Hephthalites/Gokturk raids of 614-616

In 614 the Hephthalites raided eastern Persia with a large number of men, but were defeated in the first battle near the fort of TusinKhorasan.^[a][2] Having lost this battle, the Kushans requested reinforcements from the Khagan. According to Sebeos, 300,000 troops from the Gokturk empire were sent to reinforce the Hephthalites.^[2]

The Gokturk force quickly overran Khorasan, but could not breach the fort of Tus with its 300 defenders.^[2] A Sasanid army under prince Datoyean arrived to meet the Gokturk army but was defeated.^[2] The Gokturks then raided as far as Ray and Isfahan. Smbat quickly reorganized the eastern Persian forces and finally crushed the Gokturks and Hephthalites, reportedly killing their leader in hand-to-hand combat (mard o mard).^[3] The Gokturks and Hephthalites retreated to their camp.^[2]

Following these noteworthy triumphs, Smbat was summoned back to the Persian court, where he died in 616 or 617.^[3]

• Garsoian, Nina (2005). "SMBAT BAGRATUNI". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
• Haug, Robert (2019). The Eastern Frontier: Limits of Empire in Late Antique and Early Medieval Central Asia. I.B. Tauris.page 68
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.

• Perso-Turkic war of 588–589
• Perso-Turkic war of 627–629