Fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

After decades of internal instability, civil war, and pressure from rival powers, the Neo-Assyrian Empire rapidly collapsed. In −612, a coalition led by the Babylonians and Medes captured and destroyed Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. Surviving Assyrian forces retreated west and continued resisting with Egyptian support, but they were finally defeated after the fall of Harran in −609. Assyria’s collapse ended the empire that had destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel and dominated Judah for generations, while opening the way for the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire as the new major power in the region.