WI: Achaemenid Empire goes east instead of west

[Otto Kretschmer]

What if the Achaemenid Empire instead of invading Greek city states, tried to invade India instead?

How far they could have conquered and how long could they have clinged into their conquered territories?

IMO at least the modern day Punjab would be well within the reach of Achaemenids.

There is definitely a potential for an interesting cultural exchange between Persia and India. We might see Zoroastrianism influencing Hinduism to at least some degree and the Hindus adopting the Persian cuneiform or even the Aramaic script two centuries before they did OTL. In general trade between Persia and India would have flourished.

What do you guys think?

[stevep]

   Its a possibility although there are some problems.  For one thing logistics will mean any Persian presence is likely to be on the fringe of India, which could be vulnerable to any strong Indian state that emerges as a result of the 'threat' from Persia.  Also Persian empires have tended to be cavalry based and horses traditionally did relatively poorly for much of history on the Ganges valley due to the climatic conditions.

  The other issue is that with the conquest of Lydia - which was due to the Lydian king Croesus attacking the Achaemenids - Persian gained control of the Ionnian Greek city states which Croesus had conquered.  When they then rebelled and were supported by a number of Greek states further west, most importantly Athens this drew Persian attention westwards for the two invasions of Greece that failed. 

  Possibly a butterfly is that Croesus either loses the civil war over the succession with his half brother.  Or that he goes ahead with plans to invade Greece himself rather than attack Persia?  Although according to the link I posted he did that because the Persians had just overthrown the Median empire who's king had been his brother in law. 

  Its likely that even if there is no war at the moment Lydia and Persia would have clashed at some stage but possibly if they had been engaged in their own separate wars of expansion, in Greece and India respectively you might get the sort of situation your after.

  As you say a lot more interaction between Persia and India would have had big cultural influences on both and in knock on to wider areas.

[Otto Kretschmer]

stevep How do you imagine the cultural interaction? Which stuff from Persia can make it to India and which Indian cultural practices may influence Persia?

[stevep]

Mar 12, 2024 12:35:01 GMT Otto Kretschmer said:

stevep How do you imagine the cultural interaction? Which stuff from Persia can make it to India and which Indian cultural practices may influence Persia?

  I simply don't know enough about either at this period to speculate.