Battle of Dara 530 AD (Part 1/2) - Rise of Belisarius

 

It was a hot summer day in northern Mesopotamia.

 The clamouring of tools echoed between the slopes of a narrow valley in front of the walls of Dara, as engineers shouted orders, knowing that the battlements must be finished before dark.

 From a hill top overlooking the city, Flavius Belisarius was conducting these hasty defensive preparations, aware that he will soon have to confront a much larger army, that had just crossed the border into Roman territory.

 The Persians are coming…!

 It has been 25 years since the last vestiges of the Western Roman Empire crumbled, with its’ imperial legacy and tradition passing onto the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire.

 The overall ambition of early Byzantine emperors was to restore the old Roman empire, but in the early 6th century, the country’s geopolitics would be shaped mainly in relation to their perennial enemy in the east, the powerful Sassanian Empire.

 After the Anastasian war, peace lasted for nearly twenty years, but after centuries of repeated long and costly wars, mutual distrust persisted between the two superpowers, and preparations for the next looming conflict began as soon as the previous war ended.

 The Byzantine Empire didn’t have the military power and resources of the old Roman Empire, but was very formidable defensively.

 In contrast, the Sassanians dominated pitched battles with their superior cavalry, but lacked the shock infantry, siege equipment and specialists, to break through the chain of Byzantine fortifications into the Anatolian interior.

 From Constantinople, two capable rulers oversaw a continued economic and political strengthening of the empire during this period.

 Anastasius I, heeded the advice of his generals and strengthened the porous eastern border.

 Here, on the flat plain between the deserts in the south and the mountains in the north, Byzantine armies fared badly during the Anastasian war, due to the lack of a major base in the area that would serve as a rallying point for offensive and defensive operations.

 This meant that the troops had to march long distances from strongholds further west, in order to reach the border.

 In contrast, the Sassanians used the fortified city of Nisibis, a former Roman stronghold that was ceded to Persia nearly two centuries prior, to launch attacks deep into Byzantine territory and then return to the safety of the city walls to gather their strength and resupply.

 To counter this, the Emperor ordered the building of a heavily fortified city of Dara.

 Masons and workers,

 gathered from across Mesopotamia, worked with great haste

 to complete the 20m high walls, three story towers, the citadel, large storehouses and barracks, a public bath and water cisterns, along with a canal that

 diverted a local river to ensure the city had ample water supply.

 Dara would be a refuge for Byzantine armies, where the troops could rest, prepare their weapons,

 and guard the entrance into Syria.

 But, Anastasius’ domestic policies were perhaps of greater significance.

 He improved the Empire’s monetary system and issued a new form of currency in gold, silver and, more importantly, copper coins, finally ending the inflation that prevailed for almost 200 years, since the times of Constantine the Great, thereby greatly enriching the lower classes who were the ones that mostly used copper coins in their daily lives and business.

 The tax code was reformed

 to close loopholes exploited by the rich, and tax collecting responsibilities were taken from powerful local senators and assigned to select agents of the praetorian prefect.

 He stimulated trade and industry by lowering taxes paid by the urban classes, and greatly curbed reckless government spending and corruption.

 By the time of his death in 518 AD, Anastasius’ focus on fiscal policies stabilized and vastly enriched the country internally, increasing the Imperial treasury and leaving a sizeable budget surplus.

 Justin I, who was in his late 60’s when he took power,

 continued the consolidation of the Empire.

 He kept Anastasius’ economic policies, further enriching the treasury, and resumed the commitment

 of maintaining armies in the East.

 On the diplomatic front, he secretly cultivated client states on the borders of the Empire, trying to gain an advantage over Persia by creating buffer zones and staging points for possible future proxy wars.

 In Arabia, Justin supported the successful Aksumian invasion of the Himerites, in effect wresting control of this strategically important kingdom from the Sassanians, gaining access to valuable trade routes for frankincense and myrrh.

 To the north, the Byzantine Emperor meddled in the predominantly Christian Iberia, encouraging various influential bishops to start an insurrection against the Sassanians.

 In addition, he fostered Byzantine influence over the kingdom of Lazica, by personally awarding its' king the insignia and robes of kingship, and arranged for him to marry a Byzantine noblewoman, all of which increased the king's legitimacy in the eyes of the local nobility.

 In exchange, Justin demanded the king's conversion to Christianity and the stationing of Byzantine garrisons in Lazica, aiming to reduce Sassanian influence.

 But while Justin quietly formed these alliances, he continued the rational policy of paying subsidies to Persia in exchange for peace, for this was cheaper than funding expensive wars.

 Instrumental in enforcing these subsidies was the formidable Sasanian King of Kings, Kavad I.

 He impressed upon the Byzantines that an invasion from the east by the Hephthalites, sometimes called the "White Huns", posed a grave danger to Persia and, if not stopped, it would be only a matter of time before they reached Byzantine lands.

 Kavad exploited the fact that the memories of the Hunnic invasions in Europe were still fresh, successfully persuading Constantinople to pay the Sassanians for keeping the Hephthalites in check, warning that if payments weren't forthcoming, Persian armies would raid Byzantine lands and use the plunder to fund the struggle against the nomads in the east.

 This bit of shrewd diplomacy was a show of brilliance Kavad often displayed throughout his reign.

 Despite inheriting a declining empire, he reorganized the state, laying the foundation for Iranians to re-establish themselves as a superpower, by introducing many political, economic, social, and military reforms, that restored the empire’s territories in the east, and curbed the power and corruption of the nobility and clergy, and he used Persia’s position along the major trade routes to exert pressure on the Byzantines, effectively establishing a trading monopoly in the region.

 But, the implementation of his reforms inevitably took time and would only be fully completed by his son and successor, Khosrow I.

 Kavad correctly saw potential in his young son and greatly preferred him over his other sons.

 But, Khosrow was just 12 years old and the priority of the Persian king was to secure the boy’s succession, aware that his position and life were threatened by his 3 older sons, each of whom was backed

 by powerful noble factions.

 To protect the young prince Kavad approached Justin, asking him to formally adopt Khosrow.

 The Byzantine Emperor was open to the idea but, being childless himself, he was aware that an adopted Sassanian prince would have a claim on the throne in Constantinople, and he offered adoption

 according to barbarian custom.

 This deeply offended Kavad… With the breakdown of negotiations, a series of proxy wars ignited… To the south, the Byzantines now openly supported the Aksumites,

 providing ships that would transport troops to Yemen, seeking to expand Christian influence and access the spice and silk trade to India.

 In northern Arabia, Lakhmids raided Byzantine territories on the edge of the desert, supported by the Persians.

 In Iberia, Kavad sent troops to crush the religious insurrection

 and force the Christian population to convert to Zoroastrianism.

 The Iberian king fled to Lazica and soon received support from Justin, who recruited Huns from the north of the Caucasus to assist the Iberians.

 The Sassanians attempted

 to regain control over Lazica, but were beaten back by Byzantine troops stationed there.

 By now Justin was an old man, and he ceded control of the Empire to his capable nephew Justinian I, who officially ascended the throne a few months later after Justin had died… With the onset of Justinian’s reign, open conflict broke out in the Transcaucasus region and northern Mesopotamia,

 with the Persians maintaining the initiative.

 In 527, the revolt in Iberia had been crushed, and a Byzantine offensive on Nisibis and Thebetha was defeated, while Persian attacks prevented the Byzantines from fortifying Thannuris and Melabasa, another two key points along the border.

 A year later, Sassanian armies again tried to press into Lazica, this time capturing several fortresses in the eastern part of the kingdom.

 Hard pressed along the entire border, Justinian tried to remedy the situation by dividing the command in the east, with Sittas placed in charge of the northern front in Armenia and Belisarius spearheaded the important expedition on the southern front, to protect the construction of a border-fort at Thannuris.

 But his forces were defeated by Xerxes, one of Kavad’s sons,

 and he had to retreat back to Dara.

 The Sassanians, however, suffered heavy losses, with 500 Immortals falling in battle.

 This enraged Kavad, who stripped Xerxes of command and imprisoned him.

 In 529, further Lakhmidian raids devastated parts of Syria, which prompted Justinian to strengthen his own Arab allies, assisting the loose coalition of Ghassanid tribes to form a coherent kingdom

 that would put pressure on the Lakhmids.

 With the Byzantines on the back foot, Kavad tasked his main army in the south to march on Dara, aiming to deal a killing blow to Justinian’s forces in Syria…