Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate. Arab-Byzantine wars Loud defeats of the Arabs from Byzantium

Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Crete, Sicily, North Africa, Asia Minor, Armenia East Thrace

Arab-Byzantine wars - a number of military conflicts between the Arab Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire during the 7th-12th centuries. The beginning of the wars marked the invasion of the Arabs into Byzantium in the 630s and the beginning of the territorial seizures on their part. As a result of these wars, Byzantium lost a large number of its territories in the east and south: Palestine, Syria, Armenia, Egypt, North Africa, Cyprus, Crete, Sicily, and part of Asia Minor. The initial part of the conflict continued in 634-717 and ended with the second Arab siege of Constantinople, after which the Arabs were defeated and the threat of the capture of Asia Minor by them was averted. In the period from the 800s to 1169, the war, albeit sluggish, continued. First, the Arabs captured the southern Italian territories of Byzantium (the island of Sicily) in the 9th and 10th centuries. However, under the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty at the end of the 10th century, Byzantium went on the offensive and conquered part of the Levant from the Arabs, and in particular such an important outpost as Antioch. The Byzantine army at that time even put Jerusalem in immediate danger. The Arab Sultanate of Aleppo recognized itself as a Byzantine vassal. At that time, Crete and Cyprus were also reconquered. After the Seljuk conquests, the situation completely changed. Byzantium was driven out of Asia Minor, and the Abbasid Caliphate was significantly weakened. There were no more important conflicts between the Arabs and Byzantium.

The unified Arab state, created on the Arabian Peninsula by the prophet Muhammad, easily crushed the Persian Empire, shocked by the defeats from the troops of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. In 633, Arab troops invaded Persian possessions. Their conquest of Persia was completed by 651.

At the same time, Byzantium was subjected to the Arab invasion. The army of the Caliphate, numbering up to 27 thousand people, invaded Syria and Palestine. In 634, two years after the death of Muhammad, under the first caliph (i.e., "vicar of the prophet") Abu Bekre, the Arabs captured the first significant Byzantine fortress of Bosra across the Jordan River. The following year, Damascus passed into their hands. On August 20, 636, a Byzantine army of 40,000 was defeated at the Yarmuk River, and all of Syria came under the control of the Arabs.

The defeat of the Byzantines was facilitated by strife between their leaders Vahan and Theodore. Both of them fell at the Battle of Yarmouk. Jerusalem surrendered to the Arabs in 638 after a two-year siege. At the same time, Arab troops occupied Mesopotamia. In 639, Arab detachments appeared at the borders of Egypt, but their further advance was stopped by a plague that spread in Syria and Palestine, which claimed the lives of 25 thousand people.

In 641, shortly after the death of Emperor Heraclius, the provincial capital passed into the hands of the Arabs. By the end of the 640s, the Byzantine troops completely left Egypt. The Arabs captured other Byzantine territories in North Africa, as well as part of Asia Minor.

In the 650s, the Arab governor of Syria and the future caliph Moavia created a fleet in which the Greeks and Syrians served mainly. This fleet was soon able to fight on equal terms with the strongest Byzantine fleet in the Mediterranean. Further conquests of the Arabs were temporarily stopped due to a clash between the caliph Ali and the Syrian governor. In 661, after the internecine war and the assassination of Ali, Moaviya became caliph and, having transferred the capital to Damascus, resumed hostilities against Byzantium. In the late 660s, the Arab fleet repeatedly approached Constantinople. However, the besieged, led by the energetic Emperor IV, fought off all the attacks, and the Arab fleet was destroyed with the help of "Greek fire" - an explosive thrown out by special vessels (siphons) and ignited when it hit the ships. A feature of Greek fire was that it could burn on the surface of the water. In 677, the Arab ships were forced to leave their base of Cyzicus near Constantinople and go to the Syrian ports, but almost all of them died during a storm off the southern coast of Asia Minor.

The Arab land army was also defeated in Asia Minor, and Moavia was forced to conclude a peace agreement, according to which the Byzantines paid a small tribute to the Arabs every year. In 687, the Byzantines managed to recapture Armenia, and the island of Cyprus was recognized as a joint possession of the empire and the caliphate.

At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th centuries, the Arabs conquered the last Byzantine possessions in North Africa - Carthage and the fortress of Septem (now Ceuta). In 717, the Arabs, led by the brother of the caliph, the Syrian governor Maslama, approached Constantinople and on August 15 began a siege. On September 1, the Arab fleet, numbering more than 1800 ships, occupied the entire space in front of Constantinople. The Byzantines blocked the Golden Horn with a chain on wooden floats, and the fleet led by Emperor Leo III inflicted a heavy defeat on the enemy.

His victory was largely facilitated by the "Greek fire". The siege dragged on. In winter, famine and disease began in the Arab camp. The Bulgarians, allied with Byzantium, destroyed the Arab detachments sent for food to Thrace. By spring, Maslama's army was in a desperate situation. According to the Byzantine historian Theophanes, the Arabs “devoured all kinds of carrion, horses, donkeys and camels. They even say that they ate human corpses and their own droppings in pots, mixing it with leaven. The Arab squadron, which arrived in the spring of 718, sent by the new caliph Omar II, was defeated by the Byzantine fleet. At the same time, part of the sailors from Egyptian Christians, along with their ships, went over to the side of the emperor. The overland reinforcements were stopped by the Byzantine cavalry at Nicaea and turned back. A plague broke out in the Arab army near Constantinople, and on August 15, 718, exactly one year later, the siege was lifted.

The retreating fleet was partially burned by the Byzantines, and partially perished during a storm in the Aegean Sea. Of the 180 thousand Arab soldiers and sailors who participated in the campaign, no more than 40 thousand returned home, and only 5 out of more than 2.5 thousand ships. This failure undermined the forces of the caliphate and forced the Arabs to abandon full-scale military operations against the Byzantine Empire for two decades .

The last major Arab invasion of Byzantium took place in 739. But already in 740, in a battle near the town of Akroinon in Asia Minor, the army of Emperor Leo III and his son V almost completely destroyed the Arab army. After that, the Byzantines conquered part of Syria, and the expansion of the Arabs into Asia Minor and Eastern Europe ceased forever.

In the second half of the 10th century, Byzantium resumed expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean. On March 7, 961, the Byzantine commander Nicephorus Foka, having gathered the entire fleet of the empire and 24 thousand soldiers, defeated the Arab fleet near Crete and landed on the island. Following this, the Byzantines massacred the entire Arab population of Crete. Having become Emperor Nicephorus II in 963, Foka continued the war with the Arabs. In 965 he captured Cyprus and Cilicia, and in 969 Antioch. Later, in the XI century, these territories were conquered by the Seljuk Turks.

Byzantium and the Arabs

IN THE EARLY

MIDDLE AGES

Scientific publication

publishing house

"ALETHEIA"

Saint Petersburg

Foreword ................................................................ ...... 5

Chapter 1. Byzantium and Arabia at the beginning of the Arab conquests .................. 7

Chapter 2 Arab conquest of the eastern provinces

Byzantine Empire.............................................. 33

Chapter 3 Transcaucasian countries between Byzantium

and the Arab Caliphate .............................................. 87

Chapter 4 Mutual cultural influences............................................... 130

Bibliography................................................. ... 176

The book of the famous Russian researcher gives a detailed description of the Byzantine and Arab societies in the era of the emergence of Islam, shows the history of military-political relations between Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate in the 7th-8th centuries. and mutual cultural influences up to the 11th century. The book was written on the basis of medieval Greek (Feofan, Nikifor, etc.), Arabic (Balazuri, Tabari, etc.), Armenian (Sebeos, Ghevond, etc.), Latin and Syrian sources, used partly in the originals, partly in translations.

For a wide range of readers. (4)

FOREWORD

The Middle Ages... When we hear this word, it is often associated in our minds with a period of impenetrable darkness, barbarism and cultural decline. However, this is true (and only partially) in relation to Western Europe. There indeed after the V c. as a result of barbarian invasions, the Western Roman Empire fell, and the cultural level dropped sharply. The destroyed cities were revived only after a few centuries. However, it would be a mistake to imagine the Western European Middle Ages only in dark colors. At that time, the main European nationalities (English, French, Spaniards, etc.) were formed, their states were formed, many of which exist to this day.

Moreover, the definition of the Middle Ages as a “gloomy era” is unacceptable to most countries of the East, at least until the 11th-13th centuries, which were at a higher stage of development compared to Western Europe. In the Eastern Mediterranean for more than a thousand years (IV-XV centuries) there was the Byzantine Empire - the direct successor of Ancient Greece and Rome. Unlike Western Europe, ancient traditions were never interrupted in it, strong imperial power was preserved, economy and culture were highly developed.

For many years of its existence, the Byzantine Empire knew periods of power and decline. Its territory did not remain unchanged, many lands were captured by neighboring peoples already in the 6th-8th centuries. Vast areas in North Africa and Western Asia were occupied by the Arabs, who created their own state - the Caliphate. The conquest of the Byzantine territories by the Arabs did not mean the complete destruction of the productive forces and cultural traditions in these lands. The conquerors turned out to be very capable of perceiving the higher culture of the peoples of the conquered countries and created their own developed civilization, which in turn had a great influence on other peoples. The relationship between the two highly developed states of the Middle Ages - the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate - is of considerable interest.

The book brought to the attention of readers shows the most important moments of the military-political relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Caliphate at an early stage (VI - early VIII centuries) and the gradual assimilation of the Byzantine heritage by the Arabs. (6)

Chapter 1

BYZANTINE AND ARABIA TO THE BEGINNING

ARAB CONQUESTS

In the IV century. The weakened Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern. The latter, however, was "Roman" only in name. Its capital was the city of Constantinople, founded by Emperor Constantine in 330 on the European shore of the Bosporus. Previously, this place was the Greek colony of Byzantium. Therefore, in science, the Eastern Roman Empire is also called the Byzantine, or Byzantium. As for the Byzantines themselves, they traditionally called themselves Romans (Romans).

The Byzantine Empire included the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria, and Phoenicia. Palestine, Cyprus, Egypt with Cyrenaica adjacent to it from the west in North Africa, Northern Mesopotamia, (7) Western Armenia, Western Georgia (Lazika, or Colchis) and the southern part of Crimea. Many tribes and nationalities lived on these lands: in the Balkans - Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians; in Transcaucasia - Armenians, Georgians and Avasgians (Abkhazians). In Syria, the main population was the Syrians, who spoke the Syriac language, which developed from ancient Aramaic. In the Byzantine era, the Syriac-Aramaic language, in addition to Syria proper, also became widespread in Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, and partly in Palestine, where it replaced older dialects. The Jews, who in ancient times were the main population in Palestine, after the suppression of Jewish uprisings by the Romans in the I-II centuries. were evicted from Jerusalem and its environs. In the Byzantine era, most of them were in the diaspora (scattering) and lived in small groups in many provinces of the empire, as well as outside it. Samaritans (Samaritans) lived in northern Palestine, a nationality formed as a result of the mixing of Jews with the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, who were resettled here by the Assyrians in the 8th century. BC e. The main population of Egypt were the Copts - the descendants of the ancient Egyptians. Numerous tribes and peoples of Byzantium retained their identity, customs and culture. However, the dominant position among the motley population of the empire was occupied by the Greeks (Hellenes). They constituted the main population not only in Greece and Constantinople, but also in Cyrenaica and Cyprus. The Greeks also settled Chersonese in the Crimea. Since the time of the campaigns of Alexander the Great (4th century BC), many Greeks have settled in the (8) East - in Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Here they lived mixed with the indigenous population, but in some cities the Greek population was the main one. This primarily applies to such cities as Alexandria of Egypt and Antioch of Syria. The Antiochians considered themselves descendants of the ancient Athenians and were proud of the purity of their Greek language. Gradually, the tribes and peoples of Asia Minor (Isaurians, Cappadocians, etc.) were elinized. Thus, the Greek language became widespread in Byzantium and eventually completely replaced Latin as the state language of the empire, especially since there were few immigrants from the West, native speakers of the Latin language, in the east.

No less colorful than ethnic was the religious composition of the population of the empire. Christianity became the dominant religion as early as the 4th century. However, by the seventh century there was still a certain (very small) number of pagans in Byzantium. The religion of the Jews was Judaism. The Samaritans professed a special variety of it. But most of the inhabitants of the empire were already Christianized. Since the first centuries of our era, Christianity has been divided into many different directions. In Byzantium, there were numerous sects that interpreted Christian doctrine in their own way. Orthodoxy has been the official confession since the reign of Emperor Justin I (518-527), recognizing the doctrine approved by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 that Jesus Christ has two natures - divine and human, existing inseparably, (9) albeit in inseparable unity. The Orthodox (Chalcedonites) had patriarchal sees in Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. They made up the majority of the population of the empire.

In contrast to the Orthodox dogma in the 5th century. Nestorian and Monophysite doctrines arose. The founder of the first was the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius (428-431), who sharply separated the divine and human natures in Christ, which, in his opinion, were united only in a purely external way. Although his teaching was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, it had followers in the Byzantine East. Subsequently, fearing persecution, many Nestorians moved to Persia, and by the 7th century. in Byzantium, a very small number of them remained.

The largest Christian confession (in terms of the number of followers) after Orthodoxy was Monophysitism, unlike Orthodoxy and Nestorianism, which recognized the complete fusion of the divine and human principles in Christ into a single nature. Although the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon strongly condemned the Monophysite doctrine, the Monophysites sometimes succeeded in the second half of the 5th - early 6th centuries. win temporary victories over the Chalcedonites. However, when after the death in 518 of Emperor Anastasius, who patronized the Monophysites, Justin I came to the throne, the Chalcedonian confession was recognized as official. Since then, the Monophysites have finally lost state support and in some periods were subjected to open persecution. Nevertheless (10) they did not disappear completely and by the beginning of the 7th century. represented after the Orthodox the most numerous religious community in the empire, especially in the East. If in Palestine the Monophysites did not have significant influence, then in Syria they represented a serious opposition to official Orthodoxy. There, the number of Chalcedonian and Monophysite populations was approximately equal. In Egypt, the Monophysites clearly prevailed over the Orthodox. During the V-VI centuries. monophysitism was divided into many directions, which differed among themselves on particular issues of dogmatics. For example, supporters of the North of Antioch considered the body of Jesus Christ to be corruptible, while adherents of his opponent Julian considered it to be incorruptible. The Severians were the most numerous Monophysite group in terms of the number of followers. In Alexandria and Antioch they had their own patriarchs. In Syria, the Severians were also called Jacobites, after the Bishop of Edessa, James Baradei, who lived in the 6th century. and did a lot to create a monophysite church organization.

The level of economic development of Byzantium was higher than in the West. The Byzantine Empire included countries of ancient agricultural culture. In some areas, soil fertility and a favorable climate made it possible to harvest 2-3 crops per year. In the Asian and African provinces, irrigation played a huge role in agriculture. The main granary of the empire was Egypt, where productivity depended on the level of the Nile floods. In addition to agriculture, horticulture, wine growing and olive culture were widely developed in Byzantium, and date palms in the south. Industrial crops (flax, etc.) were also sown. Cattle breeding was widespread.

In Byzantium, as well as in the Western Roman Empire, there was a large private land ownership. The estates of large landowners were often scattered over different provinces. Many aristocrats, such as the Apion family in Egypt, had their own courts, postal service, prisons, detachments of armed servants (vukellari). In addition to the private, in Byzantium there was a large imperial, church and monastic land ownership. In general, however, large-scale private land ownership in the Byzantine Empire was less common than in the West. Many free peasant communities remained.

While cities fell into decay in the West, in the East they continued to develop as centers of crafts and trade. The largest city was Constantinople. In the VI century. more than 300 thousand people lived in it. In his workshops, skilled artisans produced fine silk and woolen fabrics, glassware, weapons, jewelry, gold-embroidered and purple-dyed clothes, items of the most refined luxury. Trade overland and sea routes crossed in Constantinople. Merchants from various countries met in its markets, multilingual speech was heard. No wonder Constantinople was called the “eye of the universe”, the “mutual node” and the “golden bridge between East and West”. (12)

The second most important city after Constantinople was Alexandria with its famous lighthouse and the largest library in the ancient world, the third was Antioch. These were (by ancient and medieval standards) giant cities. In the first, there were up to 200 thousand inhabitants, in the second - about 130-150 thousand.

In addition to Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch, large economic centers were also medium-sized cities (several tens of thousands of people), such as Jerusalem in Palestine; Tire and Berytus (Beirut) in Phoenicia; Edessa in Northern Mesopotamia; Ephesus, Smyrna, Nicaea and Nikomi

File kr13.jpg*

Constantinople. Saint Sophie Cathedral {13}

diya in Asia Minor; Thessalonica and Corinth in the European part of the empire; Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, etc. Lively trade relations existed between individual regions. For example, the seaside cities of the Syro-Palestinian coast supplied wheat, oil, fine wines, fabrics, paints and silverware to the hinterland of the empire across the Mediterranean. Foreign trade was of great importance, especially with the countries of the East - South Arabia, Ethiopia (Kingdom of Aksum), Iran, Central Asia, India, Ceylon (Taprobana), China. From the East, Byzantine merchants, mainly Syrian and Egyptian, brought metaxa 1, ivory, incense, gold, precious stones, pepper and other spices, and exported fabrics, clothes, embroideries, and glass products there.

Just as in ancient times, cities continued to be centers of culture. Along with Constantinople in early Byzantium, the old centers of ancient education - Athens, Alexandria, Beirut, Gaza - were preserved. The pagan high school in Athens in 529 was closed by order of the emperor. However, despite the dominance of the Christian religion, the ancient philosophical tradition in Byzantium never ceased. In special workshops - scriptoria - philosophical, natural science, historical and other works were copied. The general level of literacy and education in Byzantium was immeasurably (14) higher than in the West. Byzantine cities amazed foreigners with the splendor of temples, public buildings, palaces of the emperor and the nobility.

The favorite spectacle of the Romans was the horse races and various sports games at the hippodrome and in the circus. In almost every city there were so-called. circus parties, named after the color of the clothes of the drivers participating in equestrian competitions. There were four colors in total: venets (“blue” or “blue”), prasins (“green”), levki (“white”) and rusii (“red”). The hippodrome was perhaps the only place where the people could express their attitude towards the actions of the authorities (in Constantinople - the emperor himself). Therefore, circus parties were not only sports, but also political organizations. Their social composition was quite diverse, including representatives of both the ruling classes and the working population. All this gave the activities of circus parties a contradictory character. On the one hand, they gave the urban population a certain organization, on the other hand, the activities of circus parties were ultimately directed by their rich elite. Party leaders belonged to different strata of the ruling class and sought to use the actions of the masses in their own interests. However, often during periods of exacerbation of the class struggle, the ranks of the hostile parties united and jointly opposed government policy. The hippodrome often turned out to be the place where popular uprisings began. In general, the townspeople were better organized than the rural population, and their actions in the political sense were more effective.

In Byzantium, slave labor was widely used in agriculture and crafts, although on a somewhat smaller scale than in the West of the Roman Empire. The areas of greatest distribution of slavery were Greece, the western part of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Cyrenaica. In contrast to classical Roman antiquity, in the Byzantine era, slaves, as a rule, were no longer kept in the barracks. Slave owners often provided them with so-called. peculium - property, which could include a piece of land, a craft workshop or a shop. Slaves who had a peculium retained at their disposal a part of the product they produced, therefore their labor was more productive than the labor of slaves who did not have a peculium. The owners of large estates also rented out part of the land to free tenants-colons. Legislation gradually attached the columns to the land and significantly limited their property rights. The labor of free peasants and artisans was more widespread than in the West in Byzantium. In general, the scope of slave labor has been steadily declining.

The Byzantine state apparatus was entirely inherited from Ancient Rome. The head of state was the emperor, whose power was considered unlimited. In territorial and administrative terms, the empire was divided into two prefectures, which in turn were divided into dioceses, and those into provinces. Egypt, together with Cyrenaica, constituted a special (16) diocese, not included in any of the prefectures. In the west of the empire at the end of the VI century. new territorial-administrative units arose - exarchates, headed by exarchs, uniting civil and military power in one person.

There was a huge army of officials in the public service. Corruption flourished, which the emperors unsuccessfully tried to eradicate.

Particularly heavy in the Byzantine Empire was the tax oppression, from which the widest sections of the population suffered. When collecting taxes, torture was used, from which even representatives of the provincial nobility were not exempted. Anti-tax protests were the most common form of popular movement.

For the time being, socio-economic relations could develop relatively peacefully within the framework of the old state system. In the middle of the VI century. the empire was still so strong that during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527-565) it was able, as a result of victorious wars, to subjugate Italy, all of North Africa and part of Spain. Law was codified, magnificent temples, hotels, hospitals, bridges, water pipes were built.

However, already in the 2nd half of the VI century. the empire's forces were exhausted, and it entered a period of protracted internal crisis. The possibilities for peaceful development have run out. Agricultural production began to decline. Under the closest successors of Justinian I, Justin II (565-578), Tiberius-Constantine (578-582) and (17) Mauritius (582-602), the empire begins to lose some of its territories. The Germanic tribe of the Lombards captures a significant part of Italy. In Spain, the Romans were pressed by the Visigoths, and in the 7th century. Byzantium was forced to completely abandon its possessions in the Iberian Peninsula. The Slavs invade the Balkans. The war with them took on a protracted character, and at the beginning of the 7th century. the empire was forced to cede to them most of the Balkan Peninsula.

At the same time, discontent within the state is growing, all social forces are set in motion. The empire was swept by a wave of popular unrest and military mutinies. In 602 the soldiers sent to fight against the Slavs revolted. Having united with the population of Constantinople, dissatisfied with the lack of bread in the capital, they proclaimed the emperor a simple centurion (centurion) Fok. Former Emperor Mauritius was executed along with his sons.

However, Foka, despite the fact that he came to power as a result of a popular uprising, by no means became a spokesman for the interests of the masses. With many representatives of the capital's nobility, he found a common language. However, the majority of the metropolitan and provincial aristocracy was hostile to Fock, because in her eyes he was just an “upstart”, “plebeian”. The government responded to the resistance of this opposition with terror, without at the same time carrying out any reforms in the interests of the people. On the contrary, the position of the working people under Fock worsened even more. In many provinces tax oppression was sharply increased. The crisis (18) continued to deepen. Social, ethnic and religious contradictions sharply escalated. When, taking advantage of the difficult position of the Roman state, the Persians invaded the Byzantine borders, the Jewish population of the empire began to go over to their side in masses, welcoming the Persian troops as liberators. Popular uprisings became more frequent. The people said that if the Persians caused damage to the Roman power from the outside, then Foka harmed even more inside.

By 610, scattered speeches turned into a real civil war. Popular discontent was used to their advantage by opposition-minded representatives of the provincial nobility, who tried to direct the movement exclusively against Foki. In North Africa, the son of the Carthaginian exarch (viceroy) Heraclius, having put troops loyal to him on ships, set out on a sea campaign against Constantinople. At the same time, his cousin Nikita, with the support of the rebellious population, expelled Foki's supporters from Egypt. In early October 610, Heraclius landed near Constantinople. The population of the capital went over to his side. Foka was overthrown and executed. Heraclius became emperor.

In an effort to somehow calm the country, the government made some concessions to the masses. At the beginning of the reign of Heraclius, Egypt was exempted from paying taxes for three years. The regime of terror and repression was over. These concessions were dictated by the extremely difficult situation of the state and the war with Persia that had lasted since 604. In 611, the Persians crossed Euphrates and took Antioch. Damascus fell in 613, Jerusalem fell in 614. Then the Persians occupied Egypt. With varying success in the 20s, hostilities took place in Asia Minor and Transcaucasia.Persian troops even approached the walls of Constantinople, but could not take it.

At the cost of extreme exertion of all its forces, Byzantium still managed to repel the Persian invasion. In 628, Roman troops under the command of the emperor himself invaded the central regions of Iran through Transcaucasia and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Persians. A certain role in this was played by the military alliance of Byzantium with the Khazars and the internal instability of the Persian state. At the time of the Byzantine offensive, Shah Khosrov II Parviz was overthrown and killed by conspirators from among the nobility. The throne was occupied by his son Kavad-Shirue, who immediately made peace with the Romans, according to which all the lands occupied by the Persians were returned to Byzantium. In the summer of 629, the Persians completely evacuated their troops from the eastern Byzantine provinces they had occupied.

Byzantium won... But the victory came at too high a cost. Economic ruin reigned in the country, the imperial finances were upset, the troops grumbled about the delay in salaries. True, the situation was even more difficult for the Persians at that time. Their country was going through an internal crisis deeper than Byzantium. After the end of the war with the Romans, the Persians fought among themselves for another four years. Individual representatives of the ruling Sassanid dynasty fiercely fought for the Shah's throne, the rulers of various regions (20) became virtually independent of the central government. As a result, the power of the Persian state was finally undermined. From now on, she ceased to pose a threat to the Roman Empire. Under the condition of a long peace, Byzantium could restore its strength. However, a new military danger quite unexpectedly came from where it was least expected - from the side of the Arabian Peninsula.

What was Arabia at the beginning of the Middle Ages? Since ancient times, the Arabian Peninsula has been inhabited by the Arabs, who call it "Jazirat-al-Arab" ("Island of the Arabs"). Indeed, from the west, Arabia is washed by the waters of the Red Sea, from the south - by the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, from the east - by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, and in the north by the impenetrable Syrian desert. With this geographical position, the ancient Arabs really felt like they were living on an island. Most of the peninsula is mostly steppes, deserts and semi-deserts. Only a small part of it is suitable for agriculture. These are Yemen, some regions of Central Arabia, oases in the west and north of the peninsula. The physical and geographical conditions of Arabia determined the division of the population into two groups - settled farmers and nomadic pastoralists.

The level of development of the Arabian tribes was far from the same. The population of South Arabia had a fairly developed agricultural culture long before our era. On the territory of present-day Yemen, several states were formed, which in the 4th century. n. e. were united by one of them - the Himyarite kingdom. South Arabian society in antiquity had the main features that characterize other societies of the Ancient East. The power and wealth of the ruling class were based on the labor of slaves and other personally dependent people. The state was in charge of organizing the construction, repair and use of large irrigation systems. The remains of ancient irrigation structures are still surprising. Handicraft production was concentrated in the cities. Skilled artisans made high-quality morocco, sea shell jewelry, weapons that were famous throughout Arabia. Gold, frankincense and other odorous resins were also mined in Yemen. Transit trade brought large incomes to the South Arabian nobility. However, subsequently the Himyarite kingdom fell into decline and at the end of the 6th century. was conquered by Sasanian Persia.

The Arabs of Central and Northern Arabia maintained primitive communal relations for a long time. Bedouin pastoralists (literally, "deserts") roamed across the endless steppes and deserts. The nomads were engaged in breeding horses, sheep and cattle. The main means of transportation were the "ships of the desert" - one-humped camels, tamed in Arabia for a long time. The value of a camel in the life of a Bedouin was enormous. Its meat and milk were used for food, wool was used for the production of felt. In the shade of his camel, the Arab in the parking lots often hid from the scorching sun, he drank camel blood when there was a lack of water. In the oases, the population was engaged in agriculture. Pastures, arable land and water sources belonged to certain clans and tribes. Family ties were strong, there was blood feud.

Among the tribes that roamed near the borders of Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia, the process of decomposition of primitive communal relations developed faster than among the population of inner Arabia. This was facilitated by the influence of more developed social relations in neighboring countries, where, as is known, as early as the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. the earliest civilizations developed.

It should be noted that the Arabs have long begun to move out of Jazirat-al-Arab. Since the ninth century BC e. some Arab tribes took an active part in the struggle of the Middle Eastern states among themselves. By the beginning of our era, significant masses of Arabs moved to Mesopotamia, settled in South Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula. The Nabatean tribe founded a state on the border of Arabia and Palestine, which the Romans destroyed only in the 2nd century BC. n. e. Separate groups of Arab tribes moved to the Syro-Mesopotamian region and after that. Along the lower reaches of the Euphrates, the state of the Lakhmids was formed, the kings of which recognized their vassal dependence on the Persian Sassanids. The Arabs who settled in Syria, Transjordan and Southern Palestine united in the 6th century. under the rule of the kings of the Ghassan tribe. The Ghassanids recognized themselves as vassals of the Byzantine emperors. Over time, (23) the Roman emperors and the Persian shahs began to fear the strengthening and growing independence of their Arab vassals and destroyed these kingdoms. The state of the Ghassanids was liquidated in 582, the Lakhmids - in 602. True, even after that, individual Arab rulers (sheikhs, philarchs) continued to enjoy wide autonomy within the Byzantine Empire. In general, the border in the literal sense of the word in the Syro-Palestinian region, adjacent to the Arabian Peninsula, did not exist. The Arab tribes living here were in varying degrees dependent on the empire and were a buffer between Byzantium and the Arabs of Central Arabia. The farther from the central regions of Syria and Palestine, the more their dependence on Byzantium became more and more nominal. Byzantine influence reached Tabuk, located in the northwest of Arabia. Arabs also penetrated into Egypt, although in smaller numbers than into Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Thus, the city of Koptos in Upper Egypt was half populated by Arabs.

The Arabs of Central Arabia had a slower socio-economic development than their southern and northern neighbors. However, here, by the VI century. primitive communal relations began to decompose. In the tribes, the nobility stood out, exploiting the labor of slaves and their impoverished fellow tribesmen. The development of cattle breeding and agriculture, the expansion of trade relations made it possible for the tribal elite to accumulate significant wealth in their hands. Representatives of the (24) tribal nobility seized the best pastures, oases suitable for agriculture with wells and springs, and sought to prohibit even their own tribesmen from using these lands. They tried to secure the rights to seized land and other property, as well as to retain power.

The process of decomposition of primitive communal relations and the formation of a class society was accompanied by the creation of primitive state formations. In II-VI centuries. large unions of tribes are formed (Mazhidzh, Kinda, Maad, etc.), but not one of them became the embryo of a single pan-Arab state.

The region of Hijaz in the west of the Arabian Peninsula became the center of the unification of the Arabs. It was an area of ​​relatively developed agriculture, crafts and trade. The local cities of Mecca, Yathrib and Taif had strong ties with nomadic tribes. The most prominent of the cities was Mecca. Most of its population belonged to the Qureish tribe. Mecca was at the crossroads of caravan routes from Yemen to Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt. There was a significant wealth inequality in the city. Great wealth accumulated in the hands of the Quraish nobility, the main source of which was trade and usury. Not only ordinary Quraysh, but also representatives of other tribes fell into debt bondage to her. Many wealthy Meccans also owned plots of cultivated land in Taif and other oases.

The decomposition of primitive communal relations, the desire of the tribal elite to secure (25) the rights to land property, livestock and income from caravan trade were the main prerequisites for the political unification of Arabia. This was also facilitated by the need to resist external expansion. As a result of the capture of Yemen by the Persians and the liquidation of the Lakhmid state by them at the turn of the 6th and 7th centuries. Arabia, as if in a vise, was squeezed from the south and north by Iranian possessions. Trade between East and West now passed mainly into the hands of Persian merchants and began to be carried out along the roads that passed through the territories that belonged to Persia. The trade of the Meccans and other Central Arabian merchants suffered significant damage.

Socio-economic and political changes in Arabia were accompanied by changes in the field of religion. The unification of the Arabs was carried out under the banner of a new religion - Islam. In order to understand the historical conditions of its appearance, it is necessary, in addition to the socio-economic and political situation, to understand the religious situation in Arabia by the beginning of the 7th century.

The ancient Arabs, like other peoples, were pagans. They deified the forces of nature and worshiped many gods. Each tribe had its own patron god. All-Arab deities were also revered - Allah, al-Uzza, al-Lat. The main pan-Arab sanctuary was the temple of Allah in Mecca - the Kaaba (literally "Cube"). In the Kaaba was the so-called. "Black stone" built into the wall (probably of meteorite origin). It was considered sacred. The Kaaba became a place of pilgrimage (26) for all the Arab tribes, who left in it the idols of their tribal gods.

In the first centuries of our era, Judaism and Christianity also gained significant distribution in Arabia. The first of these religions was brought there by Jews who migrated from Palestine after the conquest by the Romans. Over time, they completely Arabized, while retaining their faith. From them Judaism was adopted by certain Arab tribes proper. In the sources, such Arabs are usually called Jews, since contemporaries could not distinguish them from the new Jewish Arabized population.

Christianity spread mainly among the Arabs who were subject to Byzantium, as well as among the Lakhmids. There were also Christian communities in inner Arabia, although not so numerous. Christianity in Arabia was represented by a variety of sects and trends.

In Yemen, Christianity and Judaism have almost completely supplanted local pagan cults. On the eve of the Persian conquest, there was a fierce struggle between Yemenite Christians and Jews. The first were guided by Byzantium and its traditional ally Ethiopia, the second - by the Sasanian Persia, which made it easier for the latter to capture the Himyarite kingdom.

The spread of Christianity and Judaism contributed to the emergence of an indefinite monotheism (monotheism) in Arabia. His adherents (hanifs), not (27) adhering to any of these religions, nevertheless rejected pagan polytheism. All this paved the way for the emergence of Islam, the founder of which was the Meccan Mohammed.

Mohammed was born around 570. He belonged to the noble but impoverished Hashim family of Quraish. His grandfather Abd al-Muttalib was the guardian of the Kaaba. Mohammed lost his parents early and was forced to work as a camel driver, and then as a clerk for the rich merchant Khadija, going with her caravans to Syria and Palestine. He finally married his mistress, and, having become rich as a result of this marriage, he was able to indulge in meditation on faith, without worrying about earning his own living.

Mohammed first preached Islam in 610, the same year that Heraclius came to power in Byzantium. The new faith arose from the combination of elements of Judaism, Christianity and Hanifism. Muhammad considered himself the successor of the Jewish and Christian

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Mecca. Right - Kaaba {28}

Anish creeds. Allah (literally in Arabic "God"), in his opinion, from time to time sends people prophets who tell them the divine will. He considered Jesus Christ, Moses and other biblical prophets to be such “messengers of Allah”, while he considered himself as the last in their line. Muhammad included all the biblical stories in his religious system, however, in a rather distorted form. From his followers, he demanded the rejection of polytheism (“do not assign partners to Allah”) and “surrender oneself to the will of Allah.” Actually Islam means in Arabic "tradition (oneself)" or "submission". The followers of Muhammad (“those who betrayed themselves to Allah”) began to be called Muslims (Ar. “Muslim”),

At first, the Meccan nobility, including the most influential Quraysh family of the Umayyads, was hostile to the preaching of Islam. Mohammed seemed to her a "troublemaker", because among his first followers were slaves. In addition, the demand of the Muslim prophet to clear the Kaaba of idols seemed to her an encroachment on the very significance of Mecca as a pan-Arab holy city. In 622, Muhammad moved with a group of Muslims to Yathrib, where he was received with open arms by the inhabitants of the Aus and Khazraj tribes. This migration of Muhammad (Hijra) is taken as the beginning of the Muslim era. Its original date is July 16, 622. Yathrib has since received its current name Medina (in the Arabic pronunciation "Madinat-an-nabi" - "City of the Prophet"). (29)

The Medina community of Muslims was the embryo of a single Arab state. Constantly waging wars with neighboring tribes, the Medinese constantly increased the territory subject to them. Muhammad subjugated some tribes by force, others accepted Islam voluntarily.

In Medina, the foundations of the Muslim faith finally took shape. They were distinguished by a certain inconsistency, like that era in which elements of new social relations were intertwined with the remnants of the old. This manifested itself, in particular, in the attitude of Islam towards women. In pagan Arabia, the birth of a daughter was considered a bad omen. There were cases when newborn girls were buried alive. Muhammad forbade this cruel custom. At the same time, he allowed a Muslim to have up to four legal wives. Islam did not abolish slavery as a social institution. However, Muhammad sharply condemned the cruel treatment of slaves, demanded that when the slaves were sold, children should not be separated from their parents. While forbidding Muslims from engaging in usury, at the same time he never opposed the accumulation of wealth. Hajj - pilgrimage to Mecca was declared a charitable deed. Muslims began to levy a special tax - zakat, or sadakat. It was believed that he should go to charity. In addition, Muslims were required to pray five times a day and fast during the month of Ramadan (Ramazan). The consumption of wine and other intoxicating drinks was forbidden. (thirty)

Participation in the holy war (jihad) with the "infidels" was considered one of the good deeds. According to the teachings of Islam, the souls of soldiers who died in this war immediately go to paradise, which Muslims imagined as a luxurious garden with outlandish fruits, beauties (houris) and life-giving springs. By the way, wine, forbidden on earth, will, according to Muslims, serve as one of the main drinks for the righteous in paradise. Waging wars with the "infidels", the Muslims demanded the unconditional acceptance of Islam only from the pagan Arabs. The defeated Christians and Jews could keep their faith, subject to the payment of an appropriate tax in favor of the Muslim community. Such non-believers were considered to be under the protection of Muslims - dhimmis.

All ritual, disciplinary and legal regulations of Islam were introduced gradually. Muhammad passed them off as revelations received from Allah. After his death, all these "revelations" were collected together and edited, which made up the holy book of Muslims, the Koran (ar. "reading"). The final edition of the Koran, still considered canonical, was compiled under the third caliph (Muhammad's successor) Osman (644-656).

In 630, the Muslims occupied Mecca. By that time, the Quraysh nobility managed to make sure that Muhammad did not encroach on her wealth at all and did not encroach on the sacred significance of the Kaaba. Therefore, she willingly agreed with him, and one of the most influential representatives of the Umayyad family, Abu Sufyan, from a sworn (31) enemy of the prophet, turned into his associate. The Kaaba was cleared of idols.

In the same year, Taif was subordinated. At the same time, the Muslims occupied Yemen, which thus became the first conquered foreign territory. This conquest was accomplished relatively peacefully, since the Persian governor Bazan voluntarily converted to Islam. The rest of the Persians who settled in Yemen did the same. Weakened by an unsuccessful war with Byzantium and torn apart by civil strife, Persia was forced to accept the loss of its South Arabian possessions. During the subjugation of Yemen, Muhammad concluded a surrender agreement with the Christians of the city of Najran.

By the time of Muhammad's death in 632, most of Arabia had been unified. (32)

Chapter 2

ARAB CONQUEST

EASTERN PROVINCE

BYZANTINE EMPIRE

In their unifying movement, the Muslims had to sooner or later come into conflict with Byzantium, which subjugated the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula to its influence. This happened in 629. This year, Muhammad sent the ambassador al-Harith-ibn-Umayr al-Azdi to the Arab ruler of the city of Busra (Bostra) in Transjordan. (The sources do not give the name of this ruler.) On the way, the ambassador was detained and killed by another Arab ruler who was in the service of the Byzantines, Shurahbil-ibn-Amr (apparently out of a sense of rivalry with the mentioned ruler of Busra). In response to this murder, Muhammad sent a three thousand detachment against Shurahbil under the command of his adopted son Zeid ibn Harith, who was utterly defeated by the combined army of the Romans and their allied Arabs at the battle of Mut east of the Dead Sea in September 629 Mr. Zeid and two other commanders died, and only a small part of the Muslims managed to escape.

So deplorably for the Muslims ended their first military clash with Byzantium. It is unlikely that Mohammed, at least for the first time after the battle of Mut, thought about new raids on Byzantine possessions, especially since then the unification of Arabia was far from being completed. But at this point the Byzantine government made a major political mistake. Believing that after the battle of Mutah the Arabs would never again dare to attack the empire, and experiencing financial difficulties, it stopped paying salaries to the Arabs who were in the service of the Romans and guarded the border territory on the edge of the desert, and this was done in a very rude manner. When the Arab border guards came to the eunuch official distributing the military salary, he said that the emperor barely gives a salary to the soldiers, and drove the Arabs away, calling them dogs, which inflicted a strong insult on the proud sons of the desert. The offended Arabs began to leave the empire and go to their Muslim compatriots.

In the autumn of 630, a rumor spread in Palestine that Heraclius had gathered a huge army on the border, supplying him with food for a year. Through the Nabataeans, (34) who came to Arabia on commercial business, Muhammad received news of the impending attack and decided to warn him. At the head of the Muslim militia, he moved north. Although the rumor about the collection of the Roman army turned out to be false, this campaign had very important consequences. As soon as Mohammed approached the border oasis of Tabuk, the population of Tabuk surrendered to him, agreeing to pay a universal tax.

From Tabuk, Muhammad sent a detachment under the command of the commander Khalid ibn al-Walid east to the oasis of Dumat al-Jendal, whose ruler Uqaydir, recognizing his dependence on Byzantium, plundered Muslim caravans. This expedition ended with the defeat and capture of Uqaydir, after which, fearing the same fate, the ruler of Ayla, John ibn Ruba, arrived at Muhammad and concluded an agreement with him on the transition to Muslim rule, agreeing, like the inhabitants of Tabuk, to pay a universal tribute. At the same time, similar agreements were concluded with the inhabitants of the villages of al-Dzharba and Azruh, as well as Makna, inhabited by Jews, that is, apparently, Arabs who professed Judaism. Thus, as a result of the Tabuk campaign, the most important strongholds on the approaches to South Palestine, Sinai, and also South Syria fell into the hands of the Muslims.

Separate groups of Arabs who were in the service of Byzantium continued to move to the Muslims even after the surrender of these settlements. Apparently, in the next 631, the Byzantine governor in the region of al-Balqa east of (35) the Dead Sea, Farva-ibn-Amr, an Arab from the tribe of Juzam, who had previously fought at Mut on the side of the Byzantines, voluntarily converted to Islam. The Romans arrested Farva and, after unsuccessful persuasion to renounce Islam, crucified him at the Ifra reservoir in Palestine.

All the mentioned events of 630-631. showed Muhammad that the position of the empire on the Arab border was not as strong as it seemed at first. He began to hatch plans for the conquest of the Byzantine regions. Even after the expedition to Tabuk, an embassy from the Banu-d-Dar clan of the Lahm tribe from South Palestine, headed by the monk Tamim-ad-Dari, who converted to Islam, came to him. This embassy was an integral part of the mass of Arab defectors who broke with the empire due to the termination of the payment of salaries to the Arab border guards. After the transition to the Muslims, Tamim ad-Dari played a very prominent role among them. The later tradition even enrolled him in the ranks of the companions of the prophet. Probably, it was he who informed Muhammad about the difficult internal situation of Byzantium, as a result of which he believed in the possibility of a successful war with the empire.

That is why in the summer of 632, when the unification of Arabia was largely completed, Muhammad sent a detachment under the command of Usama, the son of Zeid ibn Harith, who died at Mut, who was supposed to devastate the Roman border territory. No other tasks were assigned to him. Probably, Osama's expedition was only supposed to test the strength of the state of the Byzantine defense. This kind of reconnaissance (36) in battle was carried out after the death of Muhammad, which followed in the same year. Osama's detachment devastated the border area of ​​al-Balq and safely returned to Medina.

The events that followed at this time in the Arabian Peninsula temporarily suspended further Arab expansion. Most of the Arab tribes fell away from Islam after the death of Muhammad, and the first Caliph Abu Bekr had to spend more than a year suppressing uprisings. Of course, at that time, the Muslims had no time for external conquests, and Byzantium was able to use the respite to strengthen its borders. Back in 631, the buffer kingdom of the Ghassanids was restored, headed by Jabala-ibn-al-Aiham. It is possible that the government of the empire learned a lesson from the first border clashes with the Muslims and, trying to keep at least part of the Arab tribes on its side, made some more concessions in their favor. Which ones, we don't know. However, when a great war subsequently broke out between the Muslims and the Byzantines, many Arabs fought on the side of the latter. Perhaps Byzantine diplomacy was able to take advantage of tribal strife, which was not yet completely eliminated by the Arabs at that time. However, all measures to strengthen the Arabian border turned out to be insufficient and belated.

Meanwhile, the Muslims managed to defeat the rebellious Arab tribes piece by piece. After the suppression of anti-Islamic uprisings, the government of Abu Bekr (37) began to implement broad conquest plans. This was driven by the aggravation of internal contradictions within Arab society itself. The Bedouins were dissatisfied with the privileged position of the Muslim elite in Medina and Mecca, in favor of which the tribes that converted to Islam had to pay a special tax - sadaqat (it was officially believed that it was for charitable purposes). Thus, the anti-Islamic uprisings (the so-called Riddah wars, i.e., apostasy) showed that behind the religious slogans of the rebels, reasons of a socio-economic nature were hidden. Anti-tax demands were leading them. Inter-tribal separatism also played a well-known role as a cause of the uprisings. In 633, Abu Bakr managed with great difficulty to suppress the uprisings, but the situation continued to remain tense. Internal contradictions have not been eliminated. A new uprising could break out at any moment. The Medinan-Meccan elite could avoid it only by directing the energy of the warlike Bedouins in another direction. That is why, immediately after the suppression of anti-Islamic uprisings, the government of Abu Bakr began external conquests.

The old tribal and new (promoted from among the companions of Muhammad) Arab nobility sought to seize new lands, wealth and trade routes. Ordinary Bedouins also hoped to improve their financial situation in the conquered countries. An important role was played by the hope for rich military booty. At the same time, for many Arabs, going to war (38) was also a means of getting rid of the tax burden. Some of them themselves asked Abu Bekr to replace the payment of sadaqat with a personal departure for the war. The Caliph granted this request.

All these factors contributed to the temporary unity of the entire Arab society, united in an Islamic state, and made it a formidable adversary for its northern neighbors - Byzantium and the Sassanid state, weakened by the recent war. Internal contradictions at the time of the beginning of the conquests among the Arabs for a while receded into the background.

Already in 633, one Muslim army began the conquest of Persian possessions. The other two were sent to the Byzantine frontier. One of them, under the command of Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan, invaded South Palestine at the beginning of 634, the second, under the command of Khalid ibn Said, invaded Transjordan. At al-Arab, south of the Dead Sea, Yazid's troops first encountered Roman troops and defeated them. Pursuing the retreating Romans, the Arab vanguard under the command of Abu-Umama al-Bahili reached the outskirts of Gaza. The ruler of Palestine, Sergius, hastily gathering a militia, mainly consisting of infantry and the vanguard of which was a detachment of Samaritans, came out to meet him. Not far from Gaza, near the town of Dasin (Datemon), on February 4, 634, a battle took place between the troops of Sergius and Abu Umama. Hastily collected, tired from the march on foot and poorly trained, the soldiers of Sergius could not withstand the onslaught of the Arab cavalry, which suddenly attacked them from an ambush. The Samaritans (39) were exterminated, and the rest of the Romans fled; Sergius was killed.

Khalid ibn Said did not fare so well. At first, he managed to inflict some damage on the Roman troops between Ziza, Abil and al-Kastal east of the Dead Sea, but then the Byzantine commander Vahan (Armenian by origin) managed to lure him to the north with a feigned retreat and defeat him in the area called Marj-as-Suffar by Arab authors ("Bird Meadow"). This battle took place immediately after Daxing. The Arabs, tired of the long march, were caught in the rain and were defeated by the Romans, who had time to line up in battle order and were more accustomed to such unfavorable weather. 1 At the same time Khalid's son Said died.

Pursuing the retreating detachment of Khalid ibn Said, the Romans expelled him from the borders of Transjordan. Fearing that the Roman troops who had defeated Ibn Said, rounding the Dead Sea from the south, would come to his rear, Yazid retreated from South Palestine to al-Balka. Soon Abu Bakr, convinced of the unsuitability of Khalid ibn Said as a commander, removed him from command, appointing Yazid to conduct military operations in Transjordan. In place of Yazid, a detachment was sent to South Palestine under the command of Amr-ibn-al-As. In Transjordan, the Arabs had to face stubborn resistance from the Roman (40) troops, the overall command of which was taken by the brother of Heraclius Theodore. Therefore, not relying on Yazid alone, the caliph soon sent detachments there under the command of Shurahbil ibn Hasana and Abu Ubeyda ibn al-Jarrah.

Then it was decided to unite all the units under a single command. Khalid ibn al-Walid, who was considered by the Arabs to be the best commander, was appointed supreme commander. At one time, it was he who, after the death of military leaders in the battle of Muta, managed to save the remnants of the Arab detachment from extermination as a result of a skillful retreat. In other battles, the Arabs under his command, as a rule, won victories. Muhammad gave him the nickname Sword of Allah. Caliph Abu Bekr sent Khalid to war with the Persians, and by the time the first decided to transfer him to the Byzantine theater of operations, the latter was in the land of the Lakhmids subordinate to the Sassanids. Having received the order of the caliph, Khalid left the commander Musanna ibn Harith to fight the Persian troops, and he himself went to Syria with a detachment of soldiers. The size of his squad has not been established.

After crossing the desert, Khalid suddenly appeared in the vicinity of Damascus and, attacking the Ghassanids, defeated them at Marj Rahit on April 24 or June 12, 634.

Even before the arrival of Khalid in Syria, the Arabs forced the capitulation of Maab and laid siege to Bostra. This is where Khalid came after the Battle of Marj Rahit. Connecting with other leaders, he gave the Romans a battle under the wall (41) of Bostra and, having defeated them, forced the city to capitulate.

By that time, all the Roman troops in the east were subordinate to the brother of Heraclius Theodore. Most of them took up positions on the Yarmuk River, the left tributary of the Jordan, blocking the Arabs' path to the north; the smaller one moved into Palestine against Amr. Theodore himself led the troops on Yarmuk, in Palestine - the commander, whom the Syrian chronicle of 1234 calls Kyklaos. The army of Kyklaos met with the troops of Amr ibn al-As at Ajnadin southwest of Jerusalem. Here, according to most Arab sources, on July 30, 634, a battle took place in which the Romans were utterly defeated.

The battle of Ajnadin finally placed southern Palestine under the control of the Arabs and created the conditions both for their further advance to the north and for the conquest of Sinai. Already in September 634, they controlled all the routes from Ascalon to Sinai, and by the end of that year, from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, besieged by them. This success of the Muslims was largely facilitated by the Byzantine Arabs who went over to their side, who knew the country well and served as guides. However, as we pointed out above, not all Roman Arabs took the same position. Some of them remained loyal to the Byzantines to the end, others changed their orientation depending on the circumstances. Thus, the Christian Arabs who lived on the Sinai Peninsula fortified themselves in the highlands and for a long time resisted the Muslims (42). Then, convinced of the superiority of the enemy, they converted to Islam and joined the conquerors.

The position of the Jewish population of Byzantium, which met them as liberators, also contributed to the success of the Arabs. The fact is that the Jews, who for centuries experienced national oppression in the Byzantine Empire, during the crisis that broke out at the end of the 6th - beginning of the 7th centuries, intensified the struggle for liberation. During the war between Byzantium and Persia, they went over to the side of the Persians, but when the latter were defeated, they turned their eyes towards Arabia. After a Muslim state was established there, the opinion spread among some of the Jews that Muhammad was the Messiah they were waiting for. This was probably facilitated by some similarity between the religious prescriptions of Islam and Judaism (not eating pork, the prohibition of sacred images, etc.). In addition, according to the Bible, Jews and northern Arabs descended from the same ancestor of Abraham (ar. Ibrahim). Thus, the Jews could consider the Arabs as their "relatives". However, soon the conquerors with their robberies and murders of the civilian population, during which they did not distinguish Jews from Christians, moderated their enthusiasm somewhat, but on the whole, the Jews continued to treat the Arabs more favorably than the Romans.

With all the favorable factors, the disadvantage of the Arab army was the inability at first to storm the cities. This is what delayed the complete conquest of the Syro-Palestinian region for a long time. Many cities (43) yes (Gaza, Caesarea Maritime, etc.) withstood the siege for many months and even several years.

As for the troops that were in Transjordan, they stood at Yarmuk all summer 634. Neither the Romans nor the Arabs for a long time dared to start a big battle. It happened already after the death of Abu Bekr (d. at the end of August 634), apparently, in September or early October, and ended with the defeat of the Romans.

After Yarmuk, one part of the Arab army moved north and occupied Jabiya (Gabita), the other - to the Jordan and laid siege to Pella (Fihl). To prevent the Arabs from crossing to the west bank of the Jordan, the Romans destroyed the dams. When the water gushed, swamps and impassable mud formed between Pella and Scythopolis. Meanwhile, Heraclius removed his brother from the post of commander-in-chief and replaced him with the eunuch Theodore Trifiry (Trifuriy), subordinating to him the Armenian Vahan, Basilisk and some other generals. The total number of soldiers among the Romans at that time, according to the Armenian historian Sebeos, a contemporary of the events described, reached 70 thousand. One Roman detachment settled in Scythopolis (ar. Beisan) and from here moved across the Jordan against the Arabs besieging Pella (ar. Fichl), intending to attack them by surprise. However, the Byzantine movement did not hide from the Arabs, and they took a more advantageous position in advance, hiding part of their army in ambush and leaving the enemy a fortified camp surrounded by tied camels as a bait. Tired of the long march, the Romans moved to storm la (44) ger. When they burst into it, the Arabs ambushed them from two sides. The ranks of the Byzantines mixed up and fled. At the same time, some of them lost their way, got stuck in the mud and were exterminated by the Arabs. In total, more than 2 thousand Romans died. After the battle, Pella capitulated. Then the Arabs crossed the Jordan and laid siege to Scythopolis. After the battle, the city was taken, according to other news, it surrendered. Then the Arabs entrenched themselves on both banks of the Jordan and camped in Jericho. They also devastated Galilee.

The victory at Pella and Scythopolis ensured the rear of the Arab troops stationed in Jabiya and their advance towards Damascus and Emesa. Already in January 635, one Arab detachment appeared near Emesa, and its inhabitants, not feeling able to resist the Arabs, made peace with them. However, then the Roman army under the command of Vaan and the ruler of Edessa Sklir approached the city, and the inhabitants joined him, breaking the peace treaty. Having given battle to the Arabs, Vahan threw them back from Emesa. At the same time, the emir, who commanded the Arab detachment, died. The sources do not mention the name of this emir. Developing the offensive, Vahan drove the Arabs to Damascus and fortified on the Barada River (Vardanisiy). Meanwhile, the rest of the Roman troops met with the main Arab forces at Marj al-Suffar, where Khalid ibn Said had been defeated the year before. On February 25, 635, the second battle took place here. The Arabs won it, but suffered very heavy losses. According to the legend preserved by the Arab historian of the 9th century. al-Balazuri, the battle was (45) so fierce that the flow of blood set the mill in motion. Obviously, the news of the defeat at Mardzh-al-Suffar led Heraclius to the idea that it would not be possible to hold positions at Damascus, and he ordered Theodore and Vahan to withdraw troops to Emesa. However, subsequent events showed the fallacy of this decision of the emperor. The losses of the Arabs were so great that after the battle they stood still for 15 days, apparently waiting for reinforcements, and only in mid-March did their main forces besiege Damascus. Despite the fact that the troops of Theodore and Vaan retreated to Emesa, the garrison and the inhabitants of the city put up stubborn resistance. The forces of the defenders of Damascus were replenished by the soldiers who fled here after the defeat at Pella. The ruler of the city, Anastasius, took command over them. Under his leadership, the city withstood the siege for about 6 months.

While the main Arab troops were besieging Damascus, their other detachments from time to time made predatory raids towards Emesa. Apparently, at the end of May 635, when during one of these raids the Arabs were robbing cattle in the region of Emesa, the Sakellarius Theodore and Vaan came out against them and, having attacked, turned to flight. Developing the offensive, they reached Damascus, and the battle began at the city walls. It continued until some of the Romans were able to break into the city and, thus, increase the ranks of their defenders. However, Theodore and Vahan failed to lift the siege. They were forced to retreat. Apparently, attempts to break through to Damascus and free it from the siege continued throughout the whole (46) summer of 635. To repel them, a special Arab detachment was allocated, commanded by Zu-l-Qila. He managed to repel a detachment of Roman cavalry between Emesa and Damascus. This was the last attempt to break through to the besieged, after which on August 10 the Romans finally retreated from Damascus.

Meanwhile, the Damascusians were becoming more and more exhausted from a long siege. After the hope of breaking the blockade from the outside did not materialize, their will to resist noticeably weakened. Inside the city, a grouping was formed that advocated surrender. Its leader was the head of the tax office Mansur, about whom the Christian Arab historian Eutyches (9th-10th centuries) reports the following. He was appointed chief tax collector in Damascus by Emperor Mauritius and retained his position during the Persian occupation of the city. After the expulsion of the Persians, Emperor Heraclius personally met with Mansur and demanded that he give him the amount of tax for the previous two years. Mansur refused, referring to the fact that he sent money to the Persian king. Then the emperor ordered him to be thrown into prison and, having subjected him to severe beatings, forced him to pay 100 thousand denarii, after which he released him and reinstated him in his former position. "And Mansur's heart boiled against Heraclius."

Al-Balazuri reports that among the supporters of the surrender of the city was also a local bishop (it is not clear whether he is Orthodox or Monophysite?). Supporters of capitulation started secret negotiations with the Arabs. The intermediary in this was the deacon Johanan-bar-Sar-(47)gis, who was familiar to the Arabs and enjoyed authority among them. When the treaty that guaranteed the safety of the inhabitants of Damascus was concluded, the bishop, through the intermediary of the monks of one of the suburban monasteries, helped the Arabs enter the city without a fight. According to al-Baladhuri, the monks gave the besiegers ladders by which they climbed the walls. At this time, from the other side, the Arabs were able to break into the city by force and started a battle with the Byzantine soldiers on its streets, which ended in the complete defeat of the Romans. Both Arab detachments - both those who entered peacefully and those who broke in with a fight - met in the center of the city. Their leaders argued for a long time about whether to consider Damascus taken by force or capitulated. Finally, they decided to extend the surrender agreement to the entire city. This meant that all Damascenes were guaranteed the safety of their lives and property. The capture of Damascus took place in late August or early September 635.

The fall of Damascus gave the Arabs a free hand for further conquests. By that time, Abu-Ubeida-ibn-al-Jarrah had replaced Khalid-ibn-al-Walid as commander-in-chief by that time. As to the timing of this replacement, sources of disagreement. According to some reports, Caliph Omar committed it immediately after the death of Abu Bekr, according to others - during the siege of Damascus. Subsequent events showed that as a commander, Abu Ubeid proved to be no worse than Khalid.

After the capture of Damascus, the main Arab forces moved to Emesa. On the way, Abu-Ubeid besieged Baalbek and after a while forced its inhabitants to surrender. Then the Arabs occupied Tadmor (Palmyra). At the same time, Batania, Khauran, Epiphany (Khaama), Larissa (Sheizar) and Apameya (Famiya) capitulated. Then Emesa was besieged. According to the chronicle of 1234, its inhabitants stubbornly did not agree to surrender, declaring to the Arab military leaders that they would surrender only after the latter's victory over Heraclius. Apparently, they hoped for help from the army of the eunuch Theodore, who was standing near the city. Soon Theodore decided on a daring operation. He planned to break through to Damascus. The purpose of this raid, apparently, was not only the desire to recapture it from the Arabs, but also the desire to enter the rear of the latter to force them to retreat from Emesa. This plan failed. When the Roman cavalry appeared under the walls of Damascus, the Arabs managed to defeat them in the area, which the Arab sources call Marj-ar-Rum ("Meadow of the Romans"), to the west of the city. At the same time, the ruler of Edessa, Sklir, died, and Theodore, with the remnants of the defeated army, was driven back to the north. The siege of Emesa continued throughout the winter of 635/636. Finally, at the onset of spring, the inhabitants decided to surrender. The reason for this decision was an earthquake that destroyed part of the city, as well as the loss of hope for help from the Romans. A little earlier, the Arabs occupied Baalbek.

At the same time, the conquest of Northern Palestine was completed. Peace was concluded with the Samaritans on the condition of payment of a universal tax. The Samaritans also promised to serve the Arabs as guides and scouts. After the capture of Emesa, the Arabs captured Gabala, which the Byzantines had abandoned shortly before, as well as Laodicea. (49)

Such significant successes of the Arabs were primarily due to the general weakening of the empire, the instability of its position, which led to the Byzantines' uncertainty in their own strength. Economic devastation and the poor state of finances also contributed to the decrease in the combat effectiveness of the Roman troops. Warriors who had not received a salary for a long time, over time became more and more undisciplined, prone to plundering civilians and rebellions. If at the beginning of his reign, Heraclius, as we have seen, implemented tax incentives in Egypt, then after the end of the war with Persia, due to the breakdown of the financial system, he no longer resorted to such measures. The tax burden fell with all its weight on the shoulders of the population of the empire, weakening its ability to resist the Arab conquerors. As we have already seen, in Damascus even taxes were collected for two years of Persian occupation.

With the performance of the Arabs, a new period begins in the history of all three parts of the Old World. Muhammad founded a religion that spread with alarming speed among the peoples of Asia and Africa, moreover, far beyond the borders in which the influence of Greek education, the power of the Roman state and the beliefs of the Christian church had power. The Arabs united by Mohammed acted as conquerors who founded a huge power, and she took away from the former world monarchy almost all of her Asian regions and decisively all African regions, and even transferred her conquests to Europe. From the very beginning of this new period flared up struggle between christianity and islam, constituting one of the most important phenomena in the history of the Middle Ages.

56. First Arab conquests

Already Muhammad, having united the Arab tribes under his rule, was thinking of undertaking a campaign against Syria. The first successor undertook to fulfill this covenant of the prophet, who took the title of his governor (Caliph) Abu Bakr. Circumstances favored this plan. The ancient struggle between Byzantium and Persia had weakened both these states, and the result was the ease with which the Arabs, thirsty for prey and obsessed with religious fanaticism, conquered the various countries belonging to the Persians and Greeks. In a short time under the first two caliphs (the second was Lobster) they took possession of Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia and Egypt, which greatly reduced the Byzantine possessions outside Europe. It was Holy war, the purpose of which was the spread of Islam, and the speed with which the conquests were accomplished, giving the impression of a miracle, inflamed the Arabs still more to further enterprises of this kind. However, in some cases the conquerors were wary of forcibly imposing a new religion on the vanquished and were content with their mere obedience.

Borders of the Caliphate at the time of Omar's death (644)

57. Formation and expansion of the Caliphate

From Arabia with the countries conquered by Abu Bekr and Omar, a powerful state was formed, which in history received the name caliphate. After the death of the second caliph, who fell at the hands of the murderer, and the third caliph, Osman, the new state was shaken by unrest caused by the question of who should become the "viceroy of the prophet." The guardians and masters of Mecca, the Quraysh, were divided into two parties, and between their candidates, of whom one was Ali, nephew and son-in-law of Muhammad, and others Muawiya, commander of the troops in Syria, there was a struggle that ended in the defeat of Ali. This internecine strife also gave rise to a religious split in the Muslim world on Sunnis And Shiites, of which some, besides the Koran, began to recognize the sunnah as an authoritative interpretation of the holy book, while others - namely the supporters of Ali - rejected the sunnah, on the contrary.

Muawiya became the ancestor of a dynasty Umayyads(656–750), who transferred the capital of the Caliphate from Mecca to Damascus, from poor and ignorant Arabia to rich and cultured Syria. Here, under the influence of the old culture, the caliphate turned into a power reminiscent of by their structure and character, the former eastern monarchies. The Umayyads continued to expand the boundaries of the Caliphate. In Asia, they included in their monarchy Armenia And Turkestan, in Africa - province of Bizacenu, formerly the Vandal kingdom, and Mauritania. In 711, the Arabs crossed from Africa to Spain through the strait, which, after their leader Tarik, became known as Gibraltar (Tariq's crossing). The Visigothic kingdom was conquered by them, and a few years later the Arabs even invaded Gaul, where, however, they suffered a severe defeat at Poitiers from a Frankish commander Karla Martella (732).

Shortly thereafter, the disintegration of the caliphate began. In 750, the ruler of one of the provinces of Persia rebelled against the Umayyads, Abu l-Abbas. He took possession of Mecca and Medina and became the founder of a new dynasty Abbasids whose capital was moved to Baghdad on the Tigris. In Spain, this coup was not recognized, and the Umayyads formed a special caliphate here, the main city of which was Cordova.

58. Arabs and Byzantium

The Arabs did not limit themselves to the indicated conquests of the Byzantine provinces in Asia, but continued to attack other parts of the empire. They managed to take possession for a while of some cities in Asia Minor and the islands of the Archipelago, and they became even approach Constantinople itself. At the beginning of the 8th century the capital of the empire was directly in danger of being captured by the Arabs, who surrounded it both from the sea and from land and did not want to leave for a long time. At this time, he became emperor Leo III the Isaurian(717–741), a skillful and brave commander who forced the Arabs to lift the siege. By the way, the so-called "Greek fire" was successfully used against their ships, a kind of gunpowder, with which the Byzantines were able to set fire to enemy ships. The failure of the Arabs at Constantinople did not stop, however, the war with them. The whole 8th century passed in the struggle of Byzantium and the Caliphate for the possession of Asia Minor and the Archipelago, and in the end the Greeks held them back.

59. Limits of the Byzantine Empire in the VIII century

The limits of the Byzantine Empire were reduced not only in Asia, but also in Europe. In the 7th century Slavs began to gradually establish themselves in the north of the Balkan Peninsula. Illyria was captured Serbs and on the lower reaches of the Danube mixed with the Slavs Bulgarians(a people of Turkic origin, who soon became completely Slavic) founded a large state, which showed a desire for further expansion; from the 8th century the territory of the Byzantine Empire is limited only the middle and southern parts of the Balkan Peninsula, the islands of the Archipelago and Asia Minor with a purely Greek or strongly Hellenized population. Within these limits, it was no longer so difficult for the Byzantines to defend the existence of the empire in a war on two fronts - with the Slavs and with the Arabs.

100 Great Wars Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

BYZANTINE-ARAB WARS (VII-IX centuries)

BYZANTINE-ARAB WARS

(7th-9th centuries)

Wars of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate for dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The unified Arab state, created on the Arabian Peninsula by the prophet Muhammad, easily crushed the Persian Empire, shocked by the defeats from the troops of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. In 633, Arab troops invaded Persian possessions. Their conquest of Persia was completed by 651.

At the same time, Byzantium was subjected to the Arab invasion. The army of the Caliphate, numbering up to 27 thousand people, invaded Syria and Palestine. In 634, two years after the death of Muhammad, under the first caliph (i.e., "vicar of the prophet") Abu Bekre, the Arabs captured the first significant Byzantine fortress of Bosra across the Jordan River. The following year, Damascus passed into their hands. On August 20, 636, a Byzantine army of 40,000 was defeated at the Yarmuk River, and all of Syria came under the control of the Arabs.

The defeat of the Byzantines was facilitated by strife between their leaders Vahan and Theodore. Both of them fell at the Battle of Yarmouk. Jerusalem surrendered to the Arabs in 638 after a two-year siege. At the same time, Arab troops occupied Mesopotamia. In 639, Arab detachments appeared at the borders of Egypt, but their further advance was stopped by a plague that spread in Syria and Palestine, which claimed the lives of 25 thousand people.

In 641, shortly after the death of Emperor Heraclius, the capital of the province of Alexandria passed into the hands of the Arabs. By the end of the 640s, the Byzantine troops completely left Egypt. The Arabs captured other Byzantine territories in North Africa, as well as part of Asia Minor.

In the 650s, the Arab governor of Syria and the future caliph Moavia created a fleet in which the Greeks and Syrians served mainly. This fleet was soon able to fight on equal terms with the strongest Byzantine fleet in the Mediterranean. Further conquests of the Arabs were temporarily stopped due to a clash between the caliph Ali and the Syrian governor. In 661, after the internecine war and the assassination of Ali, Moaviya became caliph and, having transferred the capital to Damascus, resumed hostilities against Byzantium. In the late 660s, the Arab fleet repeatedly approached Constantinople. However, the besieged, led by the energetic Emperor Constantine IV, fought off all the attacks, and the Arab fleet was destroyed with the help of "Greek fire" - an explosive thrown out by special vessels (siphons) and ignited when it hit the ships. A feature of Greek fire was that it could burn on the surface of the water. In 677, the Arab ships were forced to leave their base of Cyzicus near Constantinople and go to the Syrian ports, but almost all of them died during a storm off the southern coast of Asia Minor.

The Arab land army was also defeated in Asia Minor, and Moavia was forced to conclude a peace with Constantine, according to which the Byzantines paid a small tribute to the Arabs every year. In 687, the Byzantines managed to recapture Armenia, and the island of Cyprus was recognized as a joint possession of the empire and the caliphate.

At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th centuries, the Arabs conquered the last Byzantine possessions in North Africa - Carthage and the fortress of Septem (now Ceuta). In 717, the Arabs, led by the brother of the caliph, the Syrian governor Maslama, approached Constantinople and on August 15 began a siege. On September 1, the Arab fleet, numbering more than 1800 ships, occupied the entire space in front of Constantinople. The Byzantines blocked the Golden Horn with a chain on wooden floats, and the fleet led by Emperor Leo III inflicted a heavy defeat on the enemy.

His victory was largely facilitated by the "Greek fire". The siege dragged on. In winter, famine and disease began in the Arab camp. The Bulgarians, allied with Byzantium, destroyed the Arab detachments sent for food to Thrace. By spring, Maslama's army was in a desperate situation. According to the Byzantine historian Theophanes, the Arabs “devoured all kinds of carrion, horses, donkeys and camels. They even say that they ate human corpses and their own droppings in pots, mixing it with leaven. The Arab squadron, which arrived in the spring of 718, sent by the new caliph Omar II, was defeated by the Byzantine fleet. At the same time, part of the sailors from Egyptian Christians, along with their ships, went over to the side of the emperor. The overland reinforcements were stopped by the Byzantine cavalry at Nicaea and turned back. A plague broke out in the Arab army near Constantinople, and on August 15, 718, exactly one year later, the siege was lifted.

The retreating fleet was partially burned by the Byzantines, and partially perished during a storm in the Aegean Sea. Of the 180 thousand Arab soldiers and sailors who participated in the campaign, no more than 40 thousand returned home, and only 5 out of more than 2.5 thousand ships. This failure undermined the forces of the caliphate and forced the Arabs to abandon full-scale military operations against the Byzantine Empire for two decades .

The last major Arab invasion of Byzantium took place in 739. But already in 740, in a battle near the town of Akroinon in Asia Minor, the army of Emperor Leo III and his son Constantine V almost completely destroyed the Arab army. After that, the Byzantines conquered part of Syria, and the expansion of the Arabs into Asia Minor and Eastern Europe ceased forever.

In the second half of the 10th century, Byzantium resumed expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean. On March 7, 961, the Byzantine commander Nicephorus Foka, having gathered the entire fleet of the empire and 24 thousand soldiers, defeated the Arab fleet near Crete and landed on the island. Following this, the Byzantines massacred the entire Arab population of Crete. Having become Emperor Nicephorus II in 963, Foka continued the war with the Arabs. In 965 he captured Cyprus and Cilicia, and in 969 Antioch. Later, in the XI century, these territories were conquered by the Seljuk Turks.

This text is an introductory piece. From the book of the Special Services of the Russian Empire [Unique Encyclopedia] author Kolpakidi Alexander Ivanovich

author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

EGYPTIAN-HITTI WARS (late XIV - early XIII century BC) Wars between Egypt and the Hittite power (the state of Hatti), which occupied the territory of Asia Minor, for dominance in Palestine, Syria and Phoenicia. According to Egyptian sources, the first to the borders Egypt attacked

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

WARS OF ROME WITH THE BARBARS IN THE EPOCH OF THE "GREAT MIGRATION OF PEOPLES" (late 4th century - 5th century)

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

BYZANTINE-GOTHIC WARS (VI century) The wars of the Byzantine Empire with the kingdoms of the Ostrogoths in Italy and the Visigoths in Spain. The goal of the Byzantine emperor Justinian was to regain control over the territories of the former Western Roman Empire and establish the hegemony of Byzantium in

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

BYZANTINE-PERSIAN WARS (VI-VII centuries) Wars between the Byzantine Empire and Persia for hegemony in the Near and Middle East. Taking advantage of the diversion of the main forces of Byzantium under Justinian the Great to Italy, the Persian king Khosrov invaded Syria, occupied and plunder

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

ARAB CONQUESTS (VII-VIII centuries) The Arab tribes, who had lived on the Arabian Peninsula since the third millennium BC, were united into a single state in the 7th century by the prophet Muhammad, who became the founder of a new religion - Islam. This association

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

WARS OF CHARLES THE GREAT (second half of the 8th - early 9th century) The wars of the Frankish king Charles, during which he founded the Holy Roman Empire. The basis of the Frankish army was heavy cavalry, recruited from wealthy landowners - vassals of the king. The infantry was

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

RUSSIAN-BYZANTINE WARS (IX-X centuries) The goal of the Russian princes was to capture and plunder Constantinople. Prince Svyatoslav, in addition, hoped to gain a foothold on the Danube. On the part of Byzantium, the wars with Russia were of a defensive nature. In 941, the Russian prince Igor (Ingvar)

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

BYZANTINE-BULGARIAN WARS (X - beginning of XI century) Wars of the Byzantine Empire with the Bulgarian kingdom. The goal of the Byzantines was to capture Bulgaria. The Bulgarian kings, on the other hand, sought to seize Constantinople and seize the Byzantine heritage in the Balkans. In 912 after

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

THE GERMAN-ITALIAN WARS (mid-X - end of the XII century) Wars of the German emperors in order to establish control over Italy. The emperors were opposed by the troops of the pope and the Italian feudal lords who supported him. In 951, Emperor Otto I succeeded in capturing

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

RUSSIAN-LITHUANIAN WARS (end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century) The wars of the Moscow and Lithuanian Grand Duchies for the East Slavic lands that were part of Lithuania. Since the middle of the 15th century, the influence of the Catholic Church in Lithuania has increased, associated with the strengthening of the union of this country with

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

WARS OF THE GREAT MOGUL STATE (XVI-XVII centuries) These wars are associated with the conquests and subsequent civil strife in the Mughal Empire - the state that at that moment had the most powerful army in Asia. At the beginning of the XVI century, the territory of the Delhi Sultanate was invaded

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

POLISH-UKRAINIAN WARS (first half of the 17th century) Wars of the Ukrainian people against the Commonwealth for their independence. After the Union of Lublin, the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, located south of Polesie, became part of the Polish kingdom, which included

From the book 100 great wars author Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

RUSSIAN-TURKISH WARS (XYIII-XIX centuries) The wars of the Russian and Ottoman Empires for hegemony in the Black Sea basin and the Balkans. The first large-scale clash between Russian and Turkish troops took place in 1677-1678 in Ukraine. In August 1677, the Turkish army under

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (PO) of the author TSB
Warriors of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate for dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean. The unified Arab state, created on the Arabian Peninsula by the prophet Muhammad, easily crushed the Persian Empire, shocked by the defeats from the troops of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. In 633, Arab troops invaded Persian possessions. Their conquest of Persia was completed by 651. At the same time, Byzantium was subjected to the Arab invasion. The army of the Caliphate, numbering up to 27 thousand people, invaded Syria and Palestine. In 634, two years after the death of Muhammad, under the first caliph (i.e., "vicar of the prophet") Abu Bekre, the Arabs captured the first significant Byzantine fortress of Bosra across the Jordan River. The following year, Damascus passed into their hands. On August 20, 636, a Byzantine army of 40,000 was defeated at the Yarmuk River, and all of Syria came under the control of the Arabs.
The defeat of the Byzantines was facilitated by strife between their leaders Vahan and Theodore. Both of them fell at the Battle of Yarmouk. Jerusalem surrendered to the Arabs in 638 after a two-year siege. At the same time, Arab troops occupied Mesopotamia. In 639, Arab detachments appeared at the borders of Egypt, but their further advance was stopped by a plague that spread in Syria and Palestine, which claimed the lives of 25 thousand people. In 641, shortly after the death of Emperor Heraclius, the capital of the province of Alexandria passed into the hands of the Arabs.
By the end of the 640s, the Byzantine troops completely left Egypt. The Arabs captured other Byzantine territories in North Africa, as well as part of Asia Minor. In the 650s, the Arab governor of Syria and the future caliph Moavia created a fleet in which the Greeks and Syrians served mainly. This fleet was soon able to fight on equal terms with the strongest Byzantine fleet in the Mediterranean. Further conquests of the Arabs were temporarily stopped due to a clash between the caliph Ali and the Syrian governor. In 661, after the internecine war and the murder of Ali, Moavia became caliph and, having transferred the capital to Damascus, resumed hostilities against Byzantium. In the late 660s, the Arab fleet repeatedly approached Constantinople. However, the besieged, led by the energetic Emperor Constantine IV, fought off all the attacks, and the Arab fleet was destroyed with the help of "Greek fire" - an explosive thrown out by special vessels (siphons) and ignited when it hit the ships. A feature of Greek fire was that it could burn on the surface of the water. In 677, the Arab ships were forced to leave their base of Cyzicus near Constantinople and go to the Syrian ports, but almost all of them died during a storm off the southern coast of Asia Minor. The Arab land army was also defeated in Asia Minor, and Moavia was forced to conclude a peace with Constantine, according to which the Byzantines paid a small tribute to the Arabs every year.
In 687, the Byzantines managed to recapture Armenia, and the island of Cyprus was recognized as a joint possession of the empire and the caliphate. At the end of the 7th - beginning of the 8th centuries, the Arabs conquered the last Byzantine possessions in North Africa - Carthage and the fortress of Septem (now Ceuta).
In 717, the Arabs, led by the brother of the caliph, the Syrian governor Maslama, approached Constantinople and on August 15 began a siege. On September 1, the Arab fleet, numbering more than 1800 ships, occupied the entire space in front of Constantinople. The Byzantines blocked the Golden Horn with a chain on wooden floats, and the fleet led by Emperor Leo III inflicted a heavy defeat on the enemy. His victory was greatly facilitated by the "Greek fire". The siege dragged on. In winter, famine and disease began in the Arab camp. The Bulgarians, allied with Byzantium, destroyed the Arab detachments sent for food to Thrace. By spring, Maslama's army was in a desperate situation. According to the Byzantine historian Theophanes, the Arabs "devoured all kinds of carrion, horses, donkeys and camels. They even say that they ate human corpses and their own droppings in pots, mixing it with leaven." The Arab squadron, which arrived in the spring of 718, sent by the new caliph Omar II, was defeated by the Byzantine fleet. At the same time, part of the sailors from Egyptian Christians, along with their ships, went over to the side of the emperor. The overland reinforcements were stopped by the Byzantine cavalry at Nicaea and turned back. A plague broke out in the Arab army near Constantinople, and on August 15, 718, exactly one year later, the siege was lifted. The retreating fleet was partially burned by the Byzantines, and partially perished during a storm in the Aegean Sea. Of the 180 thousand Arab soldiers and sailors who participated in the campaign, no more than 40 thousand returned home, and only 5 out of more than 2.5 thousand ships. This failure undermined the forces of the caliphate and forced the Arabs to abandon full-scale military operations against the Byzantine Empire for two decades .
The last major Arab invasion of Byzantium took place in 739. But already in 740, in a battle near the town of Akroinon in Asia Minor, the army of Emperor Leo III and his son Constantine V almost completely destroyed the Arab army. After that, the Byzantines conquered part of Syria, and the expansion of the Arabs into Asia Minor and Eastern Europe ceased forever. In the second half of the 10th century, Byzantium resumed expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean. On March 7, 961, the invincible Byzantine commander Nicephorus Foka, having gathered the entire fleet of the empire and 24 thousand soldiers, defeated the Arab fleet near Crete and landed on the island. Following this, the Byzantines massacred the entire Arab population of Crete. Having become Emperor Nicephorus II in 963, Foka continued the war with the Arabs. In 965 he captured Cyprus and Cilicia, and in 969 Antioch. Later, in the 11th century, these territories were conquered by the Seljuk Turks.