February 640
Following its defeat at the Battle of Bologna, the Byzantine Army of Ravenna masses outside of Ravenna. As the Frankish army approached, its ranks swelled with nearly 3,000 Chalcedonian volunteers from the local towns and cities. Its morale had also never been higher as the soldiers prepared to liberate Italy for their Pope. The Frankish army engages the Byzantines at Ravenna. The battle began with a Frankish heavy cavalry charge into the Byzantine left flank. The Frankish cavalry was soon reinforced with infantry and the Byzantines fell back. The Franks then began a full-scale push along the entire front, the Byzantine right flank held fast in a wooded area and sent the Franks back after an hour of fighting. The Byzantine center was slowly forced back over hours of fighting. The Byzantine left flank continued to be pushed back as the battle raged on. As the first day of the battle ended the Franks had pushed the Byzantine line northward, effectively cutting them off from communications with Basileus Heraclius in Rome. The second day of battle started with a full push from the south by the Franks. The Byzantines were eventually pushed even further north and lost their wooded defensive area. The third day was essentially a continuation of the second as the numerically superior Franks pushed the Byzantine lines backward for hours until the Byzantine center broke late in the evening. After the lines broke the Byzantine army was routed and retreated northeastward toward the coast where a naval detachment rescued what remained of the army and sailed for Dalmatia. The decisiveness of the battle resulted in total Byzantine abandonment of the area and the effective destruction of the entire Byzantine Army of Ravenna, with only 5,000 men fleeing to Dalmatia with the navy. The victory for the Franks further increased their morale and drew over 5,000 volunteers from the local Lombard population, who had been abused and their property stolen by the Byzantine occupiers.
The Duchy of Carantania becomes a Frankish Tributary after seeking their protection against the Avars.
Chalcedonian Greek merchants “purchase” the city of Cartagena from the Visigothic crown. In reality, they had threatened the local warlord to invade with a mercenary army. The warlord was compensated with a large amount of money, and the Greeks established a new government and soon sought the protection of the Byzantine Pretender, Gregory Heraclian.
The Kangar-Tang invasion of Central Asia finishes as the two nations consolidate and divide the conquered territories. The Tang gained the remainder of the basin and the Kangar gained a wide strip of land to this new Tang territory that held many major routes of the Silk Road.
King Petroc Baladrddellt of Dumnonia invades the Petty Kingdom of Wessex. Petroc brought an army of 5,000 men to fight King Cynegils’ army of 3,000 men. Cynegils’ men had been campaigning for three months against Christians as waning Papal influence allowed for a resurgence of Germanic Paganism among the Saxons. The two armies would meet in Dorchester, the former residence of the local bishop. The battle only lasted one day, as Petroc’s army quickly overpowered the tired Saxons and killed the King. Petroc thus annexed western Wessex and deported the Saxons living there.
March 640
When Basileus Heraclius heard of the Army of Ravenna’s crushing defeat, he became so enraged that he ordered the immediate blinding and execution of the Strategos responsible for its loss. When his rage subsided, he and his generals began to discuss plans for engaging the now monstrous Frankish army. Some of the generals wished to engage them in the plains of Latium and defeat them in a large scale head on battle, others wished to engage them in smaller battles in the hills of Tuscany and others wished to set up defenses in the Apennine Mountains. Each course of action had several advantages and disadvantages. If the army stayed in Latium, they would be able to fully secure the region and easily select the field of battle. On the other hand, staying in Latium might suggest that something was wrong to the soldiers and damage their morale, which was still quite high after taking Rome. If the army marched into Tuscany, they would face an unpacified hostile population but would be able to deny the Franks full effectiveness of their heavy cavalry which had played a great role in destroying the Army of Ravenna. If the army marched into the Apennine Mountains they would be able to take full advantage of the terrain and set traps for the Franks. However, it was unknown if the Franks would even enter the Apennines, which could result in unnecessary attrition and the loss of any tactical advantage. Eventually, Heraclius decided to march into Tuscany to meet the Franks.
The Franks, meanwhile, regrouped and began marching into Tuscany in smaller groups as ordered by Pepin of Landen.
Gregory Heraclian enters Carthage with the remainder of his army and calls a diet of the local nobility loyal to him. When the session convened, he declared them to be a new Senate with himself still being Emperor. As the Senate’s first action, they began drafting a peace treaty with Heraclius and the Byzantine Empire. It was the intention of the Pretenders to become recognized as an independent state by the Byzantines, and with both sides unable to raise troops or hire them due to the large number of wars that had been fought in the recent decades it seemed possible for them to come to a temporary agreement. Gregory had his reasons for creating an official Senate as well, with his defeat in Egypt he had lost legitimacy and he believed that he would placate his supporters if he gave them additional powers.
Shahanshah Ardashir celebrates his twelfth birthday. For the occasion he hosts a large gathering of nobles and is showered with gifts. More importantly, however, it was an opportunity for the nobles to show their power to each other and make deals as to how the new government would run. In a seemingly unimportant incident, Ammon Aristoboulos, Ardashir’s tutor, was insulted by a powerful noble from Tabarestan. The noble believed that it was improper for a foreigner to be bringing up the figurehead of the Empire and was to drunk to keep this thought to himself. This would later turn out to be a pivotal moment in Ardashir’s childhood development.
April 640
As the 25,000 strong Byzantine Army began their campaign in Tuscany, they faced fierce resistance from the locals at least what could be considered fierce for untrained peasants. It was decided by the generals that they would pillage any uncooperative locals to both send a message to the locals to end their resistance and take supplies for their army as their supply lines were becoming thin as the war dragged on. This had the unforeseen effect of alerting the Franks as to where they were, and the Franks made great use of this in creating a trap for the Byzantines. The Franks devised a plan to make their trap near a narrow pass in the road the Byzantine army was marching down, when the first Byzantines left the narrowest part, the Franks would attack and drive them back into it while archers would attack from a forested area above the pass and simultaneously attacking the rear of the Byzantine army. This plan was put in motion on April 16th. As the Byzantine Army neared the pass, however, a Byzantine scout managed to notice a contingent of Frankish archers and relayed the information of a possible trap. Given this information, Heraclius decides to feign falling into the trap. He orders his men to advance through the pass, but also sends a large contingent on either side of the pass and around the wooded area. This resulted in catching the Franks off guard when they launched their trap. As the Franks charged what they thought would be unprepared troops, the Byzantines surrounded and cut off many Frankish soldiers. By the end of the first day of what would be called as the Battle of the Broken Pass the Franks had lost several thousand men along with their initiative and terrain advantage as the Byzantines captured several nearby hilltops. As the second day dawned, the Byzantines launched several attacks at vulnerable spots in the Frankish lines, taking several more strategic locations on the battlefield and driving the Franks back. This was halted late in the afternoon as a Byzantine commander fell to a Frankish arrow, effectively putting the Byzantines into a sudden route back toward their starting lines. The Franks then continued this success, pushing back the Byzantine center and left flanks. The Franks would continue their success on the third day, taking back the pass and the high ground nearby along with pushing the entirety of the Byzantine lines back a considerable distance. Fearing defeat, Heraclius took direct command of the Byzantine center and began a cavalry charge on the morning of the fifth day of battle. The cavalry had difficulty fighting in the rough terrain but managed to shock the Franks who weren’t prepared to fight cavalry and send them into a full scale route. The rest of the day consisted of skirmish fighting and the Byzantines pursuing the retreating Franks. Through the five day battle, the Franks lost over half their army, with 6,000 killed, 2,000 wounded, 1,000 captured, and a further 5,000 deserting. The Byzantines had similar casualties, 5,000 deaths and 3,000 wounded.
Caliph ‘Umar ibn Al-Khaṭṭāb orders the construction of a new embassy and trade port in China located on a small island off the coast of Canton, named by the Arabs Hantama after the Caliph’s mother.
The front after the Battle of the Broken Pass:
so I'll write a big section tomorrow.
