Siege of Germanikeia
| date | 638 |
|---|---|
| place | Kahramanmaraş |
| output | Germanikeia conquered by the Arabs |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
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| Commander | |
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Unknown
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Byzantine-Arab Wars
Early battles
Mu'ta - Tabuk - Dathin - Firaz
Arab conquest of the Levant
Qartin - Bosra - Adschnadain - Marj al-Rahit - Fahl - Damascus - Marj ad Dibadsch - Emesa - Yarmouk - Jerusalem - Hazir - Aleppo
Muslim conquest of Egypt
Heliopolis - Alexandria - Nikiou
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
Sufetula - Vescera - Carthage
Umayyadidische invasion of Anatolia
and Constantinople
Iron bridge - Germanikeia - 1. Konstantin Opel - Sebastopolis - Tyana - 2. Konstantin Opel - Nicaea - Akroinon
Arabic-Byzantine border war
Kamacha - Kopidnadon - Krasos - Anzen and Amorion - Mauropotamos - Lalakaon - Bathys Ryax
Sicily and Southern Italy
1st Syracuse - 2nd Syracuse - Campaigns of the Maniac
Byzantine counter-attack
Marasch - Raban - Andrassos - Campaigns of Nikephoros Phokas - Campaigns of John Tzimiskes - Orontes - Campaigns of Basil II. - Azaz Sea
operations
Phoinix - Muslim Conquest of Crete - Thasos - Damiette - Thessalonike - Byzantine reconquest of Crete
The siege of Germanikeia or Marasch was carried out by troops of the Islamic Caliphate during their invasion in 638. The city surrendered without much bloodshed. The campaign in Anatolia was the last of the famous Arab general Chālid ibn al-Walīd .
background
The Muslims had achieved a complete victory in the battle of Jarmuk in 636 , an attempt by the Eastern Roman emperor Herakleios to recapture the province of Syria failed. Since he lacked imperial troops for further campaigns, he called Christian Arabs from Mesopotamia to help. They besieged Emesa, which had fallen to the Muslims, in the summer of 638. The Muslims adopted a defensive strategy that led to the Battle of Emesa. All garrisons from the occupied cities in Syria were concentrated at Emesa. The Christian Arabs were forced to withdraw when another Muslim army from Iraq attacked their headquarters in Mesopotamia. While they were marching back, the Muslim cavalry led by Chālid ibn al-Walīd fell in the back, dispersing them. Caliph Umar then ordered an invasion of Mesopotamia, which was captured in a few months. As soon as western Mesopotamia was conquered, Abū ʿUbaida ibn al-Jarrāh wrote a letter to Umar and asked him to place Ayadh bin Ghanam, who was also campaigning in western Mesopotamia, under his command so that he could send him on raids into Anatolia. Umar agreed.
siege
In the autumn of 638 Abu Ubaidah sent several detachments, two of them under the command of Chālid ibn al-Walīd and Ayadh, to plunder the Eastern Roman-ruled Anatolia as far as Tarsus in the west. Chalid's main target was Germanikeia (Arabic: Marasch), which lies at the foot of the Taurus Mountains . Late in 638 his army began to siege the city, which was manned by a garrison . Since they could not hope for help from Emperor Herakleios , the garrison surrendered to the usual conditions, which included sparing the population with numbers of jizya . The Muslims, however, were able to appropriate the entire property of the underdog.
consequences
The Muslims returned to Chalcis in Syria laden with a great number of riches . Since the caliph feared the popularity of Khalid after this successful campaign, he released him from the command of his armed forces in Syria. Instead of starting a (probably successful) revolt against Umar, the general obeyed and retired in Emesa , where he died in 642.
Individual evidence
- ↑ AI Akram, The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns, Nat. Publishing. House, Rawalpindi (1970) ISBN 0-7101-0104-X . Chapter 36