Battle of Akroinon
Expansion of the Byzantine Empire around 717
| date | 740 |
|---|---|
| place | Akroinon, near today's Afyon |
| output | Decisive Byzantine victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Emperor Leo III. |
al-Malik ibn Su'aib † |
| Troop strength | |
| unknown | 20,000 (after Theophanes) |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
approx. 13,000 (according to Theophanes) |
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
In the Battle of Akroinon in 740 , the Byzantine Empire defeated the Islamic Arabs . The battle took place at Akroinon (Acroënus in Phrygia , near today's Afyon in western Anatolia).
After the Arabs suffered a severe defeat against Byzantium during the siege of Constantinople in 718 and had lost their navy in particular, they soon resumed war on land. From 726 they invaded Asia Minor annually on raids , Kaisareia was occupied, Nikaia was besieged. In 740 the Byzantines resolutely opposed the Arabs. Since the Bulgarians on the western flank of the empire adhered to the peace treaty concluded with Byzantium in 716, the Byzantine emperor was able to concentrate his troops in Asia Minor. The resistance of the Byzantines was also favored by an alliance with the Khazars , who in turn launched attacks on the Arabs in the Caucasian and Armenian areas.
Emperor Leo III. personally took command of the Byzantine army , together with his son Constantine . At Akroinon they formed the Arab army of the Umayyad caliph Hisham , who was led by al-Malik ibn Su'aib and 'Abdallah al-Battal.
The Arabs were decisively defeated, and both Arab commanders fell in battle. 'Abdallah al-Battal was transformed into the character of Battal Gazi in Arabic and later Turkish epic stories about the struggles of the caliphate with Byzantium after his death .
After the clear victory of the Byzantines, they were able to drive the Arabs out of Asia Minor . Eight years after the Battle of Tours and Poitiers , Islamic expansion came to a standstill in the east for several centuries. It was not until the 11th century that an Islamic armed force reappeared on the eastern border of the empire with the Turkish Seljuks .
The battle is described in the chronicle of the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes (AM 6231).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Georg Ostrogorsky : History of the Byzantine State. CH Beck, Munich 1963, ISBN 978-3-406-01414-7 , p. 131.
- ↑ a b Cf. Friedhelm Winkelmann: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period. First division (641–867). De Gruyter, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-11-016673-9 , p. 127.
- ^ Friedhelm Winkelmann: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period: First Division (641–867). 1. Volume, De Gruyter, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-11-015179-0 , p. 5.
- ↑ See e.g. B. Leopold Breyer: Iconoclasm and the Arab storm in Byzantium. The 8th century (717–813) from Theophanes' World Chronicle. ( Byzantine historians. Volume 6.) Styria, Graz 1964. [Translation of the chronicle from 717.]