The Battle of Tours: A Quick Look at The Battle that Changed History

The Battle That Changed History

                                                                        Image Credit: http://nobility.org/2011/10/20/battle-of-tours/

The Battle of Tours of 732 (or Poitiers, but not be confused with the battle in 1356) involved Charles Martel leading a force of Merovingian Franks against the Umayyad Caliphate. The Umayyad's had conquered the Iberian Peninsular in the early 700's. They then set out to invade southern France, but were repelled by the Duke of Aquitaine, Odo the Great, at the Battle of Toulouse (721). However, ten years later the Umayyads returned and crushed Odo's forces at the Battle of the River Garonne . Duke Odo looked for aid from Charles Martel. However, Martel only promised aid if Odo submitted to the Franks. Martel knew he had to raise a professional army to defeat the invaders, rather than using conscripts. Martel tried to remain undetected as he marched, so he could choose where to position his forces. He ended up positioning his forces between Tours and Poitiers. Abdul Rahman al Ghafiqi, leader of the Umayyad forces, was shocked when Martel's 30,000 men were positioned in a square on top of  terrain unfavourable for a Umayyad attack. Abdul Rahman' pause for a week while he gathered all his forces (up to 80,000). This pause allowed Martel to gather more veteran infantry at his position. However, a week later the pause ended and Abdul Rahman sent his cavalry into battle.

Martel's infantry held against wave after wave of cavalry. Eventually, the Umayyad cavalry broke through, but Martel was still saved, as his guard repelled the assault. However, the battle changed dramatically when some of Martel's men started to free prisoners in the Umayyad camp. Martel had sent the men out earlier. A large portion of the Umayyad force believed their plunder from the campaign was in danger and so the raced back to try and save it. Abdul Rahman was surrounded and killed by the Franks, when he tried to stop the supposed retreat.The Franks pursued the Umayyads for a short time. The Umayyads fully retreated and as a result they fled the whole of France, back to Iberia.

It seems the battle changed history, in the sense that it halted the advance if Islam into France. However, in 735 the new governor of al-Andalus, 'Uqba b. Al-Hajjaj moved into France to avenge Tours. Up until 739, the governor carried out raids on places such as Lyon, Burgundy and Piedmont. However, Charles Martel saved the day again with two campaigns, one in 736 and 739 . However, the Umayyads were still not defeated yet. But, in 759 Pippin the Short finally expelled the Umayyads out of France after the fall of Narbonne. The aftermath of the Battle of Tours reveals the Battle of France was far from over after Tours. This leads to one final question, did the Battle of Tours change history ? In my opinion, I think if the Umayyad's won the battle,  they would have advanced even further into France and possibly secured some land for a long period. However, the Franks won the Battle of Tours, and so now I shall say my opinion on what historically happened.  I believe, regardless of the Battle of the Tours, the Umayyads could have eventually finished their invasion of France successfully. It was the campaigns that followed that truly ended the Ummayad threat and therefore, in terms of the Umayyad's not winning Tours, I think the battle did change history, but in terms of the Franks winning, the battle did not change history greatly.

Sources: Greatly, 

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswarsto1000/p/tours.htm

The Greatest Ottoman Sieges in History

The Great Sieges

Throughout, history there have been many sieges, some of these have altered the course of history, while others have been on a spectacular scale. Regardless of this, there have been many sieges that can be called great. One empire, the Ottoman Empire, participated in many great sieges. Below is a brief description of some of the greatest sieges the empire participated in.

The Siege of Constantinople (1453)

 

                                          Image Credit:from http://everyhistory.org/1400constantinople1.html, by Jean Chartier

The siege of Constantinople took place between the attacking Ottoman Empire and the defending Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine, or East Roman, Empire had been declining for centuries and by the time of the siege of 1453 the empire had reduced in size,drastically. There were around 10,000 defenders of the capital of the Byzantine Empire and about 100,000 attackers led by Sultan Mehmed II. The siege began on the 6th April 1453. At the beginning of the siege the Ottomans seized the last few Byzantine strongholds and also heavily bombarded the Byzantine walls for 12 days. However, the Byzantine troops easily defended a breach in their walls. When, Genovosi ships broke through the Ottoman fleet and passed the chain placed across the harbour and resupplied the city. Mehmed II decided he needed control of the Golden Horn. Therefore, Ottoman ships were dragged overland and 30 ships were in the harbour by the 22nd of April. Over the next weeks of the siege the Ottomans launched several assaults on the city, whether by breach, ladder, tower or by  trying to dig tunnels under the walls. However, the Byzantines held. However, on the 29 May 1453 the city finally fell in a final assault, in which Emperor Constantine XII Palaiologos was killed. The city likely fell because the defenders were heavily outnumbered, tired and low on supplies. The siege changed history as it opened Europe up to the Ottoman Empire.

The Siege of Vienna (1529)
                                           

                                                         Image Credit: http://apippas.wordpress.com

Since the Siege of Constantinople (1453) the Ottoman Empire had grown even stronger. In 1529, as it besieged Vienna, the empire reached its height. The Siege marked an end to the rapid expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. In May 1453 the Ottoman Army of  around 120,000 men left Constantinople for Vienna. However, unusual downpours of rain affected the Ottoman march, for example the Ottomans had to leave their heavy cannons behind. However, on September 29th the Ottoman Army reached Vienna.  The Ottomans quickly surrounded the city, but the Holy Roman Emperor,Charles V was away fighting against France. There just over 20,000 men defending the city. Suleiman had obviously expected the city to surrender, which he also wanted, as only then would he get the full treasures of Vienna according to Islamic Marshal Law.  As the rain had prevented the Ottomans from bringing there larger cannons they had to use small ineffective cannons. However, their main use was to incite fear in the populace of Vienna. The Ottomans dug tunnels and tried to place explosives under the walls. However, on the 28th September it rained and the black powder for the explosives was soak. On October the 9th the rain stopped and the Ottoman explosives were detonated. However, the breach was easily defended by the Landsknecht. A final assault on October 14th was easily repelled. The siege marked the beginning of the long decline of the Ottoman Empire, as it would never reach the same heights again.

The Siege of Malta (1565)

  

                                          Image Credit:http://www.historynotes.info/place-to-visit-malta-804/

On the 18th May 1565 the Ottoman armada arrived at Malta. The Ottomans wanted to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean, to use as a position to use to gain more power. The Ottomans once again had a sizeable army of around 40,000, while the defending Knights Hospitalier only had 600 Knights. However, they did have the support of some mercenaries and some Maltese irregular troops. In total, the defending force summed up to about 8,000 men. Jean Parisot de Valette,Grand Master of the Order of Malta, was in charge of the defenders. The Ottomans began their siege by assaulting the Fort St Elmo, Valette was hoping to hold on until promised relief from Sicily came. However, within a week the fort was nearly reduced to rubble. Despite, Valette still supplying the fort, it eventually was overwhelmed on the 23rd of June. The Ottomans assaulted more and more Maltese positions, but each time they were repelled. Sometimes, the Ottomans nearly won the siege, just to be driven away again. In the beginning of September, the Ottoman commander, Mustafa Pasha, ordered his men to take Mdina. His idea was to go through the winter there. However, on the 8th September the Ottomans had gave up and were preparing to leave the island. But, the day before a relief force of 8,000 men arrived on the island. After much pursuit, the Ottomans left Malta on September 11th.

Sources:

http://www.historytoday.com/tony-rothman/great-siege-malta
http://apippas.wordpress.com
http://everyhistory.org/1400constantinople1.html

A Brief Look at the History of Antarctic Politics

The Politics of Antarctica

Several nations lay territorial claims to the Earth's southernmost continent. Seven of the continent's eight territories have been claimed by various nations. However, in general, these claims are not universally recognised. Regardless of this, these claims have been somewhat postponed due to the Antarctic Treaty, which came into force in 1961. The Antarctic Treaty allows no more claims to be made on the continent, while it is in force. Also, it does acknowledge or challenge any of the claims that were made to the land before the Treaty came into force. The Treaty also defines Antarctica as a place of peace and international scientific benefit.

                                               Image Credit: http://www.discoveringantarctica.org.uk/9_claims.php



Above is a look at what Antarctic land is claimed by the various nations that have claimed land there. As you can see, some of the claims overlap each other, in particular the claims laid by the United Kingdom, Argentina and Chile. Despite, The Antarctic Treaty officially 'delaying' these claims, there has still been disputes over them. A recent example was in late 2012 when the British Government named 169,000 square miles of  the British Antarctic Territory after Queen Elizabeth II as a 'gift' for her Diamond Jubilee. Argentina saw this as a provocation,as the British Antarctic Territory overlaps Argentine Antarctica. What made this worse was that tension had already been created after a recent dispute over the Falkland Islands, another British Overseas Territory. However, on the 27th December 2012 Russia called for the the responsible compliance of the Antarctic Treaty, which states that no activities,which take place when the treaty is in  force, can assert or deny a nation's claim on territory in Antarctica.

One nation, Brazil, has not officially claimed land in Antarctica, but has declared 'a zone of interest'. Meanwhile, Peru,Russia,South Africa and the USA have reserved their rights to claim land in Antarctica. Does this mean in the future their could be more political tension over Antarctica ? It seems that there will be no major disputes over territory in Antarctica. However the possibility is still open, even for minor disputes.


Sources:
http://www.neurope.eu/article/russia-issues-statement-queen-elizabeth-land
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/9752856/Part-of-Antarctica-named-Queen-Elizabeth-Land-as-gift-for-Diamond-Jubilee.html
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk