Persian King Darius I's massive invasion of the Ancient Scythians

In 513 BC, the world's greatest superpower stood poised to crush yet another nation and add it to its empire. Never before had such an enormous invasion force been assembled, and this invader had never been defeated. But that might be about to change. The warlord who stood at the head of this invasion force was Darius I, the king of the mighty Persian Empire. He was just the third ruler of this new superpower, but he was by far the most powerful man on earth, referred to as King of Kings. Forty years earlier, the Persians had been just a small tribe in southern Iran. But under the first King of Kings, Cyrus the Great, this tribe had toppled the mighty Median Empire and rapidly expanded to absorb Mesopotamia, the Middle East, Asia Minor and even the glorious Egyptian Empire. The Persian army was an unstoppable behemoth that thrived on warfare and expansion. Every territory they conquered was required to supply new units to the Persian King's forces. So with every successful conquest, Persia's armies continued to grow. By the time Darius had taken the throne in 522 BC, Persia was believed to be invincible on the battlefield. It was now the largest empire the world had ever seen. Yet this was not enough for Darius. He wanted to be the most successful military commander history would ever see. To this end, his first acts as king were to quickly set about consolidating his empire. In 519 BC, he expanded Persian control over even more of Egyptian lands. Then in 518 BC, he conquered the lucrative regions of ancient India. He proudly boasted of these victories in official inscriptions which he erected throughout his empire. But one people, who existed on the distant edges of his empire, began to attract the attention of the King of Kings. These people were the Scythians, and they were to be the next target for Darius's rolling military juggernaut. The Scythians lived on the steppes of Central Asia, around what is modern Ukraine and southern Russia. The geography of this region was predominantly open grasslands, which was ideal for raising herds of animals rather than for farmland. As a result, the Scythians were a nomadic culture. This meant that they were constantly on the move, guiding their herds to new grazing grounds when they had exhausted the resources in each area. Due to their constant movement, the Scythians had very few towns. They preferred to live in covered wagons that could move easily with the migrating herds. The Scythian culture was made up of a number of smaller tribes, each with their own king. These kings would often meet together and collaborate when needed. On occasions like this, it was common for one of the kings to act as the main leader and facilitate negotiations. While each of the kings could choose to disagree with the others, there was still a shared sense of community that bound them together. Militarily, the Scythians were expert horsemen and had developed a style of warfare that favoured swift movements. They also became wealthy traders and had grown rich by trading gold, animal hides and furs with the distant lands of Greece and Persia. The Scythians first came into contact with a rapidly expanding Persian empire around 530 BC, when they became hired mercenaries in a failed revolt against the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. For daring to mess in Persian dynastic squabbles, the Scythians were treated with deep suspicion by the Persians. When the Scythians began raiding Persian territories around the Black Sea, Darius felt that the time had come to teach these nomadic horsemen a serious lesson. Once Darius had made his decision, he focused the Persian war machine on creating the largest invasion force the world had ever seen. He sent out messengers to every corner of his empire. Each region under his rule was ordered to send a unit of men or supply ships for the expedition. He gathered his land forces at the city of Susa and began marching towards Europe. The Scythian homelands were a significant distance from Persia and it took him several months to gather all of the necessary resources to make his plans a reality. By the time he reached the western coast of Asia Minor, he had assembled 700,000 soldiers and around 600 ships. But how would he cross the turbulent Bosphorus strait? Darius's engineers provided a remarkable solution. Using ropes and chains, they tied together hundreds of ships into a straight line and lay broad wooden planks across them. They created a bridge of boats. Darius led his men onto the floating highway and confidently marched them into Europe. Then, Darius turned his land forces north and moved through the country of Thrace. Meanwhile, his boat bridge was deconstructed and his fleet sailed into the Black Sea. These vessels would become the supply chain of Darius's invasion force. As long as the army stayed close to the coast, the fleet could provide the food and resources they needed. Once in the Black Sea, part of the fleet that was commanded by Ionian Greeks, a people who had previously been absorbed into the Persian Empire, were ordered to sail their When they arrived, they once more built a bridge of boats in preparation for the inevitable declaration of war. Finally, in around May of 512 BC, Darius stood on the banks of the Danube at the head of his forces. He gave a final order to the Ionian ship commanders. He told them to wait and stand guard over the boat bridge for 60 days. If he had not returned by that time, they were to Then, the king of kings stepped onto the bridge, crossed the river, and led his vast hordes into Scythia. The invasion had begun. All of the preparations by Darius and his long march into Europe had not gone unnoticed by the Scythians. When they had seen the Persians crossing into Europe, the kings of the various Scythian tribes met in a council of war and elected one of their own, called Idantherus, as their wartime leader. As the Persians poured over the Danube, the Scythian kings gathered their children and wives into wagons and sent them north with all of their flocks. The Scythian warriors then mounted their horses and marched out to find the Persians. However, when they saw the invaders on the horizon, rather than charge forward to engage, they chose an entirely different tactic. The Scythians remained just on the opposite horizon, far enough away to be seen, but not close enough to be attacked. Once Darius caught sight of his horsemen, he ordered his armies to advance. However, the Scythians just moved further away. If the Persians marched quicker, it didn't seem to make any difference. The Scythians stayed just out of reach. This was a deliberate tactic. The Scythians were willingly evading them. Darius sent his horsemen to engage the Scythians and force them to fight him. While the two cavalry forces fought minor skirmishes, the Scythian king avoided being caught in battle. Slowly but surely, the Scythians were leading the Persian army in the direction they wanted. Bit by bit, they were being led away from the coastline, away from the supply ships that had been providing food for Darius. After a week of playing cat and mouse, Darius took the bait and followed them further inland. The Scythians had decided upon a strategy of attrition. They kept leading the Persians deeper into hostile territory, stretching their supply lines and never being caught in open battle. As the Persians saw the shores of the Black Sea disappear over the horizon, they were shocked by what they saw in front of them. There were scenes of destruction everywhere. While some of the Scythians had been leading the invaders on a wild goose chase, others had been scouring the countryside and burning everything that could be used for food. Any crops, fruit trees or natural food sources were cut down and burnt. Any sources of fresh water such as springs and wells were filled in with rocks and dirt. It was a barren landscape. The further Darius ventured into the Scythian heartland, the further away from food and water he became. By now, Darius began to realize that the Scythians would never engage in a traditional battle. He now saw how precarious his situation was becoming. It was clear that he had to do something to force his enemies to fight. Darius called his generals together to discuss the situation. He knew that unless he could force the Scythians into a battle and defeat them, they would never surrender. The problem was, there was no way to force them to stand still. In every other war that the Persians had fought, they would target the most important town in a country, a settlement that people would defend with their lives. But the Scythians were nomads, they had no towns at all. There was no way to force them to fight. As Darius aired his frustrations, one of the commanders said that he had been alerted to the fact that there was one town that acted as a capital city to the Scythians and their allies. It was known as Golonus, and was located in a region controlled by a Scythian ally known as the Burdini. It was not too far away either. Finally, Darius had a solution. He ordered his forces to march towards a settlement at once. Two weeks after the invasion began, Darius finally approached the town of Golonus. He was relieved to see a large wooden town almost 30 kilometers in size with high wooden walls. This war was starting to feel like traditional warfare after all. The Scythians would have to face him on the battlefield and submit to his authority. However, as his soldiers marched close to Golonus, things did not feel right. There was no movement and no signs of defenders. As the Persians came within bow shot range, no arrows appeared. In fact, the gates to the city were ajar and the forward scouts were able to walk right up to them and push them open. As Darius entered the town with his royal guard, he was once more faced with an astonishing sight. The town was empty. It had been completely abandoned and everything of value had been taken. The Scythians would give up their only town rather than fight Darius on his own terms. Darius roared in anger. He ordered his soldiers to set fire to the entire town and they watched it burn to the ground. Failing at his only chance to force his opponents to stand and fight, Darius set off again in pursuit. His men continued to march west again but reached the edge of Scythia near the Volga river. The Scythians were nowhere to be seen. In fact, they had all fled north. An entire month had passed since Darius had invaded and the Persian king had nothing to show for it. He had managed to cross the entire territory of his enemy but his soldiers were tired, starving and starting to suffer from diseases. Darius's army was dying and he had not even fought a single battle. Isolated in enemy territory, the king of kings was running out of ideas. But Darius refused to give up on his dream. Persia had never been defeated and this was not going to be the first time. The king decided that if he couldn't force the Scythians to meet him on his own terms, then he would prepare for a long occupation of their country and make his enemies fight to take back what was theirs. Darius ordered that eight large military forts be built, equal distance from each other, to keep watch and control over the land. While waiting for his new construction projects, Darius sent a messenger towards the horsemen that continued to follow them on the horizon with a message for Idantheus, the Scythian king. The Persian messenger was taken to the Scythian army and escorted into the main tent. There, sitting and waiting, were the Scythian kings. Idantheus allowed the messenger to read Darius's words. It said, Idantheus, the way you have conducted yourself is confusing. Will you run away forever? If you are strong enough to fight me then stand and fight. However, if you know that I am stronger, submit to me and become my slave. At the mention of the word slave, the Scythian kings became angry. The idea of a foreigner threatening to enslave them was outrageous. When the kings were settled, Idantheus wrote his own response to Darius. He said, know this Persian, we are not afraid to fight you, but we are simply seeking to live in peace. We don't fight you simply because you have nothing we feel is worth fighting for. We have no towns or fields to defend. All that we have we still own. Our wives, children, flocks and treasure possessions are all still with us. So we will never have to fight you. When the messenger returned to Darius and read out the Scythian message, Darius's situation became crystal clear. The Persians could stay for as long as they wanted, but they would never be able to conquer the Scythians. Darius now knew that he had failed. He ordered his new forts to be abandoned and under the cover of darkness, his army began its retreat back towards the Danube. If he was lucky, Darius would be able to get to his boat bridge in time to save as many of his men as possible. He had less than a month before the bridge would be torn down. However, once the Scythian scouts saw the Persian hosts retracing their steps, they quickly realized what Darius was trying to do. The Scythians changed their strategy to one of guerrilla warfare. Each day, as the Persian scouts scoured the burnt landscape for food, the Scythian riders would attack them from a distance with their bows. If the Persians charged after them, the Scythians would flee again. Day after day, the Scythians harassed the retreating Persian force, inflicting increasingly more casualties, while slowing their march down. Even worse, it made foraging for food more dangerous. Increasingly more soldiers were either dying from surprise Scythian attacks or starvation. Darius's situation was perilous. As Darius's dwindling forces gradually inched closer to Danube and the bridge to safety, the Scythians began to panic. They realized that they could not only defeat the Persians, but also capture the king of kings himself. But they had to act fast. The Scythian kings sent messengers to race ahead of the retreating Persians to the Ionians who guarded the bridge. Once received, the heralds explained the situation to the Greeks. They highlighted the fact that their Ionians were conquered subjects of the Persians as well. They too would suffer defeat. But if they helped the Scythians now, they could win back their freedom from Persian tyranny without a fight. All they had to do was break up the boat bridge and leave Darius isolated and trapped in Scythia. The Ionians discussed the proposal. Should they take this rare chance to throw off the Persian yoke? Or should they stay loyal to Darius in hopes of being rewarded for saving his life? The Scythian scouts waited nervously to hear their reply. Eventually, they watched the Ionians board their boats and begin pulling the bridge apart. Delighted, the messengers turned their horses and headed back to Idantherus to tell him the good news. The Persian army was now so close that the messengers had to ride around the Persians to avoid alerting them to their deception. For Darius, he was pushing his forces hard. He wanted to reach the bridge before time ran out. His army kept marching from early in the morning to late in the evening. In desperation, knowing that escape was close, Darius had ordered his remaining men to march through the night. They finally reached the shores of the Danube by moonlight. The ragged remains of the Persian force stood in silence. The sound of the rushing water of the river was all they could hear. To Darius's horror, the bridge, in the darkness, was gone. Now, trapped between an impassable river to the west and the approaching Scythian forces from the east, the Persians considered how to prepare for their last stand. Then suddenly, they heard a sound. Out of the night air came a voice. It was the voice of an Ionian Greek. The bridge guards had not truly dismantled the bridge. They'd only made a show of doing so to send the Scythian messengers away. The end of the boat bridge was quickly rebuilt. As dawn broke over the horizon, Darius and what remained of his mighty Persian invasion force fled across to safety. When Idantherus's Scythian forces arrived at the Danube in preparation for their final victory, they found no enemy and no boat bridge. Just the footprints on the riverbank that showed them missed opportunity. When Darius returned to his palace in Persia, he refused to talk about his campaign. The details of his expedition would never appear on any of his royal inscriptions. The only evidence of his failed Scythian war were the crumbling forts he left behind. That is, except that around 70 years after this event, one Greek historian recorded the entire thing. This historian was called Herodotus. He wrote the first proper history in Europe. He would ensure that Darius's failure would never be forgotten. For Darius, the campaign was, at best, no more than an expensive stalemate. However, the war had a significant impact on the Scythians. Their reputation as invincible warriors made them valuable mercenaries for other nations' armies. Soon, many countries hired Scythian horsemen. Even later Persian rulers would do so. Scythia was free and it would remain so for centuries. Persia had suffered its first defeat. But Darius refused to admit it. Instead of avoiding further costly foreign invasions, it only motivated him to try again. Within 20 years, Darius would raise another army and set his sights on another enemy. This time, it would be Greece. The Greco-Persian wars were about to begin. Thank you for watching this video. If you'd like to know more about studying history, please visit the History Skills website, and I'll see you next time.