| Conflict: | Byzantine–Sasanian Wars |
| Partof: | Roman-Persian Wars |
| Date: | 421–628 |
| Place: | Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine |
| Result: | Byzantine victory |
| Combatant1: | Byzantine empire |
| Combatant2: | Sasanian empire |
| Territory: |
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Byzantine–Sasanian Wars or Byzantine–Persian Wars it is a series of conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanian Empire that lasted 207 years and ended with the victory of Byzantine empire, after which the Sassanian Empire declined and was conquered by the Arabs after 30 years.
Throughout its history, the Sasanian Empire sought to gain control of the Middle East, justifying this with the Achaemenid legacy. Byzantine empire, in turn, sought to seize Transcaucasia and the trade routes coming from distant China.
During Julian's Persian campaign, the Romans suffered a crushing defeat. As a result of the humiliating peace treaty for the Romans, a huge number of territories in the east were ceded to the Sasanian Empire, including Armenia.
The last conflict in the history of the Roman-Sasanian wars was the Shapur 3 campaign in Armenia, as a result of the peace treaty, Armenia was divided into two parts: Persarmenia (territory ceded to the Sassanians) and Armenia Minor (territory ceded to the Romans).
In 421, Bahram V became emperor of the Sasanian Empire and continued the persecution of Christians in the territory of the Sasanian Empire, which was started by his father Yazdigerd I. The Persians hired several Roman gold miners, but now refused to send them back; moreover, the Sassanids seized the property of Roman merchants. This was the reason for the first Byzantine-Sasanian war.
thumb|Solidus of Theodosius II, minted in Constantinople
See main article: article and Anastasian War. The Persian king Kavadh I was sorely short of money, for this reason he declared war on Byzantium. In 502, the Sassanid emperor invaded Byzantine empire, and captured a number of fortresses not ready for war by the Romans.
Anastasius I sent an army of 52,000 men under the command of Areobindus.[1] This army was divided into two parts: one of them went to capture Amidah, the second besieged Nisibis.[2] Although the Byzantines were initially successful at Nisibis, they could not consolidate the advantage, Kavadh I forced Areobindus to retreat during a counterattack.[3] The second part of the army tried to come to the support of the first, but it was too late, the Persians defeated this army, separately from the army of Areobind.
Kavadh I, who reached Edessa, began demanding peace in exchange for a payment of 10,000 pounds from Byzantium, but Areobindus refused this.
The success of the Byzantine forces at Amida, as well as the invasion of the Huns, forced the Sassanids to retreat from Edessa.
See main article: article and Iberian War. Lazica, a kingdom usually allied with the Persians, converted to Christianity and sided with Byzantium. He was followed by the rest of the Caucasian kingdoms, such as Iberia, to get out from under the influence of the Persians. The Persians tried to bring back the now Christian kingdom of Iberia to Zoroastrianism, but this kingdom rebelled, following its neighbor Lazica.[4]
As part of his strategic consolidation of power in the East, Justinian I further strengthened the border defenses by incorporating the Armenian provinces into the empire and deploying Roman garrisons in the area.[5]
Already in 526, an open confrontation began between the empires in the Transcaucasus. At first, the Persians were lucky, the uprising in Iberia was suppressed, the Roman offensives were repelled, and attempts to strengthen the border were stopped by Persian raids.
In 528, the Persians moved from Iberia to Lazica, where, in a small skirmish, they forced Belisarius to retreat to Dara.[6]
In 530, the Byzantines managed to win a number of major victories. Under Dara, Belisarius routed a completely superior force, while Sittas and Dorotheus defeated the Sasanian army at Satala (530). However, in 531 Belisarius was defeated at Callinicum and was removed from command of the army, the Persian general Azaret was also removed because he failed to take advantage of the victory at Callinicum.
After the failure of the Siege of Martyropolis and the death of Kavadh I, a peace was concluded, according to which Byzantium retained Lazica and the Sassanids retained Iberia.
See main article: article and Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591. Less than 10 years after the end of the Lazic War, tensions have risen again. The Persians invaded Yemen, expelling the Byzantine allies, and the allied Arabs raided the territories of Byzantium in the east.
In 572, there was an uprising against the Persians in Armenia, which was suppressed, but the connection of the head of the uprising with the emperor helped unite all Christians in this region. This helped the Byzantines move deeper into Persia, all the way to Caucasian Albania.
In Mesopotamia, however, the war began disastrously for the Byzantines. After a victory at Sargathon in 573, they laid siege to Nisibis and were apparently on the point of capturing this, the chief bulwark of the Persian frontier defences, when the abrupt dismissal of their general Marcian led to a disorderly retreat. Taking advantage of Byzantine confusion, Sassanid forces under Khosrow I swiftly counter-attacked and encircled Dara, capturing the city after a four-month siege. At the same time, a smaller Persian army under Adarmahan ravaged Syria, sacking Apamea and a number of other cities. They were only pushed away from Syria proper by a bumbling Byzantine defence near Antioch.[7] To make matters worse, in 572 the Byzantine emperor Justin II had ordered the assassination of the Ghassanid king al-Mundhir III; as a result of the unsuccessful attempt on his life, al-Mundhir severed his alliance with the Byzantines, leaving their desert frontier exposed.
In 575, the Byzantines managed to resolve their conflict with the Ghassanids, the latter in turn plundered the capital of the Arabs allied to the Persians.
Khosrow I prepared a grandiose campaign through the Caucasus to Anatolia, but during this campaign he was defeated near Melitene. The Byzantines took advantage of the situation and began raiding Caucasian Albania, wintering there and plundering territories. Khosrow wanted to ask for peace, but the victory of his general in Armenia stopped him.
In 578, the main front moved to Mesopotamia. Mauritius has conducted successful raids on both banks of the Tigris. Khosrow wanted to ask for peace again, but died, and his heir Hormizd IV interrupted the negotiations.
In 582, Maurice became emperor, but in the 80s neither side was able to achieve anything. In 589, the Persian general Bahram 6, was able to repel the Roman offensive, but after a single defeat he was dismissed. The angry general raised an uprising, as a result of which Khosrow 2 was elevated to the throne, but Bahram was still dissatisfied, after a while Khosrow was forced to flee to Byzantium, and Bahram IV became emperor, but a year later he was defeated and Khosrow II came to power.