Avar–Byzantine wars
The Avar–Byzantine wars were a series of conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the Avar Khaganate. The conflicts were initiated in 568, after the Avars arrived in Pannonia, and claimed all the former land of the Gepids and Lombards as their own. This led to an unsuccessful attempt to seize the city of Sirmium from Byzantium, which had previously retaken it from the Gepids. Most subsequent conflicts came as a result of raids by the Avars, or their subject Slavs, into the Balkan provinces of the Byzantine Empire.
| Avar–Byzantine wars | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Miniature from the Manasses Chronicle showing Emperor Heraclius attacking a Persian fort, while the Persians and Avars besiege Constantinople in 626. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Byzantine Empire Antes |
Avar Khaganate Sabirs Kutrigurs Slavs Sclaveni Bulgars Sassanids | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Maurice Phocas Heraclius Priscus Peter Comentiolus Philippicus Sergius Bonus Theodore |
Bayan I Bayan II Khosrow II Shahrbaraz Shahin Vahmanzadegan | ||||||||
The Avars usually raided the Balkans when the Byzantine Empire was distracted elsewhere, typically in its frequent wars with the Sassanid Empire in the East. As a result, they often raided without resistance for long periods of time, before Byzantine troops could be freed from other fronts to be sent on punitive expeditions. This happened during the 580s and 590s, where Byzantium was initially distracted in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591, but then followed up by a series of successful campaigns that pushed the Avars back.