The Göktürk Defeat of the Hephthalites (557-560)

In the mid-6th century most of Central Asia was held by the Hephthalites, the White Huns. Istemi Yabghu, who ruled the western wing of the Göktürks, wanted the Sogdian trading cities and the Silk Road. The Sasanian shah Khosrow I, who had long paid tribute to the Hephthalites, wanted to be rid of them too.

Around 557 Istemi and Khosrow made an alliance. The Göktürks attacked from the north and the Sasanians from the south. In a great battle between Bukhara and Qarshi, the army of the Hephthalite king Ghadfar was heavily defeated. The sources place the battle somewhere between 557 and 560.

The Hephthalite lands were divided between the two allies: north of the Oxus went to the Göktürks, south of it to the Sasanians. The Göktürks became masters of the Sogdian silk trade. Soon, however, a quarrel over the silk trade cooled relations with Persia, and Istemi began to look for an alliance with Byzantium.