"Battle of Tour(or Poitiers) 732 AD" . Εxpansion of Islam stops in the Pyrenean mountains. Charles Martel vs Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi

Good morning Steemians !

Today you 'll read about the famous battle of Tours or Poitiers for Europeans and Battle of the Highway of the Martyrs for the Arabs.

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This battle took place in October 10th, 732 AD.
From one side were the Frankish and Burgundians under the command of Charles Martel and on the other side were the Arabs under the command of Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, who had already conquered Spain and proceeded East to conquer the rest of Europe.

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According to sources , the European defenders force was between 15000-75000 men while the Islamic offenders force was between 60000-400000 men (about 60000 of them were mounted).

The Arab forses , had easily passed through Septimania and had created a capita named Arbuna in Narbonne. It is said that they had given many privileges to the inhabitants , in order to establish their dominance . Sure thing is that they succeeded and started to threaten the dominance of Frankish.

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Back in 721 AD , Duke of Aquitaine Eudes(the Great), had a great victory over the Arabs in the battle of Toulouge but their raids were continiously and in 725 AD they reached Burgoundy.
In 730 AD ,Eudes mead an alliance with Uthman ibn Naissa, in order to stop the Arab raids.
In 731 AD , Uthman ibn Naissa turned against his leader Abd er Rahman who smashed the rebelion and turned against Eudes who had no other option than ask the help of Frankish after his defeat in Bordeaux . After this battle all Christians were massacred in the Garonne river.

Charles Martel , agreed to help Eudes with the condition that he would be under the command of the Frankish from now on.

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The Battle
By 732 AD , the Arab front lines had crashed every resistance in Galatia looting all the region . A part of the Arab cavalry headed to Tours in order to loot the Saint Martin's Monastery which was the most famous in Western Europe . When Charles Martel was informed about it , he gathered his army and headed South .
The 2 armies met between the cities of Tours and Poitiers in the rivers Clain and Vienne.
As the Frankish forces were mostly light infantry and had to face the heavy cavalry and number superiority of the Arabs , Charles Martel decided to face them in defence formation giving a defencive battle,in a place he had chosen.
For 6 days the 2 armies were waiting for each other to attack , while the Arabs were waiting reinforcements from their looting Army forces.
On the 7th day , Abd er Rahman commanded the charge ,counting on his heavy cavalry superiority but as the Arab sources say , The men of the North were like an umovable sea and repeled all the attacks.
In addition a Frankish force had been sent to the enemy's camp in order to loot it and liberate as many prisoners they could.
This paln, made the main Arab cavalry forces to split in order to return back in their camp. This move created a confusion to the rest of the Arab forces that took it as a retreat !
Abd er Rahman was killed in his effort to regroup his forces ...
The Battle lasted the whole day of October 10th. 732 AD.

After this battle , Charles was called Martel(Marteu) which means Hammer .

(info site)[https://chilonas.com/2013/04/06/httpwp-mep1op6y-sc/]

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Have a nice week!