Byzantine Covert Operations - Leo III in the Caucasus

Covert operations and proxy wars filed the history of the Cold War – a battle between 2 superpowers of the 20th century. Covert operations and proxy wars, however, already existed way before and used by many of the great empires in history to weaken or humiliate rival powers. Such as the case of the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate in the late 7th and early 8th century, when Emperor Justinian II sent his spartharios, the future Emperor Leo III, to the Alans and help them defeat the Abasgians who switched their fealty in favor of the Muslim Empire.

Map of the kingdom of Lazica, by Cplakidas, CC BY-SA 3.0

History of the Kingdom of Georgia - Part 1

Large empires dominated the history of the world. But stories of small countries struggling to survive between the wars of empires filled the margins. Some became spheres of influence, puppets in proxy wars of stronger empire, but others succeeded in becoming independent and even achieved their very own golden ages that made their descendants proud. Such was the story of the Kingdom of Georgia.

Kingdom of Georgia at its apex