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Siege of Constantinople |
year: 62629 Jun-10 Aug 626 |
| A historical and unsuccessful siege by Avars and Persians | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
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enemy: Avars, Persians
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location: Constantinople
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accuracy:
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battle type: Siege |
war: Wars against Avars & Slavs |
modern country:
Turkey |
| ▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Heraclius) | ▼ The Enemies | |
| Commander: | Patriarch Sergius, Magister Bonus | Kaghan of Avars (unknown), Shahrbaraz |
| Forces: | 12,000 | 80,000 Avars + unknown number of Persians |
| Losses: |
| Background story: |
| On March 25, 624, Emperor Heraclius left Constantinople on a new campaign, entrusting the city to Patriarch Sergius and magister Bonus as regents of his son Constantine. He assembled his forces in Bithynia, and launched a new counter-offensive against the Sassanid Persians, which took on the character of a holy war . The Avars, in the meantime, together with Slavs and other northern tribes (Bulgars, Gepids etc.), took advantage of the situation to overrun the Balkans. The Persian king Hosroes II did not remain inactive and prepared his defense. In a clever distraction move, he came to terms with the Avar khagan to take joint action against the Byzantine capital. It should be noted that as early as 611 the Persians had managed to install a military outpost and had a constant presence in Chalcedon, opposite Constantinople, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. |
The Battle: |
 the siege of 626 in the Chronicle of C. Manasses The Persian army was on the Asian side of the city, while the Avars with the Slavs, numbering 80,000, were on the European side (where they destroyed the Valens’ aqueduct). The Byzantine navy retained control of the Bosphorus, and this proved vital, as the Persians could not send troops or siege engines to the European side to help their allies. In addition, the advantage of the synergy of the attackers was neutralized and the effectiveness of the siege was reduced, because the Persians had high know-how and experience in sieges and if they could participate more actively, they would cause serious problems. Thus the siege was essentially carried out by the Avars, with the Persians simply participating in the blockade from the east and at times attempting to intervene without much success. In the meantime, emperor Heraclius due to his campaign deep im Mesopotamia was not able to help, but he sent a small part of his army back, mainly to raise the morale of the besieged. The defenders in Constantinople numbered about 12,000 men, mostly cavalry. The siege engines of the Avars took position in front of the walls on June 30, and only then the Byzantines realized that they were under siege. They tried to bribe the kaghan, but he definitely wanted the surrender of Constantinople underestimating, apparently, the strength of its defense. Despite the constant attacks and the hits on the walls by catapult shots for a month, morale remained high within the walls, mainly due to Patriarch Sergius who with religious zeal was constantly on the walls with the image of the Virgin Mary and encouraged the defenders with the assurance that the Byzantines were under divine protection as they fought against pagans. On August 6, the Avars attacked a vulnerable point in the walls and managed to enter and occupy the church of Panagia at Vlachernae, where they remained, waiting for the Slavic attack from the sea with dugboats, which was planned to take place the next day. But Byzantine spies learned the signal of the Slavic attack, which was a fire from a specific place, called “Pteron”. Bonus ordered fires to be lit at Pteron, which provoked the untimely attack of the Slavic boats and the Byzantines decimated them. The same fate befell boats with Persian soldiers from Chalcedon, which were sunk by the Byzantine navy. Around 4,000 Persians lost their lives. Thus, August 7 was a decisive day of the siege as the Byzantines repulsed a major attack and inflicted heavy losses on the enemies, who at this point must have realized that it was not easy to take the city. In the meantime, the news reached that the brother of Heraclius, Theodoros, defeated the Persian general Sahin in Asia Minor and was heading to Constantinople. This excited the defenders who made an exit outside the walls, surprising the Avars who suffered gurther casualties. Discouraged by these developments, the Avar leader, suffering from a lack of supplies as well, was forced to end the siege and move west. The Persian general Shahrbaraz no longer had a reason to stay in Chalcedon and, fearing not to be attacked by Theodore, he left, humiliated by the complete failure of the ambitious attack on the Byzantine capital. The crucial factors that contributed to the victory in one of the greatest sieges in world history were the bad preparation and lack of supplies for both attacking troops, the strength of the city walls and the Byzantine naval supremacy, which prevented the Persian forces. to actually assist in the siege and to combine effectively with the Avars. |
Noteworthy: |
| The salvation of the city that took on triumphant proportions was attributed by the Byzantines to the Virgin Mary. Patriarch Sergius, the young Konstantinos, with all his officials and the people filled the Church of the Theotokos at Vlachernae on the Golden Horn and they prayed all night singing praises to the Virgin Mary without sitting. Hence the title of the Hymn Akathistos, in Greek meaning “not seated”. It was one of the most beautiful moments in the history of Byzantium. |
Aftermath: |
| Apart from the great value of the salvation of the capital, the defeat was decisive for both the Avars and the Persians. After the defeat, the power and prestige of the Avars declined, and their khanate disappeared in 3 decades. The Persians, who had occupied a large part of their army to no avail, failed to prevent Heraclius from penetrating victoriously into their territory, while the morale of the Byzantines was further strengthened. |
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