Byzantine–Sassanid War of 572–591
| Byzantine–Persian War over Armenia | |||||||||
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| Part of the Byzantine–Sasanian wars | |||||||||
 Map of the Byzantine–Sasanian frontier, including the long-standing borders of 387 and the Byzantine gains of 591 |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Byzantine Empire Ghassanids Armenians Sasanian supporters of Khosrow II |
Sasanian Persian Empire Lakhmids Armenians |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Marcian Justinian, Al-Mundhir ibn al-Harith, Cours, Maurice, John Mystacon, Philippicus, Narses, Khosrow II, Vistahm, Vinduyih, Musel II Mamikonian |
Khosrow I, Al-Mundhir IV ibn al-Mundhir †, Khorianes †, Adarmahan, Tamkhosrau †, Kardarigan, Izadgushasp, Fariburz, Bahram Chobin Bleschames (POW) Bahram Gushnasp |
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The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591 was a war fought between the Sasanian Empire of Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire, termed by modern historians as the Byzantine Empire. It was triggered by pro-Byzantine revolts in areas of the Caucasus under Persian hegemony, although other events contributed to its outbreak. The fighting was largely confined to the southern Caucasus and Mesopotamia, although it also extended into eastern Anatolia, Syria, and northern Iran. It was part of an intense sequence of wars between these two empires which occupied the majority of the 6th and early 7th centuries. It was also the last of the many wars between them to follow a pattern in which fighting was largely confined to frontier provinces and neither side achieved any lasting occupation of enemy territory beyond this border zone. It preceded a much more wide-ranging and dramatic final conflict in the early 7th century.
Less than a decade after the fifty-year peace treaty of 562, tensions mounted at all points of intersection between the two empires' spheres of influence, as had happened before when war broke out in the 520s. In 568–569, the Byzantines were engaged in ultimately abortive negotiations (cf. the embassy of Zemarchus) with the Gokturks for an alliance against Persia; in 570, the Sassanids invaded Yemen, expelling the Byzantines' Aksumite allies and restoring the Himyarite Kingdom as a client state; in 570 and 571, the Sassanids' Arab clients, the Lakhmids launched raids on Byzantine territory, although on both occasions they were defeated by the Ghassanids, clients of the Byzantines; and in 570, the Byzantines made a secret agreement to support an Armenian rebellion against the Sassanids, which began in 571, accompanied by another revolt in Iberia. Early in 572, the Armenians under Vardan II Mamikonian defeated the Persian governor of Armenia and captured his headquarters at Dvin; the Persians soon retook the city but shortly afterwards it was captured again by combined Armenian and Byzantine forces and direct hostilities between Byzantines and Persians began. Despite frequent revolts in the 5th century, during the earlier wars of the 6th century the Armenians had largely remained loyal to their Sassanid overlords, unlike their neighbours and fellow Christians in Iberia and Lazica. By joining the Iberians, Lazi, and Byzantines in a coalition of the region's Christian peoples, the Armenians dramatically shifted the balance of power in the Caucasus, helping Byzantine forces to carry the war deeper into Persian territory than had previously been possible on this front: throughout the war, Byzantine forces were able to invade as far as Albania (modern Azerbaijan) and even wintered there.
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