WI: Arabs and Sassanids sign a peace treaty after the conquest of Mesopotamia.

[Muwatalli']

So after the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia, caliph Umar wanted peace, but the Sassanids did not agree as they wanted to reconquer Mesopotamia.

What would be needed Sassanids to agree with a peace treaty in which they would recognize the loss of Mesopotamia?
And what would the consequences of this be? Would the Sassanids be able to survive?
And would the Arabs still be equally succesfull against the Byzantines?

 

[DominusNovus]

Both the Sassanids and the Byzantines had quite defensible fall back positions in the Zagros and Taurus mountains. So, militarily, the Sassanids could be just as well positioned as the Byzantines.

However, Mesopotamia was the economic heart of their Empire...

 

[Ameck16]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jq0damMgUU

This is a great video on the subject explains the reasons why any peace treaty was neve achieved.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

They'd never accept the peace deal. Mesopotamia was the administrative and economic heart of the Sassanid empire, along with their most densely populated province. Its like asking the US to give up the Boston-Washington corridor.

The Sassanids would probably collapse without Mesopotamia, causing a new Persian dynasty to arise.

 

[SlyDessertFox]

They'd never accept the peace deal. Mesopotamia was the administrative and economic heart of the Sassanid empire, along with their most densely populated province. Its like asking the US to give up the Boston-Washington corridor.

The Sassanids would probably collapse without Mesopotamia, causing a new Persian dynasty to arise.

So maybe the best POD here is after or during the fall of Mesopotamia, have a new Persian dynasty rise up and overthrow the Sassanians, and following that up by signing a peace treaty with the Arabs?

 

[Dfront21]

So after the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia, caliph Umar wanted peace, but the Sassanids did not agree as they wanted to reconquer Mesopotamia.

What would be needed Sassanids to agree with a peace treaty in which they would recognize the loss of Mesopotamia?
And what would the consequences of this be? Would the Sassanids be able to survive?
And would the Arabs still be equally succesfull against the Byzantines?

The problem is that Iran was in the middle of a civil war...so no one to make a real peace with.

 

[Dfront21]

Here is a great lecture on the state if the Sassanid empire right before and during the Islamic conquest and why peace was not possible.

1/6 The Muslim Conquest of Iranshahr & Its Aftermath (600-900 CE): http://youtu.be/kWQUNOwgz_U