The decline of Assyrian empire

Author: Ruan Wei (distinguished professor, Hunan Normal University)

The Symbolic Sculpture of the Gate of Assyrian Empire —— Information Picture of the First Wing Cattle of Man

From the 9th century BC, Assyria, whose national fortunes rose and fell, finally became the strongest country, conquered most of the nationalities in West Asia and North Africa at that time, and established the first empire across Asia and Africa. It can be said that the Assyrian Empire is the first truly great empire in human history, which appeared earlier than the Qin and Han empires of Persia, Rome and China. There are many Assyrian sites and cultural relics, and the literature handed down is also very rich, so that the knowledge of studying the ancient two rivers culture is called Assyrian studies.

Assyrian Empire, like many ancient empires, was established by force, and military conquest was much more brutal than the previous countries, which attracted more attention from later generations to a great extent. All kinds of evidence show that Assyrians used unnecessary violence and even extremely cruel torture extensively in the war.

Even if sometimes they don't win much, Assyrians will obviously exaggerate their military achievements. When Sharma Nashar III (reigned from 858 to 824) invaded China, he fought a big battle with the 12 allied forces in the eastern Mediterranean. When he occupied only three cities, he boasted that "I killed 14000 of their soldiers with my sword".

Assyrians are also greedy predators. In the battle of Kimish alone, they plundered a large number of gold beds, gold buckles, gold rings, Jin Jian, 20 talents of silver, 100 talents of copper and 250 talents of iron, in addition to ivory beds, ivory thrones and ivory tables. The Assyrians captured 665,438+000 enemy soldiers, 380 donkeys, 525 cows and 65,438+0235 sheep in the Battle of Musasier, in addition to 34 talents of gold, 65,438+067 talents of silver, copper, lead, lapis lazuli, lapis lazuli and vases. For the surrendered cities, the Assyrians' standard practice was extortion, and the property obtained was used for large-scale construction (compared with the later New Babylon, it was really nine Niu Yi Mao) and drinking and having fun. In this way, it is hard to say that Assyrians really ruled the conquered and the empire. This is very different from later empires such as Persia.

It is impossible to kill and extort taxes without causing resistance. The conquered people rose up against Assyria. In order to maintain their rule, Assyrians "uprooted" the conquered nation, that is, they implemented a national migration policy. Since Tigra Palaza III (745- 727), the expulsion of people from occupied territories has been institutionalized.

Of course, after Tigra-Palaza III came to power, the policy was slightly relaxed, and the prisoners and residents in the conquered areas were slaughtered less than before, and they were more inclined to treat them as slaves. The foreign population that would have been sacrificed unnecessarily can be transformed into available human resources. This should play a certain role in easing the relationship with the conquered party. Nevertheless, Tigra Palazan III was not a kind king, and his cruelty was not much worse than that of other Assyrian rulers.

Political wisdom does not seem to exist at all for Assyrians, and it is impossible for tyranny to have no consequences. In the long-term battle, due to the casualties of the war and the immigration to the new colony, the Assyrian native population that can be used for fighting has been greatly reduced and finally exhausted. In addition, Assyrian monarchs, like Egyptian pharaohs, had many contradictions with the priestly class, and their kingship was severely weakened. So the empire looks powerful, but in fact it is strong outside and hollow inside. This is why the Assyrian empire was vulnerable and collapsed in the face of the re-emerging alliance of Chaldeans and Medes. In 6 12 BC, Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was not only captured by allied forces, but also razed to the ground. A powerful empire perished so quickly and tragically.

Among the Assyrian kings, Tigra-Palaza III is probably the most noteworthy. Born in the military, he mastered the army in civil strife and seized the throne in 745 BC. But the most important thing he did in his life was the organizational reform of the army, that is, merging the army into a number of specialized arms, such as cavalry, heavy cavalry, light cavalry, chariot soldiers, siege soldiers, engineers and so on. Coupled with the extensive use of iron in Assyria and tactical innovation, all this makes Assyria have an extremely efficient army in West Asia and North Africa. This was an army with the most comprehensive arms and the strongest fighting capacity at that time, and it was almost invincible. Nevertheless, Tigra Palaza III was a first-class military reformer and strategist, but he was not a real politician. During his reign, the Assyrians won great military victories, but the tension between them and the conquered peoples was not alleviated.

What about the descendants of Grappa Lhasa III? His son lags far behind him in all aspects, and he was replaced by one of his generals within five years of becoming king. This man is the famous Sargon II (72 1 former reign-705 years ago). Sargon II, his son, grandson, great-grandson, four generations of kings, can be said to be an able person who never leaves the pommel horse. They have been living in the wild and fighting for many years. But it also means that the Assyrian war machine should rest and run continuously for nearly a hundred years.

Assyrians failed to treat the conquered more kindly, and the real political integration of West Asia and North Africa failed to appear at that time. Of course, the fundamental reason is the low level of economic and social development in this area. But modern people will still be very shocked by Assyrians' failure to show real political wisdom. For West Asia and North Africa at this time, no matter how just the uprising that surrendered to the nation was, its consequences were still a bloody war-cities were destroyed, nations were destroyed, lives were destroyed, wives and children were separated, and families were destroyed.

More than half a century after Sargon II, Assyria went to war against Babylon and Egypt, captured Babylon and Memphis in Egypt many times, and completely destroyed Thebes, the capital of Egypt. But no matter how strong the country is, it can't stand constant tossing. Relying only on military conquest, instead of appeasing and appeasing the conquered people, or at least forming an alliance with some conquered people, the Assyrians can barely maintain their hegemony, and the human and material resources are by no means inexhaustible, or even exhausted in an instant.

The endless war has brought endless pain and suffering to West Asia, and also brought disaster to Assyria itself. Nineveh, the capital, fell because of exhaustion of national strength.

Guangming daily (September 24, 2020 13 edition)