pre 568 The Avars join a war between the Lombards and the Gepids, on the side of the Lombards. The Gepids are defeated so heavily that they cease to exist as a separate people. The Avars then set their sights on obtaining the Alföld and harass the Lombards.

The Avars also push the Saxons to the west of the Elbe, and cause the Franks to abandon east Thuringia and the Bavarians Bohemia. The vacated territories were filled by Slav tribes.

At some point, the Turks in the east pressed the Avars as far as the Crimea, but then mostly departed, leaving the Alans and Utigur Huns with a degree of freedom from the Avars.

568 The Lombards migrate to the Po valley to avoid the Avars, and then begin establishing dukedoms in large areas of Italy.

by 580 The Roman province in Spain is reduced to a coastal strip by the end of the 570s.

584 The Visigoths annex the Suevic kingdom.

591 In return for helping King Chosroes back to the throne, the Persians cede Iberia and nearly all Armenia to the Romans.

by 600 A deal is struck between the Romans and the Lombards. The former retain Genoa, Ravenna, Rome and their immediately dependent provinces, as well as Naples and parts of the toe and heel of Italy.