one of a people of undetermined origin and language, who, playing an important role in eastern Europe (6th–9th century), built an empire in the area between the Adriatic and the Baltic Sea and between the Elbe and Dnieper rivers (6th–8th century). Inhabiting an area in the Caucasus region in 558, they intervened in Germanic tribal wars, allied with the Lombards to overthrow the Gepidae (allies of Byzantium), and between 550 and 575 established themselves in the Hungarian plain between the Danube and Tisza rivers. This area became the centre of their empire, which reached its peak at the end of the 6th century.

The Avars engaged in wars against Byzantium, almost occupying Constantinople in 626, and against the Merovingians; they also were partly responsible for the southward migration of the Serbs and the Croats. In the second half of the 7th century, internal discord resulted in the expulsion of about 9,000 dissidents from the Avar empire. The state, further weakened by a revolt precipitated by the creation of the Bulgarian state in the Balkans (680), survived until 805 when it submitted to Charlemagne.