The Great Islamic Conquests AD 632–750

by NICOLLE, DAVID

• ISBN13: 9781846032738
• ISBN10: 1846032733
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-19
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

Few military campaigns in history have been as dramatic, as successful, or as far-reaching as the early Islamic conquests. Emerging from a tribal area of Arabia sandwiched between two great empires, the forces of the new religion soon destroyed one empire and humbled another. Within a century, the Islamic realm had borders with France in the west and with India and China in the east, and this new civilization was on the cusp of a great 'Golden Age' of cultural and scientific blossoming. Yet although Islam's early conquests rank with those of Alexander the Great and the Roman Caesars, its achievements have arguably outlasted both, with large parts of the world still retaining the language, influences and religion that the conquests brought. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Born in 1944, David Nicolle worked in the BBC's Arabic service for a number of years before gaining an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and a doctorate from Edinburgh University. He has written numerous books and articles on medieval and Islamic warfare, and has been a prolific author of Osprey titles for many years. The author lives in Leicestershire, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 7
Chronology	p. 9
Background to war: Pre-Islamic Arabia	p. 13
Outbreak: The birth of Islam and the unifying of Arabia	p. 19
The warring sides: Armies of the Middle East and the Mediterranean	p. 26
The fighting: A rising religion meets tired empires	p. 48
Portrait of a soldier: Two warriors of Arabia	p. 63
From conquest to empire: The Umayyad century	p. 66
How the war ended: The fall of the Umayyad dynasty	p. 76
The world around the war: Architecture and religion	p. 80
Portrait of a civilian: A man of letters and a man of God	p. 86
Conclusion	p. 90
Further reading	p. 92
Index	p. 94
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