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العربية
Former state · 600 BCE – 1973

Achaemenid Empire

10 events

The Achaemenid Empire (ə-KEE-mə-nid; Old Persian: 𐎧𐏁𐏂, Xšāça, lit. 'The Empire' or 'The Kingdom') was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. At peak, its territorial extent was roughly 5.5 million square kilometres (2.1 million square miles), making it the largest empire of its time. Based in the Iranian plateau, it stretched from the Balkans and Cyrenaica in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, including Anatolia, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, the Levant, the South Caucasus, parts of Eastern Arabia, and large parts of Central Asia.

Text from the Wikipedia article Achaemenid Empire, CC BY-SA 4.0

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  1. 553 BCE – 550 BCEMedo-Persian conflictPersisThe Medo-Persian conflict was a campaign led by the Median king Astyages against Persis in the mid 6th-century BCE. Classical sources claim that Persis had been a vassal of the Median kingdom that revolted against Median rule, but this is not confirmed by contemporary evidence.Source: Wikidata (country of the location)
  2. 513 BCEScythian campaign of Darius IBalkansThe Scythian campaign of Darius I was a military expedition into parts of European Scythia by Darius I, the king of the Achaemenid Empire, in 513 BC. The Scythians were an East Iranian-speaking people who had invaded Media, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt trade between Central Asia and the shores of the Black Sea as they lived between the Danube and Don Rivers and the Black Sea.Source: Wikidata (country)
  3. 334 BCEBattle of the GranicusBiga RiverThe Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great of Macedon and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The battle took place on the road from Abydus to Dascylium, at the crossing of the Granicus in the Troad region, which is now called the Biga River in Turkey.Source: Wikidata (country)
  4. 331 BCEBattle of GaugamelaGaugamelaThe Battle of Gaugamela ( GAW-gə-MEE-lə; Ancient Greek: Γαυγάμηλα, romanized: Gaugámēla, lit. 'the Camel's House'), also called the Battle of Arbela (Ἄρβηλα, Árbēla), took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great and the Persian Army under King Darius III.Source: Wikidata (country)
  5. 330 BCEBattle of the Persian GatePersian GatesThe Battle of the Persian Gate took place as part of the Wars of Alexander the Great. In the winter of 330 BC, Ariobarzanes of Persis led a last stand with his outnumbered Persian army at the Persian Gate, near Persepolis, and held back the Macedonian army for approximately a month.Source: Wikidata (country)
  6. 633 CE – 640 CEMuslim conquest of SyriaNear EastThe Rashidun Caliphate conquered Byzantine Syria between 634–638 CE as part of the Arab–Byzantine wars and the wider Muslim conquests.Source: Wikidata (country of the location)
  7. 1096 – 1099First CrusadeLevantThe First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, which were initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Their aim was to return the Holy Land to Christian rule after its conquest by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century.Source: Wikidata (country of the location)
  8. 1189 – 1192Third CrusadeNear EastThe Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England, and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. For this reason, the Third Crusade is also known as the Kings' Crusade.Source: Wikidata (country of the location)
  9. 1914 – 1918World War IFull storyEurope, Middle East, Africa, AsiaFour years of war that killed millions, destroyed four empires and redrew the map of Europe and the Middle East.Source: Wikidata (country of the location)
  10. 1973October (Yom Kippur) WarSinai and Golan HeightsEgypt and Syria launch a surprise attack in October 1973 to win back land lost in 1967. The war also triggers an Arab oil embargo against Western supporters of Israel.Source: Wikidata (country of the location)