Let’s get the big problem out in the open right up front: while October 10, 732, is the most widely accepted date for the Battle of Tours (Poitiers)—fought between an army of the Umayyad Caliphate and a coalition under the command of Frankish majordomo Charles Martel (d. 741)—there are a lot of reasons to think … Continue reading Today (maybe) in European history: the Battle of Tours (probably 732)
Tag: umayyad caliphate
Today in Central Asian history: the Battle of the Baggage (737)
In the waning years of the Umayyad dynasty, a caliphal army suffered a major defeat in an area that is now part of Afghanistan, to a Turkish people called the Türgesh. The defeat was serious enough to disrupt caliphal control of the region called Transoxiana (literally “across the Oxus River,” which is today known as … Continue reading Today in Central Asian history: the Battle of the Baggage (737)
Today in European history: the Siege of Constantinople begins (maybe, 717) and ends (718)
Before it fell for good to the Ottomans in 1453, the city of Constantinople successfully withstood something multiple sieges over its long history. Even the one successful siege, by the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, wound up being rolled back when a restored Byzantine Empire supplanted the short-lived Latin Empire in 1261. At least one, and possibly … Continue reading Today in European history: the Siege of Constantinople begins (maybe, 717) and ends (718)
Today in European history: the Battle of Guadalete (711)
On or around this date in 711 Berber and Visigothic armies met in the Battle of Guadalete, one of the decisive engagements in the Islamic conquest of Iberia and establishment of al-Andalus.
Islamic History, part 30: the early Islamic military (7th-9th centuries CE)
Islamic History Series I feel pretty certain that nowadays we would point to the advent of Islam as the most important development of the movement that Muhammad began in Mecca and Medina in the first part of the 7th century. However, to contemporary observers in the period immediately following his death, it must have seemed … Continue reading Islamic History, part 30: the early Islamic military (7th-9th centuries CE)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Marj Rahit (684)
The early caliphate was not an especially stable place. In the two centuries after Muhammad’s death in 632, the empire went through four civil wars (the four fitnas, as they’re known). It’s fair to say that the second of these, which lasted from 680 to 692, was basically a do over of the first, with the same factions (the … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Marj Rahit (684)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of the Zab (750)
Today is the anniversary of the Battle of the Zab, which took place in 750 and was the climactic battle in the Abbasid Revolution that ousted the Umayyad dynasty from the caliphate. Obviously it would be difficult to describe the battle without going over the causes of the revolution, but equally obviously we could be here for … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of the Zab (750)
Islamic History, Part 20: the Islamic Opposition and the Abbasid Revolution (705-750), Part II
Islamic History Series before you read this, first read part I As I said earlier, the Umayyads were able to operate on a religious level in their claim on authority primarily because they were the symbolic embodiment of the communal unity that Muhammad had established decades earlier. What it meant to be a "Muslim" still … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 20: the Islamic Opposition and the Abbasid Revolution (705-750), Part II
Islamic History, Part 19: the Islamic Opposition and the Abbasid Revolution (705-750), Part I
Islamic History Series (this got really out of control long, so I split it into two pieces; part II is here) The Arabic word dawlah means "state" in modern parlance, and prior to the rise of the modern nation-state it was often used to describe dynasties. Its root (dawala) is a verb that means "to … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 19: the Islamic Opposition and the Abbasid Revolution (705-750), Part I
Islamic History, Part 18: the conquest of Iberia (711-759)
Islamic History Series In contrast the decline of the Umayyad Dynasty in Syria, a period that I'm sure was as confusing for you to read about as it was for me to write about (imagine living through it), the conquest of Spain is considerably more straightforward, and takes place at a time when the rest … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 18: the conquest of Iberia (711-759)
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 