Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Seaver
Well the Babylonians did, but the Persians origionally came out of the North. So they were truely invaders.
|
I guess it depends on the point of view. The land that currently incorporates Iraq was an integral part of Persia. The Median, Parthian and Sassanid empires, all of them predominately Persian, incorporated these lands. In fact, the Persians spent much more time in Iraq than the Arabs did until now.
But to be fair, there were a few succesful invasions; Alexander overthrew Darius, though ultimately he overstretched his reign and the empire fell after his death (interesting example in light of the current events). There was a rather amusing Roman invasion that ended with emperor Valerian gettng stuffed. And the Turks - yes, but didn't they actually assimilate more than invade?
So maybe I should clarify my point - outside invasions of middle east states are not a good idea, ever.