In 598, a devastating plague forced an invading army to abandon their siege
An unstoppable epidemic accomplished what the Byzantine army could not when a devastating plague forced the Avar Khaganate to abandon their siege of a strategic Black Sea stronghold in 598.
During the Avar-Byzantine wars of 598, the Avar leader Bayan I was forced into a humiliating retreat from the city of Tomis. While his Avaro-Slavic forces had the Byzantine defenders trapped, a sudden outbreak of the plague decimated his ranks.
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