Early Muslim Expansion Explained in 8 Hours - From Yarmouk to Tours
Kings and Generals
0:07 Almost 1400 years ago the ancient and prosperous lands of the Middle East
0:11 were on the verge of a conflict of 3 empires and 3 religions:
0:16 2 of them fighting a constant, bloody, and fruitless war for centuries,
0:21 one a newcomer looking to put its mark.
0:24 The newcomer was the Rashidun Caliphate and its arrival would
0:28 change the history of the region and the world forever.
0:32 The Roman state was almost constantly at war with the Iranian
0:36 empires ever since the two entities touched borders in the 60s BC,
0:41 as the Parthian empire achieved a famous victory at Carrhae.
0:45 The Roman Republic transitioned into the Empire and then
0:48 this Empire’s Western portion was lost to foreign invasions,
0:52 leaving only the Eastern Roman Empire,
0:54 while the Parthian empire was replaced by the Sassanid Empire,
1:00 but even then these two states continued to fight.
1:05 In the 3rd century AD, another factor was introduced to these conflicts–
1:10 the Ghassanids and the Lakhmids.
1:12 These two Arab tribal confederations migrated from modern Yemen and became
1:17 the vassal states of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanids respectively.
1:22 They participated in the Roman-Sassanid wars,
1:25 often as scouts or raiders detached from the armies,
1:28 or as light cavalry units within the armies,
1:32 while also defending both empires from the Arab tribal raids from the south.
1:39 The populations of these kingdoms worshiped
1:42 traditional Arab paganism and monophysite Christianity,
1:44 and the latter created tensions with their suzerains,
1:48 as the Sassanids were sure that any
1:51 Christian influence may strengthen their Roman enemies,
1:54 while the Romans adhered to miaphysite Orthodox Christianity,
1:57 which considered monophysitism to be heretical.
2:00 The Roman attempts to suppress monophysitism caused the Ghassanids
2:04 to rebel against them in the late 6th-early 7th century,
2:08 and weakened Roman support in the area.
2:12 On the other hand, religious tensions
2:15 between the Lakhmids and the Sassanids were
2:18 compounded by the attempts of shah Khosrow II to control the region directly.
2:23 In 602 he captured and executed the Lakhmid king Al-Nu'man III,
2:29 turning the kingdom into a province administered by a governor.
2:33 That forced the Lakhmid tribes to ask their Arab brethren to the south for help.
2:38 Although the allied forces managed to defeat
2:41 the Sassanid army at Dhi Qar in 609,
2:44 the Sassanids were able to keep the province under their rule.
2:48 This sequence of events not only created divided
2:51 loyalties among the Arab tribes in the region,
2:53 but effectively stripped the Sassanid border of its traditional buffer.
3:00 Despite that, the Sassanids were still very strong.
3:04 In 602 they used the internal strife within
3:07 the Eastern Roman Empire as a pretense to declare war.
3:11 The Sassanids scored a number of impressive
3:13 victories in the first years of the war,
3:15 and although the Roman noble Heraclius took the throne
3:18 in 611 and started to stabilize the situation,
3:21 he wasn’t able to slow down the enemy completely;
3:25 by 621 the Sassanids controlled the South Caucasus,
3:29 the Levant, Egypt and most of Anatolia,
3:33 which marked the largest extent of their territory.
3:37 Even though Emperor Heraclius was forced
3:39 to fight against the Avars in Europe too,
3:42 he was able to gain some momentum by winning
3:45 2 battles against the Sassanids between 622 and 625.
3:48 According to some sources,
3:50 Khosrow enlisted all men capable of fighting and turned the tide again:
3:56 in 626 the army under Shahrbaraz besieged the capital of the empire,
4:01 Constantinople, supported by the Avars and Sclaveni from Europe.
4:06 The Roman empire was on the brink of destruction,
4:10 but the defenders of the capital persevered.
4:14 This was the turning point in the war, as in 627 Heraclius entered an alliance
4:18 with the leader of the Western Turkic Khaganate,
4:22 Tong Yabghu, and together they invaded Iranian heartland.
4:26 Heraclius defeated the Sassanids at Nineveh in 627,
4:30 and threatened the capital Ctesiphon in 628,
4:33 which prompted the nobles to overthrow Khosrow.
4:36 His son Kavad II became the next shah, and signed a peace treaty with Heraclius.
4:42 The Sassanids paid a war indemnity,
4:45 but otherwise, the conflict achieved nothing,
4:48 and the two exhausted empires returned to the pre-war borders.
4:54 Meanwhile to the south, the Arabian Peninsula was going through an upheaval.
4:59 The population of this peninsula worshipped many religions,
5:02 from the traditional Arab pagan beliefs to Zoroastrianism,
5:06 Judaism, and Christianity.
5:07 The Sassanids controlled the province of Mazun and the eastern portion of Yemen,
5:12 while the deserts in the central and northern parts
5:15 of the region were ruled by the nomadic Bedouin Arabs.
5:20 Their brethren resided in the rich merchant city-states in Hijaz.
5:25 One of these city-states called Mecca was both
5:28 a religious and economic center governed by the Quraysh tribe,
5:32 trading mostly spices with Axum, the Romans, and the Sassanids.
5:36 In 570 a boy called Muhammad was born in the Quraysh tribe.
5:41 As a young man, Muhammad spent his time as a merchant,
5:45 probably participating in and then leading trade caravans all over the region.
5:50 As is often the case with traders, Muhammad would meet and converse with members
5:56 of various religions on his travels.
5:59 According to the later sources,
6:02 he started receiving divine revelations sometime in 610.
6:06 Soon this new prophet began spreading the message
6:08 of a new religion– Islam- in his home city of Mecca.
6:13 However, the Meccans didn’t receive it well
6:16 and in 614 they started to persecute adherents of Islam.
6:20 All this prompted Muhammad and his followers–
6:23 the Muslims- to emigrate to Medina in 622.
6:26 This started a war between the Muslims and Mecca,
6:30 and by 629 the latter lost, and was conquered.
6:34 According to the early Muslim sources, at this point, sometime in 628,
6:41 Muhammad sent envoys to the neighboring states urging their leaders
6:45 to join Islam and bow to the one God– Allah.
6:49 The Sassanid shah Kavad insulted the Muslim envoy,
6:53 while the one sent to the Romans was killed in Ghassanid territory.
6:57 This prompted an attack by a small Muslim army,
7:01 which was defeated by the Ghassanids and Romans in September of 629 at Mutah.
7:06 The same sources claim that Muhammad decided to lead
7:10 a 30,000 strong army into the Byzantine territory to retaliate,
7:14 and took the city of Tabuk.
7:17 However, most modern sources do not agree with this account of events.
7:23 In any case, the conquests of Muhammad in Arabia continued.
7:28 By 631 most of the Arabian Peninsula was under Muslim control.
7:33 Muhammad passed away a year later.
7:35 There are conflicting sources regarding the succession process,
7:38 but one of the closest allies of Muhammad– Abu Bakr- became his successor,
7:44 with the title of Caliph; he was the first of the Rashidun Caliphs.
7:52 In the meantime, Kavad II, who became the Sassanid shah in February of 628,
7:58 immediately started killing his brothers to secure the throne,
8:01 which resulted in deepening disagreements
8:03 between the Persian and Parthian nobles.
8:06 Kavad died of the plague in September,
8:09 and although his 8-year-old son became the next shah as Ardashir III,
8:13 the empire was controlled by a member of the Parthian clique,
8:17 the vizier Mahadharjushnas.
8:18 This deeply concerned the Persian party,
8:21 and so it allied with Khosrow’s general Shahrbaraz.
8:25 The latter attacked took the capital in April of 630,
8:30 killing Ardashir and Mahadharjushnas, and becoming the shah.
8:34 The Sassanid realm was now in a state of civil war.
8:40 Using all that the governors of Yemen
8:43 and Mazun declared their independence from Ctesiphon,
8:45 which made them easy prey for the rising caliphate.
8:49 Just 40 days after Shahrbaraz took the throne,
8:52 he was killed and the leader of the Parthian faction,
8:56 Farrukh Hormizd, raised Khosrow’s daughter Boran to the throne.
8:59 This first queen in Sassanid history was overthrown by the son of Shahrbaraz,
9:04 Shapur, a few months later.
9:07 To stop the war between the factions,
9:12 Farrukh offered a marriage between Shapur and another daughter of Khosrow,
9:16 Azarmidokht, but the latter refused and the noble
9:19 usurped the throne for himself in the late 630.
9:23 He would be killed by the supporters of Azarmidokht in 631,
9:27 after which she took the throne for herself.
9:31 Farrukh’s son Rostam marched his troops to Ctesiphon to avenge his father,
9:35 defeating Azarmidokht’s armies along the way.
9:39 After taking the capital he restored Boran as the queen.
9:45 The ruling alliance of Boran and Rostam managed to convince
9:48 the leader of the Persian clique Piruz to stop the hostilities.
9:53 However, after Rostam left the capital for the frontier,
9:57 Firuzan killed Boran in June of 632.
10:00 Rostam then marched for the capital again.
10:04 According to some sources,
10:06 the armies of both Firuzan and Rostam were tired of the bloodshed,
10:10 and forced their generals to reach an accord.
10:13 One of the last members of the house of Sasan,
10:17 the 8-year-old grandson of Khosrow II, was crowned as Yazdegerd III.
10:21 Although the civil war was now over,
10:24 the Sassanid realm was extremely vulnerable,
10:27 as the Parthian clique basically controlled
10:29 the northeastern portion of the empire,
10:33 while Turkic raiders attacked from the Caucasus and Central Asia.
10:38 At the same time, the first Caliph Abu Bakr sent a portion
10:42 of his army under Usama ibn Zaid to raid the Ghassanids in June of 632,
10:48 possibly checking if the Byzantine frontier was well defended.
10:52 The death of Muhammad and the departure of this army made a big
10:56 number of newly conquered Arab tribes think that the Caliphate was fragile,
11:00 and in July all of the Peninsula save for Hijaz rebelled against Abu
11:05 Bakr in what was called the Ridda War or the War of Apostasy,
11:10 as many rebel groups were led by people who declared themselves prophets.
11:16 The situation was most dire around Medina,
11:20 as the rebels threatened the second most important
11:23 city of the new realm in late July.
11:26 However, Abu Bakr swiftly marched to the area
11:29 and defeated the rebels in early August.
11:31 That gave enough time for the army, which was sent north and defeated
11:35 a small Ghassanid army around Mu’tah, to return.
11:39 Abu Bakr proved to be a talented commander:
11:44 instead of uniting his armies and marching
11:47 on each of the rebel groups separately,
11:49 which would have allowed the rebels to attack his rear with impunity,
11:53 he divided his army into smaller groups,
11:55 and these units attacked the enemies around the Peninsula.
11:59 This strategy worked to perfection and by March of 633,
12:03 the Caliph’s rule over the entire region was restored.
12:07 It is difficult to assess how much the caliphate lost in terms of manpower,
12:12 but the sources underline that the generals
12:15 and troops gained invaluable experience in this conflict.
12:18 While the Ridda Wars were going on, the leader of the Arab Bani Bakr tribe,
12:24 Muthanna bin Harithah, was raiding the Sassanid territories in southern Iraq.
12:29 The Sassanid civil wars made this frontier subject to attacks, and Muthanna,
12:34 who adopted Islam sometime in the 630s,
12:38 informed Abu Bakr of this fact in early 633.
12:43 The caliph decided that it is a good time to take over Iraq,
12:47 and one of his main generals during the Ridda
12:49 Wars– Khalid ibn al-Walid- was ordered to invade the region.
12:53 Khalid was able to recruit an army of 18,000 at his base
12:58 at Yamamah and left for Iraq in late March 633.
13:01 A letter was sent to the Sassanid
13:04 governor of Dast Meisan– Hormozd- demanding his surrender.
13:08 Hormozd obviously didn’t, but sent a letter to the capital,
13:13 asking shah Yazdegerd III for reinforcements.
13:17 This letter was probably a trick by Khalid,
13:20 as Hormozd gathered his 20,000 and marched
13:22 out of the capital of the governorship,
13:25 Uballa, to defend the crucial road from Yamamah near Kazima.
13:29 Khalid, however, moved his troops through the desert and threatened Hufeir.
13:34 The Sassanid leader was informed of this and had
13:37 to march towards Hufeir via Uballa.
13:39 According to the Muslim sources,
13:41 that was exactly what Khalid was hoping would happen;
13:44 despite the civil wars, Sassanid armies were still stronger,
13:48 as their armor and weaponry made them superior,
13:51 and the only tangible advantage Caliph’s forces had was their mobility.
13:56 Khalid was going to use this mobility to tire the sassanid army.
14:00 This would become one of the most
14:02 important elements of the early Muslim expansion–
14:05 their mobility and aggression were forcing
14:07 their foe to defend multiple cities and fortresses,
14:10 as it was never clear where the Arabs would strike.
14:16 By the time Hormozd reached Hufeir, Khalid started marching to Kazima.
14:20 He could have probably taken the city with ease,
14:24 but didn’t want to be besieged by the heavily armored Sassanids,
14:27 so his troops waited and rested to the south of Kazima,
14:31 while Hormozd marched towards him.
14:33 In the first days of April, the tired Sassanid forces approached.
14:40 The engagement that would occur in the area
14:43 is traditionally known as the battle of the Chains,
14:45 due to the description of the Sassanid forces in the Muslim sources:
14:50 according to them the Sassanid infantrymen were chained
14:53 to each other to create a cohesive line,
14:56 or to prevent any retreat, however, this makes no sense tactically,
15:00 as that would have made the infantry even less mobile,
15:03 and each dead warrior would have burdened their companions.
15:06 We also never see this description in the numerous
15:10 battles fought between the Romans and the Sassanids.
15:13 Most probably, this stems from an incorrect
15:16 reading of the Persian word “silsilah”,
15:18 which can be translated as a mountain chain
15:20 or a bounding chain or a single line of soldiers,
15:23 so the word “chain” might be a metaphor for the disciplined Sassanid infantry.
15:28 In any case, Khalid wasn’t going to allow Hormozd’s troops to rest,
15:35 and his preparations forced the Sassanids to form up directly
15:39 to the west of Kazima at the end of the tiring march.
15:43 Their formation was the traditional infantry center and cavalry wings.
15:47 Meanwhile, Khalid’s army was arranged in a similar manner,
15:51 but for the time being stayed in the desert
15:54 behind the hills dividing the two armies.
15:56 This delay only added to the fatigue among the Sassanids,
15:59 as they had to stay in formation in their full panoply under the sun.
16:04 However, this waiting couldn’t continue for long,
16:07 as the Sassanids controlled the springs in the area,
16:10 so a few hours later Khalid emerged on the hills
16:13 and his troops stopped some distance away from those of Hormozd.
16:18 The only surviving primary sources
16:21 of this engagement belong to the Muslim historians,
16:25 so we will present their view of this battle.
16:28 As was customary for the region and traditional for the Roman,
16:32 Sassanid and Arab battles of the era, the battle started with a duel,
16:37 as Hormozd moved forward and called Khalid to fight him one on one.
16:42 Apparently, Hormozd then dismounted and Khalid followed suit.
16:45 As two generals clashed and fought to a standstill,
16:49 a few Sassanid skilled warriors attacked Khalid.
16:53 Another Arab general, Qaqa bin Amr, who will play a larger role in the future,
16:57 saw this and also decided to join the fray, attacking Khalid’s assailants.
17:01 Qaqa and Khalid were able to overcome the Sassanid fighters and killed Hormozd.
17:08 The Arab generals returned to their lines and Khalid ordered his troops forward.
17:15 The armies engaged each other.
17:17 On the wings, the balance of forces didn’t
17:20 allow either side to gain the upper hand,
17:22 while in the center the Muslim infantry charged their counterparts a few times,
17:27 clashing and falling back without dealing much damage.
17:30 However, the Muslim troops were much more rested,
17:33 as even the infantrymen had travelled to the battle mounted.
17:37 The Sassanid footmen weren’t able to rest after their march,
17:41 and each charge tired them even more.
17:43 During one of the charges Khalid’s center managed
17:46 to crack the disciplined Sassanid line in a few places.
17:51 The Sassanid army, which was left leaderless in the wake of the duel, panicked,
17:57 and the commanders leading the wings- Qubaz
17:59 and Anushjan- started retreating with their horsemen.
18:03 Their Muslim cavalry counterparts didn’t chase the enemy
18:07 horsemen and instead enveloped the Sassanid center.
18:10 Soon, the battle was over.
18:12 We don’t have a clear source on the number of casualties,
18:15 but it is probably fair to assume that half of the Sassanid army was lost,
18:21 while Khalid’s casualties were less than a few thousand.
18:25 Meanwhile, shah Yazdegerd, who received Hormozd’s letter in late March,
18:29 decided to send an army under Karinz to reinforce his governor.
18:33 The speed at which it happened suggests
18:35 that only the forces around the capital were gathered; according to the sources,
18:40 Karinz had somewhere between 15 and 25 thousand
18:44 men when he moved south and crossed the Tigris.
18:48 He was apparently moving towards Uballa to help the governor,
18:52 but after he crossed the small river called Maqil,
18:54 he encountered the rest of the Hormozd’s army led by Qubaz and Anushjan,
18:59 some 10 thousand troops.
19:01 Karinz was told about the events of the battle of the Chains.
19:06 Simultaneously a mobile force commanded by Muthanna appeared nearby,
19:09 probably sent by Khalid to chase the remainder
19:12 of the Sassanid force and scout ahead,
19:14 while he was recruiting from the ranks of Arab
19:17 tribes in the area of Kazima and Hufeir.
19:21 We don’t know what Karinz was thinking at this point,
19:25 but it is clear that the Sassanids understood
19:27 that they were not dealing with a minor raid,
19:30 and they faced a traditional Bedouin Arab army made up of light cavalry.
19:35 Catching Muthanna’s mobile force in the open field would be impossible,
19:39 since the shah’s army was considerably slower,
19:41 so Karinz didn’t move to the strategically crucial Uballa to protect it,
19:46 likely worried that Muthanna would be able to attack his flank and rear.
19:51 The Sassanid general decided to sacrifice Uballa and keep his position
19:55 along the river in order to prevent Khalid from crossing the Tigris,
19:58 and also from marching westwards to the most
20:02 important city of the region– al-Hirah.
20:06 In the meantime, Khalid was informed by Muthanna
20:08 that a new army was moving to the south.
20:11 The Sassanid position left him no other way to advance.
20:15 Using the whole army to take Uballa might have entrapped him,
20:18 so only a small group was sent to take it,
20:21 while Khalid went on and united with Muthanna.
20:24 The battle that is now known as the Battle
20:29 of the River took place in the third week of April.
20:32 The Sassanids had anywhere from 25 to 50 thousand troops,
20:36 depending on the sources, while Khalid commanded around 18 thousand,
20:40 as he was able to reinforce his army by recruiting from the local Arab tribes.
20:45 The sources for this battle are conflicted,
20:48 so we will try to do our best to form a coherent narrative.
20:54 Before the armies formed up in the morning,
20:57 Khalid personally scouted the positions of Karinz’s forces,
20:59 and was now sure that winning a set piece
21:02 battle was his only option to continue the campaign.
21:05 He returned and the armies started to get into formation,
21:09 both having a similar structure with infantry
21:12 in the center and cavalry on the wings.
21:15 The Sassanid army was deeper,
21:17 as its commander made no attempts to widen his front and outflank the enemy,
21:22 probably relying on the superiority of his troops and the fact
21:27 that his second rank would be fresh when the time came.
21:32 The battle started with Karinz calling for a duel.
21:35 According to the Sassanid sources,
21:37 the duels were a way for the commanders to prove
21:40 to the troops that they are ready to fall for them,
21:42 so a personal combat between champions was a usual sight.
21:46 Khalid wanted to answer the call, but one of the duelists who was near him
21:52 galloped towards the Sassanid commander and Khalid stayed back.
21:57 In the ensuing duel, the Arab fighter was able to defeat his opponent.
22:02 That demoralized the Sassanids, so Qubaz and Anushjan were probably forced
22:06 to march forward and demand another duel, to restore their morale.
22:10 The Muslim wing commanders Asim and Adi galloped to them.
22:14 Soon, the Sassanid commanders were dead
22:18 and Khalid ordered his entire army forward.
22:22 Despite the fact that the Sassanids lost all of their top commanders,
22:26 initially this charge was fruitless, as the forces of the Caliphate failed
22:30 to make any headway and were even pushed back.
22:33 But this push back made the Sassanid lines disorganized,
22:37 as the units lost cohesion due to the lack of command.
22:41 Khalid was able to exploit this, and his counter-attack
22:44 created even more holes in the enemy formation.
22:47 The rear of the Sassanid army attempted to retreat,
22:50 while the front was still fighting.
22:53 However, left with no support, the front was soon massacred.
22:58 Lightly equipped and fast Muslim troops were able
23:01 to catch up to the fleeing Sassanids with ease,
23:04 and the battle restarted along the river.
23:06 The sources do not give a clear picture of what happened here,
23:10 but most of the Sassanid losses occurred in that area,
23:13 as some were killed, some drowned, and some were able to cross the river.
23:17 By the end of the battle the Shah’s
23:19 army lost anywhere from 15 to 30 thousand troops,
23:23 while Khalid’s casualties were in the hundreds.
23:28 After the victory at the Battle of the River,
23:31 Khalid didn’t cross into central Iraq, probably for a variety of reasons.
23:36 Firstly, he needed to create a new
23:38 administration in the region and start collecting taxes.
23:41 Secondly, moving into the Sassanid empire would have stretched his supply
23:46 lines and would have put him into territory with no Arab tribes.
23:50 On top of that, Khalid liked to fight on the edges of the deserts,
23:54 which gave him the opportunity to outmaneuver his opponents when needed.
23:58 The caliphate’s commander established a new authority in the province,
24:03 with its inhabitants starting to pay the Jizya tax.
24:07 Simultaneously, scouts from the local tribes were sent to the west
24:12 and north to discover if the Sassanids had more armies nearby.
24:17 As the Persian road and postal system
24:20 were probably among the best of their time,
24:22 the shah learned about another defeat shortly after,
24:26 and while Khalid was making his preparations,
24:28 Yazdegerd ordered the troops from the northern and eastern
24:31 parts of the empire to march towards the capital, Ctesiphon.
24:35 A direct attack on the region controlled by Khalid was difficult,
24:40 as the Arabs now controlled the crossings, so when the first army,
24:44 commanded by Andarzaghar, arrived, it was sent toward the city of Walaja,
24:49 the first strategic target on the road between Uballa and al-Hirah.
24:54 It was expected that the Arabs would attack in this direction,
24:59 so the remnants of the Sassanid
25:01 forces which fought under Karinz joined Andarzaghar,
25:03 bringing his numbers to somewhere between 25 and 30 thousand troops.
25:08 This army took positions outside of Walaja sometime in May.
25:12 The second army was led by one
25:15 of the top commanders in the Sassanid army, Bahman,
25:18 and it was supposed to reinforce Andarzaghar if
25:21 the Muslims indeed decided to move to al-Hirah.
25:24 For now, this force of 20 thousand was to be stationed along the Euphrates,
25:29 halfway between Uballa and Walaja.
25:33 Meanwhile, Khalid’s scouts, being from the local tribes,
25:38 were able to gather information with impunity,
25:40 so he seemingly knew about every enemy move.
25:43 He decided that his smaller force needed
25:46 to defeat one of the armies opposing him,
25:49 and he could not allow them to reinforce each other.
25:52 So, he left a minor garrison around Uballa and marched west,
25:57 hoping to defeat Andarzaghar, without alerting Bahman.
26:02 Along the way, Khalid reinforced his army from the Arab tribes,
26:05 which were now more eager to join his ranks,
26:08 since the tax imposed by him was lower than the one, they had to pay before,
26:13 and that brought his numbers to around 15 to 20 thousand.
26:17 The goal was to destroy the army
26:19 under Andarzaghar before Bahman could reinforced it.
26:22 Although Bahman’s army noticed the movement of the Arabs, they were much slower,
26:27 so Khalid was able to reach Andarzaghar well before Bahman,
26:31 sometime in the second half of May.
26:35 According to the sources,
26:38 Andarzaghar had enough room to maneuver and wait for Bahman along the river,
26:42 but he was confident in his troops and kept his position.
26:45 For almost a day the two armies seemingly remained in their respective camps,
26:50 within the reach of each other, without attempting to start a battle;
26:54 the Arabs were probably resting after their forced march,
26:58 and the Sassanids were hoping that this wait
27:00 meant that they might be reinforced.
27:04 However, this wait couldn’t last, since Khalid knew that he had to score
27:09 the decisive victory before the second Sassanid army arrived,
27:13 so on the next day both forces formed up
27:16 in standard formation with a center and two wings.
27:19 The battlefield near Walaja was an even plain stretching between two low,
27:23 flat ridges which were about 1 kilometer away from each other.
27:27 To the north east was a barren desert,
27:30 with the river Khasif running close to the eastern ridge.
27:33 Both armies had the ridges behind them,
27:36 meaning that an attack from the rear was not possible to begin with.
27:42 The Sassanid leader was surprised to see
27:44 that the whole Muslim army was smaller than previously reported,
27:48 and that it only consisted of footmen,
27:51 which contradicted what he had heard about the crucial
27:54 role Khalid’s cavalry played in the previous battles.
27:57 Despite that, he was convinced that his position
28:00 was impenetrable and decided to wait,
28:03 as both armies knew that Bahman couldn’t be too far away.
28:09 Indeed the Muslim commander ordered his entire army forward.
28:13 Led by Khalid, who fought in the front rank,
28:16 the army of the Caliphate charged into the enemy.
28:19 For an hour or so, the two lines fought to a standstill, losing few warriors.
28:24 But the Sassanids had the numbers,
28:26 so their tired front line was replaced by the rear rank, which gave them edge.
28:32 Despite Khalid’s personal martial skill, his troops were getting tired,
28:37 so Andarzaghar’s counter-attack started to push the Muslim troops back.
28:41 Slowly but surely the Sassanids advanced,
28:43 while the Arabs were getting dangerously close to the ridge,
28:48 which would have made any retreat impossible.
28:52 At this point, Khalid gave a signal that changed the course of battle:
28:56 the cavalry that he sent into the desert during the previous
29:00 night appeared on the eastern ridge behind the Sassanid army.
29:04 This was Khalid’s trademark move,
29:05 as his mobile cavalry was able to hide in the deserts with ease.
29:10 The advance of the Sassanid army away from its
29:13 fortified position meant that its rear was undefended.
29:17 The light Arab horsemen charged into the Sassanid lines,
29:22 while Khalid’s infantry lengthened its front
29:24 to envelope the wings of Andarzaghar’s army.
29:27 Minutes later the battle of Walaja was over.
29:31 The Sassanid commander was dead and his army was completely destroyed,
29:35 with only 5 thousand survivors managing to retreat from the field.
29:40 Khalid’s casualties were around 3 thousand.
29:43 As Khalid’s troops were tired after the long march and the battle,
29:49 his army wasn’t able to pursue the Sassanid survivors.
29:53 Those were mostly the Christian Arabs who were more mobile,
29:57 and they managed to find shelter in nearby Ullais.
30:00 The messengers from this group went
30:02 to other Christian Arab tribes to the northwest,
30:05 asking for help, and also informed the shah in Ctesiphon.
30:09 The tribes answered the call of their kin,
30:12 while Yazdegerd sent messengers to Bahman to go towards Ullais.
30:16 It is not clear why,
30:18 as Arab and Persian sources are conflicted, but according to the former,
30:22 Bahman gave command over his army to another general called Jaban,
30:26 who marched with the entire army
30:28 to where the Christian Arabs were concentrating.
30:31 The Persian sources claim that Bahman
30:34 returned to Ctesiphon with his entire army.
30:39 Meanwhile, Khalid moved his troops towards the city,
30:42 and sometime in May fought the allied
30:45 Christian Arab and Sassanid army near Ullais.
30:48 The details of the battle are lost, but we know that the Muslims won.
30:53 The sources are once again conflicted on the number of casualties,
30:57 with the Arab sources stating that Khalid’s force killed 70 thousand enemies,
31:02 mostly through the executions after the battle,
31:05 while the Persian writers think that the army facing Khalid’s 18 thousand was
31:10 comparable in size and managed to retreat towards al-Hirah after a minor defeat.
31:18 In any case, in the last days of May Khalid approached al-Hirah,
31:23 which was the initial goal of his campaign.
31:26 Again, the sources are inconclusive.
31:29 We know that the local Sassanid garrison
31:31 and their Arab allies mounted resistance for a few days,
31:34 but eventually, the sides decided to negotiate.
31:37 As Khalid promised to spare the lives of the population
31:41 in exchange for the payment of the Jizya tax, the locals decided to surrender.
31:49 The Arab commander spent the next few months building
31:52 up a new administration in the region and collecting taxes.
31:55 At the same time, raiding parties were sent to Central
32:00 Iraq and towards the border of the Eastern Roman Empire,
32:03 and this raiding brought both loot and information on enemy movement.
32:07 Some sources claim that the Caliphate gained
32:10 a degree of control over Central Iraq,
32:13 but it seems that Khalid didn’t have enough troops
32:16 to keep such a wide region under his authority.
32:21 Still, the Caliphate’s raiding parties were not
32:23 getting much resistance to the north and northeast,
32:26 while his scouts informed him that the Sassanid
32:29 garrisons to the northwest were still intact,
32:31 with larger concentrations at Anbar and Ain-al-Tamur.
32:35 The first one was further away
32:38 and the direct route to it was through Ain-al-Tamur,
32:41 but attacking the fort of Anbar would have been more unexpected so,
32:45 in late June of 633 Khalid left half of his troops
32:50 in al-Hirah and marched west towards Anbar with a 10 thousand strong army.
32:56 Anbar would become the first Arab attack across the Euphrates river.
33:01 The details of the engagement that happened here are unclear,
33:05 but it seems that Khalid’s decision to attack Anbar surprised his opponents,
33:10 and the leader of the garrison, Sheerzad,
33:13 was forced to surrender after the Arab archers showed their effectiveness.
33:19 Then the Caliphate’s raiding parties approached the town
33:22 of Ain-al-Tamur from the direction of al-Hirah,
33:24 so when Khalid engaged the Sassanid troops,
33:27 mostly made up of Christian Arabs from the west,
33:30 in July, he was able to win with relative ease.
33:34 The leader of the Christian Arabs was taken prisoner and then executed,
33:39 and the city surrendered to the Muslims.
33:44 Events of the next few months between
33:46 July and September are shrouded in mystery,
33:48 as some sources claim that Khalid was staying in Anbar and Ain-al-Tamur,
33:52 slowly setting up the administration of the newly acquired region,
33:56 which seems uncharacteristically passive for him.
33:59 Others claim that the last 2 remnants of the apostate
34:03 activity of the Ridda Wars were to the south,
34:06 so Khalid moved most of his non-garrisoned troops towards Dawmat al-Jandal,
34:11 and helped his fellow Caliphate general,
34:14 Iyad ibn Ghanm, defeat the rebels in the region.
34:18 This inactivity or absence gave some time to the Sassanids,
34:22 and they started recruiting and concentrating 5
34:25 armies in the area between Muzayyah and Husaid.
34:28 Qaqa bin Amr, who was left to command the garrison at al-Hirah,
34:32 ordered the raiding parties in central Iraq and the garrisons of Anbar
34:36 and Ain-Al-Tamur to take positions to the south of the Sassanid forces,
34:40 delay them as much as possible,
34:43 and not allow these 4 small armies to unite into one force.
34:49 At the end of September Khalid returned to al-Hirah
34:52 alongside the troops he picked up around Dawmat al-Jandal,
34:55 and ordered the Qaqa bin Amr and Abu Laila to lead
34:59 portions of the garrison to Husaid and Khanafis respectively and take command,
35:04 while his troops rested in the city.
35:07 Apparently small Muslim and Sassanid armies fought minor battles in October,
35:12 and the Sassanids suffered minor defeats,
35:14 which compelled them to retreat towards Muzayyah.
35:20 Khalid now had an open route to the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon,
35:24 but the Sassanid army at Muzayyah, and the concentrations of the Christian Arabs
35:28 in the area between Saniyy and Zumail, were still a threat,
35:33 so the Caliphate commander decided against attacking Ctesiphon.
35:36 The main Sassanid army at Muzayyah probably considered its position to be safe
35:41 since it would be difficult to attack
35:44 them without going through Saniyy and Zumail.
35:48 At the same time, Khalid knew that attacking the majority light cavalry Arab
35:54 Christians could push them to the north to unite with the troops at Muzayyah,
35:58 so Khalid devised a plan.
36:00 His army was already divided into three corps and they moved
36:04 directly against the Persians using the desert to avoid Saniyy and Zumail.
36:08 This was technically very difficult, as all three corps had to not
36:13 only bypass the enemy armies without being detected,
36:15 but also arrive at the decided location simultaneously.
36:20 It was risky, but the possible reward was also high.
36:26 Everything worked as planned.
36:27 Khalid’s corps converged on the target at the same time,
36:31 and during one of the nights in the first week of November,
36:35 his 20 thousand attacked the sleeping Sassanid army of comparable size.
36:39 The latter was not expecting this attack
36:42 and the army of the Caliphate scored an easy victory,
36:47 killing more than 10 thousand Sassanid warriors.
36:51 After that defeating a smaller Christian Arab force seemed easy,
36:55 but instead of confronting them head-on,
36:58 Khalid repeated his 3-pronged maneuver, to avoid the losses.
37:01 The Muslims suffered minimal losses,
37:03 while the Christian Arabs lost more than half of their army.
37:07 Apparently, a few recent Muslim converts were among the killed,
37:11 and their families sent an appeal to the Caliph Abu Bakr to punish Khalid.
37:17 This rejected appeal was sent through the future Caliph Umar,
37:20 and will become important for our story down the line.
37:26 Khalid’s mobility and the inability
37:28 of his opponents to consolidate their forces meant
37:31 that the region between Muzayyah and al-Hirah
37:34 was now under the control of the Caliphate.
37:37 We have sparse information on the early administration of these lands.
37:41 The Muslim sources claim that while the Persians living
37:44 in the cities were often taken captive and enslaved,
37:47 the local Arab population was forced to pay the Jizya tax,
37:51 but was otherwise allowed a degree of autonomy and even freedom of worship.
37:57 More raids were sent across the Euphrates in the next month,
38:02 while Khalid was contemplating what his next move should be.
38:06 Attacking Ctesiphon was still dangerous,
38:08 as that would have stretched the supply lines too much.
38:11 That made an attack on the only Sassanid target
38:15 in the area- the city of Firaz- the only option.
38:19 Firaz was right on the border of the Sassanid and Eastern Roman empires.
38:23 Khalid and his 20 thousand reached the area in December.
38:28 Once again, the sources are conflicted, but a few details that have reached
38:34 our times allow us to form a coherent timeline.
38:37 We know that the local Sassanid and Roman garrisons
38:40 united their strength on the north side of the Euphrates,
38:44 while Khalid held the crossing on the other side.
38:47 Despite the fact that the Muslim sources
38:50 state that the united Roman-Sassanid force was large,
38:53 it is fair to assume that neither empire could have a large force in the area,
38:58 since the Sassanids needed these troops in central Iraq,
39:01 while the Romans were concentrating their forces on the crucial coastal
39:05 areas and urban centers already being raided by the smaller Muslim armies.
39:10 Even with a united force and the inclusion of the local Arab tribes,
39:15 the allies led by the Sassanid commander, Hormozd Jadhuyih,
39:19 probably had between 15 and 25 thousand troops.
39:23 For 5 or 6 weeks the armies remained opposite each other,
39:29 as neither side had a safe place to cross the river.
39:32 It seems that sometime in the third week of January,
39:35 Khalid slightly retreated from the positions he held,
39:38 perhaps baiting his counterpart into attacking.
39:41 Indeed, the allied force crossed the river and formed up against the Muslims.
39:48 Both sides had a similar disposition with infantry
39:52 in the center and cavalry on the wings.
39:55 The allied army charged the Muslims,
39:57 probably hopeful that their heavier equipment would give them an advantage.
40:01 Slowly but surely, this charge pushed Khalid’s lines back.
40:06 Simultaneously, the Muslim general ordered
40:08 the cavalry units from the second rank
40:11 to leave the main body and take position to the far left.
40:17 The Roman-Sassanid army continued to advance
40:19 and the Muslims retreated even further.
40:22 Khalid’s detached force was ordered to take the bridge
40:25 and then attack the allies from the rear.
40:28 This maneuver was successful, as Hormozd Jadhuyih’s army immediately
40:32 started losing cohesion- the allies thought
40:35 that there was another big Muslim army that took the bridge,
40:39 and would soon surround them.
40:42 Simultaneously, Khalid’s main force started their counter-attack,
40:46 and those units of the allied army not
40:49 killed on the spot started routing towards the northeast.
40:52 A certain number managed to swim across the river,
40:55 but more than half of the allied army was killed.
40:59 Khalid lost a few hundred from his ranks.
41:04 Khalid was about to attack deeper into Persian territory,
41:07 but he soon after received a letter from the Caliph, Abu Bakr.
41:12 The letter ordered him to cease his attacks on the Sassanids
41:18 and to move into Syria to battle the Romans.
41:21 So, Khalid and a small contingent of his army prepared to move west.
41:26 As with the Mesopotamian invasions,
41:29 there had probably been no better opportunity for a strike into Roman lands,
41:34 as the destructive quarter-century long conflict from 602
41:38 to 628 had undermined crucial defences in both regions.
41:42 The Roman east, with all its religious, cultural,
41:47 financial and strategic significance, was now dangerously vulnerable.
41:54 During 633, the Muslims sent four separate corps to invade Palestine,
41:59 in addition to the areas around the Sea of Galilee,
42:03 the River Jordan and the Dead Sea.
42:05 Though they achieved success,
42:06 assaults on the large urban settlements of the region
42:10 could not be considered until reinforcements were brought up.
42:13 So, both for the additional troops and for Khalid’s expertise in warfare,
42:18 Abu Bakr sent the order for him to move west.
42:24 To save time and to bypass Roman defences,
42:27 the Muslim general chose a more dangerous route through an especially desolate,
42:32 waterless stretch of the Syrian desert, much to the alarm of his sub-commanders.
42:38 In order to survive, it is reported that Khalid, in his ingenuitive way,
42:43 ordered 20 camels be forced to drink large amounts of water
42:47 so that they could be used as makeshift storage tanks.
42:51 The beasts were then periodically slaughtered
42:53 along the journey when nourishment was needed,
42:57 and the water was then harvested from the camels.
43:02 After five grueling days of marching through this desolate landscape,
43:06 the 9,000 strong Muslim army emerged at Suwa.
43:09 Then, they swiftly inflicted a minor defeat
43:12 on the Roman Arab clients- the Ghassanids- at Marj al-Rahit,
43:17 while they were celebrating easter.
43:19 Proving his strategy correct,
43:21 Khalid’s improbable desert crossing had also neutralised
43:25 the Byzantine defences on the Arabian border.
43:29 Now he turned south, towards the Syrian town of Bosra,
43:34 where the arrival of his reinforcements led to its capture by mid-July of 634.
43:41 Despite this success, the Muslims had little time to celebrate.
43:45 Roman Emperor Heraclius, who was now in Emesa,
43:49 sent his brother Theodore, and an Armenian general named Wardan,
43:54 south towards Ajnadayn, 25 miles southeast of Jerusalem,
43:57 where they began to gather a large army.
44:01 Spies reported this gathering force to the Muslims,
44:04 and the burgeoning Caliphate’s army marched to meet their Byzantine opponents.
44:11 Very few hard facts are known about this battle,
44:14 but we can reconstruct a version of the fight using the available sources.
44:18 Muslim accounts vastly exaggerate the number of Roman troops they faced,
44:23 and it is likely even that the weakened Byzantine forces in Syria- 10,000
44:28 strong and commanded by Wardan and Theodore-
44:32 were outnumbered by the 15,000 Muslims.
44:35 Both armies formed up in extended lines with their camps to the rear,
44:40 and both sides stood ready with three divisions of infantry- right,
44:44 left and centre- while each wing had a cavalry flank guard.
44:48 Behind the Muslim centre was a small reserve,
44:51 and in front of their centre was a small group of champions.
44:56 Before the battle began, a Christian bishop rode over to Khalid’s
45:02 army and attempted to negotiate a Muslim withdrawal.
45:05 However, the Rashidun general simply responded
45:07 by offering the traditional choice- conversion to Islam,
45:11 payment of the Jizya tax, or death in battle.
45:16 The fighting at Ajnadayn began when the Byzantine auxiliary missile units,
45:21 stationed ahead of the main line,
45:23 began to rain arrows and stones on their adversaries.
45:27 As the superior Byzantine ranged units loosed,
45:30 the Muslims suffered losses and were unable to respond.
45:34 However, one Muslim warrior named Dhiraar,
45:37 heavily armoured and brandishing a heavy shield stolen from a Roman soldier,
45:42 marched directly into the arrow fire, shouting his war cry.
45:46 After the hail of missiles ceased, Dhiraar and his entourage of fellow
45:50 champions were met by their Byzantine counterparts,
45:52 and it is said the Muslims got the better of the fighting,
45:58 slaying several Roman elite warriors and two generals.
46:02 As the dueling came to an end, the Rashidun army attacked,
46:06 and the subsequent fighting was a slogging match with little maneuver,
46:11 and lasted until nightfall.
46:12 The next day, Byzantine commander Wardan attempted to lure
46:16 Khalid into a trap by offering a parley,
46:19 but the plan went wrong and he was instead killed by the fearsome Dhiraar.
46:25 Aiming to exploit the confusion which this loss
46:29 of leadership caused in the Roman ranks,
46:32 the Arabs attacked again with their flanks in front and centre behind.
46:36 After savage hand to hand fighting, which exhausted and depleted both armies,
46:42 Khalid deployed his 4,000 strong reserve in the centre
46:45 and drove deep wedges through the Roman formations in this area.
46:50 Unable to withstand the pressure any further, their line collapsed.
46:57 After this defeat, Emperor Heraclius sent
47:00 his brother Theodore back to Constantinople in disgrace.
47:03 At the same time, the remnants of his shattered army,
47:07 in addition to the local Roman population,
47:10 withdrew to the apparent safety of the walled cities,
47:14 which subsequently became crowded with refugees.
47:16 Perhaps an omen of things to come,
47:20 Heraclius then retreated with his headquarters further north,
47:22 to the city of Antioch,
47:24 due to the fact that Muslim forces now controlled the countryside and were
47:29 expected to advance on the most prominent urban centre in the area.
47:35 A week after their victory at Ajnadayn,
47:38 the Arab forces began to march north in the direction of Damascus.
47:42 On their way, they had to leave a mounted detachment at the city of Fahl,
47:47 ancient Pella, to keep the Roman garrison there
47:50 tied down while the main army marched onward.
47:53 After this was done,
47:55 the Muslims reached Yaqusa on the southern bank of the Yarmouk River.
47:59 Here he was opposed by a blocking
48:01 force of Byzantine troops on the northern shore.
48:04 They were in no real position to offer serious permanent resistance,
48:09 but they were there to delay the Muslims,
48:11 and to allow the great city to further prepare for a coming siege.
48:15 After a short battle here and another battle against 12,000 Romans
48:20 at the Yellow Meadow- otherwise known
48:23 as Marj-us-Suffar- the road was clear to Damascus.
48:29 When the invading Arabs neared the city,
48:31 the Muslim commander realised that his forces
48:34 were not numerous enough to encircle it entirely.
48:37 Instead, each of the Muslim sub-commanders stationed
48:40 their contingents outside of the city’s various gates,
48:44 fully blockading the crucial thoroughfares by August 21st,
48:47 with a total of around 20,000 soldiers-
48:51 16,000 infantry and 4,000 ‘mobile guard’ cavalry.
48:54 Damascus immediately began starving due to the lack
48:58 of supplies and unpreparedness for a siege,
49:01 while the Muslims were well supplied due
49:03 to their domination of the fertile and productive local countryside.
49:09 As the swift Arab light horsemen were relatively usel ess in a siege,
49:15 Khalid Ibn al-Walid sent a few hundred of them to the Eagle’s Pass to the north,
49:20 in order to act as scouts.
49:22 Here, they watched for any Byzantine relief
49:24 force aiming to pass through this choke point.
49:27 The other half stayed near the city as a reserve,
49:30 ready to help repel any sortie made by the Romans.
49:35 In Antioch, the Roman Emperor learned of the siege
49:39 and sent a 12,000 strong relief force,
49:42 along with plentiful supplies, to help Damascus on September 9th.
49:46 When this force reached the narrow pass where the Muslim scouts were stationed,
49:52 it pushed the cavalry back.
49:53 One of these scouts managed to send notice to al-Walid and he,
49:58 gambling that repelling the relief attempt was
50:01 more important than maintaining too tight a blockade,
50:03 took the remaining cavalry at night to the Eagle Pass,
50:07 where he managed to rout the Romans.
50:09 Despite their apparent success,
50:11 the besieging Arab forces were now stretched thin by Khalid’s withdrawal.
50:16 Historians believe that if the garrison’s general Thomas
50:20 had chosen to launch a sortie at this point,
50:23 the Byzantines could have broken the siege,
50:25 but they did not and therefore lost the opportunity.
50:28 It seems that al-Walid realised he had put the siege in danger with his gamble
50:34 and he hurriedly returned to Damascus after
50:36 he attained victory at the Eagle’s Pass.
50:42 As the garrison and Thomas realised that no relief was coming,
50:46 morale among the defenders of Damascus became weaker and weaker;
50:50 it was clear action would be needed.
50:52 So, the Emperor’s son in law decided to launch a counteroffensive of his own.
50:58 For this first attack,
51:00 Thomas decided to concentrate on one specific section of the city,
51:04 drawing men together from all sectors of the city towards the Gate of Thomas,
51:10 where he was faced by around 5,000 soldiers under Shurahbil.
51:15 After the defending soldiers gathered in the area,
51:18 the Byzantine commander began his sortie by ordering his archers
51:22 to rain down a constant stream of arrows against their enemy,
51:25 to which the Arabs responded accordingly.
51:28 Using the cover granted by the Roman missile units,
51:31 the infantry rushed through the Gate
51:33 of Thomas and fanned out into battle formation,
51:36 with Thomas himself leading the assault.
51:39 During the subsequent skirmish, it is reported that Thomas both broke through
51:44 a section of the Muslim line and almost killed Shurahbil,
51:47 but he was then shot in the eye by the widow of a slain Arab soldier.
51:53 Despite some level of success, the sortie had failed to break the siege
51:57 and the Byzantine forces retreated into the city.
52:00 As they did, it is said that the injured Roman leader
52:05 swore to take a thousand eyes in return for his own.
52:10 That night, another plan to break the siege was devised by the defenders.
52:15 As a concentrated attack on one of the gates had failed,
52:19 Thomas would this time launch simultaneous strikes from four of the gates.
52:23 Two large forces were gathered at the eastern gate, where Khalid was in command,
52:28 and at the Gate of Thomas,
52:30 where the main attack against exhausted enemy units would be undertaken.
52:34 The other forces at the Small Gate and the Jabiyah
52:38 Gate were designed to pin their besiegers in place.
52:42 As Thomas sounded the attack, a grinding battle took place at the Jabiyah gate,
52:49 with both sides suffering many losses.
52:51 After a while of this slaughter, Abu Ubaidah and his forces at this gate
52:56 managed to doggedly repulse the Byzantine assault,
52:59 driving them back into the city.
53:02 The situation was far more serious at the Eastern gate,
53:07 where the Byzantines had a larger force.
53:10 This larger contingent of defenders managed to break
53:13 the Arab infantry and drive them back,
53:15 but Khalid himself then arrived with 400 elite mobile guard cavalry,
53:20 and with them, struck the Roman flank.
53:23 This weakened the sortie irreversibly and the defenders
53:28 were slowly driven back inside the gates.
53:32 Once again however, the worst of the fighting
53:34 once again occurred at the Gate of Thomas.
53:36 Here, the Byzantine forces were led
53:39 by the one-eyed Thomas himself and, after intense fighting,
53:42 there was still no weakness in the Muslim ranks.
53:45 At this point, the Roman commander seems to have
53:48 realised there was no point in continuing the grinding melee,
53:52 and commanded a slow, steady withdrawal.
53:54 All the while, the Arab archers continuously showered his men with arrows.
54:00 This was the last effort by Thomas to break the Muslim siege,
54:04 and it had failed with the loss of thousands of men.
54:07 With this defeat, he could no longer afford any more attempts at a breakout.
54:15 A Greek in Damascus known as ‘Jonah the Lover’, in Arab sources,
54:19 climbed over the wall and informed Khalid
54:21 that on the night of the 18th of September,
54:24 there would be a Christian religious ceremony
54:26 which would leave the walls relatively unguarded.
54:30 He supposedly betrayed his city because his marriage
54:33 to his fiancee had been interrupted by the siege and, frustrated,
54:37 asked for the Muslims’ help in obtaining said bride.
54:41 This man soon converted to Islam, but the details are incredibly vague.
54:48 Whatever the case, details of the opportunity led Khalid to borrow ladders
54:53 from a local monastery and to purchase ropes in order to form an assault party.
54:59 That night, a 100 strong contingent, led by the Muslim general himself,
55:04 climbed the walls, dropped into the city
55:07 and killed the guards at the Eastern Gate.
55:10 Then the attackers flung open the gate and let the remainder
55:14 of Muslim forces at the Eastern Gate inside the city.
55:17 The other Byzantine detachments stationed elsewhere were unaware
55:21 of this surprising development and, instead of helping, stayed at their posts.
55:26 At the same time, Khalid began to fight his way toward the centre of the city.
55:34 Now attempting to save the city for a final time,
55:37 Thomas sent envoys to Abu Ubaidah at the western Jabiya gate offering
55:42 surrender and a payment of Jizya in exchange for a capitulation by terms.
55:47 This was given by the supposedly peace-loving Abu Ubaidah.
55:52 However, Khalid, who had finished slaughtering
55:54 his way to the centre of the city,
55:57 was furious that a surrender had been allowed even
56:00 though the city had technically been taken by storm.
56:03 Nevertheless, the many Muslim unit commanders agreed that a surrender
56:07 would be honoured- Khalid reluctantly accepted this judgement.
56:11 The fall of Damascus was a shock for the Byzantines,
56:16 as they probably thought that the Muslim attack on the region
56:20 was a massive raid and not a full-on invasion.
56:23 Syria and Egypt were the most important provinces of the empire,
56:28 and the fall of the former would mean that the land route to the latter was cut,
56:32 and it was now also vulnerable to being occupied.
56:36 Emperor Heraclius’ couldn’t allow that, so he started sending orders
56:40 to the provinces in order to bring in more reinforcements to the region.
56:46 Simultaneously, the political situation in the caliphate had also changed,
56:50 as caliph Abu Bakr passed away in late August of that year,
56:55 and was replaced by Umar.
56:57 The new caliph immediately started
56:59 implementing administrational and military reforms,
57:02 creating new administrative positions in the provinces,
57:05 and changing the formation of the army from the one
57:09 created on the tribal principle to a more centralized one.
57:12 Immediately after his ascension, Umar sent a letter to the army,
57:16 reliving Khalid of his post and appointing Abu Ubaidah in his place.
57:20 We don’t know if this was part of the reforms or, as some sources claim,
57:25 it happened due to the previous animosity
57:28 between the new caliph and the general.
57:31 In any case, it seems that before the messengers could reach Damascus,
57:37 the 3 day-peace the Muslims promised Thomas had passed,
57:41 and Khalid, alongside 5 thousand cavalry,
57:44 guided by Jonah, started pursuing the Romans.
57:47 Thomas had around 10 thousand people with him,
57:51 both soldiers and citizens of Damascus,
57:53 but instead of finding refuge in one of the nearby towns,
57:57 this group was heading towards Antioch,
57:59 and that allowed the Arab cavalry to catch up
58:03 to them to the south of Latakia sometime in late September.
58:09 The details of the engagement now known
58:12 as the battle of Maraj-al-Debaj are scarce, but according to the Muslim sources,
58:16 a cavalry detachment of a few hundred caught
58:19 up and took position to the south of Thomas.
58:22 The Romans immediately noticed them,
58:24 deciding that they would be able to defeat this small group with ease.
58:29 To the surprise of the Romans,
58:30 as soon as the Arab cavalry and Roman infantry started fighting,
58:34 another group of Khalid’s horsemen appeared to the east.
58:37 Although the Romans had thousands of refugees in their midst,
58:41 they still outnumbered the Muslims,
58:43 and a portion of their infantry formed up to face the new threat.
58:49 However, a half hour after the battle was joined here,
58:52 a third group of Arab cavalry started charging from the north,
58:56 and the Romans barely got into a defensive
58:59 formation in time to prevent it from breaking through.
59:03 Thomas’ situation was becoming dangerous,
59:05 as the route to Damascus was now cut off,
59:08 but the Romans were still fighting on an equal footing,
59:11 and the battle raged on three sides.
59:15 An hour later Khalid himself appeared to the west
59:19 with the largest part of his army and charged the Romans.
59:23 Despite the fact that Thomas managed to get a few units to this front,
59:28 they were swept aside almost immediately,
59:30 and the Arab cavalry was now deep inside the Roman formation.
59:34 Thomas was soon killed.
59:36 The Roman resistance continued for some time, but was broken within an hour.
59:41 Some soldiers and refugees were able to slip away to the north,
59:45 but the majority of the Romans were either killed or captured.
59:48 Khalid lost just a few hundred troops.
59:53 Immediately afterwards,
59:54 the Arabs headed to Damascus and reached it in early October.
1:00:00 Apparently, Abu Ubaidah already received the messenger from the caliph,
1:00:05 and informed Khalid of his demotion.
1:00:07 According to sources, the latter accepted it without much protest,
1:00:11 but it did change the flow of the Caliphate’s expansion in the region.
1:00:16 Abu Ubaidah was much slower and more deliberate than Khalid.
1:00:20 Umar preferred a more hands-on approach to the armies,
1:00:23 often issuing orders after every engagement,
1:00:25 which slowed down the campaigns due to the distance to Medina.
1:00:30 He even placed informers in the army,
1:00:32 which made Abu Ubaidah even more careful in his decisions.
1:00:36 At the same time, the Muslims received some reinforcements,
1:00:40 bringing the total number of their troops to 30 thousand.
1:00:46 However, that wasn’t the only change in command made by Umar,
1:00:50 which brings us back to Iraq,
1:00:52 where Khalid left Muthanna in charge of a 9-thousand-strong army in 634.
1:00:58 For the next few months Muthanna,
1:01:00 whose numbers weren’t enough to conquer any more lands,
1:01:03 implemented the tactic of raids in order
1:01:06 to keep the superior Sassanid forces at bay.
1:01:09 The details are lost to time, but the Sassanids,
1:01:12 who were used to fighting in pitched battles,
1:01:14 were having a difficult time containing the raids,
1:01:18 and one of them even reached Babylon.
1:01:22 The best Sassanid commander, Rostam,
1:01:24 who basically controlled the court of the 10-year-old shah Yezdegerd,
1:01:28 was reluctant to leave the capital, worried that it might incite another revolt.
1:01:34 But Muthanna’s raids were too dangerous, so the general decided to take command
1:01:39 over the forces in Iraq and marched south,
1:01:42 supported by the Sassanid generals Bahman,
1:01:45 Jaban and Narsi, and the Armenian noble Jalinus.
1:01:50 Even before this multipronged counterattack began,
1:01:53 Muthanna knew that he needed reinforcements,
1:01:56 and sent a messenger to the capital.
1:01:59 By August this messenger was in Medina, just in time for the ascension of Umar.
1:02:05 The new caliph appointed Abu Ubaid, not to be confused with Abu Ubaidah,
1:02:09 to command in Iraq, and gave him 6 thousand or so troops to reinforce Muthanna.
1:02:18 The latter was now informed of the Sassanid counterattack,
1:02:21 and when Jaban got close to al-Hirah in late September,
1:02:24 the Arab commander abandoned it, retreating to Khaffan.
1:02:28 By early October Abu Ubaid joined him,
1:02:30 bringing the total strength of the Caliphate’s force to more than 15 thousand,
1:02:35 a similar number to that commanded by Jaban,
1:02:37 who crossed the Euphrates and was now at Namariq.
1:02:41 The details of the battle of Namariq are not clear,
1:02:44 but it seems that Jaban suffered a minor
1:02:48 defeat and was forced to retreat beyond the river.
1:02:52 Abu Ubaid decided to fight the approaching Sassanid armies in detail,
1:02:57 and marched north towards Kaskar,
1:02:59 hoping to defeat the smaller army under Narsi and knock him out.
1:03:03 Although the Muslims won again,
1:03:05 the Persian army managed to retreat mostly intact, and Abu Ubaid,
1:03:10 who knew that Jalinus might cut his retreat to al-Hirah,
1:03:13 moved his army double-time to prevent this from happening.
1:03:16 Indeed, the army of the Caliphate reached the city before Jalinus blocked them.
1:03:21 The closest Sassanid armies to al-Hirah were those of Jalinus and Bahman.
1:03:26 A letter from Rostam ordered them to unite their troops,
1:03:29 cross the Euphrates and attack the city.
1:03:34 In late October of 634 their united armies,
1:03:38 numbering around 20 thousand, attempted to force the river near Kufa,
1:03:42 but Abu Ubayd and his 15 thousand were able to halt this crossing.
1:03:47 For some time, the armies stood in front of each other screaming insults,
1:03:52 until a Sassanid emissary approached Abu Ubayd with Bahman’s message:
1:03:56 “Either you cross over to our side, and we shall let you,
1:04:00 or we shall cross over to your side,
1:04:03 and you must let us!" Although his officers protested it,
1:04:07 Abu Ubayd was eager to cross and fight in a pitched battle,
1:04:11 so he ordered his army to do that.
1:04:14 Seeing this, Bahman repositioned his troops slightly to the north,
1:04:17 allowing the Muslims to move across and form up.
1:04:21 Unlike previous battles, the Persians had a dozen or so elephants,
1:04:25 and they were placed in the vanguard with heavy
1:04:27 cavalry between them and the infantry in the second echelon.
1:04:31 Abu Ubayd’s army crossed the river in 2 hours and started to get into formation,
1:04:36 once again with horsemen in front and the footmen in the second line.
1:04:43 Bahman continued to wait,
1:04:44 and it was Abu Ubayd who gave the order to his soldiers to attack.
1:04:49 The Arab cavalry galloped forward,
1:04:51 but their horses were scared of the elephants,
1:04:54 probably seeing them for the first time,
1:04:56 and the charge stopped before it managed to reach the Sassanid lines.
1:05:00 In response Bahman moved his archers to the front
1:05:04 and commanded them to shoot at the retreating Arabs.
1:05:07 The volleys killed and wounded many,
1:05:09 and when the leaders of the army of the caliphate
1:05:11 attempted to move their archers forward to start skirmishing,
1:05:15 the whole Arab line became chaotic and disjointed.
1:05:20 The Persian commander used that and directed
1:05:23 his cavalry and elephants to attack.
1:05:26 While the cavalry was mostly stopped,
1:05:28 the elephants easily created wedges everywhere they struck.
1:05:31 The Arab army was slowly, but surely forced back.
1:05:35 The presence of the elephants was panicking the horses,
1:05:39 so in order to stabilize the front,
1:05:41 Abu Ubayd commanded his horsemen to dismount.
1:05:44 He led a group of warriors himself,
1:05:47 killing a few elephants and their entourages.
1:05:49 However, another elephant was sent towards the Arab
1:05:53 leader and soon he was killed by the beast.
1:05:57 Many other Muslim leaders were killed and their army started fleeing in chaos,
1:06:02 and the Sassanids started chasing them.
1:06:04 Muthanna was one of the last remaining commanders,
1:06:07 and he achieved some degree of discipline and organization at the crossing,
1:06:12 leading the rearguard and allowing the remainder of the army to retreat.
1:06:16 He was badly wounded during the fight, but his actions saved thousands.
1:06:20 The battle of the Bridge was the first battle the Persians won in this war.
1:06:26 More than 10 thousand Muslims lay dead,
1:06:30 while the Sassanid casualties were around 2 thousand.
1:06:34 Over the following weeks, Bahman didn’t pursue Muthanna,
1:06:37 who withdrew to Ullais, and returned to Ctesiphon.
1:06:41 Some sources claim that there was another rebellion against Rostam,
1:06:45 others that Bahman was sent to deal with the Turkic raiders.
1:06:49 The sources are also conflicted on the events that happened
1:06:53 in Iraq later in 634 and then in 635,
1:06:56 with some chronicles asserting that Muthanna’s army
1:06:59 deserted and he abandoned all the previous conquests,
1:07:02 and others stating that the Sassanids sent a large army under Mihran,
1:07:06 and it was decisively defeated at Buwaib in April of 635.
1:07:11 In any case, this lull in action allows us to return to the Levant.
1:07:18 The Muslim army was getting used to the new command structure,
1:07:22 and using this pause, Heraclius was bringing more forces to the region,
1:07:26 by land to Antioch and, as the Romans had complete naval control,
1:07:31 by sea to the various ports.
1:07:33 The second group was to be commanded by Theodore Trithyrius,
1:07:37 the treasurer of the Empire,
1:07:39 and in December of 634 it started assembling to the west of Pella,
1:07:44 which was the perfect place to launch an eastward attack,
1:07:47 cutting the line of communications with Arabia.
1:07:49 It is not clear how big this army was.
1:07:53 Spies had informed Abu Ubaidah about this threat in December,
1:07:57 and in early January of 635 he marched south towards Pella,
1:08:02 leaving a corps under Yazeed behind.
1:08:05 As soon as the small garrison of Pella
1:08:09 learned of this, it retreated towards the main army,
1:08:12 flooding the river Jordan and creating a swamp-like
1:08:15 territory dividing the Byzantine and Arab armies.
1:08:19 After occupying Pella,
1:08:20 the Arab army commanders decided to move towards Baisan to engage Theodore.
1:08:25 They didn’t know the terrain of this area well,
1:08:28 so soon after the vanguard led by Khalid got stuck in the mud,
1:08:32 and the Muslims were forced to withdraw back to Pella.
1:08:37 Theodore waited for a week or so,
1:08:40 hoping that his foes would become less vigilant.
1:08:43 On the 23rd of January he marched his troops towards
1:08:47 the river with a plan to attack the Muslim camp at night.
1:08:51 However, the Muslims had placed scout troops along the river,
1:08:55 so as soon as the Romans started crossing,
1:08:57 the Arab camp was informed of it and started to form up for battle.
1:09:03 We have only limited details on the battle,
1:09:07 which, according to the Arab sources,
1:09:09 raged through the night and most of the next day.
1:09:12 The Romans were able to push their counterparts
1:09:15 back to the camp using their slightly larger numbers.
1:09:17 According to one chronicle, Theodore was wounded in one of the charges,
1:09:22 and the resultant loss of morale made the Romans retreat.
1:09:26 When they began crossing a marsh,
1:09:28 the Arabs used this to their advantage: they attacked, killing thousands.
1:09:34 The rest returned to Baisan.
1:09:38 Whatever was left of the Roman army dispersed
1:09:41 into various garrisons to the west and south,
1:09:44 while Theodore returned to Antioch by sea.
1:09:46 There was no army to fight back against Abu Ubaidah,
1:09:50 so he divided his army into corps to conquer as many cities as possible.
1:09:55 Shurahbil took Baisan and then Tiberias.
1:09:58 Afterwards Shurahbil and Amr bin Al Aas went south,
1:10:01 while Abu Ubaidah and Khalid marched north.
1:10:04 By the March of 635 the Muslims were in control
1:10:07 of the while region to the south of Beirut,
1:10:11 save for Caesarea, which withstood a siege reinforced by Heraclius,
1:10:15 and Jerusalem, which had the strongest fortifications.
1:10:20 Heraclius probably thought that the Muslims will be
1:10:24 busy with the sieges and he has some time,
1:10:26 so he was busy recruiting in order to counter-attack in 636.
1:10:30 Simultaneously the alliance with Yezdegerd was established Heraclius
1:10:35 married his granddaughter to the young Sassanid shah.
1:10:38 It was planned that the Persians will attack the Muslim positions from the east.
1:10:45 Meanwhile, Abu Ubaidah’s 15 thousand were moving north
1:10:49 and by November took over the territory between Damascus and Emesa,
1:10:54 putting this major city in danger.
1:10:56 Heraclius rushed reinforcements,
1:10:57 which brought the strength commanded of the garrison
1:11:01 commanded by Harbees to 8 thousand.
1:11:05 In early December the city was besieged.
1:11:09 Harbees hoped that the Arabs,
1:11:11 who weren’t used to the cold will not be able to sustain the siege for too long.
1:11:17 At the same time, Emesa was a well-fortified city,
1:11:20 with the walls 1 mile in diameter and a moat
1:11:23 surrounding it and a citadel within the walls,
1:11:26 so the defenders’ situation wasn’t hopeless.
1:11:28 The Muslims weren’t strong at the art of siegecraft at that point
1:11:33 and the lack of siege weapons made the assault impossible.
1:11:37 So, for weeks and then months the sides did nothing but exchange arrow volleys.
1:11:43 By March of 636 winter began to subside,
1:11:48 and it was becoming clear that the Arab army is planning to starve the Emesans.
1:11:53 The food supplies were getting dangerously low,
1:11:55 so Harbees decided to sally out and kill as many foes as possible,
1:12:00 believing that it might end the siege.
1:12:03 He left small units to defend the walls
1:12:05 and concentrated more than 5 thousand near the southern gates.
1:12:09 Initially this sortie was very successful–
1:12:12 the Muslims were caught unprepared and were outnumbered
1:12:16 2-to-1, which led to hundreds of casualties
1:12:19 and forced them to retreat under Harbees’ pressure.
1:12:22 However, Khalid managed to get his cavalry together,
1:12:25 arriving to the area of battle shortly after.
1:12:28 The numbers were now on the Arab side,
1:12:30 and this was enough for the Romans to break off
1:12:32 the fight and return to the safety of the walls.
1:12:37 The defenders were jubilant and not at all surprised when
1:12:41 the Muslim army gathered to the south and started withdrawing.
1:12:45 Harbees decided that he can score a brilliant victory and immediately
1:12:48 marched out of the city with the same 5 thousand.
1:12:51 He caught up to the retreating Muslims a few miles to the south,
1:12:56 but as soon as his mounted troops started charging,
1:12:59 Abu Ubaidah’s units turned back and attacked.
1:13:02 Few minutes later the Romans were surrounded from all sides.
1:13:06 Harbees was killed and only a few hundred of his soldiers escaped.
1:13:10 After the short battle, the Arabs returned to the city
1:13:14 and the garrison which was left leaderless surrendered.
1:13:18 Meanwhile, to the north,
1:13:21 Emperor Heraclius has been preparing an army to counter-attack for some time.
1:13:27 Various sources provide numbers of this army ranging
1:13:30 from a very modest 30 thousand to the fantastical 400 thousand.
1:13:34 It should be noted that the chroniclers who wrote on this war
1:13:38 lived at least one or two generations after the events,
1:13:42 so their depictions weren’t based on first or even secondhand accounts.
1:13:45 We know that at the peak of the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628,
1:13:50 Heraclius was able to raise an army of 70
1:13:54 thousand for his attack on the Sassanid empire,
1:13:57 but that army had a considerable Göktürk element.
1:14:01 At the same, the Byzantines had to keep some forces in Italy,
1:14:05 Balkans and the Caucasus in order to check the encroaching Lombards,
1:14:09 Slavs, Avars, and Khazars.
1:14:11 In our opinion, the Byzantines outnumbered their opponents at least 2 to 1,
1:14:17 but considering the logistical situation in the area of operation,
1:14:21 their numbers were below 100 thousand.
1:14:24 Heraclius, who was now in his 60s, suffered from edema,
1:14:30 so he wasn’t going to lead the army,
1:14:32 predominantly made of Greeks, Armenians and Christian Arabs, personally.
1:14:36 Instead, the army was divided into 5 columns, commanded by 5 generals.
1:14:42 The plan was to engage and surround the Muslim forces around Emesa,
1:14:47 and use another column to take Damascus and prevent the troops
1:14:50 of the Caliphate operating to the south from reinforcing the northern group.
1:14:56 The army left Antioch in the middle of June.
1:15:00 Unfortunately for the Romans,
1:15:02 a few days before their leading column reached Emesa,
1:15:05 the Arabs learned about the counter-attack,
1:15:07 either from their spies or from the prisoners they took while raiding Shaizar,
1:15:12 so Abu Ubaidah ordered his corps to fall back.
1:15:16 Initially, the idea was to retreat to Damascus to preserve this conquest,
1:15:20 but the city was surrounded by open space that would
1:15:23 have given an army with superior numbers an advantage,
1:15:27 so the Arabs started retreating towards Jabiya,
1:15:29 which was located between the river Yarmouk to the south,
1:15:33 lake Tiberias to the west, and the desert to the east.
1:15:36 Messengers were sent to the southern group
1:15:39 with the order to march towards Jabiya.
1:15:42 The Byzantines, who barely missed an opportunity
1:15:46 to crush their opponent around Emesa,
1:15:49 started chasing the Arabs, slowly coalescing after taking the city.
1:15:53 They retook Damascus and continued south,
1:15:56 and sometime in the middle of July 636,
1:15:59 their vanguard made contact with the Caliphate’s
1:16:03 rearguard to the north of Jabiya.
1:16:06 The Arab commanders, who initially liked their position,
1:16:10 now understood that they might be attacked from the southwest–
1:16:13 via the narrow passage between lake Tiberias and the river Yarmouk.
1:16:17 The Byzantine field army could have engaged them from the front,
1:16:21 while the garrison of Caesarea might have attacked using the passage.
1:16:25 Therefore, Abu Ubaidah left Khalid in command
1:16:28 of the rearguard and started repositioning his troops.
1:16:31 The latter engaged the Byzantine vanguard,
1:16:34 led by the light Christian Arab horsemen,
1:16:37 allowing the rest of the army to move unharassed.
1:16:42 The Muslims encamped in the eastern part of the Plain of Yarmouk.
1:16:45 Some distance to the east of them were
1:16:48 the lava hills stretching from north to east of Azra,
1:16:52 and the mountains of Jabal-ad-Druz.
1:16:54 A few days later, probably in the last days of July,
1:16:57 the Roman army entered the plain and built a fortified camp in its western part.
1:17:03 With the central portion of the plain left unoccupied,
1:17:08 the armies started preparing for battle by scouting the enemy positions.
1:17:12 The sources mention extensive negotiations which continued for weeks,
1:17:16 but the details of the talks are convoluted.
1:17:20 In short, they ended in failure and the battle was inevitable.
1:17:25 According to some sources, the caliph’s reinforcements,
1:17:28 consisting of 5 thousand famous Yemeni archers and a thousand footmen,
1:17:33 who were veterans of the earliest Muslim campaigns in Arabia,
1:17:36 joined the army sometime during this negotiation.
1:17:40 The battlefield was enclosed on its western and southern sides by deep ravines.
1:17:47 To the west, Wadi-ur-Raqqad flowed into the Yarmouk River near Yaqusa.
1:17:51 This stream ran north-east to south-west for 11
1:17:55 miles through a deep ravine with very steep banks.
1:17:58 The ravine was crossable at a few places, but there was only one main crossing,
1:18:03 where the village of Kafir-ul-Ma stands today.
1:18:05 stands today.
1:18:06 South of the battlefield ran the canyon of the Yarmouk River,
1:18:10 while deserts occupied the north and the east of it.
1:18:13 The plain was mostly flat, save for a small hill called Samein.
1:18:19 On the 14th of August, the Roman army moved forward and started forming
1:18:24 up to the east and north of Allan.
1:18:27 It is debated whether the army was commanded by the Armenian
1:18:31 general Vahan or each of the 5 corps had a separate leader.
1:18:35 The Byzantine army positioned itself as follows:
1:18:38 the light Ghassanid cavalry of Jabala was
1:18:41 stretched across the plain as the vanguard,
1:18:44 with the objective of screening the army and skirmishing with the enemy.
1:18:48 Qanateer commanded the left flank, while Gregory was on the right flank,
1:18:52 and 2 central corps were led by Dairjan and Vahan.
1:18:56 The Romans had spear and sword infantry in the first rank,
1:19:00 archers in the second, and cavalry behind them.
1:19:04 Although Abu Ubaidah was the overall commander appointed by the caliph,
1:19:09 sources claim that he allowed Khalid to be the one giving the orders.
1:19:14 The Muslim force matched the widths of the Roman army,
1:19:17 but as it was smaller, its formation wasn’t as deep.
1:19:20 Khalid moved some of his light cavalry to the vanguard to observe the Romans.
1:19:25 The infantry was divided into 4 corps made up of 9 units each,
1:19:30 with infantry in front and the archers behind them.
1:19:33 There were 3 cavalry units behind each flank and center,
1:19:37 while Khalid’s mobile cavalry unit served as a reserve.
1:19:40 The Arab commander’s plan was to defend and tire his foe,
1:19:45 and then counter-attack when possible.
1:19:47 Both armies had a southern flank secured by the river Yarmouk,
1:19:52 while the northern flank bordering the desert
1:19:54 offered a chance to outflank the enemy.
1:19:59 The battle of Yarmouk started on August 15th, 636,
1:20:03 with the Roman light cavalry vanguard moving behind the main army,
1:20:08 mostly reinforcing the left flank cavalry.
1:20:10 The Arab vanguard did the same and joined the main cavalry units.
1:20:15 It is unusual to see a battle fought in this era
1:20:19 which wasn’t started by a clash of light skirmishers,
1:20:22 but the sources didn’t mention this happening,
1:20:25 instead insisting that the champions of both sides dueled for a few hours.
1:20:32 In any case, after the screening forces pulled back,
1:20:35 a third of the Roman infantry advanced across the front at midday.
1:20:40 Soon the Roman footmen clashed with their counterparts,
1:20:43 while the archers in the second rank skirmished,
1:20:46 sending volleys above the heads of their infantry.
1:20:49 The details of this first day are scarce,
1:20:51 but it is possible that the Byzantines decided that a reconnaissance
1:20:55 in force would provide benefits– their attack was slow and lacked determination.
1:21:02 After a few hours of fighting,
1:21:04 they disengaged and returned to their initial positions.
1:21:07 The first day of battle was over
1:21:11 and the sides returned to their respective camps.
1:21:15 At night a few Roman light cavalry units moved forward,
1:21:18 but they were caught by their Arab counterparts and forced back.
1:21:22 These raids were seemingly disjointed and lacked an objective,
1:21:27 as they were not conducted by nearly enough troops to do much damage,
1:21:31 however, they allowed the Romans to form
1:21:33 up in the darkness without alerting the enemy.
1:21:36 The plan was to attack the Muslims as early as possible,
1:21:39 not giving them the opportunity to get into formation.
1:21:43 Indeed, the whole Roman army attacked before dawn;
1:21:46 some sources claim that they knew of the Muslim religious rites- that one
1:21:51 of their prayers happened at this time-
1:21:53 and decided to use it to their advantage.
1:21:58 Unfortunately for the attackers, the same light cavalry patrols who fought them
1:22:02 during the night were ordered to remain in front,
1:22:05 and as soon as the Romans came into contact with these forward units,
1:22:09 the Arabs retreated to their main force
1:22:12 and informed them of the impending attack.
1:22:14 To the surprise of the Romans, their foes managed to prepare for the attack.
1:22:19 However, they had their orders and so the second day of the battle began.
1:22:26 The Roman plan was to tie up the Muslim army’s center and pressure its wings.
1:22:31 To that end, the attack in the middle was relatively passive.
1:22:35 The Byzantine left attacked the Muslim right head-on.
1:22:38 The first two attempts to break through failed,
1:22:41 but the Byzantines had a numerical advantage and used it:
1:22:45 fresh troops moved to the front, and the third attack pushed the Arabs back.
1:22:50 Some of them started retreating towards
1:22:53 their camp and some joined the center-right.
1:22:55 This opened a way for a counterattack by the Arab right-wing cavalry.
1:23:00 Its charge wasn’t strong enough to force the Romans back,
1:23:03 but tied them up for some time, allowing the infantry to retreat.
1:23:08 Soon the cavalry was unable to withstand the pressure and also retreated.
1:23:13 Later Muslim sources mention that the wives of the retreating
1:23:17 warriors shamed them into returning to the battle.
1:23:19 We don’t know if that is true, but the Arab right flank reformed
1:23:25 and started marching towards the approaching enemy.
1:23:29 Meanwhile, the Roman right,
1:23:31 which was probably made of the best heavy infantry in the empire,
1:23:34 was even more successful.
1:23:36 Some sources mention that it was fighting in a testudo formation,
1:23:40 but that is probably an anachronism.
1:23:43 In any case, the first or the second attack
1:23:46 by this group drove the Muslim left flank back,
1:23:49 and they hastily retreated towards the camp.
1:23:52 Similar to what happened on the other side of the battlefield,
1:23:56 the Muslim cavalry attempted to stem the enemy advance with a counterattack,
1:24:00 but it failed, and the horsemen joined their infantry en route to the camp.
1:24:05 The sources once again claim that their wives urged them
1:24:08 to return to the battle and even threw stones at their husbands.
1:24:12 As the Roman right was slower due to its heavier armour,
1:24:16 the Arabs had more time to rearrange their line and move towards the Romans.
1:24:23 An attentive viewer might ask,
1:24:25 why the Byzantines didn’t exploit these breakthroughs
1:24:28 by pouring troops between the gaps in the Muslim formations or by outflanking
1:24:32 the enemy right by widening the front.
1:24:35 In truth, we don’t have answers to these questions,
1:24:38 but it can be assumed that the fresh Muslim cavalry
1:24:41 in the center and in the reserve possibly discouraged the former,
1:24:45 while the latter was dangerous due to the fact that the Arabs had
1:24:50 already used desert terrain numerous times
1:24:52 in the past to outflank the Byzantines.
1:24:55 It was noon, and Khalid had been just watching the battle until that moment,
1:25:01 but seeing the return of the wings spurred him into action,
1:25:04 taking the command of the cavalry in the center.
1:25:07 First, his united cavalry force charged to the right,
1:25:10 and moments after joining up with the right wing, attacked the enemy left.
1:25:16 The Romans didn’t expect an attack from the flank,
1:25:18 and were forced to retreat to their original positions,
1:25:21 losing men along the way.
1:25:24 To the south, the left of the caliphate’s
1:25:28 army was about to engage the Byzantine right.
1:25:31 Initially, the Arabs were having the worst of the fight
1:25:34 and were about to break and flee again, however, Khalid was on his way.
1:25:39 He sent one unit of his cavalry to exploit
1:25:42 the gap between the enemy right and center-right,
1:25:45 and charged the rest into the side of the Roman right.
1:25:48 As mentioned, this was the best Roman infantry,
1:25:51 so they resisted longer than their counterparts and suffered fewer casualties,
1:25:58 but still retreated.
1:26:00 The cavalry unit sent to attack the Roman center right surprised the latter,
1:26:04 managing to break in and killing the commander of this group.
1:26:09 The Romans recovered from their surprise and pushed back the attackers.
1:26:13 However, seeing that their flanks were retreating,
1:26:16 the center also broke off and returned to their starting positions.
1:26:22 Both parties probably suffered similar casualties,
1:26:26 with the majority of the Arab losses during the early retreat.
1:26:33 The Roman right lost most troops and that would
1:26:36 prove to be important during the next day,
1:26:38 as this detachment started its advance alongside the whole army,
1:26:42 but stopped well short of the enemy army
1:26:45 with archers on both sides entering a halfhearted skirmishing contest.
1:26:50 Meanwhile, Roman center-right engaged the Arabs,
1:26:53 but this attack only served to tie-up this portion of the opposing army.
1:26:58 The main attack targeted the right and center right
1:27:01 of the Muslim army and although initially the Roman onslaught was slowed,
1:27:05 their numbers started to play role.
1:27:08 Muslims started to retreat, especially on the right flank,
1:27:11 where their line was pressed all the way to the camp yet again.
1:27:15 This allowed the Romans to increase the pressure on the rightmost
1:27:19 units of the Muslim center right and start turning the line.
1:27:22 Amr’s corps finally reformed and returned to the battle,
1:27:26 but all their efforts only managed to stabilize the line.
1:27:30 The Arab cavalry in the second line attempted to outflank the Romans,
1:27:34 but Qanateer moved his to block off this advance.
1:27:38 Seeing that the Roman right is passive,
1:27:40 Khalid deduced that his left is safe and moved
1:27:44 the reserve cavalry to the right and charged the Roman flank.
1:27:48 The Byzantine commander attempted to move more troops
1:27:51 from his second rank to widen his front, and it worked for some time.
1:27:57 However, the Romans now lacked the deepness and with this advantage negated,
1:28:01 the Arabs in the other parts of the line started to push back.
1:28:06 Approaching dusk, the continuation of the battle
1:28:10 impossible and the attackers disengaged, retiring to the initial line.
1:28:14 It is clear that the Romans were getting frustrated,
1:28:18 as they expected their numbers to prevail at this point of the engagement.
1:28:23 In the first three days, the Romans probably lost more troops,
1:28:27 but they still outnumbered the foe, meanwhile for Khalid,
1:28:31 the main worry was the losses among the Yemeni archers and on the right flank.
1:28:38 The Roman plan for the next day was to attack the right
1:28:42 half of the Caliphate’s army to divide it and encircle each corps separately,
1:28:46 and then do the same with the left half.
1:28:49 To that end their left attacked the Muslims and soon
1:28:53 the right flank of Khalid’s army was shoved back yet again,
1:28:56 but not as far as in previous days.
1:28:59 Made mostly of the Armenians,
1:29:02 Roman center left was equally successful against the Muslim center right.
1:29:06 This time the Roman troops were able to turn this portion of the Arab line,
1:29:11 which opened up space between their corpses
1:29:14 and the Christian Arab light cavalry,
1:29:16 which was stationed in reserve behind the center,
1:29:19 was commanded to charge into this gap.
1:29:21 The Muslims were suffering heavy casualties
1:29:24 and it was becoming clear that Khalid
1:29:26 needs to move to the area to stop the Romans from winning.
1:29:30 Before he did that though, he sent word to the left and center left,
1:29:35 ordering them to advance and tie up the forces in front of them.
1:29:41 With that the Arab commander divided his cavalry in two halves.
1:29:45 One of them moved to the left and attacked the Armenians from the side and rear,
1:29:50 while Khalid himself moved against the Christian Arabs.
1:29:53 The arrival of the reinforcements has
1:29:56 invigorated the beleaguered Muslims and they counterattacked.
1:29:59 The fight here continued for a few hours,
1:30:02 until eventually the Muslims started gaining the upper hand.
1:30:06 Engaged from 3 sides,
1:30:08 the more heavily armoured and disciplined Armenians suffered some casualties,
1:30:12 but still were able to retreat in a relative order.
1:30:16 Their Christian Arab allies weren’t as able to defend themselves and lost
1:30:20 many hundreds before they were able to return to their initial position.
1:30:24 Seeing that their center has fallen back, the Roman left also disengaged.
1:30:30 However, the left half of the Muslim army was still in melee.
1:30:36 Initially, the Arabs had the upper hand as their charge surprised the Romans,
1:30:41 but their commanders steadied the troops and soon they were pushing back.
1:30:46 The small number of Arab archers proved to be their undoing,
1:30:49 as the Romans had the upper hand in the skirmishing.
1:30:53 Apparently, the arrows did so much damage to the forces of the Caliphate,
1:30:57 that later Arab sources called it the “Day of Lost Eyes”.
1:31:01 Unable to withstand the volleys, the Arabs started to pull back.
1:31:05 Shortly after, they were followed by the Romans.
1:31:08 This attack had the Muslim forces on the back foot and in full flight.
1:31:13 All of them, except the leftmost unit of the center,
1:31:17 which managed to crush the enemy detachment in front
1:31:19 of it and attacked the right side of the Roman center.
1:31:23 Eventually this group was overwhelmed.
1:31:27 The Muslim withdrawal stopped around the camps,
1:31:32 but they were chased by the Romans.
1:31:34 According to the Arab sources the Muslim women
1:31:37 joined their brethren in the fight against the attackers.
1:31:40 It is impossible to confirm it,
1:31:42 but it seems that by the end of the fourth day of the battle,
1:31:46 the Romans were either pushed back or disengaged on their own.
1:31:50 Both sides were extremely tired and battered.
1:31:53 Some sources mention that there was an attempt to negotiate
1:31:57 from the Romans and that the Arabs have refused.
1:32:00 But in any case, the armies spent the 19th of August resting.
1:32:04 Khalid made just one change to the formation.
1:32:07 All of his horsemen were drawn
1:32:10 into one large detachment behind the right-wing infantry,
1:32:13 save for one cavalry unit which was sent north into the desert.
1:32:18 At the dawn of August 20– the 6th day of the battle
1:32:24 both sides charged and engaged in the melee across the line.
1:32:29 After the melee began, Khalid sent portion of his cavalry forward with an order
1:32:33 to attack the side of the Roman left,
1:32:36 but upon their approach Roman cavalry wheeled
1:32:39 around their footmen and blocked the advance.
1:32:42 That was the moment the Arab commander was waiting for, as the rest
1:32:46 of his horsemen moved forth attacking the Roman cavalry from the side and rear.
1:32:51 Soon the Roman horsemen was crushed and the Arabs attacked the infantry,
1:32:56 which broke under the attack from three
1:32:58 sides and started falling back into the center.
1:33:01 The Muslim right now attacked the Roman center left from the flank and rear.
1:33:07 Meanwhile, the commanders of the Roman army noticed that their left-wing
1:33:11 cavalry was routed from the field by the consolidated Arab cavalry,
1:33:15 and they attempted to counter that by bringing their mounted troops together.
1:33:19 Unfortunately for the Romans,
1:33:21 it was too late and before they were able to form up,
1:33:25 Khalid smashed into them routing them.
1:33:27 The Roman cavalry wasn’t able to resist for long
1:33:31 and promptly started to leave the field of battle.
1:33:35 Back east the Armenians were defending the attack from 2
1:33:40 sides and for now were able to hold off the assailants.
1:33:44 However, after Khalid dealt with the Roman
1:33:47 cavalry and made sure that they won’t return,
1:33:50 his horsemen charged into the rear of the Armenian formation.
1:33:53 They collapsed under the charge and started retreating to the southwest.
1:33:57 The Arabs repositioned to attack the center
1:34:00 right and right of the Roman infantry,
1:34:03 but before they did, the latter fled on their own, again to the southwest,
1:34:08 towards the only crossing over the river,
1:34:10 all the while the Muslim cavalry blocked off
1:34:12 their retreat from the north and footmen from the east.
1:34:16 The remains of the Roman army were hoping to cross Wadi-ur-Raqqad,
1:34:20 but the 500-strong Arab mounted unit sent away into the desert,
1:34:24 actually was commanded to block off this crossing.
1:34:28 Understanding that they were in a trap,
1:34:30 the Roman officers attempted to form up some kind of defensive line,
1:34:34 but before they could do it,
1:34:36 they were attacked by the cavalry from the north and infantry from the east.
1:34:41 It was a slaughter and many thousands were killed in this encirclement,
1:34:46 with some units managing to cross the rivers by swimming.
1:34:49 Around half of the Roman army lay dead on the plain of Yarmouk,
1:34:54 while the Muslims lost less than fifth of their troops.
1:34:59 At this point in this story, we have to leave the Syrian front,
1:35:03 as things have started heating up in Iraq.
1:35:05 In the aftermath of the decisive victory at the battle of the Bridge,
1:35:10 Persian forces made no moves to capitalize on it,
1:35:13 either hoping that the attack was over, or being preoccupied with other matters.
1:35:19 This gave Caliph Umar time to come up with a response.
1:35:25 Lacking an immediate source of manpower,
1:35:28 the pragmatic Rashidun caliph raised another army from the previously
1:35:32 untapped tribes who rebelled against the caliphate during the Ridda Wars,
1:35:37 including the Banu Tamim and Banu Jadila.
1:35:40 These warriors, supplemented by additional contingents mustered by Umar,
1:35:44 were gathered and sent north, but problems were still present.
1:35:49 Quarreling between many of the tribal chiefs prompted
1:35:52 the caliph to appoint a trusted paragon to supreme command,
1:35:56 who was absolutely beyond reproach.
1:35:58 After being talked out of leading the army himself,
1:36:02 Umar’s commander would be Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas,
1:36:05 the seventh person to embrace Islam, and a companion of the prophet.
1:36:10 The presence of such a respected general united the army in spirit.
1:36:15 Additionally, many more warriors joined themselves to Sa’d’s invasion force
1:36:20 as it marched north up the Medina-Hira road in May of 636.
1:36:24 By the time it reached the Euphrates region for a second time,
1:36:29 the Muslim army was probably the most formidable Persia had faced so far.
1:36:35 Unfortunately for Sa’d, resistance to his advance was soon in coming.
1:36:42 The best Sassanid general, Rostam,
1:36:43 who basically ruled the court of the 12-year-old shah Yazdegerd III,
1:36:48 wanted to fight smaller battles to minimize risk,
1:36:52 but that decision was unpopular with the nobles and commoners alike,
1:36:56 as the battle of the bridge probably made the empire complacent.
1:37:01 Therefore, the general departed the Persian capital
1:37:04 at the head of a massive imperial force,
1:37:07 beelining straight for the Muslims encamped near Qadissiyah.
1:37:13 The two opposing armies finally caught sight of one another across
1:37:17 the span of the al-Atiq canal about 30 miles east of Hira.
1:37:22 After an exhausting march in the midst of Iraq’s blistering summer,
1:37:27 Rostam ordered his men to take up positions and encamp across from Sa’d’s army.
1:37:31 Rather than immediately mounting an assault across the canal,
1:37:35 the bulk of both armies remained on their own
1:37:38 side of the waterway for several months,
1:37:41 with the peace only punctuated by small scouting missions and raids.
1:37:46 Rostam probably knew that the previous Islamic army
1:37:49 had been defeated during a botched river crossing,
1:37:52 and was therefore content to wait and receive Sa’d’s attack,
1:37:57 hoping it would happen again.
1:38:00 The Muslims, meanwhile, were fighting a two-front war,
1:38:04 so keeping the Mesopotamian army passive, for the time being, was prudent.
1:38:08 In Syria, their army was engaged against
1:38:11 the Romans in a campaign which culminated in mid-August,
1:38:15 at the Battle of Yarmouk.
1:38:17 With the Christian empire’s war machine broken,
1:38:20 Umar was free to dispatch reinforcements to Sa’d’s force.
1:38:24 In the hope of keeping Rostam occupied,
1:38:27 the Muslim leader sent repeated embassies to treat with his Persian counterpart,
1:38:32 demanding that the Zoroastrians submit to Islam in return for peace.
1:38:37 With the Sassanid commander unwilling to convert
1:38:40 and reinforcements streaming into their camp,
1:38:43 the Muslims challenged their enemy to battle,
1:38:46 arraying their forces in formation and allowing
1:38:49 the Sassanids to cross the canal, withdrawing a mile to the rear.
1:38:53 With the al-Atiq canal bridge occupied by Muslim guards,
1:38:57 Rostam’s imperial army spent the night hours
1:39:00 damning the waterway with debris to enable passage.
1:39:04 At dawn Rostam, seated on his throne, ordered his army across and had the army
1:39:11 advance in battle formation against the arrayed Muslim forces.
1:39:16 The climactic struggle for Persia was about to begin.
1:39:19 The army under the authority of Rostam
1:39:22 Farrokzhad was likely made up of, at most, 60,000 Sassanid troops.
1:39:27 Even a Sassanid field army at the absolute apex of the empire’s
1:39:32 power probably would not have been able to muster such massive numbers,
1:39:37 and it is even more unlikely that the politically divided,
1:39:41 militarily exhausted realm of 628 onwards could
1:39:44 bring to bear anything more than 60,000.
1:39:48 Rostam’s bulwark was also a multi-ethnic army,
1:39:51 having come together from regions all across the vast
1:39:54 expanse of the territory ruled by the House of Sasan,
1:39:58 from Azerbaijan to Khurasan.
1:40:00 It included among its ranks Kurds, Armenians, Turks,
1:40:04 Arabic allies and units from many other peoples.
1:40:10 The right and left center units of the imperial army were
1:40:14 under the command of Jalinus and Beerzan respectively and, in total,
1:40:19 comprised 30,000 warriors- 20,000 melee infantry and bowmen
1:40:23 in the first line and 10,000 cavalry in the second.
1:40:27 Among these troops were 10,000 professionally trained Persian Immortals,
1:40:31 revered elite fighters who chained themselves together as a signal
1:40:36 to the enemy that they were prepared to die rather than retreat.
1:40:42 Bounded by swampland which was difficult to traverse,
1:40:45 the Sassanid left and right wings were led by Mihran and Hormuzan,
1:40:51 both illustrious generals drawn from highborn Persian clans.
1:40:55 Each led 10,000 infantry in their front rank, backed by 5,000 cavalry behind.
1:41:01 In front of Rostam’s line was a screen of 33 mail-clad elephants.
1:41:06 18 of them were deployed in the center
1:41:09 while the remainder were split equally on either wing.
1:41:13 Rostam himself, donning ornate armour,
1:41:15 mounted raised his throne just behind the center,
1:41:20 accompanied by a small strategic reserve.
1:41:24 About a mile to the west,
1:41:26 Sa’d’s 30,000 warriors drew up in a manner that mirrored their adversaries- four
1:41:31 tribally organised divisions with infantry in the first
1:41:34 line and cavalry in the second.
1:41:37 In addition to the Muslim forces from Arabia proper,
1:41:41 Christian Arabs from the border of Sassanid territory and even some
1:41:45 captured Persian officers had joined the army after converting to Islam.
1:41:52 Although Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas was capable of deploying his army properly,
1:41:56 ailments and injury prevented him from mounting
1:41:59 a horse and exercising effective tactical control.
1:42:03 Instead, the companion-general appointed a trusted deputy Khalid
1:42:06 ibn Urfuta to carry out his immediate orders,
1:42:09 and took up a strategic position atop the fortress of nearby Uzeib.
1:42:14 The various units were commanded by their tribal chieftains,
1:42:18 and included men such as Shurabil Ibn Simt- a veteran
1:42:22 of the Ridda Wars and Syrian campaign- who led the Muslim left wing.
1:42:27 As Rostam’s large army continued to form up,
1:42:30 Muslim soldiers took part in their usual noon prayer,
1:42:34 donned their armour and waited.
1:42:36 By the early afternoon hours,
1:42:39 the massive Persian army was finally ready to fight.
1:42:42 Rostam’s plan was simple and to the point- smash both flanks
1:42:47 of the enemy army and then smash into their exposed center.
1:42:53 The Battle of al-Qadissiyah began with a heavy
1:42:56 barrage of arrows loosed by the Sassanid archers,
1:42:59 whose superior bows and higher quality arrows
1:43:02 inflicted massive casualties on their lightly-armoured counterparts.
1:43:05 The Muslims attempted to return the favour,
1:43:09 but their low powered bows and inferior arrows resulted
1:43:12 in the missiles bouncing harmlessly off the Persian heavy armour.
1:43:16 The amused Sassanid troops mocked the Muslim
1:43:19 archers by repeating the word “Spindles,
1:43:23 spindles!” as the impotent arrows fell harmlessly.
1:43:27 With most of the Islamic front line pinned
1:43:30 in place by Rostam’s lethal storm of arrows,
1:43:33 the general ordered the 7-strong elephant corps on his left
1:43:36 to lead a charge directly at the Muslims opposing him,
1:43:40 followed by the rest of the troops.
1:43:43 Frightened by the oncoming titans,
1:43:45 the Rashidun mounts forced their riders to scatter from their position,
1:43:50 leaving the infantry exposed.
1:43:52 Beset by Mihran’s flank and lacking cavalry support,
1:43:55 the Muslim warriors fell back slowly,
1:43:58 suffering casualties but not breaking under the assault.
1:44:01 Sa’d, witnessing the danger his right flank was in from Uzeib,
1:44:05 had two units of cavalry from the unengaged
1:44:08 centre dispatched to reinforce and shore up the line.
1:44:12 One of these contingents struck Mihran’s troops in the front
1:44:15 while the other hit them in the flank,
1:44:18 pushing the Persians back to their starting position after a fierce fight.
1:44:24 Observing that his attack on the Muslim right was stalling,
1:44:28 Rostam completely changed tack.
1:44:30 He dispatched part of his immediate reserve under Bahman
1:44:33 to keep that part of the Muslim army locked in place,
1:44:36 then ordered the Sassanid right and right-centre to advance,
1:44:40 fronted by elephants and covered by another deadly volley of arrows.
1:44:45 Again, the vanguard of elephants panicked Rashidun mounts
1:44:49 and forced the horsemen to flee for infantry cover.
1:44:54 This state of affairs could not continue
1:44:56 if victory for Islam was to be attained.
1:44:59 Sa’d, realising he had to do something about the Sassanids’ assault beasts,
1:45:03 had orders conveyed that light troops
1:45:06 from the Arabian Bani Tamim tribe deal with them.
1:45:09 Darting in and amongst the massive elephants with considerable skill and daring,
1:45:14 the agile warriors cut the cables which
1:45:17 kept the elephants’ mounting platforms atop the animals,
1:45:20 and showered the occupants with missile fire.
1:45:23 A vast number of the isolated elephant-riders were killed where they stood,
1:45:27 while the rest led their exhausted war mounts back behind the main Persian line.
1:45:33 The general Sassanid attack on this side of the field was also wrestled back.
1:45:41 In an attempt to take advantage of his enemy’s lack of elephants,
1:45:45 Sa’d ordered a general attack all across the front.
1:45:48 It is said that while the Sassanids were equipped better than their foe,
1:45:52 the Muslims were superior fighters.
1:45:54 This level of skill allowed a unit in Sa’d’s centre to punch
1:45:58 through the Persian line and get close to the enthroned Rostam.
1:46:03 Descending from his position, the general drew his sword and entered
1:46:08 the fray personally along with some retainers.
1:46:10 With the army’s morale bolstered by the presence of their leader,
1:46:14 the Muslim counterattack was repelled and the front re-established.
1:46:19 By nightfall, the last of the days’ fighting had come to an end.
1:46:24 This first dreadful day,
1:46:25 also known as the ‘Day of Disorder’ by the battered Rashidun warriors, was over.
1:46:33 The wounded were gathered and cared for by women in the Muslim
1:46:37 camp and trained surgeons of the Sassanid army while the remainder rested.
1:46:42 When dawn came, both armies once again lined up for battle,
1:46:46 facing off until midmorning.
1:46:48 At around noon, a thousand reinforcements from Syria under Qaqa bin
1:46:54 Amr began streaming onto the field to reinforce the Muslim army,
1:46:58 coming ten at a time as to give the illusion of vast numbers.
1:47:02 This increased the morale of the Muslim army tenfold
1:47:05 and Sa’d immediately ordered another charge all across the line.
1:47:10 Despite the heavy casualties that his troops inflicted on the Sassanids,
1:47:14 the enemy ranks remained coherent and unbroken,
1:47:17 mainly due to the force of their heavily armoured cavalry.
1:47:21 Casualties increased as the fighting grew more and more brutal,
1:47:25 but after two hours of fruitless fighting, both sides pulled back.
1:47:29 The Muslims were trading well- four dead
1:47:33 Persians for each of their own- but Rostam, trusting in his superior numbers,
1:47:39 was content to grind Sa’d’s force into the dust.
1:47:44 On the Muslim side, Qaqa, displaying his energetic and restless nature,
1:47:49 used the break in fighting to cover the camels
1:47:53 that the Rashidun army brought with wooden structures,
1:47:56 making them look to the untrained eye
1:47:58 of a horse like unfamiliar, terrifying beasts.
1:48:01 When fighting resumed not long after,
1:48:04 the disguised camels were paraded in front of the charging Persian cavalry,
1:48:09 spooking the horses into breaking ranks.
1:48:11 Sensing an advantage, Sa’d had the army attack along the entire front again.
1:48:16 This time, without elephants or cavalry to bolster their ranks,
1:48:21 zealous Muslim warriors scythed into the Persians units,
1:48:25 viciously routing many of them towards the waterway behind and almost
1:48:29 causing the entire Sassanid army to buckle with the shock.
1:48:33 However, Rostam’s personal intervention and unmoving confidence allowed
1:48:38 his shattered contingents to get back into the fight.
1:48:44 Throughout the evening hours,
1:48:45 Persian and Rashidun troops engaged in a slogging match which,
1:48:49 as the sun dipped beneath the horizon,
1:48:52 managed to painstakingly throw the Muslims into retreat.
1:48:55 With that, both exhausted armies retired for the night.
1:48:59 When daylight came on the third day and the armies were arraying for battle,
1:49:05 Sa’d’s troops were met with an unwelcome surprise.
1:49:08 The enemy ranks parted briefly and through them marched the mighty elephants,
1:49:13 recovered and rearmed,
1:49:15 now each surrounded by a protective ring of infantry and cavalry.
1:49:23 When midmorning came, Rostam had his archers unleash another extended
1:49:27 arrow volley which locked the Muslims in place.
1:49:31 As this barrage concluded, the entire Sassanid army,
1:49:34 fronted by the terrifying elephants, began inexorably trudging onward.
1:49:39 Suddenly, as they approached Sa’d’s line,
1:49:42 the infantry shielding each elephants’ front shifted aside according to plan,
1:49:47 enabling the giant war beasts to crash into the Muslim line at close range.
1:49:52 The riders were able to escape and fled without delay,
1:49:56 but the infantry wasn’t so lucky.
1:49:58 Sa’d’s entire army was brutally shoved back,
1:50:01 losing hundreds of men who were gored by tusks,
1:50:04 crushed by the elephants’ feet, or put to the sword by Persian arms.
1:50:09 Rostam caught the smell of blood in the water.
1:50:12 In order to end the battle, he sent a cavalry division on a deep
1:50:17 flanking attack against the Uzeib Castle itself,
1:50:19 but this was rapidly countered by a unit of Muslim riders.
1:50:24 Although that attempt failed,
1:50:25 the army of Islam was visibly about to disintegrate,
1:50:30 despite the coming of even more reinforcements from the west.
1:50:35 Taking advice from a defected Persian soldier at the last possible moment,
1:50:40 Rashidun light infantry slid through the ranks,
1:50:43 surrounded the two lead elephants and blinded them,
1:50:46 before swarming the creatures and their onboard missile troops.
1:50:50 With the elephant alphas killed,
1:50:52 other beasts along the line were overwhelmed and killed in the same manner.
1:50:57 Many others, driven into a rage by pain
1:51:00 and unable to see through mutilated eyes,
1:51:02 turned 180 degrees and stampeded towards the canal,
1:51:06 crashing through the Persian ranks and disordering Rostam’s army.
1:51:11 Sa’d ordered yet another a full-scale assault,
1:51:14 impacting on the Sassanids with devastating force.
1:51:18 al-Qadissyiah was devolving into a war of attrition.
1:51:21 Not even darkness on the ‘Day of Hardship’ brought the fighting to an end,
1:51:26 but the soldiers’ sheer exhaustion gradually led
1:51:30 the troops to disengage at sunrise the next day.
1:51:35 Both armies seemed to be at breaking point,
1:51:38 but it still wasn’t clear who the victor would be.
1:51:41 As both armies rested, Qaqa decided to make a decisive move.
1:51:46 Under the cover of a brief sandstorm,
1:51:49 he and 700 troops launched an attack on the blinded Persian center,
1:51:53 breaking through the line and approaching Rostam.
1:51:57 Isolated and disoriented,
1:51:58 the Sassanid general was found by a Rashidun soldier and slain.
1:52:04 Fighting continued until rumours of their commanders
1:52:07 fate spread around the Persian army.
1:52:09 At that point, the center finally cracked and routed towards the river,
1:52:14 followed shortly after by both flanks.
1:52:17 The imperial army of the Sassanid Empire had been defeated.
1:52:21 The Sassanids lost more than 20 thousand.
1:52:24 While the Muslim losses were less than 10 thousand.
1:52:28 Arabia was a violent place in its own unique fashion.
1:52:31 Far from being comparable to the large,
1:52:34 hegemonic empires which bordered and often puppeteered its
1:52:37 many tribes to further their own agendas pre-conquest,
1:52:40 the barren desert of the Arabian Peninsula and most of its people are
1:52:46 more accurately balanced against the fearsome
1:52:48 nomadic folk of the great Eurasian steppe.
1:52:51 Fighting against rival tribes and defending one’s own
1:52:54 kin from attack were a central part of life,
1:52:58 a fact which played a key role in creating the local culture.
1:53:02 Motivated in part by vicious terrain
1:53:05 that was untenable to larger military campaigns,
1:53:08 the dominant tactic was the so-called
1:53:10 razzia- a raiding expedition designed to plunder, pillage and take slaves.
1:53:16 Such a wealth of common martial experience meant that most Bedouin Arabs were,
1:53:21 especially compared to the agriculturalists and urban citizens of the near-east,
1:53:27 a veteran military population.
1:53:29 This pre-Islam tribal society provided a solid
1:53:32 foundation for the development of a conquest army,
1:53:36 but until the prophet’s lifetime and possibly afterwards as well,
1:53:39 there was no ‘army’, as such.
1:53:42 With very few exceptions, every single adult male in Bedouin life was a warrior,
1:53:48 compensated for their endeavours with booty,
1:53:50 honour or the defence of their own kin-group
1:53:53 from enemies who were attempting to do the same.
1:53:56 With the advent of Islam, leadership of Muhammad and the subsequent unification
1:54:01 of the Arabian Peninsula under the first Rashidun caliph,
1:54:05 its weapon-rich cities and Bedouin-inhabited hinterland alike
1:54:08 came under one rule, and one religion.
1:54:12 This warlike population,
1:54:14 who until recently were occupied fighting one-another in small-scale struggles,
1:54:19 could now be directed en masse to attack the settled,
1:54:22 exhausted and unready empires beyond the desert frontier.
1:54:26 Although now turned to a single purpose; to expand the Dar al-Islam,
1:54:31 the early Islamic armies remained in many
1:54:34 ways what they had been before- tribal raiders.
1:54:37 As the assault on Byzantine and Sassanid territory began,
1:54:41 it quickly became clear that the established empires were
1:54:45 not going to be met on their own terms.
1:54:47 It was to be a mobile war of razzia which the two emperors and their armies,
1:54:53 each bent towards attacking the other, simply could not match.
1:54:57 To this purpose, a primary strategic weapon of war
1:55:00 utilised by the conquering Arabs was the unassuming camel.
1:55:04 Accustomed to travelling across incredibly
1:55:07 arid terrain with essentially no water,
1:55:10 these workhouse pack animals were used to lethal effect on campaign.
1:55:15 Camel-mounted armies of Muslim infantry would frequently strike
1:55:19 Byzantine or Sassanid territory from unexpected, undefended angles,
1:55:24 bleeding the empires of manpower and money before fading back into the desert,
1:55:29 where their enemies simply could not go.
1:55:32 Imagine playing a game of Civilization and possessing an area
1:55:36 of apparently impassable terrain near your key resource-producing regions,
1:55:40 so you naturally do not fortify the area, because you don’t need to.
1:55:45 After all, if no powerful enemy can get there, they can’t attack it anyway.
1:55:50 However, one of your underdog opponents then starts cheating and bypassing
1:55:54 the impassable to strike at the heart of your most crucial land.
1:55:59 Worse still, you can’t chase them back through that terrain.
1:56:02 If you try, you give them the opportunity to strike elsewhere.
1:56:06 This is what the established empires must
1:56:09 have felt when the Muslims started attacking.
1:56:12 Khalid ibn Al Walid- arguably the greatest early Muslim general,
1:56:17 exploited this prodigious mobility to frustrate and exhaust a Sassanid imperial
1:56:21 army in what is perhaps the greatest example of its use.
1:56:26 During an attack in 633, Khalid planted his Arab army in front
1:56:30 of Hufair and tempted Persian general Hormuz,
1:56:33 then stationed at Kazima to approach him.
1:56:36 His heavily-armoured force embarked on a tiring march to do so.
1:56:41 When the commander got there however, he discovered that the Muslims had ghosted
1:56:46 into the desert and were beelining back towards Kazima.
1:56:49 Bound to march in the defence of such a strategically vital place,
1:56:53 Hormuz forced his unruly, exhausted troops on a countermarch.
1:56:57 By the time Hormuz arrived back near the city, his army was near mutinous,
1:57:02 barely in a fit state to move, let alone fight, and in a terrible situation.
1:57:08 Meanwhile, Khalid’s well-mounted,
1:57:10 leisurely stroll back to Kazima had allowed his forces to prepare adequately.
1:57:15 In the subsequent Battle of Chains,
1:57:18 rejuvenated Muslim forces soundly thrashed Hormuz’ thoroughly outmaneuvered,
1:57:23 physically drained army.
1:57:25 The average Arab warrior of the early Islamic conquest period would’ve been far
1:57:30 less standardised in form than a soldier from the Byzantine or Sassanid Empires.
1:57:35 Infantry and cavalry were both prominent,
1:57:38 despite Arabia’s prominent lack of viable horse-rearing ground.
1:57:42 Moreover, the distinction between foot and mounted troops was often blurred.
1:57:48 Changing with the situation,
1:57:49 cavalry might dismount and fight as infantry while what might be
1:57:53 dubbed mobile infantry were frequently carried to battle on horses or camels.
1:57:59 Equipment, relatively similar between both cavalry and infantry,
1:58:03 was purchased and provided by the individual warrior or tribesman,
1:58:07 rather than being issued by the Rashidun Caliphate as a state.
1:58:11 However, potential combatants who were indeed too poor to assemble
1:58:15 equipment of their own might be assisted by wealthy kinsmen,
1:58:19 neighbors or other benefactors.
1:58:21 Even for the well-to-do in Muslim society, however,
1:58:24 good quality equipment was scarce in the early days.
1:58:28 There was nothing overly unique about
1:58:31 Muslim weaponry during their wars of expansion.
1:58:33 Spear, sword and bow were the primary methods of assault,
1:58:37 but it is said that the Arabs possessed particularly long
1:58:41 spears and remarkably short swords when compared to their enemies.
1:58:45 As this short sword was carried in a shoulder-baldric
1:58:48 rather than a belt at the waist,
1:58:50 it is likely that this style was copied or inspired by the old Roman gladius,
1:58:55 which was kept in a similar manner.
1:58:57 Metal armour seems to have struck both hot
1:59:00 and cold in the Arab mindset from the very beginning,
1:59:03 as is evident in a saying of the second caliph Umar.
1:59:06 He describes mail armour as ‘Keeping our horseman busy,
1:59:10 a nuisance for our infantry and yet always a strong protection’.
1:59:14 Originating from the scalding hot and sun-bleached deserts of Arabia,
1:59:19 heavy armour must have seemed anathema to Arab warriors at first,
1:59:23 due to the sheer discomfort it must have brought on when worn,
1:59:27 not to mention its encumbering effect.
1:59:29 We can imagine the more well-off Arab warriors investing in a coat of mail,
1:59:34 only to speak to their comrades about it and be
1:59:37 met with traditionalist derision at wearing such a burdensome thing.
1:59:41 Therefore, it may have been that use of armour
1:59:44 was based upon both a warrior’s ability to obtain it,
1:59:47 in addition to the willingness to don it in battle and on the march.
1:59:52 Conversely, it might also have been the case
1:59:56 that mail was reserved for frontline troops,
1:59:58 while rear-line infantry and archers went without.
2:00:01 Whatever the case, a notable and repeated occurrence
2:00:05 during the Rashiduns’ expansion was trouble facing enemy archers.
2:00:09 It became so bad that, whilst fighting
2:00:12 the Byzantines in the eventual victory at Yarmouk,
2:00:15 Islamic warriors suffered what became known in legend as the day of lost eyes.
2:00:20 It might have been that this, in addition to other such occasions,
2:00:25 was brought on by a reluctance to wear heavy armour and helmets.
2:00:29 Two other crucial ‘units’ which partially made
2:00:32 up early Rashidun armies have come to symbolise
2:00:35 the Muslim style of war during this period-
2:00:39 the ‘mobile guard’ cavalry strike force and Mubarizun.
2:00:42 Rather than being a default part of the Islamic
2:00:45 army of expansion as an institution, however, the mobile guard in particular was
2:00:50 in fact a circumstantial reorganisation enacted
2:00:53 by the great general Khalid Ibn al-Walid in the middle of his invasion of Syria.
2:00:58 After the commander’s triumph at Ajnadayn in late 634,
2:01:01 it was clear that the next stage of the Muslim
2:01:05 invasion would have to pierce deep into Syria.
2:01:08 So, sifting through the 8,000 strong army under his leadership,
2:01:13 Khalid extracted the most veteran,
2:01:15 most elite and deadliest fighters to form a 4,000 man-strong
2:01:19 band of horsemen which was known as the ‘Army of Movement’,
2:01:23 or more commonly the mobile guard.
2:01:26 In an army whose warriors were already battle-hardened veterans,
2:01:30 these paragons were the crème de la crème.
2:01:33 One of those handpicked 4,000 was
2:01:35 the near mythical warrior-captain Qa’qa bin Amr.
2:01:38 Not only did this ferocious lieutenant supposedly play a crucial role
2:01:42 in both the Battle of Chains and the Battle of Yarmouk,
2:01:45 but he was also personally chosen by the caliph
2:01:48 to lead Arab reinforcements to the Battle of al-Qadissiyah.
2:01:51 If our sources are to be believed, he also played a key role in winning
2:01:57 this domino-toppling clash as an energetic cavalry commander.
2:02:01 That was the sheer quality of soldiers
2:02:04 assembled together in Khalid’s elite unit.
2:02:06 As a coherent and unified force,
2:02:09 the mobile guard was frequently used by the legendary sword of Allah
2:02:14 as a lethal mounted reserve which could be used wherever it was seen fit.
2:02:18 The unit could plug a hole in allied lines
2:02:21 by riding swiftly to where aid was most needed,
2:02:24 or it could sweep around the flanks of an enemy
2:02:27 to roll up their battle line and win the battle.
2:02:31 Under Khalid’s generalship,
2:02:32 it played both of these roles during the battle at Yarmouk.
2:02:36 Despite its fame and flashy style of warfare,
2:02:39 the Rashidun mobile guard was an incredibly short-lived entity,
2:02:43 which nevertheless served its purpose.
2:02:45 When Khalid was dismissed from his post by Umar,
2:02:49 the regiment as a unified entity was simply disbanded and its
2:02:53 members dispatched to other fronts in Islam’s ongoing wars of conquest.
2:02:58 Many more of its warriors apparently passed away during the plague of 639/640,
2:03:04 and those few who survived accompanied Amr Ibn al-As to Egypt.
2:03:09 The Mubarizun, translated as ‘duelists’ or ‘champions’ served the purpose
2:03:13 one would expect of a warrior bearing their title.
2:03:17 The bravest men in all the Arab armies,
2:03:20 Mubarizun would step forward alone and battle a Byzantine or Persian champion
2:03:25 in the ritualised single combat which was so common in that period.
2:03:30 Arab champions were particularly deadly, gaining victory in most battles.
2:03:34 As victors they would bring pride to their religion and caliphate,
2:03:39 morale to the army and conversely demoralise the enemy force.
2:03:44 Still, despite their successes, Muslim forces frequently found themselves
2:03:48 on the sharp end of heavy casualty figures
2:03:51 and manpower replenishment rapidly became an issue
2:03:54 that the caliphs needed to deal with.
2:03:56 Part of this shortfall was made up
2:03:59 by non-Arab deserters who took up with the invaders
2:04:02 and quickly became key cogs in the overall
2:04:06 machine of expansion out of the Arabian Peninsula.
2:04:09 As early as the Battle of Al-Qadissiyah,
2:04:12 4,000 soldiers from the army of Rostam Farrokhzad went over to the Muslim side.
2:04:17 So great was this coup that the defecting warriors were
2:04:20 able to demand from the Arabs land of their own choosing,
2:04:24 to closely associate themselves with an Arab band of their own preference
2:04:29 and to be paid salaries sometimes even in excess of regular Arab warriors.
2:04:34 These and other such traitors to the Sassanid shah’s
2:04:37 cause were known as the Hamra, or ‘red people’.
2:04:40 This phenomenon became so prevalent that, during the Muslim
2:04:44 invasion of Khuzestan and the Siege of Shushtar,
2:04:47 a famous unit of elite Persian soldiers known thereafter as the Asawira,
2:04:52 led by one of Yazdegerd’s most senior and trusted commanders,
2:04:56 also went over to the caliph’s side.
2:04:59 Not only did these most capable of soldiers
2:05:02 convert to the new and rising religion of Islam,
2:05:05 but they were given in exchange the highest possible level of pay,
2:05:09 dwellings in the new town of Basra
2:05:12 and a position of honour within the Bani Tamim tribe.
2:05:16 While a massive amount of Byzantine territory was lost to the Arabs,
2:05:20 it paled to the annihilation which they inflicted on the Sassanid state,
2:05:25 almost certainly in large part due to this lack of faith in their leadership.
2:05:30 Persian civilians and soldiers alike seemed all too eager
2:05:34 to defect and join the invaders at the slightest opportunity,
2:05:38 perhaps due to instability within the royal house,
2:05:41 weakness of leadership or oppressive taxes.
2:05:45 Conversely, Arab soldiers were, as soldiers go, relatively well behaved.
2:05:50 Atrocities still, no doubt, occurred in great quantities,
2:05:53 as they do in the vast majority of military conflicts.
2:05:58 However, Islamic rules of military conduct, known as siyar,
2:06:02 mandated that some sense of civilisation remained
2:06:05 even at the darkest points of war.
2:06:08 Enemy envoys were to be safeguarded and inviolate,
2:06:11 non-combatant civilians were to be treated as neutral
2:06:15 parties and truces were to be accepted wherever possible.
2:06:18 ‘Do not kill women or children,
2:06:21 or an aged infirm person-’ once proclaimed caliph
2:06:24 Abu Bakr ‘Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees.
2:06:27 Do not destroy an inhabited place.
2:06:30 Do not slaughter sheep or camels except for food.
2:06:33 Do not burn bees and do not scatter them.
2:06:36 Do not steal from the booty and do not be cowardly.’ This kind of attitude,
2:06:42 which ideally would result in minimal
2:06:44 damage to ‘enemy’ civilian occupations and populations,
2:06:47 is likely to have garnered the invading Arabs incredible favour.
2:06:54 In the previous season,
2:06:55 we covered the first stages of the Muslim conquest of the Middle East.
2:07:00 It started in 633 with the campaign in Mesopotamia against the Sassanid
2:07:04 empire by the general of the Rashidun Caliphate Khalid ibn al-Walid.
2:07:09 After a string of victories that brought him
2:07:12 to the border of the Eastern Roman Empire,
2:07:15 Khalid entered Syria and again won a number
2:07:17 of decisive battles culminating at the battle of Yarmouk,
2:07:20 which put most of the region under the control of the Caliphate.
2:07:24 In southern Mesopotamia though, the Sassanid empire attempted a counter-attack
2:07:29 which led to the battle of al-Qadisiyyah.
2:07:32 After the battle that continued for days, the Muslim army commanded by Sa’d
2:07:38 Ibn Abi Waqqas defeated Rostam’s Sassanid force.
2:07:42 Amidst the slaughter and unfolding catastrophe at Qadissiyah,
2:07:46 the commander of the Persian centre-right-
2:07:49 Jalinus- assumed leadership of the imperial
2:07:52 army’s remnant and set about saving what forces he could.
2:07:56 Assembling a small, elite strike force,
2:07:58 he thrust towards the al-Atiq dam and drove a unit
2:08:03 of Muslim troops away before forming a perimeter and holding it.
2:08:07 As Sassanid stragglers withdrew across the dam wall to the other side,
2:08:11 Jalinus bravely repelled many attacks from the Muslims and managed
2:08:15 to see most of the remaining troops to safety,
2:08:18 but it was still a painfully small number.
2:08:21 When the last of them were on the canal’s far side,
2:08:24 Jalinus had the dam destroyed and began hastily pulling his men
2:08:29 upstream to Najaf before the victors fully turned on him.
2:08:34 Unwilling, however, to give the foe any breathing room,
2:08:38 Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas dispatched Qa’qa
2:08:40 and Shurahbeel to hunt down scattered Persian units,
2:08:44 while cavalry commander Zuhra bin al-Hawiyya was
2:08:47 sent after Jalinus with 300 elite Arab horsemen.
2:08:50 Not deterred by the dam crossing’s destruction,
2:08:53 Zuhra and his 300 drove their mounts into the torrent
2:08:58 and forded it before chasing Jalinus’ column upstream.
2:09:04 The latter realised he was being chased and halted
2:09:07 with his own cavalry at a nearby bridge,
2:09:10 while the infantry carried on withdrawing all the way to Najaf.
2:09:14 After a short time, the horsemen of Zuhra
2:09:17 came across Jalinus’ valiant rear-guard and charged it,
2:09:20 breaking the formation swiftly and provoking
2:09:23 its leader into yet another withdrawal.
2:09:25 His heels constantly bit by Zuhra as he did,
2:09:28 Jalinus chose to turn and face the enemy in a final fight,
2:09:33 believing that the best way to stop the pursuit was to kill the leader.
2:09:39 So, he halted his forces, turned about face and arrayed for battle,
2:09:44 before personally riding before his troops
2:09:47 and challenging Zuhra to single combat.
2:09:50 Galloping forward atop their horses,
2:09:52 the two exhausted commanders fought one another
2:09:55 to decide the issue once and for all, and once again it was the Muslim who
2:10:01 came out on top after a hard-fought struggle.
2:10:03 Jalinus was killed and his cavalry took flight,
2:10:07 but many were still caught and slain by Zuhra’s riders.
2:10:13 By sunset, the 300 reached Najaf, where they halted for the night.
2:10:17 With the aim of conquering prosperous Iraq,
2:10:20 which the Muslims believed was the ‘heart of the world’,
2:10:23 Sa’d reorganised his 20,000 troops into five marching
2:10:27 corps1 with Zuhra retaining his advance guard position.
2:10:31 Two weeks after Qadissiyah, he was quickly joined at Najaf by the remainder
2:10:36 of the army and given the order to cross the Euphrates.
2:10:42 Incoming Sassanid reinforcements under Nakheerjan
2:10:44 arrived in the area soon after,
2:10:47 having been initially bound for Rostam’s now broken force.
2:10:51 Hearing of the defeat, the reinforcement group halted east of the Euphrates
2:10:55 and waited for new orders from Ctesiphon, which came in the form of Firuzan,
2:11:01 a general tasked by Emperor Yazdegerd with preventing
2:11:04 or delaying the seemingly unstoppable advance of the Muslims.
2:11:08 When Firuzan appraised the situation,
2:11:10 he decided that his army of fresh and recently defeated forces
2:11:14 under his command wouldn’t be enough to throw the Arabs back.
2:11:18 So, he instead prepared defensive actions at a series of defensible
2:11:23 locations and cities on the road to the Persian capital,
2:11:27 so that the great city would have time to fortify.
2:11:32 As his first move, Firuzan ordered the governor of Burs, Busbuhra,
2:11:35 to hold his branch of the Euphrates and gave
2:11:38 him some troops to help with the task,
2:11:41 while the general and his main army started massing near Babylon.
2:11:45 When Zuhra’s advance guard neared Burs,
2:11:47 the city’s governor rode out to meet him.
2:11:51 In a short battle, the holding force
2:11:53 of Sassanid troops was routed and Busbuhra severely wounded.
2:11:57 During the flight, he died from his wounds.
2:12:00 Following this defeat, the new local leader made peace with the Caliphate,
2:12:06 agreeing to provide information and logistical assistance.
2:12:11 From these new allies, Zuhra learned that the formidable main Sassanid army
2:12:15 opposing him was indeed across the Euphrates at Babylon,
2:12:19 along with several high nobles.
2:12:21 Zuhra then forwarded this crucial information to Sa’d at Najaf,
2:12:25 and waited for the four corps trailing his own to catch up.
2:12:30 When they did, the Muslims advanced on Babylon
2:12:33 in strength and, at some point in December 636,
2:12:37 met Firuzan along the river bank and crushed
2:12:40 his army in a brief but harsh battle.
2:12:42 One of the defeated generals, Hormuzan,
2:12:44 fled south with his contingent to his domain in Ahwaz,
2:12:48 while Firuzan and the remainder withdrew north in good order,
2:12:53 leaving garrisons at Sura and Deir Kab along the way2.
2:12:58 Zuhra again set off in hot pursuit and, despite
2:13:02 fierce resistance from the defensive Sassanid armies in his way,
2:13:06 managed to defeat them at Sura, Deir Kab,
2:13:08 and Kusa on his relentless drive to Ctesiphon.
2:13:11 By early January of 637, the Muslim leader neared Vologesocerta- just one
2:13:17 of the cities which made up larger Ctesiphon,
2:13:21 where he was again rejoined by the bulk of the army.
2:13:26 To the desert-dwelling Arabs,
2:13:27 whose largest urban areas were but a fraction of the size,
2:13:31 the Persian capital was unlike anything most
2:13:34 of them had ever witnessed in their lives.
2:13:37 More than just a single city,
2:13:39 Ctesiphon had in fact grown to encompass about seven grandiose
2:13:43 population centres which had been
2:13:45 constructed and assimilated over the centuries, forming a true metropolis.
2:13:49 Because of its unique nature,
2:13:52 the Persian heartland was dubbed Madain, or ‘The Cities’ in Arabic.
2:13:56 On the Tigris’ western bank stood Seleucia, Vologesocerta and Veh-Ardashir,
2:14:01 while Ctesiphon proper and a number of peripheral hubs were to the east.
2:14:06 Perhaps the most majestic sight for those approaching Arabs
2:14:10 during 637 would have been the 40-meter-tall Arch of Khosrow,
2:14:14 an architectural marvel unique in the world at the time.
2:14:21 Although Firuzan hadn’t managed to stop the Muslim advance,
2:14:25 his delaying action had worked,
2:14:27 and now the entire western portion of Yazdegerd’s
2:14:30 imperial capital was fortified with a deep ditch,
2:14:33 with manned positions at regular intervals.
2:14:36 The Sassanid Shah3 and his advisors also massed a number
2:14:40 of ballistae and catapults in the bounds of Veh-Ardashir which,
2:14:44 as the closest sub-city to Ctesiphon proper,
2:14:48 was the focus of their defensive efforts.
2:14:52 Zuhra ordered an attack on Madain shortly after his arrival,
2:14:56 but Yazdegerd’s artillery began launching bolts and throwing giant
2:14:59 stones out of Veh-Ardashir and into the Muslim ranks,
2:15:03 causing severe losses and forcing Zuhra’s forces to retreat out of range.
2:15:08 Unable to reply in kind,
2:15:10 he sent scouting parties to probe and find a way inside,
2:15:14 but everywhere came across the Persians’ defensive
2:15:16 trench and were unable to breach it.
2:15:19 Sa’d arrived at this point and assumed command,
2:15:22 swiftly deciding that there was little point wasting
2:15:25 his warriors in careless assaults against such strong defences.
2:15:29 So, instead he established a blockade around all of Madain west
2:15:34 of the Tigris and settled his forces down for a long siege.
2:15:40 However, Sa’d wasn’t content to sit and wait for victory,
2:15:44 taking all measures he thought possible
2:15:46 to secure a faster surrender of the unbelievers,
2:15:50 primarily by scything away the western bastion’s food supplies.
2:15:53 To do this, he had his subcommanders
2:15:57 conduct raids on the neighboring hinterland,
2:15:59 seizing cattle and sheep for the Muslims’ own uses whilst
2:16:03 also sapping the enemy’s resources
2:16:05 by preventing supplies from reaching Veh-Ardashir.
2:16:08 In the process of doing so,
2:16:10 Arab cavalry seized thousands of farmers as prisoners of war who,
2:16:15 upon the intercession of a regional leader who had submitted,
2:16:18 were freed upon agreeing to pay the Jizya tax.
2:16:22 In addition, security for their lives and possessions were guaranteed,
2:16:26 an act which won the Muslim invaders considerable good will with the locals.
2:16:34 Throughout the months long siege,
2:16:36 Sa’d’s warriors had also been continuously harried by the sophisticated
2:16:40 Sassanid engines of war Yazdegerd’s generals had amassed,
2:16:43 although casualties at their hands remained relatively light.
2:16:47 Unfortunately for the Persians,
2:16:49 some of their engineers defected during the course of the siege and provided
2:16:54 their masters with at least 20 novel artillery pieces of their own.
2:16:58 When these contraptions subsequently began sending
2:17:01 their own missiles howling into Ctesiphon,
2:17:04 the dense concentration of Sassanid soldiers and civilians
2:17:07 inside resulted in them causing terrible destruction.
2:17:10 The fact that the Muslims had even acquired weaponry of this kind,
2:17:15 which had until then been universally in Persian hands,
2:17:21 also badly affected morale.
2:17:24 By mid-March 637 western Madain’s situation was becoming intolerable.
2:17:30 Persian civilians starved to death in the hundreds,
2:17:33 while more were reduced to eating stray cats and dogs to survive.
2:17:37 Beset by such conditions,
2:17:39 the Sassanid troops not manning the ditch were concentrated into a single
2:17:44 strike force and led in a desperate sortie beyond their defences.
2:17:49 The Muslims arrayed to meet them
2:17:51 in pitched battle and a desperate struggle began.
2:17:54 Zuhra’s corps was in the thick of the action
2:17:57 and he himself was wounded by an arrow.
2:18:00 Despite his injury, the valiant Bani Tamin chief led
2:18:03 a counterattack and personally slew the Persian strike force commander,
2:18:08 after which the defenders withdrew behind their ditch.
2:18:13 The savage fighting to repulse the Persian attack
2:18:16 was followed by a few hours of eerie calm,
2:18:19 during which a Sassanid officer approached the Muslims with an offer:
2:18:23 each belligerent would retain whatever territory they had
2:18:27 captured on their respective sides of the Tigris.
2:18:30 However, these conditions were declined with the reply
2:18:33 “There can never be peace between us until we get honey out of the lemons
2:18:38 of Kusa.” When these peace overtures were rejected,
2:18:41 the Persian forces in Veh-Ardashir quietly withdrew
2:18:44 from their positions and pulled back across the Tigris.
2:18:49 Western Ctesiphon was now under Muslim control.
2:18:52 Yazdegerd III also sent his family, retainers and treasury ahead to Hulwan,
2:18:58 where the emperor intended to move his court if the great capital fell.
2:19:04 Although behaving as if defeat was already inevitable,
2:19:07 from his seat in the White Palace Yazdegerd appointed Rostam’s brother
2:19:12 Khurrazad and Mihran to command the defence of the eastern city.
2:19:17 These generals promptly redeployed their remaining forces on the eastern
2:19:21 bank and waited for the besiegers’ next move.
2:19:24 That same evening, on the river’s edge of newly occupied Veh-Ardashir,
2:19:29 Sa’d stared across the Tigris at the glorious
2:19:32 Arch of Khosrow and pondered his next move, eager to claim it for Islam.
2:19:37 As Muhammad’s former companion strategised to himself,
2:19:40 a Persian approached him and asked “What are you
2:19:43 waiting for?”, followed by the alarming revelation that “Not
2:19:47 another two days will pass before Yazdegerd departs
2:19:51 with everything in Ctesiphon!” Time was now of the essence.
2:19:57 Another sympathetic local, possibly disillusioned by heavy Sassanid taxation
2:20:02 or possibly even a recent convert to Islam,
2:20:05 took Sa’d to a known ford in the river,
2:20:08 one which Sa’d deemed unsuitable due to the swift current and deep water.
2:20:13 Rather than make a hasty decision right then,
2:20:16 he chose to sleep on the issue and decide in the morning.
2:20:20 During the night, Sa’d supposedly had a strange
2:20:23 dream in which he saw the Tigris’ waters,
2:20:26 only they were flowing incredibly quickly and were unrealistically deep.
2:20:30 Still, his own Arab cavalry appeared
2:20:33 and plunged into the seemingly impassable torrent,
2:20:36 reaching the other side relatively easily.
2:20:39 The next morning, Sa’d convened a conference of his highest
2:20:42 generals and declared that the cavalry would swim through the river,
2:20:46 and asked if there were any volunteers to lead the dangerous attack.
2:20:50 The first to put himself forward was Asim bin Amr,
2:20:54 Qaqa’s tribal comrade and a dashing military leader,
2:20:59 followed by 700 of the most reckless and brave Muslim warriors.
2:21:05 After all necessary preparations had been made by midmorning,
2:21:08 Asim plunged into the water and began his crossing.
2:21:12 Khurrazad responded by ordering his Persians into the river to meet them,
2:21:17 but after a hearty resistance the Sassanid cavalry who responded were
2:21:21 pushed back when one of their comrades from the city came,
2:21:25 shouting “Why are you killing yourselves,
2:21:26 there is nobody left in Ctesiphon to defend!” He was at least partially correct.
2:21:32 Upon receiving word that the Muslims were crossing the Tigris,
2:21:36 Emperor Yazdegerd had departed his capital for Hulwan,
2:21:39 taking much of the imperial court with him.
2:21:42 After their resistance faltered,
2:21:44 most of the army defending the city followed suit4,
2:21:48 save for a Sassanid regiment fortified in the White Palace.
2:21:53 On the Tigris, Sa’d took the opportunity Asim’s lance-like advance had given
2:21:58 him and began ferrying the rest of his warriors across to the bridgehead,
2:22:03 not without danger of succumbing to the raging waters.
2:22:06 One man fell from his horse and fell into the current,
2:22:10 but the all-powerful Qaqa reached down in the nick of time and heaved him up.
2:22:15 Despite the myriad dangers of the crossing,
2:22:17 in relatively short order the entire Islamic army
2:22:20 was on the eastern bank of the Tigris river.
2:22:23 The moment Sa’d himself landed,
2:22:25 he ordered Asim and Qaqa to move on the core of Ctesiphon,
2:22:29 in the process of which they encountered token resistance,
2:22:34 but this was quickly dealt with.
2:22:37 The Muslims found their final opposition in the White Palace,
2:22:40 but chose to deal with it by sending
2:22:42 forward yet another companion of Muhammad- Salman.
2:22:46 A Persian by birth, he had converted
2:22:48 to Islam after meeting the prophet in Arabia,
2:22:51 and now his heritage proved a crucial boon.
2:22:54 “I am actually one of you, I feel for you.” he said upon meeting the defenders,
2:22:59 and outlined the usual three choices- Jizya, conversion, or death.
2:23:05 After a short negotiation,
2:23:07 the hopeless palace troops accepted the Islamic tax and surrendered.
2:23:11 Ctesiphon- Jewel of the Sassanid imperial superpower
2:23:14 for over four centuries- was now in Arab hands,
2:23:18 a people who had been a mere afterthought only years earlier.
2:23:25 Separate columns of Arab riders under Zuhra and Qaqa
2:23:29 galloped forth from the captured city almost immediately,
2:23:32 moving in different directions5 in pursuit of their enemy.
2:23:35 The spoils were plenty- for example, 11 priceless suits of armour and swords
2:23:41 which belonged to Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire,
2:23:44 the Turkish Khagan, and other world leaders.
2:23:47 Other treasures now in Sa’d’s hands included gold, jewels, and imperial regalia.
2:23:53 With the Sassanid capital had come the empire’s boundless wealth,
2:23:57 and also the first major mass conversions of Persians to Islam.
2:24:02 Salman the Persian in particular played a role in this religious change,
2:24:06 preaching to his countrymen the values and beliefs of the new faith.
2:24:13 Although Ctesiphon and all the ‘Suwad’ was lost to the House of Sasan,
2:24:18 the Persians’ resistance to their conquest by the Muslims
2:24:23 would continue in the old heartland beyond the Zagros.
2:24:29 We last left the Muslims’ Syrian campaign in the aftermath of Abu
2:24:33 Ubaidah and Khalid Ibn al Walid’s triumph over the Romans at Yarmouk.
2:24:37 Exhausted from that long six-day struggle,
2:24:40 the Muslims remained camped around Jabiya for a month,
2:24:43 collecting the bounties of war and recuperating their strength.
2:24:47 The scant few of Heraclius’ warriors who survived the massacre
2:24:51 fled north to the relative safety of Northern Syria,
2:24:55 leaving Palestine at the mercy of the Islamic forces.
2:25:00 Without an army to check his progress,
2:25:03 Abu Ubaidah assembled his generals in October 636
2:25:07 to decide how best to exploit the situation.
2:25:10 Some argued for an attack on the strategic lynchpin of Caesarea- a coastal
2:25:15 fortress whose garrison could be indefinitely
2:25:18 reprovisioned by the Roman navy if besieged,
2:25:21 but which could also serve as a potential
2:25:23 beachhead for a counterattack if not taken.
2:25:26 If the Muslims got it, the campaign for Palestine would be over.
2:25:31 However, other commanders pointed inland towards
2:25:34 a much simpler and symbolically enticing target- Jerusalem.
2:25:38 Not only could this isolated city
2:25:41 be strangled into submission with relative ease,
2:25:44 but the loss of their holiest place would
2:25:47 be a crushing blow to Roman Christian morale.
2:25:50 Unable to come to a decision,
2:25:52 Abu Ubaidah sent a message to Caliph Umar asking his opinion.
2:25:56 The reply was simple- take Jerusalem.
2:25:59 So, Abu Ubaidah led the Muslim army straight at the holy city.
2:26:03 Realising what was about to happen,
2:26:07 Jerusalem’s patriarch Sophronius secretly sent the holiest Christian relics,
2:26:12 including the true cross, off to Constantinople by sea.
2:26:18 The raiding Arab mobile guard under
2:26:20 Khalid reached Jerusalem sometime in November, just before the rest of the army,
2:26:25 and this prompted the Roman garrison to pull back inside.
2:26:28 Discovering to their chagrin that its fortifications had been
2:26:33 reinforced after Yarmouk in anticipation of just such a siege,
2:26:37 the five commanders- Abu Ubaidah, Khalid, Yazid, Amr and Shurahbil,
2:26:41 nevertheless blocked off all passage in and out of Jerusalem.
2:26:48 This state of affairs continued for four months
2:26:51 in a relatively uneventful siege of which few details survive.
2:26:55 The situation in the city must have become unbearable though,
2:26:59 because in March 637 Sophronius offered to surrender Jerusalem if
2:27:04 Umar himself came and personally signed the treaty with him.
2:27:08 When these terms became known, Shurahbil suggested that Khalid,
2:27:11 whose appearance was relatively similar to that of the caliph,
2:27:16 should impersonate their leader and secure a quick surrender.
2:27:20 However, this attempt at deception failed the next morning because Khalid
2:27:24 was far too well known in the Levant by this point.
2:27:28 When it did, Abu Ubaidah instead dispatched
2:27:32 a message to Medina explaining the situation.
2:27:37 A few weeks later, having made the long journey from Arabia,
2:27:41 Caliph Umar arrived near Jerusalem.
2:27:43 Khalid and Yazid greeted him, both dressed in fine silk clothing,
2:27:47 but this annoyed Umar- a firm enemy of luxury
2:27:51 and a proponent of the Spartan way of life.
2:27:54 Seeing his generals in such a state of apparent excess,
2:27:57 the caliph picked up some pebbles and threw them at the two stunned men,
2:28:02 shouting “Shame on you, that you greet me in this fashion.
2:28:05 It is only in the last two years that you have eaten your fill!”.
2:28:09 The caliph’s rage was quickly sated when
2:28:11 Khalid and Shurahbil revealed that they were,
2:28:14 in fact, still carrying armour and weapons beneath their fine outer garments.
2:28:21 Drama aside, he quickly got down to business and negotiated with Sophronius,
2:28:26 with the result that Jerusalem was opened to the Muslims by late April.
2:28:31 It is said that the pact between
2:28:33 Umar and Sophronius recognised Christians as a ‘protected
2:28:36 people’ with the right to practice their own religion in return for the Jizya,
2:28:41 but this ‘Covenant of Umar’ is probably apocryphal.
2:28:45 Now that the holy city of Christendom was in his hands,
2:28:49 the caliph conferred with his commanders and then went back to Arabia.
2:28:56 The Syrian army then split into thirds,
2:28:58 with Amr and Shurahbil moving to reoccupy and secure Palestine,
2:29:02 Yazid besieging Caesarea,
2:29:03 while Khalid and Abu Ubaidah moved to begin the conquest of Northern Syria.
2:29:09 With the situation in the region seemingly hopeless after the Yarmouk disaster,
2:29:14 Emperor Heraclius sailed from Antioch and withdrew back into Anatolia,
2:29:19 intent on consolidating Byzantine military strength
2:29:21 and protecting the remainder of his empire.
2:29:25 Once the ship departed, it is said that Heraclius said the words:
2:29:30 “Farewell, a long farewell to Syria, my fair province.
2:29:33 You are an enemy’s now.
2:29:35 Peace be with you, o’ Syria, what a beautiful land you will be
2:29:39 for the enemy’s hands.” Despite this effective abandonment,
2:29:43 some of the Roman garrisons were still determined to resist the Arab advance.
2:29:48 From Jerusalem, a 17,000 strong force under
2:29:52 Khalid and Abu Ubaidah marched unopposed to Damascus,
2:29:56 and then even further north to Emesa.
2:30:00 From there, Khalid was dispatched with his elite
2:30:03 mobile guard to Chalkis- modern Qinnasrin- but was
2:30:07 intercepted on a plain at nearby Hazir
2:30:10 by 7,000 men under the town’s Roman commander- Menas.
2:30:14 He deployed his limited forces in three divisions- a centre and two wings,
2:30:19 placing himself at the forefront.
2:30:21 Khalid charged with his Arab cavalry and soon
2:30:24 enough a fearsome mounted engagement was underway.
2:30:27 After only a short amount of time,
2:30:30 however, Menas was slain amidst heavy fighting,
2:30:33 and his troops, who loved their general, went wild with fury.
2:30:38 Despite their numerical inferiority,
2:30:40 the Roman troops matched the Muslims pound-for-pound in the head-on clash,
2:30:44 pushing them back a little but committing themselves too much.
2:30:48 To exploit the opportunity, Khalid detached a unit of cavalry from one
2:30:53 of his wings and led it around the Byzantine line,
2:30:56 attacking his enemy from the rear and defeating them.
2:30:59 It is said that not a single Roman survived this engagement at Hazir.
2:31:06 Following this victory, in June 637, Khalid moved on Chalkis itself,
2:31:12 where the garrison was stubbornly fortified in the town’s citadel.
2:31:16 Rather than launching an assault,
2:31:18 the Muslim general merely demanded those inside and the defenders surrender,
2:31:22 which they did soon after.
2:31:24 Abu Ubaidah rejoined Khalid at this point and the pair moved north to Aleppo,
2:31:29 where they defeated a minor Byzantine force commanded
2:31:32 by Joachim in a pitched battle outside the city.
2:31:35 Much like at Chalkis, the Romans retreated into their fortifications-
2:31:40 a hilltop citadel outside Aleppo itself.
2:31:42 Joachim sallied out a few times in an attempt to break the siege,
2:31:48 but failed, and by October 637 the city was in Arab hands.
2:31:54 The greatest Roman city in Syria- Antioch, was now close.
2:31:59 To precipitate an attack on it,
2:32:01 Ubaidah sent a strike force to deal with the garrison at Azaz in the north,
2:32:05 so that no Roman units could hit them
2:32:08 from the flank as they were taking Antioch.
2:32:10 This was done swiftly,
2:32:12 and when the strike force returned Ubaidah’s advance on Antioch began.
2:32:17 When the Muslim army was 12 miles from one
2:32:19 of the urban jewels of the Byzantine Empire,
2:32:22 they were met at an iron bridge over the Orontes
2:32:25 River by a powerful Roman army who had come from Antioch.
2:32:29 Although the details of this ‘Battle of the Iron Bridge’ are also unknown,
2:32:33 it is clear that Khalid used his mobile guard to superb effect,
2:32:38 crushing the Romans in a battle whose
2:32:40 casualties were only exceeded by Ajnadayn and Yarmouk.
2:32:43 In the wake of thousands of fleeing enemy soldiers,
2:32:47 the Muslims approached and besieged Antioch,
2:32:49 but taking the illustrious capital of the east was an anticlimax.
2:32:54 Only a few days into Abu Ubaidah’s investment- October 30th,
2:32:59 the weakened city surrendered on terms and its
2:33:04 defenders were permitted to withdraw north unmolested.
2:33:08 Having cleaved the Eastern Roman Empire into two disconnected pieces,
2:33:12 Abu Ubaidah dispatched Khalid on a daring cavalry raid
2:33:16 across the Taurus Mountains and into the Tarsus region,
2:33:20 while the supreme commander himself thrust south down the Mediterranean coast,
2:33:25 capturing seaports such as Laodicea, Gibala,
2:33:28 Antarados and Tripoli making it impossible for emperor Heraclius to use
2:33:33 the superior Roman navy to bring armies into the Levant.
2:33:36 Although fighting in the area was far from over,
2:33:40 by late 637 most generals of Syrian campaign
2:33:45 settled down to rule their respective regions as governors1.
2:33:50 At Hulwan, Yazdegerd III was still eager to salvage
2:33:54 his crumbling empire after the loss of Ctesiphon.
2:33:57 To do this, he ordered the main Persian army under Mihran and Khurrazad
2:34:03 to halt their retreat and turn to face the invaders near Jalula.
2:34:10 Armies attempting to push north past the riverside town
2:34:13 were forced to march through a narrow gap between
2:34:16 the Tigris’ Diyala tributary to the west side
2:34:19 and an area of barely passable broken ground to the east.
2:34:23 If Mihran’s 20-30,000 could hold this position,
2:34:26 the remainder of the northern Suwad and Sassanid
2:34:30 territory east of the Zagros Mountains would be unassailable.
2:34:34 With the aim of converting Jalula into an impenetrable
2:34:37 fortress able to resist any enemy thrust, Mihran immediately started digging in.
2:34:43 A ditch was excavated three miles to the south which
2:34:47 connected the broken ground to the river, blocking the gap.
2:34:51 Behind this trench were a number of other fortifications,
2:34:54 artillery and thousands of Persian archers,
2:34:56 while in front were placed an array of wooden anti-cavalry caltrops.
2:35:00 Recruits were mustered, armed and trained from the local area,
2:35:05 and provisions were gathered from around the nearby countryside.
2:35:10 Jalula was to be a crucial battle.
2:35:14 The moment Sassanid defensive works began around Jalula,
2:35:18 word reached Sa’d in Ctesiphon that this was happening.
2:35:21 As the Muslim general was just as keen to seize the fertile
2:35:25 northern Suwad as his Persian enemies were to keep hold of it,
2:35:30 and wanting to push the defensive frontier eastwards,
2:35:32 Sa’d sent his nephew Hashim bin Utba
2:35:35 with 12,000 troops to reduce the Persian position.
2:35:39 In order to prevent reinforcement or retreat,
2:35:42 Sa’d also dispatched 5,000 men to deal
2:35:45 with Persian governor Intaq’s garrison at Mosul.
2:35:48 After several attempts at taking that city by storm,
2:35:52 Muslim spies managed to secure the defection of a Christian Arab
2:35:57 contingent in a betrayal which led to the fall of Mosul.
2:36:03 In the main force heading for Jalula during March 637,
2:36:07 Hashim brought with him many companions of Muhammed,
2:36:10 as well as the ever-ferocious Qaqa ibn Amr.
2:36:13 Also in the Muslim ranks were several thousand Persian troops
2:36:17 along with Sassanid officers who had joined them after Ctesiphon.
2:36:21 When the Arabs and their Persian units approached the Jalula
2:36:24 gap after a day’s march from the former Sassanid capital,
2:36:28 Hashim constructed his camp and deployed along
2:36:31 the southern arc of Mihran’s protective trench,
2:36:34 unwilling to launch an outright assault against it.
2:36:37 So, the situation remained in this manner for many months,
2:36:41 during which reinforcements,
2:36:42 provisions and money was channeled into the fortified city from Hulwan,
2:36:47 where Emperor Yazdegerd was continuously rallying additional forces.
2:36:54 Aware that his situation was only going to worsen with time,
2:36:57 Hashim ordered several attempts at storming the fortified ditch.
2:37:01 Despite the disconcerting failure of Mihran’s
2:37:04 wooden caltrops to stop Arab cavalry,
2:37:07 Persian missile troops managed to overwhelm and repel these attacks.
2:37:11 Afterwards, the Sassanids replaced the wooden
2:37:14 obstacles with more effective iron ones.
2:37:18 Demoralised due to their lack of success in breaking the Persian line,
2:37:22 the Muslims ceased offensive actions for a while,
2:37:25 and that gave Mihran an opportunity of his own.
2:37:28 Utilising the constant steady stream of reinforcements coming his way,
2:37:32 the Persian general began launching sorties against Hashim’s positions,
2:37:36 inflicting losses and gaining confidence as he did.
2:37:40 Although the Muslim army was easily able to fight up to 80
2:37:43 of these attacks off when they arrived
2:37:46 and pushed Mihran back into his fortifications repeatedly,
2:37:49 there was still no way to break the deadlock.
2:37:53 With little other option,
2:37:55 Hashim sent word back to Ctesiphon that he required reinforcements.
2:38:01 Sa’d initially sent 600 infantry and 400 cavalry to bolster the army at Jalula,
2:38:06 but this total was barely enough to replace the losses
2:38:10 suffered during eight months of battle and light siege.
2:38:14 So, soon after, another 500 cavalry
2:38:17 reinforcements were dispatched which included many competent
2:38:20 Arabic tribal chiefs who had fought against the Caliphate in the Ridda Wars.
2:38:25 The Persians, having been themselves reinforced by Yazdegerd
2:38:28 and emboldened by Muslim inability to break their defences,
2:38:32 now decided to go on the attack before Hashim was further reinforced.
2:38:37 Mihran also realised that simply waiting wasn’t
2:38:39 going to win him the battle- the only
2:38:42 way to make the Muslim invaders leave was to inflict a decisive defeat on them.
2:38:49 Deployment for an assault began with haste.
2:38:52 Such Sassanid preparations for a major attack could not be concealed,
2:38:57 and it immediately attracted Hashim’s attention.
2:38:59 This state of affairs was, however, also favourable to the Muslims,
2:39:04 who were utterly sick and tired
2:39:07 of sitting helplessly outside Mihran’s fortifications,
2:39:09 So, to facilitate a pitched battle,
2:39:12 Hashim withdrew his forces a short distance to the south
2:39:16 and allowed his Persian adversaries to cross their own entrenchments,
2:39:20 thereafter arraying for battle opposite.
2:39:22 The actual order of battle at Jalula is obscure to us,
2:39:26 but we do know that two former ‘apostate’ chiefs- Amr bin Madi
2:39:30 Karib of the Zubaid family and Tuleiha bin Khuleiwad of the Banu Asad,
2:39:35 were given command of the cavalry and infantry respectively.
2:39:41 Now that the Persian rear was anchored by their own ditch,
2:39:45 the only direction to move was forwards, and that is just what happened.
2:39:49 At Mihran’s command, the Battle of Jalula proper began
2:39:53 with a full-scale Sassanid attack along the entire front,
2:39:57 with archers and javelineers loosing
2:39:59 their projectiles before melee troops made contact.
2:40:02 The charge struck with devastating impact,
2:40:05 but Hashim’s Muslims nevertheless resisted stalwartly for a time,
2:40:09 refusing to give an inch of ground.
2:40:12 This didn’t last long however, as the ferocious assault,
2:40:15 fired up by constant shouts swearing vengeance for Qadissiyah and Ctesiphon,
2:40:20 began punching small holes in various places along the Muslim line.
2:40:27 These successful thrusts endangered the integrity of the entire Muslim front,
2:40:31 and it was immediately clear to Hashim
2:40:34 that the danger of total collapse was very real, and perhaps imminent.
2:40:38 To resolve the problem, Sa’d’s nephew rode along his buckling line
2:40:42 to speak inspirationally to those units which were weakening,
2:40:46 proclaiming that if they persisted,
2:40:48 this was the last battle they would have to fight.
2:40:51 The present clash between Sassanid and Muslim troops became increasingly brutal
2:40:55 as both sides’ missile units ran out of javelins and arrows,
2:41:00 instead taking up melee weapons and charging into the slog themselves.
2:41:04 Both armies had units battered into non-functionality by the extended fighting,
2:41:10 but when this happened the Persians were able to replace them,
2:41:15 while Hashim had no such luxury.
2:41:18 Because of this numerical disadvantage,
2:41:20 one Islamic unit gave way and routed to the rear at about noon,
2:41:25 leaving a potentially fatal vacuum in the Muslim line.
2:41:29 However, either because Mihran did not notice
2:41:31 the opportunity or due to his soldiers’ exhaustion,
2:41:35 an attack on the position was not ordered
2:41:37 and Hashim scraped together some men to fill the position.
2:41:40 Witnessing the flight of this unit,
2:41:43 Qaqa rode back and restored order, returning it to the battle.
2:41:47 Almost unbearable desert heat and the brutal fighting led to the Persians
2:41:52 halting their offensive just after this, and both sides disengaged.
2:41:56 After a short rest, Mihran planned to keep piling on the pressure,
2:42:01 but Hashim had other plans.
2:42:03 As his enemy had before,
2:42:05 the Muslim general ordered his warriors to charge across the entire front,
2:42:10 spoiling Mihran’s assault and initiating another gruelling clash which
2:42:13 lasting for over an hour without a decisive moment.
2:42:17 Just before sunset, however,
2:42:18 the wind whipped up and a storm rolled in from the south,
2:42:23 a weather phenomenon which affected the Persians
2:42:27 more than the hardy desert nomads.
2:42:31 As the wind was now at the Muslims’ back, granting them momentum in the advance,
2:42:36 Hashim signalled Qaqa ibn Amr to embark
2:42:38 on a maneuver they had prepared beforehand.
2:42:41 While his general kept Mihran occupied in front,
2:42:44 the buccaneering Arab warrior took a regiment away from the left
2:42:48 wing unnoticed and managed to circle around the Persian rear.
2:42:52 Instead of attacking immediately, Qaqa left most of his outflanking force
2:42:56 in a sheltered area to stop them being seen,
2:42:59 then took a few outriders and a man with an incredibly
2:43:04 strong voice close to the main crossing point over the Persian trench.
2:43:09 Following the call, multiple things happened at once.
2:43:12 First, the Muslim army, deceived by their own into believing
2:43:17 that their general had reached the trench alone,
2:43:20 attacked with renewed vigour and peak morale.
2:43:22 At the same time, worried that large numbers of Muslims were now behind them,
2:43:28 individual Sassanid units, who did not have a strategic overview of the field,
2:43:33 panicked, lost cohesion but did not break.
2:43:36 The coup de grace was administered by Qaqa himself,
2:43:39 whose flanking force charged upon hearing the shout,
2:43:42 whirling into Mihran’s flank like a thunderbolt.
2:43:45 At the impact, the Sassanid line was rolled up before being encircled entirely.
2:43:51 Still, however, the Persian forces were stalwart,
2:43:55 refusing to collapse utterly despite their unwinnable situation.
2:43:59 Muslim forces continued attacking the encircled
2:44:02 but still resistant forces of Mihran all day, losing troops as they did.
2:44:07 However, the Sassanid soldiers were only human.
2:44:10 At sunset, as the sky began to darken,
2:44:13 everything fell apart and the Persians routed, only to be cut down as they fled.
2:44:19 A great mass of them, driven into the ditch and their own
2:44:24 iron stakes by Hashim’s army, perished terribly.
2:44:28 Up to half of the Sassanid army perished at Jalula,
2:44:31 while the remainder, including the town garrison,
2:44:34 fled in the direction of Hulwan, and the town itself fell in December 637.
2:44:40 Shortly after, Qaqa rode in pursuit of the retreating
2:44:44 enemy and defeated them first at Khaniqeen,
2:44:46 before besieging and capturing Hulwan in January 638.
2:44:51 Emperor Yazdegerd retreated beyond the Zagros.
2:44:54 When Qaqa subsequently wrote to the caliph
2:44:57 asking permission to operate deeper in Persia,
2:45:00 Umar would have absolutely none of it.
2:45:03 Forbidding the operation,
2:45:04 he replied “I wish that between the Suwad and the hills were a wall
2:45:09 which would prevent them from getting to us and prevent us from getting to them.
2:45:13 The fertile Suwad is sufficient for us, and I prefer the safety of the Muslims
2:45:19 to the spoils of war.” Expansion to the east was halted,
2:45:24 but the Muslims were now looking towards
2:45:28 the jewel in the Roman imperial crown- Egypt.
2:45:32 Despite winning all of Syria and Iraq
2:45:35 for Islam in a series of stunning victories,
2:45:38 the caliphate’s military situation remained unstable.
2:45:41 Fierce Persian resistance continued in the mountainous to the northeast,
2:45:46 while Emperor Heraclius was hindering the Muslim advance as much as he could.
2:45:51 To stall for time while he created an impenetrable
2:45:55 dead-zone between the Anatolian plain and enemy-occupied Syria,
2:45:59 Heraclius sent envoys to his Christian Arab allies in the Jazeera area,
2:46:05 requesting that they attack the Muslim army in Syria.
2:46:08 They obeyed the emperor’s orders,
2:46:10 crossing the Euphrates and arriving outside Emesa in March 638,
2:46:15 where Abu Ubaidah had concentrated his forces to meet them.
2:46:22 However, Umar, in his typically hands-on fashion,
2:46:25 reacted to this news by sending orders to Sa’d,
2:46:29 in Persia, for three columns to invade Jazeera from Iraq.
2:46:34 When this group of Muslim warriors launched their attack and began plundering,
2:46:39 the Christian Arabs retreated.
2:46:41 In the aftermath, forces under Sa’d turned and annexed Jazeera completely.
2:46:50 At the same time, multiple mounted raiding parties
2:46:53 were sent by Abu Ubaidah into Roman lands.
2:46:56 Khalid, the commander of one of these contingents,
2:47:00 captured Marash in Autumn 638,
2:47:03 and hauled vast quantities of loot back to his base at Qinnasrin.
2:47:08 However, Khalid wasn’t a man accustomed to hoarding wealth,
2:47:12 routinely distributing his personal share of battle spoils to others.
2:47:16 On one occasion after his raid on Heraclius’ lands,
2:47:20 an Arab chief and excellent poet- Ash’as
2:47:23 bin Qais- recited a beautiful piece for Khalid,
2:47:27 and in return was given 10,000 dirhams.
2:47:31 Unknown to the poet’s benefactor, this act of generosity was in fact
2:47:37 to herald the end of his peerless military career.
2:47:42 Caliph Umar had been concerned about Khalid for years by 638,
2:47:47 specifically that his personal brilliance and constant victories were
2:47:51 enticing the Muslims to worship him, rather than god.
2:47:55 So, when Umar received reports of his general’s extravagance,
2:47:59 Umar used it as an excuse to dismiss the Sword
2:48:03 of Islam from his post and bring him to Medina.
2:48:07 When the two formidable men came face to face, the caliph spoke the words:
2:48:11 “You have done, and no man has done as you have done.
2:48:15 But it is not people who do;
2:48:18 it is Allah who does.” After this, Khalid left Arabia for Chalkis,
2:48:23 where he lived just four more unhappy,
2:48:28 unremarkable years before finally passing away in 642.
2:48:34 As the undefeated victor of hundreds of clashes leaves our story,
2:48:39 another bold but historically unappreciated Arab general enters the limelight.
2:48:44 That was the forty-eight-year-old Amr ibn al-As,
2:48:48 who won distinction during the battles at Ajnadayn, Yarmouk, and many others.
2:48:54 When Abu Ubaidah appointed the conquered regions to his subordinates,
2:48:58 Amr received all of Palestine.
2:49:00 Upon moving into the area,
2:49:02 he forced the surrender of Gaza and several other Roman
2:49:07 garrisons which had remained unconquered after the Fall of Jerusalem.
2:49:13 In early 639, plague spread rapidly throughout the Levant.
2:49:17 The Arabs, unaccustomed to this kind
2:49:20 of terrible disease because of their nomadic lifestyle,
2:49:24 died in the thousands, including generals Yazid,
2:49:27 Shurahbil, and Abu Ubaidah himself.
2:49:29 It is worth noting that upon Yazid’s death,
2:49:33 his younger brother Muawiya was appointed as governor in his place.
2:49:38 Amr, who survived, was given command of the army,
2:49:41 and this gave him a golden opportunity to propose an idea to the caliph:
2:49:46 Having visited Alexandria multiple times earlier in his life,
2:49:50 Amr was well aware of just how prosperous the Nile region was,
2:49:55 and believed it would be easy to conquer.
2:49:58 The new commander put forward his plan to seize Roman Egypt for Islam,
2:50:03 confidently declaring to the caliph: “It is the richest of lands,
2:50:08 and the weakest in defending itself!” Although Umar,
2:50:11 who wished to consolidate Muslim gains
2:50:14 after years of incessant warfare and plague, was initially reluctant,
2:50:19 believing Amr was underestimating the task,
2:50:22 his eloquence and persistence eventually led the caliph to relent.
2:50:29 Restricted to just 4,000 troops, mainly cavalry,
2:50:33 Amr set forth from Jabiya that same night in total secrecy,
2:50:37 under the condition that he would withdraw if instructions
2:50:41 to turn back reached him before he crossed into Egypt.
2:50:45 However, if Amr’s army was already inside Egypt when these instructions arrived,
2:50:50 it could keep going.
2:50:52 Convinced almost immediately that this expedition was too risky,
2:50:56 Umar sent a camel rider off to Amr carrying a sealed letter,
2:51:01 ordering him to pull back.
2:51:02 When it reached the general at Rafah, just a few miles from Egypt,
2:51:07 Amr understood that the letter would doom his expedition before it even began.
2:51:12 So, Amr left the message unopened and moved
2:51:15 into Egypt and only then opened the letter,
2:51:18 and since the army was already in Egypt when Umar’s orders were revealed,
2:51:24 Amr reasoned that it could keep going.
2:51:28 The timeless province of power and riches was incredibly vulnerable,
2:51:33 weakened by years of military laxity and alienated from the imperial
2:51:38 authorities in Constantinople by long-standing
2:51:41 cultural and religious differences.
2:51:44 The primary factor was that the Copts- Egypt’s native population- adhered
2:51:49 to a different form of Christianity to the empire at large.
2:51:54 Emperor Heraclius in particular persecuted any perceived heretic
2:51:58 in a manner that made religious division inevitable.
2:52:05 The Roman authorities in Alexandria were alerted to Amr’s presence,
2:52:10 responding by raising troops and sending some
2:52:13 of them to reinforce Pelusium- the ‘key to Egypt’.
2:52:17 Setting forth from Arish in late December 639,
2:52:20 the Caliphate’s small army of veterans soon reached Pelusium,
2:52:25 besieging it by land.
2:52:27 However, Roman naval superiority meant that the city
2:52:31 garrison could be reinforced and supplied,
2:52:33 and this led to a two-month-long siege which was only brought to a conclusion
2:52:40 when the Muslims repulsed a sortie and stormed the city in mid-February 640.
2:52:47 After taking Pelusium,
2:52:49 to the alarm and astonishment of the government in Alexandria,
2:52:53 Amr marched unopposed along the Nile Delta’s eastern
2:52:56 fringe until he reached the citadel of Bilbeis.
2:53:00 The defenders resisted under blockade for a month,
2:53:04 giving the Romans time to shift their forces around.
2:53:08 Aware that the marauding 4,000 Arabs were aiming for the Memphis area,
2:53:14 Egypt’s prefect and Patriarch of Alexandria, Cyrus, marched a 20,000 strong army
2:53:21 to reinforce the nearby fortress called Babylon.
2:53:25 Commanded by Augustalis Theodorus and garrisoned by 5,000 soldiers,
2:53:30 Babylon was one of the Nile’s strongest defensive bastions,
2:53:34 standing 60 feet high in places and possessing walls up to six feet thick.
2:53:40 By the time Amr starved the Bilbeis
2:53:43 defenders into surrender in the spring of 640,
2:53:47 the Romans were prepared for his inevitable assault.
2:53:51 Bypassing Heliopolis on their left, the Muslims arrived outside Babylon in May.
2:53:56 Due to its sheer size,
2:53:58 only some of Theodorus’ army were manning the battlements,
2:54:02 while most were encamped outside of the northern wall of the fortress,
2:54:07 protected by a deep arcing ditch.
2:54:10 Fortifying this secondary protection even further were spikes in front
2:54:15 and undug sections around the perimeter to act as sally points.
2:54:22 Shortly after arriving and witnessing the Roman strength arrayed inside Babylon,
2:54:27 Amr launched his 4,000 against the Roman units directly in front of the trench.
2:54:33 After a hard-fought skirmish,
2:54:34 the Muslims were repulsed with relative ease and set about finally making camp.
2:54:41 Observing that his plan to keep Theodorus on the defensive was paying off,
2:54:46 Amr mounted daily raids against the Roman positions all along the ditch.
2:54:51 Furthermore, in an attempt to conceal just how tiny his forces were,
2:54:56 the Muslim commander split and spread it over a large area.
2:55:00 This state of affairs lasted for two months- the Muslims constantly assailing
2:55:05 the Roman positions and the Romans remaining hunkered down behind the ditch,
2:55:11 presumably believing they would be able to win without fighting.
2:55:16 By July, no opportunity to gain a decisive victory had
2:55:20 shown itself to Amr and his men were slowly tiring.
2:55:24 So, having put the eventuality to the back of his mind,
2:55:28 the man who had proclaimed that taking Egypt would be simple,
2:55:33 wrote to the caliph asking for reinforcements.
2:55:36 Rather than chiding his overly optimistic general,
2:55:40 Umar mustered and sent him 4,000 reinforcements to conclude the campaign,
2:55:45 who reached Amr a few weeks later.
2:55:48 With these new forces,
2:55:50 the Muslim attacks on Babylon were renewed with even greater force,
2:55:54 killing large numbers of Roman soldiers
2:55:57 but failing to break the bastion’s resistance.
2:56:00 Even more hesitantly than the first time,
2:56:03 Amr sent another request for Umar’s aid.
2:56:07 This time, a further 4,000 troops were dispatched
2:56:10 under the leadership of Zubayr bin Al-Awwam who,
2:56:14 despite being offered Amr’s command by the irritated caliph,
2:56:18 merely stated that he wished to help the Muslims engaged in Egypt.
2:56:24 These new troops arrived in late September.
2:56:28 After conducting a personal reconnaissance mission around the area,
2:56:32 Zubayr pointed something out to Amr which the general seems to have missed:
2:56:37 still present about 10 miles behind the Muslim
2:56:41 army was the Roman-garrisoned city of Heliopolis.
2:56:44 If coordinated correctly, these troops could smash into the Muslims
2:56:50 from behind if Theodorus launched any attack from Babylon.
2:56:53 To remove this potential threat,
2:56:56 Amr led a large portion of his 12,000 total soldiers to Heliopolis,
2:57:01 leaving just enough at the fortress to keep the Romans on their toes.
2:57:05 Upon approaching the walls, however,
2:57:07 some of the garrison’s cavalry contingent emerged from the city
2:57:11 and beat some of Amr’s horsemen in a brief engagement.
2:57:15 Nevertheless, they were forced to pull back
2:57:18 inside the walls as the city was besieged.
2:57:21 Only a short time after investing Heliopolis,
2:57:24 Zubayr and a small unit of handpicked warriors scaled
2:57:28 the walls in a dashing maneuver and breached the city.
2:57:33 Seeing this, and realising that the result of the clash was inevitable anyway,
2:57:38 Heliopolis’ garrison sued for peace and paid the Jizya,
2:57:43 after which Amr and Zubayr returned to Babylon.
2:57:48 In their absence, the Romans had driven away the Muslim
2:57:51 detachments closest to the trench and re-established their positions beyond it.
2:57:56 Theodorus, likely realising that he wasn’t going to have
2:58:00 the luxury of simply waiting the invaders out,
2:58:03 began employing the Muslims’ own tactics against them,
2:58:06 launching daily raids through the Roman bridgeheads.
2:58:10 Although the Romans generally lost more men in these scattered engagements,
2:58:14 they could afford to, while Amr could not.
2:58:18 The stalemate went on relatively unchanged
2:58:21 until a revered Arab officer- Kharija bin Huzafa- approached Amr with a risky
2:58:28 but potentially decisive plan to win the battle.
2:58:33 That night, Kharija was given a cavalry regiment and ordered to lay his trap,
2:58:38 which he did by riding around to the southern spur
2:58:41 of a featureless ridge on the eastern side of the field.
2:58:45 After quietly taking up a concealed
2:58:48 position relatively close to the Romans’ ditch, the Muslim cavalry waited.
2:58:53 As Huzafa suspected, when morning came the Roman forces crossed the trench
2:58:59 in force and deployed for battle- the Muslims arrayed opposite them.
2:59:04 When both sides were ready, Theodorus launched his attack across the front,
2:59:08 pushing Amr, who ordered his army to retreat from Babylon with suspicious ease.
2:59:15 It was, in reality, a feigned retreat.
2:59:20 When the melee had moved far beyond Babylon’s defensive trench,
2:59:24 Kharija’s mounted contingent galloped out
2:59:26 from their hiding place behind the ridge
2:59:29 and occupied the crossing areas which Theodorus
2:59:31 would have to use for any retreat.
2:59:34 Amr, seeing that his horsemen were in place,
2:59:37 countercharged with immense ferocity,
2:59:39 driving the Romans back towards their own fortifications.
2:59:44 Hearing the given signal, Kharija also launched his assault,
2:59:48 crashing straight into Theodorus rear,
2:59:50 hemming the Romans in and then encircling them.
2:59:54 Many defenders were killed,
2:59:55 but a few Roman units turned and burst through Huzafa’s cavalry,
3:00:02 managing to resecure the crossing points.
3:00:06 The remnants of the Roman army at Babylon retreated across the trench,
3:00:10 pursued closely by Amr’s forces,
3:00:12 who continued their attack up to the very walls of the fortress.
3:00:17 Fighting continued in the space between the ditch
3:00:20 and the citadel proper until the gate was closed from inside.
3:00:24 Those who got in were the lucky ones,
3:00:27 as not a single Roman soldier remained alive on the field of battle.
3:00:32 The morale of Cyrus, who was not a military man by profession,
3:00:37 and the Roman soldiery as a whole, was completely shaken by this stark defeat,
3:00:42 and to the prefect it was clear that peace had to be concluded.
3:00:48 To make matters even more dire, Amr somehow got his hands on a few
3:00:53 catapults and used them to launch deadly boulders, softening up the defences.
3:00:58 When this began happening, Cyrus departed Babylon with a small escort and took
3:01:03 up residence on the midriver island of Rauda,
3:01:07 from which the fortress was being resupplied.
3:01:10 Then the Coptic prefect dejectedly sent word
3:01:13 to the Muslims that he wished to treat with them.
3:01:19 Envoys were exchanged back and forth between the two sides,
3:01:23 and Heraclius’ viceroy attempted to offer Amr
3:01:25 a lavish bribe if the Muslims left Egypt,
3:01:28 but the Arab commander responded by giving 3 options- conversion to Islam,
3:01:34 payment of the Jizya, or death.
3:01:37 Cyrus favoured capitulating in some form,
3:01:39 but his Egyptian colleagues wouldn’t have any of it,
3:01:42 so the stalemate continued outside the impenetrable fortress.
3:01:46 Since coming to terms with Cyrus was impossible,
3:01:50 Amr went into Babylon with a few companions in order to speak with Theodorus.
3:01:55 However, when he was entering the fortress,
3:01:58 a Roman soldier muttered to him scornfully “You have entered,
3:02:02 now see how you get out.” Correctly believing orders had
3:02:06 been given for him to be killed upon exiting the conference,
3:02:10 Amr tricked his way out of the fortress,
3:02:13 convincing Theodorus that he was going to bring
3:02:17 even more of his generals unwittingly into the trap.
3:02:21 These attempts at ending the siege
3:02:24 failed and the gridlock outside Babylon continued.
3:02:27 But finally, in mid-December, the observant Zubayr noticed that, since most
3:02:32 of the fighting had taken place on Babylon’s northern side,
3:02:36 the riverside Gate of Iron and its two guard towers were relatively undefended.
3:02:42 Just like that, the Muslims had found a key to Theodorus’ citadel.
3:02:50 Swiftly putting his infiltration plan into action with Amr’s blessing,
3:02:54 Zubayr assembled a unit to conduct the operation.
3:02:58 On the moonless, clear night of December 20th 640,
3:03:03 most of the Muslim army arrayed quietly outside the Gate
3:03:06 of Iron while Zubayr and his comrades climbed ladders up the wall.
3:03:11 Then, when some of his men were gathered on top,
3:03:14 a deafening Islamic battle cry was sounded and echoed by the entire army,
3:03:19 causing shock and panic amongst defenders who had no idea what was happening.
3:03:25 Amidst the chaos, Zubayr slew the gatehouse sentries
3:03:28 and broke the chain which held the gate closed,
3:03:32 allowing Amr and the Muslim army to flood inside.
3:03:35 While some of the more elite Roman formations made a brave last stand,
3:03:40 most of their comrades routed towards the Nile.
3:03:43 Once they reached the riverbank,
3:03:45 the soldiers crossed to the safety of Rauda on pre-prepared boats,
3:03:49 which ferried soldiers back and forth throughout the night.
3:03:53 Among those who fled was Theodorus,
3:03:57 who managed to escape Amr’s grasp and run back to Alexandria.
3:04:03 The next day, Cyrus sued for and obtained peace for the Copts on Muslim terms,
3:04:09 agreeing to pay the Jizya and submit the entire country to Islamic rule.
3:04:14 The Romans in Egypt could either accept and remain, or reject and depart.
3:04:21 Unsurprisingly, when Heraclius received a letter from Cyrus seeking
3:04:25 the imperial stamp of approval for his peace with Amr,
3:04:29 the emperor was furious and categorically refused,
3:04:32 responding with a message full of scorn and insults.
3:04:36 To ensure that an active defence
3:04:39 of Egypt continued despite the prefect’s treachery,
3:04:42 Heraclius had other messages ordering firm resistance delivered
3:04:46 to all of his Roman generals in Egypt,
3:04:49 who obeyed their sovereign without question.
3:04:52 Cyrus, disavowed by the Romans, put himself and the Copts under Amr’s command,
3:04:58 promising the Muslims administrative and engineering assistance.
3:05:02 Memphis was now secure, and the push towards Alexandria could begin.
3:05:11 After the fall of Babylon to Rashidun forces in December 640,
3:05:16 Amr Ibn al-As kept his army stationed in the area for a while,
3:05:20 dispatching word to caliph Umar of his triumph
3:05:23 and requesting permission to continue the conquest towards Alexandria.
3:05:27 This pause also gave his army a much-needed rest.
3:05:32 In Constantinople, the elderly and sickly
3:05:35 Emperor Heraclius reacted to the latest Muslim
3:05:39 victory by ferrying several thousand more
3:05:41 imperial reinforcements to Egypt over the Mediterranean.
3:05:45 They had clear orders- protect Alexandria at all costs.
3:05:50 Upon making landfall at the provincial capital,
3:05:53 these reinforcements and the existing Alexandrian garrison,
3:05:56 possibly under Theodorus’ command,
3:05:58 began working to strengthen the city fortifications and fanning
3:06:04 out to defensible positions en route to the city.
3:06:09 Reports of these preparations made it south to Amr.
3:06:12 At about the same time, a messenger arrived from Arabia with the caliph’s
3:06:18 order to advance and seize Alexandria.
3:06:20 So, leaving a small garrison to hold down
3:06:23 Babylon and keep the Memphis region in check,
3:06:26 Amr gave orders for his men to break camp.
3:06:31 The 12,000 strong Muslim army headed northwards in February 641.
3:06:36 Marching along the Nile Delta’s western fringe
3:06:39 immediately adjacent to a familiar desert climate,
3:06:42 the Muslims overcame light Roman resistance
3:06:44 at Tarnut and Kaum Shareek before turning northwest, away from the river.
3:06:50 After subsequently capturing Sulteis, Amr then won a bloody victory at Kiryaun,
3:06:55 just 12 miles away from Alexandria,
3:06:58 and chased the defeated Roman forces to the city’s eastern approach.
3:07:02 The march to the sea had taken just 22 days.
3:07:07 Alexandria had been built by Alexander the Great
3:07:10 and his Ptolemaic successors on a relatively narrow strip of land,
3:07:14 bounded to the north by the Mediterranean Sea and in the south by Lake Maryut.
3:07:20 Since the main transportation routes ended east of the city,
3:07:25 the only truly vulnerable approach was the northeastern one.
3:07:30 The Muslims made camp outside weapon range and then deployed for battle,
3:07:34 slowly advancing towards the recently reinforced Alexandrian walls.
3:07:39 Unfortunately for Amr, such a careless preliminary move allowed
3:07:44 the expert Roman artillerists to disrupt
3:07:46 and scatter his units with volley after volley of massive catapult stones.
3:07:52 This bombardment sent Amr and his warriors back to camp,
3:07:56 dodging missiles all the way.
3:07:58 Such attacks continued with intermissions,
3:08:00 and in these intermissions the Roman defenders would instead launch
3:08:04 sorties out of the city and attack the Muslim army,
3:08:07 aiming to throw it back and end the siege.
3:08:10 Despite the ferocity and competence of the men carrying them out,
3:08:15 these attempts failed consistently and ended up being pushed back into the city.
3:08:23 At some point during the first months of indecisive action,
3:08:27 the defenders sortied out against a section of the front
3:08:31 manned by the Arabian Mahra tribe and a fierce clash began.
3:08:35 It seems to have concluded as an indecisive draw,
3:08:38 but the Mahra lost a man whose head was
3:08:42 subsequently cut off and taken away by the Romans, much to the Arabs’ fury.
3:08:46 The next morning, the same thing happened.
3:08:49 A Roman officer, probably made confident by the previous day’s action,
3:08:54 launched an attack on the Mahra, but this time the outcome was very different.
3:08:59 After being killed in the fighting,
3:09:02 his head was taken by the Arab warriors and used
3:09:05 as a bargaining chip to get their comrade’s head back.
3:09:08 After a brief negotiation,
3:09:11 both sides made an exchange and buried their kinsman with honours.
3:09:18 At the height of summer,
3:09:20 around two months after Amr initially constructed his camp,
3:09:23 the Sahmi tribal commander decided to shift it
3:09:26 forward for reasons which we are not aware of.
3:09:30 However, as his forces were moving,
3:09:32 the Roman defenders sensed an opportunity and mounted a daring cavalry attack,
3:09:37 which nevertheless was easily repulsed.
3:09:40 A reckless Muslim cavalry detachment set out
3:09:43 in hot pursuit of the fleeing Romans
3:09:46 and actually got inside the city just before
3:09:48 the defenders could close the gates behind them.
3:09:51 Heavily outnumbered,
3:09:52 they fought a fierce skirmish at the so-called Church of Gold.
3:09:56 in which some of them were killed and the rest were pushed out of Alexandria.
3:10:04 Heraclius, who maintained constant contact with Alexandria,
3:10:07 was all too aware that the Muslims were gaining momentum.
3:10:11 Worried that all of Egypt was about to be lost,
3:10:15 he gathered a formidable army from across what remained of the empire,
3:10:20 together with equipment and supplies.
3:10:22 Just before this giant, emperor-led relief armada was about to set sail,
3:10:28 Heraclius died in Constantinople at the age of 66,
3:10:32 leaving his eldest sons, Constantine III and Heraklonas, as joint-heirs.
3:10:37 This initiated a round of imperial politicking which didn’t
3:10:42 allow the empire to react at the worst possible moment.
3:10:47 As senior emperor, Constantine attempted to get
3:10:50 ahold of the increasingly dire situation in Egypt.
3:10:53 His untimely death only a short time later derailed those plans entirely.
3:10:58 If that wasn’t bad enough, some Byzantine generals, including one Valentinus,
3:11:04 took up arms in support of Constantine’s son Constans II,
3:11:09 believing that Heraklonas’ mother- Martina, had poisoned Constantine.
3:11:14 This dynastic struggle would not conclude until late 641,
3:11:20 ensuring that no reinforcements would be sent to Alexandria.
3:11:27 Politicking also infected the soldiers defending the Egyptian capital,
3:11:31 causing infighting and massive morale loss.
3:11:34 When the siege had dragged into its sixth month with no sign of ending,
3:11:40 Amr received a letter from the caliph chastising him for taking so long.
3:11:45 So, after conferring with his generals,
3:11:47 Amr selected the experienced Ubada bin As-Samit to lead an assault.
3:11:53 In late October 641,
3:11:55 the entire Muslim army assembled for midday prayer and then deployed for battle.
3:12:01 Then, led by Ubada, Amr’s forces finally captured Alexandria
3:12:05 by storming a gate near the Church of Gold.
3:12:08 Of Muslim achievements to this point- 20 years since Hijra- the seizure
3:12:14 of Alexandria ranked alongside events such
3:12:16 as Yarmouk and Al-Qadissiyah in its importance.
3:12:20 The caliphate acquired an invaluable naval base while diminishing Roman
3:12:25 seapower and conquered a land of immense riches and culture.
3:12:29 Perhaps most importantly for the future,
3:12:32 possession of Egypt allowed the Islamic armies
3:12:36 to penetrate even further south and west into Africa.
3:12:41 The wealth, beauty, and luxury of Alexandria ensnared
3:12:44 the Arabs and their general in equal measure,
3:12:47 but Amr could not make his headquarters there without the caliph’s permission.
3:12:52 So, he sent an emissary back to Medina asking
3:12:55 Umar whether or not he could stay in the metropolis.
3:12:59 Unfortunately for the conqueror of Egypt,
3:13:02 one of the Rashidun ruler’s many quirks was the absolute contempt and distrust
3:13:07 in which he held large expanses of water, such as the Nile.
3:13:11 The single occasion on which Umar allowed one
3:13:14 of his commanders- a governor of Damascus known as Muawiyah,
3:13:18 to embark on a naval operation, the entire force had been destroyed.
3:13:23 So, Umar refused Amr’s request, explaining:
3:13:27 “I do not wish the Muslims to take up
3:13:30 their abode where water intervenes between them and me,
3:13:32 in winter or summer.” Disappointed,
3:13:35 Amr moved south and laid the foundations for his new city,
3:13:40 the first capital of Islamic Egypt- Misr al-Fustat- the City of the Tents,
3:13:47 or Fustat for short.
3:13:50 The country’s new governor was occupied for the next few
3:13:53 months attending to the administration of the Caliphate’s newest territory.
3:13:58 As 641 gave way to 642,
3:14:01 Amr settled grievances among his warriors and the locals,
3:14:06 revitalized previously abandoned pieces of infrastructure, including canals,
3:14:10 and even dispatched food aid to famine-ridden Medina at Umar’s request.
3:14:16 To extinguish any remaining embers of resistance against Muslim rule,
3:14:20 Amr sent out three columns to the areas around Damietta, Heliopolis, and Fayyum,
3:14:25 while a fourth ensured that the remainder of lower Egypt was obedient.
3:14:31 All of them had an easy time,
3:14:34 accomplishing their task without bloodshed by mid-642.
3:14:40 With Egypt firmly in his grip,
3:14:42 the adventurous Amr Ibn al-As turned his focus towards
3:14:46 a Christianised Nubian kingdom called Makuria to the south.
3:14:51 Makuria, ruled by a king called Qalidurut from his great citadel at Dongola,
3:14:55 was a rising and expansionist power in Subsaharan Africa.
3:14:59 In fact, its monarch had only recently annexed a former regional rival Nobatia.
3:15:06 A literate society with a vibrant culture of their own,
3:15:10 the Nubians were renowned as hardy, ferocious warriors.
3:15:14 In particular, their formidable reputation for horsemanship
3:15:19 and archery was known around the Mediterranean world.
3:15:25 At some point during the scorching African summer of 642,
3:15:29 Amr sent his cousin Uqba bin Nafe and 20,000 horsemen into Nubia,
3:15:34 where they quickly began suffering at the hands of the local inhabitants.
3:15:39 Unable to resist the Muslims in a pitched battle,
3:15:42 lethal but unarmoured Makurian archers- mounted and on foot,
3:15:47 launched constant hit and run attacks which gradually sapped
3:15:51 Uqba’s strength before darting back unharmed into the wilderness.
3:15:58 As the Islamic army pushed deeper into Nubia
3:16:01 and encountered guerilla-style attacks in increasing numbers and ferocity,
3:16:05 the hawk-eyed Makurian archers would frequently call out to the Arab invaders:
3:16:09 “Where would you like me to put an arrow in you?” When
3:16:13 one of the Muslim warriors skeptically pointed at an area of their body,
3:16:18 our sources state that an arrow would indeed strike there,
3:16:21 injuring or killing the man in question.
3:16:23 When Uqba and his diminished forces
3:16:26 finally neared the Makurian capital at Dongola,
3:16:30 they found a smaller enemy army of around 10,000 waiting for them,
3:16:34 forced into defending their central city by Uqba’s movements.
3:16:38 Eager to destroy the Nubians’ fighting potential now
3:16:42 that he had them all in one place,
3:16:46 Amr’s cousin began arraying his troops for battle.
3:16:50 As the Muslim advance towards Qalidurut’s line began,
3:16:53 it was almost instantaneously hit by an utterly merciless barrage
3:16:58 of Makurian arrows that struck the attacking army with pinpoint accuracy.
3:17:02 Uqba’s assault was stalled in its tracks by the hail
3:17:06 of missiles just as soon as it began and his soldiers,
3:17:10 250 of whom had lost at least one eye in the battle, suffered terribly.
3:17:15 Unable to close with the Nubian archers
3:17:18 and swiftly losing men to grievous injury,
3:17:22 Uqba withdrew his warriors from the field.
3:17:25 Forever after, Muslims would call the Nubians ‘the archers of the eye’ because
3:17:30 of their penchant for loosing arrows with deadly
3:17:32 accuracy into the eyes of their enemies.
3:17:35 Unwilling to continue such a difficult campaign in a land
3:17:39 which promised them little gain from plunder or future land,
3:17:44 the Muslims continued retreating all the way back to Fustat.
3:17:50 Although not exactly a decisive defeat,
3:17:52 an army of the Caliphate had been defeated
3:17:54 for one of the first times in history.
3:17:57 After a month or two of recuperation,
3:18:00 Amr assembled his armies from their bivouacs and personally
3:18:04 led them west into the desert during September of 642.
3:18:08 After a month of hard marching,
3:18:11 the Muslims eventually arrived at a still-Roman city known as Barca which,
3:18:16 having no arrangements for defence, quickly surrendered.
3:18:19 This was the first act of the decades’ long Islamic
3:18:24 conquest of a region which is now called the Maghreb.
3:18:29 Amr had Uqba ride inland from the coast,
3:18:32 where he successfully pacified the area of arid
3:18:36 desert between Barca and Zawila without violence.
3:18:39 The poor population quickly proved law-abiding
3:18:42 and reliable in their payment of taxes,
3:18:45 so Amr decreed that part of the revenues coming
3:18:48 in from the entire Fezzan region would be spent to alleviate poverty there.
3:18:54 Then in spring 643, the Muslim army advanced
3:18:58 on and blockaded the Roman-garrisoned city of Tripoli.
3:19:03 Amr set up his camp on an elevated
3:19:06 section of terrain east of the city and waited,
3:19:09 realising that such a coastal settlement could be
3:19:12 navally resupplied for an extended period of time.
3:19:15 Lacking siege weapons, he also lacked the ability to reduce fortifications.
3:19:21 After two months of relative inactivity,
3:19:23 eight of Amr’s warriors galloped off west of the city for a hunting trip.
3:19:29 When these hunters began making their way back around noon,
3:19:33 the sheer heat of the day led them to ride back along the coast.
3:19:37 All of a sudden, they came upon Tripoli’s western boundary,
3:19:41 where the city wall met the sea,
3:19:43 and discovered that the section was only thinly protected.
3:19:47 In a display of bravery or foolishness,
3:19:50 these eight intrepid opportunists used Tripoli’s vulnerable
3:19:54 flank to infiltrate their way inside the city.
3:19:58 Before the defenders even realised what was happening,
3:20:02 the Muslim group reached the city centre and began slaying enemies.
3:20:07 Such unexpected violence triggered a bout of extreme panic within the city,
3:20:12 both among the civilians and Tripoli’s defending forces.
3:20:16 In fact, a large number of the armed soldiers
3:20:19 within the city believed that a large enemy contingent
3:20:22 had somehow gotten inside and, because of this, took
3:20:26 refuge aboard a number of anchored ships in the harbour.
3:20:30 Amr caught wind of the pandemonium taking place inside
3:20:33 the city and so quickly set about exploiting the weakness.
3:20:37 Arraying his warriors with haste, the Arab commander ordered a full-scale
3:20:43 assault to scale Tripoli’s enfeebled walls.
3:20:46 In yet another action of which we have left no detail,
3:20:50 the Muslims managed to get inside and joined their eight-strong vanguard.
3:20:54 Unwilling to fight any further, the Roman defenders took whatever they
3:20:59 could carry and departed aboard their ships, leaving Tripoli to Amr’s army.
3:21:06 While most of the army stayed in the city for a while,
3:21:09 the conqueror of Egypt sent a swift detachment
3:21:12 of cavalry about 40 miles to the west,
3:21:15 where the population of a town known as Sabrata were still carefree.
3:21:19 They had heard rumours of fighting for neighboring cities,
3:21:23 but it would be a while before the war reached them, if ever.
3:21:28 The next morning, Sabrata’s Roman guards opened the gates of their city
3:21:32 as its population began leading animals out to graze for the day.
3:21:36 Unfortunately for them, it was at this moment that the Islamic
3:21:41 cavalry unit struck completely by surprise, getting through the gates,
3:21:45 killing the majority of defending troops, and sacking the town.
3:21:50 With that done, they returned to Tripoli.
3:21:55 Having succeeded, Amr longed for more,
3:21:57 and eagerly penned another letter to Caliph Umar containing both
3:22:02 the good news of victory and request to continue his conquest.
3:22:07 This was rejected, as the caliph was worried about overextending his forces.
3:22:12 And this time, there was no loophole or clever ploy that Amr
3:22:17 could use to bypass Umar’s decree and continue his relentless campaigning.
3:22:22 Therefore, after allowing his army to recuperate in Tripoli for a time,
3:22:28 Amr travelled back to Fustat and remained there,
3:22:31 quietly administering his Egyptian domain
3:22:35 and dealing with whispers of future rebellion.
3:22:40 Although Umar had spared the rest of Byzantine Africa for the time being,
3:22:44 that wouldn’t last long.
3:22:46 However, as the combat in North Africa was winding down,
3:22:50 the situation on the Persian front was becoming heated again.
3:22:59 Sa’d army was eager to pursue Yazdegerd across the mountains, however,
3:23:03 Umar’s refusal halted any further eastward expansion for the time being.
3:23:08 At the Caliph’s command, Sa’d began combing Iraq for a place
3:23:13 where he could establish a permanent military garrison.
3:23:16 Eventually, after receiving guidance from the locals,
3:23:19 Sa’d found a promising area of land in Suristan ‘where the land is both dry,
3:23:24 well-watered, and is overgrown with thistles and constructed a colony
3:23:29 that would eventually grow into the city of Kufa.
3:23:34 Far to the southeast,
3:23:36 another Arab raiding force of 800 led by Utba bin Ghazwan began searching
3:23:41 for a base of their own and came across an arid area covered in rocks,
3:23:46 and it was there that Utba began work
3:23:48 on a settlement which eventually developed into modern Basra.
3:23:52 It seemed as though the frontier between the caliphate
3:23:56 and the Sassanid Empire would calcify at the Zagros mountains,
3:23:59 allowing Sa’d and Umar a brief time to consider administrative questions.
3:24:05 However, the post-Jalula status quo wouldn’t last for long.
3:24:09 Unwilling to accept the permanent loss
3:24:12 of their Mesopotamian heartland due to haughty imperial pride,
3:24:16 the Sassanids continued backing military action
3:24:19 against the Caliphate led by Hormuzan, head of one of Persia’s premier families.
3:24:27 During the retreat from Qadissiyah,
3:24:29 Hormuzan had split off from the main column with his personal
3:24:33 levy of survivors and marched back to his estates in Khuzestan.
3:24:38 This territory formed a vulnerable bulge,
3:24:40 being the only remaining imperial Sassanid
3:24:43 territory west of the Zagros Mountains.
3:24:46 With little chance of resisting a concerted Muslim invasion of his lands,
3:24:51 Hormuzan decided to go on the attack.
3:24:53 From a forward base at the greatest city of his province- Ahwaz-
3:24:58 the Persian general began launching quick raids into the area of Maysan in 638.
3:25:04 As these attacks increased in frequency,
3:25:06 Hormuzan established two additional bases even further west near Manazir.
3:25:12 Utba was unable to deal with the Persian attacks
3:25:15 with his mere 800 troops and appealed to Sa’d for aid.
3:25:19 In response, the commander-in-chief ordered Nu'man bin Muqarrin
3:25:23 with a few thousand warriors to bolster Utba’s strength.
3:25:27 The combined Muslim force launched
3:25:30 a lightning campaign that defeated Hormuzan’s army
3:25:33 in its forward bases and pushed the frontier east to the Karun River.
3:25:38 Suitably chastened by the reverses his soldiers had suffered,
3:25:42 the Persian general concluded an unstable
3:25:44 peace with his two Muslim counterparts,
3:25:48 claiming to submit to the Caliphs’s suzerainty.
3:25:52 The remainder of 638 passed without further warfare on the Persian
3:25:57 front except for a single act elsewhere- the so-called Fiasco of Fars.
3:26:02 One of Sa’d rivals and governor of the uneventful
3:26:06 province of Bahrain- Ula bin Al Hadrami-
3:26:09 sought to increase his own status and launched
3:26:12 a reckless amphibious assault across the Persian Gulf.
3:26:15 Landing on the coast of Fars, the Arab force headed towards Persepolis,
3:26:20 managing to defeat a small militia in a costly
3:26:23 battle before being surrounded and trapped by the Sassanids.
3:26:27 The naval warfare despising caliph found out
3:26:30 what Hadrami had done and was furious,
3:26:33 but nevertheless sent Utba to rescue the beleaguered governor,
3:26:37 after which he was dismissed from the position.
3:26:42 Hormuzan used the respite granted by his truce
3:26:45 with the Muslims to levy more soldiers and, in that time,
3:26:50 also received imperial reinforcements from Hulwan.
3:26:53 Now reinforced, he took advantage of the treaty’s unclear boundary
3:26:58 terms as an excuse to reinitiate hostilities in early 639.
3:27:03 The new governor of Basra- Abu Musa- was aware
3:27:07 of his caliph’s command to avoid taking any further Persian territory,
3:27:11 so he wrote to Umar explaining the situation and asking for guidance.
3:27:16 Umar responded with an order to take Ahwaz and stop Hormuzan’s attacks.
3:27:24 This prompted Musa to march his forces to the river
3:27:27 Karun and face off against the Persian Lord across its breadth.
3:27:31 Feeling confident about his chances,
3:27:33 Hormuzan invited the Arab army across the river with the aim
3:27:38 of facing and crushing it in a pitched battle.
3:27:41 Musa gladly accepted, crossing by a bridge north of the city,
3:27:45 defeating the Sassanid provincial force in a grueling
3:27:48 fight and forcing Hormuzan into flight to Ram Hormuz.
3:27:52 A typically aggressive pursuit force of Arab cavalry forced
3:27:56 the overwhelmed Persian commander to retreat even further east.
3:28:00 From a strong position behind yet another river,
3:28:03 Hormuzan parleyed for peace with the Muslims,
3:28:05 offering to recognise their conquest of Ahwaz
3:28:09 while retaining a remnant of his own district.
3:28:14 Still, the Sassanid reinforcements were pouring
3:28:16 into northern Khuzestan in such large numbers
3:28:19 that the preparations for another military
3:28:22 campaign could no longer be kept secret.
3:28:25 At this point, Sa’d was replaced as governor at Kufa by Ammar bin Yasir,
3:28:30 who sent troops to Musa to subdue the Persian threat without delay.
3:28:35 From Ahwaz, Musa launched his thrust against Hormuzan’s forces at Ram Hormuz,
3:28:40 defeated them in a brisk engagement
3:28:42 and subsequently captured most of eastern Khuzestan.
3:28:45 Hormuzan retreated north to the Sassanid
3:28:48 concentration point at Shushtar- a highly fortified,
3:28:52 walled city in the Zagros foothills.
3:28:54 Unsure about his ability to take on such a stronghold with his current strength,
3:29:00 Musa had a thousand fresh warriors sent to him from Kufa.
3:29:04 With these additional warriors, Musa advanced north,
3:29:07 captured Shushtar and Hormuzan along with it,
3:29:11 followed relatively quickly by the truly ancient city of Susa.
3:29:15 Returning to Basra after this victory,
3:29:18 Musa sent a subordinate to capture the final garrison in Khuzestan;
3:29:22 this was Junde Shapur, who succeeded by late 641.
3:29:26 With the seizure of this final city,
3:29:29 all of Khuzestan and Sassanid territory west
3:29:33 of the Zagros was now under Muslim rule.
3:29:37 Despite the loss of Iraq,
3:29:39 Sassanid Persia east of the rocky barrier was still a cohesive
3:29:43 and powerful empire with loyal territories as far off as India.
3:29:48 After the fall of Khuzestan to Musa’s army,
3:29:51 Yazdegerd1 dispatched urgent orders to all of his remaining
3:29:55 provinces to raise troops and send them to Nahavand,
3:29:59 a city on a primary transportation artery west.
3:30:02 Throughout the later part of 641,
3:30:05 contingents from cities across Iran and beyond, such as Isfahan, Rayy, Hamadan,
3:30:10 and many others arrived at Nahavand, until, at the turn of 642,
3:30:15 an army of around 60,000 had come together.
3:30:19 At the same time, this fearsome force was Yazdegerd’s
3:30:22 final chance to turn the war in his favour.
3:30:26 If he lost now, he would lose everything.
3:30:30 A Sassanid general named Mardanshah was appointed to lead the army,
3:30:34 who quickly warned the men that Umar “Is coming
3:30:37 for you if you do not go for him.
3:30:40 He has already destroyed the seat of your empire
3:30:42 and plunged into the land of your emperor.”
3:30:44 A Persian frontier commander in service to the Caliphate
3:30:49 noticed this massive military buildup and, alarmed,
3:30:52 sent word to Ammar bin Yasir in Kufa,
3:30:55 who immediately forwarded the information to Umar.
3:30:58 Addressing the people of Medina on the issue,
3:31:01 the caliph’s pronouncement that “This is the day on which the future
3:31:06 depends” left no doubt as to the importance of the upcoming clash.
3:31:12 The ever-active caliph declared his intention to oversee the battle
3:31:16 but was talked out of it by his advisors,
3:31:19 who pointed out that this was unnecessary.
3:31:22 A more contentious issue was the assignment of military resources.
3:31:26 Uthman wanted the whole army of the caliphate concentrated,
3:31:30 but Muhammad’s son-in-law- Ali Ibn Abi Talib- disagreed,
3:31:34 reminding Uthman that depriving the other
3:31:37 frontiers would just invite the Byzantines,
3:31:39 Ethiopians, and others to retake their old provinces.
3:31:43 Instead, he suggested the troops at Kufa, Basra,
3:31:46 and along the Persian border form the core of a field army,
3:31:51 supplemented by a fresh levy of raw recruits and veterans from Arabia.
3:31:56 Umar concurred with Ali and gave command of the preemptive strike
3:32:00 to the veteran of Qadissiyah and conqueror of Susa- Nu'man bin Muqarrin.
3:32:05 Upon enthusiastically receiving the caliph’s decree,
3:32:08 Nu'man assembled his troops, marched east from Kufa, and crossed the Tigris,
3:32:13 rendezvousing with a number of other frontier units along the way.
3:32:17 Trekking northeast from Ctesiphon along the Diyala River,
3:32:21 the Muslims pivoted at Qasr Shereen and dove into the Zagros Mountains,
3:32:26 eventually reaching a concentration point at Tazar in December 641.
3:32:33 With 30,000 Muslim warriors assembled,
3:32:35 Nu'man sent a scouting detachment into the Nahavand
3:32:39 Valley to establish where exactly the Persians were.
3:32:42 By nightfall it returned having observed little
3:32:45 to no sign of Sassanid activity in the rocky,
3:32:49 uneven terrain between Tazar and the Persian base.
3:32:52 Nu'man immediately seized the opportunity and decamped,
3:32:55 marching his entire army to a small town known as Isbeezahan,
3:32:59 just ten miles northwest of Nahavand itself, and its Persian occupants.
3:33:07 When, not long after,
3:33:08 Mardanshah learned that the invader was closing in, he responded
3:33:12 by bringing the entirety of his own army out of the city.
3:33:16 In preparation for the final battle,
3:33:18 he deployed Sassanid Persia’s great retribution
3:33:21 field force in an L-shaped hook formation,
3:33:24 ‘wrapped’ around a high terrain feature known as the brown ridge.
3:33:29 While his soldiers advantageously faced down the slope,
3:33:32 Mardanshah himself took up a position atop the heights,
3:33:36 where the imperial commander had a brilliant view of the entire area.
3:33:40 This adroitly selected defensive position had
3:33:43 multiple terrain features amplifying its strength:
3:33:47 in front of the Sassanid front line was a small stream,
3:33:50 along the bank of which Mardanshah
3:33:52 placed a minefield of cavalry-crippling caltrops.
3:33:55 Furthermore, his right2- the short edge of the reverse L formation-
3:34:01 was anchored on a fortified village and the 3,000-foot-high Ardashan ridge,
3:34:06 while the longer, southeast-facing left flank3 was
3:34:10 protected by a fork in the stream.
3:34:15 Confronted by this natural fortress and with few other options,
3:34:19 Nu'man drew up his warriors along Mardanshah’s entire front,
3:34:22 just across the stream and facing up the slope.
3:34:27 The Muslim general’s brother Nueim led the L’s short section,
3:34:31 Hudayfah bin Al-Yaman commanded the right,
3:34:34 and Qaqa bin Amr headed the Caliphate’s cavalry reserve.
3:34:38 Nu'man himself was in the centre.
3:34:40 The Caliphate’s deployment gave Mardanshah a potential opportunity
3:34:43 to launch a preemptive assault at the unprepared Muslim lines.
3:34:48 However, either due to overconfidence in his prepared fortifications or cautious
3:34:53 of leaving them due to the previous defeat at Jalula,
3:34:57 the empire’s field commander remained where he was,
3:35:00 allowing Nu'man to finish bringing his forces up.
3:35:03 This inaction likely did not seem like a blunder-
3:35:06 the Muslims were far away from their bases
3:35:09 in Iraq and could either smash their heads
3:35:12 against the dangerous Persian fortifications or wait,
3:35:16 chew through their supplies and retreat in deadly conditions.
3:35:22 An hour after the Islamic noon prayer,
3:35:24 as the sun reached its highest point in the sky,
3:35:28 the entire Muslim army began its attack straight at Mardanshah’s defensive belt.
3:35:33 Upon reaching the Wadi stream, the attackers’ infantry and cavalry alike were
3:35:37 met with a deadly rain of Persian arrows,
3:35:40 loosed by archers who had the luxury of shooting downhill.
3:35:45 Worse still, Qaqa’s horsemen galloped headlong into the caltrops,
3:35:49 leading to the maiming and immobilisation of many horses.
3:35:53 Nevertheless, Nu’man’s men pushed on across the entire front,
3:35:57 weakened all the way by arrow fire.
3:36:00 Then, charging uphill, the Muslims crashed into the Sassanid ranks
3:36:04 and the two sides met in ferocious melee combat.
3:36:07 A grinding clash of attrition began
3:36:10 with little room for flair or tactical brilliance,
3:36:14 only numerical weight, personal prowess, strength, and discipline.
3:36:21 On some sections of the line,
3:36:23 perhaps those under Nueim’s command where the slope was more gradual,
3:36:27 the Muslims managed to temporarily push Mardanshah’s soldiers back,
3:36:31 but each time were counterattacked and shoved
3:36:34 to their original positions by the Persians.
3:36:37 In other areas- near Zarrameen where the slope was steepest- the Persians
3:36:41 even managed to haul the Caliphate’s forces back across the Wadi,
3:36:45 but they in turn counterattacked and fought back to where they were.
3:36:49 The battle’s outcome rested on a knife-edge,
3:36:52 with dead and dying of both sides littering
3:36:55 the field- either laying still or shouting in terrible agony.
3:37:00 This mass slaying continued until nightfall when the Muslims,
3:37:03 with no prospect of breaking the Persian line that night,
3:37:07 pulled away and withdrew to their camp.
3:37:10 The night hours passed without contact,
3:37:13 with both sides recovering their fallen comrades and tending to the wounded.
3:37:18 When dawn broke on the second day, however,
3:37:21 Nu'man formed his army up and, somewhat inexplicably,
3:37:25 launched another frontal assault across the stream lasting all day.
3:37:30 After what historian Akram poetically described as a ‘tragic harvest of death’,
3:37:36 the Muslims again retreated, unsuccessful and badly bloodied.
3:37:42 Both armies formed up again at dawn on the third day,
3:37:46 but a mixture of the horror,
3:37:48 tactical sanity, and possible mutiny kept the Muslim general
3:37:51 from attempting his human wave assault for a third time.
3:37:55 Instead, he waited for the Persians to emerge
3:37:58 from their fortifications and launch an attack of their own,
3:38:02 but Mardanshah was a wily commander aware that time was his champion,
3:38:07 and refused to budge.
3:38:09 After a tense two-day standoff, the Sassanid regimental commanders began raiding
3:38:14 the Muslim line with small contingents.
3:38:17 These limited attacks would inflict damage on personnel
3:38:21 and supplies before swiftly pulling back behind their defences,
3:38:25 leaving the Islamic forces frustrated.
3:38:28 While constant assailment and the cold conditions struck
3:38:31 blow after blow to Muslim morale and strength,
3:38:34 Mardanshah began absorbing a steady stream
3:38:38 of reinforcements and provisions from nearby Hamadan.
3:38:43 The situation could not continue as it stood,
3:38:46 and so Nu'man called a council of war only a few days after his previous attack.
3:38:52 The eldest companion present4 advised that the Muslims
3:38:55 ought not to attack at all,
3:38:57 and to merely destroy those raiding parties which came to attack them.
3:39:02 As all the officers were eager to get stuck in properly,
3:39:06 this proposal was met with disapproval.
3:39:09 Another more gung-ho leader suggested that the frontal
3:39:12 attacks actually be resumed regardless of consequences.
3:39:15 This too was quickly shot down.
3:39:18 Then spoke Tuleiha bin Khuleiwad- a former enemy of Islam and one
3:39:23 of the architects of Jalula- who put forward a clever stratagem.
3:39:27 The Muslims, he said, should “Put the cavalry in a position to outflank them,
3:39:32 and show a weak front, making as if to withdraw.
3:39:35 Let the Persians hope for victory and advance against us.
3:39:39 Then we turn and fight them.” This plan was approved by most of those present,
3:39:44 and put into motion.
3:39:46 With the purpose of making the illusion of weakness more convincing,
3:39:50 at Tuleiha’s proposal the Muslims also began
3:39:53 circulating false rumours that Caliph Umar was dead.
3:39:59 Over the next few days, word of Umar’s ‘death’ proliferated around the overjoyed
3:40:05 Persian army like a kind of virulent mental plague,
3:40:08 provoking hopes of an offensive against their now surely demoralised enemy.
3:40:12 The Friday after Nu’man’s last attack,
3:40:15 Sassanid sentries began observing the abandonment
3:40:18 of Muslim positions across the stream:
3:40:20 tents being pulled down in the Muslim camp,
3:40:24 baggage being loaded, and small contingents of men marching west.
3:40:29 Everything Mardanshah could see appeared to suggest
3:40:32 that the invading army was vulnerable and about to retreat.
3:40:36 So, the general opened a series of gaps in the caltrop belt on his right
3:40:40 flank according to a pre-prepared plan and began
3:40:43 having his soldiers cross to the outside5.
3:40:46 Lead elements halted just beyond the caltrop field,
3:40:49 waiting for the rear ranks, and began forming up there.
3:40:53 According to our sources,
3:40:55 Mardanshah might have restored the caltrop field so his troops could not run.
3:41:02 The ‘retreating’ Muslim infantry span around upon seeing that they were
3:41:06 about to be struck from behind and hastily deployed for battle,
3:41:10 somewhat further back than before.
3:41:13 Of course, this was all a part of Tuleiha’s plan-
3:41:16 the Persian general had swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker.
3:41:20 Unbeknownst to the Sassanid army,
3:41:22 Qaqa and his cavalrymen were concealed in a gap
3:41:26 behind the Ardashan ridge, ready to attack.
3:41:29 Two hours before noon,
3:41:31 Mardanshah ordered his army to advance slowly towards the stationary enemy line.
3:41:36 When the Persians entered missile range,
3:41:39 they began loosing arrow volleys with the aim of softening the Muslims
3:41:43 up at a greater range than Arab bows could operate at.
3:41:47 Forced to defend themselves with only their shields,
3:41:49 many of the Caliphate’s warriors were chomping at the bit
3:41:53 to close with the Sassanids and fight them in melee,
3:41:56 but Nu’man, with a wider view of the strategic situation,
3:42:02 ordered them to remain steady.
3:42:04 After a while weakening the Muslims with missile fire,
3:42:08 Mardanshah launched a full-on charge.
3:42:11 This was the key moment of the battle,
3:42:14 as this attack finally un-anchored the imperial right flank
3:42:17 from the Ardashan ridge and its nearby fortified village.
3:42:21 Remaining on the defensive,
3:42:23 Nu’man restrained his forces from effectively pushing back,
3:42:26 withdrawing slowly in a similar manner to Hannibal’s centre at Cannae.
3:42:31 Then, after some time of suffering this, Nu’man ordered
3:42:35 a counterattack just after midday and, at the same time,
3:42:39 Qaqa’s cavalry swept out from behind the ridge
3:42:42 and drove a wedge between the Persians and their obstacles.
3:42:48 However, Mardanshah detached a unit of reserves that met
3:42:51 and held the Muslim cavalry before the encirclement was completed.
3:42:55 On the front line, Persian forces were gradually
3:42:59 pushed back under the weight of Nu’man’s counterattack.
3:43:02 But then, the Muslim general was struck by an arrow, fell from his horse,
3:43:07 and was spirited away from the fight,
3:43:10 with Nueim impersonating him to maintain morale.
3:43:13 Although Sassanid resistance was absolutely unwavering,
3:43:16 by late afternoon the Muslim forces,
3:43:19 half encircling their foe, were clearly in the superior position.
3:43:24 Suddenly, as the sky began to darken,
3:43:27 the majority of Mardanshah’s army collapsed and routed,
3:43:30 able to do so because the forces opposing Qaqa were still resisting.
3:43:35 Amidst this chaos, Tuleiha was also slain.
3:43:38 A relatively large number of Persian troops managed to escape the battlefield,
3:43:43 but many, including Mardanshah, were killed by their Muslim pursuers,
3:43:48 fell victim to the re-strengthened caltrop belt, or were taken prisoner.
3:43:55 Hudayfah took command of the Caliphate’s army
3:43:58 after Nu’man’s death and advanced the following morning,
3:44:01 defeating the Sassanid remnant at Darazeed.
3:44:04 Part of the defeated army retreated
3:44:06 into Nahavand itself after the second defeat,
3:44:09 where the new imperial commander, Dinar, surrendered the city unconditionally.
3:44:14 Nahavand was the final great battle between Islam and Persia,
3:44:19 making the point at which there was no
3:44:22 longer any doubt- the Sassanid Empire would fall.
3:44:25 For this, Nahavand is known to Muslims as the ‘victory of victories’.
3:44:30 It would take another decade to subdue all
3:44:33 of the far-flung Persian territories in Central Asia and Eastern Iran,
3:44:37 but by late 644 as author Peter Crawford states,
3:44:43 Yazdegerd III was effectively “a king without a kingdom.” On the Egyptian front,
3:44:51 after Amr returned from his expedition
3:44:54 against the so-called Pentapolis in late 643,
3:44:57 he travelled back to Medina in order to meet with Umar,
3:45:01 with whom he already had a somewhat tense relationship.
3:45:04 Mistrusted by the caliph, Amr received a frosty reception from the very start.
3:45:10 The tension between the two men wasn’t helped by the fact that Umar,
3:45:15 who always kept a close eye on his governors via an internal spy network,
3:45:21 suspected Amr of unjustly appropriating Egypt’s wealth.
3:45:24 So, when the latter returned to his province,
3:45:28 the caliph dispatched a trusted inspector-
3:45:31 Muhammad bin Maslama- to appraise Amr’s assets.
3:45:35 The latter produced an account of his assets
3:45:37 and he was found guilty of taking too much.
3:45:41 The excess was confiscated and taken back to Medina.
3:45:47 That wasn’t the end of the caliph’s incessant prodding.
3:45:51 A short while thereafter,
3:45:53 unsatisfied at the lacklustre revenues flowing into the treasury from Egypt,
3:45:57 Umar had a heated debate with Amr by letter.
3:46:00 After that ended in a deadlock, a Copt was sent to Medina to inform
3:46:05 the caliph of his province’s financial situation.
3:46:08 He bluntly informed Umar that previous rulers of Egypt had
3:46:13 seen to the land’s prosperity before taking anything from it,
3:46:17 while Muslim governors only extracted.
3:46:19 In response, Umar carved Egypt into two
3:46:23 separate administrative districts during late 644,
3:46:27 giving Amr Lower Egypt to govern from Fustat,
3:46:30 while Upper Egypt would be ruled from Fayyum by Abdullah ibn Sa’d ibn Abi Sarh,
3:46:36 the foster brother of Uthman.
3:46:39 Predictably, Amr was, once again,
3:46:42 infuriated at this deliberate diminishing of his authority.
3:46:48 Back in Medina a deadly plot had formed, centring around Hormuzan,
3:46:53 who had converted to Islam and used his vast experience
3:46:57 in Sassanid administration and governance to become one of Umar’s key advisors.
3:47:02 Despite this, the Persian noble never forgot the injury done to his home.
3:47:08 It seems that Hormuzan made contact with Firuz,
3:47:11 a Sassanid soldier who was enslaved after Qadisiyyah
3:47:15 or Nahavand and brought to the Caliphate’s capital,
3:47:18 and in November of 644 Firuz knifed Umar.
3:47:22 Before passing away three days after,
3:47:25 the second caliph appointed a shūrā- or “counsel” of six
3:47:29 men1- to appoint his successor from among their ranks.
3:47:33 After deep debate, they decided that Uthman
3:47:36 would become the third Rashidun caliph.
3:47:39 It is worth noting that while Sunni Islam
3:47:42 views Uthman as one of the rightly guided caliphs,
3:47:46 Shia Muslims believe this election should not have occurred
3:47:50 at all and Ali was to be the next in line.
3:47:55 Shortly after, Amr Ibn al-As visited Uthman in order
3:47:58 to lobby for his Upper Egyptian colleague’s removal.
3:48:01 The new caliph refused outright,
3:48:04 prompting him to declare that he wouldn’t return
3:48:07 to Egypt until Abdullah ibn Sa’d was removed.
3:48:11 In response to this threat,
3:48:13 Uthman appointed his foster brother governor of all Egypt2,
3:48:17 further deepening the dispute between the two men.
3:48:23 The Romans in Egypt were not happy with Amr’s policies,
3:48:26 but Abdullah’s attempts to increase the incomes
3:48:28 from the province were even less popular.
3:48:31 Alexandria in particular bore the brunt of this new lust for revenue,
3:48:37 leading its notoriously riotous population to undertake drastic measures.
3:48:42 A group of prominent Romans dispatched messages to the new emperor Constans II.
3:48:48 These letters outlined the outrages of Muslim rule and its jizya tax,
3:48:53 but also pointed out that Abdullah had let the Nile realm’s defence slip
3:48:58 into a pitiful state and the city was only garrisoned by a paltry thousand men,
3:49:04 and could be easily taken.
3:49:06 Perceiving an opportunity to regain control of Egypt and remedy the wound
3:49:11 which its loss had dealt to his empire and his pride,
3:49:15 Constans began secretly amassing a great strikeforce
3:49:18 of 300 ships and many thousands of soldiers,
3:49:22 command of which he bestowed on a eunuch known as Manuel.
3:49:28 Constans’ fleet was ready after almost a year.
3:49:32 Because the reduced Byzantine Empire was still the dominant naval
3:49:36 power in the Mediterranean- the Caliphate having not yet developed any
3:49:40 seaborne capacity- there was nothing to stop this fleet from unexpectedly
3:49:45 sailing straight into the harbour at Alexandria in early 646.
3:49:50 As the Roman sympathisers predicted,
3:49:52 the thousand strong Muslim garrison was no adequate
3:49:55 defence against this shock assault from the sea.
3:49:59 When Roman forces landed almost unopposed,
3:50:02 Alexandria’s population simultaneously rose up against the occupying Arabs.
3:50:07 Most of the city’s garrison was slain in the brief clash that followed.
3:50:11 However, while the invasion army began ravaging the vicinity around Alexandria,
3:50:16 some of the Muslims that escaped travelled
3:50:19 to Fustat and informed the governor what was happening.
3:50:24 Abdullah ibn Sa’d didn’t even have a chance to react.
3:50:28 Lacking confidence in their new viceroy’s martial ability,
3:50:31 the Muslims of Egypt sent a delegation to Caliph Uthman,
3:50:35 urging him to send Amr back so that he could put an end to the crisis.
3:50:40 Understanding that Amr was both a man
3:50:43 of formidable military talent and feared by the Romans,
3:50:47 Uthman bit his tongue and asked Amr to take his post back.
3:50:54 Wasting no time, the man who had conquered the Romans once before travelled
3:50:58 to Fustat as quickly as possible
3:51:01 with the aim of emulating his previous achievement.
3:51:04 Upon his arrival, the morale of Islam’s warriors
3:51:08 was boosted significantly and they prepared for war eagerly,
3:51:12 while Amr started planning.
3:51:13 Informed by spies and agents that the Romans
3:51:17 were advancing leisurely from Alexandria to Fustat,
3:51:19 many of Amr’s brash officers pressed for their commander to attack and confine
3:51:25 the enemy to the treacherous Mediterranean metropolis
3:51:28 before all Egypt revolted against the Muslim regime.
3:51:31 Amr did not agree with this appraisal,
3:51:34 as he believed that this advance would stretch
3:51:37 Roman supply and communication lines to the limit.
3:51:40 Manuel and his army marched under the close observation of Amr’s informants,
3:51:45 who constantly reported the Romans’ position and strength.
3:51:48 The land forces made their way up the eastern bank of the Nile accompanied
3:51:53 by a large flotilla of supporting warships
3:51:56 sailing parallel to them on the river itself.
3:51:59 Byzantine indiscipline began causing problems almost immediately.
3:52:03 Roman soldiers moved from town to town
3:52:07 and the population was not happy with their behaviour.
3:52:12 When Manuel neared the halfway point between Alexandria and Fustat,
3:52:16 Amr began a countermarch with 15,000 warriors of his own,
3:52:20 moving on a direct collision course with the Romans.
3:52:24 Both armies finally came into contact with one another
3:52:27 near a large town known as Nikiou, or Naqyus.
3:52:31 After resting for the night in their respective camps,
3:52:34 the Romans and Muslims deployed on the cultivated,
3:52:37 featureless, and flat terrain just south of Nikiou.
3:52:41 Amr’s left- a cavalry regiment under the command of Shareek bin Sumayy,
3:52:46 rested on the Nile River, as did the Roman right.
3:52:50 In addition to their organisation in neat formations,
3:52:53 a large number of Roman archers also embarked on the riverine ships.
3:52:58 Once his preparations for battle were complete,
3:53:01 Manuel ordered the Byzantine ground forces
3:53:03 into effective bow range before coming to a halt and unleashing a destructive
3:53:10 barrage of arrows against the Muslim position.
3:53:13 On the river, Manuel had prepared a clever stratagem.
3:53:17 His ships continued sailing until they passed by Amr’s flank,
3:53:21 at which point their on-board archers struck the Muslims in the flank as well.
3:53:26 Amr’s men had already been struggling to deal with the frontal volley,
3:53:31 and so suffered terribly from the multidirectional bombardment.
3:53:35 Sumayy’s regiment in particular was almost totally decimated,
3:53:39 having been positioned closest to the river,
3:53:42 but even Amr had a horse shot out from under him.
3:53:46 Despite this punishment, however,
3:53:47 the Muslims were unwilling to surrender the battlefield,
3:53:51 and so endured the storm with considerable tenacity.
3:53:57 Once Manuel believed that his enemy was sufficiently weakened,
3:54:00 he called back the flanking vessels and had
3:54:03 their on-board troops fall into ranks behind the main army,
3:54:07 and then began yet another arrow attack against the Muslim line.
3:54:11 The moment after the Byzantine eunuch general
3:54:14 ordered a halt to his preliminary barrage,
3:54:17 he directed his infantry to advance into spear and sword range.
3:54:21 Although early Muslim armies were generally portrayed as being
3:54:24 most comfortable in this kind of close quarters engagement,
3:54:28 the Roman soldiers nevertheless impacted
3:54:30 Amr’s battered host with considerable ferocity,
3:54:34 cracking their already faltering line.
3:54:36 Sumayy’s regiment, which had endured
3:54:39 the brunt of Manuel’s seaborne missile attack, actually did break and run.
3:54:46 Amr hastily pulled the remainder of his men away
3:54:49 from the Romans’ attack and halted only a short distance away,
3:54:53 in order to regroup as best he could.
3:54:56 However Manuel, believing that the Muslims were already beaten,
3:55:00 did not advance and finish his enemy off,
3:55:03 instead simply waiting where they were.
3:55:05 After a brief, eerie pause in the fighting,
3:55:09 a magnificently dressed Roman champion, clad in gold-studded armour,
3:55:13 rode out into the open space between the two
3:55:16 armies and challenged the Muslims to single combat.
3:55:19 This would give the latter time to take a breath, reform and reorganise.
3:55:25 So, one of Amr’s favoured mubarizun- an Arab known as Haumal-
3:55:30 accepted the Roman offer and strode out to meet the enemy fighter.
3:55:35 With the remainder of both armies bearing witness,
3:55:38 their respective champions initially clashed with spears,
3:55:41 and neither combatant was able to score a decisive blow.
3:55:45 Dropping their polearms after a certain amount of time
3:55:49 had gone by, the champions clashed with sword and shield,
3:55:53 but again neither warrior could get an edge over the other.
3:55:57 This continued until the larger Roman duelist managed to disarm
3:56:01 and severely wound Haumal with a series of fierce thrusts.
3:56:05 As the hulking Roman was about to finish Haumal off,
3:56:09 the Arab champion unsheathed his short dagger and plunged
3:56:13 it into his unsuspecting counterpart’s throat with prodigious speed.
3:56:16 Although Haumal managed to win the duel by the skin of his teeth,
3:56:21 he died of his wounds a few days later, much to Amr’s sorrow.
3:56:28 This traditional single combat had given the Muslim
3:56:31 general time to get his army back in order, and by the time Haumal had won,
3:56:37 Amr was ready- Sumayy’s routed regiment even
3:56:40 returned to the battlefield and formed up.
3:56:42 When the whole Muslim army was ready,
3:56:45 they charged and engaged in a grinding melee with Manuel’s forces,
3:56:49 combat which they were far better suited to.
3:56:52 After a few hours of Roman resistance, the eunuch’s soldiers broke and ran,
3:56:59 pursued and hunted all the way to Alexandria.
3:57:03 Amr brought up a number of catapults
3:57:06 and launched boulders at the recalcitrant city,
3:57:09 whose own artillerists fired back.
3:57:11 The defences nevertheless held firm under such bombardment,
3:57:15 until one of the gatekeepers- Ibn Bassana-
3:57:18 offered to let Amr’s troops inside if he,
3:57:21 his family, and property were retained,
3:57:24 terms which the Muslim commander found agreeable.
3:57:27 Therefore, at some point in the middle of 646,
3:57:31 Alexandria’s gates were opened and the Islamic army poured inside.
3:57:35 Any Roman unit opposing the incursion was swiftly dealt with, and even
3:57:40 those coming up to reinforce the breach were pushed away.
3:57:44 As the rebellious city began falling victim to a sacking,
3:57:48 the surviving imperial soldiers withdrew to their ships and sailed away.
3:57:55 Before the vengeful Arabs could truly wreak havoc
3:57:58 on the ancient Mediterranean metropolis and its vanquished inhabitants,
3:58:02 an unknown Muslim approached Amr and beseeched him to stop the violence.
3:58:07 Although the conqueror of Egypt was by no means a merciful man by nature,
3:58:12 his kinsman’s words had such an impact
3:58:16 that Amr immediately ordered the cessation of hostilities.
3:58:21 At the very spot where this was proclaimed,
3:58:22 a mosque was constructed known as the ‘Mosque of Mercy’.
3:58:22 Still, large numbers of Romans including Manuel died
3:58:22 in the battle and the revolt was quelled.
3:58:22 In the aftermath of the Second Siege of Alexandria,
3:58:26 Amr ripped down the walls and made the city,
3:58:29 in his words “Like the house of an adultress,
3:58:32 accessible from all sides.” The neglect of Egypt’s defence was also remedied
3:58:37 with the new division of its Muslim garrison into four parts- two in Fustat,
3:58:42 and one each in Alexandria and on the northern
3:58:45 coast to be moved around where necessary.
3:58:49 It would also be rotated and the troops replaced every six months.
3:58:56 Not only had Amr ibn Al-As both
3:58:59 conquered and reconquered Egypt in difficult circumstances,
3:59:02 he had built the foundations of a rule
3:59:05 that would secure Muslim hegemony over the fruitful country.
3:59:09 For this, Amr well expected to be rewarded by Uthman,
3:59:13 but he was to be disappointed.
3:59:16 Uthman wanted his tax fiend of a brother to occupy the plum position,
3:59:21 but was aware that Amr probably deserved some reward for his deeds.
3:59:25 So, summoning the conqueror to his place of residence,
3:59:30 Uthman enquired if he would like to remain in military
3:59:33 command of Egypt while Abdullah ibn Sa’d managed civilian administration.
3:59:37 Amr responded with the witty barb:
3:59:39 “In that case I would be like the man holding the horns
3:59:44 of the cow while another milks it.” For the remainder of Uthman’s caliphate,
3:59:49 Amr would bear a potent grudge and even oppose him publicly.
3:59:54 This mutual resentment was to have serious
3:59:57 consequences for Islamic history in the near future.
4:00:03 By the end of 646AD, the entire near-east had been transformed into a completely
4:00:10 different geopolitical entity than it was just two decades before,
4:00:14 and had been for many centuries prior.
4:00:17 On its eastern wing,
4:00:19 a four-century-old dynasty- the Sassanids- were now all but dust,
4:00:24 its last true Shah1 pursued across Iran by eastward
4:00:28 driving Muslim armies and its ancient territory devoured.
4:00:31 In the north, Rashidun forces reached the Caucasus Mountain barrier,
4:00:37 enclosing the once insurmountable Byzantine Empire
4:00:40 within its Anatolian heartland in the process.
4:00:43 Now that all major battles against Rome and Persia were at an end,
4:00:48 Islam’s armies began seeking another direction in which to conquer.
4:00:55 Once Constans II’s counterattack against Egypt was decisively repelled,
4:01:00 Caliph Uthman’s foster brother Abdullah ibn Sa’d began launching
4:01:05 raids into the Roman-Berber lands west of his new province.
4:01:09 These small expeditions quickly proved a stunning success,
4:01:13 returning with vast quantities of slaves, cattle, and other riches.
4:01:18 Judging that Roman Africa would yield an easy and generous bounty if squeezed,
4:01:23 the Egyptian governor wrote to Uthman,
4:01:25 asking for permission to launch a major campaign to the west.
4:01:30 Uthman agreed with Abdullah’s assessment and decreed the formation of a 10,000
4:01:35 strong force in Arabia composed of warriors from various tribes.
4:01:40 It was a relatively young army, and in its ranks marched one son of Amr,
4:01:44 two sons of Umar and two sons of Umayyad
4:01:49 chief Al-Hakam- one of whom was the future Marwan I.
4:01:54 The freshly mustered Arab force was ready
4:01:57 for war in early 647 and marched for Egypt2,
4:02:01 joining Abdullah ibn Sa’d at Fustat a few weeks later.
4:02:06 There, the 10,000 newly arrived Arabic fighters were merged
4:02:10 with a further 10,000 from the governor’s Egyptian army,
4:02:14 resulting in a total strength of 20,000.
4:02:17 With this mostly camel and horse-mounted invasion force at his back,
4:02:22 Abdullah marched west.
4:02:23 This part of the Mediterranean seaboard bore witness to some
4:02:28 of the ancient world’s most dramatic
4:02:30 events during the course of several centuries.
4:02:32 Emperor Heraclius’ father had previously served
4:02:35 as ruler of this sizeable ‘Exarchate
4:02:39 of Africa’ before his son’s ascension to the Byzantine throne in 610,
4:02:44 upon which the elder governor died.
4:02:46 Close to the emperor’s death in 641,
4:02:50 Heraclius himself appointed as Exarch a patrician known as Gregory, However,
4:02:55 dynastic chaos following the death of Heraclius,
4:02:58 and Constans II’s inability to repel Muslim attacks,
4:03:02 particularly in nearby Egypt, were all too much for Gregory.
4:03:08 In 647, as Uthman’s army was in the process of readying to attack him,
4:03:13 the Exarch declared independence from Constantinople amid a surge
4:03:17 of popular support from Romanised Africans and native Berbers alike.
4:03:24 Abdullah ibn Sa’d meanwhile, crossed the Nile from Fustat and took his army
4:03:29 up the west bank until he neared Alexandria,
4:03:31 at which point he drove northwest and cut across the desert as a shortcut.
4:03:37 After a few more days, the viceroy’s 20,000 hit the Mediterranean coastal
4:03:42 road and marched along its course until, finally, after a six-week journey,
4:03:47 Abdullah reached Barca- the city which his predecessor Amr seized years before.
4:03:53 The Muslims then marched a further seven hundred miles
4:03:57 along the Mediterranean coast around the Bay of Sirte,
4:04:00 enduring the scorching privations of a North African summer.
4:04:04 The Arabs were used to such arid conditions and thrived in them,
4:04:08 an advantage which helped them conquer the Near-East.
4:04:12 When the Rashidun army finally reached Tripoli,
4:04:15 closer to the heart of Gregory’s realm,
4:04:18 its warriors found the heavily fortified city barred against them,
4:04:22 contrary to the friendly reception they’d received in Cyrenaica.
4:04:28 As Amr did half a decade earlier,
4:04:31 Abdullah blockaded Tripoli on its landward flank and placed it under siege.
4:04:35 In order to slow or prevent any resupply or reinforcement by ship,
4:04:40 Abdullah stationed artillery at both points where the city wall met the water,
4:04:45 They were ordered to strike any enemy vessel which attempted
4:04:48 to enter the harbour and effectively rendered the seaport unusable.
4:04:52 Gregory, who was readying the main Exarchate
4:04:55 army at his inland capital of Sufetula,
4:04:59 had a naval reinforcement armada dispatched from Carthage to Tripoli.
4:05:04 However, rather than disembarking at the port
4:05:06 on arrival as they would have liked,
4:05:09 the transport ships were forced to disgorge their human cargo on segments
4:05:13 of the beach which were outside of Abdullah’s
4:05:16 artillery range and outside the wall’s protection.
4:05:19 Although this prevented Rashidun catapults and ballistae
4:05:23 from carving bloody holes into their ranks,
4:05:26 it made the tired and disorganised soldiers easy prey for Muslim infantry,
4:05:31 which charged at them from two different angles.
4:05:34 Exhausted from the long sea voyage and without any time to deploy adequately,
4:05:39 Gregory’s reinforcements were scythed down to a man on the beaches of Libya.
4:05:47 Remaining vigilant against any further attempts to prop Tripoli up,
4:05:51 Rashidun forces nevertheless were unable to breach the well-provisioned,
4:05:56 nigh impregnable fortress.
4:05:57 As his army languished outside the walls,
4:06:01 Abdullah ordered riders to scout in the direction
4:06:05 of Sufetula to observe any military activity going on there.
4:06:11 A few weeks later two things were clear to the Muslim governor.
4:06:16 First: Tripoli was still a long way aways from opening its
4:06:20 gates to him and remaining static outside its walls seemed pointless.
4:06:24 Second: reports from his scouts made it apparent to Abdullah
4:06:28 that the newly independent Roman Exarch was readying for a fight.
4:06:34 Possibly convinced Tripoli was just a delaying action
4:06:37 which only served to grind down his own army’s
4:06:40 strength and will to push on, the Muslim governor
4:06:43 lifted his siege and spirited away to the west.
4:06:46 The Rashidun army and its thrifty commander plundered
4:06:49 their way through the wealthiest region of Roman Africa,
4:06:53 unmoored from any supply train and therefore
4:06:58 unconcerned about the Tripoli garrison behind them.
4:07:02 At Sufetula, Gregory was made aware of the Muslims’ location
4:07:06 the moment they passed through Gabes and reacted to the news immediately,
4:07:10 with the intent of engaging his enemy well away from his interim inland capital.
4:07:16 To do this, the Exarch ponderously shifted his heavily-equipped,
4:07:20 primarily infantry-based army,
4:07:21 which probably matched that of the Muslims in size,
4:07:25 to a blocking position at Faiz- 30 kilometres
4:07:29 from Sufetula- and set up a camp there.
4:07:32 Part of the Exarchate’s army was placed slightly
4:07:35 forward of the camp as a covering force.
4:07:37 However, only a short time after Gregory’s force went into camp,
4:07:42 the Rashidun light cavalry advance guard fell on its Roman counterpart,
4:07:46 sending it reeling back to the main camp in flight.
4:07:49 Unnerved by such strength of the Muslim mounted units,
4:07:53 Gregory ordered his army to withdraw all the way to Sufetula,
4:07:57 believing his position at Faiz was too vulnerable.
4:08:01 About four miles east of his capital the Exarch turned and readied for battle.
4:08:07 Such close proximity to its base granted the Roman army logistical supremacy,
4:08:12 prevented wide flanking maneuvers from the mobile opposing army,
4:08:16 and permitted them a safe retreat inside if they needed it.
4:08:20 The Muslims arrived soon after and made their own
4:08:25 camp a short way from Gregory’s front line.
4:08:29 One rejected emissary later,
4:08:30 both sides deployed for battle on the arid plain about four miles from Sufetula.
4:08:36 The Roman army’s posture was defensive,
4:08:38 its line anchored to the north and south by two high ridges.
4:08:44 Abdullah, realising the observation potential of these terrain features,
4:08:49 successfully sent forces to occupy them.
4:08:52 Unlike his more iron-willed predecessor,
4:08:55 Abdullah ibn Sa’d was considered personally
4:08:57 weak by the warriors under his command,
4:09:00 an accountant and bureaucrat rather than general or soldier.
4:09:04 Lacking Amr’s bravery,
4:09:06 Abdullah retreated to a safe position behind the line where he was not
4:09:10 likely to suffer any personal threat once the army was deployed to his liking.
4:09:15 Fortunately, Gregory was a kindred spirit
4:09:18 in that he wasn’t a bold frontline commander either,
4:09:21 choosing to oversee the clash from a throne inside the walls of Sufetula.
4:09:27 Subordinates and lower-level officers fought the battle
4:09:31 for him on a tactical level.
4:09:35 At the dawn the next day, fighting commenced.
4:09:38 Details about the first days of Sufetula are unclear and sparse in our sources,
4:09:43 but it is evident that the combat was incredibly fierce,
4:09:47 uninterrupted, and bloody.
4:09:49 Although the actual battlefield was a flat plain,
4:09:53 the ridges on either flank prevented
4:09:56 any outflanking maneuvers or fancy tactical flair.
4:09:59 Moreover, the uninvolved nature of both
4:10:03 army’s skittish commanders further paralysed the situation.
4:10:07 After a few days of such indecisive fighting,
4:10:10 Gregory decided to attempt an assassination of the enemy leader
4:10:14 in order to sever the head from the Muslim serpent,
4:10:17 but obviously wasn’t going to do the deed himself.
4:10:21 Instead, he offered to wed his legendarily beautiful, intelligent,
4:10:25 and valiant daughter to the Roman warrior who killed Abdullah.
4:10:30 Morale in the Exarch’s army skyrocketed at this news,
4:10:33 with each warrior- whether they were Roman, Vandalic, Greek or Berber,
4:10:38 steeling themselves with the aim of gaining the princess’ hand.
4:10:44 Word of this also spread throughout the Muslim
4:10:47 army and in particular to Abdullah himself.
4:10:50 Not at all comfortable with being a marked man,
4:10:54 his confidence suffered an even further decline.
4:10:57 To counter Gregory’s offer,
4:10:59 the Muslim commander announced to his army that he would grant
4:11:03 the Exarch’s daughter to any warrior who personally killed her father,
4:11:07 before withdrawing to his tent.
4:11:09 Still however, the next few days continued
4:11:12 as a deadly stalemate of bitter violence,
4:11:15 brought to a crescendo by the offer and counteroffer between generals.
4:11:22 This continued without end until one of Abdullah’s officers-
4:11:26 Zubayr- was approached by a Berber defector from Gregory’s army.
4:11:30 He told the Muslim captain that because fighting had
4:11:34 until that point been quite far from the walls,
4:11:38 the Exarch’s position, near Sufetula’s northern gate,
4:11:41 was actually very thinly defended.
4:11:43 Alerted to this crucial information and the best route
4:11:47 which he should take in order to exploit the opportunity,
4:11:51 Zubayr put forward his plan to the demoralised Muslim commander,
4:11:54 and was granted leadership over the army’s mobile reserve- about 2,000 strong.
4:12:00 The invaders’ spirits were buoyed due to the dynamism
4:12:04 and boldness of this dashing young officer,
4:12:07 who spent the remainder of the day setting his scheme into motion.
4:12:12 Swarmed by warriors who desired to embark on the risky venture with him,
4:12:17 the younger Zubayr eventually selected thirty of the fiercest, most capable,
4:12:21 and valiant combatants his army could offer as an attack squad.
4:12:25 When asked what they were to do, Zubayr replied- “I am attacking,
4:12:30 defend me against those who assail me from the rear and I
4:12:35 shall defend you from the front!” During the near soundless hours of night,
4:12:41 after issuing all necessary orders, Zubayr positioned himself, his 30 stalwarts,
4:12:46 and the mobile reserve horsemen behind Sufetula’s northern ridge.
4:12:50 Then when morning came,
4:12:52 both armies closed with one another and fought as though nothing had changed.
4:12:57 At noon, with an especially hot day weighing down on them heavily,
4:13:02 both armies broke contact and withdrew- the Romans quickly,
4:13:07 the Muslims suspiciously sluggishly.
4:13:08 Distracted by the din of war, Gregory, his attendants,
4:13:13 and guards did not notice as Zubayr and his band of daredevils
4:13:17 galloped into the city through what became known as the ‘gate of treachery’.
4:13:22 Realising what was happening, the Exarch’s guard formed a hasty line,
4:13:27 but the 30 Muslim warriors broke it and allowed
4:13:30 Zubayr a clean run at the African ruler.
4:13:33 In the confusion, Gregory initially believed
4:13:35 this lone mounted figure to be an envoy, and so did not react.
4:13:41 Gregory was killed and his head sliced from his body.
4:13:46 Word of their leader’s death quickly reached the retreating Roman infantry,
4:13:51 causing terrible confusion and disheartening the soldiers.
4:13:54 Then, at the perfect moment,
4:13:57 Zubayr’s large mounted reserve crested the North Ridge,
4:14:00 rode at a gallop and charged into the disorganised Exarchate army’s
4:14:05 left wing with saber and lance before wheeling around the battlefield.
4:14:10 Simultaneously, the bulk of the Muslim infantry turned about and advanced,
4:14:14 locking their tenacious enemy into an unwinnable fight.
4:14:17 Pressured from the front by Arab infantry
4:14:20 and outmanuevered by swift Muslim horsemen all around,
4:14:24 the Roman army collapsed and its soldiers scattered
4:14:27 in all directions in their attempts to flee.
4:14:30 Zubayr’s cavalry reaped an especially bloody toll and, within a short time,
4:14:35 the battered corpses of Romans, Berber, Vandals,
4:14:39 and Greeks littered the plain outside Sufetula.
4:14:44 Despite the slaughter, several thousand of Gregory’s soldiers managed
4:14:48 to retreat intact towards the capital,
4:14:51 believing its walls would grant them safety.
4:14:54 It wasn’t their lucky day.
4:14:56 Zubayr, having handily dealt with the Exarch,
4:15:00 sent small squadrons to hold each of Sufetula’s gates, preventing entry or exit.
4:15:05 When the retreating columns of exhausted
4:15:08 Roman soldiers reached the city therefore,
4:15:11 they were viciously attacked by Muslim cavalry
4:15:15 coming the other way and cut to pieces.
4:15:19 The Rashidun triumph at Sufetula is frequently touted as the point
4:15:24 at which Roman Africa was forever lost to the Empire,
4:15:28 and while it was a back-breaking moment for the province, this is far from true.
4:15:33 Once the vast quantity of captured silver,
4:15:36 gold and cattle was accumulated and distributed,
4:15:39 Abdullah ibn Sa’d moved on the Exarchate’s real capital- Carthage.
4:15:44 Upon putting the millennia old city to siege,
4:15:47 the Muslim commander and local leaders within the city came to an impasse.
4:15:52 There was no chance that the besiegers would be able to take
4:15:56 Carthage with their overextended supply lines and barely functional siege train,
4:16:01 but at the same time,
4:16:03 there was no way for the inhabitants of Carthage to make them go away.
4:16:07 However, with exaggerated reports of Gregory’s fate fresh in their minds,
4:16:12 they asked for terms after only a few days.
4:16:15 Always with income on his brain,
4:16:18 Abdullah ibn Sa’d accepted a vast quantity of Roman gold as payment
4:16:23 to leave Africa alone keeping only what they had so far conquered.
4:16:30 After a subsequent eastward journey of about three months,
4:16:33 the Muslim army arrived back in Fustat by late 647,
4:16:37 bringing with it a vast hoard of wealth
4:16:41 which further swelled the treasury in Medina.
4:16:44 Regardless of the gathered loot, Abdullah had effectively won a victory and then
4:16:50 given up the ghost before the conquest was concluded.
4:16:53 At about this time- late 648- the governor
4:16:57 of Syria Muawiya launched a naval expedition of unknown scale
4:17:02 on Cyprus in order to neutralise any potential threat
4:17:05 that it posed as a staging point for future Byzantine attacks.
4:17:09 Muawiya landed on the Mediterranean island and seized it without opposition,
4:17:15 exacting a tribute of 7,000 dinars annually.
4:17:18 With the North African front winding down,
4:17:22 most expansionist movement within the Rashidun Caliphate came to a halt.
4:17:27 Three years passed in relative quiet until Abdullah ibn
4:17:31 Sa’d led another attempt to conquer Nubia in 652,
4:17:35 failing once again due to the country’s ‘Archers of the Eye’.
4:17:42 Because the situation on land between Eastern Rome
4:17:45 and the Caliphate had calcified at the Taurus Mountains,
4:17:48 both sides began looking to the sea for an advantage.
4:17:53 If Constantinople maintained its naval supremacy,
4:17:55 it would have the ability to land a force in Syria, Egypt, or Africa at will.
4:18:01 However, if the Caliphate usurped this control,
4:18:05 they could make the Mediterranean a Muslim
4:18:07 lake and even threaten the great imperial city.
4:18:11 To that end, both the Egyptian
4:18:13 governor and Roman emperor refocused their efforts
4:18:16 on constructing vast fleets of ships with which to dominate the sea.
4:18:21 In 654AD, the Arab and Roman fleets met off the Lycian
4:18:26 coast at what became known as the Battle of the Masts.
4:18:30 Abdullah ibn Sa’d revealed himself to be a veritable
4:18:34 sea wolf compared to his feeble reputation on land,
4:18:37 crushing Constans II’s navy in the first true Muslim naval
4:18:42 triumph and clearing the way for an attack on Constantinople.
4:18:47 Initially, the reign of Caliph Uthman ibn Affan was
4:18:50 a time of progress for the growing Rashidun Caliphate.
4:18:53 The governor of Egypt, Abdullah ibn Sa’ad,
4:18:56 had used the new standing navy of the Caliphate to secure
4:19:00 a steady tribute from the island of Cyprus in 649,
4:19:04 before defeating the Eastern Romans at sea in the Battle of the Masts.
4:19:08 Meanwhile, the advancing armies of Ahnaf ibn Qais and Abdullah
4:19:12 ibn Aamer were making further headway in the rapidly-crumbling Sassanid Empire.
4:19:17 Yazdegerd III, last of the Persian King of Kings,
4:19:21 had been reduced to little more than a fugitive,
4:19:24 fleeing from city to city ahead of the conquerors.
4:19:28 After the fall of Fars province between 649 and 650,
4:19:32 attempts to raise support in first Kerman and then Sakastan each failed,
4:19:37 with the governors of these provinces refusing to pay taxes
4:19:41 to a destitute and powerless Emperor or harbour him from the advancing Arabs.
4:19:46 Withdrawing finally to Merv, he made a last-ditch effort to stem the tide
4:19:51 by appealing to his allies among the Hephthalite principalities.
4:19:55 Some soldiers were indeed sent to support him, but they would never see battle
4:20:00 against the Arabs- unwilling to continue throwing
4:20:03 lives away in a hopeless war after
4:20:05 the desertion or surrender of Yazdegerd’s vassals,
4:20:08 his last general Farrukhzad abandoned him in 651,
4:20:12 with Merv’s governor Mahuy Suri turning against him as well shortly after.
4:20:17 With his last supporters defeated by Suri’s own Hephthalite allies,
4:20:22 the King of Kings finally met his end hiding
4:20:25 in the home of a humble miller outside Merv, murdered for his jewelry.
4:20:30 While local resistance would continue in Tabaristan for years to follow,
4:20:35 the once-great Sassanid Empire had ceased to exist,
4:20:38 its dynasty continuing only through a family of exiles taking refuge in China.
4:20:44 But for all the military victories
4:20:47 of the Caliphate during Uthman’s twelve-year reign,
4:20:51 its domestic policies would soon beget internal
4:20:54 turmoil for the young and rapidly expanding state.
4:20:59 The aging Caliph’s nepotism and unpopular economic policies created
4:21:03 growing opposition to his rule from various strands of society.
4:21:08 During Umar’s reign, laws had been set in place forbidding
4:21:12 Arab soldiers from buying land in conquered territories,
4:21:15 keeping soldiers strictly separated from local
4:21:18 populations both to prevent foreign influences
4:21:21 on the faith of his victorious armies
4:21:24 and to protect the property of the conquered.
4:21:27 Under Uthman, these restrictions were removed,
4:21:30 causing many soldiers in the caliphate’s armies to buy
4:21:34 up huge tracts of land in Syria and Iraq,
4:21:37 in some cases abusing their power and authority in order
4:21:41 to drive inhabitants out and resell the same land at large profits,
4:21:46 creating a new class of wealthy
4:21:49 ex-soldiers establishing lavish estates across the Caliphate.
4:21:52 This new taste for luxury among the conquerors drove up
4:21:56 taxes and created great resentment among both non-Muslims and non-Arab converts.
4:22:02 On top of economic friction, Uthman also created for himself a theological
4:22:09 controversy through his creation of a unified, official version of the Qur’an.
4:22:14 Prior to this, the ad-hoc nature by which
4:22:17 the Prophet’s revelations were recorded and transmitted by his closest
4:22:22 companions meant that many Qur’ans had minor variations
4:22:25 in the text from one to the next,
4:22:28 undermining a faith based on an eternal and infallible word of God.
4:22:32 To correct this, Uthman had a gathering of religious
4:22:36 scholars determine the canon account of the Prophet’s words,
4:22:39 gathering and burning as many of the variant Qur’ans as possible.
4:22:44 The Qur’an of Uthman remains unchanged as the holy text
4:22:48 for Muslims around the world today- but during his reign,
4:22:51 some Muslims disagreed with the decisions Uthman’s scholars reached
4:22:55 or saw the destruction of any Qur’an as sacrilegious,
4:23:00 adding their voices to the growing opposition to his rule.
4:23:05 The long-simmering resentment against Caliph Uthman
4:23:08 boiled into open rebellion in 656.
4:23:12 In Egypt, Kufa and Basra,
4:23:14 disaffected soldiers from local garrison towns gathered and marched on Medina
4:23:19 to demand Uthman’s deposition and the election of a new Caliph.
4:23:24 Having been told by agents that the grievances
4:23:27 against him were frivolous and a revolt unlikely,
4:23:30 Uthman was caught unprepared when the bands of soldiers converged on Medina.
4:23:35 Though he refused to step down as Caliph,
4:23:38 Uthman attempted to reach a peaceful settlement,
4:23:41 sending Ali ibn Abi Talib- the Prophet’s son-in-law and one
4:23:45 of the first Muslims- to negotiate with the rebels on his behalf.
4:23:50 The smaller Kufan and Basran detachments
4:23:52 were convinced to make peace with Uthman,
4:23:55 while the larger Egyptian force was mollified
4:23:58 with a promise to remove their unpopular governor,
4:24:01 Abdullah, from governorship, in favour of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr,
4:24:05 the son of the first caliph.
4:24:07 With Ali as guarantor of the agreement and ibn Abi Bakr leading them,
4:24:12 they began their return to Egypt,
4:24:14 apparently ending the immediate danger for Uthman.
4:24:17 But on their return journey, the soldiers waylaid a messenger bound for Egypt
4:24:23 with orders to have the rebel leaders executed.
4:24:26 Taking it as a sign of treachery on Uthman’s part,
4:24:29 the rebels returned to Medina and surrounded Uthman’s home,
4:24:33 besieging him within and once again demanded his resignation.
4:24:37 Whether Uthman really ordered the rebels executed is unclear,
4:24:41 with most accounts crediting the message not to Uthman,
4:24:45 but to his cousin and secretary, the future Caliph Marwan ibn al-Hakam.
4:24:50 Whatever the truth of the matter, the rebels cut off water to Uthman’s house
4:24:55 and gave increasingly threatening demands for his abdication,
4:24:58 until one of Marwan’s servants slew one of the rebel
4:25:02 spokesmen with a stone from the balcony on June 16th,
4:25:06 making a bloody end to the affair all but inevitable.
4:25:12 Abandoned by most of his Umayyad clan,
4:25:15 with the Iraqi rebels and notables of Medina remaining neutral,
4:25:19 Uthman ordered his remaining defenders to stand down in hopes of avoiding
4:25:24 bloodshed between Muslims when the rebels attacked the house the following day.
4:25:29 Regardless, Marwan and the children of Ali refused this order
4:25:32 and attempted to save the life of their Caliph.
4:25:35 As Uthman sat for his noon prayers,
4:25:37 Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr and a few of the Egyptian rebels
4:25:41 climbed into his home from the roof of a neigboring house,
4:25:45 threatening the Caliph at swordpoint.
4:25:47 Though accounts differ on the specific events and on ibn
4:25:50 Abi Bakr’s role in particular- the final outcome was the same.
4:25:54 Uthman was the first Caliph to be murdered by his fellow Muslims,
4:25:58 an event that would shake the Muslim world to its core.
4:26:03 Following the murder, the rebel bands effectively controlled Medina,
4:26:08 and under their influence,
4:26:10 particularly the Iraqis, Ali was elevated to the role of Caliph.
4:26:15 As the Prophet’s son-in-law and one
4:26:17 of the major candidates in the previous election,
4:26:20 Ali seemed a safe and popular choice.
4:26:23 However, his reign would be saddled with the scandal of Uthman’s murder,
4:26:27 and demands for justice placed the new Caliph in a difficult position.
4:26:31 Given Ali’s efforts to defuse the rebellion and the injuries
4:26:35 his own son Hasan suffered in Uthman’s defense,
4:26:39 it is incredibly unlikely he had any role in his predecessor’s murder.
4:26:43 But many of the rebels who had
4:26:46 opposed Uthman were now his most important supporters,
4:26:49 so punishing them would have alienated his powerbase
4:26:52 and potentially led to his own demise.
4:26:55 Stuck in a trap, Ali allowed Uthman’s murder to go unpunished,
4:26:59 which led to accusations of weakness and complicity,
4:27:03 particularly from Uthman’s powerful Umayyad clan,
4:27:06 laying the groundwork for the first Islamic civil war.
4:27:11 The first stirrings of conflict came from Talha
4:27:16 ibn Ubayd Allah and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam,
4:27:19 Ali’s main competitors in the election that had brought him to the throne.
4:27:23 In the past, the two had fought alongside Ali as comrades.
4:27:28 But, despite Talha’s own previous opposition to Uthman,
4:27:31 they had been among the most vocal for action against the rebels,
4:27:35 and were quick to make common cause with another of Ali’s detractors- Aisha,
4:27:39 the widow of the Prophet himself.
4:27:42 With Aisha as the unifying spiritual figurehead of the rebellion,
4:27:46 funding from numerous Umayyad governors deposed
4:27:48 by Ali at the beginning of his reign,
4:27:51 and several prominent Muslim leaders including Marwan and the murdered
4:27:55 Caliph’s son Aban ibn Uthman flocking to her banner,
4:27:59 Aisha’s rebel army represented a significant challenge to Ali’s leadership.
4:28:06 Unfortunately for the so-called Mother of the Faithful,
4:28:10 a number of crucial mistakes would undermine her cause.
4:28:13 A great deal of effort was wasted trying to rally support in Iraq,
4:28:19 despite most of the region being loyal to Ali.
4:28:22 Then, when rebel leadership left Mecca
4:28:24 to gain support in Basra in mid-October 656,
4:28:29 internal discord fomented within their cause.
4:28:32 Talha and Zubayr were jockeying against each other for authority,
4:28:35 while the secrecy of the army’s destination created resentment
4:28:39 from Marwan and the Umayyad clansmen within the army,
4:28:42 who saw the insurgency more as a blood feud
4:28:45 than a rebellion and would have preferred to simply
4:28:48 march to Medina and execute the conspirators who had
4:28:53 slain Uthman rather than waging a campaign to topple Ali.
4:28:58 The anti-Ali movement was dealt another blow in December,
4:29:01 when Aisha and her followers arrived in Basra.
4:29:04 After hearing the speeches and calls to arms
4:29:07 of Zubayr and Talha in the marketplace outside the city,
4:29:11 the reaction of the Basran populace was divided,
4:29:14 with some offering support while others denounced her.
4:29:18 The first fighting of her rebellion occurred immediately after,
4:29:22 when numerous market goers loyal to Aisha or Ali began to scrap
4:29:26 in the marketplace and strike each other with the soles of their shoes.
4:29:31 More important than any marketplace brawl, however,
4:29:34 was the response of Basra’s governor Uthman ibn Hunayf,
4:29:38 who remained loyal to Ali.
4:29:40 However, reluctant to bring bloodshed to his city,
4:29:43 he allowed the rebels to camp the night while he waited for word from Ali,
4:29:47 who was now on his way from Medina.
4:29:50 A message from the Caliph soon arrived,
4:29:53 instructing ibn Hunayf to give the rebels
4:29:55 an ultimatum of loyalty to Ali or warfare,
4:29:58 but by then, Aisha’s army had already managed to entrench
4:30:02 themselves in a defensible camp near the local garrison’s storehouse.
4:30:08 It should be noted that even after Caliph Uthman’s murder,
4:30:12 the thought of outright warfare between
4:30:15 Muslims remained almost unthinkable to most,
4:30:17 and so the prominent poet and scholar Zalim ibn Amr al-Du’ali was sent
4:30:22 to make a last entreaty for peace and an end to the rebellion.
4:30:26 When it was refused, Basra’s cavalry commander Hukaym ibn Jabala
4:30:30 stormed out with the governor’s local forces.
4:30:33 A short and bloody battle around Aisha’s camp ensued,
4:30:37 many on both sides died, but the rebels were not dislodged.
4:30:42 Afterwards, an uneasy ceasefire was signed,
4:30:46 intended to last until Ali’s arrival.
4:30:50 The ceasefire would be short-lived, however.
4:30:53 If Aisha remained unwilling to submit,
4:30:56 Ali’s arrival would only leave the rebels hopelessly outnumbered,
4:31:00 so on Talha’s advice,
4:31:02 a party of rebels captured the Basran governor in a surprise
4:31:05 raid as he led the evening’s prayers in the mosque,
4:31:09 giving him 40 lashes and plucking
4:31:12 his beard and eyelashes before imprisoning him.
4:31:15 The following morning,
4:31:16 Zubayr’s son Abdallah led the rebels in an attack on the storehouse,
4:31:21 killing forty converted ex-slaves from Sindh who had been posted
4:31:24 as guards and seizing the grain meant for the townsfolk’s winter provisions.
4:31:29 Hukaym arrived shortly after in a great rage,
4:31:33 demanding Abdallah release the governor and berating him for the killing
4:31:37 of Muslims innocent of any role in Uthman’s murder.
4:31:40 When Abdallah refused, Hukaym attacked with the 700 men remaining to him,
4:31:45 finding himself quickly surrounded and overwhelmed by the larger rebel army.
4:31:50 Though he fought fiercely until the end- fatally striking
4:31:53 one of the rebels with his own severed leg,
4:31:56 according to one rather fanciful account- Hukaym,
4:31:59 his son, and many of his soldiers were killed,
4:32:02 with the rest fleeing or surrendering and leaving
4:32:06 the rebels in full control of Basra.
4:32:10 With Ali en route, the victorious rebels had
4:32:13 little time to gather support for their movement.
4:32:16 Though control of the city and its treasury brought most
4:32:19 of the surrounding tribes at least nominally under Aisha’s banner,
4:32:24 emissaries sent North to Kufa had less success.
4:32:28 While the province’s governor Abu Musa ibn Asha’ari attempted to remain neutral,
4:32:33 Kufan notable Zayd ibn Suhan,
4:32:35 after receiving a message from Aisha fondly addressing him as a beloved
4:32:39 son as befitting her title of Mother of the Faith,
4:32:42 responded that her beloved son would prefer her to stay safely at home.
4:32:47 Ali’s efforts were more fruitful.
4:32:50 Sending his son al-Hasan to Kufa, Abu Musa was soon deposed,
4:32:54 and more than six thousand men were gathered for the retaking of Basra.
4:32:59 With these joining Ali’s 700 from Medina and close to two
4:33:03 thousand who had gathered from various tribes along the caravan route,
4:33:08 Ali arrived at Basra on December 5 with just under ten thousand men,
4:33:13 met by Aisha’s comparable army of Basrans and Meccans.
4:33:16 After three days of standoff and attempts to sway the Basran tribes,
4:33:21 a horseman was sent between the armies by Ali with a Qur’an
4:33:25 at the end of his lance to exhort both sides to an honorable combat.
4:33:30 When he fell dead, pierced by arrows, battle was joined and the two
4:33:37 cavalry-heavy armies came crashing together like thunder.
4:33:41 Despite Aisha having, by most accounts,
4:33:43 at least as large an army as Ali prior to his arrival,
4:33:47 defections of several Basran tribes both before
4:33:50 and during the battle weakened her force significantly.
4:33:54 In the center of Ali’s army,
4:33:56 Abu Qutada al-Nu’man led the Kufan foot soldiers while
4:34:00 Ali’s son Muhammad ibn Hanafiyyah carried his father’s standard.
4:34:03 On the right wing of Ali’s army,
4:34:06 Malik al-Ashtar led the bulk of the Kufan cavalry,
4:34:09 soon routing the tribesmen of the Banu Hanzala leading Aisha’s left.
4:34:13 And on Ali’s left, the storied companion Ammar ibn
4:34:17 Yasir is said by some to have driven Zubayr,
4:34:20 who had been given overall command of the rebel army,
4:34:23 to abandon his army and leave without fighting.
4:34:26 Zubayr’s desertion is a matter of some mystery-
4:34:30 despite his past victories and talent as a commander,
4:34:33 all accounts agree he abandoned his army and retreated very early in the battle,
4:34:38 though there are a variety of reasons given.
4:34:41 Some suggest that secret correspondence from Ali
4:34:43 convinced him he had taken the wrong path,
4:34:46 or that the Prophet had once said that Ammar would
4:34:50 die at the hands of a band of wicked men,
4:34:53 leading Zubayr to question his role when
4:34:55 the two came face-to-face on the battlefield.
4:34:58 Others point to Aisha’s refusal to acclaim him
4:35:01 as Caliph on the eve of the battle,
4:35:03 suggesting that she favored Talha and that Zubayr’s role
4:35:06 in rebellion had been a self-serving grab for the throne.
4:35:11 Either way, his desertion left Talha
4:35:13 to take command of a rapidly-worsening situation.
4:35:16 Leading a strong force of Basran cavalry,
4:35:20 he made a number of charges against Ali’s left and center,
4:35:24 at first with great success.
4:35:26 But once Ali’s right wing punched through his lines,
4:35:29 he found his mobile cavalry bogged down and risking envelopment.
4:35:33 Turning about to withdraw and regroup for another charge,
4:35:37 he was mortally wounded by an arrow to the back
4:35:40 of his knee- not at the hands of Ali’s forces, but of his supposed ally Marwan,
4:35:46 apparently as a spiteful act of vengeance for Talha’s opposition to Uthman now
4:35:50 that their alliance to punish Ali and Uthman’s murderers had come to naught.
4:35:56 After firing the treacherous shot,
4:35:58 Marwan was taken prisoner by Ali’s victorious forces,
4:36:02 while Aisha’s leaderless forces collapsed.
4:36:04 Named the Battle of the Camel after the camel
4:36:07 Aisha had observed her defeat from the back
4:36:10 of, this climactic battle in Basra had
4:36:12 ended the first major challenge to Ali’s caliphate,
4:36:16 though further conflict remained ahead.
4:36:18 Various figures are given for the casualties,
4:36:22 with generally accepted figures hovering around 400
4:36:25 for Ali’s army and 2500 for Aisha’s,
4:36:29 the latter number being particularly high given that Ali pardoned
4:36:32 all but one of the prisoners taken after the battle,
4:36:36 but still plausible given the accounts of many rebels fighting on long after
4:36:41 the army had fallen into disarray and defeat out of zealous devotion to Aisha.
4:36:48 Of the three rebel leaders, only Aisha survived the battle and its aftermath,
4:36:53 being escorted back to Medina by her brother Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr,
4:36:57 where she would live her days out
4:36:59 in comfort but with her political activity greatly curtailed.
4:37:03 Zubayr was found shortly after the battle’s end by a trio
4:37:08 of tribesmen and murdered while apparently
4:37:10 trying to escape to his ally Mu’awiya, the governor of Syria.
4:37:15 At its foundation, the Caliphate had been ruled and organized
4:37:21 largely through the consensus of the companions in Medina,
4:37:24 but for all Uthman’s merits,
4:37:26 his reign brought a definite shift away from the ideals
4:37:29 of justice and Islamic unity the early Caliphate inherited from the Prophet.
4:37:34 In Pre-Islamic Arabia, life had been divided sharply along clan lines,
4:37:39 but under the Caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar,
4:37:42 brotherhood under Islam had superseded the tribal
4:37:45 loyalties that existed before their faith.
4:37:47 In his speech upon becoming the first Caliph,
4:37:50 Abu Bakr had emphasized to the gathered Muslims
4:37:53 of Medina that he was not the greatest among them,
4:37:56 and that he would welcome the help and truthful advice of his subjects,
4:38:00 even if meant speaking against his own
4:38:03 suggestions- and though Abu Bakr had adult sons,
4:38:06 he had passed the Caliphate on to his advisor and fellow
4:38:09 Companion Umar rather than attempt to create a ruling dynasty.
4:38:13 Umar had famously lived the same humble lifestyle
4:38:16 as Caliph as he had before his coronation,
4:38:19 sleeping on a bed of palm leaves and taking part
4:38:23 in the same labours as his subjects in service of the needy.
4:38:29 Under Uthman, however, the nepotistic clan politics of the pre-Islamic
4:38:34 past began to return to the fore.
4:38:38 Relatives of Uthman were frequently granted positions of wealth and authority,
4:38:42 with first his foster brother Walid ibn Uqba and later
4:38:46 his uncle Sayyid ibn Aas being given governorship of Kufa.
4:38:50 And while few could accuse Abdullah ibn Sa’ad of incompetence after
4:38:54 his conquests in North Africa and victories at sea in the Mediterranean,
4:38:59 the fact that he had replaced Amr ibn Al-Aas,
4:39:02 Egypt’s conqueror and previous governor,
4:39:04 largely by virtue of being another of Uthman’s foster
4:39:07 brothers did much to stir discontent among other companions
4:39:11 of the Prophet and long-serving Muslims of Medina who saw
4:39:15 themselves being denied advancement in favour of Uthman’s Umayyad clan.
4:39:19 Thanks to these and several other Umayyads appointed to prominent positions,
4:39:24 the clan swiftly grew to become one
4:39:26 of the most powerful political entities within the Caliphate,
4:39:30 with governors of numerous far-flung provinces tied by family bonds
4:39:34 and ready to resist any threat to the power they shared.
4:39:38 The most prominent figure in this narrative,
4:39:41 however, is Uthman’s cousin Mu'awiya,
4:39:43 once a minor regional governor during Umar’s reign
4:39:46 who Uthman had granted lordship of all Syria.
4:39:50 It had been on Mu'awiya’s suggestion
4:39:52 that Uthman had ordered the Caliphate’s navy built, and its raids in Cyprus,
4:39:57 Rhodes and Crete brought significant wealth pouring into Syria’s coffers,
4:40:01 making Mu'awiya the most powerful out of a powerful family
4:40:05 and the most likely rival to Ali in the wake of Uthman’s killing.
4:40:10 Conflict between Mu'awiya and Ali had long been an inevitability,
4:40:15 as one of the first actions Ali had taken after his election as Caliph
4:40:19 had been to order Mu'awiya and many
4:40:23 of Uthman’s other appointed governors deposed.
4:40:25 Mu’awiya alone had been sufficiently powerful and secure
4:40:29 in his position to refuse the order,
4:40:31 and those governors that had been successfully deposed had flocked
4:40:35 to back Mu'awiya with whatever wealth or support they could offer.
4:40:40 Confident in his power,
4:40:42 Mu'awiya had publicly rebuked Ali over Uthman’s murder and tacitly
4:40:46 claimed the Caliphate as the murdered Caliph’s next of kin,
4:40:50 effectively a declaration of war.
4:40:53 Mu'awiya’s position was further strengthened by an unlikely ally:
4:40:57 Amr ibn al-As, the conqueror and former governor of Egypt.
4:41:02 Despite Amr’s previous enmity towards Uthman,
4:41:04 his popularity in Egypt made him a perfect candidate to tear
4:41:08 the richest province in the Caliphate out of Ali’s hands.
4:41:12 With Amr promised lifetime governorship of Egypt in exchange for his support,
4:41:18 Mu'awiya removed Egypt’s current governor Qays ibn
4:41:21 Sa’d through a masterful piece of deceit.
4:41:24 He forged a letter from Qays to himself agreeing to join his cause,
4:41:28 and ensured Ali’s spies learned of it.
4:41:31 Deceived by this forgery,
4:41:33 Ali deposed the competent and, by most accounts, loyal governor shortly after,
4:41:38 with the inexperienced Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr taking his place too late
4:41:43 to muster significant Egyptian support for Ali in the battle to come.
4:41:48 Amr also helped Mu’awiya forge an important
4:41:50 alliance with the most powerful tribe of Yemen, the Himyar, who had once ruled
4:41:55 a powerful independent kingdom in pre-Islamic times.
4:41:58 With Amr as his closest advisor,
4:42:01 allies across the Caliphate rallying to his banner,
4:42:04 and Ali weakened by Aisha’s recent rebellion,
4:42:07 Mu'awiya was in an incredibly secure position.
4:42:10 Thus, when Caliph Ali departed Medina in late May 657
4:42:15 with his armies behind him to depose the recalcitrant governor,
4:42:18 he would have a far tougher fight ahead of him than he perhaps expected.
4:42:24 Before the two main armies met in battle,
4:42:28 a series of cavalry pursuits and skirmishes took place at Harran and Raqqa,
4:42:33 pitting Malik al-Ashtar against Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid,
4:42:36 son of the unrivaled general Khalid ibn al-Walid,
4:42:39 as Ali’s army tested Mu'awiya’s strength and resolve and found both unbending.
4:42:45 The first true struggle would take place at Siffin,
4:42:48 on the banks of the Euphrates river.
4:42:51 When Ali’s army arrived on June 5,
4:42:53 they found Syrian cavalry blocking them from reaching
4:42:56 the only accessible watering area for miles.
4:42:59 This was against the advice of Amr,
4:43:01 and proved to be a blunder on Mu'awiya’s part.
4:43:04 When rallying his armies for the campaign against Mu'awiya,
4:43:07 Ali had found it difficult to motivate his men,
4:43:11 many were reluctant to see so much more bloodshed between
4:43:14 brothers in faith to bring a governor back into the fold.
4:43:19 But Mu'awiya’s ill-advised attempt to deny his foes water in the desert heat
4:43:23 lost him any sympathy he or his forces might have enjoyed in Ali’s ranks,
4:43:28 and set the stage for a vastly bloodier
4:43:31 confrontation than had stained the sands at Basra.
4:43:37 The numbers involved are a matter of debate.
4:43:40 Al-Tabari puts Ali’s army at 70,000, a likely inflated number,
4:43:44 given that it counts more than 60,000 Kufans under his banner while al-Hasan had
4:43:50 only been able to raise a tenth that number for the Battle of the Camel.
4:43:55 But even taking a more conservative estimate of twenty
4:43:58 to thirty thousand for Ali with Mu'awiya’s army slightly larger,
4:44:02 the Battle of Siffin was one of the largest
4:44:05 and most impactful battles of Islamic history,
4:44:08 and played out in a number of phases over the weeks to follow.
4:44:13 Upon finding the accessible water blocked,
4:44:15 Ali’s advance guard led by Al-Ash’ath ibn Qays fell
4:44:18 upon the Syrian force blocking their path with a vengeance,
4:44:22 driving them back and securing the water for the thirsty army behind them.
4:44:27 Following the Day of the Euphrates, as this small victory was known,
4:44:31 the armies stood for two days of tense standoff and failed negotiation,
4:44:35 followed by more than a week of daily raiding
4:44:39 and personal duels between noble commanders lasting until June 18th,
4:44:44 each army testing the other’s mettle but reluctant to commit its full strength.
4:44:50 June 19th saw a new ceasefire agreement forged, lasting more than a month,
4:44:55 in a last attempt to reach a peaceful
4:44:57 agreement or at least convince opposing leaders to defect,
4:45:00 but these overtures were no more successful than the previous ones- envoys went
4:45:06 back and forth for weeks between the two armies with messages and bribes,
4:45:10 but the stalemate remained largely unchanged.
4:45:13 Finally, on July 26th, the two armies met in a battle that would
4:45:18 last three days and three nights nearly unbroken.
4:45:22 The first day of the battle was inconclusive,
4:45:25 mostly consisting of exchanges of arrows and cavalry raids,
4:45:29 with casualties mounting but neither side gaining an overwhelming advantage.
4:45:33 The second day saw Mu'awiya come very close to routing Ali,
4:45:38 with Habib ibn Maslama leading a massive attack that drove
4:45:42 Ali’s right wing to flight and pushed hard against his center,
4:45:46 driving his army into disarray before reinforcements led
4:45:49 by Malik al-Ashtar could halt the Syrian advance.
4:45:53 Abd’Allah ibn Budayl, who had been in command of Ali’s right,
4:45:57 attempted to press their momentary advantage by bringing his cavalry in a charge
4:46:02 towards Mu'awiya’s tent only to be
4:46:05 surrounded and killed by Mu'awiya’s elite forces.
4:46:08 Also killed was Ammar ibn Yasir,
4:46:10 whose presence had so frightened Zubair in the Battle of the Camel- fulfilling,
4:46:14 according the hadith, the supposed claim of the Prophet that Ammar would
4:46:19 die at the hands of a wicked band of men.
4:46:26 The third day saw Mu'awiya redouble his efforts to break Ali’s right wing,
4:46:31 sending his Himyarite allies against it
4:46:33 under the leadership of Ubayd’Allah ibn Umar: the disgraced son of Caliph Umar,
4:46:38 whose name had been tarnished by an unlawful honor killing,
4:46:41 but whose parentage nevertheless made him a useful
4:46:45 political prop for the would-be Caliph Mua’wiya.
4:46:48 This time, however, Ali’s right held firm,
4:46:51 killing both Ubayd’Allah and chief Dhul-Kala
4:46:53 of the Himyar and inflicting terrible casualties.
4:46:56 As the day drew on, the two armies
4:46:59 were finally drawn into a general melee, the duels,
4:47:03 maneuvers and archery exchanges that had defined the previous days giving way
4:47:07 to a confused clash of swords and lances
4:47:11 that continued through much of the night.
4:47:14 As morning approached after the bloodiest night of the civil war,
4:47:18 Ali’s army appeared to have the upper hand,
4:47:20 having driven Mu'awiya’s forces back and even forced him to relocate
4:47:24 his tent to a safer location after another charge on his camp.
4:47:28 But it would not, in the end,
4:47:31 be strength of arms that decided the battle’s outcome.
4:47:34 As morning arrived, a number of envoys from Mu'awiya rode between the armies,
4:47:40 Qur’ans on their lances as a flag of truce,
4:47:43 appealing Ali to allow binding arbitration to settle his and Mu'awiya’s dispute.
4:47:48 Though Ali held the advantage in battle, many of his soldiers,
4:47:53 exhausted after the long battle and reluctant
4:47:55 to continue fighting their brothers in faith,
4:47:58 felt the offer provided an honorable alternative to further fighting
4:48:02 and ignored the encouragement of Malik
4:48:05 al-Ashtar and others to continue fighting.
4:48:07 His hands tied, Ali accepted Mu'awiya’s truce and call for arbitration,
4:48:12 bringing an end to the battle.
4:48:14 While he had been on the verge of winning the war,
4:48:18 Caliph Ali now stood on the brink of losing everything in the peace to follow.
4:48:25 Each side nominated an arbitrator- Amr ibn al-As for Mu'awiya and, strangely,
4:48:31 deposed Kufan governor Abu Musa al-Ash’ari for Ali,
4:48:34 who despite his personal enmity with Ali,
4:48:37 was a popular choice among Ali’s largely Kufan army.
4:48:40 The two armies departed the battlefield,
4:48:43 with agreements for the two arbitrators to meet over the coming months to judge
4:48:47 the murder of Uthman and rightful Caliph fairly with the Qur’an as their guide.
4:48:52 However, a portion of Ali’s supporters staunchly opposed the arbitration,
4:48:56 seeing it as a betrayal of God to put the decision in the hands
4:49:01 of fallible humans rather than allowing God to pick a victor on the battlefield.
4:49:06 Before Abu Musa departed for the first round of arbitration,
4:49:10 two of Ali’s followers, Zur’ah ibn al-Burj and Hurqus ibn Zuhayr,
4:49:15 confronted Ali demanding he abandon the negotiations
4:49:18 and return to war with Mu’awiyah.
4:49:20 Ali rebuked them, claiming that he would have preferred to fight
4:49:23 on at Siffin but was now bound to honor the covenant he had reached.
4:49:28 Unsatisfied, they took up the slogan “Authority belongs to God alone”,
4:49:32 with new adherents converting to their viewpoint over the months to follow.
4:49:37 Following the return of Ali’s forces to Kufah, these al-Khawarij or Kharijites,
4:49:42 as they would later be called, would prove a major thorn in Ali’s side,
4:49:47 heckling and criticizing him as he led the prayers
4:49:51 from the mosque and declaring both Ali and Mu’awiyah unfit to rule.
4:49:57 As this discontentment grew,
4:49:58 the two arbitrators met twice over the year that followed,
4:50:02 both times for weeks on end,
4:50:05 finally returning a verdict in Mu'awiya’s favor ordering
4:50:08 Ali deposed as Caliph in April of 658.
4:50:11 Ali refused to abide by the decision,
4:50:14 declaring it a political attack rather than a true religious judgment,
4:50:19 but the decision greatly damaged his legitimacy and weakened
4:50:22 his position in the ongoing cold war against Mu'awiya.
4:50:26 Meanwhile, in Kufah, the Kharijite movement was developing from a mere
4:50:31 vocal opposition into a new rebellion,
4:50:33 with Abdallah ibn Wahb taking command of the movement.
4:50:37 Departing Kufah in small groups to avoid detection,
4:50:40 ibn Wahb regrouped his forces by the bridge crossing the Nahrawan,
4:50:44 a great canal drawing water from the Tigris River north-east of al-Mada’in.
4:50:49 Meanwhile, other bands of Kharijite sympathizers across Iraq,
4:50:54 having received secret letters from the leadership in Kufah,
4:50:57 departed their homes to join ibn Wahb’s band with savage fighting breaking out
4:51:01 near Basrah between loyalists to Ali
4:51:04 and a band of five hundred departing Kharijites.
4:51:07 It seems ibn Wahb intended to continue marching once his forces had assembled,
4:51:12 to conquer al-Mada’in or carve out
4:51:14 an independent powerbase among the Zagros mountains.
4:51:17 However, after compelling his remaining supporters
4:51:20 to reaffirm their oaths of loyalty to him,
4:51:23 Ali was quick to depart Kufah in pursuit of the Kharijites,
4:51:27 arriving at Nahrawan in July 658.
4:51:29 Despite their treachery, Ali attempted to avoid battle,
4:51:33 pointing out that he now stood poised to return to war
4:51:38 with Mu’awiyah as they had wished and requesting they return to his cause.
4:51:42 Some did, but a majority of the roughly
4:51:46 two thousand rebels remained stubbornly entrenched,
4:51:48 leading to some disagreement within Ali’s ranks.
4:51:51 Many of his followers felt the Kharijites were a minor problem,
4:51:55 and should simply be ignored until after Mu'awiyah’s defeat.
4:51:59 But after several local villagers were slain by Kharijites,
4:52:02 Ali’s reaction would be swift,
4:52:04 with his much larger army engaging the Kharijites on July 17th.
4:52:09 Zealously devoted to their cause, the Kharijites did not falter,
4:52:13 but with now less than two thousand facing fourteen thousand,
4:52:17 the outcome could be little in doubt.
4:52:19 Ali’s horsemen formed his front line under the command of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari,
4:52:24 with archers and footmen lined up behind them.
4:52:27 When the Kharijites charged,
4:52:29 Ali’s horsemen split into two groups down the middle
4:52:32 and rushed off to the left and right,
4:52:34 allowing the archers to shower the onrushing Kharijites with arrows
4:52:38 as the horsemen wheeled about and fell on their flanks.
4:52:41 After a short, bloody, and largely one-sided confrontation the rebel
4:52:46 army was broken- little of the mercy
4:52:48 Ali had shown Aisha’s rebels after the Battle of the Camel would be forthcoming,
4:52:52 and the majority of the Kharijites to take the field would perish.
4:52:59 The Battle of Nahrawan was a decisive victory for Ali, but also a hollow one,
4:53:04 with the embattled Caliph forced to put his own former
4:53:08 followers to the sword as Mu’awiyah grew ever more powerful.
4:53:12 The following two and a half years
4:53:14 of uneasy truce saw Mu'awiya take great strides,
4:53:17 toppling Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr in Egypt and rewarding Amr ibn al-As’ loyalty
4:53:22 by returning him to power as promised
4:53:24 while also securing new alliances across the Caliphate,
4:53:27 many now seeing him as the legitimate Caliph.
4:53:30 By the beginning of 661,
4:53:33 after receiving the counsel of his remaining supporters,
4:53:36 Ali decided to embark on a second invasion of Syria
4:53:39 while he still had the strength to challenge Mu'awiya,
4:53:42 gathering his forces in preparation for another campaign.
4:53:46 The planned offensive would never take place, however.
4:53:50 Meeting in Mecca, three Kharijite conspirators made a pact to assassinate
4:53:55 the three men they viewed as responsible for the civil war- Ali,
4:54:00 Mu'awiya and Amr ibn al-As.
4:54:02 Two of the three assassination attempts failed, but on January 28th,
4:54:05 as Ali sat praying in the Great Mosque of Kufa,
4:54:09 the third assassin- Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam-
4:54:12 struck him from behind with a poisoned sword,
4:54:15 mortally wounding the Caliph and avenging his comrades fallen at Nahrawan.
4:54:20 With Ali dead, few remained who could deny Mu'awiya the Caliphate- Ali’s
4:54:26 eldest son al-Hasan was pressured into surrendering his claim to the throne,
4:54:31 and Mu'awiya took power nearly unopposed.
4:54:36 Beyond the simple change in leadership, the First Fitna,
4:54:39 as the civil war came to be known,
4:54:42 would have a massive impact on Islam’s history.
4:54:45 It split a religious and cultural movement that, united,
4:54:49 had conquered mighty empires.
4:54:51 Even today, the divisions between the major sects of Islam can
4:54:56 still be traced to the First Fitna and the death of Ali.
4:55:01 Ali’s closest supporters denied the legitimacy of Mu'awiya and his successors,
4:55:05 elevating Ali and his family line to the role of divinely-inspired Imams.
4:55:09 Known as the Party of Ali or Shi’at Ali,
4:55:13 their movement remains strong today as Shia Islam,
4:55:17 now divided into sects of its own.
4:55:20 The majority of Muslims, accepting Mu'awiya’s ascension,
4:55:23 are known as Sunni- harkening to the Sunnah,
4:55:26 the traditions and examples derived from the Prophet.
4:55:30 Spreading and taking hold in North Africa, the Kharijites remained a maligned,
4:55:35 antagonistic force often in conflict with their fellow Muslims
4:55:38 and what they saw as corrupt and illegitimate Caliphs.
4:55:42 Though their sect remained small,
4:55:44 it would be at the heart of numerous uprisings and rebellions
4:55:48 during the Umayyad period and in the following centuries as well.
4:55:52 It was from within their ranks, though,
4:55:55 that the more moderate and neutralist Ibadi community would arise,
4:55:59 a faith now dominant in Oman.
4:56:01 The nature of leadership in the Caliphate would be forever changed as well,
4:56:06 with the elections that had chosen the first four Caliphs giving way to dynastic
4:56:11 succession- power would remain within the Umayyad
4:56:14 clan for the following 90 years, marking the end of the Rashidun Caliphate.
4:56:20 During the early years of the Umayyad Caliphate
4:56:24 the reigning Emperor in Constantinople was Constans II,
4:56:27 who faced an increasingly dire situation on numerous fronts.
4:56:31 In 655 he had commanded the fleet that met disaster at the Battle of the Masts,
4:56:37 only narrowly escaping with his own life.
4:56:40 Uthman’s murder and the beginnings of the First Fitna
4:56:43 the following year might have seemed like an opportunity
4:56:46 for Constans to avenge his previous defeats against a divided
4:56:50 foe- but Constans’ attention was primarily turned to the West,
4:56:54 where the Slavs and Lombards threatened
4:56:57 Byzantine holdings in Greece and Southern Italy.
4:57:00 Not only did these European threats prevent him
4:57:03 from taking advantage of the Islamic civil war,
4:57:05 but they also necessitated a rise in taxes in provinces such
4:57:09 as Sicily and North Africa and the seizures of church assets in Italy,
4:57:14 sparking discontent and resentment towards Constans among both
4:57:18 the provincial populations and the court in Constantinople.
4:57:22 This political turmoil was worsened by another sort of conflict in the capital-
4:57:27 a growing religious schism dating back to the reign of Heraclius.
4:57:31 Efforts to reconcile differences between the Armenian and Greek
4:57:35 Orthodoxies led to the creation of the Monothelite movement,
4:57:39 a sort of religious compromise followed which failed
4:57:41 to sway the majority of the Byzantine populace.
4:57:44 By Constans’ reign, this movement that had been intended to reconcile Armenian
4:57:50 and Greek religious divides had simply created new divides within the capital,
4:57:55 with Constans’ attempt to quell the schism by banning
4:57:59 all discussion of the controversy- even forcing Pope
4:58:02 Martin I into exile after his condemnation of Monothelitism-
4:58:06 only creating new enemies for the embattled Emperor.
4:58:09 In 663, two years after the end of the First
4:58:13 Fitna and the renewal of Arab attacks into Anatolia,
4:58:16 Constans abandoned Constantinople and its hostile court
4:58:20 and moved the Byzantine capital to Syracuse in Sicily.
4:58:25 Unfortunately, the move would not long forestall his downfall.
4:58:31 After relocating the capital,
4:58:33 Constans moved into Italy with all the forces the Empire could
4:58:37 muster in hopes of defeating the Lombards and securing Southern Italy.
4:58:41 His efforts were foiled at every turn, however,
4:58:44 with the Lombards defeating him in a series
4:58:47 of battles and forcing him to withdraw in shame back to Syracuse while his son
4:58:53 and co-Emperor Constantine IV kept order in Constantinople.
4:58:56 His legitimacy tarnished,
4:58:57 he was unable to prevent Armenia from falling back into Arab suzerainty,
4:59:03 and despite its new prominence as the seat of the Byzantine Empire,
4:59:07 Sicily would suffer a devastating naval raid in 666 led by Abdullah
4:59:12 ibn Qais that saw huge amounts of plunder enriching Muawiyah in Damascus.
4:59:16 Caliph Mu’awiyah, a veteran of the Battle
4:59:19 of the Masts himself and staunch enemy of the Byzantines,
4:59:23 was now making increasingly aggressive moves at sea with his expanded navy,
4:59:27 with similar raids carried out on Rhodes while Arab fleets secured naval
4:59:32 bases along Asia Minor’s Mediterranean coast
4:59:35 in preparation for a planned siege Constantinople.
4:59:38 Even among Constans’ own subjects he faced danger at every turn,
4:59:43 and in 667 he was forced to contend
4:59:46 with an Umayyad-backed rebellion by the turncoat
4:59:49 Armenian general and would-be Emperor Saborios
4:59:52 that briefly took control of much of Anatolia.
4:59:55 The rebellion would soon come to naught after Saborios’ accidental
5:00:00 death in a riding mishap shortly before battle near Hexapolis,
5:00:03 but this would not be the end of Constans’ woes,
5:00:06 as Fadalah ibn Ubayd- an experienced Muslim
5:00:09 general who had briefly operated as a liaison and ally to Saborios- soon laid
5:00:14 siege to Constantinople’s Anatolian suburb of Chalcedon.
5:00:17 Though they succeeded in capturing many prisoners,
5:00:20 a lack of supplies and support caused this first
5:00:24 siege attempt to founder- in their original plan,
5:00:27 they would have been operating in territory under the sway of their rebel ally,
5:00:31 able to rely on local supply routes and bolstered by Saborios’ own forces.
5:00:36 Forced to operate alone in hostile territory,
5:00:39 disease and hunger soon set in and the army was forced to withdraw,
5:00:44 with even the arrival of reinforcements under
5:00:47 Muawiyah’s son Yazid failing to turn the tide.
5:00:50 It does appear the initial Arab intention was
5:00:53 to return to besiege Constantinople proper the following year,
5:00:56 as a sizable garrison- 5,000 according
5:00:59 to Theophanes the Confessor- was left behind
5:01:02 in the captured fortress of Amorion to provide
5:01:05 a forward base for a later attack.
5:01:08 However, Amorion would be recaptured during
5:01:10 the bitterly cold winter that followed,
5:01:12 with a eunuch chamberlain named Andrew leading a force through the heavy snows
5:01:17 that regained control of the fortress and put its garrison to the sword,
5:01:22 delaying the planned attack on Constantinople and denying
5:01:26 the Arabs their first major inland foothold in western Anatolia.
5:01:32 This small victory was to be Constans’ last, however,
5:01:36 with the Emperor not long outliving his would-be usurper.
5:01:39 Constans II was struck on the head with a bucket and assassinated
5:01:44 by one of his servants as he took his bath early in 668,
5:01:49 with further rebellion breaking out in Sicily as the conspirators
5:01:52 in his murder acclaimed general Mezezius
5:01:55 their Emperor in opposition to Constantine IV.
5:01:57 The young Constantine would thus be forced to confront both the rebels in Sicily
5:02:02 and the still-looming Arab attack on Constantinople
5:02:05 in the first years of his solo reign.
5:02:08 Of these two challenges,
5:02:10 the rebellion of Mezezius would be the swiftest dealt with, though it would
5:02:15 still leave the Empire weakened in ways that would soon cause further disaster.
5:02:20 Constantine called troops up from the embattled
5:02:23 frontiers of North Africa and Italy,
5:02:25 bringing an end to the rebellion in Sicily after seven
5:02:28 months and ending its brief heyday as the Empire’s capital.
5:02:32 With Constans’ murder and Mezezius’ acclamation so
5:02:35 closely tied to the ongoing religious schism,
5:02:39 the general failed to command widespread support
5:02:42 in Sicily beyond the soldiers under his command
5:02:45 or rally supporters beyond the island’s shores-
5:02:48 by the account of Theophanes the Confessor,
5:02:50 even Mezezius himself had not wished to become Emperor,
5:02:54 and had been chosen as a figurehead leader
5:02:57 against his will on account of his good looks.
5:03:00 But however easily the rebellion might have been suppressed,
5:03:04 the recalling of soldiers from North Africa did leave the Byzantine forces
5:03:08 in Carthage far less able to resist the pressure of the Arabs in Tripoli,
5:03:14 creating an opportunity for the conquest of the Maghreb-
5:03:17 stalled since before the First Fitna- to resume.
5:03:21 668 and 669 saw renewed Arab raids capture many
5:03:25 thousands of prisoners from the remaining Byzantine territories in modern
5:03:30 Tunisia as the uneasy stalemate the two sides
5:03:33 and their respective Berber allies had settled into broke down,
5:03:37 with the continuing Arab presence in Anatolia further distracting
5:03:41 the overstretched Byzantines from the defense of their frontier provinces.
5:03:47 Meanwhile, despite Mu’awiyah’s Western focus and enmity towards the Byzantines,
5:03:53 smaller conquests still continued apace along
5:03:56 the former frontiers of the Sassanid Empire.
5:03:59 In 670, Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra conquered Kabul
5:04:02 and took at least nominal control of all Khorasan,
5:04:06 one of the only regions formerly under Persian
5:04:09 domination to have remained outside of Arab control.
5:04:12 And despite some staunch resistance from Turkic hill tribes that nearly
5:04:17 saw one force surrounded and wiped out during its return to Kabul,
5:04:22 he also successfully penetrated the Khyber Pass
5:04:25 to begin the first inland conquests into modern Pakistan,
5:04:29 previous Muslim incursions into the Indian subcontinent having
5:04:32 been limited to the more easily-traversed coastal lowlands.
5:04:35 Politically, some unrest still continued to flare up as Mu’awiyah
5:04:40 attempted to crack down on lingering support for Ali,
5:04:44 with the respected general Hujr ibn Adi and several
5:04:47 of his compatriots being executed for refusing to denounce the deceased Caliph,
5:04:52 an act shocking to most.
5:04:54 Still, the next major prize
5:04:56 for the largely unified Caliphate- and the single-minded
5:04:59 focus that would define Mu’awiyah’s later years as Caliph- was Constantinople,
5:05:05 with the campaign to take it beginning in earnest in 672.
5:05:09 A massive Umayyad fleet was outfitted and launched,
5:05:12 wintering in the naval bases prepared in Smyrna and Cilicia while
5:05:17 the Byzantines hurried constructed great biremes
5:05:19 and dromons for the city’s defense,
5:05:21 equipped with a new and deadly anti-ship weapon- Greek fire.
5:05:27 With the coming of the spring, the fleet embarked for Constantinople,
5:05:33 clashing almost daily with Byzantine ships in the waters
5:05:37 just South of the Dardanelles from April until September.
5:05:40 Compared to the Battle of the Masts, which saw the Arab fleet score victory
5:05:45 in a pitched battle between two massed fleets,
5:05:48 the presence of greek fire would have made any full fleet-on-fleet
5:05:53 engagement near-suicidal for the Arabs despite the greater size of their navy,
5:05:58 leaving it infeasible for the Umayyad fleet to attempt to break
5:06:01 through the Dardanelles or bring its full force to bear against Constantinople.
5:06:06 Under the command of Yazid,
5:06:08 Umayyad armies were ferried to land to surround the city,
5:06:11 but a lack of effective naval support made
5:06:15 overcoming the city’s formidable defenses a truly daunting task.
5:06:20 Though Arab forces under Yazid, Fadalah and Abdallah ibn Qays did see success
5:06:25 in various skirmishes in the surrounding region and in Crete,
5:06:28 and were able to honor the passing of the venerable commander Abu Ayyub
5:06:32 al-Ansari by pushing to the Theodosian Walls
5:06:35 themselves to bury him at their base,
5:06:38 for five full years of campaigning the Umayyads
5:06:41 failed to break through the Dardanelles and cut
5:06:44 Constantinople off from supplies while the Greek
5:06:47 Fire-equipped ships inflicted mounting casualties with every engagement.
5:06:51 Finally, ten years into Constantine’s tumultuous reign in 678,
5:06:57 flagging morale and a large rebellion of Mardaite Christians and escaped slaves
5:07:01 in the Nur mountain range North
5:07:03 of Alexandretta forced Mu’awiyah to abandon the campaign,
5:07:07 the greatest military disaster the seemingly unstoppable Caliphate had
5:07:11 suffered since it had first exploded onto the world
5:07:14 stage some four decades prior- yet the successful defense
5:07:18 did little to change the overall balance of power,
5:07:21 with the struggling Romans still
5:07:23 on the defensive against the still-expanding Arabs.
5:07:27 The following years would give a much-needed, if brief,
5:07:32 reprieve to the Byzantines as Caliph Mu’awiyah’s death in 680 was
5:07:37 swiftly followed by a new period of turmoil and civil war.
5:07:41 At the center of the new conflict was Mu’awiyah’s
5:07:45 attempt to secure the succession of his son Yazid,
5:07:47 when Caliphs had been chosen by election prior to his reign.
5:07:51 Yazid was indeed acclaimed as Caliph in Medina,
5:07:54 but when the governors and notables of the Caliphate
5:07:57 were summoned to give him their oaths of allegiance,
5:08:00 two important figures refused to swear the oath- Husain ibn Ali,
5:08:05 son of Caliph Ali, and Abdullah ibn Zubayr,
5:08:07 son of the Zubayr who had opposed Ali
5:08:10 at the Battle of the Camel some 24 years prior.
5:08:13 Despite the rivalry of their fathers,
5:08:16 the two men were united in their opposition to Yazid,
5:08:19 and fled from Medina to Mecca to raise a rebellion against him.
5:08:23 Offers of support soon arrived from Ali’s former powerbase of Kufa,
5:08:28 giving Husain hope his murdered father’s cause could be revived.
5:08:32 A cousin of Husain’s, Muslim ibn Aqil,
5:08:34 was sent to Kufa ahead of Husain and his party
5:08:37 to determine the strength of their support in Kufa
5:08:40 and out of suspicion the offers might be a trap
5:08:43 by Yazid or a local notable attempting to curry his favor.
5:08:47 Upon his arrival, he found the offers of support genuine,
5:08:51 and as many as 12,000 flocked to Muslim’s
5:08:54 side to pledge their loyalty to Husain.
5:08:57 Upon receiving this news, Husain departed Mecca to join his cousin
5:09:02 in Kufa- a journey he would never complete.
5:09:05 Despite his recent, rocky succession to the throne,
5:09:08 Caliph Yazid was determined to stamp out
5:09:11 the rebellion before it could grow to challenge him,
5:09:14 and upon learning that Kufa’s governor Noman ibn Bashir had
5:09:18 chosen to remain neutral and allow Husain’s supporters to gather,
5:09:22 swiftly took matters into his own hands.
5:09:24 Noman was transferred to a different province,
5:09:27 with Yazid’s loyal supporter Ubaidallah ibn Ziyad replacing him
5:09:31 and initiating a harsh crackdown on the growing rebel band,
5:09:35 with Muslim ibn Aqil and several of its other leaders being murdered
5:09:39 and the demoralized rebels being scattered
5:09:42 under intense pressure from local military forces.
5:09:45 By the time Husain received word
5:09:47 of this disaster he was already near today’s Rifai,
5:09:50 far from the safety of Mecca,
5:09:53 with only a few supporters around in him increasingly hostile territory.
5:09:59 Husain might still have turned back and returned to Mecca at this point,
5:10:03 but opinions among his supporters were divided,
5:10:06 with some of his tribal supporters offering him
5:10:09 sanctuary in the mountains of Northern Najd while
5:10:12 many in his own family encouraged him
5:10:14 to continue to Kufa and avenge his murdered cousin.
5:10:17 Eventually, Husain took the latter decision,
5:10:20 and though many of his supporters deserted him,
5:10:23 his march towards Kufa continued.
5:10:25 Soon, at the plains of Karbala,
5:10:28 his tiny band of supporters was chased down by Ubaidallah’s army.
5:10:32 Husain requested to be allowed to return to Mecca,
5:10:36 while Ubaidallah demanded Husain surrender and pledge his loyalty to Yazid.
5:10:41 When Husain refused, the Umayyad forces surrounded Husain’s party,
5:10:44 cutting them off from the water to force their surrender.
5:10:48 When this too failed, the surrounding army attacked on October 10,
5:10:53 680, killing Husain and his supporters in a hopelessly unequal struggle.
5:10:58 The battle had been short, and its outcome little in doubt,
5:11:01 but the killing of Husain- the Prophet’s grandson- would shock the Muslim world,
5:11:06 with the date of the battle immortalized by Shia Muslims
5:11:10 as a day of mourning and Karbala as a pilgrimage site.
5:11:15 Galvanized by Husain’s martyrdom, major revolts led by Abdullah would arise
5:11:19 in Mecca and Medina in the following years,
5:11:22 with Yazid’s experienced Syrian forces under Muslim ibn Uqba inflicting
5:11:26 defeats on the rebels but failing to regain the loyalty
5:11:30 of the populace- the siege and bombardment of the holy
5:11:33 city of Mecca itself in 683 only created further outrage,
5:11:38 with Yazid dying the same year under unexplained circumstances.
5:11:43 His son and successor, the sickly Mu’awyiah II,
5:11:46 would rule only a few months before abdicating,
5:11:49 leaving an empty throne and a Caliphate divided once more,
5:11:55 ushering in the Second Fitna.
5:11:58 The years to follow would see numerous figures claim the Caliphate.
5:12:02 In the Hijaz, Abdullah ibn Zubayr was acclaimed Caliph,
5:12:05 with a majority of the Muslim world initially backing him.
5:12:09 Ubaidallah ibn Ziyad, the general who had martyred Husain at Karbala,
5:12:14 established a powerbase in Basra and briefly claimed the Caliphate as well,
5:12:18 but failed to win the same widespread support and was
5:12:22 soon driven from Basra by an uprising of Kharijites.
5:12:25 And in Syria, the only region still loyal to the Umayyad dynasty,
5:12:30 Muawiyah II was eventually succeeded by Marwan,
5:12:33 Caliph Uthman’s secretary and cousin,
5:12:36 with Yazid’s young but popular son Khalid being sidelined.
5:12:40 Ubaidallah would return to Umayyad service after
5:12:43 the failure of his own bid for power,
5:12:45 seizing eight million dirhams from Basra’s treasury before he fled,
5:12:49 and would lead Marwan’s armies in the coming struggle.
5:12:55 Marwan’s first challenge in defeating the more
5:12:57 popular Adbullah was to secure his hold
5:13:00 over Syria against a powerful foe uncomfortably close to home- Dahhak ibn Qays,
5:13:05 the governor of Damascus province,
5:13:07 who had loyally served Mu’awiyah during the First Fitna,
5:13:10 even leading his infantry at Siffin,
5:13:13 but had now defected to Abdullah in opposition to the Umayyads,
5:13:17 bringing much of Syria with him.
5:13:19 Marwan did have several major advantages- though some fighting
5:13:22 broke out in the streets after Dahhak and the young
5:13:26 Umayyad prince Khalid ibn Yazid each delivered speeches
5:13:28 in favour of their faction during the leading of prayers,
5:13:31 the Umayyads retained control of the city of Damascus
5:13:34 itself and by extension the vast treasury of the Caliphate,
5:13:38 allowing Marwan to win the loyalty of many local tribes through bribery.
5:13:43 Dahhak also retained some degree of loyalty to the dynasty he’d served so long,
5:13:48 even briefly returning to Umayyad service
5:13:51 after negotiating with Khalid and Ubaidallah,
5:13:53 making him a rather reluctant and indecisive opponent spurred on only
5:13:58 by pressure from his overwhelmingly anti-Umayyad
5:14:01 supporters in the Qaysi tribal confederation.
5:14:04 Even so, Dahhak and the Qaysi were able to amass
5:14:07 a sizable army of 20,000 or more at Marj Rahit,
5:14:11 at the edge of the desert to the East of Damascus,
5:14:15 joined by supporters from across Syria.
5:14:17 Marwan, on the advice of Ubaidallah,
5:14:19 gathered his own loyalists from the Kalb confederation and from the remnants
5:14:23 of the once-powerful Ghassanids and rode out to challenge him,
5:14:27 with the two armies meeting on July 29th, 684.
5:14:32 With his own supporters numbering some 6,000,
5:14:36 Marwan was outnumbered greatly by Dahhak’s forces.
5:14:40 Nevertheless, his infantry-heavy army was able to hold firm over the course
5:14:45 of nineteen days of raiding and skirmishing from Dahhak’s largely mounted force.
5:14:49 Marwan’s left was commanded by Ubaidallah and his right by ‘Amr ibn Sa’id,
5:14:55 also known as al-Ashdaq,
5:14:56 an Umayyad clansman whose ambitions would lead him to attempt
5:14:59 his own grab for the throne in the years following.
5:15:03 Dahhak gave command of his right to Ziyad ibn Amr,
5:15:06 with other notable commanders including Thawr ibn Ma’n of the Banu Sulaym,
5:15:10 on whose insistence Dahhak had finally broken from the Umayyads.
5:15:15 On August 18th, the fighting grew fiercer,
5:15:18 and the skirmishing gave way to charges and hand-to-hand combat.
5:15:22 Despite coming from so many disparate groups,
5:15:24 the morale and discipline of Marwan’s forces won out,
5:15:28 with his hard-pressed infantry weathering numerous disorganized
5:15:31 attacks until a mighty champion from among
5:15:34 the Kalb named Zuhnah ibn Abdallah slew Dahhak in the midst of a heated melee.
5:15:40 Neither side at first realized the governor had fallen,
5:15:44 with Zuhnah throwing himself back into the fray
5:15:46 unaware of the victory he had won.
5:15:49 But another soldier, marveling at the warrior’s prowess,
5:15:53 soon discovered Dahhak’s body and returned his head to Marwan.
5:15:57 Despite still holding a numerical advantage,
5:16:00 the Abdullah loyalists quickly dissolved after their leader’s defeat,
5:16:03 the cavalry of the various tribes under Dahhak’s banner
5:16:07 melting away and returning home or swearing obedience to Marwan.
5:16:12 Many battles still lay ahead for the Umayyads-
5:16:15 even with Syria now firmly in their grasp,
5:16:17 most of the Caliphate still recognized Abdullah as Caliph,
5:16:21 and as the Second Fitna drew on more factions
5:16:24 and challengers would arise to complicate the struggle for the throne.
5:16:28 But with his victory at Marj Rahit Marwan had
5:16:32 rescued his dynasty from the edge of total defeat,
5:16:35 and with the armies of Syria and the treasury of the Caliphate behind him,
5:16:40 he now stood poised to reclaim the empire Yazid had lost.
5:16:46 In many cases throughout the Empire, local notables had nominally sworn loyalty
5:16:50 to ibn al-Zubayr while remaining functionally neutral,
5:16:54 using the breakdown of authority to avoid Umayyad taxation.
5:16:58 In others, Zubayrid authority was reliant
5:17:02 on unsteady alliances with Kharijites and Shi’ites,
5:17:05 and though these groups might have made common cause
5:17:08 with ibn al-Zubayr at first in order to topple the Umayyads,
5:17:12 an alliance with the Kharijites would never be
5:17:14 a lasting one unless he adopted their beliefs-
5:17:17 alienating his other supporters in the process-
5:17:20 and the Shia refused to name him Caliph,
5:17:23 seeking for a descendant of the murdered Caliph
5:17:25 Ali to take his place on the throne.