Heirs of Heraclius, a no Islam timeline

[Tomislav Addai]

Wait are you really dividing Egypt by the Nile as a boundary? really I can see a branch of the Nile forming part of the border in Lower Egypt, but the Nile should not form a border in Upper Egypt. Also in case of weakness, perhaps Nobatia could push northwards to incorporate southern parts of Egypt

 

[Silver01]

In 741 the 35-year-old Tiberius abdicated and gives Throne to Leo’s son, Constantine as Tiberius had become somewhat unpopular for trying to revive the old compromise of heraclius seeking to unite the churches but achieved little, as Constantine V undid this , Unlike his father Constantine had married a daughter of Justinian II, due to his father’s victories, his marriage, and the proclamation of Tiberius a massive civil war was avoided, still, some disliked him and there were rebellions in Trebizond and Cilicia, The rebellions where crushed in a few months, Constantine began with many reforms.

the 3 Caucasian princes as they had their armies and they have acted as the defenders against the Khazars however the princes sometimes took time to rally when it was a bigger invasion, By 744 Constantine gave birth to her first daughter, who she named Irene, This quelled future rebels as not only had he married a Heraclian but also was the father of one, in this same year he heard incredible news, ever since the siege of Alexandria, the relationship of the two Berber brothers deteriorated since 743 both sides were at war, and the emperor of the Berbers moved his army against Hispania.

Constantine could not Let this Golden opportunity go by, he moved a 35 000 strong army against Egypt, had sent 10 000 troops against Constantine, making it some 20 000 troops, both armies met near Babylon fortress, like Justinian, he told his cavalry to move in a deep flanking maneuver, this made the Berbers charge and they pushed back, but soon it was the Byzantines who pushed the Berbers back, so much so that they pushed them towards their camp.

After being pushed out of the fortified camp, Here they resisted many attacks led by Constantine, However, the roman cavalry came and attacked them from the left flank, the carnage began in some sectors but half of the Berber army escaped, The survivors of the battle fled towards their forts, after the battle, Constantine with his golden armor all dirty from sand, his face filled, with blood and sweat and with the sword of Heraclius dripping in Berber blood, moved to higher ground as the people saw him, He Raised the sword of Heraclius, he let out a battle cry.

As the men, also raised their weapons, and cheered his name of Heraclius, by 746 after some sieges the Berbers were kicked out of Egypt, alongside the dead 8000 Monophysites that rebelled were killed by Constantine V's army all heretics to symbolize the price of rebellion the ring leaders were hanged But Constantine could not continue the reconquest as news reached that the Khazars were moving to attack, He ignored it assuming the themes could take care of it, but then for ignoring the danger some revolted Constantine had no option but to return he left many people to take care of Egypt and be sure that the heretics didn’t try anything.

 

[Silver01]

Wait are you really dividing Egypt by the Nile as a boundary? really I can see a branch of the Nile forming part of the border in Lower Egypt, but the Nile should not form a border in Upper Egypt. Also in case of weakness, perhaps Nobatia could push northwards to incorporate southern parts of Egypt

well not really

 

[Silver01]

743

Both of their fleets met in the Mediterranean, here the Berber imperial fleet won against the Hispanic fleet, mid-744 The Berber emperor landed and began attacking the cities of Hispania, having minor victories and loses until winter arrived, by early 745 Tariq returned from border skirmishes with the franks, even though he swore loyalty the emperor, he does to the bond he had with Askel, made him chose him over his brother.

He moved and both armies met near Toledo, the battle began close to Dawn, king askel was still carrying the coin of Heraclius as medallion the sources saying he saw it and he said another great victory? soon after the first with an attack from the emperor troops. Tariq divided his army into 3 divisions, the first was led by king askel, the second division was led by himself, and the third division was by another general.

King askel with his division in the centered received the brunt of his brother charge and the rest of the army engaged, Hours passed men fell, but still the battle raged on, close to the afternoon, Tariq’s reserve joined the battle the imperial forces tried to make a second front but it was too late his troops panicked and began to lose their formation, then King askel sent his reserve of 2000 heavy cavalry to finish the battle, the cavalry cut down the fleeing soldiers

However, the retreat was not as one-sided as chaos spread an arrow landed on Tariq and he fell from his horses he narrowly avoided getting trampled, king Askel also didn't come unscathed from the battle as one of his legs suffered a blow, the king became a lame man He had to limp and walk with a cane for the rest of his life

But the imperial Berbers not only lost the battle but in the retreat emperor Gwfa died, the civil war was now over their empire had also lost many lives in such a short time, the siege Constantine V campaigns in Egypt and the lives of thousands here in Hispania, The empire of the Berbers was weakened but not gone.

 

[Silver01]

Late 746
In the winter of this year, as Constantine was in Egypt, 30,000 Khazars invaded Armenia and Iberia inflicting a crushing defeat on the theme of Armenia, killing its Strategos and nearly killing prince Ashot the Khazars separated and moved against the different themes, the theme of Pontus sent letters to the emperor, but he ignored it, thus leading to a revolt, the Khazar took this opportunity to raid the different vassals, but the king of Caucasian Albania managed to fend off the Khazars and went to join help the Armenians, Due to this the emperor left Egypt.

Early 747

Constantine had crushed the rebellion of the strategos of Pontus also Chaldea and made the prince swear loyalty to him he then planned to move against the Khazars, but he didn’t wish to attack in winter, he waited for them, the Khazars used this time to raid the northern provinces. And went deep into Armenia

Constantine moved but it was too late, seeing this Constantine now called for all armies of the themes of the region, and an Anatolian army, also the survivors of the Armenian army, who wanted revenge by spring Constantine with the 3 princes, Caucasian Albanian king prince Vardan II, the Armenian prince Ashot and the prince of Iberia Stephen III, moved, Constantine with them had 50 000 troops, the Khazars retreated to the north as Constantine chased them, cold, what every soldier, no matter if he was a strategos or lowly soldier everyone felt the cold, especially the ones from southern Anatolia.

The only one that did not seem to suffer from the cold, was the emperor, his sheer determination made him ignore the cold., After 10 day's chase, the armies met two days march from Tbilisis, With 6 000 men, the Khazar general set up an ambush while the khagans son, went forward with the rest of the army, The Khazar tactic was to attack with its main body and then feign a retreat, after which a second Khazar army would descend to encircle and destroy the enemy.

Yet Constantine knew this tactic all too well , as the the Avars used it , Great Heraclius used it , Constans the conqueror used it , and Constantine the pious used it , the emperor , made this troops hold the line, this worked as the Khazars returned , worried, Scouts came to say a Khazar formation in the mountains , Constantine understood , he told the Prince Ashot and his force told them to leave , as made it look like a desertion , even sending a "cavalry charge " against the Armenians ,Constantine then charged the Khazars and these retreated, it seemed the Khazar plan was going well , soon the 8000 came down and attacked Constantine , his troops began to panic , but he assured them that today they would have victory , and the ones who fought with him in Egypt believed him, while the princes also helped the especially prince Vardan II, whom later sources say that he held the line and his soldiers killed many and their performance was following the example of the fierceness of the prince.

After some hard fighting prince Ashot came down, and his cavalry charged killing many Khazars, now the Khazars began to panic, the deceivers had been deceived, the battle turned into a massacre, out of the 20 000, 9 000 troops managed to escape to the north, as many were killed or captured, however.

Mid 747

Constantine had no intention to stop, he wanted to cross the mountains, once he crossed, another Khazar army met him at the Caucasian gates, Constantine decided to charge, but was repeal, the Khazars decided to wait, as they knew Constantine has low on supplies and soon would have to retreat. But Constantine had other plans, Constantine, spread a rumor that the byzantine navy was in the black sea to transport, these rumors reached the Khazar army, and a part of it moved or deserted, do to this Constantine attacked and defeated the Khazars, finally kicking the khazars out of his territory, he now planned his retribution against their lands.

 

[Silver01]

747
Sources do not mention the emperor's activity, but most likely he was preparing for his offensive, as the Khazars, reentered his territory and there were back and forth raids and counter raids, between the roman and Khazar army, as Constantine had the largest portion of the thematic army, The rest of thematic armies where not allowed to engage, but to shadow their movements, attack their supply chain, and harass the khazar army, this worked and limited the khazar ability to push deep in to roman territory, still they did raid the northern cities.

Spring 748

Constantine was ready; he crossed the border and attacked some khazars towns but he moved towards, the khazar capital of Balanjar, The inhabitants of the city and the small khazar army decided to stay and defend the city , the city was not perpetrated, so the small khazar army made, a fortified camp outside the city , to give the city time, the emperor saw this and began to think how would they attacked, such a fortified position, Constantine sent a significant part of his infantry, as they marched towards the khazar position, meeting a shower of arrows.

To their surprise the imperial troops could not break the nomad stronghold , as sun began to set, the byzantine advance began to die with the sun, as casualties mounted up, the khazar horse archers moved out and began to circle the troops as they attacked, the emperor sent cavalry to help, but the archers moved out, Still, they returned 3 times. This caused a retreat of the roman attackers.

Day 2
Since the retreat, Constantine ordered a full encirclement of the camp, and the emperor sent his men to attack, the emperor charged, as well, but when he attacked, the emperor got an arrow in the arm, His troops continued the attack, while he was treated and still, the results where the same as the previous day, the emperor got treated of his wounds and began to think how to win this battle. He didn’t sleep that much that day


Day 3.

The emperor put himself in front of his troops, raised the Sword of Heraclius and said that today they would be victorious, the emperor himself would lead the attack, and charged against the khazars , this time the results were better , as the morale boosted the men , seeing their emperor fight side by side with them , after some hours , the romans pushed towards the camp and got in ,soon the khazars fled , and Many were killed, in the route that followed.

Despite 5000 looses, Constantine himself, had the city undefended , as the citezens people of the city saw this they knew that they were alone, still they held out, the emperor continued to launch assaults and then after 3 weeks of siege, the citadel fell, the inhabitants of the city where slaughtered. The capital was sacked and the victorious byzantine army got much booty and the soldiers received large sums of money ,the chroniclers said each of the 42 000 had recollected half a kilo of treasure.

But Its Dubious if this where true , but the loot that was extracted was massive, Constantine sent the wagons with 8000 soldiers, move towards the black sea where the navy waited and moved the riches towards the capital. Despite their success the war was not over, Constantine knew he had not yet defeated the main Khazar army, which like all nomad forces was not dependent on cities for supplies.

 

[Silver01]

Early 749

The Khazars took advantage of winter, and for the first time, the armies were led by the khagan, and he set out to raid the territories of the Romans, as he moved, The khan, knew the byzantine theme army was harassing him, so he planted a trap, he divided his forces of 33 000 into 3 armies, luring the new strategos of Chaldia and armies of Lazica to fight 11 000, Both armies met and here the Khazars charged and later retreated.

The Byzantines followed, and felled for the trap, the Khazar army soon stopped at the designated point, and charged again while the other khazars horse archers began to rain arrows as the khazars charged, by the end, they Killed about ¾ of the 12 000, after the winter, Constantine now moved against the khan, the 3 Khazar armies began avoiding Constantine’s army.

Constantine threatened the Khazar communications from the Khazar khaganate and the Iberian front, this forced the Khazar forces in Iberia to retreat from the front lines, and face the emperor in the mountains, What followed was a spectacular Move, Constantine, divided his army of 50 000, into 5, to fool the other 2 Khazar armies to not come to the aid of the third and then Constantine 12 000, and spread the word of the size of his small army to lure the Khazar armies to attack, this worked.

But the emperor was not going to become overconfident and sent many scouts to report about the movement of his enemy’s army. Constantine scout discovered a hidden khazar force in ambush and responding to this ambush Constantine used the trick of the feigning retreat during the battle, the khazars left their cover in the mountains to chase the Byzantines, whereupon another 12 000 waited, once the trap was set, the second roman army led by the prince of Iberia, chased the khazars, causing them to flee, in the fighting the Khazar broke the encirclement and fled, still more than half them were killed or capture, but the byzantine casualties were not light as 6000 died.

Late 749

After his victory, both Romans and barbarians avoided each other, with minor engagements. then the other 2 Khazar armies and the survivors of the third army united, by winter. Both armies lead by Emperor Constantine, and Khazar khagan, met near Nelkari, After a series of maneuvers, the Byzantine army, caught up with the khagan army, which was heading towards the north, little was known about the battle only that the khanga and The emperor countered each other’s strategies the Romans used many tactics, after hours of fighting, The battle ended in a nominal victory for the Byzantines, the Byzantines lost 15 000 men among them the strategos of Chaldea and the Khazars some 9 000, the khagan withdrew in good order later sources state that there was a discussion and while the Byzantines took the field the Khazars suffered more casualties.

Mid 750 AD

The Khazars continued to March and raid many cities, the main Khazar army moved to the south, while the smaller raided the east, by spring Constantine moved against them having wintered in Bagavan while some khazars reached as far as Dvin, and then the emperor began to chase the Khazar while retreated still the emperor caught up with the Khazar khagan near Yerazgavors, the Khazars charged and retreated, yet the emperor told his army not to move,seeing how they didn’t fell for the trick and they repeated, the khagan ordered the horse archers to the sides, and the heavy cavalry in the center, this worked and the roman army retreated, and soon stalemate came.

During the battle the khagan saw the emperor and he saw him as well, the Khazar khagan readjusted his flag lance, as Constantine prepared the sword of Heraclius, Constantine avoided moved to avoid the lance and he struck the face of the Khazar khagan, but due to the angle of attack and the force behind it, the cut was not deadly, and both men lost balance. Due to this, both men fell from their horses, both men were now on foot, and the khagan was bleeding heavily from the left cheek to his right eyebrow, the fight was hard for both men, the lance gave the khan the reach advantage, but the blood was getting into his eye.

While he fought his other commanders especially the 3 princes began to fight with such ferocity that later sources said that they were like a wall, during these openings Constantine tried to end the duel, but as time went on the Khazar khagan was losing his strength and having slower reactions, at the end the Constantine slew him, Constantine also captured the Khazar khagan flag, as the Khazar forces saw that the emperor had the khans flag, they began to route, moments later, the Khazar reinforcements arrived but saw how the army was already in a massive rout they also fled. As the Romans began to chase them, in the end, 14000 Khazars were killed, after this, the Khazar armies fled north, abandoning the attacks and raids on the empire, not everyone could celebrate as the brave prince Vardan II in the Khazar retreat was killed when he was struck by an arrow and thrown off his horse.

751 AD

The treaty of Tbilisi was signed, even though Constantine gained no new territory, the Khazar khaganate was weakened, and the war gave many new riches to the empire. And for 10 years the Khazar had to pay a yearly tribute, the victory also inspired a mosaic in the church of Yerazgavors with the 3 princes standing as Constantine rose the sword of Heraclius against the Khazar khagan, there was also a mosaic in Patrav about the fallen prince the battles also inspired many illustrations in later books.

 

[Silver01]

Ever since the late 720s, the hard times of the Tang empire passed, as Farrukhan the great died, the tang now pushed back the western Turks and reconquered lost areas. Dadhburzmihr took the throne after the death of his father he was not the best he took the throne when he was 19 and for the first years, he seemed disinterested the tang invasions made it so that some Turkic tribes and cities beyond the Oxus he at first ignored them but as the tang kept pushing he went to deal with the armies himself the crossed the Oxus river and met the tang force in Bukhara with 15 000 troops and 4000 Turgesh against 12000 Tang forces in 732 when he was heavily defeated, while the ruler of the Karens Vandad Safan destroyed the Turkic forces that crossed the Oxus.

Once Dadhburzmihr returned his brother who had ruled in his absence one history would remember as Dabuya the little he disliked the nobility so he began to take power away from the wuzurgan once the sha returned exiled his brother to Pars, still, it made him more unpopular he sent Vandad Safan to take care of the tang and he defeated the tang in the Samarkand-Bukhara road near the Sughd River in 735 and once he returned he had massive popularity after some months, the sha had him killed and caused a revolt from house Karen which was crushed in a year, however, the distraction was not waisted by the tang conquest of Transoxiana was complete, the 2 great empires shared a border, a conflict now became inevitable.

around the same time the sha died in a hunt most likely an assassination attempt and with him, all intention to attack the roman empire, as some historians believed that we have ignorant of the east was that he was planning an invasion on the Romans, but now with the tang so close now declaring both war upon the Romans, would make the tang invade, the Persian doubt if they could win a war with the Chinese, but a 2 front war between the Romans and the tang was suicide. There was also a short power struggle until Dabuya the little became regent as Leo defeated the Berbers, after the devastation of the Berber army against Alexandria, and Constantine's successful campaigns, the fear of the Byzantines armies returned,Dabuya the little continued his conflict with the nobility and barely ruled for 6 years.

the tang raids peaked in this period until Khurshid became sha at the age of 16 with help from his court in diplomatic matters he avoided war with the tang, but was just buying time, as he prepared the army to fight the Chinese, he spent the next 10 years preparing the army and the empire, for a war with the tang, the new sha Khurshid gave his respects to Constantine upon his accession, he might be a little hot heated, and sometimes didn't think before he acted, but he was no fool and knew that he could not risk war with the Romans.

both men met in Byzantine theme of Armenia, where both sides traded gifts, here they found the extent of Constantine's victories against the Khazars, seeing the riches he brought, with peace now secured The sha moved his armies to the east, the sha himself marched at the head of a 20 000 army him with one of his best generals, as he didn't take all of the eastern armies, fearing that if he failed it wouldn't be a repeat of Dabuyas massive blunder, that resulted in the empire nearly fracturing and the loss of Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, the Chinese had 10 000, and 5 000 Qarluq Turks, the size of the army was small, as this was not the main force, they were in the east, as the Tibetan empire had attacked, still, this small contingent moved to the south, in April 751 both armies met near the River Oxus.

the battle began with, an archer exchange, as the wind favored the Persians, this managed to cause mass casualties on the enemy archers, soon the tang infantry attacked as they received volleys of arrows, as they got closer, the archers retreated behind the Persian infantry and it began to rain arrows again, the Turks were not able to use their horse archers as when they tried the foot archers would respond, they also failed to outflank the Persian forces, as when they tried the Persian general ordered, the Persian cavalry to attack, the battle continued but as casualties mounted up, seeing the futility of the fight, the Chinese general retreated.

the Persians suffered 5000 losses, and the tang suffered 6000, it was not a total victory but the sha, now he set his eyes on Transoxiana, but when he moved against it he encountered the main tang force and fleed back to his territory, still, he had gained knowledge about the tang strategies and planed his future attacks and he made sure to proclaim

that He sha Khurshid defeated the mighty Chinese and stoped tang Conquest of the Dabuyid empire.

the sha knew that if he played his cards right he could be the ruler of a large part of Asia, so with that his victory he was competent to share power

 

[Basileus_Komnenos]

So does Tang Dynasty China now have more of a Westward border/presence here? How has the Eastern/Western trade dynamic changed with the Romans now having sea access to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean?

 

[Silver01]

So does Tang Dynasty China now have more of a Westward border/presence here? How has the Eastern/Western trade dynamic changed with the Romans now having sea access to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean?

it has , in fact its one of the reasons why the tang has recovered from the 700 to 720 second Turkic khaganate and losing territory in the west , was do to Constans belt ( for now the name of the Indian Ocean trade route named after Emperor Constans II as he revived it a lot) has cut their losses , so the tang recovery of the OTL from 730s to 750s is accelerated here

but the trade of the land is still valuable, the tang push west as they want more control over it .

 

[Silver01]

Map of 751 AD

 

[Silver01]

well checking the next 3 chapters , to make no mistake

Spoiler: Bulgaria

for the bulgarian fans , you are going to like or hate these next chapters

 

[Basileus_Komnenos]

That Han Empire border-gore makes me feel sick to my stomach. Just look at how over-stretched from Mainland China that it. I feel like they'll need to start expanding more into Tibet to have cleaner borders. Such a narrow strip of land is hardly secure.

How goes things for the Romans? I feel like they should now prioritize the reconquest of Cyreneica and Carthage the breadbasket of the West. I can imagine that Italy is facing a food shortage with it being forced to rely on reduced grain shipments from Sicily instead. Constantinople likely feels it got a punch in the gut as well with Egypt now becoming a battleground for the first time in 600 years. Maybe Constantine can try to ally with the Franks to take out the Berbers. This would force them to divert troops from their far flung possessions into Hispania. Constantine can then pull a Belisarius and then stage a three front invasion. With the Franks pinning them in the Pyrrenees, the Romans can then push into Hispania with raiding parties taking the coasts as bases for their navy. With Sicily and Egypt as their staging point, they can now invade North Africa itself retaking Roman Africa. Though this means that the Empire needs to withdraw its other Eastern troops. If Constantine can play the Avars and Bulgars against each other, he could profit and use this borrowed time to retake the Western lands. I can imagine that Persia will be too busy focusing on the Chinese threat in the East to focus on the Romans at this point.

 

[Silver01]

751-753

Constantine had returned from his victorious campaign, due to his victories, Constantine began to make some reforms, Constantine's victories inspired fierce loyalty among the troops, and this allowed the emperor to create elite corps of mostly cavalry called tagmata, serving as a loyal force of the central men recruited from Anatolia mainly Galatia and Isauria Thrace and these would replace the Bucellarii, as the emperor pushed his reforms news reached him from the north, the last ruler of the dulos clan, khan Sevar died, plunging the burglars into civil war, this opportune for the Slavs and their old enemies the Avars to attack the Bulgars.

The khaganate had become by now defacto Slavic, after its alliance with other Slavs against Constans, failed and the arrival of the Bulgars resulted in the complete decline of the avar khaganate from a great power to a minor one not a lot of sources survive on what happened in the late 7th century and early 8th as the crisis in roman empire led to destruction and lack of records with the details of what exactly happened, we do know that Bulgars before the help of Justinian and after fighting with him with the border of the Bulgars and Avars been the Carpathian mountains, sending attacks from their capital, founded by Asparuk on Lake Snagov some 100 kilometers from the byzantine border and the good the distance from the mountains and most importantly far away from the Khazars, the same capital which Tervel fortified

Also, we do know that in 718, in the avar khaganate Bayan IV took power and pushed reforms making them more sedentary and relying more on forts and infantry for defense and using their light cavalry to raid, he also continued to raid more the Frankish territories and rather than the Romans or their vassals like the Croats, he also won a victory against Kormisosh the third bulgar khan, then a young Sevar took his place in 739 ruling till now dying childless


When they did, factional rivalries began to undermine central bulgar authorities in the worst possible moment, as the Slavic tribes in the avar khaganate sought to move to the Bulgars territory, there was also factionalism within the Bulgars, the biggest and most important division of the Bulgars and that was the pro-Roman and anti-roman faction. The leader of the Pro-Roman faction. Sent a letter to Constantine and asked him to send an army to help him.

Constantine knew that he could not lose one of his biggest buffer states, and sent an army to help khan kormisi hold to his throne and keep the pro-Roman faction in power, the Roman army won against some Bulgarian rebels and stayed there, but then they stayed there for 2 months and then left to receive their payment, the Bulgars rebelled when the Romans left, and the khan was killed by a mob, due to this The Khanate fell into a long political crisis during which the young country was on the verge of destruction.

In 754 Vinekh took the throne as leader of the anti-roman faction. Constantine who was in Egypt had beaten some small Berber armies, trying to provoke the emperor of the Berbers, here heard the news, and this was Unacceptable, He left the force in Egypt and moved against khan Vinekh. And the khan moved towards the Danube delta, Where Constantine moved, Both armies met near the river, and Constantine sent his cavalry away, the Bulgars then charged and pushed the Romans to the river, as the roman center made a crescent. While the cavalry returned and attacked the bulgar rear, they panicked and began to flee.

Constantine saw the khan fleeing, and charged, as the sources say the khan was killed with one stroke of the sword of Heraclius. The army soon retreated, and most of them were killed, with them scattered and Constantine looked for a candidate to place on the bulgar throne. It seemed like he founded him, Telets, a noble who belonged had no allegiance to any faction of the Bulgarian nobility, promised Constantine that he would help the empire against the Avars and Slavs, who he disliked due to their raids, but In reality, he had no intention to do so, as he wanted to invade the empire, even when Bulgaria was still in a midst of civil war, still, he was proclaimed as the khan, and Constantine returned to his capital.

756

When Constantine was ready to depart to Egypt, Telets attacked the empire and sacked some frontier cities.

Treason … said Constantine when he got the news, the Emperor led an enormous army towards the compromise of the tagmata the northern themes, and the princes of Croatia and Serbia, but Khan had time after the Romans crossed the Danube, they attacked the capital but the bulgar army was nowhere to be found, as Constantine didn’t want to turn the bulgar populous against him, he handed down some supplies to them, and defeated a Slav raiding party. When the Byzantines went north of Drobeta, Constantine noticed what was going on, but it was too late. As bulgar warriors began to appear the Romans realized They were ambushed.

they started to kill the panicked and confused Byzantines. The themes were attacked, the plan was simple kill the thematic armies and their commanders, the plan worked and the Romans began to route, Soon The Byzantines fruitlessly resisted for a short time and perished. Upon seeing their comrades' fate, the next units immediately ran away, More ambushing forces began to attack, and the route made trampling just as deadly as the Bulgars. And once the Romans began to get out arches waited for them and began to shower arrows to the Byzantines.

In the retreat the strategos of Eastern Moesia died, receiving an arrow to the neck. While Constantine barely escaped death, this victory signaled that maybe Telets was the ruler Bulgaria need it; even many in the pro roman faction joined him. But some others used Constantine’s help to the capital to show that he, a roman cares more about the Bulgars than “their khan” But Constantine was not yet beaten and swore that the sword of Heraclius would have the blood of the khan.

 

[Silver01]

That Han Empire border-gore makes me feel sick to my stomach. Just look at how over-stretched from Mainland China that it. I feel like they'll need to start expanding more into Tibet to have cleaner borders. Such a narrow strip of land is hardly secure.

How goes things for the Romans? I feel like they should now prioritize the reconquest of Cyreneica and Carthage the breadbasket of the West. I can imagine that Italy is facing a food shortage with it being forced to rely on reduced grain shipments from Sicily instead. Constantinople likely feels it got a punch in the gut as well with Egypt now becoming a battleground for the first time in 600 years. Maybe Constantine can try to ally with the Franks to take out the Berbers. This would force them to divert troops from their far flung possessions into Hispania. Constantine can then pull a Belisarius and then stage a three front invasion. With the Franks pinning them in the Pyrrenees, the Romans can then push into Hispania with raiding parties taking the coasts as bases for their navy. With Sicily and Egypt as their staging point, they can now invade North Africa itself retaking Roman Africa. Though this means that the Empire needs to withdraw its other Eastern troops. If Constantine can play the Avars and Bulgars against each other, he could profit and use this borrowed time to retake the Western lands. I can imagine that Persia will be too busy focusing on the Chinese threat in the East to focus on the Romans at this point.

Well even thougth i didn't put it in the map the tibetian empire still exist . So yeah I guess the chinise have to deal with those guys .

In terms of italy it's gonna become the focus after the events in the Balkans .

Hispania and frankia as well .

And you are correct the Persians see the tang as priority so the long peace continuies.

If iam not mistaken this is the longest peace between a Roman and Persian state no? Since 628 no war was been fougth and right now where in 750s

 

[Silver01]

balkan map 755 AD

 

[Basileus_Komnenos]

balkan map 755 AD

View attachment 503510

@Goldensilver81

What map are you using as a base-map for your timeline? How are you able to draw the borders so accurately?

 

[Silver01]

@Goldensilver81

What map are you using as a base-map for your timeline? How are you able to draw the borders so accurately?

The Eastern hemesfire map with rivers
From there I create my borders and try to be as accurate as I can .

From there I pass that base to a smaller map like the Balkans and then use it as guide and tweek things form there is by no means perfect as alignment is horrible most of the times but it works

For your timeline I really recommend the Anatolian blank river map

 

[Silver01]

757
Due to the defeat Constantine made a truce with the Berber emperor, favorable to him and prepared his troops against Bulgaria, as he would not have left, despite having superior troops by mid 758, Constantine moved his troops, he was at the head of a 40000 strong army, The khan got news of this and prepared, Telets at first fortified the mountain passes in the west, he would leave his capital but it was the best chance he got, with his troops and some ten thousand Slavic auxiliaries. But in his overconfidence, he changed his mind and led out his troops to a plain with some defenses some kilometers from his capital to lower advantage of the byzantine numbers.

The bloody battle of then began at mid-morning, as hours passed the emperor was fighting with his troops until he saw telets, Soon both men ignored their armies and began circling each other, Both men began to fight, the khan had the advantage of youth and raw strength While the emperor had experience and training, the duel was close and they would perry their strikes but no man would get the advantage here.

But as teltes was getting more desperate to kill the emperor he was getting sloppier and was opening himself more and more. The emperor noticed this and began to block and avoid the attacks, this got the khan to lose cohesion and he over swung, Constantine Cutting his neck but not the arteries so it was not instantly fatal, still, teltes let go of his weapon and covered his now sliced throat, Constantine began then pushed him and swinging his sword, slicing at the dying body of the khan, brutally disfiguring him, but he continued, his anger for the treason and defeat was poured out against a khan who could not react, but could feel the pain of his “execution”.

After killing him, the emperor then decapitated him, and showed his head to the army, the men who saw this, panicked, and moved, the word spread that the khan was dead, causing a massive route, still the Romans had 9 000, with the death of Teltes, Constantine now installed Sabin as a new khan in 760, Constantine stayed for a year but then the rebellion of the Serbs.

Prince Vlastimir of Serbia had died in the fight against the Bulgars, tensions existed before his death as he considered the tribute he was paying and the fact that the empire in his eyes did not do enough to deal with the other Slavic incursions, his son Mutimir also had these thoughts and when his father died he rebelled he sent word to the prince of Croatia to rebel as well but he remained loyal, Constantine 35 000 had to deal with a 20 000 Serbs with Slavs that crossed the Danube. Constantine used an inverted wedge, and the center retreated as the Slavs attacked.

Soon they were enveloped, Constantine killed the prince, the victory was total, Constantine also supported another candidate for the throne of Serbia as it was not the first time it rebelled and , which he won and continued the process of Serbia slowly became more Christian since the reign Constantine IV, and the first prince to covert was Radoslav in 725, this left Croatia as the only major Slavic territory south of the Danube to not convert after this Constantine with this he crossed the Danube and began attacking Slav- avar territory.

The khan also had to deal with them and won a victory against them in the Carpathian Mountains, this got him the support of the people, and soon they had a feast, in that night the new khan Sabin was strangled in his sleep by a member of the anti-roman faction.

Umor another member of the pro roman faction got the throne, but he was not as talented, and barely ruled for 45 days before he was deposed and killed by toktu and his supporters, as Toktu became the new khan, he was a member of the anti-roman faction and prepared his realm for a war against them, planning massive raids on the empire to get funds and to crush the pro roman faction, but unfortunately for him, Constantine returned from his campaign from the avar territory, Toku was surprised and reunited whatever force he had to fight, as many pro roman Bulgarian and even neutral Bulgarians joined Constantine as he gave part of what he gained from the raids to them.

Now the new khan was outnumbered and tried to flee, but it was no use, Constantine army began to chase him, Once they cough up, the khan took a defensive position, 30 kilometers north of his capital, but Constantine had learned many strategies, the send his force to attack and then retreated, the khan being desperate fell into the trap and chased the Romans. the Romans kept fleeing till a certain point, then the Romans back, and the Bulgars were surrounded. Tokyu was slain by Constantine and the sword of Heraclius had claimed the life of a fourth khan, after the battle, Constantine received a title, δολοφόνος των χαν, The khan slayer or the slayer of khans. Telerig became the new khan, a smart man, got the throne, while he was not 100% pro roman he recognized their state as being the power of the region. So Constantine installed telerig as khan by 762

 

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This timeline is not dead IAM just in finals in my University