The Great Islamic Conquests AD 632-750

by David Nicolle

Overview

Few centuries in world history have had such a profound and long-lasting impact as the first hundred years of Islamic history. In this book, David Nicolle examines the extensive Islamic conquests between AD 632 and 750. These years saw the religion and culture of Islam erupt from the Arabian Peninsula and spread across an area far larger than that of the Roman Empire. The effects of this rapid expansion were to shape European affairs for centuries to come. This book examines the social and military history of the period, describing how and why the Islamic expansion was so successful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780969985
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	06/20/2012
Series:	Essential Histories , #71
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	34 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

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.
David Nicolle is Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Medieval Studies, Nottingham University. He is the author of over a dozen books on medieval military history.

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Chronology 9

Background to war: Pre-Islamic Arabia 13

Outbreak: The birth of Islam and the unifying of Arabia 19

The warring sides: Armies of the Middle East and the Mediterranean 26

The fighting: A rising religion meets tired empires 48

Portrait of a soldier: Two warriors of Arabia 63

From conquest to empire: The Umayyad century 66

How the war ended: The fall of the Umayyad dynasty 76

The world around the war: Architecture and religion 80

Portrait of a civilian: A man of letters and a man of God 86

Conclusion 90

Further reading 92

Index 94