Seventh Century

Byzantine-Sassanid Wars
The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires fought many wars against each other. These wars ended with a Pyrrhic Byzantine victory. The devastating wars led to the Sassanids to fall into civil war while the Byzantines ceased being a classical urban civilization and became a feudal rural society. Both empires were deep in decline and they needed strong rulers.

Reign of Yazdegerd III
Yazdegerd III came to the throne at the age of eight in 632 AD and he was the first emperor of Persia since many the early 600s to live in a peacetime empire. In the early period of his reign, the empire was de facto ruled by his advisors. However, this changed in 639, when he was fifteen. He was deemed ready for rule and he began to attempt to restore the empire to its former greatness. Realizing that war would be disastrous for the empire, he utilized Persia's location, being central for trade, to expand the economy. Today, his reign is said to have begun another golden age for Persia.

Semi-recovery of Eastern Rome
The Byzantines regained Syria and Egypt in the Byzantine-Sassanid War. The empire was devastated. It needed to strengthen relations with the West. Emperor Heraclius established a council to resolve differences in East-West traditions. Like Yazdegerd III, he realized that war would ruin the empire and began an era of peace not unlike that of Persia.

Visigoth Breakup
The Visigothic Kingdom broke up into several kingdoms in 653 AD. The Iberian Peninsula was a broken mess of kingdoms.

Aquitanian Rebellion
The Duchy of Aquitania was a duchy subsequent to the Franks and it was independent in all but name. The Duke declared independence from the Franks in 661 and the duchy gained independence in the subsequent conflict for at least the time being.

African Crusade
Main Article: African Crusade Berber tribes took use of the broken nature of Spain to launch an invasion in 673. However, the pagan Berbers were hated by the Franks. The Franks began an invasion of Spain and Africa. In what was termed the African Crusade, the Berbers were forced back into Africa and were converted to Christianity. The crusade ended in 679 with the defeat and Christianization of the Berbers. A series of kingdoms were established and, with the exception of Eastern regions, the Mediterranean was a Christian sea.

Expansion of the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantines were a powerful empire and it wanted to expand. Under Emperor Constantine III, the Byzantines reclaimed Dalmatia and Northern Greece from the Slavs and expelled them. Dalmatia was settled primarily by Italians and, to this day, Dalmatia speaks a Romance language.

Third Indo-Sassanid Empire
Over disagreements over policy, some members of the Sassanid family declared independence from the main government as the Third Indo-Sassanid Empire in 683. This empire spread Persian influence over India and, although the family converted to Buddhism in 691, the empire was Indo-Persian in nature. The empire also led to a revival of Buddhism.