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Third, the battle gave the Islamic armies a lot of confidence and experience. This led to much more rapid gains in the Middle East and North Africa against the Byzantines, although they were never ultimately defeated by the Arabs. The success even carried on in Europe, where they were only finally defeated in France by Charles Martel in 732. Between 646 and 732, the Arab armies had almost been unstoppable in open battlefields, although sieges of great cities, such as Constantinople, gave them more difficulty (Figure 2).<ref>For more on Arab and Islamic conquests and defeats after Qadisiyyah, see: Hoyland, Robert G. 2015. <i>In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire.</i> Ancient Warfare and Civilization. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.<dh-ad/ref>
One Third, the battle gave the Islamic armies a lot of confidence and experience. This led to much more rapid gains in the Middle East and North Africa against the Byzantines. While the Arabs never defeated the Byzantines, they solidified their hold on the Middle East. Between 646 and 732, the Arab armies had almost been unstoppable in open battlefields, although sieges of great results cities, such as Constantinople, gave them more difficulty (Figure 2).<ref>For more on Arab and Islamic conquests and defeats after Qadisiyyah, see: Hoyland, Robert G. 2015. <i>In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of the battle an Islamic Empire.</i> Ancient Warfare and Civilization. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> The Arab was only stalled by Charles Martel's victory in 732. Finally, the Arab armies were now in a position to benefit benefited from the technical know how and infrastructure built by the Sasanians in the region of and around Iraq. This allowed them to build using new technical capabilities they acquired and developed using Persian and Classical science. Furthermore, scholars who were based in Persia, who had come from many parts of the ancient World, including Greece and India, now were employed by the Arabs. This allowed not only the great Golden Age of Arab science and philosophy to be possible, and thus develop indigenous new discoveries, but it also allowed much of the lost knowledge in Europe, after the collapse of Rome, to be copied by the Arabs. This knowledge was then transferred back to Europe in the Medieval period, eventually helping to influence the Enlightenment that allowed a new period of discovery to emerge in Europe.<ref>For more on how Arabs incorporated Persian and Classical science and knowledge, see: Al-Khalili, Jim. 2010. <i>Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science.</i> London: Allen Lane.</ref>
Admin moved page What if the Battle of Qadisiyyah Had a Different Result? to What if the Battle of Qadisiyyah Had a Different Result
===The Historical Circumstances===
In 636 CE, there were the followers of two major universal religions, which were Christianity and Zoroastrianism, were at war with each otehr. These faiths were supported by the two major superpowers of the Middle East, which were the Byzanitine and Sasanian Empires. Both these powers seemed invincible and held much great wealth. However, by the early 7th century CE, major wars across the Middle East devastated much of the region and led to both these empires to deplete their resources.<ref>For more on background to this period, see: Cutler, Anthony. 2009. <i>Image Making in Byzantium, Sasanian Persia, and the Early Muslim World.</i> Variorum Collected Studies Series. Farnham, Surrey, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate/Variorum.</ref>
In 636, Caliph Umar had re-invaded Iraq, after a previous Muslim army was defeated and removed from the region. The Sasanian and Arab armies met at the village of Qadisiyyah, southwest of the modern city of Hilla in Iraq, which is near ancient Babylon. The battle was mostly fought by a relatively inexperienced Arab army; however, much of the Persian army was also inexperienced, as many of their best troops had died or were depleted from previous engagements. This made the two sides relatively even and after the first day of the battle it did not seem that either of them could break each other's defenses. A key turning point was Arab reinforcements that strengthened the Islamic army, who were much more professional soldiers and well trained, and that arrived at the battle of Qadisiyyah on the second day. These numbered about 5000 and proved to be the difference in allowing the Arabs to breakthrough the Persian main line, not only bolstering the Arab army but also giving them more confidence, causing them to defeat and force the main Persian force to retreat. By the fourth day of the battle, the outcome was clear and the Sasnian army fled to the north, although many were killed as they attempted to flee.<ref>For more on the battle, see: <Madelung, Wilferd. 1998. <i>The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate.</i> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>
With the main Persian army shattered, key outcome now became evident after the battle. First, a large the Arab army plundered an extraordinary amount of booty was captured loot from the Sasanian army. This helped finance later battles and the Muslim army to further 's march north. Second, with no major army left to face, the Arab army was now able to march to Ctesiphon, the great Sasanian capital. After a two month siege, the capital fell and the Arabs, for the first time, had conquered a major metropolis that was a truly global city, as it . Ctesiphon had major trade connections connection that spanned almost the extent of the Old World. The loss of the city also led to the full conquest of Mesopotamia and Khuzestan, which were the most important provinces in the Sasanian Empire. In 650, a new phase of invasions was then ready, leading to the conquest of Persia and defeat of the Sasanian Empire.<ref>For more on the conquest of the Middle East by the Arab armies and invasion and conquest of Iran, see: Savant, Sarah Bowen. 2013. <i>The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran: Tradition, Memory and Conversion.</i> Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press.</ref>
===Implications of the Battle===
Typically, the fall of one empire, in this case the Sasanian, and rise of another, the Islamic Empire, which became the Umayyad and later Abbasid Empire, as well as spawning other states, would not be that different from other succession of empires that was typical in the 1st millennium CE. However, the battle at Qadisiyyah and subsequent conquests it enabled allowed many social changes to occur that proved to spread to many regions.
First, the fall of the Sasanians, which became more inevitable after the battle, meant that weakened support of the once widespread Zoroastrian religion began to fade and many adherents eventually converted to Islam after the fall of the Sasanian empire (Figure 1). In effect, it allowed one religion to be mostly replaced by another. Although this process occurred over a long period, the events at Qadisiyyah paved the way for accelerated this to accelerateprocess.<ref>For more on the replacement of the Zoroastrian faith in many places, see: Rose, Jenny. 2011. <i>Zoroastrianism: An Introduction.</i> Introductions to Religion. London: I. B. Tauris.</ref>
Second, the defeat of the Persians paved the way for major Arab migrations to Iraq and more fertile regions of the Middle East. Although Arabs were present before in many towns and cities in the Middle East, this now meant the Arabic language started becoming more prominent as migrants came to different regions. With the use of Arabic in Islam, it cemented the spread of this new common language to be widespread across not only the Middle East but it soon spread to Iran and west to North Africa.<ref>For more on the migrations that followed the conquest of Iraq, see: Sharqāwī, Muḥammad. 2010. <i>The Ecology of Arabic: A Study of Arabicization.</i> Leiden; Boston: Brill, pg. 166.</ref>
===Alternative Possibilities===
===References===
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[[Category: Ancient History]] [[Category: Ancient Persian History]] [[Category: Late Antiquity]] [[Category: Iranian History]]
