Great powers, by their own definition, cannot lose a war except to another great power. The Romans were never defeated by the Germans, the French were never defeated by the Haitians, the Americans were never defeated by the Vietnamese. They write the history, even without victory, and they record defeat as tactical withdrawal. But the great powers do recognize each other. However much they might hate each other, that recognition remains. Once a rivalry between nations, powers, cultures is borne, all subsequent history will feed it. Every dispute and snub, every war and occupation, every victory and defeat, will become part of the self-weaving narrative of the conflict. The conflict survives, stretching out in time with an immensity that engulfs generations of victims. It began long before any of them can remember, and will end only after all of them are long forgotten.
550 BC - Cyrus leads the Persians in revolt against the Medes and forms the first Persian Empire.
480 BC - The Greek City States band together to defeat Xerxes and prevent his conquest of Greece.
328 BC - Alexander the Great defeats the last forces of the Persian Empire.
312 BC - Alexander’s general establishes the Greco-Persian Seleucid Empire over the territory previously controlled by the Persians.
247 BC - The Parthian Empire is formed and eventually replaces the Seleucids as the successors to the Persian Empire.
146 BC - The Roman Empire conquers Greece and becomes the vehicle of Greek Culture.
105 BC - Sulla and Mithradates II fail to form a Roman-Parthian alliance. They slowly absorb all the kingdoms between their two empires.
53 BC - Crassus leads an invasion into Persia in an attempt to conquer the last major territory outside of the Roman domain. He is defeated in a humiliating rout and the Legionary Eagle Standards of the Romans are captured.
20 BC - Augustus transforms the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire with full domain over the Mediterranean world. He decides to go no further and arranges for the Persians to return the lost Legionary Eagles.
1 AD - A series of conflicts begin between the two Empires over control of Armenia.
115 AD - Trajan takes the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent and conquers the Persian capital of Ctesiphon.
117 AD - Trajan dies and his successor Hadrian is unable to reassert control of Ctesiphon. The Euphrates becomes the de facto border.
224 AD - The Sasanian Empire replaces the Parthian Empire and rules Persia.
244 AD -Gordian III attempts to conquer Ctesiphon, but is defeated by Shapur and dies in battle. Persian sources claim that he was killed by Persian soldiers, but Roman sources claim it was a revolt of his own troops.
260 AD - Valerian invades Persia after Shapur occupies Armenia. He is captured alive while attempting to take Ctesiphon. He lives out his last days either in horrific torture or in relative comfort.
330 AD - Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman Empire which begins its transition from Greco-Roman paganism to Christianity. Greek is the common language of the Eastern Empire.
363 AD - Julian, last pagan Emperor of Rome, dies in battle against the Persians attempting to take Ctesiphon.
384 AD - Preoccupied with other threats, a major Roman-Persian peace treaty is signed which divides Armenia equally.
480 AD - Fall of the Western Roman Empire.
524 AD - Khavad proposes that Justin I adopt his son Khosrau, but this ultimately is turned down.
540 AD - Khosrau definitively breaks the peace treaty and engages in a series of wars with Justinian. Khosrau captures Antioch and deports its citizens to the new city of Weh Antioch Khosrau, or “Better than Antioch, Khosrau built this,” near Ctesiphon.
602 AD - Khosrau II begins a 25 year war to conquer the Roman Empire after Phocas murders and usurps Emperor Maurice.
610 AD - Heraclius usurps Phocas.
618 AD - Khorasu II’s generals take control of the Roman provinces of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.
626 AD - Khosrau II’s generals besiege Constantinople in alliance with the Avars and Slavs but fail to take it.
628 AD - Heraclius brings his armies to Ctesiphon and Khosrau is usurped in a palace coup. Egypt, Palestine, and Syria are returned to Roman rule.
636 AD - The Rashidun Caliphate defeats the Romans at the Battle of Yarmouk, leading to the loss of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.
637 AD - The Rashidun Caliphate captures Ctesiphon, and establishes Muslim rule over Persia. Persia converts to Islam.
750 AD - The Abbasid Caliphate establishes Persian culture within the Islamic World. Yearly raids continue into the territory of the weaker Roman Empire.
861 AD - The Abbasid Caliphate begins to decline into many smaller states and factions.
887 AD - The Abbasids lose control of Syria.
962 AD - Nicephoros Phokas reestablishes Roman control in Syria for the first time in 300 years.
1084 AD - The Turks conquer Syria.
1219 AD - The Mongols invade Persia.
1241 AD - The Mongols invade Anatolia.
1453 AD - Constantinople is conquered by the Ottomans, Sultan Mehmed II declares himself to be Caesar of the Romans (Qayser-i Rûm).
1472 AD - Ivan III of Russia marries a niece of the last Byzantine Emperor and declares himself to be Caesar (Tsar) and Moscow to be the third Rome.
1501 AD - Persian Empire reestablished under the Safavid Dynasty.
1514 AD - The first of 11 Ottoman-Persian Wars over control of disputed territory including Armenia.
1651 AD - The first of 5 Russo-Persian Wars over control of disputed territory including Armenia.
1915 AD - The Ottomans defeat British-Indian forces in a battle at the ruins of Ctesiphon, abandoned for over a millennium.
1917 AD - The Russian Empire collapses in a modern political revolution.
1922 AD - The Ottoman Empire collapses in a modern political revolution.
1979 AD - The Persian Empire collapses in a modern political revolution.