500-599 (Abrittus)

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504
Sassanid Empire: Civil unrest and Mazdakist mass protests continue as regional warlords continue the persecution of Mazdakists. The situations slides out of Djamasp`s hands.

505
Sassanid Empire: Djamasp is dethroned and blinded by a group of aristocratic conspirators. Hormizd is the new shahanshah.

506
Roman Empire: A federalist majority in the Senate lends the Republican Censors authority to establish a much more precise census, containing a vast number of new categories of information. Many cities protest against this measure, as they see their autonomy curbed. After two and a half centuries, an empire-wide censorial administration is re-built, with well-qualified clerks. This decision speeds up both the Roman Republic`s transition to a territorial democracy and the use of the Devangari numerals in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Sassanid Empire: Hormizd II. officially rekindles the persecution of Mazdakism. By the end of the year, over 30,000 (often well-educated) Mazdakist Persians have fled from the empire into Armenia, Saba and the Roman Republic. Another 15,000 Mazdakists from the Northern and Eastern satrapies have fled to the Turks, to Wei China and to Gupta India.

507
Sassanid Empire: In spite of brutal oppression, the Mazdakist movement appears inextinctable. Diplomatic trouble with the Chendra dynasty in India keeps Hormizd busy, though, and brings a pause in this civil war.

A group of Mazdakist refugees, who had left Persia last year but not found asylum in any of the Eastern African coast towns, lands in Northern Madagascar, where they found the first society based on Mazdkaist principles.

509
Sassanid Empire: A new peasant rebellion, led by the charismatic Mazdakist Pakur, shakes Western and Northern Persia. Hormizd sends ever new armies against the insurgents. The costs of war and its detrimental effect on commerce have emptied the royal coffers.

510
Sassanid Empire: Hormizd II. decrees a head tax to finance the civil war against insurgent peasants, Mazdakists and, of lately, also rebellious slaves (mostly of Arabian, Turkic and Indian backgrounds). The dehqans are charged with collecting it in the countryside, while the regional shahs collect the rest in the cities. Factually, only the latter have a chance to execute this order because they can back it with military power.

511
Sassanid Empire: The civil war continues; no side appears victorious. Commercial and professional urban circles, which had been divided between pro- and anti-Mazdakists, become increasingly opposed to Hormizd`s war and tax regime.

Roman Empire: In the Syrian civitas of Dura Europos, a chemist / distiller discovers several useful products of a destillation of petra oleum. The interest of the collegium of the apothecaries is limited, but the provincial Academia Martiana in Halabiya is more interested.

512
Sassanid Empire: In a common declaration (the "declaration of Samarkand"), the mayors and petty kings of nine Sogdian cities refuse to send the required amounts of tax money and demand to have a say in fiscal legislation. Hormizd must interrupt the persecution of the insurgents in Persia and send troops to the North.

513
Sassanid Empire: Hormizd II. must abandon his campaign against Sogdia after a defeat against the Turkish Chigils, who had been hired by the Sogdians. Back home in Persia, a coalition of moderate and Mazdakist townsmen and insurgent peasants has gained control over Sapahan (OTL Isfahan).

514
Scandinavia: Wealthy and powerful guilds from Sørstad found a sister town / colony named Älvsborg in the land of the Geats.

515
Roman Empire: Much more powerful, light and portable fire pumps / flame throwers are developed in Halabiya, using lighter substances distilled from petra oleum. Because neither the surrounding civitates, nor the MCM want to buy them yet, the academy`s workshops sell them to Mazdakist rebels who want to use them in their civil war against Hormizd.

517
Sassanid Empire: The civil war, which has cost almost half a million lives so far, does not go well for the old establishment - and the new weapon used by the rebels in the West has contributed to this. Hormizd II. is dethroned and sent into exile on Sokotra. The warlords choose Balash II. as the next shahanshah.

518
Sassanid Empire: In an attempt to reassure Sassanid society of its cultural foundation - and to secure the clergy`s support for the ancien regime -, Balash takes several measures that strengthen the role of orthodox Zoroastrianism in public life across the entire empire. Dissenters are marginalised, no new temples, churches, stupas, monasteries, synagogues etc. of other confessions may be built, and non-Zoroastrians (Mazdakists officially belong in that category, too, now) must pay a higher head tax.

520
Sassanid Empire / India: Balash`s policy backfires badly. After wild protests by Hinduists across the Sassanid satrapies in India, Vasishka III., the Kushanshah, and Peroz VIII., the Shakanshah, ceremoniously (and opportunistically) place themselves in the front row of these movements. In a common statement, they demand from Chosrau to exempt their satrapies from implementing the Zoroastrianist policies. When Balash refuses, they declare that their satrapies are no longer ruled by Balash, but that they shall rule themselves. Vasishka and Peroz reign over the breakaway empire in a dual monarchy.

521
Sassanid Empire: Influential groups of Jews and Christians in the Mesopotamiam West of the Empire join the anti-shahanshah side. Only two months later, the revolution suffers a severe psychological blow as news of Kavadh`s assassination by Sassanid spies reach the Sassanid Empire.

522
Sassanid Empire / Kushana-Shakastan: Balash`s attempt to coerce Kushana-Shakastan back under his overlordship fails. The armies of Vasishka and Peroz even march on Persian territory. Only with great efforts and a lot of luck can the army under Balash`s command stop the Kushan-Shakan advance at Dosdab. Balash signs a peace treaty and cedes the Sassanids` Indian possessions. The only Indians left under Sassanid rule now are the soldiers of Indian descent who, very loyal to the Sassanids, fight to maintain control over Bactria and Sogdia.

523
Celtic Empire / Denmark: Because the Celtic merchant fleet is still an easy prey for pirates in the Kattegat, Caesar Antonius decides to start a campaign aimed at conquering the Danish isles in 523. New divisions of the Celtic Navy, equipped with the new fast longboats, sail into the Kattegat. Everything looks good at first, with some islets easily conquered. But when the Celts encounter the main body of a Danish fleet under the command of Horik, a small king in Lejre, they must learn that having longboats does not yet make one a skillful Viking sea warrior. The Celtic naval detachment is nearly destroyed - and the first part of the legend of heroic Danish resistance is created.

524
Roman Empire: The command of the Roman classis sees the advantages of the new fire pumps developed in Syria. A large order is placed to equip many ships with the new weapon.

525
Ostrogoths are the first to copy and use the Sørstad ship design of longboats with sails in the Black and Mediterranean Seas.

Venedia: Sørstaders found the sister town / colony of Vineta in a land sparsely inhabited by Venedian tribes, intensifying their trade relations with Ranians and other Liutician tribes.

Sassanid Empire: In Choresmia, Mazdakists have prevailed over the Afraghids, who had been vassals of the Sassanids. They invite Kavadh`s eldest son, Kavus, to become their shah, to protect and respect the rules and egalitarian principles of Mazdakism. Kavus marks the beginning of the (lesser, but more orthodox) dynastic line of Mazdakites (the greater, but more moderate one would emerge victorious in Persia later, founded by Chosrau I.).

526
Roman Empire: An earthquake kills approximately 100,000 people in Cilicia and its largest city of Antiochia.

527
Sassanid Empire / Choresmia: Balash`s army, which numbers not even a quarter of the soldiers Sassanid shahanshahs could command half a century earlier, lays siege to Choresmia`s oasis fortresses, and reconquers Choresmia, comitting a bloodbath among the Mazdakist population. Only three months later, a fresh insurgency overthrows the occupation forces, though. Kavus returns from his hideout.

Balash is forced to raise the head tax for non-Zoroastrians once again.

528
Sassanid Empire: The town councils of the Sogdians openly cease any payments to Balash and declare not to apply the laws against non-Zoroastrian faiths, which have hampered trade along the Silk Route, which is conducted by merchants of all sorts of religious backgrounds (a majority of them Buddhists), greatly. (The Sogdians do not know that commerce on the Silk Road - the one main source of their wealth -  is also disadvantaged by widespread peasant rebellions in Northern China.) To strengthen their position, they form an institutionalised alliance (the "Sogdian Federation") and pledge allegiance to Kushana-Shakastan.

529
Roman Empire: The Comitium of the Civitas of Sirmium is the first among hundreds of cities, which would join the campaign later, to decree that taverns must not serve more than a sextarius of wine or a triens of brandy per customer per day in order to reduce alcohol-related violence.

531
Sassanid Empire: Balash comes under attack from another front: An alliance of Roman border civitates, Taghlib Arabs and troops from Armenia and the Kingdom of Saba marches into Sassanid territory. Their declared aim is to defend the Christians, who have been severely persecuted since the involvement of some Christian groups in the civil war on the side of the revolution. There are rumours, though, that the Roman Republic supports the coalition this time because it is interested in gaining access to the petroleum seep sites of Mesopotamia - with fire pumps becoming more and more important for the Roman navy, the importance of petra oleum increases.

Confronted with so many defeats and military failures, the warlords conspire against Balash. He hears of their plans, though, and flees with a handful of loyal supporters into Oxania, where he has loyal supporters among his troops.

532
Persia: While Balash completely changes his policies after his retreat into Oxania, abandoning the high head tax as well as the persecution of non-Zoroastrians, and concentrates entirely on increasing his control over the Silk Road, competing shahs contend for power in Persia. And of course the Mazdakists triumph at Balash`s demise, too, taking to the streets in ever greater numbers, showing that their faith and value system cannot be crushed by force.

Mesopotamia is "liberated" and controlled by the Christian coalition.

Saba annexes the Sassanid possessions on the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf.

535
Kushana-Shakastan: Overtly Hinduist policies lead to the secession of the mostly Buddhist satrapies of Gandhara and Taxila from Kushana-Shakastan.

536
Kushana-Shakastan: A military attempt to coerce Gandhara and Taxila back into the union fails in the mountainous terrain.

Sogdia: Balash`s ultra-loyal Oxanian troops lay siege to the secessionist Sogdian cities, which can no longer hope for a protection by the Kushans, whose access routes are cut by Gandhara`s and Taxila`s independence. They conquer Bukhara, but before they reach Samarqand, an alliance of Turkish riders from the Chigil and Ashina clans / tribes defeats Balash`s Oxanian troops. The Sogdian Federation must pay considerable tribute for this assistance, though.

537
Sørstaders found the sister town / colony of Grobiņa in Courland in order to trade with the Baltic tribes.

539
Persia: A revolutionary coalition of moderate Mazdakists, Christians, Jews, Manichaeists, revolting peasants, and representatives of urban guilds overthrows the anciem regime finally by gaining control over the cities of Ctesiphon, Gundishapur and Sapahan. Slavery is outlawed, a land reform condones the expropriation of the landowning aristocracy by peasant collectives, and a federal council is to be elected which must consent to any taxation and declaration of war or peace. Kavadh`s favourite son, Chosrau, is invited to become the first Mazdakite Shah of Eran (the renaming of the old dynasty into a new one symbolises both continuity and the drastically increased role of the Mazdakists in the new polity.)

Centennial developments and trends
The bubonic plague breaks out in Europe and the Middle East, reducing population and military strength of Romans and Sassanids in turns. Whoever gains the upper hand, often gets to control the Gulf and European-Indian trade. Medical academies, especially in the Greek regions of the Roman Empire, work feverishly, experimenting with new ailments and substances, to find ways to combat the plague, but without success so far.

Economy and Technology:

 * Mechanical looms are invented in the Roman Empire and powered by water. They further increase the availability of textiles and make Rome the world's largest importer of wool and cotton and the largest exporter of cloth and clothes.
 * The twin booming branches of distillation and glass manufacturing trigger various related inventions and new professions: the distillation of crude oil, the oil lamp, the test tube, ailments extracted from roots etc. through alcohol, the looking glass and the monocle (still rather primitive). The branches and professions still overlap in the 6th century: distillers and apothecaries, apothecaries and chemists, chemists and gaffers, gaffers and opticians. The innovations achieved in the Roman, Celtic and Sassanid empires reach the neighboring states half a century later.
 * The increased importance of oil brings new wealth and conflicts to the region between Egypt and Persia. New wars between Rome and the Sassanids arise out of attempts to control petroleum seep sites and easily accessible oil fields.
 * The development of credit systems has reached a critical point both in the Roman Empire (where public institutions like the academies, temples, infrastructural agencies or even the Cura Annonae have been the main lenders, but the owners of profitable textile manufacturers begin to participate in the game, too) and in India and China (where Buddhist monasteries are the main lenders). Not only occasional debt crises create unrest, but also the enormous power of the lending institutions (crossing imperial borders, etc.) harbors potential for conflicts. Christians increasingly stress their anti-interest position, which varies from violent Simonist action to the establishment of interest-free mutual credit systems sponsored/backed by the Roman Catholic Church (and which were, to a great extent, inspired by the mutual credit networks of the Jewish Ostrogothic sea merchants).
 * Roman engineering enterprises build dams and other capital-intensive projects in small neighboring countries like Lasika, Iberia, Lakia, or Cercetia in the Caucasus or in Slavic Moravia. They lend the large sums of necessary money from Roman public institutions, and refinance and remunerate their efforts through a share in the profits that their engineering creates in these foreign countries.
 * Celts and Scandinavians learn from each other`s ship designs: Norwegians now build longboats with sails, and sell them to Celts, too.
 * Copying Nordic ship designs, Ostrogothic sea merchants expand their trade network (accompanied by their own, exclusive, internal credit network, which was free of interest and proved very stable in comparison to other forms of credit over the next centuries) along the European and African Atlantic coasts.
 * During the periods when ships with Roman goods and citizens on board are able to travel East, the first trade contacts with China are established.

Military:

 * Renewed Roman-Sassanid wars lead to a permanent alliance between Rome and Saba. Roman/Saban and Sassanid control over the Persian Gulf, one of the main sea trade routes to India, alternate with the bubonic plague sometimes hitting Rome harder, sometimes Persia. The alliance with Rome strengthens Saba's position in Arabia.
 * Romans and Sassanids both use lighter, portable flame-throwers in their frequent wars against each other. Toward the end of the century, Rome's military superiority results in the consolidation of Roman power over (oil-rich) Western Mesopotamia and the fortification of its Eastern Euphrates border.
 * The Celts have managed to copy flamethrowers and install them on their battleships as well.
 * After their Kattegat defeat in 535, the Celtic Navy does not venture into the Baltic Sea again and relies on auxiliaries instead. This marks the end of Celtic imperial expansion for more than three centuries and the definite end of expansion under the Celtic Caesarist absolutism.

Philosophy/science:

 * Celtic (empiricist) philosophy spreads across the Roman Empire, not without conflict. In the context of conflicts between empiricists and various religious groups, another philosophical school develops in the Roman Empire: rationalism.
 * Those universities, where Celtic philosophy has dominated for over 100 years already, begin to develop separate branches for chemical /pharmaceutical research and natural philosophy centered around optics and light. Researchers in Alexandria discover ways to gain sulfuric acid from alaun, while their colleagues in Lugdunum use sulfuric acid to gain acidum salis petrae. Medicine is "adopted" by the empiricists and included in their new Faculties of Natural Sciences.

Religion:

 * Mazdakists flee to neighbouring countries and bring their message - along with Persian knowledge and skills - into these new cultures and societies:
 * They contribute greatly to the Celtic reforms culminating in the abolition of slavery and the establishment of the First Celtic Republic, as well as to social reforms in the Roman Empire.
 * They inspire Christian Paulicianism, which challenges the state church in Iberia and becomes the dominant Christian confession in Lasika.
 * They also strengthen peasant rebellions in China.
 * In India, their doctrine finds only few followers at first - but toward the end of the century, Mazdakist ideas, together with the Christian religion brought from Arabia and Europe, contributes to an earlier Bhakti movement than in OTL and one which challenges social institutions to a greater extent.
 * They lead the revolutions which overthrow the Sassanid Empire and the Afraghid dynasty and establish the Mazdakite dynasties of Eranshahr and Choresmia.

Nations of Europe:

 * Celtic Empire / Scandinavia: The Sørstaders formed secret societies of commercial and crafts elites, where knowledge was passed on, exclusive commercial relations and privileges were established and mutual assistance and common action were organised.
 * Celtic Empire / Denmark: After the Celts have managed to copy Roman models of "Greek fire" and installed them on their various (traditional and longboat-style) ships, they start another attempt at invading Denmark in 549. With the treasury less than empty, though, only a limited number of sailors and soldiers was deployed. The Danes, led by a small king Ragnar in Gudme, cleverly managed to escape a direct confrontation in battle for several months. When the Celts and Anglians had finally encircled them and the final battle was fought on the Isle of Fyn, the number of Celtic soldiers and the lack of co-ordination between Celtic and Anglian troops proved to be too little for the fierce and desperate resistance of the Danish fighters. Celts and Anglians had to retreat and abandoned their campaign in 550 - thus creating the second part of the legend of heroic Danish resistance. Also due to the bubonic plague, no further attempts at conquering Denmark were undertaken.
 * Celtic Empire / Saxony: Due to its financial problems, the Celts reduce their military presence in Saxony throughout the 560s and 570s. In 584, Widukind, King of Saxony handpicked and educated by the Celts, turns against the occupants. He gathers a large army composed mostly of frilinga, not ethelinga, who have mostly accommodated themselves with Celtic overlordship, and begins a successful war, in which he defeats the remaining Celtic troops, destroys their military infrastructure, and assumes control over central Saxony. In 585, he conquers Castra Martellis and, since the ethelinga, who have gathered in Marklo, had hesitated to submit to him, leads his army into a civil war against the former Saxon leadership from there. Upon his triumphant return, Widukind makes Hammaburg (Castra Martellis, OTL Hamburg) the capital of his kingdom and moves his court there. A half hearted Celtic attempt to restore control over the central German rivers in 587 is abandoned without success.
 * Celtic Empire: Celts in longboats discover Glaciana (OTL: Iceland) in 576.
 * Celtic Empire: Military failures, an empty state treasury, open criticism by the self-confident intellectual elites, a temporal breakdown of public order during epidemic waves of the bubonic plague, and a widening gap in competition between Celts and Romans in several industries, chiefly among them the textile industry, initiates a reform process in the Celtic Empire, beginning with the abolition of slavery and the introduction of local democracy in 561 resp. 563 and ending in a parliamentary constitution akin to the Roman one in 596. The end of the Celtic Caesars` absolute rule also marks the end of the first wave of Celtic imperial expansion. The elected Senates of the next six centuries are rather reluctant at military adventures and wary of overstretching the empire. Instead, they pursue policies aimed at indirectly securing Celtic access to resources and outlet markets through free and safe trade.
 * Roman Empire: Increasing trade volumes and postal communication requirements result in empire-wide, large infrastructural projects. Roads, ports and lighthouses are renovated, the network of roads is extended across the outer provincial regions.
 * Roman Empire: In several provinces, Conventa tries to address the perceived problem of increased alcohol abuse among the masses (and resulting violence and low work productivity) by increasing brandy excises, limiting the sale or prohibiting it altogether.
 * Celtic / Roman Empire: A more precise census containing much more information is introduced first in the Roman Empire in 506, then in Gaul in 545.
 * During a period of Sassanid blockage of European-Indian trade, Ostrogothic ships rely on the astronomic theories that postulate a round earth, and look for a westward way to India. They discover the Nesoi Atlantikoi (Azores), where unfavourable winds force them to return. The Atlantic islands are claimed and settled by Ostrogoths after the return of the discoverers.
 * Due to quicker economic development in the Roman Empire as compared to Gaul, the Southern Frankish kingdoms, who trade both with Rome and Gaul, develop faster than their Northern countrymen, who are also frequently plagued by military conflicts with Saxony. As a result, the southern kingdoms of the Usipetri and the Bructeri become the most influential members of the confederacy.
 * Scandinavia: Several petty kingdoms of the Svear are united. Capital of the new united kingdom of the Svear is Uppsala; its most important religious centre is Helgö, and its most important trading port and hub of crafts development is Birka. As Danish and Geatic pirates make Svear-Celtic trade difficult, the Svear focus more on trade (and sometimes raids) with Baltic, Estonian and Finnish tribes. The Svear kings also establish close political ties with the kings of Saxony, and Swedish religious concepts as well as the runic alphabet are adopted in Saxony.
 * The Germanic people of the South, who live in close proximity to the Roman Empire, have come to live in well-fortified towns, conduct intense trade with the Romans and develop their crafts. As the Germanic towns on the Pannonian plain in the East have managed to stave off Slavic invasions and those in the West have finally managed to hold up against the Franks, they negotiate with Rome for a closer political, economic and military association. After the Bosporan-new Ostrogothic model, new "margines" are created in Alemannia and Pannonia Transdanubensis, later also in Baiuvaria. Alemannic, Baiuvarian as well as the Eastern / Pannonian Germanic languages have experienced a great amount of Latin influence and are written in the Latin alphabet. In Rome`s Dacian provinces, the Germanic languages (Gothic, Bastarnian and others) have died out just like the Sarmatian and Dacian ones, which have all been replaced by Latin.
 * Along the Northern tributary rivers to the Black Sea, dozens of city-states have emerged, who thrive on trade of furs, wood, grain and horses carried to Roman, Celtic, and Sassanid markets by Ostrogoths, who also bring iron and glass products, alcohol and ready-made textiles in return. Both in the city-states with mostly Slavic speakers and in those with Ugro-Finnic (Mari, Komi, Mordwinian, etc.) speakers, Ostrogoths play an important role, and Greek becomes the language of commerce in these quarters, too. While the Slavs focus on agriculture, the Ugro-Finns focus on hunting and herding. So far, resources in the sparsely populated region are still abundant and conflicts rare.

Nations of Africa:

 * Following trade contacts with Simonist Christian Garamants, Simonist thought and a revolutionary mood spread first among the Hausa and Banza city-states and undermine the divine kingdoms. After several revolutions and ensuing wars between the city-states, 12 city-states form a Simonist federation, while two are completely destroyed.
 * The fall of Kanem: After the Hausa/Banza refuse sending slave tributes to Kanem, war breaks out. Troops from Kanem devastate the Hausa cities of Gobir and Zaria. Simonist Hausa refugees call the Garamants for help. The Garamants decide to accelerate and escalate a proselytising (and instigating) campaign among the Tubu, who guard Kanem´s sanctuary, Mune. Simonist Tubu rise up against Duguwa rule. Convinced by eloquent Garamants, they declare Mune to be the sacred Israeli ark of the covenant, whose power must only be wielded by God`s chosen people, i.e. now the Christians, and not the Duguwa "divine" kings. They find ample support among different oppressed tribes and groups in Kanem. With help from the Garamants and the Hausa, the revolution succeeds and the Duguwa and Sefuwa nobility are driven out of the country. With the end of the monarchy, Kanem falls apart. In the West, the Sao cities declare their independence and become the next arenas of civil strife between Simonists and adherents of the old cult and order - and later, together with the Hausa, the greatest exporters of cotton to Europe, from where they import glass, alcohol and later petrochemical products and steel. In the North, the Tubu model their Anarcho-Communist Simonist society after the Garamants. In a great assembly/Simonist Christian mass, the Tubu and the Garamants swear oaths of peace, co-operation and piety. (Mune will become an important Christian sanctuary of the unified Imaziyen.) In the South, the chiefdoms of Mandara, Kotoko and Bagirmi are happy to pursue their ways of life without further interference from Kanem, too.

Nations of Asia:

 * Persia: But this only leads to new revolts. Sogdian cities (Samarkand, Bukhara, Kavakand, Andijan), whose trade-based wealth is endangered by the intolerant policies vis-a-vis Buddhists, Manichaeists, etc. and who also oppose the high taxation, declare themselves independent. While Chorsrau still tries to gather troops to defeat and reconquer the Sogdian Federation, he is faced with two usurpers in India: The Kushanshah and the Shakanshah, who were under immense pressure from their Buddhist, Hindu, Manichaen and Jainist population not to implement the totalitarian Zoroastrian policies, ally themselves against Chosrau. Chosrau is forced to gather Persian and Arab troops who are still loyal to him against the Kushan-Shaka breakaway. He manages to stop their attempt to overthrow the Sassanid dynasty altogether and assume power for themselves, but cannot defeat them, either. In 540, Chosrau must accept the independence of Kushana-and-Shakastan - and to make matters worse, the independence of the Sogdian Federation, which has quickly allied itself with Kushana-and-Shakastan, too. In the 550s, Chosrau begins to lose control over Bactria and Choresm, which he cannot permanently defend against more Turkish raids, and over the Caucasus, where local Albanian kings declare themselves independent and another Christian revolution finally overthrows the pro-Sassanid Arsakids in Armenia. On the sea, Rome and Saba achieve a dominance, the Romans with the help of Greek fire. Revenues for the increasingly autocratic Sassanid regime dwindle and support even among the wealthy falters.The outbreak of the bubonic plague completes the Sassanid dynasty`s descent into chaos. Finally, an alliance of Mazdakists, revolting peasants and moderate reformers in the cities overthrows the Sassanids and invites Kavadh's grandson to the throne. The Mazdakite dynasty, founded mainly on the support of this religious group, is established, a constitutional monarchy with elected representatives from all urban classes and from among the peasants, too. The new Mazdakite state has shrunk to its Persian-speaking core. Having abolished its aristocracy, there is only few skilled military personnel left, and Mazdakism is a pacifistic movement anyway, so the new Persian state only has a small self-defense force of conscripts. At least its navy has "Greek fire" at its disposal now: Some specialists, who had gathered the know-how in the Roman exile, return home with this valuable gift.
 * In Choresm, a similar Mazdakist revolution overthrows the Afraghid dynasty.
 * The Kushanshah-Shakanshah twin monarchy falls apart after the death of Kushanshah Peroz VIII.
 * Shaka India must fend off attacks by the allied Gupta and Vakataka.
 * The Sogdian Federation forges an alliance with Gandhara to defend themselves against the Göktürk Empire. Together, they barely manage to keep the nomadic warriors at bay, but in contrast to OTL, no permanent Göktürk control of the Silk Route is established.
 * A long war between Funan and Chenla - both Hindu states where an Indian elite, including many Brahmans emigrated from the Indian subcontinent, ruled over the Khmer population - binds Funan`s resources, so that former vassals like Langkasuka and Kedah gain independence and Palembang on Sumatra takes over the leading role in protecting Indochinese trade from Cham and other pirates. In the end, Funan prevails over the insurgent Chenla, though.

Salvador79 (talk) 15:05, March 6, 2014 (UTC)

Abrittus