Day of Decision: The Battle of Yarmuk
The Prophet Mohamed was born about the year 570 in the city of Mecca, on the Arabian Peninsula near the Red Sea. He spent his early years as a prosperous merchant. In middle age, according to Muslim tradition, he began receiving visions from God. Eventually he began to preach the word of God, according to these visions.
The main tenants of Islam can be summarized in the words of the Muslin prayer, “There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” Islam recognizes many of the Jewish prophets such as Abraham and Moses, as well as Jesus Christ, as Islamic prophets. Islam contends that Judaism and Christianity have corrupted and misinterpreted the word of God, and that the true word of God is put down in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. Islamic tradition calls for the spread of Islam throughout the world, though it also-perhaps paradoxically-respects Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (a monotheistic faith extant in Persia) as fellow believers in God.
At first, Mohammed only had a few followers for the new faith he preached, Islam, which translates to “submission to God.” But by the end of his life, around 630, he had brought the entire Arabian Peninsula under Islam.
After the death of Mohammed in 632, Abu Bakr became the first Caliph or “successor” to the Prophet, ruler in effect of the entire community of Muslims. Abu Bakr had been one of Mohammed’s top lieutenants. His succession was controversial and precipitated the original schism of Islam into Sunni and Shia, the latter of which maintained that the true successor to the Prophet was Ali ibn Abu Talib. After suppression a number of rebellions, Abu Bakr ordered the first invasions of the Byzantine and Sassanid Persian Empires. His reign as Caliph lasted but two years and he was succeeded by Umar ibn al-Khattab, known as “the Redeemer.”
At this time, the Middle East was dominated by two great empires, the Byzantine and the Persian. The Byzantine Empire at this time occupied modern Turkey, the Balkans, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and parts of North Africa. It constituted the eastern half of the ancient Roman Empire, ruled from the great city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul.) The state religion was Orthodox Christianity, though there were some heretical sects such as Monophysitism, which were persecuted to one extent or another, within the Empire.
Persia was, at this time, ruled by the Sassanid dynasty, having restored the old Persian Empire after the final collapse of the Parthian Empire around the third century AD. The state religion of Persia was Zoroastrianism, a monotheistic faith first established around the sixth century BC.
Byzantium and Persia had clashed continuously throughout the centuries, sometimes as border skirmishes, sometimes as all out war. Neither empire was quite prepared for what was coming for them out of the Arabian Peninsula.
Invasion of Syria
The Muslim invasion of Syria started as a series of raids around 633, probably to bring the surrounding Arab tribes under control. Muslim forces under Khalid ibn al-Walid, styled “The Sword of God”) defeated a Byzantine Army at the Battle of Ajnadan on July 30th, 634. The Byzantines were defeated again at Pella on January 25th, 635. By September 4th, 635, the Muslims had taken Damascus and Emesa (modern Homs.)
The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius gathered an army of 40,000 men and sent it south under the command of Theodorus Trihurus. Khalid ibn al-Walid pulled his army, consisting mainly of light cavalry, back to the Yarmuk River, a tributary of the Jordan. He received reinforcements from Medina and from some of the Syrian Arab tribes, until his army was about 24,000 strong.
The Battle of Yarmuk
The Byzantine Army consisted primarily of infantry, with some cavalry. It was a polyglot army, consisting of Greeks, Arabs, and some Asian auxiliaries. The Muslim Army was more uniformed and it’s commander, Khalid ibn al-Walid, are a more experienced, capable commander.
The Muslims opened the battle on August 20th, 636, with their usual slashing cavalry attacks. At first, the Byzantines held. But the Muslims persisted long enough so that the Byzantine line slowly began to fall apart. By the end of the day, the Byzantines were routed, with enormous casualties. The Muslims suffered, by one account, four thousand casualties.
Aftermath
The Battle of Yarmuk opened Syria and Palestine to Muslim conquest. Damascus and Emesa were retaken in short order. In the following year, 637, Jerusalem fell after a lengthy siege. Aleppo was the last city to hold out, with a Byzantine garrison holding out in a nearby citadel for five months before being forced to capitulate. As Heraclius abandoned the city of Antioch, he lamented, “Farewell, Syria. Thou art the enemy’s now.”
In the meantime, another Muslim Army was busily conquering Sassanid Persia. A huge Persian Army under Rustum, regent for the Persian King, met the Muslims at Kadisya. At first, the Persians held the upper hand, using elephants to break up the Muslim cavalry attacks. But a force of veterans of the Syrian Campaign arrived as reinforcements and managed to stampede the Persian elephants back into the Persian lines, allowing the Muslim cavalry to complete the rout of the Persian Army. Rustum was killed trying to flee.
Khalid ibn al-Walid earned the jealousy of Caliph Umar for his victories. Though he can be counted as one of the greatest Generals in history, he was recalled back to Arabia. He would return as a private solder, fighting with great valor. Despite his desire to die in battle, he instead died in his bed in Emesa in 642.
Within a century, Islam had swept across Egypt, North Africa, and Spain to the West, Persia and all the territories to the East to the Indus River Valley. The Muslims conquered more land than Alexander the Great or the Romans. Only at the Battle of Tours in Southern France, fought in 732, were they stopped from bringing all of Christian Europe under their sway.
Results
The Battle of Yarmuk, little known in the West, was one of the decisive battles in world history. Had the Byzantines prevails, Muslim expansion north and west would have been checked. Also, veterans of the Syrian Campaign would not have been available to turn the tide at Kadisya, so Muslim expansion east would have likely been checked as well. Islam would have not become the world religion that it is today, but would have been confined, at least for a while, in the Arabian peninsula. The implications for the world are still being felt today.
