Battle of the Bridge

Battle of the Bridge

Part of: Islamic Expansion

date	Autumn 634
place	On the Euphrates near Al-Hīra in what is now Iraq
output	Victory of the Sassanids
consequences	Brief withdrawal from Mesopotamia

Parties to the conflict
Arabs	Sassanid Empire
Commander
Abu Ubayd † Al-Hakam † Jabr † Al-Muthanna	Bahman Jaduya Jalinus
Troop strength
35,000 men	29,000 men
losses
19,000 men	4,000 men

The battle of the bridge at Al-Hīra or Kufa is the name given to the first major battle between the Muslim Arabs and the Persian Sassanids as part of the Islamic expansion . It took place on the Euphrates in the autumn of 634 and ended with a victory for the Sassanids.

The battle developed after an Arab army under Abu Ubayd and Muthanna in 633 opened a first serious offensive against the Sassanid-ruled Mesopotamia . On behalf of the new Persian great king Yazdegerd III. organized his general Rostam Farrochzād the defense against the Arabs. Rostam's General Bahman eventually opposed the Arabs in Mesopotamia.

In the autumn of 634 there was then the "Battle of the Bridge". The two armies positioned themselves on different sides of a small body of water or irrigation ditch at Marawa near a bridge near the city of Hira . The Persians managed to panic the Arabs' horses at the sight of their war elephants . Most of all, their archers wreaked havoc among the enemy. The Arabs therefore had to seek close combat and crossed the bridge. When Abu Ubayd was trampled to death by an elephant he personally attacked to reassure his men, the Arabs gave up the battle and turned to flee. According to Tabari (3,456), one of their subordinates gave the order to destroy the bridge in order to make it impossible for the Persians to pursue them. However, as this was done prematurely, the path of numerous fleeing Muslims was cut off; many drowned, others were slain. Few Arabs escaped, including Muthanna, who won the Battle of Buwaib in 635 but died shortly afterwards from his injuries sustained in the Battle of the Bridge.

This was the only major defeat the Arabs suffered in their early expansion. The outcome of the battle shows that from a military point of view the Sassanid Empire would in principle have been able to effectively defend itself against the attacks. However, Rostam could not take advantage of the victory for domestic political reasons, as he and his men had to move quickly to Ctesiphon , where internal turmoil had developed. The Muslims, who had initially come under pressure from the unexpected defeat, were therefore able to regroup undisturbed, and after their victory in the decisive battle of al-Qādisīya the tide turned permanently in their favor.

literature

• Hugh Kennedy: The Great Arab Conquests. How the Spread of Islam changed the World we live in. Da Capo, Philadelphia PA 2007, ISBN 978-0-306-81585-0 , pp. 105ff.

Remarks

1. ^ M. Morony: Bahman Jaduya . In: Encyclopedia Iranica .
2. ↑ See Kennedy (2007), p. 106.