Assyrian Wars, 721 - 627 B. C.

By André Geraque Kiffer

For most of the period from the late 10th century to the 7th century BC, the ancient Near East was dominated by the dynamic military power of Assyria. At the height of its power, Assyria could claim an empire that extended from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iran in the east, encompassing for the first time in history, in a single domain, the entire Fertile Crescent. The basis of this strategic simulation will be what it would have been like if there had been a single State Policy in Assyria, as effectively occurred following the Sargonid kings. In the end, it is expected to achieve the maximum historical expansion achieved by the Assyrian Empire, keeping it within self-sustainable limits, without allowing the historical disappearance to occur. We will play on the side of the Assyrian Empire, while the actions of the other States will be simulated, based on historical guidelines.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Jan 26, 2024

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ANDRÉ  GERAQUE  KIFFER

Assyrian  Wars, 721  -  627  B.C.

An  Historical  Simulation.

Author  Edition Rio  de  Janeiro

2013

---  Kiffer,  André  Geraque.

Assyrian  Wars,  721  -  627  B.  C.  An  Historical  Simulation. André  Geraque  Kiffer.

Author  Edition,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  2013. Bibliography:  220  p.  29  f.  21  cm..

1.  Military  History.  2.  Art  of  War.  3.  Science  of  War.  4. Wargames.  I.  Author.  II.  Title.

ISBN  978-85-6585-304-0

THANKS To  God.

To  my  wife,  Leila,  for  the  support.

Superior  man  acts  before  speaking  and  then  speaks according  to  his  actions.

(Confucius)

ABSTRACT

I  started  developing  this  work  in  the  year  of  1995, inspired  by  the  reading  of  the  masterpiece  of  Arnold Toynbee,  ‘A  Study  of  History’,  and  by  the  book ‘Future  Wars’,  of  Trevor  N.  Dupuy.  In  2005,  with  the reading  of  the  book  ‘Wargame  Design’,  edited  by the  Strategy  &  Tactics  Magazine,  I  consolidated  a Mold  to  Study  the  Military  History  and  began the  analysis  of  the  wars,  campaigns  and  battles  of  a time  and/or  a  military  civilization  described  in  ‘Atlas of  Military  History’,  2006  edition,  of  the  Smithsonian Institution.  In  each  book,  a  war,  campaign  or selected  battle  is  studied  in  one  of  the  applicable levels  of  decision,  meaning  the  Statesmanship,  the Strategical,  the  Strategical-Operational,  the Tactician  and  the  Technician.  In  each  chapter,  on the  basis  of  a  summary  of  the  historical  fact,  we intend  to  emphasize  the  decisive  fact(s)  that  caused the  negative  result  before  playing  the  simulation, using  a  ‘wargame’.  When  the  author  finds  it

necessary  to  the  understanding  of  the  simulation,

references  will  be  made  to  the  rules  and  tools  of  the game.  In  the  simulation  all  the  possibilities  of  the intention  of  the  study  get  complete  when  the  past  is analyzed  on  the  basis  of  the  present  time  theory and  projected  in  the  future,  or  revived  as  a schematical  case  of  ‘what  if…’.  This  allows  the extraction  of  conclusions  and  principles  applicable to  other  situations  in  time  and  space,  without  the illusion  to  deplete  all  the  imaginable  variants, meaning  a  game  with  no  ending,  idealizing whenever  we  are  ‘playing’  the  side  that  historically lost,  we  will  follow  the  principle  ‘VICTORY  AT LEAST’,  and  with  the  side  of  the  historical  winner, ‘VICTORY  ALWAYS,  BUT  WITH  THE  LESSER POSSIBLE  COST’. Keywords:  Military  History.  Art  of  War.  Science  of

War.  Wargames.

SUMMARY

CHAPTER  1  –  WARGAMES  HISTORY................14 CHAPTER  2  –  A  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF

THE  ARTAND  THE  SCIENCE  OF  WAR  OF  THE

FIRST  HISTORICAL  EMPIRES.............................18 CHAPTER  3  –  ASSYRIAN  WARS,  721–627  BC...38 CHAPTER  4  –  STRATEGIC  ANALYSIS................71 CHAPTER  5  –  STRATEGIC  SIMULATION............84

REFERENCES....................................................219

14 CHAPTER  1

WARGAMES  HISTORY

Strategic  and/or  tactical  games,  known  as Wargames,  have  their  historical  origins  linked  to  the game  Chaturanga  (VI  BC)  -  the  predecessor  to  Chess (VII  AD)  -  which  originated  in  India,  where  parts represented  maharajas,  elephants  and  chariots,  and upon  reaching  the  West  were  being  transformed  into kings,  bishops,  pawns  and  castle  towers.  This,  among other  old  games  had  these  pieces  to  represent  units  that are  faced  on  a  battlefield.

The  first  modern  reference  to  what  is  known  as simulation  of  battles  dated  from  1789,  when  a  noble

name  Helwing  invented  a  game  very  similar  to  modern

15 wargames.  This  simulated  combat  developed  over  a  tray with  1,666  colored  squares,  made  of  wood,  representing the  various  types  of  terrain  that  could  constitute  a battlefield.

Fig  1:  Chaturanga.

The  players  wore  pieces  representing  the  military units  involved  in  the  conflict,  which  moved  forward  or back  a  certain  number  of  squares.  These  pieces  or miniatures  were  carved  in  wood  with  metal  details beyond  colors  to  differentiate  its  features  and  functions.

In  1795,  George  Vinturinus,  a  scholar  of  strategy from  the  Danish  duchy  of  Schelswing,  developed  a  more complete  version  of  the  wargame  created  by  Helwing, using  a  map  of  an  area  in  the  border  region  between

France  and  Belgium  as  the  game  board.

16 In  1824,  an  officer  in  the  Prussian  army,  Von

Resswitz,  published  a  kind  of  wargame  more sophisticated,  which  aimed  training  officers  in  strategic studies.  The  Kriegspiel  introduced  important  features such  as  the  use  of  data  to  determine  random  elements  in battles,  and  quite  detailed  rules  as  line  of  sight,  range  of weapons  and  troop  morale.  This  game  included  the  use of  maps  and  probability  tables.

After  the  Franco-Prussian  War  (1870-1),  the  British built  their  version  of  Kriegspiel  -  The  Game  of  War  -  using for  training  the  army.

Later  the  game  won  a  large  number  of  supporters, serving  as  a  starting  point  for  creating  wargames  clubs and  the  first  publication  of  a  magazine  devoted  to  this kind  of  issue,  the  Wargamer's  Digest.  From  this  point  the units  were  already  represented  by  pieces  of  cardboard with  coats  of  arms  and  symbols,  or  by  miniatures  of troops,  vehicles  and  vessels  forms.

In  1952,  Charles  S.  Roberts,  an  American,  created the  first  world  commercial  board  wargame,  named Tactics.  Two  years  later  Roberts  created  a  model  of

rules  and  a  set  of  tables  that  would  be  used  by  the  most

17 board  wargames  thereafter,  known  as  Combat  Results Table.  In  1961  he  published  Gettysburg,  considered the  first  contemporary  wargame  based  on  historical battles.

Fig  2:  Gettysburg  .

18 CHAPTER  2

A  STUDY  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  ART  AND  THE SCIENCE  OF  WAR  OF  THE  FIRST  HISTORICAL

EMPIRES Ancient  Age

It  was  the  period  that  extended  from  the  invention  of writing  (4000  BC  to  3500  BC)  until  the  fall  of  the  Western Roman  Empire  (476  AD)  and  the  early  Middle  Ages.  The study  itself  began  in  that  period  of  history  when Herodotus  and  Thucydides,  Greek’s  historians  began  to question  the  myth  and  the  legend,  chronicling  the  Medes Wars  and  the  Peloponnesian  War  respectively.

This  book  is  part  of  a  study  of  the  history  of  the  wars of  the  first  empires,  namely  the  Egyptians,  the  Assyrians and  the  Persians.  The  Greeks  and  the  Romans  will  be  for

later  study.

19 Sumerian  War The  city  of  Akkad  became  the  center  of  a  great

Mesopotamian  empire  for  more  than  a  century  (2300  - 2200  BC),  as  a  result  of  the  energy  of  their  greatest  king, Sargon  (2334  -  2279  BC).  Although  the  site  has  not  yet been  identified  with  certainty,  probably  Akkad  was  on  the Tigris  River,  north  of  Lagash  and  Sumer.  Their  warfare use  the  Sumerian  phalanx  with  infants  armed  with spears,  supported  by  chariots  drawn  by  donkeys.

Sargon  came  to  the  region  as  the  leader  of  a  Semitic people  and  had  a  great  influence  on  that  style  of  warfare. He  subdued  the  people  of  Sumer,  but  also  expanded  its borders  along  the  Euphrates  to  conquer  tribes  of  the desert  on  the  edge  of  the  Fertile  Crescent.  These  people use  the  bow  for  hunting,  and  part  of  the  genius  of  Sargon was  to  adopt  it  for  use  in  military  operations.

In  addition  to  the  traditional  recruiting  of  temporary forces  from  the  cities  of  Sumer,  Sargon  created  a professional  army  5,400  men  strong.  Calling  himself Who  keeps  traveling  to  the  four  corners  of  the  Earth, claimed  to  have  fought  34  wars  in  his  half-century  reign.

As  a  result,  created  an  empire  that  stretched  from  the

20 Lower  Sea  (Persian  Gulf)  to  the  Upper  Sea (Mediterranean).  He  also  led  his  forces  through  the Taurus  mountain  ranges  and  Amanus,  reaching  central Anatolia.

In  building  his  empire,  Sargon  set  the  standard  for  a type  of  warrior  state  that  lasted  more  than  a  millennium. Their  armies  were  flexible  enough  to  operate  in  all  types of  terrain  and  against  any  opponent.  His  own  empire  was eventually  conquered  around  2000  BC  by  the  people known  as  the  Amorites  (meaning  Westerners),  who came  from  northern  Syria  and  established  their  power  in Babylon.

The  first  organized  armies

The  history  of  civilized  war  begins  with  the development  of  complex  societies,  made  possible  by  the production  of  agricultural  surpluses.  These  societies  have emerged  over  time  in  Mesopotamia,  the  Nile  Valley,  the Indus  River  Valley,  China,  and  parts  of  America.  Due  to the  size  of  your  organization  and  its  resources,  these states  were  able  to  mobilize  large  armies  that  allowed  the kings  or  emperors  expand  their  domains  about  other

people  and  face  other  empires  for  supremacy.

21 The  foot  soldier  is  as  old  as  man,  with  his  ability  to

manufacture  lethal  weapons  made  up  for  his  lack  of fangs  and  claws.  These  weapons  formed  two  categories that  continue  to  define  the  infantry  weapons  today: throwing  weapons  such  as  wood,  stone,  arrow  and  dart, allowing  you  to  achieve  distance,  and  shock  weapons  for close  combat,  as  the  club,  dagger,  spear  and  sword.  On the  other  hand,  the  weakness  of  his  body  encouraged him  to  protect  themselves  with  shields,  helmets,  and armor.

The  relationship  between  the  weight  of  weapons  and equipment  and  the  driving  force  of  his  muscles  was  the last  human  concern.  Initially  his  tactics  were  an  extension of  the  techniques  used  in  hunting:  he  sought  to  attract  the enemy  against  a  natural  barrier,  where  lurked.  He  was essentially  a  warrior,  whose  skills  were  more  individual, and  not  even  a  soldier  with  the  collective  competencies.

From  2500  BC  the  Mesopotamian  city-states’  infantry held  this  crucial  transition.  She  was  still  armed  with shields  and  spears,  but  went  on  to  fight  emassad  in phalanges.  Although,  at  certain  times,  the  status  of