate those civilized areas politically, and enter the era of hereditary and centralized kingdoms from the tribal era, but there is still a long way to go before an independent civilization can be produced. Just like the Huns brought the Mongolian steppe into the kingdom era, but due to geographical conditions, the Mongolian steppe did not have an independent civilization in the entire classical period (the political structure was reincarnated in the kingdom-tribe state) .

If the Iranian plateau wants to produce an independent civilization, it is the only way to find an opportunity to integrate with the nearby civilization of the two rivers. A similar process seems to be somewhat similar to the Mongolian plateau nomads entering the Central Plains. However, the advantage of the Iranian plateau is that the agricultural oases within it have the opportunity to rely on settled life (including economic stability) to fix the civilization factors absorbed from the lowlands. The geopolitical advantage of the Iranian plateau itself on the main communication line of the Eurasian continent has also strengthened the economic foundation and provided more abundant elements for the emergence and continuation of its civilization.

In the 7th century BC, the Median kingdom, which unified the Persian plateau by indirect control, can only be regarded as the Iranian plateau, from the tribal era to the kingdom era. The reason why this process was initiated in the northwest corner of the Iranian Plateau is mainly because this area is the closest plate between the Iranian Plateau and the South Russian Steppe. The nomads who traveled south from the southern Russian steppe were able to continuously strengthen the military superiority of the Median region. In fact, even after the Median kingdom was established and became the lord of the Iranian plateau, the nomadic tribes from the southern Russian steppe (then called Scythians, or Scythians) once entered the Median kingdom and injected new nomads into it. Gene.

In the end, it was the Persians who lived in the southwest of the plateau, adjacent to the Persian Gulf, who gave the Iranian plateau a chance to achieve civilization. Although when Media was strong, Persia was forced to submit to Media. However, its biggest advantage is that it is relatively far away from the Eurasian steppe nomads and other geographical forces in the western part of the plateau (such as the Assyrians in the upper reaches of the two rivers). This allowed the Persians, after the Median kingdom fell into decline due to years of wars, a chance to rise and eventually replace Media as the lord of the Iranian plateau.

The Persian counterattack against Media was completed in the era of Cyrus the Great (559 BC - 529 BC). In 550 BC, after conquering Media and establishing the "Achaemenid Dynasty" (the first Persian Empire), Cyrus also had to face the same problem as Media, that is, from the northern steppe, and the western peace. Pressure on both sides of the Natolian Plateau. However, unlike the Medes who were struggling to cope with these two pressures, after the Persians suppressed these two directions militarily, they soon directed their troops to the center of civilization in the southern part of the plateau - the Two Rivers Plain (U.S. Sopotamia region). At this time, the political representative of Mesopotamian civilization was Babylon, one of the "four ancient civilizations" identified by the Chinese.

From the 18th century BC to the middle of the 6th century BC, "Babylon" existed as a geopolitical label for the unification of the Two Rivers Plain for 1,200 years. Due to the geographical proximity and economic attractiveness, it is not surprising that the Anatolian Plateau-Armenian Plateau-Iran Plateau, the geopolitical forces on this highland line, invaded the wealthy Babylon. In fact, it would be surprising if these Highland peoples had no interest in it. However, unlike the previous highland invaders who were content to plunder and force Mesopotamian civilization by military means, the Persians directly controlled the Two Rivers Plain (and even established their capital there). This change has the same historical significance as the Qin Empire replaced the pre-Qin enfeoffment system with the prefecture-county system and brought the central state into the imperial era. That is to say, although Persia was not the first highland nation to invade Mesopotamia, it was the first nation to truly integrate the highland and the lowland into a centralized political system.

Obviously, the political integration gave the Persians the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of the Mesopotamian civilization and finally achieve their own civilization. However, the first thing Cyrus the Great had to solve before he could complete this fusion was the problem of highland competitors. From the perspective of geographical location, the most likely opponents to the rulers of the Iranian plateau are the Assyrians who have lived in the southern part of the Armenian plateau for more than a thousand years, with the upper reaches of the two rivers as the core territory. This primitive Semitic people, known for their good use of iron weapons, is a huge threat to the surrounding plates, and their history is almost a war history of external expansion.

Before the Medians entered the kingdom era and became the overlords of the Iranian plateau, the Assyrians had already represented the primitive Semitic tribes heading north, eliminating the last remaining forces of the primitive Semitic "Hittes" in eastern Asia Minor. Correspondingly, the neighboring Median region of the Iranian plateau was also invaded by the Assyrians. In fact, the reason why the Median region evolved from a state of scattered tribes to a unified kingdom structure was the direct cause of the military invasion of the Assyrians. And the rise of the Median kingdom was precisely because, together with the Babylonian kingdom in the lower reaches of the two rivers, they solved this troublesome neighbor together. Clearly, the Babylonians, content with affluence in the lowlands, were not interested in expanding to the Armenian plateau. In the end, it was the kingdom of Media that brought it into the sphere of influence.

That is to say, defeating the Median kingdom to unify the Persians on the Iranian plateau actually took over the Armenian plateau. However, the threat of highland competitors does not only come from the Armenian Plateau. The "Asia Minor Peninsula" with the Anatolian Plateau as its geographical core is the biggest competitor of the Iranian Plateau. As for who was able to threaten the emerging Persian Empire from the Asia Minor peninsula when the Persians unified the Iranian plateau, and what was the geographical background of their rise, we will continue to interpret.

Historical
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