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82-600: Westfalen Garrison is a major British garrison with facilities located in Paderborn , Sennelager and Gütersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany which now forms the major part of British Forces Germany . It was the home of 20th Armoured Brigade and most of its subordinate units. Headquarters Westfalen Garrison is based at Antwerp Barracks in Sennelager. The oldest part of Paderborn Garrison
164-645: A colonel , brigadier or major-general , assisted by a garrison sergeant major . In Ireland , Association football (as distinct from Gaelic football ) has historically been termed the "garrison game" or the "garrison sport" for its connections with British military serving in Irish cities and towns. Early Muslim conquests Byzantine Empire Sassanid Persia Caucasus Other regions The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( Arabic : الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة , romanized : al-Futūḥāt al-ʾIslāmiyya ), also known as
246-575: A Muslim Where are your valiant warriors and priests Where are your hunting parties and your feats? Where is that warlike mien and where are those Great armies that destroyed our county's foes? Count Iran as a ruin, as the lair Of lions and leopards. Look now and despair Right from the start of the caliphate, it was realized that there was a need to write down the sayings and story of Muhammad, which had been memorized by his followers before they all died. Most people in Arabia were illiterate, and
328-614: A Muslim emissary. Muhammad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bakr , the first caliph with undisputed control of the entire Arab peninsula after the successful Ridda Wars , which resulted in the consolidation of a powerful Muslim state throughout the peninsula. Byzantine sources, such as Short History written by Nikephoros , claim that the Arab invasion came about as a result of restrictions imposed on Arab traders curtailing their ability to trade within Byzantine territory, and to send
410-465: A collection of militarily weak but geographically inaccessible principalities of Persia. It took decades to bring them all under control of the caliphate. In what is now Afghanistan—a region where the authority of the shah was always disputed—the Muslims met fierce guerrilla resistance from the militant Buddhist tribes of the region. Despite the complete Muslim triumph over Sasanid Iran as compared to
492-878: A decade does suggest serious deficiencies with the Visigothic kingdom, though the limited sources make it difficult to discern the precise reasons for the collapse of the Visigoths. Another Germanic people who founded a state upon the ruins of the Western Roman Empire were the Franks who settled in Gaul . Like the Visigoths, the Frankish cavalry played a "significant part" in their wars. The Frankish kings expected all of their male subjects to perform three months of military service every year, and all serving under
574-515: A guerrilla war was waged by Christians in the hilly countryside of north-western Syria supported by the Byzantines. At the same time, the Byzantines began a policy of launching raids via sea on the coast of the caliphate with the aim of forcing the Muslims to keep at least some of their forces to defend their coastlines, thus limiting the number of troops available for an invasion of Anatolia. Unlike Syria with its plains and deserts — which favored
656-565: A hill, and two wings of cavalry on either side. Little is known about the military forces of the Christian state of Ethiopia other than that they were divided into sarawit professional troops and the ehzab auxiliaries. The Ethiopians made much use of camels and elephants. The Berber peoples of North Africa had often served as a federates (auxiliaries) to the Byzantine Army. The Berber forces were based around
738-747: A holy war in defense of the Christian faith and the Wood of the Holy Cross, as splinters of wood said to be from the True Cross were known, had been used to inspire Christian fighting zeal. The idea of a holy war against the "fire worshipers", as the Christians called the Zoroastrians, had aroused much enthusiasm, leading to an all-out effort to defeat the Persians. Nevertheless, neither empire
820-516: A military base nearby. "Garrison towns" ( Arabic : أمصار , romanized : amsar ) were used during the Arab Islamic conquests of Middle Eastern lands by Arab - Muslim armies to increase their dominance over indigenous populations. In order to occupy non-Arab, non-Islamic areas, nomadic Arab tribesmen were taken from the desert by the ruling Arab elite, conscripted into Islamic armies, and settled into garrison towns as well as given
902-517: A mutiny in Medina in 656 and 'Uthman's murder . Uthman's successor Ali was faced with a civil war, known to Muslims as the fitna , when the governor of Syria Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan revolted against him. During this time, the first period of Muslim conquests stopped, as the armies of Islam turned against one another. A group known as the Kharaji decided to end the civil war by assassinating
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#1732771768711984-518: A painful manner. The charge against him was that he had persuaded Heraclius not to allow the Saracens to trade from the Byzantine country and send out of the Byzantine state the thirty pounds of gold which they normally received by way of commercial gain; and for this reason they began to lay waste the Byzantine land. Some scholars assert that this is the same Sergius, called "the Candidatus", who
1066-407: A reflection of the religious zeal of the conquerors and evidence of divine favor. The theory that the conquests are explainable as an Arab migration triggered by economic pressures enjoyed popularity early in the 20th century but has largely fallen out of favor among historians, especially those who distinguish the migration from the conquests that preceded and enabled it. There are indications that
1148-486: A share in the spoils of war . The primary utility of the Arab-Islamic garrisons was to control the indigenous non-Arab peoples of these conquered and occupied territories, and to serve as garrison bases to launch further Islamic military campaigns into yet-undominated lands. A secondary aspect of the Arab-Islamic garrisons was the uprooting of the aforementioned nomadic Arab tribesmen from their original home regions in
1230-669: Is known about the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah other than it lasted for several days by the banks of the river Euphrates in what is now Iraq and ended with the Persian force being annihilated. Abolishing the Lakhmid Arab buffer state had forced the Persians to take over the desert defense themselves, leaving them overextended. As a result of al-Qadisiyyah, the Arab-Muslims gained control over the whole of Iraq, including Ctesiphon ,
1312-711: Is known in the Muslim world as the "Victory of Victories". As with the Levant, this was the first time since the collapse of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC with the Battle of Opis , that Mesopotamia was ruled again by Semitic-speaking people, after centuries of Persian ( Achaemenid , Parthian and Sasanian empires), and Roman-Greek ( Macedonian , Seleucid the Roman empires) ruling periods. After Nahavand,
1394-458: Is now Afghanistan, indicates a weakening of the power of the Shahinshah (King of Kings), suggesting the empire was already breaking down at the time of the Muslim conquest. Persian society was rigidly divided into castes with the nobility being of supposed "Aryan" descent, and this division of Persian society along caste lines was reflected in the military. The azatan aristocracy provided
1476-723: The Arab conquests , were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad , the founder of Islam . He established a new unified polity in Arabia based in Medina that expanded rapidly under the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate , culminating in Muslim rule being established on three continents ( Asia , Africa , and Europe ) over the next century. According to Scottish historian James Buchan : "In speed and extent,
1558-653: The Arabian Peninsula in order to proactively avert these tribal peoples, and particularly their young men, from revolting against the Islamic state established in their midst. In the United Kingdom , "Garrison" also specifically refers to any of the major military stations such as Aldershot , Catterick , Colchester , Tidworth , Bulford , and London , which have more than one barracks or camp and their own military headquarters , usually commanded by
1640-589: The Battle of the Masts off Cape Chelidonia in Anatolia in 655, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine fleet in a series of boarding actions. As a result, the Byzantines began a major expansion of their navy, which was matched by the Arabs, leading to a naval arms race. From the early 8th century onward, the Muslim fleet would launch annual raids on the coastline on the Byzantine empire in Anatolia and Greece. As part of
1722-586: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre to remain, with the caliph praying on a prayer rug outside of the church. The loss to the Muslims of Jerusalem, the holiest city to Christians, proved to be the source of much resentment in Christendom. The city of Caesarea Maritima continued to withstand the Muslim siege—as it could be supplied by sea—until it was taken by assault in 640. It was the first time since
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#17327717687111804-671: The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and for making Damascus into the capital of a "superpower" that stretched from Portugal to Central Asia, covering the vast territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China. The rapidity of the early conquests has received various explanations. Contemporary Christian writers conceived them as God's punishment visited on their fellow Christians for their sins. Early Muslim historians viewed them as
1886-474: The French garnison , itself from the verb garnir , "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters . A garrison is usually in a city , town , fort , castle , ship , or similar site. "Garrison town" is a common expression for any town that has
1968-474: The Nile Delta were protected by water and because Amr lacked the machinery to break down city fortifications. The Arabs laid siege to Babylon, and its starving garrison surrendered on 9 April 641. Nevertheless, the province was scarcely urbanized and the defenders lost hope of receiving reinforcements from Constantinople when the emperor Heraclius died in 641. Afterwards, the Arabs turned north into
2050-576: The Ridda Wars prompted the Byzantines to send a major expedition into southern Palestine , which was defeated by the Arab forces under command of Khalid ibn al-Walid at the Battle of Ajnadayn in 634. Ibn al-Walid had converted to Islam around 627, becoming one of Muhammad's most successful generals. Ibn al-Walid had been fighting in Iraq against the Sasanians when he led his force on a trek across
2132-590: The Siege of Carthage , that parts of North Africa and Iberia were reconquered by Semitic-speaking people. Among other drastic changes, the early Muslim conquests brought about the collapse of the Sasanian Empire and great territorial losses for the Byzantine Empire . Explanations for the Muslim victories have been difficult to discover, primarily because only fragmentary sources have survived from
2214-535: The "mighty" walls built by the Emperor Theodosius II in the 5th century proved their worth. The majority of the people in Syria remained Christian, and a substantial Jewish minority remained as well; both communities were to teach the Arabs much about science, trade and the arts. The Umayyad caliphs are well-remembered for sponsoring a cultural "golden age" in Islamic history—for example, by building
2296-437: The "real military leader" at Yarmuk "under the nominal command of others". Syria was ordered to be abandoned to the Muslims with Heraclius reportedly saying: "Peace be with you Syria; what a beautiful land you will be for your enemy". On the heels of their victory, the Arab armies took Damascus again in 636, with Baalbek , Homs , and Hama to follow soon afterwards. However, other fortified towns continued to resist despite
2378-453: The Arabs had a strong culture of remembering history orally. To preserve the story of Muhammad and to prevent any corruptions from entering the oral history, Abu Bakr had ordered scribes to write down the story of Muhammad as told to them by his followers, which was the origin of the Quran. Disputes had emerged over which version of the Quran was the correct one and, by 644 different versions of
2460-651: The Byzantine Empire, but much of the cavalry were either recruited from "martial" peoples in the Balkans or in Asia Minor or alternatively were Germanic mercenaries. Most of the Byzantine troops in Syria were indigenae (local), and it seems that at the time of the Muslim conquest, the Byzantine forces in Syria were Arabs. In response to the loss of Syria, the Byzantines developed the phylarch system of using Armenian and Arab Christian auxiliaries living on
2542-480: The Byzantine and Sasanian empires competed for influence in Arabia by sponsoring clients, and in turn Arabian tribes sought the patronage of the two rival empires to bolster their own ambitions. The Lakhmid kingdom which covered parts of what is now southern Iraq and northern Saudi Arabia was a client of Persia, and in 602 the Persians deposed the Lakhmids to take over the defense of the southern frontier. This left
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2624-535: The Byzantine empire. Control of Egypt meant that the caliphate could weather droughts without the fear of famine, laying the basis for the future prosperity of the caliphate. The Byzantine Empire had traditionally dominated the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with major naval bases at Constantinople , Acre , Alexandria and Carthage . In 652, the Arabs won their first victory at sea off Alexandria, which
2706-414: The Byzantines to the Muslims (namely Egypt , Palestine , and Syria ) had been reclaimed from the Sasanians only a few years prior to the Muslim conquests. Arabia was a region that hosted several cultures, some urban and others nomadic Bedouin . Arabian society was divided along tribal and clan lines, with the most important divisions being between the "southern" and "northern" tribal associations. Both
2788-588: The Caspian Sea when an invading Muslim army was almost wiped out by the cavalry of the Khazar Khanate , and, seeing a chance to take back Egypt, the Byzantines launched an amphibious attack which took back Alexandria for a short period of time. Though most of Egypt is desert, the Nile Delta has some of the most productive and fertile farmland in the entire world, which had made Egypt the "granary" of
2870-464: The Mediterranean region, being used in religious ceremonies. However, the conversion of the Mediterranean world to Christianity had significantly reduced the demand for these commodities, causing a major economic slump in southern Arabia which helped to create the impression that Arabia was a backward region. Little is known of the pre-Islamic religions of Arabia, but it is known that the Arabs worshipped gods such as al-Lat, Manat, al-Uzza and Hubal, with
2952-713: The Middle East, India and even from as far away as China. In turn, the Yemeni were great sailors, travelling up the Red Sea to Egypt and across the Indian Ocean to India and down the east African coast. Inland, the valleys of Yemen had been cultivated by a system of irrigation that had been set back when the Marib Dam was destroyed by an earthquake in about 450 AD. Frankincense and myrrh had been greatly valued in
3034-407: The Muslim shipwrights switched from the hull-first method of building ships to the frame-first method. After an Arab incursion into Sasanian territories, the shah Yazdgerd III , who had just ascended the Persian throne, raised an army to resist the conquerors, although many marzbans refused to help. The Persians suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in 636. Little
3116-456: The Muslims, while the people retreated into castles and fortified towns when the Muslims invaded; instead, Byzantine forces ambushed Muslim raiders as they returned to Syria carrying plunder and people they had enslaved . In the frontier area where Anatolia met Syria, the Byzantine state evacuated the entire population and laid waste to the countryside, creating a no man's land where any invading army would find no food. For decades afterwards,
3198-472: The Nile Delta and laid siege to Alexandria. The last major center to fall into Arab hands was Alexandria, which capitulated in September 642. According to Hugh Kennedy , "Of all the early Muslim conquests, that of Egypt was the swiftest and most complete. [...] Seldom in history can so massive a political change have happened so swiftly and been so long lasting." In 644, the Arabs suffered a major defeat by
3280-489: The Persian state collapsed with Yezdegird III fleeing further east and various marzbans surrendering to the Arabs. As the conquerors slowly covered the vast distances of Iran punctuated by hostile towns and fortresses, Yazdgerd III retreated, finally taking refuge in Khorasan , where he was assassinated by a local satrap in 651. In the aftermath of their victory over the imperial army, the Muslims still had to contend with
3362-412: The Persians exposed and over-extended, helping to set the stage for the collapse of Persia later that century. Southern Arabia, especially what is now Yemen, had for thousands of years been a wealthy region that had been a center of the spice trade . Yemen had been at the center of an international trading network linking Eurasia to Africa, and Yemen had been visited by merchants from East Africa, Europe,
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3444-601: The Quran were accepted in Damascus , Basra , Hims , and Kufa . To settle the dispute, the Caliph Uthman had proclaimed the version of the Quran possessed by one of Muhammad's widows, Hafsa , to be the definitive and correct version, which offended some Muslims who held to the rival versions. This, together with the favoritism shown by 'Uthman to his own clan, the Banu Umayya , in government appointments, led to
3526-703: The Royal Air Force as Princess Royal Barracks in 1993. The present garrison was created, in accordance with the Ministry of Defence 's Army Basing Programme, when Paderborn Garrison and Gütersloh Garrison merged to form a new "super-garrison" named Westfalen Garrison on 1 April 2014. Hameln Station was handed back in November 2014 and Herford Station was handed back, once 1st Armoured Division had changed role and then moved to York , in June 2015. Facilities under
3608-452: The Turkic peoples of Central Asia the "most formidable foes" faced by the Muslims. The Jewish Turkic Khazar khanate , based in what is now southern Russia and Ukraine, had a powerful heavy cavalry. The Turkic heartland of Central Asia was divided into five khanates whose khans variously recognized the shahs of Iran or the emperors of China as their overlords. Turkic society was feudal with
3690-575: The Umayyad period, the caliphate had a standing army, including the elite Ahl al-Sham ("people of Syria"), raised from the Arabs who settled in Syria. The caliphate was divided into jund , or regional armies, stationed in the provinces being made of mostly Arab tribes who were paid monthly by the Diwan al-Jaysh (War Ministry). The infantry of the Byzantine army continued to be recruited from within
3772-426: The archangel Gabriel had told him that he was the last of the prophets continuing the work of Jesus Christ and the prophets of Tanakh . After coming into conflict with the elite of Mecca, Muhammad fled to the city of Yathrib, which was renamed Medina . At Yathrib, Muhammad founded an Islamic state and by 630 conquered Mecca. The prolonged and escalating Byzantine–Sasanian wars of the 6th and 7th centuries and
3854-487: The arms race, both sides sought new technology to improve their warships. The Muslim warships had a larger forecastle , which was used to mount a stone-throwing engine. The Byzantines invented Greek fire , an incendiary weapon that led the Muslims to cover their ships with water-soaked cotton. A major problem for the Muslim fleet was the shortage of timber, which led the Muslims to seek qualitative instead of quantitative superiority by building bigger warships. To save money,
3936-711: The capital city of the Sassanids. The Persians lacked sufficient forces to make use of the Zagros Mountains to stop the Arabs, having lost the prime of their army at al-Qadisiyyah. The Persian forces withdrew over the Zagros, and the Arab army pursued them across the Iranian plateau, where the fate of the Sasanian Empire was sealed at the Battle of Nahavand in 642. The crushing Muslim victory at Nahavand
4018-417: The cavalry, the paighan infantry came from the peasantry and most of the greater Persian nobility had slave soldiers, this last being based on the Persian example. Much of the Persian army consisted of tribal mercenaries recruited from the plains south of the Caspian Sea and from what is now Afghanistan. The Persian tactics were cavalry based with the Persian forces usually divided into a center, based upon
4100-411: The collapse of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC with the Battle of Opis , that Mesopotamia and Levant were ruled again by neighboring Semitic -speaking people, after centuries of Persian ( Achaemenid , Parthian and Sasanian empires), and Roman-Greek ( Macedonian , Seleucid the Roman and Byzantine empires) ruling periods. And the first time since the fall of Ancient Carthage in 146 BC with
4182-409: The collapse of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, that the Levant was ruled again by Semitic-speaking people, after centuries of Persian ( Achaemenid Empire ), and Roman-Greek ( Macedonian , the Roman and Byzantine empires) ruling periods. In the mountains of Asia Minor, the Muslims enjoyed less success, with the Byzantines adopting the tactic of "shadowing warfare" — refusing to give battle to
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#17327717687114264-408: The conquests started as initially disorganized pillaging raids launched partly by non-Muslim Arab tribes in the aftermath of the Ridda Wars and were soon extended into a war of conquest by the Rashidun caliphs , although other scholars argue that the conquests were a planned military venture already underway during Muhammad's lifetime. Fred Donner writes that the advent of Islam "revolutionized both
4346-463: The deserts to Syria to attack the Byzantines from the rear. In the Battle of the Mud fought at or near Pella (Fahl) and nearby Scythopolis (Beisan) , both in the Jordan Valley , in December 634 or January 635, the Arabs scored another victory. After a siege of six months the Arabs took Damascus, but Emperor Heraclius later retook it. At the battle of Yarmuk (636), the Arabs were victorious, defeating Heraclius. Ibn al-Walid appears to have been
4428-484: The early Muslim polities at the conquests' peak have been as high as 13,000,000 square kilometres (5,000,000 sq mi). Most historians also agree that, as another primary factor determining the early Muslim conquests' success, the Sasanians and the Byzantines were militarily and economically exhausted from decades of warfare against each other . It has been suggested that Jews and some Christians in Sasanian and Byzantine territory were dissatisfied and welcomed
4510-468: The edge of the Nile River valley, and then defeated a Byzantine counter-attack at Bibays . Contrary to expectations, the Arabs did not head for Alexandria , the capital of Egypt, but instead for a major fortress known as Babylon located at what is now Cairo. Amr was planning to divide the Nile River valley in two. The Arab forces won a major victory at the Battle of Heliopolis in 640, but they found it difficult to advance further because major cities in
4592-419: The first Arab conquests were matched only by those of Alexander the Great , and they were more lasting." At their height, the territory that was conquered by the Arab Muslims stretched from Iberia (at the Pyrenees ) in the west to India (at Sind ) in the east; Muslim control spanned Sicily , most of the Middle East and North Africa , and the Caucasus and Central Asia . It was the first time since
4674-422: The frontier to provide a "shield" to counter raiding by the Muslims into the empire. Overall, the Byzantine army remained a small but professional force of foederati . Unlike the foederati who were sent where they were needed, the stradioti lived in the frontier provinces. During the last decades of the Sasanian empire, the frequent use of royal titles by Persian governors in Central Asia, especially in what
4756-555: The garrison's control include the Sennelager Training Area . Locations within the garrison area include: Paderborn Station (formerly part of Paderborn Garrison): Sennelager Station (formerly part of Paderborn Garrison): Hameln Station (formerly part of Paderborn Garrison): Gütersloh Station (formerly part of Gütersloh Garrison): Herford Station (formerly part of Gütersloh Garrison): 51°46′41″N 8°43′12″E / 51.778°N 8.720°E / 51.778; 8.720 Garrison A garrison (from
4838-419: The horse and camel but seemed to have been hampered by a lack of weapons or protection, with both Byzantine and Arab sources mentioning the Berbers lacked armour and helmets. The Berbers went to war with their entire communities, and the presence of women and children both slowed down the Berber armies and tied down Berber tribesmen who tried to protect their families. The British historian David Nicolle called
4920-407: The invading Muslim troops, largely because of religious conflict in both empires. However, confederations of Arab Christians , including the Ghassanids , initially allied themselves with the Byzantines. There were also instances of alliances between the Sasanians and the Byzantines, such as when they fought together against the Rashidun army during the Battle of Firaz . Some of the lands lost by
5002-415: The khans only being pater primus among the aristocracy of dihquans who lived in castles in the countryside, with the rest of Turkic forces being divided into kadivar (farmers), khidmatgar (servants) and atbai (clients). The heavily armored Turkic cavalry played a significant role in influencing subsequent Muslim tactics and weapons; the Turkic peoples, who were mostly Buddhists at
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#17327717687115084-441: The king's banner were paid a regular salary. Those called up for service had to provide their own weapons and horses, which contributed to the "militarisation of Frankish society". At least part of the reason for the victories of Charles Martel was he could call up a force of experienced warriors when faced with Muslim raids. The province of Syria was the first to be wrested from Byzantine control. Arab-Muslim raids that followed
5166-413: The leaders of both sides. However, the fitna ended in January 661 when Ali was killed by a kharaji assassin, allowing Mu'awiya to become caliph and found the Umayyad dynasty . The fitna also marked the beginning of the split between Shia Muslims who supported Ali, and Sunni Muslims who opposed him. Mu'awiya moved the capital of the caliphate from Medina to Damascus, which had a major effect on
5248-417: The most important being Allah (God). There were also Jewish and Christian communities in Arabia, and aspects of Arab religion reflected their influence. Pilgrimage was a major part of Arabian paganism, and one of the most important pilgrimage sites was Mecca , which housed the Kaaba , considered an especially holy place to visit. Muhammad, a merchant of Mecca, started to have visions in which he claimed that
5330-401: The offensive — the mountainous terrain of Anatolia favored the defensive, and for centuries afterwards the line between Christian and Muslim lands ran along the border between Anatolia and Syria. The Byzantine province of Egypt held strategic importance for its grain production, naval yards, and as a base for further conquests in Africa. The Muslim general Amr ibn al-As began the conquest of
5412-434: The only partial defeat of the Byzantine Empire, the Muslims borrowed far more from the vanished Sassanian state than they ever did from the Byzantines. However, for the Persians the defeat remained bitter. Some 400 years later, the Persian poet Ferdowsi lets Yazdgerd III speak in his popular poem Shahnameh ( Book of Kings ): Damn this world, damn this time, damn this fate, That uncivilized Arabs have come to Make me
5494-426: The period. American scholar Fred McGraw Donner suggests that Muhammad's establishment of an Islamic polity in Arabia coupled with ideological (i.e., religious) coherence and mobilization constituted the main factor that propelled the early Muslim armies to successfully establish, in the timespan of roughly a century, one of the largest empires in history . Estimates of the total area of the combined territory held by
5576-408: The politics and culture of the caliphate. Mu'awiya followed the conquest of Iran by invading Central Asia and trying to finish off the Byzantine Empire by taking Constantinople. In 670, a Muslim fleet seized Rhodes and then laid siege to Constantinople . Nicolle wrote the siege of Constantinople from 670 to 677 was "more accurately" a blockade rather than a siege proper, which ended in failure as
5658-410: The profits of their trade out of Byzantine territory. As a result, the Arabs murdered a Byzantine official named Sergius whom they held responsible for convincing the Emperor Heraclius to impose the trade restrictions. Nikephoros relates that: The Saracens, having flayed a camel, enclosed him in the hide and sewed it up. As the skin hardened, the man who was left inside also withered and so perished in
5740-431: The province on his own initiative in 639. The majority of the Byzantine forces in Egypt were locally raised Coptic forces, intended to serve more as a police force; since the vast majority of Egyptians lived in the Nile River valley, surrounded on both the eastern and western sides by desert, Egypt was felt to be a relatively secure province. In December 639, Amr entered the Sinai with a large force and took Pelusium , on
5822-460: The recurring outbreaks of bubonic plague ( Plague of Justinian ) left both empires exhausted and weakened in the face of the sudden emergence and expansion of the Arabs. The last of these wars ended with victory for the Byzantines: Emperor Heraclius regained all lost territories and restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in 629. The war against Zoroastrian Persia, whose people worshiped the fire god Ahura Mazda , had been portrayed by Heraclius as
5904-406: The rout of the imperial army and had to be conquered individually. Jerusalem fell in 638, Caesarea in 640, while others held out until 641. After a two-year siege, the garrison of Jerusalem surrendered rather than starve to death; under the terms of the surrender Caliph Umar promised to tolerate the Christians of Jerusalem and not to turn churches into mosques. True to his word, Umar allowed
5986-623: The time of the Islamic conquest, later converted to Islam and came to be regarded as the foremost Muslim warriors, to the extent of replacing the Arabs as the dominant peoples in the Dar al-Islam (House of Islam). During the migration period , the Germanic Visigoths had traveled from their homeland north of the Danube to settle in the Roman province of Hispania , creating a kingdom upon
6068-596: The wreckage of the Western Roman Empire . The Visigothic state in Iberia was based around forces raised by the nobility whom the king could call out in the event of war. The king had his gardingi and fideles loyal to himself, while the nobility had their bucellarii . The Visigoths favored cavalry with their favorite tactics being to repeatedly charge a foe combined with feigned retreats . The Muslim conquest of most of Iberia in less than
6150-761: Was Schloss Neuhaus at Paderborn which dates back to 1370 and which became Horrocks Barracks after the Second World War . The main part of Paderborn Garrison has its origins in the Infantrie Kaserne , which was built in the early 20th century on Elsenerstrasse , and the Panzer Kaserne , which were built in the 1930s on Driburgerstrasse , and which went on, after the War, to become Alanbrooke Barracks and Barker Barracks respectively. Linsingen Kaserne (named after General Alexander von Linsingen )
6232-661: Was "killed by the Saracens" as related in the 7th century Doctrina Jacobi document. In Arabia, swords from India were greatly esteemed as being made of the finest steel and were the favorite weapons of the Mujahideen . The Arab sword known as the sayfy closely resembled the Byzantine gladius . Swords and spears were the major weapons of the Muslims, and armour was either mail or leather. In northern Arabia, Byzantine influence predominated; in eastern Arabia, Persian influence predominated; and in Yemen, Indian influence
6314-472: Was built around the same time: this became Harewood Barracks. Additional barracks that were established at Sennelager, a city quarter of Paderborn, also became part of Paderborn Garrison. Gütersloh Garrison had its origins in two Royal Air Force stations: RAF Sundern which was handed over by the Royal Air Force to the British Army as Mansergh Barracks in 1961 and RAF Gütersloh which was handed over by
6396-537: Was built in Hamelin in the 1930s; this went on to be Gordon Barracks. Meanwhile, at Herford , Estorff Kaserne (named after Major-General Ludwig von Estorff ) and Stobbe Kaserne (named after Major-General Otto Stobbe) were built in 1934: these went on, after the war, to become Hammersmith Barracks and Wentworth Barracks respectively. Also at Herford Otto Weddigen Kaserne (named after Captain Otto Weddigen )
6478-578: Was felt. As the caliphate spread, the Muslims were influenced by the peoples they conquered—the Turkic peoples in Central Asia, the Persians , and the Byzantines in Syria. The Bedouin tribes of Arabia favored archery, though contrary to popular belief Bedouin archers usually fought on foot instead of horseback. The Arabs usually fought defensive battles with their archers placed on both flanks. By
6560-479: Was followed by the temporary Muslim conquest of Cyprus . As Yemen had been a center of maritime trade, Yemeni sailors were brought to Alexandria to start building an Islamic fleet for the Mediterranean. The Muslim fleet was based in Alexandria and used Acre, Tyre and Beirut as its forward bases. The core of the fleet's sailors were Yemeni, but the shipwrights who built the ships were Iranian and Iraqi. In
6642-483: Was given any chance to recover, as within a few years they were overrun by the advances of the Arabs (newly united by Islam), which, according to James Howard-Johnston, "can only be likened to a human tsunami". According to George Liska, the "unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam". In late 620s Muhammad had already managed to conquer and unify much of Arabia under Muslim rule, and it
6724-406: Was under his leadership that the first Muslim-Byzantine skirmishes took place in response to Byzantine incursions. Just a few months after Heraclius and the Persian general Shahrbaraz agreed on terms for the withdrawal of Persian troops from occupied Byzantine eastern provinces in 629, Arab and Byzantine troops confronted each other at the Battle of Mu'tah as a result of Byzantine vassals murdering
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