Siege of Herat (652)
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| Siege of Herat | |||||||||
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| Part of the Muslim conquest of Persia | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Sassanid Persian Empire (Sassanid army) |
Rashidun Caliphate (Rashidun army) | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Unknown | Ahnaf ibn Qais | ||||||||
The Siege of Herat was part of the Islamic conquest of Persia. Caliph Umar (634-644 CE) launched an offensive against the Sassanid Persian Empire in 642 and by late 643 almost all of the Sassanid empire was conquered, except Khurasan and Armenia. A veteran military commander, Ahnaf ibn Qais, was appointed by Umar for the conquest of Khurasan, which in those time comprises most of present-day north eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. By mid-644 Ahnaf had captured Khurasan and the last Sassanid emperor Yazdegerd III was defeated in his last struggle against Caliphate at the Battle of Oxus river, whereupon he fled to China. He returned to Bactria during Caliph Uthman's reign where he was once again defeated and eventually was murdered by a miller in 651. With him ended the last non-Muslim Persian dynasty.
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