What if after retaking Jerusalem from the Sassanids, the Byzantines made peace with them?

Wr1t3r

Kicked
The Sassanids realize that they'll lose Egypt to the Byzantines and decide it would be better to pay them tribute for some years than to lose Egypt forever. And the Byzantines think it would probably be better to focus more on their European borders
 
If the Romans regained control of Syria & Palestine as IOTL, it wouldn't make sense for them to settle for anything less than their pre-war borders.

Egypt was too valuable to just let it go. Also, the Sassanids would probably be unable to keep it with Syria in Roman hands.
 
Last edited:
Egypt is more important to the Byzantines than it is to the Sasanids, and indeed if the Byzantines have pushed this far, they have no reason to turn back now. By 628, the Sasanids also are in near total disarray, further encouraging a total return to the status quo.
 
First of all, what's the setting of this wi? The Sassanids and the Romans fought each other for four centuries, and there's at least two occasions where the Sassanids penetrated deep into Roman territory during the early "Byzantine" era: the war of 541 - 545, under Khosrow I, and the war of 605 - 629 during the reigns of Phocas and Heraclius, for starters.

Also, how do the Byzantines reclaim Jerusalem? If the Byzantines control Jerusalem, it's almost certain that either the Byzantines have managed to regain control of most of Syria as well, cutting off any Persian forces and garrisons in Egypt, or that Egypt has already been reconquered by the Byzantines.
 

Wr1t3r

Kicked
If the Romans regained control of Syria & Palestine as IOTL, it wouldn't make sense for them to settle for anything less than their pre-war borders.

Egypt was too valuable to just let it go. Also, the Sassanids would probably be unable to keep it with Syria in Roman hands.
Egypt is more important to the Byzantines than it is to the Sasanids, and indeed if the Byzantines have pushed this far, they have no reason to turn back now. By 628, the Sasanids also are in near total disarray, further encouraging a total return to the status quo.
''What if'' I'm still curious.
 

Wr1t3r

Kicked
First of all, what's the setting of this wi? The Sassanids and the Romans fought each other for four centuries, and there's at least two occasions where the Sassanids penetrated deep into Roman territory during the early "Byzantine" era: the war of 541 - 545, under Khosrow I, and the war of 605 - 629 during the reigns of Phocas and Heraclius, for starters.

Also, how do the Byzantines reclaim Jerusalem? If the Byzantines control Jerusalem, it's almost certain that either the Byzantines have managed to regain control of most of Syria as well, cutting off any Persian forces and garrisons in Egypt, or that Egypt has already been reconquered by the Byzantines.
the Sassanids only ruled Egypt once, which was 605-629. The Byzantines reclaim the western Levant going south from anatolia, focusing more of their effort there than in north africa in early 629 AD
 
''What if'' I'm still curious.
Curious about what? What would happen if we force the nonsensical decision through? There is another section, called ASB, for that kind of request. However, people usually don't lowkey ask to be fed a storyline, rather propose discussion over a certain set of historical events that intrigue them.
 
This "What If" represents a total lack of understanding of the historical circumstances involved in the Final Roman-Persian War.

The problem is Heraclius wasn't engaging in an effort to retake his provinces directly. He doesn't have the resources to retake cities piecemeal in any case so you can't have a "Well, what if he did?". He engaged in positional warfare because that was the last card he had left to play. He invaded Sassanid territory in the Caucasus and Northern Mesopotamia in order to threaten them and convince them to come to the negotiating table so that he could regain the eastern provinces without having to directly invade them.
 
the Sassanids only ruled Egypt once, which was 605-629. The Byzantines reclaim the western Levant going south from anatolia, focusing more of their effort there than in north africa in early 629 AD
Well, it wasn't exactly clear, the way the WI was written could also be interpreted as a potential Persian occupation of Egypt.

You say that they reclaim Syria using Anatolia as the springboard. Problem is, Heraclius had very negative personal experience from operations like these, where large Roman armies attacked Persian forces, namely the disastrous defeat at Antioch in 613; the army Heraclius managed to raise in Anatolia following this event was most likely still rather untested, but also perhaps the last large army the empire could field (which meant that risky operations were out of the question); therefore an attack on Armenia, where the Romans could expect less resistance, more favourable terrain, and perhaps hope to force the Persians to withdraw - as it had happened with the campaign of Philippicus. After that, in 624 - 626, he was constantly followed and harassed by Shahrbaraz's forces, who also managed to evade defeat near the river Sarus in Cilicia after Heraclius' successful operations in the east - which most likely prevented him from undertaking any operations in Syria.

To be (remotely) capable of constructing such a scenario as the one described in the WI, one way might be that the Persians achieve a Pyrrhic/very costly victory in the war, where the Romans are forced to cease their operations against Persia for the time being - perhaps Heraclius is less successful in his campaigns and spend some years trying to regroup in Asia Minor, and then Khosrow II's policies trigger the reaction of the great aristocratic families of Iran, resulting in a contest for power. Perhaps if that were to coincide with a more pacifist government at Constantinople (like perhaps a regency headed by Martina, which IOTL seems to have favoured a settlement with the Arabs after their victories), we might, just might, get a situation where a Persian general is in control of Syria and Egypt, and allies himself with the Romans in exchange for a tribute and perhaps grain supplies from Egypt. But this would be a very temporary arrangement at best, and the whole situation would be very hard to achieve I believe.
 

Wr1t3r

Kicked
Well, if for some strange reason do the Romans forsake Egypt, it may be become independent for a little time during the Sassanid civil war of 628–632.

It probably still gets taken over by the Arabs afterwards.
Do the Madanis, Rashiduns, & Umayyads do as well in their wars against the Sassanids & Byzantines?
 
Top