Two highly impressive and dominant empires were the great Persian and Assyrian empires. Their main attributes for success were arguably their powerful professional militaries and their military-based governments that were led by ruthless, warrior kings. Within their empire they had absolute kings governing over the land in an organized manner. Their military was divided into different sections as militaries had in the past, however, Tiglath-Pileser 3 created the first professional military the world had ever seen; it was a disciplined army that could fight whenever they pleased, year round. They also had hundreds of thousands of troops in this army using tactics such as guerilla warfare or the practice of total war. The units in their …show more content…
With iron at their disposal, they could craft iron spear tips, arrow heads, swords, and even in their armor. The use of iron on a large scale was a clear advantage due to its strength and advancement in the ancient world. After internal strife occurred in Assyria, civil war broke out- weakening the empire. Because they were weakened, they weren’t able to come together as an empire and defend against rebellions and attacks from the Babylonians and Medes. This led to their ultimate downfall. The Persian empire had many strengths as well. They too had a full-time professional army and a government led by strategic warrior kings however Persia’s army was a much lighter army compared to others at the time, and their kings were not near as brutal. In their empire they had Satrapies, which were basically provinces, led by “miniature kings.” Instead of their infantry wearing heavy metal armor, they wore lighter clothes such as tunics. They also had different units such as infantry, cavalry, and charioteers, much alike the Assyrians. The Persians had an elite group of soldiers known as the Immortals. They were called this because after each one was killed, they were replaced by another, and they always stayed at 10,000