A Collection of Byzantine Battles Quiz

Answer:

The Siege of Phasis occurred in 555-556 AD. It was part of the Lazic War, fought by Byzantium against Sassanian Persia. The objective of both sides was to keep modern-day Georgia, divided between the kingdoms of Lazica and Iberia, in their respective sphere of influence. In the Siege of Phasis (today the city of Poti stands at the site of the battle), the Byzantines thoroughly defeated a major Persian host, losing only 200 of their men, while the Persians lost more than fifty times that number. So enraged was the Persian king over that failure of his armies that he had his general flayed alive as punishment.

The Battle of Blarathon was fought in 591 AD by Byzantium against the Persian general Bahram Chobin. It was the culminating battle of a long and bloody war. The Byzantines ultimately prevailed and Bahram Chobin had to renounce his imperial ambitions. The Sassanian royal Khosroes II, grateful to Emperor Maurice for his support in the fight against Chobin, agreed to give back to Byzantium all the land in Mesopotamia and the Southern Caucasus that Persia had encroached on during the previous century.

The Battle of Nineveh was fought on 627 AD. It was the decisive battle of the "Last great war of Antiquity", a term used by historian James Howard-Johnston. Emperor Heraclius crushed the Persian army, demoralizing the Sassanian Empire and rendering it unable to ever consolidate its forces again. Heraclius was also hailed as a defender of the Christian faith against the Zoroastrian Persians.

The Battle of Akroinon was fought in 740 AD. It pitted Byzantium against the Umayyad Caliphate. Although the Arabs had seized most of Byzantium's Asian and African possessions, they had failed to capture the imperial capital of Constantinople and, gradually, the Byzantines were driving them out of the heartland of Asia Minor. The Battle of Akroinon was a huge victory that allowed the Byzantines to consolidate all the territory on the western side of the Taurus Mountains, and also be able to keep a watchful eye on the Balkan Peninsula, where the Bulgarian threat was looming.

The Battle of Lalakaon was fought in 863 AD. Byzantium decisively defeated the Abbasid Caliphate and put an end to the Arab threat on Paphlagonia. This victory also enabled them to crush the renegade Paulicians in Cilicia and reclaim most of central and eastern Asia Minor.

The Siege of Chandax was fought in 960-961 AD. Under the brilliant general and future Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, the Byzantines thoroughly crushed the pirate Emirate which the Arabs had established on Crete and which was a launching pad for horrible naval raids, sacking of cities and enslavement of women and children. With Crete liberated, the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt was less of a threat and Muslim naval supremacy over the Eastern Mediterranean evaporated.

The Battle of Lithosoria was fought in 774 AD. It pitted the Byzantines against the Bulgarians. King Constantine V, eager to put an end to repeated Bulgarian encroachments in Byzantine territory, successfully lured his enemy into an ambush and utterly decimated the Bulgarian army. The Bulgarian Khan, Telerig, was soon afterwards deposed, since his boilas (elite clan leaders) sought revenge for their losses in the battle.

The Battle of Mesembria was fought in 813 AD. Byzantine Emperor Leo V managed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Bulgarian ruler Krum, who had committed horrendous atrocities, desecrating even the body of Emperor Nikephoros I and turning his skull into a drinking cup. Leo's victory thwarted the Bulgarian attempt to seize the imperial capital of Constantinople and resulted in Krum's death from apoplexy shortly afterwards.

The Battle of Kleidion was fought in 1014 AD. The Byzantine Emperor Basil II the Bulgar-slayer ("Bulgaroktonos" in Greek) crushed the army of the Bulgarian tsar Samuel Cometopoulos. In past decades, Samuel's hosts had ravaged and plundered Greece, reaching as far as the edges of the Peloponnese, sacking cities, taking plunder and slaves and even attacking on Christian holy days (despite the fact that the Bulgarians had accepted Christianity in the 9th century AD). Basil's victory destroyed the First Bulgarian Empire and established Byzantine dominion over the entire Balkan Peninsula for more than 150 years.

The Siege of Sozopolis was fought in 1120 AD. Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus successfully besieged and reoccupied the city, which had been captured by the Seljuks. The Byzantine army showed extreme versatility, managing to beat the Seljuks in their favorite tactic of feigned retreat and successfully utilize both missiles and infantry weapons in the fight.

The other five battles were Roman battles. Three of them (Alesia, Uxellodunum, Mons Graupius) were victories against the Gauls and Caledonians respectively and two of them (Carrhae and Teutoburg) were defeats against the Parthians and Germanic tribes respectively.