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The period between the 14th and 16th century AD, when the Ottoman Empire rose,
overthrew the last vestiges of the Roman Empire by conquering Constantinople,
and then threatened all of Europe coming to the very gates of Vienna is well studied and largely
well remembered. But people sometimes forget that the rise of the Ottoman Empire was not the first
time that a Muslim invasion threatened all of Europe. Because 600 years before,
in the 8th century AD, the Moorish invasion through Iberia looked like the Muslim empires
might overrun all of Europe. An event that, had it occurred, would have dramatically changed
world history. But it was not to be, the Moorish invasion through Iberia was eventually stymied,
and then pushed back in a more than 700 year conflict, called the Reconquista. And the turning
point was a battle that has received surprisingly little attention. The 732 AD Battle of Tours,
is one of the most important in European history, and it deserves to be remembered.
In the 7th century, the Prophet Mohammed conquered and unified much of Arabia under
Muslim rule. After Muhammad's death in 632, Abu Bakr became the first Caliph,
meaning successor, and formed the first Caliphate, which expanded to include much of North Africa,
and the former Persian Empire. In 661, that Caliphate was succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate,
which continued to expand the Empire, both East and West. At the beginning of the 8th century AD,
the Iberian Peninsula, encompassing the modern-day countries of Spain, and Portugal,
was a Visigothic Kingdom. The Visigoths were Christian descendents of the Western Roman Empire,
but in 710, the king of the Visigoths, Wittiza, died; some accounts claim by assassination.
Divided, the kingdom was easy prey. Crossing the Gibraltar Strait in 711, the Umayyad army routed,
and nearly annihilated the Visigoth army. And then in just two years, conquered all of Iberia except
for a small mountainous region in the North. In 720, the Umayyads crossed the Pyrenees Mountains
to attack the last province of the Visigoths, Septimania, in what is today, southeastern France.
The invaders were largely Berbers, North Africans, who were themselves recently converted to Islam,
and frequently referred to in Europe, as Moors. Derived from the Roman name for the Berber people
of the Roman African province. The invasion of Septimania put the Moors on the borders of the
mighty kingdom of Frankia, but like the Visigoths, the Franks were in the midst of a civil war.
The Franks were a collection of Germanic peoples who had formed an empire in Western
Europe that eventually led to the birth of the modern nations of France and Germany.
While sometimes at odds with them, the Franks were usually allies of the Romans, and ended
up inheriting most of the Western Roman Empire. The kingdom of Frankia had been unified in 496,
but the kings had become corrupt during a period that was called, Roi faineant,
which literally means, ‘do-nothing Kings' '. The kings themselves became figureheads,
and power had fallen to an official called, The Mayor of the Palace, who controlled
both the kingdom's army, and its finances. But in 714, The Mayor of the Palace died,
and Frankia fell into civil war over choosing a successor. By 718, a successor, Charles Martel,
had won the Civil War, and the title Mayor of the Palace. But many of the kingdom's outlying
Dutchess had gained de facto independence during the period of the Civil War, and he was struggling
to bring them back in line. Among those was the large and powerful Duchy of Aquitaine, who under
its leader, Duke Odo, opposed Charles. It was Aquitaine that was next in the Umayyads sights,
but because of division within Frankia, when Odo asked for Charles Martel's help, Martel refused.
Still Odo was able to win a significant victory against the Umayyads in the 721,
Battle of Toulouse, where Odo was able to surprise a Moorish army that had insufficiently prepared
for a counter-attack, while they were besieging the city of Toulouse. But it was only a brief
respite as conflict among the Franks would offer the Umayyads another opportunity. In 732, while
Odo was distracted fighting Charles Martel to the north, the Umayyads invaded again, and overran
most of Aquitaine. Odo rushed all the troops he could South, but the Umayyads did not make
the same mistakes that they made at Toulouse, and Oto's army was routed at the Battle of the River
Garonne. Now the Moors controlled all of Southern France, and were threatening the very heart of the
Frankish Empire, and Charles Martel's army was the only thing that was preventing a Moorish conquest
of all of Western Europe. Having defeated both the Visigoths, and Aquitaine, the Muslim commander
Abdul Allah Rahman, the Governor of Umayyad ruled Ibera, had every reason to be confident.
The focus of the battle became the City of Tours, on the site of the Abbey of Saint
Martin of Tours. The Abbey was one of the most important Christian sites in Western Europe,
and Abdul Rahman knew that it would have significant riches to loot. Charles,
whose military career was marked by surprising his enemy by moving his
army where it was not expected, quickly moved his forces in front of Tours. The Umayyads,
unaware of the military power of the Franks, were caught off guard when they ran into Martel's
forces blocking them from their goal. Martel's move was effective, Abdul Rahman knew that he
could not ask his army to leave without sacking and getting the riches of the city of Tours,
and running away from a Christian army would have been devastating to morale. And so, Abdullah
Rahman was compelled to fight Charles Martel's army, on ground of Charles Martel's choosing.
Martel, whose army was mostly infantry, chose a gentle slope with his flanks protected by
heavy woods. While both armies sat for a week, gathering their forces, eventually
Abdullah Rahman had no choice but to attack. The Umayyads were a modern, and veteran force,
they had much more cavalry than the Franks, and their bows out ranged the Frankish bows. But
their battle strategy depended upon manoeuvre, and envelopment, and with his flanks protected,
they had to attack Martel's army head-on. They spent a day throwing attacks up the hill,
but the Frankish shields in formation stood, and Frankish discipline held, keeping them
from breaking formation. Exhausted from battering against the Frankish wall, the Umayyads finally
broke, when the Franks pursued Abdullah Rahman was caught trying to lead a rearguard, and killed.
Charles Martel elected not to pursue the fleeing Moors, fearing that there would be ambushes. But
Odo, and the Aquitaineian's did, and much of the Moorish army was destroyed. The Franks saw
the victory as legendary, and Charles Martel won the moniker ‘The Hammer’, because of the
victory. But the Umayyads saw the Battle of Tours being of little importance, and because they said
Abdullah Rahman was really only leading a raiding party, and not truly an invasion army. Modern-day
historians are split on the subject, most still argue that, had Martel lost the Battle of Tours,
that the Umayyads would have overrun all of Western Europe. But some note that Abdullah
Rahman's only goal of the time seemed to be to loot the shrine at Tours. Still, others
argue that it was Otos victory at Toulouse that was most important, because that's the victory
that gave Charles Martel time to consolidate his control of Frankia, and build his army.
But in any case, the Battle at Tours had little overall impact on the strength of Moorish forces
in Iberia. Still it had two important impacts, first it reestablished Frankish
rule over Aquitaine, greatly increasing the strength of the Empire, and second,
it killed Abdul Rahman, who was the governor of Umayyad Iberia. It took nearly two years for the
Umayyads to choose a successor, and in that time Charles Martel was able to strengthen his hand,
and grow his Empire. An Empire that would continue to grow under his successors, including,
of course, his famous grandson, Charlemagne. While the Moors would attempt a few more raids north,
the fact is, that the Moors were on the defensive after the Battle of Tours,
which represented the high-water mark of the Moorish invasion of Iberia. After Tours,
the Reconquista had begun. It was a conflict that would go for another 760 years,
before the last Moorish Kingdom in Iberia, the Kingdom of Granada, finally capitulated in 1492.
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