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Trajan invading India?
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Poll Question: Could Emperor Trajan attacked India?
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8 [20.51%]
31 [79.49%]
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warhead View Drop Down
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Posts: 760 		  Quote warhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Trajan invading India?
    Posted: 26-Aug-2004 at 10:28

"It wasn't a failure, he successfully took Mesopatamia."

 

The goal of Trajan was not just to conquer Mesopatamia, but the rest of Iran as well, and in that aspect he failed, whether due to health or defeat.

 

"Oh I wasn't talking about invading the WHOLE of India, I meant like a little piece of Pakistan (modern Pakistan) that Alexander conquered. But I truly think he would have been able of destroying the entire Parthian civilization, that I am sure of. Although he may have not been able to hold all of Parthia."

 

Not even possible, north western India at this time is held by the Kushans a greater power than Parthia, and perhaps under the great king Kanishaka who subjugated most of western central asia and has hundreds of thousand of troops whose quality is no way inferior to the Legions.

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Imperatore Dario I View Drop Down
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Posts: 204 		  Quote Imperatore Dario I Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Aug-2004 at 13:02
OK so you mean on a technicallity, I guess that's fair. But militarily, Trajan was successful in driving the Parthians out of the way.

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Posts: 5711 		  Quote Constantine XI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01-May-2005 at 23:39
Not a chance, as every historian who has studied this has noted, once you get past the Euphrates there isnt a single defence barrier to the east to protect your territories from the various peoples to the east.
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Posts: 1106 		  Quote Ahmed The Fighter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06-May-2005 at 12:39
with my respect to his military ability he didn't invade india becauseinhis rieghn roman empire reached it maximum size and it greatest point in the east was tigres river(mesopotamia)
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Posts: 410 		  Quote Jazz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-May-2005 at 01:43
Originally posted by Cornellia

The capture of Ctesiphon marked the official culmination of Trajan's third campaign and the war.   When he arrived in Charax (now modern Basra), there is the story that he'd arrived just in time to see a merchant ship sailing for India and he publically lamented he was too old to follow in Alexander the Great's footsteps. 

If true, this would indicate even he didn't think it was possible.



I've once read this as well.  Only what I read went once step further saying that his lament was to the point of crying because he was too old.  I agree with virtually everyone else here in that it would have over-streched the Roman Empire at that time...

Just a note, but with tectonic action causing the slow closing of the Persian Gulf, at the time of Trajan, it is highly likely that both the Tigris and Euphrates flowed into the Gulf separately.  So it is likely that what is now modern day Basra might have been on the Gulf coast.
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ArmenianSurvival View Drop Down
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Posts: 1460 		  Quote ArmenianSurvival Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-May-2005 at 23:14
I read somewhere that Trajan once occupied the shores of the  Persian  Gulf, but he was only able to hold it for a  couple of months until revolts broke out.
As for India....Given the emotional toll for the soldiers of such an attempt to take India, i think that one major Roman loss on the battlefield would have demoralized Trajans army and left them dumbfounded. And i cant see them going undefeated through Central Asia like Alexander the Great did. And it was simply too far. Too much cavalry in Central Asia, and too many elephants in India. If they survived Central Asia, which i think they would have, i really doubt they would have enough in them to go much past the Indus River. Not to mention that India was equal to Rome in power at this time. If Rome achieved such a thing it would have been the most hardfought campaign in world history because there were too many obstacles in the way, not to mention India itself.

Edited by ArmenianSurvival
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Herodotus View Drop Down
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Posts: 130 		  Quote Herodotus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-May-2005 at 09:20
I voted yes, seeing no reason why he could'nt have reached india. Of course, he would have had no hope of conquering it or even successfuly attacking it.
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Posts: 188 		  Quote Idanthyrus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Aug-2005 at 15:58
Lol, was'nt the Kushan Empire at the peak of its power during Trajans reign? Their Empire was nearly as big as that of the Parthian's themselves.
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Posts: 8792 		  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Aug-2005 at 18:00
They would have starved to death, even if he took every Parthian city, they still had a huge pastoral element and would have attacked Roman supply lines left and right, fighting a guerilla war, quickly cutting them off and and finishing them slowly. The terrain East of Mesopotamia is unlike any the Romans would have had much experience of.
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