A History of Sargon of Akkad

Message Share Topic Printable Version Google Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks reddit Facebook MySpace Newsvine Furl Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic

Sargon the Great

Sargon the Great (of Akkad) lived 2334-2279 B.C.E. and turned out to be
the first great ruler, the first great military tactician and
stratetician, and is still amongst the greatest men ever born on this
green Earth.  

By the time Sargon was born the cities of Sumeria had already sprouted
quite a legacy of intercity warfare, and these tools of war have
already been found in graves, such as copper axes and blades.  Of
excessive use was the first chariot, and the Sumerians would not leave
out such a valuable design from their always expanding, always
changing, military.  Chariots, as early cavalry would later do
when first implimented by Cyrus of Persia, were designed as shock
troopers, needed to punch holes into the enemy lines to allow infantry
to merely dig through and isolate pockets and eliminate them. 
They were also used to harass enemy flanks, and sometimes outflank
enemies, and most armies trembled at the site of a chariot force. 
As infantry the Sumerians used a heavy infantry phalanx, which is
depicted on the Stele of Vultures, which commemorates the victory over
Umma by Lagash in 2525 B.C.E.  These were very similar to the
later Macedonian phalanx, although the ordnance wasn't quite as
advanced.  They carried spears and large rectangular wooden
shields an wore conical copper helmets.  Armor was composed of
mere leather, which proved hot and uncomfortable.  Sumerian armies
also made great use of skirmirshers to harass an opponent.

Sumerian imperialism first sprung out under Lugalzagesi, who brought
most of Sumer under his thumb, with Erech as his capital.  And the
long legacy of Mesopotamian imperialism would only sprout their - it
would never die.

Sargon was left by his mother in a basket floating on a river, and was
found a poor Summerian worker who trained the young boy to be the
palace gardener.  The king at the time, King Ur-Zababa of Kish
noticed the young man and appointed him his personal cup bearer, a
position of high esteem, and it could be that Sargon now had direct
access to the king, and had his chance to flash genius.  Shortly
afterwards Zaggisi, chief priest of the city of Umma, proclaimed
himself king of all of Sumer.  Zaggisi continued to harass Akadian
power by raiding cities and villages in an almost near constant
war.  Consequently, Sargon moved to defeat him - although he soon
emerged as king of a poor city-state.  Sargon quickly relocated
his capital to Agade, 70 miles north of Kish, which distanced his
capital from the threat of Zaggisi.  He put himself to design a
new army of mixed Akkadians and other Sumerians along the lines of
conventional Sumerian warfare, and instead of directly facing Zaggisi
he marched north and sacked Asshur, capital of Assyria, and then
overran Gutium in a ferocious, and speedy, campaign of
destruction.  Following these seemingly easy conquest the king
marched back south and annexed Malgium, and following this conquest
Sargon organized a rapid advance into the heart of Zaggisi's Sumer and
took Lagash for himself, leaving a garrison behind.  Then, in a
masterly planned campaign he left Sumer and with the bulk of his army
overran lower Anatolia.

Following his conquests Sargon felt he had the coffers and the manpower
to defeat Zagissi, and soon enough invaded lower Sumer, hitting Erech
in a suprise attack.  Erech's defenders apperently ran and Sargon
razed the city walls.  Erech's army then stood, however, it was
routed and mostly destroyed in pitched battle.  Zagissi organized
a relief force and marched south to meet Sargon in battle and the
ensuing conflict appeared to have been located near Erech.  The
following happenings are unclear, however, it seems that Zaggisi was
defeated, and his body sent to Uruk, and the walls of Uruks razed as
well.  Following this battle Sargon continued his campaign north
and captured the remaining cities of Zaggasi's Sumerian Empire. 
Sargon himself boasted of winning thirty-four battles.

After some years of peace Sargon continued his wars and conflicted with
Elam, and then launched a seperate attack on Syria and Lebanon, and
quite suprisingly, was the first to launch amphibious warfare in
recorded history.  The key to Sargon's victories, however, always
lay with his coordination in army movement, his ability to improvise
tactics, his combined arms strategy, and his skill a siege warfare, as
well as the keeping of intelligence, and always relying on heavy
reconaissance.  After Sargon's conquest of Sumer the area enjoyed
a relatively peaceful and prosperous era - perhaps their golden
age.  International trade flourished, merchants going from Sumer
to the expanses of the east, and also to the vast resources of the
west.  Goods from Egypt, Anatolia, Iran and elsewhere flowed into
Sargon's gargantuan kingdom.  Sargon's legacy was one of trade and
one of forming the standing army which later rulers would use to spread
their own havoc.  When Sargon died Rimush, his son, inherited the
empire, however, he was plagued by constant uprisings - after he died
his brother took the throne.  He too was plagued by constant
rebellion, and was later usurped by Naram-Sin.  Naram-Sin quickly
destroyed and dispersed the Sumerian rebels and also went on a vast
campaign of conquest taking his armies to Lebanon, Syria and Israel,
and then to Egypt.  However, after Naram-Sin the dynasty went into
decline, and soon fell altogether, left to the annals of history.

Little sources remain available to piece together a more complex
history, and long battle narratives are impossible to record.  It
must be remembered that this was right after the Sumerian
prehistoric age, and little survives - or what does is stored and not
easily accesible - to record more accurately.

--------------

Sources

Saggs, H.W.F., The Babylonians

Mears, Douglas, The First Great Conqueror.  Military History Magazine

Edited by DuxPimpJuice