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Roman–Persian wars

Roman–Persian Wars
Date 54 BC – 629 AD (683 years)
Location Mesopotamia, Syria, Southern Levant, Egypt, Transcaucasus, Atropatene, Asia Minor, Balkans, Aegean Sea
Result Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Roman Republic, succeeded by Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire later, and allies1 Parthian Empire, succeeded by Sassanian Empire, and allies2
Commanders and leaders
Crassus ,
Mark Antony,
Ventidius,
Corbulo,
Trajan,
Avidius Cassius,
Statius Priscus,
Lucius Verus,
Septimius Severus,
Caracalla,
Macrinus,
Alexander Severus,
Timesitheus,
Gordian III ,
Valerian (POW),
Ballista,
Odaenathus,
Carus,
Galerius,
Constantius II,
Julian ,
Jovian,
Ardaburius,
Hypatius,
Patricius,
Areobindus,
Celer,
Belisarius,
Sittas,
Al-Harith ibn Jabalah,
John Troglita,
Dagisthaeus,
Bessas,
Marcian,
Justinian,
Al-Mundhir ibn al-Harith,
Maurice,
John Mystacon,
Philippicus,
Comentiolus,
Narses
Germanus ,
Leontius,
Domentziolus,
Priscus,
Heraclius,
Theodore
Surena,
Orodes II,
Pacorus I ,
Quintus Labienus ,
Artabanus III,
Vologases I,
Osroes I,
Sinatruces II ,
Vologases IV,
Ardashir I,
Shapur I,
Narseh,
Shapur II,
Narseh ,
Mehr Narseh,
Bahram V,
Yazdegerd II,
Kavadh I,
Mihran,
Mihr-Mihroe (POW),
Azarethes,
Khosrau I,
Al-Mundhir IV ibn al-Mundhir ,
Khorianes ,
Adarmahan,
Tamkhusro ,
Varaz Vzur,
Mahbodh,
Kardarigan,
Bahram Chobin,
Zatsparham ,
Khosrau II,
Shahrbaraz,
Kardarigan,
Shahin,
Shahraplakan ,
Rhahzadh 
1 Allies of the Romans: Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Commagene, Nabataeans, Osroene, Palmyra, Ghassanids, Lazica, Aksumite Empire, Khazars, Göktürks
2 Allies of the Parthians/Sassanids: Osroene, Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Lakhmids, Lazica, Avars, Sclaveni

The Roman–Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranian empires: the Parthian and the Sassanid. Battles between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 54 BC; wars began under the late Republic, and continued through the Roman and Sassanid Persian empires. Several buffer states, vassal kingdoms, and allied nations also played major role. The wars were ended by the Arab Muslim invasions, which led to the demise of the Sassanid Empire and huge territorial losses for the Byzantine East Roman empire, shortly after the end of the last war between them.

Although warfare between the Romans and the Parthians/Sassanids lasted for seven centuries, the frontier remained largely stable. A game of tug of war ensued: towns, fortifications, and provinces were continually sacked, captured, destroyed, and traded. Neither side had the logistical strength or manpower to maintain such lengthy campaigns far from their borders, and thus neither could advance too far without risking stretching its frontiers too thin. Both sides did make conquests beyond the border, but in time the balance was almost always restored. The line of stalemate shifted in the 2nd century AD: it had run along the northern Euphrates; the new line ran east, or later northeast, across Mesopotamia to the northern Tigris. There were several substantial shifts further north, in Armenia and the Caucasus.

The expense of resources during the Roman–Persian Wars ultimately proved catastrophic for both empires. The prolonged and escalating warfare of the 6th and 7th centuries left them exhausted and vulnerable in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Caliphate, whose forces invaded both empires only a few years after the end of the last Roman–Persian war. Benefiting from their weakened condition, the Arab Muslim armies swiftly conquered the entire Sassanid Empire, and deprived the Eastern Roman Empire of its territories in the Levant, the Caucasus, Egypt, and the rest of North Africa. Over the following centuries, more of the Eastern Roman Empire came under Muslim rule.


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