Battle of Nahavand

The Battle of Nahavand (Arabic: معركة نهاوند Maʿrakah Nahāwand, Persian: نبرد نهاوند Nabard-e Nahâvand), also spelled Nihavand or Nahawand, was fought in 642 between the Rashidun Muslim forces under An-Numan ibn Muqarrin and Sasanian army under King Yazdegerd III. This battle was very important because it led to a big victory for the Rashidun Caliphate. After this loss, the Sasanid forces could not gather another strong army, and they lost many nearby cities including Spahan (Isfahan).

Because of this defeat, the Sasanid way of ruling ended, and it made it easier for Islamic expansion into Persia. Even after this, some areas that used to be part of the Sasanid Empire, along with some nobles from Parthian and White Hun backgrounds, kept resisting for about a hundred years. They lived south of the Caspian Sea and kept many of the old Sasanid traditions, including their Zoroastrian religion and Persian language, even when new leaders called the Umayyads took over.

Background

When the Islamic Prophet Muhammad passed away in 632, his religion was mainly in the Hejaz area of western Arabia. Under the first two leaders, Abu Bakr and Umar, Islam spread into places like Palestine and Mesopotamia. There, it met the East Roman and Persian empires, who were both weak from fighting and internal problems. After the East Roman loss at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, the Muslim Arabs could move east toward the Euphrates and the Persian heartland. Later that year, in November 636, a Persian army was defeated at the Battle of Qadisiya, and Iraq fell to the Muslims.

Number of Arabs and Sasanian forces

After losing to the Arabs in 639, Yazdgerd III had to leave his capital at Ctesiphon. He moved to the Sasanian homeland in what is now southern Iran. By 642, he gathered a new army to replace the one lost at Qadisiya.

At the Battle of Nahavand, Nu'man led about 30,000 Arab warriors. The Sasanian army had between 50,000 and 150,000 people, mostly farmers and villagers instead of trained soldiers.

Battle

There are different stories about the early part of the Battle of Nahāvand. In one version, the Persian cavalry tried to chase the Arabs, but the Arabs moved to a safer place. The Arabs then gathered their forces and surrounded the Persian army. The Muslim soldiers attacked from all sides and won.

In another version, the Arab leader Nuʿmān used clever tactics against the Persian leader Fīrūzan. The Persians had more soldiers and were in a strong position, but Nuʿmān managed to pull them out of their spot. As the Persians chased after them, they got stuck in tough terrain. The Arabs then fought back and defeated the Persians. Both Nuʿmān and Fīrūzan died in the battle, and the Persians lost badly.

Aftermath

The Battle of Nahavand led to the end of the Sasanian Imperial army. Emperor Yazdegerd III tried to gather new troops by asking for help from nearby areas and even sent his son to the court of the Tang. However, he was not welcomed in many places and could not get enough support.

Yazdegerd had to flee quickly towards the east. Before he could get help from certain groups, he was sadly killed by a local miller in Merv in 651. Later, his son Peroz tried to bring back the Sasanian empire, but his plans did not work out, and he passed away while they were in China.