Avar-Slav-Persian Siege of Constantinople 626 (DOCUMENTARY)

The first ruler of our Khaganate, Khagan Bayan, decided to lead his people from the east, towards the borders of the most powerful country in Europe of that time, the Eastern Roman Empire. His people fled from the powerful Göktürks, devastated everything in front of them. They even reached the Eurasian steppe. By 526 AD, the Avars, together with the Bulgars and many other tribes of Turkic ancestry, reached the Danube. Their first contact with the Byzantium was of a friendly nature. However, the fate of these people quickly changed. From being allies, the Avars became the worst nightmare of the Romans. In the year 557 AD, the Avars sent a delegation to the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, that is, to the court of the legendary Justinian the Great. They made an agreement with the Byzantine emperor, where every year, he would pay the Avars tributing money. In return, the Avars would protect the borders of the powerful empire. This alliance functioned for some time, as the Avars spent this time fighting wars with other tribes, that is, all the other tribes which had hostile inclination towards Byzantium. After some time, more specifically 562 AD, another Avar delegation was sent to Constantinople. The delegation's purpose was to receive the tribute which it was meant to receive every year. However, this time, the Avars had another condition for the Romans. They asked for the land inside the empire where they could settle their people. With this, they could more effectively continue their present services. In the meantime, the Avars began to cross the Danube. They began to settle small Scythia, or what is currently known as Dobruja. The Roman Empire saw this as a large problem. It also saw this as a potential danger which would lead to Avar incursions into Thrace. Such a potential incursion could also go to Constantinople. For this reason, they offered the Avars to instead go and settle Lower Pannonia, that is, the space between Sirmium and Segedunum, what is currently known as Srem. The Avar Khagan Bayan rejected this offer. He temporarily satisfied himself with more Scythia. He realized that the Romans, with their politics of divide and conquer, were trying to hold the balance of power on the borders. Also, Khagan realized that if Avars all settled themselves into Lower Pannonia, they would only gain an unfriendly neighbor and hostile enemy, that is, the Kingdom of the Gepids. In 566 AD, a delegation from King Alboan of the Lombards came to small Scythia. The Lombards offered Khagan Bayan an alliance against the King of Gepids. They also reminded the Avars that the Byzantines, by seizing the pay tribute, became new enemies of the Avars. After lengthy negotiations, an alliance was made. However, the alliance was made under the condition that after the defeat of the Gepids, the Avars would have the right to take all the land owned by the Gepids. In the year 567, Avar horsemen led by Khagan Bayan went to war with their western neighbor. They decided to attack the Gepids from the north, in order to enter the Pannonian Basin as quickly as possible. The Avars captured the most strategically important position between the Danube and Tisza rivers. In parallel to this, from the east, they also covered the south area up to the Danube. It was most probably at Danasex where the decisive battle in which Gepid soldiers suffered a crushing defeat happened. The Gepid state was destined to collapse. This was because in the west they were also defeated by the Lombards. Here, the last Gepid leader and ruler, King Cunimund, died. During this time, the Byzantine commander Bonn came with soldiers to help his ally. Realizing that their state had collapsed, the Gepids opened the gates of Simium and allowed the army of the Eastern Roman Empire to enter. Simium was a very important city for the Romans because it had a very important strategic position. This was because the city protected the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire and blocked enemy armies from penetrating deep into the Balkan Peninsula. Simium was the capital of the Praetorian Prefecture and also a very important military trading center. After the destruction of the Gepid Empire, the Lombards were pressured to migrate west by the Havas, that is, as far away from fearsome Hava warriors as possible. The Great Lombard Migration into Italy, which was led by King Albon, happened in the year 568. The Havas took advantage and moved towards the west where they took the abandoned territory. The Havas were really an alliance of a large number of nomadic tribes. They are considered to be the successors of the Huns in their way of life, which reached Europe from Central Asia. This mostly refers to their warlike nature, that is, their focus on waging war being focused on cavalry. Among the contemporary historians of that time, the Havas are described as skilled horse riders and warriors, whose main weapon was the bow and arrow. The average Hava warrior used a composite type of armor that was suited towards horse riding. They consisted of colored metal blocks that were tied together by belts. For their uniforms, Hava warriors often wore pants that were of a bright color. Their riding shoes were made of some kind of leather. On their heads, the Havas wore a lemon helm, what is otherwise a round cavalry helmet made from metal. This helmet was of a much higher quality than other types of round helmets. The Havas were the ones to spread the use of lemon helm all over Europe. The weapons that the Havas used consisted of a long sword, a bow and arrow, and sometimes a long spear that would be used to penetrate objects. The Havas were skilled archers whose bow and arrows were of a high quality and also had a long range. Historical sources state that the Hava arrows could break the metal armor or a thick wooden shield of any enemy, even from a distance of 200 meters. Hava swords were long and sharp blades that were well suited for the cavalry method of war. They were one-sided cutting objects which were slightly bent on one angle. They were one of the first authentic type of the swords that appeared at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Is that the Havas most probably didn't use shields at all. Only tribes that were subjects to the Havas, such as the Slavs, Gepids and Bulgars used shields. Of course, the Havas also had a very unique and exceptional breed of horses which were among the oldest in the world. Immediately after their war with the Gepids was over, the Havas began to besiege Simium with their large army. Fierce battles were fought over the wall foundations of the city. The defense of the city was led by commander Born. The attacks were unsuccessful, but so were the negotiations which came after. For this reason, Khagan Bayan sent 10,000 Khatrijuk horsemen into the territory of the central Bosnia to loot and burn everything in front of them. Quickly, during the year 569, the situation calmed down and peace was agreed between two sides. The Havas did not manage to capture Simium, but they managed to gain 80,000 ducats from Byzantium as part of the peace negotiations. They were paid these ducats in order to not cross the border. However, in the meantime, the Slavs entered the territory of the Byzantium empire. With this, the Slavs gradually gained their independence from the Havas. The Slavs looted many areas and caused many problems for the Constantinople because of their large numbers. With the Avar-Roman agreement, 10 years of peace was secured between the recent enemies. During these 10 years, both parts fought together against the Slavs and other tribes. However, with the arrival of Emperor Tiberius II to the throne, Avar-Roman relations began to change. After many incidents and skirmishes, Khagan Bayan again moved his army to besiege Simium in 580 AD. Simium could not hold against that long siege and it did not have much food. For this reason, the Romans surrendered the city to the Havas and signed a peace agreement with them. The Havas took mercy on the inhabitants of Simium and captured the city. However, the peace agreement that was signed did not last long. In 586 AD, a new Avar offensive starts. Wars between the Havas and the Romans were fought for many years and the borders between the states constantly changed. The Slav incursions only created more tension. After many battles, only by the year 598 was peace agreed upon where the river Danube was affirmed as a border between the two states. However, in the year 600 war broke out again, but this time it was the Romans that were the attackers. The Romans crossed into Avar's land and beat them in many battles, but this war did not last long. Byzantium now gave even 200,000 ducats in order to keep the Havas calm. Byzantium now focused itself on its war with Persia. The Persians reached all the way up to Chalcedon and won one victory after another. During this extremely difficult time in Byzantium, a civil war also broke out. Their emperor Flevius Phoc was killed and Heracles I came to the throne in the year 610. This time period is considered to be one of the most difficult time periods in In 611, an even larger incursion of Slavs into the Byzantine Empire begins. Due to the pirate attacks of the Slavs, all of the Thessaly, Central Greece, Cyclades Archipelago, Achaea, Epirus and the coast of Asia Minor were all devastated. The Slavs besieged Thessaloniki in 616. However, they were defeated. Still, in 618 the Slavs began besiege Thessaloniki and this time they had the help of the Avars. Since Khagan Bayan had died by this point of time and he was succeeded by his younger son, it is possible that his younger son directly helped the Slavs with this siege. The city was completely encircled from the land and siege weapons were brought to conquer the city. However, despite the earthquake which struck Thessaloniki, the foundations of the city walls still held. The defenders were reinforced from the sea. The Avars and the Slavs stopped the siege in return for being paid with large quantities of money and supplies by the city defenders. After the unsuccessful siege of Thessaloniki, the Avars moved directly to besiege Constantinople. It is not known exactly when the Avars first attacked Constantinople with their allies, but it was most probably in the time period between the years 617 and 623. The Avars reached the famed Roman capital and agreed to a meeting with Emperor Heraclius. Emperor Heraclius came out of his capital with a large entourage with tribute in money and hostages in order to make peace with his unruly neighbors. However, he was awaited by a charge of the mighty Avar cavalry, followed by a rain of arrows. Heraclius barely got his head out alive and he returned to the capital. The fearsome Avar horsemen managed to chase him all the way to the Theodosian walls. The Byzantines were safe inside of their walls. However, in the year 626, the Avars together with the Slavs attacked Constantinople again. The composition of the Avar army that moved to conquer Constantinople had a very heterogeneous composition. The Avar army alone was only composed of cavalry units and siege weapons. They also had infantry with armor. Their Slav and Bulgar allies were the members of the crew in the Avar fleet that was meant to attack Constantinople over the Golden Horn. The exact balance of forces between the two sides is not known. Some sources claim that the balance of forces was in favor of the Avars 10 to 1, but this is most probably exaggerated. The siege began on the 29th of July in the year 626, that is when the Avar army arrived in front of the walls of Constantinople. Fearsome fighting ensued, but the Romans held well and defeated the Avar army which then withdrew from the walls. During the fifth day of the siege, the Slavs moved their fleet to Chalcedon from the Golden Horn. This was done in order for the Slavs to collect the Persian soldiers with which they were to attack the city by the sea. In the next few days, there were many lesser skirmishes between the two sides in conflict. Only the ninth day of the siege, a full-scale attack on the city began. The Slavs, Bulgars, Persian and other tribes attacked with their fleet from across the Golden Horn. Simultaneously, the Avar attacked from the land where they charged the wall foundations with siege equipment. On the sea, the Romans inflicted a heavy defeat of their enemies with the use of Greek fire according to some sources. After a short fight, the whole army either retreated or hid below the sinking boats. The Avar army didn't fare much more gloriously and it also withdrew after suffering heavy losses. Also, the defeat forced the Persians to withdraw from Chalcedon. The path was now open to Constantinople for a country attack. These difficult moments for the Avars and Eastern Roman Empire opened the path for the Slavs to massively break through and conquer the Balkans. The Slavs then began to settle the areas upon which they will live for centuries.