Rise and Fall of the Assyrian Empire

According to Joannes, the Assyrians constructed an impressive expansion covering the Near East that lasted several centuries (Joannes 27). The Assyrian’s expansion not only relied on their military advances but also on their mental tactics and use of deportation that enabled them to conquer vast number of nations.

One of the Assyrian’ most effective war tactic was the use of psychological violence that planted terror among the victims. According to Joannes, the Assyrian’s military policies were cruel and insane punishments ( 51). The Assyrians intentionally cut off their victims’ heads and hands, mutilated their enemies and piled the corpses (Joannes 59). As Joannes affirms, this strategy helped Assyrians in the future; people were afraid of the Assyrians. In this case, people would think twice before joining or creating a rebellion against the Assyrians. It is interesting to note that from these years, military leaders and kings already had a notion of how powerful and the mind terror becomes. These military leaders used psychological tactics that enabled them to conquer nations.

Another effective military strategy is the use of deportation that ultimately impacted their enemies’ political structure. In other words, the Assyrians deported about four and a half million to the Assyrian territory (Joannes 59). This not only helped Assyria economically, the deportees were used as slaves (Joannes 59) but also had an impact on the victimized nations and their sense of national unity. Defeated kings were captured and taken back to the Assyrian capital for the purpose of humiliation (Joannes 59). One can argue that in times of war, when a country’s political leader, in this case the king, is captured or killed, the consequences are huge. It lowers the morale of a nation or army.

On the other hand, the expansion of the Assyrians had its price. After several centuries, the Assyrian reign began to suffer changes both internally and externally that ultimately led to its collapse. As Joannes mentions, new coalitions against the Assyrian empire rose. In addition, civil wars decayed the empire’s political core (Joannes 46). It is impossible to retain a huge empire without the possibility of a collapse. In comparison with Hammurabi’s empire that began to fall apart after his death, the Assyrian reign had the same destiny.