Land Privatization And The Crises Of The Late Assyrian Empire

Many explanations have been offered for the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Opinions vary greatly, and no unanimous conclusion has been drawn. In my opinion, the late Assyrian Empire was troubled by a variety of crises, such as financial deficits, declining military strength, and frequent rebellions, which can be tracked back to land privatization.In the Assyrian Empire, the king was the nominal owner of all the land within the empire, although private land ownership was fully valued. The late Assyrian Empire witnessed a large-scaledecline of small and medium size farms and the growth of large estates. A few persons attending to the royal family and military officials bought a great deal of land and built-up large estates. To reward the meritorious persons attending to the royal family and military officials, the later kings granted them the ownership of their estates, and exempted their estates and the people attached to these estates from taxes and duties. The privatized estates wereindependent of the control of the king and almost became "independent kingdoms". Land privatization exerted tremendous influence on theAssyrian Empire. Firstly, land privatization affected the finances of the Assyrian Empire. Taxes were the main revenue source of the Assyrian Empire, and the privatized estates and the people attached to these estates did not pay taxes, hence a large-scale land privatization led to financial deficits in the Assyrian Empire.Secondly, land privatization influenced the military strength ofthe Assyrian Empire. Although there was a standing army in the Assyrian Empire, the great part of the Assyrian army wascomposed of levies drawn from the provinces. A large number of people attached to the privatized estates were exempted frommilitary service, hence the manpower available for military service decreased, while its demand increased with the expansion of the empire, so the king had to levy non-Assyrians from the new conquered provinces, from vassals, and from the Aramaean tribes. The foreign soldiers were not eager to perform service for the Assyrian Empire, and their military discipline was bad. The military strength of the empire declined with the increase in the percentage of foreign soldiers in the Assyrian army. Thirdly, land privatization shook the bases of the Assyrian monarchy. TheAssyrian kings claimed that, not only did gods grant them kingship, but also granted them a powerful army and a great of wealth, hence army and wealth were the bases of the Assyrian monarchy. Land privatization led to financial deficits and thedecline of military strength of the Assyrian Empire, and then shook the bases of the Assyrian kingship. Meanwhile the king weakened, some aristocrats strengthened. They tried to challenge the king's authority, and even sought for the Assyrian throne, and then rebellions broke out in the Assyrian Empire once again. Land privatization led to the crises of the Assyrian Empire,which weakened the Assyrian strength. The Medes and the Chaldaeans shook the Assyria's yoke quickly and launched attacks on Assyria proper, the weakened Assyrian Empire was defeated in a short time. In conclusion, land privatization was the fundamental reason of the fall of the Assyrian Empire.