The Lazic War

While the Byzantine Empire under Justinian I and the Sassanids under Khosrow I might have decided to stop fighting on their southern borders, hostilities continued in the area east of the Black Sea. This was a 20-year conflict, from 541 to 562.

The Byzantine control had been settled years earlier, in a treaty made in 532 that was called "Eternal Peace" after five years of conflict. Iran recognized the Byzantine control of the place, and the monarch of Lazica, Tzath I, was even made to convert to Christianity and given royal recognition by Justinian's predecessor, Justin I.

In 536, Constantinople reduced their king's authority when the Byzantine general John Tribes was given military command over Lazica. Tribes also promoted Byzantine merchants over the locals, leading to an uprising in 541. Then-Lazican king Gubazes II requested help from the Persians.

Khosrow I answered the call fore help, advancing to Lazica and capturing the city of Roman-built trade city of Petra. Khosrow declared Lazica under his protection, and withdrew. A Roman invasion of Armenia in 543 was defeated by the Persians.

Lazica had many Christians by that time, and they objected to the increasing Persian influence and control. The Christians threatened an uprising, and this time Gubazes II decided he had to assuage his people, so he requested help from Justinian against the Persians.

Justinian sent 7000 soldiers, who besieged the well-defended Petra unsuccessfully. Persian reinforcements arrived and drove away the siege. Then, 5000 Persians marched to Armenia, but they were defeated by the Byzantines in 549. 

A later siege of Petra was successful, and its defenses were dismantled. Byzantine control of the area around the Black Sea was maintained. Khosrow had his men spread out and conquer as much of Lazica as they could. Meanwhile, Gubazes was arguing with the Byzantine commanders, who killed him. His younger brother Tzathes was made king. The assassination was investigated and the men responsible were executed.

Fighting went back and forth, with no clear victor, the perfect recipe for a treaty to stop wasting men and materiel. A truce was declared with the Fifty Years of Peace treaty in 562.

Khosrow was certainly a thorn in the side of the Buyzantines, but they were a thorn in his side just as much. Let's meet the man tomorrow.

Justinian and Iran

When Justinian I became emperor (527 - 565), he inherited from his uncle the war with the Sassanid Empire to the east. This Iranian Empire was ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651 CE.

His chief adversary was Khosrow I, who ruled the Sassanids from 531 to 579. Khosrow inherited the war from his father, Kavad I.

In 541, Justinian sent General Belisarius to the east to take command of Byzantine forces facing the Iranians. Belisarius had recently come from Italy where he had been successful in the Gothic Wars, Justinian's attempts reunite the Western Roman Empire with his Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. He was recalled shortly after, possibly because of concerns about his loyalty.

Hostilities between the two empires were halted in 541 at the outbreak of what we call the Justinian Plague, the first appearance of Bubonic Plague in the west. A rebellion in Persia also forced Khosrow to divide his attention between quelling it and the Byzantine front.

Knowing about the rebellion, Justinian ordered a 30,000-strong military invasion of Persian Armenia in 543, but they were defeated, partially because (we saw this recently in posts about the Gothic wars), the commanders of the different divisions did not communicate well, nor did they coordinate well. The Byzantine forces were scattered.

Khosrow besieged the Roman-held city of Edessa the following year. He was unsuccessful. 

Without each side making much progress—and the effects of the plague—they lost their taste for strife. In 545 they declared a truce along the southern Roman-Persian border. 

The northern border was another matter. That area was part of a two-decade war called (among other things) the Lazic War. I'll talk about that tomorrow.