Arab Conquest of Sasanian Persia

Timeline

1. 633–634Southern Iraq · IraqArab forces entered the Sasanian frontier from the northeastern Arabian Peninsula, defeating Persian border troops at battles such as Julab and Kazima. The Sasanian Empire, exhausted by its long war with Byzantium, was unable to mount an effective resistance to the new offensive.
2. 636–637al-Qadisiyyah · IraqThe Sasanian general Rustam led a large army against the Arab forces commanded by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas at al-Qadisiyyah. After several days of fierce fighting the Persian main army was routed and Rustam was killed. The battle opened the road to Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital.
3. 637–638Ctesiphon · IraqAfter the victory at al-Qadisiyyah, the Arab army captured the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon, and King Yazdegerd III fled west. Symbolic ancient capitals such as Persepolis subsequently fell as well, and the Sasanian system of rule collapsed in the Iraqi region.
4. 642Nihawand · IranThe Persian army assembled its last field forces at Nihawand (near modern Hamadan, Iran) in a final counteroffensive attempt, but was routed by the Arabs. Known as the 'Victory of Victories,' the battle marked the complete disintegration of Sasanian military power, and the Arab armies began a systematic advance eastward onto the Iranian Plateau.
5. 651–654Khurasan · IranThe last king Yazdegerd III wandered in the Khurasan region and was killed by local nobles near Merv around 651. The Sasanian dynasty formally ended, the Arab regime completed the military conquest of the former Persian Empire's core territories, and Islam gradually replaced Zoroastrianism as the region's dominant faith.