612 BC battle that saw the fall of the Assyrian capital, and the climax of the Conquest of Assyria
The fall of Nineveh in 612 BC ended Assyrian dominance in the Near East and established Babylon as the new imperial center of Mesopotamia.
Key Facts
- Year of battle
- 612 BC
- Attacking coalition
- Medes and Babylonians
- City defeated
- Nineveh, Assyrian capital
- Empire destroyed
- Neo-Assyrian Empire
- Successor power
- Neo-Babylonian Empire
- Preceded by
- Assyrian defeat at the Fall of Assur
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following the Assyrian defeat at the Fall of Assur, the weakened Neo-Assyrian Empire faced a coordinated military coalition of Medes and Babylonians who sought to dismantle Assyrian dominance over the Ancient Near East and end the empire's centuries-long imperial control of Mesopotamia.
In 612 BC, the combined Median and Babylonian forces besieged and captured Nineveh, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world and the Assyrian capital, with the Medes playing a particularly significant role in the city's fall during the climactic engagement of the Conquest of Assyria.
The fall of Nineveh precipitated the complete destruction of the Neo-Assyrian Empire over the following three years. Nineveh itself was extensively de-urbanized and depopulated for centuries afterward. Babylon emerged as the new imperial center of Mesopotamia, establishing the Neo-Babylonian Empire as the dominant power of the region for the first time in over a thousand years.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent