November 602 · Constantinople Theater
November 602
When a mutinous Byzantine army proclaimed the centurion Phocas emperor and marched on Constantinople, the emperor Maurice was overthrown and, with his sons, brutally executed. Khosrow II of Persia — whom Maurice had earlier restored to his throne, making them allies — seized on the murder of his benefactor as a pretext for war, declaring he would avenge Maurice.
Commanders