400-201 BCE (Grand Union)

The 4th and 3rd Centuries are the sixth section of the Iron Age. This time frame saw the birth and rise of both Alexander III and Moquihuix.

Iron Age Pt. 5:
600-401 BCE

Iron Age Pt. 6
400-201 BCE

Iron Age Pt. 7:
200-1 BCE

Macedonia[]

Alexander Goes West[]

Alexander the III, commonly referred to as Alexander the Worthy, was emperor of Macedon from 336 to 314. Born in Pella in 356 BCE, he took over control of Macedonia after his father died in 336 BCE. He immediately took the reigns of the Balkans, and became Hegemon of Greece using forceful military tactics. From there he moved south, conquering the other Greek states by 332. He had his eyes set on Persia, but couldn't get any part of it due to growing force from Egypt in Anatolia. While Egypt was a strict enemy of Persia at the time, it still wanted to stop Macedonia from getting stronger in the east.

The Enetian Problem[]

While Alexander couldn't gain the whole of Persia, he still had his sights on the only other major nation on the Euxine Sea, Eneti. Knowing that Egypt would honor their alliance and crush Macedonia, Alexander tried to be as discreet as possible. The idea didn't go completely as planned, however. Alexander was originally going to force the Enetian leader at the time to do his will by threatening his life, but he refused and was killed. After this, Alexander simply deposed the dead man's son and declared himself King of the Jewish People. Egypt didn't react forcefully to this as the alliance wasn't going to be honored anyway. It did send a charter to Alexander, however, claiming that they would in fact declare war if he moved any farther.

Macedonian Conquest of Rome[]

After the conquest of Eneti in 332 BCE, conflicts with Rome were mounting more every day. Alexander realized he couldn't afford to move any farther east, but still believed Macedonia should have control over most of Europa. The conflicts arose when the Roman senate came to a vote to bar trade from Macedonia to prevent their rapid growth, their influence among the other Italian nations shifted many to join in their decision. Though the trade crisis hindered Macedonia, Alexander made a move that would shock many as he continued his push westward in mainland Europa. The Macedonians would continue their march along the coast of the Central Balkans, to come through northern Italia to catch the Romans off guard, as he had suspected the Romans believed in a Macedonian naval invasion as it was the quickest route to invade mainland Italia.

As the Macedonians reached northern Italia, they found the region heavily populated by Celt raiders and barbarians. The Macedonians were able to cut a deal with the Celts in favor of their help to capture Rome, the Celts would be paid handsomely by the Macedonians and would be allowed a kingdom to call their own and would no hostile actions would occur to them as soon as Rome fell. The siege of the Roman lands continued for two more years, as the northern borders of Rome were fortified to handle Celt raiders, but not the combined might of Macedonia and Celt raiders. In 330 BCE Rome finally fell to Macedonia, and the Celts were allowed to form their own kingdom in northern Italia. Though Alexander's conquest did not stop there as he continued to move farther into Italia until his war weary army caused him to stop his conquest and reorganize his armies and his empire.

Egypt[]

The Persian, Ifran, and Macedonian Problem[]

Kapes taking the throne came at an unsure time for the Egyptian Empire, as tensions were currently high with the Persian Empire and the coalition of various Ifran states along their southern borders were increasing. Though Kapes was not as brash as her predecessors and kept a level head, she kept spies on the trade caravans into Persia to keep in touch with what was going on in Persia. Along with rotating nobles and or politics in the embassy that was long since constructed in Persia to keep relations in Persia to at least peaceful talks with one another.

Though Kapes was having to deal with both the Abyssinian Trade Confederation to her southern borders and the growing power in Carthage. She decided to influence and help Carthage as they held a large sphere of influence over the developing communities in Iberia and held quite a bit of trade power in the White Sea. Relations between Egypt and Carthage grew quite well, with positive relations growing, the Egyptians were able to increase the amount of trade in Carthage themselves and with the western White Sea. The Egyptians were even able to get trade from the uncharted region that would later be the West Ifran coast.

When the Macedonians took control of Eneti, the Egyptians took this chance to try to gain a greater ally in the Macedonians. Though Alexander never returned any messages that were sent to him; or did he allow any foreign diplomats "waste his time." The Egyptians had to deal with not only a powerful foe in Persia, but also in the highly militarized Macedonian Empire, who were led by a young, brilliant, and charismatic leader in Alexander.

Persia[]

Persia was in a tough position as a result from its lack of alliances to other nations. While it was militarily advanced, it did not have the technical knowledge of nations such as Eneti or Egypt. The emperors in the region did not take as much charge as they used to in the 500's and 600's BCE. In 425, diseases from the east swept through the desert towns, killing many people in those regions. Poverty went rampant, as the military spending wasn't needed anymore. In 397 BCE, Emperor Assur-Mulik I of Persia died without an heir, ending his dynasty of foolish kinds.

A young man named Paseena, the son of a noble who lived near the castle, quickly acted upon this. While everyone else tried to raise an army of their own, he took the throne and defended it from any other people. However, he was a much better king than his predecessors, even with assassins trying to take the throne from him for a large portion of his life. He worked on building up infrastructure in the capital city of Nineveh, as well as bringing Persia's eastern regions wealth. He died in 366 BCE, after reigning for a lengthy thirty-one years. He was one of the first kings who had a day of mourning dedicated to them, one which was put in place by his first son, Dariush I. Dariush was much like his father, but dedicated his time as emperor to strengthening the east against the Indians. This was good in some ways, but made Persia weak to the future onslaught of the Macedonians to the west. He died in 334 BCE, and was succeeded by his first son, Jahangir.

Jahangir continued the basic policies that Paseena's dynasty started, but also put military force on the Egyptian border. He made a basic trade alliance with the Enetians, which allowed Persia to get goods from the Euxine Sea and beyond. He was forced to handle the brunt of Alexander's conquests, and had trouble dealing from the pressure. The leader Alexander placed in charge of Eneti was very hostile to Jahangir, and they almost went to war multiple times. After Alexander's death, he had multiple more conflicts with Alexander IV. However, he died in 313 and left the throne to his son, Kir I. Kir wasn't able to do much, due to even more growing restrictions from Egypt and more military conflicts with Eneti. He was forced by Macedonia to tone down Persia's overly large army, and also had trouble dealing with the Kushans to the east. His one major achievement was setting up a puppet state in the regions of Eneti the Macedonians had a hard time controlling. He probably could have done more if he didn't die from an unknown cause three years into his kingship. Historians believe an assassin could have been hired by Macedonia in order to start a civil war, but most of those claims have been baseless and heavily refuted.

Due to him dying so young, he had no children to take over his throne. His brother did this for him, and quickly had children of his own to compensate, in case het met the same fate as Kir. Parvis I, the new Emperor, named his son after his late brother, and did so out of honor. He also believed the theories that Macedonia secretly assassinated his brother, and tried to make better relations with them in order to not be murdered as well. He died in 288, and didn't make any major innovations himself. Kir II, the son named after Parvis' brother, became Emperor subsequently. He was unable to do anything as well, but riskily attempted to spread into the east. This was an extreme issue after a few years, as it made the already disease-ridden empire virtually collapse from sickness. It hit along the Tigris and Euphrates the most, due to them being major hubs of sea trade, especially from the east. Much of the royal family died because of this, and the capital city was moved north after the next Emperor took over. Kir himself died, along with his only son. His other child was extremely young at the time, which means they only had one known other family member left.

Around seventy years before, Dariush I had another child along with Jahangir. A few years after having his first son, he became the father of a girl named Parvaneh. She would live to be the oldest Emperor in Persian history until the Common Era, living to be 83 years old. She was known by many as the "Eternal Princess", due to her outliving most of the other people in her nation. After Kir and his son died, she took over in her mid-seventies. She also taught Sanaz, Kir's only daughter, how to be a good Emperor like herself. When Parvaneh died nine years later, Sanaz I took over the throne and fixed the poverty the "Desert Plague" had caused". She wasn't able to do too much during her thirty-six years, but she did enough to retake control over her splintering empire. Her son Kaveh took over in 230, and tried to bring Persia back to its days of relative peace in the early 300's BCE. It strayed away from anything in the east, but also made sure it had full control over its older land. The recession had finally ended, after sixty years of near chaos. Kaveh died in peace in 199 BCE.

Emperors of Persia (400-200 BCE)[]

Assur-Mulik I - (422-397 BCE) 25 years
Paseena I - (397-366 BCE) 31 years
Dariush I - (366-334 BCE) 32 years
Jahangir I - (335-313 BCE) 22 years
Kir I - (313-310 BCE) 3 years
Parvis I - (310-288 BCE) 22 years
Kir II - (288-275 BCE) 13 years
Parvaneh I - (275-266 BCE) 9 years
Sanaz I - (266-230 BCE) 36 years
Kaveh I - (230-199 BCE) 31 years

Cogotas[]

Expansion & Growth[]

The Iberian Peninsula was undoubtedly one of the most developed regions of Europa, second behind the Greek states in South Eastern Europa. All could thanks to the Cogotas I Empire. Arnviðr Remus was one of the great Cogotas rulers that led to the empire's rapid expansion within the peninsula. Arnviðr led his ancestors crusade against the Celtic raiders that plagued the peninsula and the progress of his empire. Arnviðr created a great network of outpost that bordered the mountain range that created a natural border for the Cogotas to delay and prepare for invasions or attacks from potential warlords, raiders, or barbarians. Arnviðr chose to fortify and secure the few colonies his predecessors created in Southern Francia, much to the chagrin to many of his advisors, who suggested expanding into the untapped region; as their superior military might could easily stop any potential attacks from the native tribes in the region. Though Arnviðr believed that due to their distance and the only way to effectively travel to the colonies was by boat, he ordered for the colonies to build up the region in preparation for possible future expansion. Arnviðr much like his predecessors was forced to be a military extraordinaire as military conquest was the quickest way to unite the entire peninsula. As the region was a mix of various remaining Celtic tribes, growing nations, or small communities. Near the end of his reign Arnviðr was able to fully unite the northern portion of Iberia, with a large unnamed body of water stretching farther than the eye could see into the west.

Cleon Remus, Arnviðr's son and successor, was not the militaristic genius he was, but he made up for the lack of his military skill, with his architectural and construction ideals. Cleon took the idea to the idea of slowing down his empire's expansion and focusing more on the lack of effective roads, that hindered travel throughout the region. Within the next 10 years of his reign he saw an effective road system connecting the empire's largest cities, towns and ports and saw an effective increase in the amount of trade and traffic within the empire. The Iber River was among the largest rivers in the empire and Cleon saw fit to use it to his advantage. He saw fit to create man made rivers, streams, and aqueducts to effectively farm and bring water to the regularly dry region of Northern Iberia.

The Punic Wars[]

Heliodoros Remes succeeded his father Cleon, Heliodoros moved for rapid expansion into along Iberia's eastern coast to open up effective ports in the region, then to slowly move inward from the coastal towns and ports. Upon the Cogotas expansion southward, a group of scouts came in contact with a group of Carthaginian colonial farmers in the region. Heliodoros made an effort to reach out with the current Carthaginian king Hamilcar Barca, though no efforts to open up diplomatic talks were ever recorded between the two nations. The two nations eventually expanded westward each nation had a mutual agreement not to expand to one another's territory or land, however that fell apart when one of the rivers split into many different smaller rivers, which messed with the mutual agreement. Eventually small skirmishes between both farmers and the scouts in the region.

Heliodoros and Barca were never able to met and agree on terms to fix the territorial disputes. The stubbornness of the two kings led to war between the two Empires. Two separate wars were fought between the Cogotas and Carthaginians, each starting off with the Carthaginians holding the advantage against the Cogotas. Though both wars would turn around and would favor the Cogotas who would defeat the Carthaginians and forcing them to pay both reparations and forfeit land to the Cogotas Empire, greatly reducing the Carthaginians power in Europa, and greatly increasing the Cogotas' power. The two costly wars for the Carthaginians led to its eventual collapse into various other smaller kingdoms.

First Punic War[]

The First Punic War (264–241 BCE) was fought partly on land in Iberia and Africa, but was largely a naval war. It began as a local conflict in Iberia between Aristeides Caratacos and the Slabs of Extramadura. The Slabs enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Cogotas Empire for aid against Carthage. The Cogotas sent a garrison to secure Extramadura, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Post-Argar. With the two powers now embroiled in the conflict, tensions quickly escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Cogotas for the control of Southern Iberia. After a harsh defeat at the Battle of Levant in 262 BCE, the Carthaginian leadership resolved to avoid further direct land-based engagements with the powerful Cogotas military, and concentrate on the sea where they believed Carthage's large navy had the advantage. Initially the Carthaginian navy prevailed. In 260 BCE they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Balearic Islands. Cogotas responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months the Cogotas had a fleet of over one hundred warships. Because they knew that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in the traditional tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Cogotas added the corvus, an assault bridge, to Cogotas ships. The hinged bridge would swing onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike and stop them. Cogotas soldiers could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. This innovative Cogotas tactic reduced the Carthaginian navy's advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, and allowed Cogotas' superior infantry to be brought to bear in naval conflicts. However, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Cogotas navy became more experienced and tactically proficient. Save for the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Tunis in Africa, and two naval engagements, the First Punic War was a nearly unbroken string of Cogotas victories. In 241 BCE, Carthage signed a peace treaty under the terms of which they evacuated South Eastern Iberia and paid Cogotas a large war indemnity. The long war was costly to both powers, but Carthage was more seriously destabilized. In 238 BCE, Carthage was plunged into the Mercenary War, during which Cogotas seized more land in central Iberia. Cogotas was now the most powerful state in the western White Sea: its large navy able to prevent seaborne invasion of Iberia, control important sea trade routes, and invade foreign shores.

Second Punic War[]

The Second Punic War (218 BCE – 201 BCE) is most remembered for the Carthaginian Hannibal's crossing of the Pyrenees. His army invaded Cogotas from the north and resoundingly defeated the Cogotas army in several battles, but never achieved the ultimate goal of causing a political break between Cogotas and its allies.

While fighting Hannibal in Iberia and Ifran, Cogotas simultaneously fought against rising tribes in Iberia. Eventually, the war was taken to Ifran, where Carthage was defeated at the Battle of Zama by Scaevola Clitus. The end of the war saw Carthage's control reduced to only the city itself.

China[]

Warring States[]

Since the collapse of most of the Zhou Dynasty's power, China had been in a constant state of war between various nations and states. The period following the Zhou's collapse was called the Autumn and Spring Period. Though China remained divided between the various nations and states, large nations were beginning to emerge from China. These nations that survived the Autumn and Spring Period were later known as the Seven Warring states, though there were eight states, the nation of Qin was not included as they would later unite China under their dynasty.

Qin: The State of Qin was in the far west, with its core in the Wei River Valley and Guanzhong. This geographical position offered protection from the states of the Central Plains and it also limited its initial influence.
The Three Jins: Northeast of Qin, on the Shanxi plateau, were the three successor states of Jin. These were:
- Han, south, along the Yellow River, controlling the eastern approaches to Qin.
- Wei, middle.
- Zhao, the northernmost of the three.
Qi: located in the east of China, centred on the Shandong Peninsula, described as east of Mount Tai but whose territory extended far beyond.
Chu: located in the south of China, with its core territory around the valleys of the Han River and, later, the Yangtze River.
Yan: located in the northeast, centered on modern-day Beijing. Late in the period Yan pushed northeast and began to occupy the Liaodong Peninsula

Qin Unite China[]

In 230 BCE, Qin conquered Han. Han, the weakest of the Seven Warring States, was adjacent to the much stronger Qin, and had suffered continuous assaults by Qin in earlier years of the Warring States period. This went on until Emperor Qin Shi Huang sent general Wang Jian to attack Zhao. King An of Han, frightened by the thought that Han would be the next target of the Qin state, immediately sent diplomats to surrender the entire kingdom without a fight, saving the Han populace from the terrible potential consequences of an unsuccessful resistance.

In 225 BCE, Qin conquered Wei. The Qin army led a direct invasion into Wei by besieging its capital Daliang but soon realized that the city walls were too tough to break into. They devised a new strategy in which they utilized the power of a local river that was linked to the Yellow River. The river was used to flood the city's walls, causing massive devastation to the city. Upon realizing the situation, King Jia of Wei hurriedly came out of the city and surrendered its city to the Qin army in order to avoid further bloodshed of his people.

In 223 BCE, Qin conquered Chu. The first invasion was however an utter disaster when 200,000 Qin troops, led by the inexperienced general, Li Xin, were defeated by 500,000 Chu troops in the unfamiliar territory of Huaiyang. Xiang Yan, the Chu commander, had lured Qin by allowing a few initial victories, but then counterattacked and burnt two large Qin camps.

The following year, Wang Jian was recalled to lead a second invasion with 600,000 men. High in morale after their victory in the previous year, the Chu forces were content to sit back and defend against what they expected to be a siege of Chu. However, Wang Jian decided to weaken Chu's resolve and tricked the Chu army by appearing to be idle in his fortifications whilst secretly training his troops to fight in Chu territory. After a year, the Chu defenders decided to disband due to apparent lack of action from the Qin. Wang Jian invaded at that point, with full force, and overran Huaiyang and the remaining Chu forces. Chu lost the initiative and could only sustain local guerrilla-style resistance until it too was fully conquered with the destruction of Shouchun and the death of its last leader, Lord Changping of Chu, in 223 BCE. At their peak, the combined armies of Chu and Qin are estimated to have ranged from hundreds of thousands to a million soldiers, more than those involved in the campaign of Changping between Qin and Zhao 35 years earlier.

In 222 BCE, Qin conquered Zhao and Yan. After the conquest of Zhao, the Qin army then turned its attention towards Yan. Realizing the danger and gravity of this situation, Crown Prince Dan of Yan had sent the assassin Jing Ke to kill the Qin king, but this failure only helped to fuel the rage and determination of the Qin king, and he increased the number of troops to conquer the Yan state.

In 221 BCE, Qin conquered Qi. Qi was the final unconquered warring state. It had not previously contributed or helped other states when Qin was conquering them. As soon as Qin's intention to invade it became clear, Qi swiftly surrendered all its cities, completing the unification of China and ushering in the Qin dynasty. The ruler Zheng declared himself Qin Shi Huangdi, “The first Sovereign Emperor of Qin".

In the rule of the Qin state, the union was based solely on military power. The feudal holdings were abolished, and noble families were forced to live in the capital of China, Xianyang in order to be supervised. A national road as well as greater use of canals was used in order for deployment and supply of the army can be done at ease and with speed. The peasants were given a wider range of rights in regards of land, although were subject of taxation creating a large amount of revenue to the state.