Editing Pannonian Avars (section)

=== Early Avar period (580–670) ===
[[File:Avari pljene balkanske zemlje, K. Mandrović (1885).jpg|thumb|left|Avars plundering Balkan lands]]
By about 580, the Avar Khagan [[Bayan I]] had established supremacy over most of the [[South Slavs|Slavic]], [[East Germanic tribes|Germanic]] and [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] tribes living in Pannonia and the Carpathian Basin.{{sfn|Pohl|1998|p=18}} When the Byzantine Empire was unable to pay subsidies or hire Avar mercenaries, the Avars raided their Balkan territories. According to Menander, Bayan I commanded an army of 10,000 Kutrigur Bulgars and sacked [[Dalmatia (theme)|Dalmatia]] in 568, effectively cutting the Byzantine terrestrial link with northern Italy and western Europe.

In the 580s and 590s, many of the imperial armies were busy fighting the Persians, and the remaining troops in the Balkans were no match for the Avars.{{sfn|Curta|2019|p=65}} By 582, the Avars had [[Siege of Sirmium|captured Sirmium]], an important fort in Pannonia. When the Byzantines refused to increase the stipend amount as requested by Bayan's son and successor [[Bayan II]], the Avars proceeded to capture [[Singidunum]] (Belgrade) and [[Viminacium]]. They suffered setbacks, however, during [[Maurice's Balkan campaigns]] in the 590s.

By 600 the Avars had established a nomadic empire ruling over a multitude of peoples and stretching from modern Austria in the west to the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] in the east.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} After being defeated at the [[Battles of Viminacium]] in their homeland, some Avars defected to the Byzantines in 602, but [[Maurice (emperor)|Emperor Maurice]] decided not to return home as was customary.{{sfn|Pohl|2002|p=158}} He maintained his army camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter, but the hardship caused the army to revolt, giving the Avars a desperately needed respite and they attempted an invasion of northern Italy in 610. The Byzantine civil war prompted a Persian invasion in the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|Byzantine–Sasanian War]], and after 615 the Avars enjoyed a free hand in the undefended Balkans.

While negotiating with Emperor [[Heraclius]] beneath the walls of Constantinople in 617, the Avars launched a surprise attack. While they were unable to capture the city centre, they pillaged the suburbs and took 270,000 captives. Payments in gold and goods to the Avars reached a sum of 200,000 ''[[Solidus (coin)|solidi]]'' shortly before 626.{{sfn|Pohl|1988|p=181}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}} In 626, the Avars cooperated with the [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid]] force in the failed [[siege of Constantinople (626)|siege of 626]]. After the defeat, the political and military power of the Avars declined. Byzantine and Frankish sources documented a war between the Avars and their western Slav clients, the [[Wends]].{{sfn|Curta|2001}}

{{blockquote|Each year, the Huns [Avars] came to the Slavs, to spend the winter with them; then they took the wives and daughters of the Slavs and slept with them, and among the other mistreatments [already mentioned] the Slavs were also forced to pay levies to the Huns. But the sons of the Huns, who were [then] raised with the wives and daughters of these Wends could not finally endure this oppression anymore and refused obedience to the Huns and began, as already mentioned, a rebellion. When now the Wendish army went against the Huns, the [aforementioned] merchant Samo accompanied the same. And so Samo's bravery proved itself in wonderful ways and a huge mass of Huns fell to the sword of the Wends. |''[[Chronicle of Fredegar]]'', Book IV, Section 48, written {{circa|642}}}}

In the 630s, [[Samo]], the ruler of the first Slavic polity known as Samo's Tribal Union or [[Samo's Empire|Samo's realm]], increased his authority over lands to the north and west of the Khaganate at the expense of the Avars, ruling until his death in 658.<ref>The fate of Samo's empire after his death is unclear; it is generally assumed to have disappeared. Archaeological findings show that the Avars returned to their previous territories{{mdash}}at least to southernmost part of present-day Slovakia{{mdash}}and entered into a symbiotic relationship with the Slavs, whereas to the north of the Avar empire was purely Wend territory. The first specific knowledge of the presence of Slavs and Avars in this area is the existence in the late 8th century of the Moravian and [[Principality of Nitra|Nitrian]] principalities (see [[Great Moravia]]) that were attacking the Avars and the defeat of the Avars by the Franks under [[Charlemagne]] in 799 or 802–803.</ref> The ''[[Chronicle of Fredegar]]'' records that during Samo's rebellion in 631, 9,000 Bulgars led by [[Alcek|Alciocus]] left Pannonia to modern-day [[Bavaria]] where [[Dagobert I]] massacred most of them. The remaining 700 joined the Wends.

At about the time of Samo's realm, Bulgar leader [[Kubrat]] of the [[Dulo]] clan led a successful uprising to end Avar authority over the Pannonian Plain, establishing [[Old Great Bulgaria]], or Patria Onoguria, "the homeland of Onogurs". The civil war, possibly a succession struggle in Onoguria between the Kutrigurs under Alciocus on one side and [[Utigurs|Utigur]] forces on the other, raged from 631 to 632. After Alciocus fled to Bavaria, the power of the Avars' Kutrigur forces was shattered, and Kubrat established peace between the Avars and Byzantium in 632. According to [[Constantine VII]]'s 10th century work ''[[De Administrando Imperio]],'' a group of [[Croats]] who had separated from the [[White Croats]] in [[White Croatia]] had also fought against the Avars, after which they organized the [[Duchy of Croatia]].{{sfn|Kardaras|2019|p=94}} The [[Unknown Archon]]'s people from Samo's realm were also resettled at this time.