The fall of the Western Roman Empire brought chaos to its territories
but its eastern cousin carried the torch and attempted to restore the empire to its former glory.
This period saw the rise of a few famous military commanders,
aptly called the last Romans by historians, and among them was Flavius Belisarius.
This is a documentary on the first major war Belisarius took part in
called the Iberian war and the Battle of Dara.
As soon as the borders of the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire met
wars between the two great civilizations began,
and they continued through seven centuries with small intermissions
even though the Eastern Roman and Sassanid empires replaced the previous entities.
In 363, the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate suffered a heavy defeat
and the Romans had to sign a peace treaty that gave the Sassanids a number of regions and settlements.
Among them was Nisibis, the fortified city that controlled entry into Anatolia.
The fifth century was a relatively calm period in Roman-Sassanid affairs
and only two small conflicts occurred between them as both empires were fighting off barbarian invasions.
However, after more than 60 years of peace, a new war later called the Anastasian broke out in 502.
Shah Kavadh I captured an unprepared Theodosiopolis and then moved on to take Amida.
The Sassanid army continued its campaign in 503 with an attack on Edessa
and the Romans used that to besiege Amida.
These attempts failed and as the Huns invaded the Caucusus in 504 and were threatening both empires,
both sides were forced to enter a ceasefire.
The peace treaty was signed in 506 and while the Romans got Amida back
control of Theodosiopolis was ceded to the Sassanids.
The war made it clear that the Romans needed an alternative to Nisibis that was lost in 363
both as a forward operating base, and as a defensive stronghold on the border.
So the emperor Anastasius gave the order to found a new settlement called Dara,
a dozen kilometers away from Nisibis and the Sassanid frontier.
The latter claimed that this new fortress was breaching their past agreements
and that did not help the relationship between the two empires.
Tension was on the rise over the next few decades.
In one case, the Sassanid Shah attempted to convert traditionally Christian Iberia,
modern-day Georgia to Zoroastrianism.
King Gourgen pleaded for the Byzantines to help and even escaped to Lazica,
which was under Roman control.
Another point of contention was the Sassanid inheritance.
Kavadh wanted his youngest son Khosrow to be his heir,
but to achieve that he needed the Roman Emperor Justin I to stay neutral or even support Khosrow.
So he asked the Emperor to adopt Khosrow ceremonially.
Although Justin was open to the idea, his advisors talked him out of it.
This enraged Kavadh and he sent his forces into Iberia
in 526 to take possible Byzantine allies out of the game.
This was the beginning of the Iberian War.
The Romans moved their army commanded by Thracian-born Flavius Belisarius and Sittas into Armenia
but despite some early success, they were defeated and pushed back.
The rebellion in Iberia was crushed by the Sassanids.
On the southern front, the Byzantines attempted to take Nisibis but were defeated.
Meanwhile, Justin I passed away in 527 and his successor Justinian I attempted to start negotiations,
but they got nowhere.
Kavadh's forces were now invading Lazica and Justinian divided his forces in two.
Sittas was to command in Armenia, while Belisarius was appointed to be general of the Mesopotamian troops.
Justinian ordered a new fortress to be built in a place called Thannuris,
which was even closer to Nisibis and Belisarius was tasked with defending the construction.
In 528, the Persians sent a 30,000-strong army under Xerxes to stop the building process.
We have little information on the ensuing battle, but it seems that both sides suffered heavy losses.
A Byzantine ally, the king of the Ghassanids Jabalah IV, was killed
along with hundreds of the best Sassanid troops, the Shah's personal guard, the Immortals.
And although Belisarius lost the battle, the death of so many Immortals angered Kavadh and Xerxes was dismissed.
Seemingly, Sassanid losses were high enough to prevent them from moving inland.
In June of 530, a new Sassanid army led by the general Perozes crossed the borders
and camped 5 kilometers away from Dara.
This army had 40,000 troops and Belisarius, who was in the fortress, could only deploy 25,000.
The Roman general wasn't eager to be besieged
so he moved out of the city and ordered his troops to dig trenches a short distance away from the gates.
The trenches on the flanks were ahead of those in the center.
Belisarius hoped to slow down the Persian cavalry that outnumbered his.
He had the majority of his Roman cavalry on the flanks while his infantry and personal guard,
called Bucellarii, was in the center.
He also had 300 Herulian horsemen, who were placed on the extreme left flank in an ambush
and at least 1,200 Hunnic cavalry in front of the central trench.
The latter was a mobile reserve tasked with supporting the units under the most pressure.
The forces of Perozes were moving closer.
He positioned them in two lines with cavalry in front and infantry in the rear.
Some sources claim the whole core of the Immortals,
10,000 in total, was present and they occupied the center of the line.
The battle started with an attack by the Sassanid right flank against the Roman left.
Despite the fact that the Romans had to retreat,
the Sassanid commander was hesitant to chase them
as he saw the Hunnic cavalry in the center threatening to flank his troops.
The Roman left used that pause to regroup and push the Sassanids back.
The battle simmered down and the day ended with two single combats in which a Roman known as Andreas
defeated two of his opponents.
By the second day, 10,000 Sassanid reinforcements had arrived
giving the Persian forces a two-to-one numerical advantage against the Romans.
Perozes wrote a letter to Belisarius stating that he expected to be in Dara by the next day
and ordered him to draw a bath.
It was clear that the next day would be decisive.
The third day started with an arrow exchange, but despite the fact that the Persians had more skirmishers
they were shooting against the wind, which was decreasing the effectiveness of their volleys.
Belisarius used this time to send some of his Hunnic cavalry to the far left
to increase the number of ambushing troops
as he expected the primary Persian attack to be a repeat of the one that took place on the first day.
Indeed, Perozes ordered his whole army forward but it was his right flank leading the charge.
And once again, the Roman left was in retreat, either a genuine one or ordered by Belisarius.
In any case, Persian cavalry was moving deeper and that opened it to an attack from the flank and rear.
Ambushing Roman forces were able to surround at least half of the Persian right.
Perozes ordered the remainder back and regrouped his forces.
Still, he had the numbers and this time he ordered a full frontal attack.
But he also ordered his Immortals in the center to shift to the left by the end of the charge
while his infantry in the second line was ordered to keep the Roman infantry pinned.
Although the Persian attack succeeded in routing the Roman right,
Belisarius read that movement and started shifting his cavalry.
His center managed to keep the Persian infantry at bay
while he led his Bucellarii and Hunnic cavalry in a counter-attack against the enemy's left flank.
This counter-attack used a wedge formation and cut the forces of Perozes in half
and while part of the Persian left continued chasing the Roman right,
the remainder of the flank was surrounded and slaughtered.
The Persians who were in pursuit attempted to return and attack the Bucellarii
but Belisarius ordered part of his cavalry on the left to shift and intercept this unit.
Shortly after, the Roman right regrouped and managed to attack their former pursuers from the rear.
The Persian leader Baresmanas, who commanded these men
was killed and that caused a mass panic and retreat.
It is said that thousands of Persians were killed during the retreat,
but Belisarius eventually stopped his troops as he was afraid to end up in an ambush.
This was the first major Roman victory in the field against the Persians in over a century.
The war continued for a couple more years with each side suffering a few indecisive victories and losses
until Kavadh died and Khosrow ascended to the Persian throne.
Peace negotiations started in 532
and Justinian paid 11,000 pounds of gold to secure the so-called "eternal peace"
as the Persians held the superior negotiating position
and the Emperor wished to permanently free up his Eastern Front to allow his reconquest of the West.
After the results at Dara, Justinian knew that Belisarius was his man to reconquer the western provinces.
Thank you for watching our first documentary on the Restoration of Justinian and the battles of Belisarius.
This series will continue if this video gets enough attention.
We would like to express our gratitude to our Patreon supporters who make the creation of these videos possible.
The video was narrated by me officially Devin. Don't forget to stop by my channel for some narrative Let's Plays.
This is the Kings and Generals Channel, and we will catch you on the next one.