The truce signed by Khosrau and Justinian in 532 CE had no expiration date.
This peace was meant to last forever.
But after that nonsense the Romans had pulled with the "barbarian adoption" proposal,
Khosrau knew better than to trust them.
Justinian had been meddling in his affairs, and Khosrau had proof.
His loyal Arabic ally to the South had sent Khosrau a copy of a letter he'd received from Justinian,
promising him gold, if he would switch to Justinian's side.
Then, a group of Turks had arrived in Khosrau's court, with another letter that they claimed Justinian had sent,
telling them that Rome would be grateful if they invaded Iran and created some havoc.
Khosrau had sent copies of his letters back to Justinian,
and warned him that if this behavior continued, their treaty was over.
But, Justinian denied everything.
Justinian: "Hey K Man, these letters aren't real, chill out."
Yet, the hits kept on coming.
Envoys from the Visigoths stumbled into Khosrau's court, begging for help against Romans who had been beating them up in Italy.
They said,
They said, "Do you REALLY think that a man as greedy and ambitious as Justinian WON'T try to conquer your country as soon as he is done conquering ours?"
They urged Khosrau to strike, right now, while the Romans were still tied down in the West.
News of Justinian's abuses also trickled in from Lesser Armenia,
where the Romans had begun demanding taxes so high, that the Armenians had rose in revolt.
The first Roman general sent to quell them tried to turn them against each other,
The first Roman general sent to quell them tried to turn them against each other, only to screw it up and get killed in the first major battle.
The second Roman general lured the Armenians into a parlay, before treacherously killing their ambassador.
The Armenians fled to Khosrau's court, and begged him to help.
Peace treaty or not, this had gotten out of hand.
Khosrau had asked a Zoroastrian fire temple to check the auspices for him, see if God would support him making war on the Romans.
The fire temple said...
The fire temple said... "Y U P"
(Which, is no surprise. Historically, God generally tends to agree with kings, at least, when they ask their priests nicely.)
And that was good, because with this, Khosrau could assure his court that he wasn't breaking a treaty,
no-no, he was leading a Holy War.
See, throughout this entire period of peace, Khosrau had been getting ready for this.
After that adoption insult, & the wrench that Justinian threw into his succession, are you kidding me?
Khosrau was primed for revenge.
But he wasn't just going to beat Justinian, oh-no-no-no.
He was going to HUMILIATE Justinian,
He was going to HUMILIATE Justinian, and have himself a good old time doing it.
Khosrau swept into Roman territory at the head of a giant army,
signalling that the "Eternal Peace"...had officially expired.
(Eternity, as it turns out, is really just about 8 years long.)
But he had to move quickly, because Justinian's army would not be stuck in Italy forever.
And fighting an army is way less fun than sacking an undefended countryside.
So rather than taking the time to lay siege to every single town he came across, Khosrau gave them a simple choice;
Khosrau: "Just surrender and pay me a simple bribe, or, I WILL KILL EVERY. SINGLE. ONE OF YOU."
One town chose to resist, after that, the other towns did not.
Khosrau took that city bribe money and then used it to bribe Justinian's army.
The soldiers appointed to the East had been complaining for years how underpaid they were,
and now, here was the Shah of Iran offering them money & glory by the handful.
Roman deserters poured into Khosrau's army.
This lightning campaign through Eastern Rome had one goal in sight;
Antioch, the wealthiest and largest of Justinian's cities in the East.
Ever since an earthquake struck just a few years prior, Justinian had poured vast amounts of gold into rebuilding and restoring its former glory.
So, naturally, when Khosrau swept into the city, and they refused to pay his bribe,
he knocked down every. Single. Building. (Except for the church.)
Enslaved the inhabitants, and went on his way.
Justinian was reeling, and now the quick capture of Antioch had him on the ropes.
The western troops he'd been counting on had been delayed by a stubborn general pursuing personal glory over in Rome.
With no army coming to his aid, and cities falling left to right, Justinian did the only thing he could.
He sent envoys to beg for peace.
The envoys told Khosrau that, "breaking their treaty was kind of a jerk move".
Roman Envoy: "What had Rome ever done to deserve such treachery?"
Khosrau showed them the letters Justinian had sent to his allies, trying to turn them against them.
And the envoys were like, "Oh, right. Yeah, that makes sense. " <(．＿．)>
"Umm, look, how about we give you a whole bunch of money, plus a nice big yearly tribute,"
"if you will just knock it off, and go away."
Khosrau agreed, and sent them running back to Justinian.
Now, the Romans believed this new treaty began the moment Khosrau said 'yes',
but it turns out, no. As far as Khosrau was concerned, the treaty wasn't official,
until the Romans paid up.
And until that happened, he was going to turn his campaign up to 11.
Now, instead of capturing Roman cities, Khosrau began turning them into his own private resorts.
He marched all the way to the Mediterranean Sea,
just so he could swim in its waters, like the great Shahs of Iran's ancient past,
Sending Justinian a reminder of just how far Khosrau had come, and how little Justinian could do to stop him.
Then, Khosrau took over a town, and paid them to stage a special day of chariot races, just for him.
And he happened to know that Justinian was a mega-fan of the blue racing faction,
so Khosrau fixed the races to make sure that the blues suffered an embarassing loss to the rival greens.
He went on like this from town to town demanding tribute from everybody, and making Justinian look like a fool.
He even took another swing at trying to capture Dara,
that old sore spot between Iran and Rome.
Although, once again, Dara survived the attack.
Then, finally, Justinian's stubborn general returned from the West with his main army.
And Justinian was like, "OKAY, screw your treaty, we are doing this!"
Now, Khosrau still had all of the people he'd enslaved back at Antioch,
and had kinda been counting on this treaty as an opportunity to sell them back to Justinian.
But...now he was stuck with them.
After giving it some thought, he decided that he would take them back to Iran, and build them a new town.
Resettling captives from defeated cities was an old Iranian tradition.
It was a great way to add a bunch of talented craftsmen to your population.
Many Shahs before Khosrau had done exactly that.
But our Khosrau, he liked to go above and beyond.
He named his new city:
Translating to:
He recreated that city down to the smallest detail.
From the layout of the streets, to the number of rooms in each house.
Even the building materials were the same.
Then, Khosrau freed the captive Antiochians, and sent them to live in their new city.
They were astounded.
Khosrau asked one random citizen if he was happy to see his new house again.
And the man replied;
Citizen: "Oh, yes! This looks exactly like it.
Although, I do miss that mulberry tree that used to be in my front yard..."
The next morning, the man woke up to find a mulberry tree in his front yard.
Khosrau's message to Justinian was clear.
Khosrau: "Your soldiers choose ME."
Khosrau: "Your TOWNS choose me."
Khosrau: "And, your PEOPLE choose me."
Khosrau: "Get REKT, son!"
Justinian now had his army back, but Khosrau still had him outnumbered.
For a while, the Romans attempted small raiding expeditions,
staying very, very far away from any direct confrontation.
That wouldn't do.
Khosrau gathered his army and marched on Jerusalem,
prepared to take the battle directly to Justinian's face.
But while he was still marching to Antioch, a dark shadow crept into his army.
Khosrau's men began to burst out in boils, their skin decayed, they began to vomit blood.
A plague from the land of Egypt had stretched out its hand, and brushed both armies with decrepit fingers.
The Romans shrank back into their cities.
Khosrau and his army retreated North, looking for sanctuary, but, the disease had already swept through his ranks,
and worse, it had even closed its grip around Khosrau himself...