Urartu-Assyria War

Location	Armenian Highlands
Result	Assyrian victory

Belligerents

Urartu

Neo-Assyrian Empire

Commanders and leaders

Rusa I,
Argishti II,
Rusa II,
Sardur III,
Erimena,
Rusa III,
Rusa IV

Tiglath-Pileser III,
Sargon II,
Sennacherib,
Esarhaddon,
Ashurbanipal

Strength

no reliable estimates

The Urartu–Assyria War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Urartu and the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The war began around 714 BC, with the invasion of Urartu by the Assyrian King Sargon II. Sargon led multiple offensives deep into Urartuan territory, amassing numerous victories in the war. Following his death, however, Urartuan Kings Argishti II and Rusa II launched many successful counterattacks, reclaiming Urartu's lost territory and gaining some from Assyria. However, their successors suffered multiple major defeats, resulting in Urartu becoming an Assyrian client state.

The Hurrian speaking Iron Age Kingdom of Urartu began its rise to power in the mid-9th century BC. Within a century, the relatively new state had conquered the majority of what were to later be known as the Armenian Highlands. However, the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III saw the rising Kingdom of Urartu as a growing threat to the safety of his kingdom. The Assyrian leadership deemed that they must end this threat through direct confrontation with the young kingdom.

In 714 BC, King Sargon II led an offensive into Urartuanian territory. His early victories, especially at the Battle of Lake Urmia and his ransack of the head Uratuan temple at Mushashir, almost caused total defeat for his Uratuan counterpart, King Rusa I.

After Sargon's death in 706 BC, King Rusa's successor, Argishti II, launched a major counterattack, with his forces driving the Assyrians back across the pre-war border and deep iinto Assyrian colonies in northwestern Ancient Iran, reconquering major towns and cities around Lake Urmia, including Mushashir, Ushnu, and Tepe..

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