The Armenian conquest
Muslims penetrated the Armenian quarters during the reign of Othman bin Affan. As the frequent Islamic campaigns against the lands of the Armenians were proceeding according to a precise military plan, which was established in advance with the aim of conquering this country and annexing it to Islamic possessions and spreading Islam throughout it, the Muslims, led by Maslama bin Habib al-Fihri, succeeded in extending their authority over the valleys of the Rass River and the Euphrates River, and they encountered resistance in Tbilisi, and the high mountainous areas disappointed the Armenians in Byzantium, which was unable to defend and protect them, and the Armenian leader Theodore Al-Rashtoni was forced to, Who was abandoned by Byzantium because of his hostile sectarian tendencies and his previous position on the imperial commander Procopius in the Battle of Saracen - فo conduct separate negotiations with the Muslims, which ended in the following settlement:
- Muslims recognize the independence of the Armenian provinces.
The Armenians recognize Muslim sovereignty over them on the same terms that the Persians had previously exercised their sovereignty over Armenia.
- Muslims appoint an Armenian governor-general over Armenia.
- The Armenians put a military contingent of fifteen thousand soldiers at the disposal of the Muslims
- Not to impose tribute on Armenia for seven years.
- The Armenians offer a ransom during the period of the agreement that was left open commensurate with their economic ability, in order to ensure the survival of their independence, and they actually paid the Islamic State a symbolic amount of five hundred dinars
The Armenians provide a military force of fifteen thousand fighters that assist the Islamic forces in their wars with their enemies, with the exception of the Levant Front.
- Muslims appoint an Armenian ruler over the lands of the Armenians.
Armenians do not harbor an enemy of Muslims, nor do they help him.
Muslims undertake to help the Armenians if they are subjected to a Byzantine invasion
What did Byzantium (now Istanbul) do about this agreement with the Muslims?
Who stripped Armenia from Byzantine dependence, so the Byzantine Emperor Constantine II in the year "34 AH / 654 AD" led a Byzantine army, Intensified, with a number of one hundred thousand fighters, to the Armenian lands, with the aim of returning the country to the Byzantine fold, and when he reached Tarjan, the Byzantine emperor received an Islamic warning, by not entering the Armenian lands, but the emperor did not pay serious attention to the warning, and continued his march until he reached Theodopolis "Erzurum", and encamped there and received a large number of feudal lords and rulers of the Armenian regions who were displeased with the separation from the Byzantines.
And they abandoned what they pledged to Theodore Al-Rashtoni, and so did the patriarch who disavowed before the emperor from the agreement with the Muslims, and disavowed what the aforementioned Armenian leader did. And he started working to unite Armenia under his leadership and authority.
The Battle of That Al-Sawari against the Byzantines to restore Armenia and its results
The victory the Muslims achieved in the Battle of Dhat As-Sawari did not result in direct and decisive results in the struggle between them and the Byzantines, In addition to the problems that the Islamic state was exposed to, which worsened after the killing of Caliph Othman bin Affan in the year 35 AH / 656 AD, this prompted Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan to conclude a peace treaty with the Byzantines in the year 38 AH / 659 AD. The situation of Armenian women was affected by this agreement due to the resumption of the Armenian feudal families, Its links to the Byzantines, the decline of Islamic influence on this country, and the return of Byzantine influence on the Armenian lands.
The Conquest of Tripoli, the Levant
In the year 23 AH / 644 AD, the Byzantines were able to recover some of the coastal cities of the Levant, and to hold on to them for two years, including Beirut and Byblos, they were helped in this by the large number of members of the Byzantine community present in Tripoli, a city that remained under Byzantine control until that time, It was fortified by the Byzantines, who fled from other coastal cities that the Muslims conquered, In fact, three factors combined that prompted the Muslims to conquer Tripoli (political, economic and military).
political aspect
It was necessary to tighten the Islamic control over the cities of the Levantine coast, and this could not be done without the conquest of Tripoli, the last Byzantine stronghold on this coast.
Economic aspect
Tripoli constitutes an important sea outlet for the Levant, and a gateway for Damascus and Homs.
military aspect
Tripoli was an important Byzantine base, which began threatening the Muslim gains by attacking the Islamic sea frontiers, and it is known that the Byzantines were still superior to the Muslims by sea, and they have their naval fleets that roam the gates of the Mediterranean, and the Levantine coast remained vulnerable to their attacks, and the city was surrounded by Islamic cities on three sides; Arqa in the north, Byblos in the south, and Baalbek in the east.
The events of the siege and conquest of Tripoli, the Levant
- The governor of Baalbek - to Tripoli at the head of a large army to conquer it in a necessary step, to achieve the primary goal, the city consisted of three cities combined from the Roman tongue into the sea, It has three forts, and encamped on its outskirts in Marj al-Silsilah at the foot of Mount Turbel, northeast of the city, five miles away from it, and began attacking the Byzantines, however, he failed to make any progress. For two reasons:
the first
The city was impregnable with its fortifications, and it was difficult to besiege it and conquer it without relying on a nearby, stable base from which to launch.
Second
The people of Tripoli were receiving supplies from Byzantium by sea, which made the siege long, arduous, and inconclusive.
It seems that Sufyan bin Mujeeb Al-Azdi realized these difficulties
So he wrote to Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan asking him for his opinion and advice
He replied: “I will build a fort for you and your soldiers, in which they may shelter at night, and they invaded them during the day. Sufyan bin Mujib Al-Azdi carried out what Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan indicated, so he moved from Al-Marj and crossed the river to its western bank, And he chose a suitable place two miles away from the city, and built a fortress in it that was known by his name, and began to tighten his pressure on the city, and placed guards on the surrounding beaches to monitor the Byzantines, to prevent supplies from it, so its inhabitants were forced to move to the western fort at the head of the port and barricaded themselves in it, and they began to think seriously about escaping themselves, They despaired of the length of the siege, which extended for months, especially since they had run out of supplies, and they were unable to go out to confront the Islamic forces, and only the arrival of Byzantine ships saved them from this critical situation, transported them by night and secretly to the nearby islands under Byzantine control, thus, the city became empty of those who protect it or defend it, so the Muslims entered it and took control of it.
The Reconstruction of Tripoli, the Levant
Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan was concerned with the reconstruction of Tripoli, the Levant, after its inhabitants fled, so he sent a group of Jordanian Jews to it and settled them in its fortress, and no one else lived in Tripoli, the Levant, for a few years. It seems that Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan realized that the Jews are a people whose only concern is securing their own interests, and that many of them betrayed the Byzantines and worked as eyes for the Muslims in exchange for exempting them from the tribute and granting them lands, and they were also famous for their commercial business, which Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan was working to activate with the countries of the Mediterranean, so the Jews lived in the city of Tripoli, then he brought in the Persians from the interior and brought them down there as well
Othman bin Affan had commanded Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan
By fortifying the coasts and shipping them, and giving allotments to those who landed them, so he did, and it is known that the Muslims were, they are afraid to live in the coastal ports, which are always exposed to the raids of the Byzantines, therefore, Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan faced difficulties in seducing the Muslims, although he distributed the lands to them, and he was finally forced to populate them with a non-Muslim mixture, He also authorized some Byzantines to reside in it after he trusted them, and he shipped it every year with teams of Muslim soldiers to defend it against the raids of the Byzantines, and he appointed a worker before him.
Opening of the island of Cyprus
Cyprus was a Byzantine state with Constantinople, the "ancient Salamis" capital, and the population of Cyprus has been practicing the Orthodox Christian faith since 431 AD, the Church melted the people of the island of Cyprus and made them a social, religious and cultural unit, and the strong ancient bonds between the clergy, and the population created a kind of sense of social solidarity in light of a feature that has existed throughout the successive ages in which the island was subject to foreign sovereignty, and when the Muslims opened the sea gaps, the sea gaps became vulnerable to the attacks of the Byzantines, who launched from the nearby islands, and since the military conflict between the Muslims and the Byzantines was in one of its aspects naval, Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan realized the importance of building an Islamic fleet with the aim of:
The Coastal defense
- Invading the offshore islands facing the coast of the Levant
Defense of open interior areas
- The continuation of foreign trade relations with the countries of the Mediterranean, especially since this sea was still under the grip of the Byzantines.
In implementation of this scheme, he wrote to Umar ibn al-Khattab
He is asked to allow him to go to sea and invade the islands near the coast of the Levant, but the caliph did not give him permission. As "he hated that the Muslims should carry invaders in it, He wrote to him about the restoration of the forts of the sea fronts, the arrangement of fighters in them, the establishment of guards on their views, and the provision of stoves for them to protect them from the raids of the Byzantines, this happened in the late days of Omar bin Al-Khattab and the beginning of the era of Othman bin Affan, That the Byzantines regained some coastal cities, as they recovered the city of Alexandria, Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan realized that an Islamic fleet must be established to confront the Byzantine threat, conquering the offshore islands from which the enemy launched, and using them as bases for the invasion of Constantinople, which is the supreme goal of the Muslims, Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan succeeded in persuading Uthman bin Affan to sail the sea, and allowed him to invade Cyprus, provided that he would carry with him his wife, his sister, the daughter of Qarza, and his son, so that he knows that the sea is easy as he portrayed it to him, and commanded him not to force people to ride with him except those who chose to invade voluntarily.
The beginning of the establishment of the first Islamic fleet
Immediately after obtaining the approval of Caliph Uthman bin Affan, Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan decided, repairing the boats that the Muslims seized from the Byzantines, and bringing them closer to the coast of the fortress of Acre, which he ordered to restore, just as he renovated the portholes of Tyre, Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan wrote to the coastal people to prepare for the invasion of Cyprus, which he chose as a military target for the activity of the Islamic fleet
Thanks to its distinguished geographical position at the time as a base for the conquest of Constantinople.
Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan set out at the head of his first campaign on the island of Cyprus in the year "28 AH / 649 AD", and the Islamic fleet consisted of one hundred and twenty boats led by Abdullah bin Qais, a group of companions went out with him, including Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Ubadah ibn al-Samit, his wife Umm Haram, al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad and others, He encounters the Muslim fleet - on its way to Cyprus, some Byzantine boats loaded with gifts, and the King of Cyprus sent them to Emperor Constantine II, so the Muslims seized them, and when the Islamic fleet arrived in Cyprus, He landed on its coast, and the Muslim soldiers raided its surroundings, and seized many of its people, and the king of Cyprus, in light of his inability to resist, was forced to seek peace, so Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan reconciled with him on the condition that:
- The people of the island pay an annual tribute of seven thousand dinars, just as they pay the Byzantines the same amount, and the Muslims have no right to prevent them from doing that.
- Muslims refrain from invading the island, and do not fight on behalf of its people who want them behind them
- The people of the island inform the Muslims of the hostile movements of the Byzantines
- The Muslims are appointed to the people of the island by way of them
But the military reasons prompted him to change his mind after that
And that was in the year “32 AH / 653 AD”, when the people of the island helped the Byzantines in their war against the Muslims, and they gave them some boats for that, so they broke the peace concluded between them and the Muslims, which prompted Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan to invade the island for the second time in the year "33 AH / 654 AD" so he conquered it by force, and took the captives from it, and approved its people for their reconciliation, and deliberately urbanized it, and settled the Muslims in it, so he sent twelve thousand of the people of the Diwan who were registered, and they built mosques there, He also transferred a group of the people of Baalbek to it, and built a city there, and they resided giving gifts until Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan died.
The Conquest of the offshore islands
The Islamic raids continued on the Mediterranean islands, such as: Arwad, Kos and Rhodes, which control the sea straits, the Muslims started on the island of Arwad, near the coast of the Levant, between Tripoli and Jableh, in front of the city of Antartus, and the first expedition returning from Cyprus attacked it, and the Muslim soldiers landed on the land of the island, but its people held the castle, and Arwad was not conquered except in the year “29 AH / 650 AD.” at the same time that the island of Kos was opened, however, Al-Baladhuri mentions that the island of Arwad was opened in the year "54 AH / 674 AD." At the hands of Janada bin Abi Umayyah, and Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan inhabited the Muslims, and the fact is that the marine campaigns at these islands were in succession, and it was not possible for the Muslims to subjugate them in one campaign or one year.
Neither of them achieved a clear victory
and the military position did not change in favor of the Muslims except when Caliph Othman bin Affan sent reinforcements under the leadership of Abdullah bin Al-Zubayr, the Byzantine commander was killed in the battle, and those who survived the Byzantine soldiers fled in every direction, and Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh entered the city of Sbeitla, He dispersed his soldiers in the country, reached Gafsa, and Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh conquered the fortress of Al-Ajm, south of Kairouan (Tunisia) It seems that he was content with these few conquests, He made peace with the country's Berber leaders, and returned to Egypt without leaving a trace, However, the invasions of Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh, which took place in this way, were a useful experience for Muslims. It stopped them on the state of this country and its importance to them.
The invasion of Nubia
After Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh returned from Ifriqiya, he invaded Nubia and reached its capital, Dongola, in the year 31 AH / 652 AD, and he collided with its people in fierce fighting, but he was unable to open it, so he calmed them down, He concluded peace with them, which is more like an economic treaty between Egypt and Nubia, so Egypt supplies this country with grain and lentils, and the Nubians send flour to Egypt.
The Battle of That Al-Sawari
As a result of the Muslim victories in the Mediterranean, the Byzantine emperor feared the growth of the Islamic naval power, which would pose a direct threat to the Byzantine presence, In the eastern basin of this sea, in addition to the threat of Constantinople, he also heard news of the massive land and sea preparations, that Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan was carrying out to invade Constantinople, so it was necessary to confront the situation by destroying this developing Islamic power in its cradle, when Othman bin Affan learned of the hostile intentions of the Byzantines, he ordered Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan to prepare a huge fleet of ships, the soldiers and equipment are mobilized alongside a huge land crowd, in preparation for conducting a land and sea campaign to attack them, and the sources’ accounts indicate that Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan left Damascus, with the people of the Levant in the year "34 AH / 654 AD" at the head of the land campaign, and at the same time the ships sailed from the port of Tripoli under the leadership of Busr bin Abi Arta, It joined the fleet coming from Egypt, led by Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarh, the two fleets met on the coast of the city of Acre and set off towards the north, and the number of the Islamic fleet reached two hundred and more.
Muawiyah bin Abi Sifan arrived with his forces at Caesarea in Cappadocia, Asia Minor
While the Islamic ships were approaching the waters of the Byzantine state at the southern coast of Asia Minor, and for his part, the Byzantine Emperor came out, from his capital at the head of his fleet, whose ships ranged between five hundred and a thousand, so that "the Romans had never met the likes of it since Islam, the Islamic fleet and the Byzantine fleet met near the shore of Lycia at the port of Phoenix, In "the month of Muharram in the year 34 AH = the month of July in the year 654 AD" The Muslims feared that their enemy would prevail. they were horrified by the Byzantine fleet, they had never fought a naval battle against such a huge fleet, and one of the Muslim fighters - Malik bin Aws bin Al-Hadathan - said: when he saw the enormity of the Byzantine fleet, he said: "So we met at sea, and we looked at boats the likes of which we had never seen.
Muawiyah bin Abi Sifan arrived with his forces at Caesarea in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, while the Islamic ships were approaching the waters of the Byzantine state, at the southern coast of Asia Minor, and for his part, the Byzantine Emperor left his capital at the head of his fleet, The number of his ships ranged between five hundred and a thousand, so that "the Romans have never met since Islam. the Islamic fleet and the Byzantine fleet met near the shore of Lycia at the port of Phoenix, In the month of Muharram in the year 34 AH = the month of July in the year 654 AD. the Muslims feared that their enemy would prevail. They were horrified by the Byzantine fleet, and they had never fought a naval battle against such a huge fleet, one of the Muslim fighters - Malik bin Aws bin Al-Hadathan - expressed when he saw the enormity of the Byzantine fleet by saying: "So we met at sea, and we looked at boats the like of which we had never seen.
The Muslims made contact with the Byzantines before the fighting began
And they offered them to fight on the coast, and if they wanted, then at sea, so they preferred to fight in the water because of their confidence in their fighting ability in the sea on the one hand, and their view of the Muslims, on the other hand, the Byzantine emperor, who led the battle himself, implemented a clever plan to exhaust the Muslims by pushing them to shoot the Byzantines with arrows and bows, until their ammunition ran out, and he did not try to approach his ships from the Islamic ships, so the Muslims were forced to throw them with spears and stones, at this stage of the battle’s events, the Byzantine emperor was reassured of the soundness of his military situation, and thought that victory had become his lot, and that the Byzantines would only need one attack to destroy the Islamic fleet, and he repeated his saying: "The Romans have defeated. when their ammunition ran out, they tied their ships to each other, lined up on their backs, armed with swords and daggers, and threw the Byzantine ships with hooks and hooks and attracted them to them, thus, the appearance of the ships turned into a battlefield, and thus they transformed the naval battle into a battle as close as possible to land battles, In the face of this rapid and sudden change in the course of the battle, the Byzantine leadership was confused and lost control over the factors of victory, that the defeat will befall his forces due to the fact that the Muslims are more steadfast in a fight of this kind, the Muslims took advantage of the weakening of the field force of the Byzantine navy, the chaos that appeared in the ranks of the Byzantines; Where they were "fighting out of rows", so they jumped to the Byzantine ships and fought the Byzantines fiercely and defeated them, the emperor was wounded and fled from the battlefied, the Islamic fleet and the Byzantine fleet met near the shore of Lycia at the port of Phoenix.
As for naming the battle with That Al-Sawari
It is most likely due to the large number of masts of the ships that participated in the battle, despite what is inferred from al-Tabari’s narration that Dhat al-Maswari is the name of the place where the battle took place.
The results of the Battle of That Al-Sawari:
- This victory confirmed the growing naval power of the Muslims, and historians compared it with the land battle of Yarmouk
- This battle is one of the decisive battles in medieval history, because it transformed the Byzantine-Islamic relations towards a new direction in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean, as it was considered the entrance from which the Muslims overlooked the Middle World as a competing naval power in the region.
- The Byzantine Emperor Constantine and the emperors who came after him abandoned the idea of expelling Muslims from the lands, which they conquered in the eastern Mediterranean, and contented themselves with securing the defense of the Byzantine lands in the southern front of Asia Minor.
This change in the Byzantine military plans benefited the Islamic state at a time when it entered a period of anxiety and internal conflict due to the killing of Uthman bin Affan, the civil war between Ali bin Abi Talib and Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan; Where calm prevailed in military relations between the two sides, - this battle missed the last chance for the Byzantines to regain their positions in the Levant and Egypt. Where they relied on naval supremacy.
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