Iberian War

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The Iberian War was fought from 526 to 532 CE between the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire over the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia.

Origin

After the Anastasian War, a seven-year truce was agreed on, yet it lasted for nearly twenty years. Even during the war in 505, Anastasius I had already started fortifying Daraa as a counter to the Persian fortress city of Nisbis for a looming conflict. Kavadh I tried to force the Christian Iberians to become Zoroastrians even though they were already under Sassanid rule. The Roman side could not keep from interfering against the Sassanids.

War

By 526, indecisive fighting broke out in the Transcaucasus region and upper Mesopotamia. The Iberian king fled from the Sassanids. The Romans abandoned their siege of the Sassanid-held Nisbis in 527 and the Sassanid-allied Alamundarus, the Arabian warlike leader of the Saracens, raided toward Antiochia in 529 but didn't reach the city for their fear of Roman attack and thus precipitated into the Euphrates and 100,000 drowned in the panic. Following Emperor Justin I's death in 527, Justinian I ascended to the imperial throne. Kavadh tried to make peace with the new emperor by attempting to have Justinian adopt his son Khosrau I. Justinian refused and sent his generals Sittas and Belisarius into Persia in which they were initially defeated. However, Belisarius proved to be an able and effective commander. In June 530, he led the Romans to victory over the much larger Sassanid force through his superior generalship in the Battle of Daraa. However, Belisarius' forces later faced a double defeat in the Battle of Nisbis in the same year and again in the Battle of Callinicum in 531 causing his military dismissal.

Truce

Kavadh died shortly afterwards and the Eternal Peace agreement (which lasted ten years) was signed on September 532 on the terms of all Byzantine land lost under Justinian's rule to be returned and the Byzantines to pay heavy tributes in exchange for peace. The country of Iberia remained in Sassanid hands.The newly ascended Sassanid King Khosrau I was interested in stabilizing his internal position for the time being.

Iberian War

Origin

War

Truce

See also