Polity Hephtalite Empire

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Was an empire formed by the Hephtalites, or White Huns, a Central Asian population.

Establishment

  • January 451: The Hephthalites became a significant political entity in Bactria around 450 CE.
  • January 451: Sakastan was overrun by the Hephthalites in the mid 5th century.

Chronology

Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

1. Hephthalite-Sasanian War of 484

Was a military confrontation that took place in 484 between an invading force of the Sasanian Empire under the command of Peroz I and a smaller army of the Hephthalite Empire under the command of Khushnavaz. The battle was a catastrophic defeat for the Sasanian forces and resulted in the creation of the state of the Nezak Huns, as well as the conquest of several territories by the Hephtalites.

  • January 485: The Nezak Huns established their realm in 484, after the defeat and death of the Sasanian King of Kings (shahanshah) Peroz I against the Hephthalites.
  • January 485: In 484, Peroz I, the grandfather of Khosrow I Anushirvan, was killed in the Battle of Herat by the Hephthalites and allowed them to annex much of Khorasan from the Sasanians.
  • January 485: Peroz was defeated and killed by a Hephthalite army near Balkh. The main Sasanian cities of the eastern region of Khorasan−Nishapur, Herat and Marw were now under Hephthalite rule.
  • January 486: The Huns invaded the Sassanid territories which had been left without a central government following the death of the king. Much of the Sassanid land was pillaged repeatedly for a period of two years.

2. Battle of Bukhara

The Battle of Gol-Zarriun or Battle of Bukhara, took place in c. 560 when the Sasanian Empire allied with the First Turkic Khaganate against the Hephthalite Empire.

  • January 561: The Sasanians annexed the Hephthalite lands south of the river Oxus.
  • January 561: The Hephthalites possessed military power, but they lacked the organization to fight on multiple fronts. The Sasanians and the Turks made an alliance and launched a two-pronged attack on the Hephthalites, taking advantage of their disorganization and disunity. As a result, the Turks took the territory north of the Oxus River.

3. Further events (Unrelated to Any War)

  • January 467: Around 466 the Hephtalites took Transoxianan lands from the Kidarites with Persian help.
  • January 468: The Kidarite Kingdom was disestablished 467.
  • January 471: In 470, the Hephtalite Empire, led by their ruler Khingila, conquered the territories of Balkh and eastern Kushanshahr from Persia. This marked a significant expansion of the Hephtalite Empire's power in the region.
  • January 471: Between 460 and 470 CE, the Alchons took over Gandhara and the Punjab which also had remained under the control of the Kidarites.
  • January 476: In the second half of the fifth century, the Hephtalites controlled the deserts of Turkmenistan as far as the Caspian Sea and possibly Merv.
  • January 501: Like other Central Asian peoples, the Kangju probably became subsumed into the Hephthalites.
  • January 501: By 500 the Hephtalite held the whole of Bactria and the Pamirs and parts of Afghanistan.
  • January 511: In 510, the Hephtalite Empire, led by their ruler Mihirakula, expanded their territory to the east, capturing the Tarim Basin and reaching as far as Urumqi. This conquest marked a significant expansion of their empire into Central Asia.

Disestablishment

  • January 561: The Hephthalites possessed military power, but they lacked the organization to fight on multiple fronts. The Sasanians and the Turks made an alliance and launched a two-pronged attack on the Hephthalites, taking advantage of their disorganization and disunity. As a result, the Turks took the territory north of the Oxus River.
  • January 561: The Sasanians annexed the Hephthalite lands south of the river Oxus.