This was a signal for Hormizd, who had become jealous of his popular general, to remove Bahram from office. Bahram reacted by staging a rebellion, the details of which are given by the Byzantine historian Theophylactus Simocatta. Persian troops in Iraq sent against the rebels made common cause with Bahram's army in Armenia, and the combined forces marched on the capital Ctesiphon. Hormizd tried in vain to organize effective resistance against the rebels. The Sasanian aristocracy, however, did not support the son of Khusrau. The religious leaders, too, were not pleased by his tolerance of the Christians and other religious minorities, so the monarch found himself surrounded by enemies. Hormizd had imprisoned many nobles, and now a palace revolt freed them, while the rebels in Ctesiphon seized Hormizd and imprisoned him. The leaders of the overthrow in Ctesiphon were two brothers-in-law of the ruler called Bindoe and Bistam. Hormizd was blinded and his son Khusrau Abarvez or Parvez, "the victorious", was raised to the throne. This was in February 590, and some time later Hormizd was put to death.
At first the new king tried to conciliate Bahram Chobln, who was near the capital with his army when the events mentioned above occurred. An exchange of messages produced no settlement, so Khusrau prepared to fight Bahram. The king marched forth to battle near Hulwan, but the two armies did not engage in a major battle. Khusrau saw that he could not hope to defeat Bahram, so he fled to Ctesiphon and then towards the Byzantine frontier. Bindoe, who accompanied his nephew on his flight, was able to throw off the pursuers sent by Bahram, but subsequently he was taken prisoner while his king escaped to the west. Khusrau was received by the Byzantine governor of Circesium in March 590 and the Persian monarch sent a letter and then a mission to Maurice requesting his aid against Bahram.
At the same time Bahram sent emissaries to Constantinople to counter the proposals of Khusrau. According to Byzantine writers, Bahram offered to give the Byzantines Nisibis and all the Mesopotamian territory to the Tigris, whereas Khusrau offered Dara, Martyropolis (Maiferqat) and part of Armenia, and promised that he would never again ask for a yearly subsidy. Furthermore, he stressed his royal right to the throne emphasizing the principle of legitimacy. After some debate at Constantinople, the Byzantine emperor agreed to aid Khusrau, so he released Persian prisoners the Byzantines held, sending them to serve under Khusrau, while a Byzantine army was prepared to assist Khusrau to regain his throne.
Bahram Chobln had difficulty in asserting his claims in the empire, since he did not belong to the family of Sasan, but rather, it seems, was descended from the Arsacid royal house, long extinct. Bahram realized that he would have to stop the attempt of Khusrau to regain his throne on the frontier, so he sent a general called Zadespras to hold the key city of Nisibis. But the city of Nisibis had already gone over to Khusrau and the army sent by Bahram was defeated and the commander killed. The chronology of events is somewhat uncertain, but it seems that Khusrau had to wait six or seven months for the Byzantines to decide what they would do. During this time he sent his uncle Bistam into Armenia to organize resistance to Bahram. Bindoe, the other uncle, escaped from Bahrain's prison and made his way north to join the growing opposition. In the spring of 591 Khusrau began his march to regain his throne, supported by a Byzantine army under a general called Narses.
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