Y the summer of 628 the bitter war between the empires of Byzantium and Persia was finally over. It had begun a full quarter of a century earlier and in the course of these years tens of thousands of lives had been lost, the livelihoods of many ruined, and a number of cities sacked. Inevitably, both imperial armies had endured enormous losses, and raiding by various groups, including Arab tribes, was now endemic in marginal areas. Yet contemporary observers assumed, understandably, that such ancient and powerful states had the resources and organizational capacity to reassert themselves. As the victors, the Byzantines could at least feel encouraged that they enjoyed God’s support and with the advent of peace would be able to repair their defenses and reestablish security. Persia, on the other hand, had suffered a crippling defeat at the hands of Heraclius and the Turks, and many of its local nobles were openly hostile to the ruling family for bringing such shame and ruin upon them and their nation. They murdered Khusrau II, who had initiated the ultimately unsuccessful campaign against Byzantium, which ushered in a period of bloodletting and strife. Various candidates fought for control of the state, including a daughter of Khusrau II, but most ruled for a very short time and held sway over a limited portion of the realm. Only around 632—33 was the succession crisis resolved, when a grandson of Khusrau
Named Yazdgird took charge. In the meantime, the Persian lands had been left critically exposed to potential invaders.
Some Arab tribes of northeast Arabia had already begun to test the will of the Persians to defend their southern borders by launching exploratory raids, but a much more potent threat came from Caucasia. A khagan of the Turks had spotted an opportunity and in 629 he led out a huge army and “spread terror and dread over the face of the earth.” He began by ravaging the east Caucasian kingdom of Albania and then moved westward to Armenia, where he learned that one of Khusrau's leading generals was marching against him. This turned out to be the celebrated Shahrbaraz, who had achieved so many victories against the Byzantines in the previous two decades. He picked the head of an Arab cavalry unit and sent him with 10,000 men to “trample the Turks beneath the hooves and chests of the horses, and scatter them like dust in the wind.” But the Turks had prepared an ambush and while one party of them appeared to flee, causing the Persian contingent to pursue them, another party fell upon the Persians from the rear and sides and massacred them. The Turks now looked set to add Persia to their dazzling list of acquisitions. It was not to be, however, for “the cauldron of the North had turned his face against his own sons.” A deadly power struggle had broken out at the top; the khagan himself was killed and the Turk confederation imploded. They had squandered their opportunity and the way was now left open to armies from Arabia.1
World History
