Why were the Iranian Empires so Successful?

[Music] the region that constitutes modern-day iran has been a center of civilization for thousands of years and played a key role in the development of the modern world despite this their contribution is relatively unknown as are the powerful and prosperous empires which sprang up centered on this area from the proto-iranian elamite civilization in the third millennium bc to the shia safavid dynasty of 4000 years later the administrative structures developed in this region have remained almost the same for many centuries in this video we shall examine how the persian reputation for good administration came about and what it consisted of welcome to our video on the administrative prowess of the iranian empires but before we jump to the video allow us to say thanks to the sponsor of this video legendary game of heroes the hottest match 3 rpg at the moment use impressive combos unlockable cards relics and enhancements to defeat dozens of bosses it has hundreds of different cards usable in battle while the monsters are designed with great attention to detail if you like dark fantasy and consider yourself a strategy buff you will love this game to succeed you need to come up with a squad of cards that has the right blend of elements special attacks and stats each week a new event is released and you can compete in these events individually or within your guild to rank up on the leaderboards to support our channel download the game via the short link in the description and play legendary game of heroes today the ancient city of souza was first inhabited in the mid 5th millennium bc and became part of one of the first human civilizations along with the sumerians and pre-dynastic egyptians it is likely that the very first traditions of iranian administrative prowess were seeded during this era and were developed in the centuries after the subsequent elamite civilization centered on susa and anshan was also one of the oldest empires in history consisting of five sub-kingdoms under the rule of the elamite high monarch and possessing one of the first noted administrative bureaucracies ever known their government consisted of three layers of authority provinces were ruled over by a governor known as a halmanik who were in turn overseen by a royal viceroy or sacred nakhon who was then a subject to the king of elam himself the elamites also developed a system of underground irrigation canals and a language which was so efficient it would be used for thousands of years in the region around 1000 bc the aryan migration into the iranian plateau changed the balance of power in the region one of these groups the medes eventually created a formidable empire with its capital at equitana literally place of assembly in 612 bc the medes together with the babylonians finally crushed the neo-assyrian empire at their capital nineveh and became one of the dominant powers administratively the medes would leave a rich legacy they sought to regularize relations in society and ensure that citizens would be part of a unified state rather than separate and inconsistent factions they also employed a federated system of governance which assisted with the multi-ethnic and multicultural nature of their empire all united under the median king most importantly the medes laid the foundation for a professionalized adaptable bureaucracy by employing two main principles elaborate training and apprenticeships for candidates and specialization so that administrators could become experts in their specific field whilst nobility and magi were the main source of bureaucrats in the median empire commoners with exemplary skills were not excluded in the mid 6th century bc cyrus the great led the persians from their homeland in modern fars and eventually defeated the median king astiagis in 559 beginning the creation of the mightiest empire the world had seen up to that point stretching from macedonia in the west to the hindu kush in the east it was clear that a new and reformed administrative bureaucracy was needed to manage this vast empire which cyrus and darius instituted expertly while cyrus obviously played a central role in creating the first persian empire and was a military genius charismatic leader and statesman his successors also played a key role in keeping the empire dynamic and ready for any test his son cambis took the mantle of great king and pioneered several key aspects of the large stage bureaucracy such as ambassadors and intelligence agencies when preparing to cross the desert into egypt in the year 525 bc sent an envoy to the various arabian kings asking for safe passage through the region under their dominion thus campuses made a major contribution to diplomatic relations by establishing the world's first known ambassadorship though it is likely that other less developed emissaries were used before this point a few years before this invasion canvases heard tales of the ethiopians and how their men were the tallest and most handsome in the world the great king was curious and so sent a contingency of spies to travel and learn of the country and its culture unfortunately the ethiopian king realized they came as spies and expelled them in 522 campuses perished his eventual successor darius the great was a phenomenal administrator and leader reforming and tuning the empire's bureaucracy to be as efficient as possible darius fastly expanded the system of roads in the persian empire which connected all satrapis to the administrative and religious capitals at souza and persepolis the most well-known of these highways was the famous royal road connecting the administrative capital at souza to the important western city of sardis in anatolia herodotus complements this system of roads stating that they were excellently maintained and secured the roads of persia facilitated another innovation which the acamenids pioneered a postal service using extremely swift horses and traveling day and night through any weather conditions highly trained riders delivered messages across the empire very quickly it is said that while it took a traveler 90 days to cross from souza to sardis it took the postmen only five darius also reformed persia's finances for the first time in the ancient world a fixed taxation was administered lands were also carefully surveyed so that proportional and fair tithes might be collected in addition to the taxes tribute was fixed on conquered peoples except for the persians themselves they instead provided the empire with elite immortals military commanders and administrative leaders the monetary reforms included establishing a universal coinage system which replaced the barter system empire-wide gold and silver coins were minted for use in military political and administrative purposes while copper and other metals were used for economic and commercial activities finally darius reformed local government practices allowing direct local to central government contacts which bypassed satrapal authority for better coordination between local and central administrations worship of the god uhura mazda also gained prominence this replaced the idols of the gods of the past and profoundly affected the administration of the empire the four aspects of human adherence to zoroaster's teachings were based on good conduct towards the four pillars the home dimana the clan this the district shawthra and the land dahyun in order to link these four aspects the persian bureaucracy was made increasingly complex as to satisfy the needs of the imperial population because of this the administration aims to provide public services which would do good and improve the lives of the citizens this emphasis on doing good was promoted further by the aspect of duality present in zoroastrianism good and evil light and darkness where evil was an adversary of god and his ways in modern society it is assumed that good policy designed to benefit the people is a given and should be implemented but this is only a relatively recent phenomenon based upon the academic example two thousand five hundred years ago the colossal academic empire required an expanded accommodate bureaucracy which took the form of a five-tier hierarchical structure and formed the governance of the new persian state the great king sat at the peak of this pyramid from which all power flowed he had supreme authority and recognized no equal on earth his word was law however his word was almost always based on consultation with various advisors persian nobility experts in the bureaucracy and adviser council and his ministers all provided counsel to their monarch who was in turn expected to heed the advice while the king of kings could in theory do whatever he desired he was practically limited by the authority enjoyed by his nobles and ancient persian traditions below their monarch the imperial court played a large role in politics and administration due to its position as the central government in sousa various powerful institutions and officials of the empire such as military commanders and the treasurer were present here this court also played a key role in checking the power of the satraps who were subordinate to the great king and his court the satraps were governors of the various provinces and possessed tremendous power in the internal administration of their satrapy they were mainly appointed from the high persian nobility but in some cases local rulers were appointed to govern their own regions the responsibilities of these provincial leaders included maintenance of law and order oversight of civil administration tax collection and levying satrapal troops in the case of war a reliable satrapy had more autonomy whereas a rebellious satropy such as egypt would be more tightly controlled and its privileges would be removed much like the feudal nobility of medieval europe a satrap possessed immense power but unlike the european dukes and barons there existed many methods by which the central government assured the compliance of their regional rulers while the satrap was in full control of their satrapy's civil administration a centrally appointed military general was assigned to command and oversee the provincial military levy this lessened the chance of any rebellion as there was a much lower chance of both the satrap and the appointed commander revolting various positions within the satrapy royal court were also agents of the great king the eye of the king station essentially functioned as a legal extension of the monarch's will and functioned as a sort of state attorney whereas the ear of the king was the inspector general of asatropy and would check for any mismanagement or corruption before reporting his findings perhaps the most authoritative position of central government control in the santropies were the king's secretaries they functioned as a direct and independent link between the king and the satrap as a monitor to check the satrapal court and administration and as a model bureaucrat in addition they were the trusted confidante who would read the king's private letters to the satraps an example of the gravitas wielded by this official is shown in the case of oroitis the satrip of phrygia lydia and ionia who had defied central authority and had committed many crimes one thousand persians functioned as his personal bodyguard however when the revered king's secretary read out darius the great's instructions for the one thousand bodyguards to cease their service of orochis and to execute him they did so without hesitation for if the king's secretary had proclaimed it it must have indeed been the word of the great king who they would not disobey the fifth and final layer of governance were the subsatrapal or local governors who were subservient to their satraps these lower officials were often recruited not only from meads and persians but also from the local population a practice which often assisted the flexible persian administration in respecting the traditions of the many peoples under their rule in contrast to their brutal assyrian predecessors who ruled through fear and reprisal the accommodate persians reversed this policy and adopted a tolerant and respectful organizational policy which took into account local customs and practices cyrus the great's conduct towards the jews is a good example of this tolerance after babylonian king nebuchadnezzar conquered judea he deported many of the area's inhabitants to babylon forcing them to live there and plundered the sacred temple when cyrus the great took babylon in 539 bc he immediately allowed all jews to return to their homeland and also provided the funds needed for the construction of a second temple this stance lasted so long as the practices in question did not interfere with the functioning of the central administration which exercised an appropriate combination of centralization and decentralization the former of which allowed for political control and efficiency and the latter of which allowed for the respect of local traditions and flexibility despite this excellent framework increasing corruption in the massive bureaucracy and over taxation of the population as well as the arrogant mindset that the persian empire was invincible eventually made the persians vulnerable these factors along with the over-engagement in frivolous luxury by the ruling elite prevented the empire from continuing traditions previously practiced in 334 bc alexander the great began his unprecedented conquest of the declining academic empire but this did not spell doom for the administrative structure that cyrus and his successors had developed the conqueror found that his new domain's administrative bureaucracy was so efficient and competent that he instituted very little change if any at all this trend was continued in the subsequent eras of seleucid parthian and sassanid dominance in the region even when the final ancient persian empire was conquered by the muslims in 651 their administrative system did not fall conversely the highly advanced persian traditions captured the conqueror almost immediately and the iranian bureaucracy continued its long tradition in its own language by the time of the abbasid caliphate the muslims in many regions were totally persianized we have many interesting stories to tell so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description this is the kings and generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 991,438

Keywords: Iran, Iranian history, iranian empires, documentary, animated documentary, animated historical documentary, world history, persian empire, achaemenid empire, crash course, history of iran, history iran, kings and generals, history lesson, full documentary, decisive battles, documentary film, historia civilis, history documentary, military history, ancient history, cyrus the great, parthian empire, roman empire, safavids, achaemenids, sassanids, elam, mesopotamia

Id: wXFebggoweE

Length: 17min 22sec (1042 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 07 2019