The Foundation of the Hôtel-Dieu and the…

An embassy from the Rashidun Caliphate led by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas arrives in the Tang capital Chang'an via an overseas route.

They are greeted by emperor Gaozong, who orders the establishment of the first Chinese mosque.

Muslim commander Ahnaf ibn Qais marches north directly to Merv, in present Turkmenistan, where Yazdegerd III holds his court.

On hearing of the Muslim advance, Yazdegerd III leaves for Balkh.

No resistance is offered at Merv, and the Muslims occupy the capital of Khurasan without a fight.

Ahnaf stays at Merv and waits for reinforcements from Kufa.

Meanwhile, Yazdegerd has also gathered considerable power at Balkh and has sought alliance with the Khan of Farghana, who personally leads the Turkish contingent to help Yazdegerd III.

Uthman orders that Yazdegerd’s allied forces should be weakened by breaking up the alliance with the Turks.

Al-Ahnaf obeys the orders but keeps an eye on Yazdgerd III‘s moves.

When he later learns that the Turks have joined the Persians and both are approaching, he rallies his army and camps outside the town.

With an army that is only a fraction of the enemy's, he manages to defeat the Persians in Battle of Oxus river, killing their leader, while the Turks retreat to their land.

Yazdegerd's army retreats across the Oxus to Transoxiana; Yazdegerd himself has a narrow escape and fled to China.

Balkh is occupied by the Muslims, and with this occupation the Persian war is over.

The Muslims have now reached the outermost frontiers of Persia, beyond which lie the lands of the Turks and still further lies China.

The old and mighty empire of the Sassanids has ceased to exist.

Yazdgerd III then flees eastward from one district to another.

When Yazdegerd arrives in Merv, he demands tax from the Marzbān of Merv, losing also his support and making him an ally of Nezak Tarkan, the Hephthalite ruler of Badghis, who had helped him defeat Yazdegerd and his followers.

After his defeat, Yazdegerd is killed by a local miller for his purse while he is trying flee from Merv in 651.

Khorasan, as the second largest province of the Sassanid Persian Empire, stretches from what present north eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.

Its capital is Balkh in Bactria, in present northern Afghanistan.

The mission of conquering Khurasan in 651 is assigned to Ahnaf ibn Qais.

Ahnaf marches from Kufa and takes a short and less frequent route via Rayy and Nishapur.

Rayy is already in Muslim hands and …

…Nishapur surrenders without resistance.

From Nishapur, Ahnaf marches southeast against Herat, the fortified capital of Ariana.

Ahnaf's siege of Herat lasts for a few months before the city surrenders to the Arabs, thus bringing the whole of the southern Khorasan firmly under Muslim control.

Oswiu, after seven years of peaceful rule, declares war on Oswine, who refuses to engage in battle, instead retreating to …

…Gilling, where he is betrayed by a friend, and murdered by Oswiu’s soldiers.

Oswine is buried at Tynemouth, but will later be forgotten.

Œthelwald succeeds his uncle Oswine as king of Deira and allies himself with Oswiu's enemy, king Penda of Mercia.

Queen Eanflæd of Bernicia donates the estate of Gilling for the foundation of a monastery.

Naka assumes the position of minister of the center, and Kamatari is granted a new family name—Fujiwara—in recognition of his great service to the imperial family.

Fujiwara Kamatari becomes the first in a long line of court aristocrats.

Another, long-lasting change is the use of the name Nippon or Nihon, or sometimes Dai Nippon (Great Japan) in diplomatic documents and chronicles.

Following the reigns of Naka's uncle and mother, Naka assumes the throne as Emperor Tenji in 662, taking the additional title tenno (heavenly sovereign).

This new title is intended to improve the Yamato clan's image and to emphasize the divine origins of the imperial family in the hope of keeping it above political frays, such as those precipitated by the Soga clan.

Within the imperial family, however, power struggles continue as the emperor's brother and son vie for the throne.

The brother, who later reigns as Emperor Temmu, consolidates Tenji's reforms and state power in the imperial court.

Koreans have always viewed such victories as sterling examples of resistance to foreign aggression.

Had Goguryeo not beaten back the invaders, all the states of the peninsula might have fallen under long-term Chinese domination.

Thus commanders such as Eulji Mundeok will become models for emulation hereafter, especially during the Korean War (1950-53).

Baekje cannot hold out under combined Silla and Tang attack, however.

The latter land an invasion fleet in 660, and Baekche quickly falls.

Tang pressure also has weakened Goguryeo, which, after eight successive years of battle, succumbs to a combination of external attack, internal strife, and several famines.

Goguryeo retreats to the north, enabling Silla forces to advance and consolidate their control up to the Taedong River, which flows through P'yongyang.

King Muyeol of Silla, after repelling numerous attacks by Baekje and Goguryeo, seeks help from Emperor Gaozong of Tang to defend his exhausted kingdom against the attacks.

Emperor Gaozong receives and grants his request.

He launches the invasion of Baekje in 660.