Middle East, 610-750 (Saint Muhammad)

The following is a timeline of the Middle East in the Saint Muhammd timeline.


 * 610: POD. Muhammad begins preaching a new branch of Christianity. He soon is able to gain a growing base of followers in Mecca which soon angers the Hedjazi tribal lords.
 * 615: Muhammad is killed in Mecca by a Quraysh-hired assassin while he is preaching in Mecca's main square. The Medinan Christian community (led by Muhammad's daughter ), furious, flees to Medina where, with the help of the Abrahamic communities there, they are able to form a standing army. The starts.


 * 621: the Medinans march on Mecca and soon destroy any opposition by destroying the joint Quaraysh, Thaqf and Khinanan troops near Jidda with the help of the Umayyad and Hashemite branches of the Banu Quaraysh and the powerful intervention of the recently-converted Ghatafan tribe. The War of the Hijaz ends with the surrender of the pagan Arabian tribes and the establishment of the, which will soon become the first Arabian tribe to take hold over the whole Peninsula.


 * 630: Fatimah begins a campaign against the tribal kingdom of Kinda after it refuses to convert to Christianity, which starts the.


 * 631: The tribal kingdoms of Kinda and the remaining parts of Oman not under Sassanid control (which would later become the Trucial State), unprepared for the Medinans' fierce fighting prowess, fall quickly under the Medinan agression. The independent Arabian tribes are now unified.


 * 632: Byzantium offers Fatimah a treaty in which the emperor promises the Ghassanid and Lakhmid kingdoms o the Medinans in exchange for their assistance on a war against the Sassanids. Fatimah doesn't agree as she's afraid the pagan tribes will revolt.


 * 635: Fatimah dies, killed by an unknown factor. Her uncle, 'Ali, agrees to the Byzantine deal and, Coordinating with the Byzantine emperor's invasion of Sassanid Armenia, he invades Persia. Within days, the Lakhmid kingdom has fallen and the has been declared. By May, Hila, Babylon and Assur have fallen, and the Persians, once again surprised by Medina's fighting prowess, are forced to quickly withdraw.


 * 640: Cunterattacks have stabilized the front line in the Tigris River. The first war described by some as a "trench war" is being fought.


 * 650: The War ends with the Treaty of Palmyra. All of Armenia is given to the Byzantines. The Sassanid posessions of Bahrayn, Oman and the Lakhmid kingdom are given to the Medinans, and Saba being given to the Christian Aksumite Kingdom.. 'Ali dies shortly afterwards under mysterious circumstances. The next claimant is Ali's nephew Zainab.


 * 652: The Sassanid Emperor Yazdegerd leads a campaign against Byzantium in order to recover lost lands. In the short and undeclared  the Persians are able to reach as far as Pontus before Yazdegerd being killed.


 * 653: Yazdegerd's child Peroz III becomes Persian Emperor, but, as he is very young, declares a regency by the Persian aristocrats, who decide to accord "everlasting peace and friendship" with the Byzantines in the, claiming "the wars have given us more good than harm". In it, Armenia and Aram are declared independent. This measure is extremely impopular both in Persia and Byzantium; however, both Peroz and Constans' son Konstantine are too young so to oppose the measure.


 * 665: Peroz banishes the aristocratic regency and declares the Treaty to be void. He soon amasses a huge army and marches on Armenia. However, an aristocrat, claiming descent from the Arsacid dynasty and promising support for the Christians in Persia, declares himself to be the rightful king of Persia, styling himself Arsaces LI. He soon amasses an army in Gombroon (Bandar 'Abbas). This starts the.


 * 667: Peroz's army is forced to return from Armenia after the is signes, a makeshift peace accord signed when the news of the War come to Peroz' knowledge. Peroz marches southwards so to attack Arsaces' army.


 * 668: Zainab dies and Ali's son Hussayn succeeds to the throne. He marries Shahrbanu, Peroz' sister. The Muhammadan-Sassanid ties forment the Medinan army to march easwards and meet Peroz' troops in eastern Mandaestan (OTL Khuzestan). A large battle is fought near OTL Shiraz, in which the Sassanid troops are defeated. Peroz is taken prisoner by Arsaces. The victory convinces fellow Arsacids in Armenia to invade Persia in Arsaces LI's favour.


 * 670: Konstantinos becomes of age to rule. Seeing that the other powers are distracted in the East, he invades Armenia. As it is entirely unprepared, huge amounts of territory fall