So the title of this video is kind of a joke on my part. Because before the 11th and 12th century
no one had ever thought of the slavs as being very maritime oriented. This was due to the fact
that for most of their early history they didn’t live near large bodies of water. In the North the
Baltic, Finno Ugric and Norse tribes were near the seas, in the south you had varying nomadic
and turkic groups like the Pechenegs or Khazars and in the balkans along the adriatic coast there
were still the remnantses of Rome in the form of Latin cities that controlled the seafaring lanes
in that area. And it was in between all of that, that the early slavs lived mostly landlocked.
However, this is not to say that the early Slavs were completely incopetant when it
came to sailing, after all they had a lot of experience navigating the large
waterways of Eastern Europe from the Polesian marshes to the large Dnieper,
Dniester, Bug, Vistula, Danube rivers and all the tributaries around them,
it is safe to say that the slavs where well versed when it came to freshwater navigation,
plus they most certainly picked up new sailing skills from their neighboring tribes as attested
to by the many forieng borrowed words in the slavic language when it comes to sailing. There
were even accounts of Slavs raiding Greek islands during the migration period so they most certainly
had the means for at least some sort of seafaring. But with all that said it would be hard not to
mention the fact that early Slavs in general have always been a ground fighting force with whatever
sailing experience they had being used more for transport or trading than for military purposes.
Therefore the Avar siege of Constantinople in 626 is so interesting. You’re probably
asking right now what do the Avars and their siege of a city have to do
anything with a quote unquote “Slavic Navy” but before we get to that lets
first introduce the background to this quite historic and kind of anti climactic siege.
The Avars have been in control of Pannonia since their conquest of the Gepids in 566/7
and the Lombard migration into Italy in 568. Ever since then the Avar Khaganate
was a constant thorn in the Byzantine back, raiding into the Balkan Byzantine
territory while also displacing a lot of people groups, mostly the Slavs, who moved
towards the Balkans causing more problems for the Byzantines. Not to mention the Avar exacting
of payments from the Byzantines to stop many of these raids. The last of these payments before
the siege of Constantinople was negotiated in 623 and consisted of 200k solidi, which was
around 50k more solidi than what Attila the Hun negotiated with the Romans in 447. In fact it
was stated by Nicephorus that the payment was “an amount never previously paid to the barbarians”.
So, considering that the Avars had this very lucrative 200k
solidi peace deal with the Byzantines,
it begs the question of why did they decide to attack Constantinople just 3 years later?
Well for that we have to turn to something that has been sometimes
named the last war of Antiquity, that is the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628.
The Persians had seen much success during the first half of the war,
mainly due to a power struggle within Byzantium. The Sasanians took over Syria, Egypt, Armenia,
and parts of Anatolia. However, when the new and much famed Emperor Heraclius managed to
finally consolidate power within Byzantium and instal the Heraclian reforms ending in 622,
the tide of the war started to change. Heraclius negotiated the aforementioned 200k solidi peace
deal with the Avars in 623 and turned all of his attention on the Persians.
Now against the entire might of the newly consolidated Byznatine Empire the Persians
were on the back foot, losing a couple of battles and parts of Anatolia and Armenia.
Seeing the tide of war turn in the Byznatine favor, the last ditch actions of the Persians
seem to have been to ally themselves with the Avars and persuade them to break their peace
treaty with the Byzantines. The Persians most likely promised the Avars all of the Byzantine
Balkan provinces as they themselves didn’t care much for this area. The Avar Khagan,
seeing this golden opportunity to gain more land, especially since most of
Byzantine forces were preoccupied fighting the Persians in the east, agreed to this alliance.
What’s interesting is that it seems like the Avar Khaganate before the siege of Constantinople was
going through some political turmoil. Since we have no written records from the Avars it is
hard to say what this political turmoil was but it seems like the prestigiou base rule of the Khagan,
as present in all nomadic kingdoms, was getting challenged due to some reason mostly by the Slavs
and Bulgars. In fact this may have been the reason why the Khagan agreed on breaking the truce and
allying himself with the Persians, and why he decided on taking Constantinople right away
instead of taking smaller cities in the Balkans first. The Khagan needed a big victory with a
lot of booty to solidify his control among the many peoples in the Avar Khaganate and
taking Constantinople would do that. Also he probably didn’t want to give much time
for Heraclius to return with his army and so went straight for Constantinople.
The Avar preparations for the siege began in early 626. The Avar Khagan menaged to assemble
a formidable force with the core of the army being formed by heavy Avar cavalry/infantry,
which was supported by the Bulgar cavalry/infantry,
the rest was light infantry being mostly Slavic and Gepid. The Avar army arrived at
Adrianople and waited there for at least a month partaking in phoney warfare with the Byztinees.
This may have been either because the Avars were still waiting for parts of their army to show up
or they were waiting for the first fruits of the harvest to finish so they had enough supplies.
Nevertheless the vanguard of the Avar army crossed the Anastasian Wall on the 29th
of July reaching the formidable Theodosian Walls that same day. The Anastasian wall was
built by Emperor Anastasian in the late 5th century in order to prevent nomadic
groups like the Avars from raiding the suburbs of Constantinople but at this
point the wall was kind of dilapidated and the Avar Army had no problem crossing it.
With most of the Byzantine army and the Emperor Heraclius campaigning in the East,
Constantinople was pretty much left to defend itself.
This was a momentous occasion. It was the first time in almost 250 years that
Constantinople came under siege and I would argue it was actually even longer than that
because the Gothic siege of the city in 378 wasn’t really a siege but I digress. It was
also the first time the formidable Theodosian triple layered walls would be put to the test.
Before we go further it must be stated that all the accounts we have from the siege of
Constantinople are from the Byzantine point of view which means we end up with
writings about the siege that look like this. ‘The goal of war is in general the hope of booty,
the removal of men, the seizure of goods; this is why the barbarian peoples begin a war … What other
but our city would rightly be that which could be named infallibly and correctly, in its totality,
the place of sacrifice of God, and one can see that it is generally speaking the only church
which sings the glory and the anthems of God and the Virgin … Thus … we should interpret the
word "Gog" (from the bible) for the assembly of these people led against us by this mad
dog [the Khagan].’ (Theodore the Syncellus, Homolly on the Siege of Constantinople 43,44)
Now the word ‘Gog’ is taken from the bible and it means an apocalyptic horde of barbarians
of biblical proportions that the devout christian Byzantines are defending against,
in the name of god and the Virgin Mary. Hence Constantinople is seen
by the Byzantines as this quote ‘place of sacrifice of god’.
So the sources we have almost unanimously present this narrative of a small pious force defending
against this much larger barbaric pagan enemy. The problem with this view is that even though yes the
numbers of the Avar army were most certainly much larger than the numbers of the Byzantine
defenders, the Byzantines were defending probably at this point the most fortified city on earth
with the Byzantine Navy at their disposal. Plus it’s not like the nomadic peoples where well known
for their siege ability and the Avars with the Slavs in particular where already unable to take
the much smaller fortified city of Thessaloniki just couple of years prior, so this desperate
narrative of the siege in our sources is at the very least quite exaggerated by the Byzantines.
All this brings us back to the first day of the siege on the 29th of July
as the Avar army is setting up in front of the triple layered Theodosian Walls.
The first two days of the siege involved various diplomatic actions, plus psychological warfare.
The Byzantines peraded upon their walls Christian Relics while the Avars held
military parades. Both actions were supposed to encourage their own soldiers while scaring
their enemies. The Avars during this time also started setting up siege towers, turtles, etc.
Now, if you look at the map of Constantinople you notice this body of water surrounding the
city from the north. This is called the Golden Horn and it provides a very good
harbour and natural barrier for defending the city. However, since there already is
this natural barrier the fortifications on this side of the city were quite lackluster.
It is still debated to what extent this area was fortified but all historians agree
at the very least it definitely wasn’t as well fortified as the western Theodosian Walls.
Therefore, if Constantinople had a weak point, this was that weak point
and the Khagan obviously knew this because he brought with him a quote “navy”.
This Avar navy was manned by the Slavs. The Byzantines wrote that the Slavs brought with them
over land dugout canoes most likely being ordered to do so by the Khagan.
Now the word used by the Byzantines for the slavic boats is “monoxil” which mostly describes dugout
canoes but sometimes can mean more complex boats in Byznatine texts. Therefore some
historians try to say that the Slavs had actual battle ready well constructed boats with masts,
but considering the extent of Slavic naval experience, the fact that they brought the
boats over land rather than sailing down the Black sea, and that similar dugout canoes were
used during the already mentioned unsuccessful siege of Thessaloniki, means that it is probably
safe to say that these boats were normal dugout canoes that could have been slightly modified
for siege warfare, or even strung together for better sailing potential but that’s about it.
On the 3rd day of the siege 31st of July, an all out Avar assault happened across the
theodosian walls. The first wave of the attack was done by the quote ‘naked slavs’ with ladders,
this didn’t do much damage but after the defenders were weakened slightly,
the heavy infantry replaced them. This first extensive Avar attack didn’t go too well but
it wasn’t supposed to. The Avars did not commit their siege weapons during this attack and so it
is most likely the Khagan just ordered this attack to probe the defences of the city.
On the fourth day of the siege 1st of August. The day started with the Avar catapults
pummeling the middle of the theodosian walls, the defenders deployed their own catapults and were
much more skilled in aiming them than the Avars and so the battle of the catapults ended up being
an Avar defeat. This did not matter to the Avars much, as they then brought out their siege towers
that made their way to the walls. But even here the Byzantines had a trick up their sleeves. One
of the sailors created a weird long crane with a small boat at the end filled with flammable fluid,
it is speculated that this fluid could have been the predecessor to Greek fire but we don’t know
that for sure. Nevertheless this contraption proved to be quite useful in destroying the
siege towers and the Avars were defeated in their attack ones more. However, despite this defeat at
the walls the Avars did succeed somewhere else. While the Byzantines were busy defending the walls
the Slavs managed to launch all of their dugout canoes at the edge of the Golden Horn, here they
were protected from the Byzantine navy as the water was too shallow for the large Byzatine
boats to engage the canoes effectively, and so the fourth day of the siege ended.
On the fifth day of the Siege the Khagan stopped hostilities and sent out for a Byzatine embassy
to meet him in front of the walls. When the embassy arrived the Khagan showed them three
Persian dignitaries who were there in support of the Khagan, the Khagan then said that the
Persian army was waiting on the other side of the Bosporus to assist the Avars in their siege.
This wasn’t the full Persian army, that one was preoccupied fighting Heraclius, no, this was just
a contingent of soldiers send around Herclius’s main force as to assist the Avars in their siege.
This Persian army was actually on the other side of the Bosporus since the
start of the siege on the 29th of July and the Byzantines were aware of them. But it was
only now that the Khagan used this Persian army as a fear mongering tactic
stating how many men he had and how certain it was Constantinople would fall. The Khagan told
the embassy, “Leave me your city and property. For otherwise it is impossible for you to be saved,
unless you can become fish and depart by sea, or birds and ascend to the sky.”
The Byzantines were not moved by these words sarcastically retorting
“Although you have such great hordes, you still need Persian help.”
Seeing that the Byzantines would not surrender, the Khagan broke off the negotiations.
The following night the three Persian dignitaries crossing the Bosporus back to the Persian army
were caught by Byzantines Patrol boats. The Byzantines beheaded one of the Persians
then tied his head to the neck of the other Persian who’s hands they cut off,
after which they send him outside of the city walls back to the Khagan.
The third dignitary was beheaded on a boat in view of the Persian army on the other side of the
Bosporus. After that the byzantines through the head to the Persians with an attached note saying
“The Chagan, after making terms with us, sent us the ambassadors who were dispatched to him by you;
we have beheaded two of them in the city, while look! You have the head of the third one.”
The Persians did not fall for this trick as on the night of the 6th day of the siege
the remaining Slavic canoes not in the Golden horn made their way to the other
side of the bosporus and picked up the Persian army. However, on the way back,
they were ambushed by the much superior Byantine navy and most of them were killed.
So ends the Persian chapter of the siege.
On the 7th and 8th day of the siege there were minor attacks here and there across the wall but
no major attack came. The only major development was that the Khagan moved to be positioned on
the other side of the Golden Horn rather than in front of the main walls. It was obvious the
Avars were planning something, something big, and so the 9th day of the siege rolled around.
On this day, in early morning, an all out attack was conducted by the Avar army across the entire
wall. This attack only intensified as the day dragged on and at some point in the day
the Khagan ordered the Slavic fleet which was now bolstered by Burglar infantry on board the canoes
to do a full scale attack on the north side of the city.
Here the canoes met with the Byzantine navy across the entire golden horn and a slog
fest of fighting from boat to boat started. It did not take long for the Byzantines to gain
the upper hand and the entire quote “Slavic Navy” was destroyed. Accounts say that the Golden Horn
turned red from all the bloodshed. The few Slavs that managed to make it back ashore
were reportedly killed by the Avars for losing the battle. Seeing that the fleet was defeated,
the rest of the Slavs and Bulgars and other people fighting under the Avar banner
started to withdraw from the siege. It is reported that some of the Slavs fled into the local hills
presumably settling somewhere within the Balkans, others went back home.
The Khagan still stayed encamped outside of the city but on the 10th day of the siege even he
withdrew seeing that it was now impossible to take Constantinople with his entire fleet defeated.
Byzantium won, they completely destroyed the prestigious base
rule of the khagan and the Avar khaganate would never fully recover from this defeat.
After the siege the Avars had to deal with a plethora of internal problems and rebellions,
in the west with Samo, in the East with Kubrat, in the south with many Slavic warlords,
with Lombard encroachment and with the Byzantine efforts of retaking the Balkans.
The Avars would eventually after about 150 years solidify their control in Pannonia ones more
but they would never reach the height or power they enjoyed before the siege of Constantinople.
So goes the story of the Medieval Slavic Navy,
the first medieval siege of Constantinople and the Avar decline of the 7th century.
Thank you for watching this video, the Avar period is actually kind of my expertise and
even though this video isn’t perfect hopefully you enjoyed it. There’s always corrections and
more information in the pinned comment. I also know lately I have not been uploading much but
due to certain reasons it is just impossible to upload more but it might change in the future,
who knows. Anyways, if you support me on Patreon much appreciated, and stick around, for history.