640 CE: Amr's invasion of Egypt Egypt was a rich country, owing to the fertile Nile valley. It also occupied a strategic position; its capital, Alexandria, was a an important naval base of the Byzantines and a gateway to the rest of the north African corridor. Amr bn al-As began his invasion of the country from Palestine in late 639, making a swift raid on the Nile delta.
He then defeated the Roman troops at Heliopolis [five miles north-east of the modern city of Cairo] in the middle of 640 after luring them out of their secure fortress of Babylon, a great Byzantine citadel at the southern tip of the Nile delta, into open battle.
The Battle of Nihavand; The capture of Persian Empire and Collapse of Sasanid Dynasty The Persians had been shattered at Qadisiya [Iraq] ca. 637, and now, three years later, the battle of Nihavand [in western Persia] completed the conquest of the mighty Sasanids, and Persia was captured apart from a few of its western provinces.
The native Sasanid dynasty had ruled Persia since 226, when the Parthians were overthrown, and the capital Cteiphon, taken by Ardashir I, the founder of the dynasty. He, Chosroes Yazdijird III, fled to the eastern provinces but was later killed by a local miller in Merv [Turkmenistan] in 651 after leading the life of a fugitive with a small group of faithful followers.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited