History of the Byzantine Empire: the Persian Roman Wars Part Three

The Roman-Persian wars were a constant part of both empires history. These wars were off and on for hundreds of years with negligible changes in land and resources for each Empire. Internal changes in regime did not affect this troubled conflict as when the Parthian Empire in Persia was overthrown by the Sassanian Empire or when the Roman Empire became the Eastern and Western Empire this conflict continued. Another factor in this conflict was client kingdoms like Armenia which would become under the influence of both sides at multiple times and have pro Persian or Roman kings put in place when under control. The final conflict in this age-old battle was the Byzantine Sassanian war from 602-628. This war started when the Byzantine Emperor Maurice was usurped by Emperor Phocas. The Sassanian king pof the time, Khosrow II, proclaimed war on Byzantium under the guise to avenge Emperor Maurice by killing the illegitimate Emperor Phocas.

Time Line

591 AD: The Byzantine Emperor Maurice helps the defeated king Khosrow II regain his throne from Bahram Chobin.

• The combined Byzantine-Persian force successfully puts Khosrow II back on the throne. The Byzantine Empire gained Armenia and parts of Eastern Mesopotamia in return for its help in the conflict. Peace was reached on the Byzantine Empire's eastern border and vital troops and supplies could be moved to fight the Avars and Slavs who had been ravaging the Balkans (Vasiliev, `171). In addition, Byzantium no longer was required to pay an annual tribute to the Persian King (Vasiliev, `171). This peace on the Eastern Front allowed for the Empire, which had been overstretched ever since Justinian's conquests in the west, to regroup and fight off the invading Slavs and Avars withing the Balkan area of the Empire.

602 AD: The "junior officer" Phocas became emperor through an army revolt in the Balkans which Killed Emperor Maurice (Crow).

• Phocas' coup led to his placement as Emperor but the Empire continued to face economic problems that Phocas could not fix. King Khosrow II used the coup as an excuse to attack the Byzantine Empire due to his treaty of peace with Maurice, not the usurper Phocas. Phocas faced internal strife as war came to his Empire and the previous economic problems stayed.

608-610 AD: Emperor Phocas' incompetence in the war with Persia and domestic strife led to rebellions throughout the Byzantine Empire. Rebellious factions took hold in Syria and Palestine with the ultimate successor of Phocas, Heraclius, leading a usurpation of the throne from Roman Carthage.

• Heraclius the elder, the Exarch of Africa (Encompassing the western Mediterranean Byzantine holdings), sent his son Heraclius to Constantinople. Heraclius defeated Phocas and proclaimed himself the Emperor.

• Despite this success, much of the Byzantine Eastern border had been left unguarded during this rebellious era allowing for Khosrow II to be largely successful in his attacks.

611-619 AD: The Persian Success, the capture of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Libya.

• Following the Byzantine Civil war and Heraclius' ascension, Persian forces captured the rich territories of the Levant, Egypt, and Libya (Franzius).

• When the Persians conquered Jerusalem they took Christ's Cross bringing it back to their capital.

• During this time, Heraclius faced the Avars in the Balkans, eventually leading to a tribute to keep them at bay.

626 AD: The siege of Constantinople.

• The Avars on the European side of the Bosporus and Persians on the Anatolian side jointly sieged the Byzantine capital of Constantinople.

• The Byzantine navy was key in the battle as they stopped the crossing of Persian troops to help the Avars. The Persians were much more capable of performing siege works, with greater knowledge and technology to draw on and so their inability to cross the strait greatly detracted from the attackers ability to win (Knight).

• The siege was a Byzantine victory defeating both the Persian and Avar attackers.

620-628 AD: The Byzantine Victory, the capture of Persia.

• After the initial success of the Persians, Emperor Heraclius amassed a large number of troops to go on the campaign. Heraclius' campaign started in Armenia to secure the large population there (Franzius).

• Instead of recapturing the lost Byzantine territories Heraclius assaulted directly the heart of the Sassanian Empire, Persian Mesopotamia. This rich Persian land fell to Heraclius with the sack of the wildly wealthy Dastagird closing out the war. Dastagird contained a palace of Khosrow II and was very close to the capital at the time. As the Persians lost their heartland to the Byzantines the army rebelled against Khosrow (Franzius).

• The rebellion ended with Khosrow's son Kavadh II taking control of Persia, and agreeing to a treaty that gave the Byzantine Empire all its lost lands back, Roman prisoners, and the Holy Cross.

• Religiosity

To both the Zoroastrian Persians and Christian Romans this was seen as a holy war. Incredible amounts of resources and manpower were used in the war and to attain this came religious propaganda (Naranjo). Heraclius used the loss of the Holy Cross to sway his Christian subjects to his side and army, while Khorosow used his early success to show how Christ could not protect the Christians from Persia (Franzius). As the Romans and Christianity defeated the Zoroastrian Persians faith within Persia withered. This allowed for an easy assimilation of Islam in the stead of Zoroastrianism during the Arab invasions. During this time, Byzantium continued to persecute its monophysite Christians in the Levant and Egypt weakening their rule even after they regained the territory.

Afterward:

The war ended with the status quo returned. Territory was not gained on either side and the only effect was a mass depletion of manpower and resources within both Empires. The Byzantine Balkans had been left widely ravaged by the Avars and Slavs during this time as the border was left unmanned. The Persians had some of their richest cities in Mesopotamia sacked and killed their own king. This war exhaustion led to the easy take over by the Arabs during the near to come Arab invasions.

Works Cited

Crow, Kevin H. “Roman Emperors - DIR Phocas.” Roman Emperors - DIR Diocletian, www.roman-emperors.org/phocas.htm.

Franzius, Enno. “Heraclius.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Apr. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Heraclius-Byzantine-emperor.

Knight, Jack. “The Resolute Defense of Constantinople, 626 AD.” WAR HISTORY ONLINE, 15 Feb. 2018, www.warhistoryonline.com/ancient-history/resolute-defense-constantinople-626-ad.html.

Naranjo, Roberto. “The Persian Campaign of Emperor Heraclius.” The Rise of Big Business | EHISTORY, ehistory.osu.edu/articles/persian-campaign-emperor-heraclius.

Vasilʹev, A. A. History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453. University of Wisconsin Press, 1964 c1952, 1964.