Avar Khaganate

Timeline

1. c. 567–580Pannonian Basin · PannoniaAfter being driven out by the Turkic confederation, the Avars migrated west and entered Pannonia with Byzantine acquiescence, displacing the Lombards as the dominant power in the basin; Khagan Bayan built a tribal alliance centered on the khaganal court, integrating vassal tribes into the embryo of a Central European nomadic empire.
2. 580–590Middle Danube · Danube BasinAt its height the Avar Khaganate established a multi-tiered hierarchy of khagan–yabgu–tribal chieftains, subjecting Slavic and Germanic tribes and collecting tribute; the khaganal court maintained alliance cohesion through cavalry levies and the distribution of plunder, posing sustained military pressure on neighboring settled kingdoms.
3. 584–591Danube frontier · Danube BasinAvars and Byzantines fought repeatedly along the middle and lower Danube; in 591 Emperor Maurice concluded peace with the khagan, granting the Avars Byzantine tribute gold and trading rights, which the khaganate used to consolidate its prestige and material supply among vassal tribes.
4. 568–600Northern Italy and the Central European frontier · ItalyThe Avars long contested influence in Central Europe and northern Italy with the Lombards and the Frankish Kingdom; through raiding, intermarriage, and vassalage they expanded their sphere, and around 600 remained the principal threat on the eastern frontier of the Frankish Merovingian realm.