Maurice's Balkan Campaigns - Avar and Slavic Incursions, 582 To 591

Avar and Slavic Incursions, 582 To 591

In 583 the Avars demanded an increase in tribute to 100,000 solidi. Maurice decided to end all tribute to the Avars, concluding that additional concessions would only provoke additional demands. The renewed Avar invasion began in 583 with the capture of Singidunum after stiff resistance. The Avars quickly moved east and captured Viminacium and Augustae, and began attacking as far southeast as Anchialus after only three months into the war. A Roman embassy met the Avars near Anchialus, but negotiations broke down after the Avar Chagan threatened further conquests, provoking an irate response out of Comentiolus, one of the Roman ambassadors. Nevertheless, Maurice established peace in 584 when he agreed to pay the Avars initial demands of 100,000 solidi. However, the Slavs were unhindered by the treaty, and began to raid further south into Macedonia and Greece, evidenced by many coin hoards in the region, particularly in Attica near Athens and in the Peloponnese.

As Maurice's forces were tied down in a war against the Persians caused by Justin II, (see Roman-Persian Wars for details), he could muster only a small army against the Avars and Slavs marauding Balkans. His efforts were hampered by the fact that operations on the Balkans were a completely defensive matter. As opposed to the Persian war theatre, the Balkan theatre proved little possibility for a soldier to bolster his pay by pillaging, thus making fighting rather unattractive. Maurice's badly motivated troops found it difficult to achieve even minor and local success. Rather an exception, a victory won by Comentiolus at Adrianople 584/585 deflected Slavic incursions to Greece. The evident destruction of vast parts of old Athens probably happened in this period.

The situation in Balkans deteriorated in such a manner that in 585 the Persian Shah Hormizd IV could reasonably hope to negotiate a peace treaty leaving Armenia to the Persians. Maurice rejected the offer, being able to negotiate much more favourable peace terms in 591, after substantial successes on the battlefield. For the time being, however, he had to abide by Avar and Slavic incursions and hope that his forces garrisoned at Singidunum could deter the invaders, posing a constant threat to the Avar homeland, just on the other side of the Danube. Roman presence at Singidunum was strong enough to effect constant break-offs of Avar raids. However, it could not prevent the attacks. Despite the Roman garrison at Singidunum, the Avars destroyed the fortified towns of Ratiaria and Oescus on the Danube and besieged Thessaloniki in 586, accompanied by Slavic raids down to the Peloponnese. Under the leadership of Comentiolus, the outnumbered Roman Army avoided any direct confrontation and restricted itself to disturbing the Avar raids by skirmishes and night attacks - a tactical expedient advised in Maurice's Strategikon. In 586 and 587, Comentiolus won several victories against the Slavs on the lower Danube and nearly caught the Avar Khagan Bayan two times. At Tomis, on the shores of the Black Sea the Khagan escaped via the lagoon-shaped coast, whereas an ambush on the south slope of the Balkan mountains was thwarted by miscommunication amongst Roman troops:

"a beast of burden had shucked off his load. It happened as his master was marching in front of him. But the ones who were coming from behind and saw the animal dragging his burden after him, had shouted to the master to turn around and straighten the burden. Well, this event was the reason for a great agitation in the army, and started a flight to the rear, because the shout was known to the crowd: the same words were also a signal, and it seemed to mean “run”, as if the enemies had appeared nearby more rapidly than could be imagined. There was a great turmoil in the host, and a lot of noise; all were shouting loudly and goading each other to turn back, calling with great unrest in the language of the country “torna, torna, fratre”, as a battle had suddenly started in the middle of the night."

The quoted phrase at the root of the misunderstanding is held to be the first sample of the Romanian language.

The following year, Priscus took over from Comentiolus. His first campaign in Thrace and Moesia turned out to be a fiasco, even encouraging the Avars to advance as far as the Marmara Sea. As the state of the Avar bridges across the Sava river near Sirmium deteriorated, Avar pressure decreased nevertheless.

Even so Maurice did all he can to enforce his troops on Balkans, as Slavic pillaging continued. He hoped to acquire the money by cutting soldier's payment by a quarter. Announcing these plans led to a mutiny on the Persian front in 588, which in turn forced Maurice to abandon the idea. As a consequence, in the Balkans Maurice had only limited means to keep Avars and Slavs at bay for the next three years.