|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Persia: The Sassanian Army
| |
|
Posted by Webmaster on September 21 2004, 04:10 PM
|
The army of the Sassanian (also Sassanid) Dynasty of Persia was an army that showed that Persia was going back to her Achaemenid roots and away from the steppe traditions of the Parthians.
The Sassanian army went under many reforms during the life of the dynasty and here we shall look at the army as it was in the time frame of 0 AD. Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanian Dynasty was in the times of the Parthians the military commander of Darabgerd and thusly was well versed in military traditions and history. When he came to power Ardashir among other things restored the old Achaemenid army structure, but with the inclusion of Parthian cavalry, new style armor and weapons, and siege engines that rivaled those of the Romans.
The command structure of Sassanian army before Khusro (531-579) is not well known and details are somewhat sketchy at best. Before Khusro the entire Sassanian was under the control of a single commander-in-chief called the Eran-spahbed who also functioned as the minister of defense and the Shahandshah’s (king’s) primary counselor. Another figure high up on the command chain was the Artestaran salar who was a sort of Generalissimo. Other figures of great importance in the army or closely associated with it were: the Eran-ambaragbed who functioned as the armaments minister, the marzbans who functioned as the governors of the border provinces, the kanarangs whom they functioned as we don’t know at the moment, other figures were the gund-salars, paygan-salars, and pustigban-salars who were in order: generals, commanders of infantry, and commanders of the royal guard.
Native Persian (or Iranian) cavalry reached it apex during the time of the Sassanian dynasty all areas. The cavalry of the Sassanian army was a professional fighting force with its loyalty to the Shahandshah not to regional rulers. A regular Sassanian cavalryman was equipped with the following: helmet, hauberk, breastplate, mail, gauntlet, girdle, thigh-guards, lance, sword, battle-axe, mace, bowcase with two bows and two bowstrings, quiver with 30 arrows, two extra bowstrings, spear, and horse armor ; to these some have added a lasso, or a sling and sling stones. While most if not nearly all Sassanian cavalry carried the above equipment it was not made the official equipment list for cavalrymen until Khusro. The best of the cavalrymen was the 10,000 Immortals; they were formed by the Sassanian Shahandshahs as one more for the dynasty to emulate the Achaemenids. Other elite units within the cavalry were: the Pushtighban who functioned as the Shahandshah’s court guards, the Gyanavspar who were a sort ecclesiastical cavalry regiment, or a group of mercenaries, and the Royal Archers whom were in charge of protecting the royal throne, they sometimes fought on foot. The Sassanians had no light cavalry forces of their own and relied on vassals and resettled captives to supply the army with light cavalry.
The Sassanians unlike the Parthians before them deployed large amounts of infantry in their armies, in fact the average Sassanian army was 2/3rd infantry and only 1/3rd cavalry.
The Sassanians used large amounts of infantry (which they called paygan) as another way of connecting their dynasty with the Achaemenids. The infantry was divided into different types of foot soldier and great emphasis was placed on archery. The Sassanian archers used the powerful compound bow as their weapon of choice. The infantry usually formed in battle with a line of spearmen standing next to each other with locked shields, forming a solid wall from which the archers could safely fire and reload behind. The Sassanians also deployed from time to time elephants in conjunction with the infantry formations in battle. The Sassanian infantry really shone during sieges where they could easily rival the roman engineers in the construction and manning of siege weapons and fortifications.
The tactics of the Sassanians were quite good and rivaled those of Rome, though Sassanian military strategy would not reach its apex and be written down in a comprehensive manual until the reign of Khusro. Unfortunately nothing seems to have survived of what tactics were used before the reign of Khusro so here we will use an example strategy from the Khusro era strategy, tactics, and logistics book, the A’in-nama. In this example A’in-nama states that the cavalry should be in the front with left-handed archers capable of shooting to both sides be put on the left wing of the army, which should be used for defense only so that it can support the rest of the army in case of an enemy advance. The center wing of the army should be placed on a elevated area so that the cavalry and lesser infantry can repulse an enemy charge better and finally all men should be lined up in such a way that the sun and wind is on their backs rather then in their faces.
The Sassanian army was truly an army to be feared during this period and would grow more so when Khusro came to power. The Sassanian Army was a demonstration of the Sassanian dynasty’s goal to emulate the Achaemenids and then surpass them. It also demonstrated that the Sassanians were willing to break with feudal army traditions and regularize the army as well as turning it into a professional fighting force loyal only to the Shahandshah. All in all the Sassanian Army like the dynasty was a symbol of a revivalist Persia on the rise to new glory and new heights. |
User Comments:
| sniedermeier
:: May 5 2007 |
| I'm going to LOVE playing the Persians through history! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
