Kavad II
King of Kings of the Sasanian Empire
"Let there be peace, and let my father answer for his cruelties."
Biography
A son of Khosrow II, Kavad II (Sheroe) led the coup of the disaffected nobility that overthrew his father as the war collapsed in 628. He at once made peace with Heraclius on humiliating terms, evacuating all the conquered Roman lands and returning the True Cross, to salvage what he could of a ruined Persia. To secure his shaky throne he had all his brothers and rival princes massacred — and then, within months of his accession, died in the great plague that swept Persia, leaving no capable heir. His brief, bloody reign plunged the Sasanian Empire into a chaotic civil war, with a rapid succession of ephemeral rulers, that left it fatally weakened and utterly unprepared for the Arab armies that would destroy it within fifteen years.
Did you know?
By murdering all his brothers to secure the throne, he destroyed the Sasanian royal line's capable heirs — a self-inflicted wound that helped doom the empire to conquest.
Key Battles
The Fall of Khosrow and the Peace
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire victory628 – 630 · 500 total casualties
The peace of 628 and the restoration of the True Cross marked the total victory of Byzantium and the humiliation of Persia. But both empires had bled themselves white in the twenty-six-year war — and neither had any strength left to resist the storm that was about to break out of Arabia.
Life Journey
Timeline
c. 590
🌅 Birth
Born a Sasanian prince
628
📍 Posting
Overthrows his father and makes peace
September 628
✝️ Death
Dies of plague, leaving Persia in chaos