Draft:Conquest of Cotais

Conquest of Cotais
Part of the Lazic War
Date 552 or 553 Location Outside cotais Result Sasanian victory
Belligerents
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire	Sasanian Empire
Commanders and leaders
unknown	Khosrow I and an unknown
Strength
15,000 or 10,000	15,000 cavalry
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Light or medium

Information

The battle of Cotais took place in either 552 or 553 (most likely 553). Little is known about the battle but we do know that it was mostly a cavalry battle won by the sassanids under Khosrow I. The byzantine commander is still unkown.

Background

in 552 (or 553) the sassanids were in need of responding to the current losses and therefor sent a force to confront a small byzantine army. The battle was a cavalry battle and it is likely that the more skilled Sassanid cavalry won thanks to their experience that the byzantines lacked and the flat terrain making it easy to fight.

The Battle

The battle was won by the superior sassanid cavalry. It was thanks to a surprise counter-attack that the sassanids were able to send the byzantine force routing. The persians had more faster and skilled cavalry such as the Zhayedan (Elite sassanid cavalry also nicknamed "Immortals"), Grivpanvar and Aswaran while the byzantines used more heavy and simple cavalry such as the clibanarii and koursorses. The byzantines were able to hold the sassanid force for a while but eventually broke down and routed due to the Sassanids overwhelming archery and cavalry battle skills.