Short answers, pulled from the story.
The district of Herat, known today as Aria, first appeared in royal inscriptions from the Achaemenid Empire between 550 and 330 BC. Old Persian sources called this region Haraiva while classical writers referred to it as Areia or Aria.
The Mongol Empire laid siege to Herat twice resulting in catastrophic loss of life. A second rebellion against Mongol rule lasted seven months and ended in June 1222 with the beheading of the entire population of 1,600,000 people according to one account.
Between the 10th and the 20th of March 1979 the Afghan Army in Herat mutinied under commander Ismail Khan against the Khalq communist regime. Rebels managed to oust communists and take control of the city for three days before government reprisals killed between 3,000 and 24,000 people.
On the 12th of November 2001 forces loyal to the Northern Alliance captured Herat from the Taliban after the U.S. invasion began. The state of the city was reportedly much better than that of Kabul following years of conflict.
Sultan Husayn Bayqara ruled Herat from 1469 until his death on the 4th of May 1506 presiding over what became known as the Timurid Renaissance. His chief minister Mir Ali-Shir Nava'i was a poet and author who served as a great builder and patron of the arts.