The Apex of Antiquity: Byzantine Empire

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In 642, the early conquests of the newly formed Rashidun Caliphate had seen nothing but success.  United under the banner of the newest addition to the House of Abraham, highly effective Muslim commanders steamrolled through the exhausted and plague-ridden Sassanid and Eastern Roman Empires. Seeing no challenger that could check them, the unstoppable wave of conquest has turned its eyes north to the Caucasus Mountains.

  It was in the narrow passes of the Caucasus where the Arabs ran headlong into the Khazar Khaganate. This nomadic steppe empire had laid claim to much of modern Ukraine, Belarus, and the regions surrounding the Caucasus.  Having become well-entrenched and semi-sedentary in their territory, the Khazars wielded considerable economic and military might.   By 652, the Khazars delivered a killing blow to the Islamic campaign with a crushing victory at the Battle of Balanjar.  The two sides agreed that the initial status quo of the Caucasus region would hold.

 Now, a generation later, the Umayyad Caliphate has replaced the Rashidun.  The Sassanid Empire is gone, fully incorporated into the Umayyad dominion.  Eastern Rome soldiers on with its possessions in Anatolia and Europe.  The Khazars remain vibrant and powerful.  Judaism has begun to make inroads with the religiously tolerant Khazar nobility, many of whom begin to adopt the faith.  Khazar raids on Umayyad territory south of the Caucasus have begun to pick up.  The inconclusive first border war has left scores to be settled. 

The year is 722, and the three great powers of Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa are preparing to brawl once again.  

The Byzantine Empire: 

The heartbeat of Rome fluttered in the 7th century as the Sword of Islam stabbed deep into Roman territory.  Rome has staggered many times before and always righted itself to defeat any foe. The Caliphate will be no different. Losing the enormously productive and prosperous provinces of Egypt and Syria to the Companions of Muhammad was a crippling blow, and yet, the Eastern Romans have taken this devastation in stride. They have rallied, organized, and stabilized the border at their mountain fortresses dotted along the Taurus range where Anatolia meets Syria. Now the Eastern Romans fend off Umayyad raids and search for a way to reclaim their vast Eastern territories. The Eastern Roman Empire’s primary goal is the reconquest of Roman territory and the stabilization of the imperial court.

Still able to channel its sizable economy into fielding large, professional, heavy infantry armies, the successors of Constantine and Justinian are down, but not out.