Editing Pannonian Avars (section)

=== Arrival in Europe ===
In 557, the Avars sent an embassy to [[Constantinople]], presumably from the northern [[Caucasus]]. This marked their first contact with the [[Byzantine Empire]]. In exchange for gold, they agreed to subjugate the "unruly ''gentes''" on behalf of the Byzantines: subsequently they conquered and incorporated various nomadic tribes{{mdash}}[[Kutrigurs]] and [[Sabir people|Sabirs]]{{mdash}}and defeated the [[Antes people|Antes]].

{{harvnb|Pohl|1998|p=18|ps=: [...] the first thing the Avars did when they came near the Caucasus on their flight from Central Asia was to send an embassy to the aging emperor Justinian. That took place sometime in winter 558/59, and they struck the usual deal: the Avars were to fight for the Empire against unruly ''gentes'' and in turn would receive annual payments and other benefits. Indeed, for 20 years to come the Avars, under their Khagan Baian, fought Utigurs and Antes, Gepids and Slavs, whereas their policy towards the Empire relied more on negotiation than on war."}}

By 562 the Avars controlled the lower [[Danube]] basin and the steppes north of the Black Sea.{{sfn|Pohl|1998|p=18}}{{request quotation|date=May 2020}} By the time they arrived in the [[Balkans]], the Avars formed a heterogeneous group of about 20,000 horsemen.{{sfn|Curta|2001}} After the Byzantine Emperor [[Justinian I]] bought them off, they pushed northwestwards into [[Germania]]. However, [[Franks|Frankish]] opposition halted the Avars' expansion in that direction. Seeking rich pastoral lands, the Avars initially demanded land south of the Danube in present-day [[Bulgaria]], but the Byzantines refused, using their contacts with the Göktürks as a threat against Avar aggression.{{sfn|Evans|2005|page=xxxv|ps=: An Avar embassy first appeared in Constantinople in 558, asking for land within the empire and calling for an annual subsidy. Justinian granted them a subsidy, but for land he directed them elsewhere.}} The Avars turned their attention to the Carpathian Basin and to the natural defenses it afforded.{{sfn|Makkai|Mócsy|2001}} The Carpathian Basin was occupied by the [[Gepids]]. In 567 the Avars formed an alliance with the [[Lombards]]{{mdash}}enemies of the Gepids{{mdash}}and together they destroyed much of the Gepid kingdom. The Avars then persuaded the Lombards to move into [[Kingdom of the Lombards|northern Italy]], an invasion that marked the last Germanic mass-movement in the [[Migration Period]].{{citation needed|date= May 2014}}

Continuing their successful policy of turning the various barbarians against each other, the Byzantines persuaded the Avars to attack the [[Sclaveni|Sclavenes]] in [[Scythia Minor]], a land rich with goods.{{sfn|Curta|2001}}{{page needed|date= December 2015}} After devastating much of the Sclavenes' land, the Avars returned to Pannonia after many of the khagan's subjects deserted to the Byzantine emperor.