First Perso-Turkic War

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=First Perso-Turkic War


caption=
partof=
date=588
place=Central Asia
result=Decisive Sassanid victory
territory=Sassanids capture Balkh and Herat.
combatant1=Sassanid Persians
combatant2=Western Turkic Khaganate,
Hephthalites
commander1=Bahram Chobin
commander2=Bagha/Yabghu Qaghan ("Ch'u-lo-hou")
strength1=12,000
strength2=unknown
casualties1=Minimal
casualties2=unknown
The First Perso-Turkic War was fought in 588 CE between the Sassanid Persians and the Western Turkic Khaganate and its vassals, mainly the Hephthalites. The conflict started with the invasion of the Persian Empire by the Turks and ended with a decisive Sassanid victory and the conquest of the Eastern Turks.

Context

In 558, Khosrau I, Shah of Sassanid Persia, allied with the western Turkish khanate to defeat the Hephthalites. The campaign was successful and the region north of the Oxus went to the Turks and the south came under Sassanid rule. However, in the 580's, the Turks once again commenced with their raids on the Silk Road and in 588, the Hephthalites, who were now part of the Turkish khanate, invaded the empire once more.

Bahram Chobin was chosen to lead an army against them. According to Shahbazi, Bahram's army consisted of 12,000 hand picked Savaran, Persia's elite soldiers. His army defeated the Turks and Hephthalites in April 588 and again in 589, capturing Balkh and Herat respectively. He then proceeded to cross the Oxus river and managed to repulse the Turkish invasion.

It is reputed that an arrow shot by Bahram killed the eastern Turkish Khagan , Bagha/Yabghu Qaghan [ [http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/osawa.html Aspects of the relationship between the ancient Turks and Sogdians] Takashi Ôsawa] , known as Ch'u-lo-hou by the Chinese .

Ferdowsi's Shahnama (C.E. 1010) describes in legendary detail the dealings of Bahram Chubin and the Turkish "King Sawa" before and during the battle in which Bahram with his 12,000 kills Sawa [Volume VIII of the online Shah Nama at [http://persian.packhum.org/persian/] , under "The Reign of Hurmuzd, Son of Nushirwan."]

See also

* Second Perso-Turkic War
* Yabgu

References

Sources

*Kaveh Farroukh, "Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642"