This order was broken around 1100 BC. invasion of nomadic Aramaeans. The Assyrians lost all possessions on the Euphrates, part of the territory on the Tigris and retreated to the near foothills. The nomads dealt an even stronger blow to the neighboring countries. Therefore, when the Assyrians recovered and began new conquests in Asia Minor (about 900 BC), they did not have worthy rivals for another hundred years.
Assyrian kings managed to take advantage of the circumstances and significantly strengthened their power. They used a new method of warfare, which frightened all the peoples of Asia Minor (see the article "Military Affairs of the Ancient East"). The Assyrians always attacked unexpectedly and quickly, like a lightning strike. Most often, prisoners were not taken: if the population of the captured city resisted, then it was completely destroyed as a warning to all the disobedient. Seeking obedience from the vanquished, they were deprived of their homeland, driving thousands of new subjects of the king to other places, often very far away. Everything was done in order to frighten the conquered peoples, to break their spirit, their will to freedom. The Assyrians plundered the conquered countries for decades.
However, the formidable Assyrian kings were never able to unite the conquered countries for a long time, to create a strong state. The vigilance of the eagle helped them to quickly notice rebellions on the outskirts of the state, the lion's courage to confront enemies in open battle, the stubbornness of the bull helped out when defeat seemed inevitable, but these qualities were not enough to solve new problems.
It turned out to be impossible to endlessly rob the conquered countries: there was no one to sow their own fields and engage in crafts. The Assyrians had too many military leaders and too few officials to collect taxes. The scribe could replace the soldier only where the population voluntarily agreed to live under the rule of the Assyrians. There were no such peoples in the Ancient East - everyone hated the invaders.
The Assyrians also had difficulty with trading cities, which throughout their history enjoyed special rights: they did not pay high taxes, their inhabitants were exempted from military service. The Assyrians did not want to keep these privileges, but they also could not abolish them, fearing constant rebellions.
One such free city was Babylon. The Assyrians mainly adopted culture, religion and writing from Babylon. The respect for this city was so great that for some time it became, as it were, the second capital of Assyria. The kings who ruled in Nineveh made rich gifts to the Babylonian temples, decorated the city with palaces and statues, and Babylon nevertheless remained the center of dangerous conspiracies and rebellions against the Assyrian authorities. The matter ended with the fact that King Sennacherib in 689 BC. ordered to destroy the whole city and flood the place where he stood (see article "Babylon"). The terrible act of the king caused discontent even in Pinevia itself, and although the city was quickly rebuilt under the son of Sennacherib Assar Haddon, relations between Assyria and Babylon deteriorated completely. Assyria was never able to rely on the authority of the most important religious and cultural center of Western Asia.
