Conquerors of Iraq: World's most powerful nations!

 

Tid Bit::: in 1919 the British Persian Rifles were humiliatingly defeated by tribal Bakhtiaris and Qashghais in Parsa.

 

Also at the gate of all nations the British desecrated the ancient monument by inscribing "Royal India Cavalry 1912".

 

Bit off topic but what you said brought them up in my mind.

 

the Persian Empire became more powerfull after conquering Iraq ( mesopotamia) and the same with the Islamic Arabs ( who still ruling it till this day).

 

 

 

but at the time of the Umayyads golden age it was in the top 2 strenghwise if not the strongest .

 

below is a map of the Umayyads at their height

 

 

 

 

as i said the Caliphate became a super power since the time of Caliph Umar raa.

 

i did not undermine the central Asian or far Eastern empire and did not even make a comparison.

 

also i don't know how accurate  the  "resources" and "military" figures you mentioned,

 

still that does not always determine "strength", good example is Macedonians under Alexander the great and Persians  under Darius III, who had more resources and more military personnel??? 

 

 

 

then again with the underestimation of the Umayyads, you making it sounds like the Caliph was sitting under the tent in the middle of the desert from which he is ruling an Empire stretch from India in the  East to Southern France in the West !

 

they might not had as advanced system as you described that the Chinese had, but they for sure got a system which was far more advanced than a "semi tribal" government as you called it.

 

they had the Empire divided into regions with different governors who reported back to the Capital in Damascus.

 

the Umayyads did not live long as an empire due to internal problems, but again the Abbasides who came after did inherit all the Umayyads Empire Except the Iberian peninsula.

 

also as far as i know there was a military conflict  between the Chinese and the Caliphate, ended with Caliphate's victory and the Chinese Emperor sending gifts to the Caliph as sign of good faith for peace treaty.

 

 

I don't think I claimed anything like that. I merely stated that it was very uncentralized, with a heavy semi tribal feudal element in it. The Bedouins in Arabia were semi tribal, owing little more than an allegience to the Caliph.

As for the military conflict. There were actually a few. One of them involving Chinese vassal of TuQishi routing the entire Arab army out of Sogdiana with the exception of Samarkand. The small Arab victory at Talas in 751 had no political significance. As for Chinese emperor sending gifts, I believe you culled that passage from Al Tabari's account of Quitayba invading Kashgar arund 714 in which the "King of China" presented gifts. However, this so called king might have easily been a local governor, indeed if such a campaign even exist is questionable as no Chinese source confirms this. In any case, in the following year, the Tang sent 10,000 troops and ousted the Arab puppet in Ferghana. All these small conflicts are regional at best, and hardly a sign of their relative position, they belong to two different world order and are quite insignificant in each other's political perspective. For example the Arab envoy was given a seat below that of the Tibetans, and even the Koreans and Japanese at court.