History --
Military_history --
List_of_battles
The
Battle of Nineveh
was the climactic battle of the last of the wars between the
Eastern_Roman_Empire and the
Sassanid Persian_Empire, in 627. The
Byzantine victory broke the power of the
Sassanids and briefly restored the Empire to its ancient boundaries in the
Middle_East.
During a six-year campaign, the Byzantine Emperor
Heraclius had driven the Persians from
Asia_Minor back into their own territories, but the Persian Kasrā
Khosrau II still refused to make peace. On
December_12,
627, the main armies of Heraclius, in personal command, and Khosrau's army commanded by the general Rhahzadh, met at
Nineveh. As many as 100,000 soldiers may have been engaged in the battle.
The battle was closely contested, but Heraclius' superior generalship won the day, and Rhahzadh was killed in the fighting. Finally, the Persian army was driven from the field and
Persia lay open to the Byzantine army. The next year, Heraclius captured the Persian capital of
Ctesiphon and
Persia accepted Heraclius' peace terms.
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