starting in the seventh century Arab
armies began spreading the Muslim
religion outside of the deserts of the
Arabian Peninsula after only a few short
decades they had conquered large amounts
of territory in North Africa the Middle
East in Asia around the same time these
Muslim armies have begun to conquer much
of the territory from the Byzantine
Empire in the Middle East in Asia Minor
the Byzantines have been weakened by the
constant wars against the Persian Empire
and were in a vulnerable state by the
year 640 Muslim armies were starting to
raid deep into the territory of the
Byzantine Empire the Byzantines were
under relentless attack from the Arab
armies another homeland was being
severely threatened the Arabs developed
a large Navy a short time later to raid
even more territory of the Byzantines
the attacks came closer and closer to
the Byzantine capital of Constantinople
it was only the start of a Muslim civil
war in 659 that prevented further
attacks on the Byzantine homeland the
Umayyad Caliphate emerged victorious
from the Muslim civil war and 661 and
attacks resumed on Asia Minor
by the early 670 s it was clear that the
Caliphate intended to besieged
Constantinople and gathered a massive
army with a supporting Navy for the
effort starting in 674 the Arab forces
began besieging the area around
Constantinople the attacks and
counter-attacks from the defenders went
on for numerous years as the hostilities
would stop in the winter and resume in
the spring finally in late 677 or early
678 the Byzantine Emperor Constantine
the fourth decided to take the Arab army
head-on and ordered an attack with his
fleet and land forces
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his Navy had a new secret incendiary
weapon that the Muslim fleet was totally
unprepared for and were completely
routed in battle this devastating weapon
would later be known as Greek fire with
their fleet completely vanquished the
Muslim land army was also soon defeated
in battle
losing 30,000 men in the process the
Arabs abandoned the siege a short time
later that year the byzantine victory
was of extreme importance for the
survival of the empire as the threat
from the Muslim conquerors receded for a
time period another Muslim civil war
allowed the Byzantine Empire to even
gain the upper hand over the Umayyad
Caliphate in the following years it is
believed that Greek fire was created by
an engineer named Kalina Coase from
Syria in 672 and brought it to
Constantinople when his province was
overrun by the Muslim armies no one
knows the exact ingredients of Greek
fire as it was a Byzantine state secret
that was never revealed various sources
say it was likely a mixture of naphtha
pine resin quicklime calcium phosphate
and sulfur this combination was
pressurized and shot through a pivot
nozzle onto their enemy's wooden ships
of the time period were no match for the
destructive power of this liquid fire
and turned enemy ships into white ash a
short time after being hit it was the
most powerful weapon of the day and
brought terror to the Empire's enemies
this mixture even burned on water to
increase its effectiveness and power it
wasn't only deployed on ships as it
could be made into handheld siphons an
early form of flamethrowers and it could
also be made into hand grenades the
Umayyad Caliphate tried once again to
conquer Constantinople in 717 with a
massive force in another combined land
and sea operation similar to the earlier
siege in 674
the Arab fleet which was supposed to
blockade the city from resupply was once
again decimated by the Byzantine use of
Greek fire while Constantinople was
getting resupplied by sea the Arab land
army became crippled with famine and
disease the Arab sent a fleet of
reinforcements in 718 but they too were
defeated before they could reach their
army additional land forces were
ambushed and defeated when crossing Asia
Minor by the Byzantines an allied force
of vulgaris attacked the Arabs from
behind and the Caliphate was forced to
lift the siege in August 718 the
Byzantine victory in the second siege of
Constantinople is considered one of the
most important in European history as it
ensured the survival of the Byzantine
state the Arabs continued to attack the
Byzantine Empire but they abandoned the
goal of trying to conquer Constantinople
the Byzantine victory also postponed the
Muslim advance into southeastern Europe
by centuries Greek fire was deployed by
the Byzantines for hundreds of years but
it is believed that the secret recipe
was lost sometime during the 12th
century as no more effective uses were
recorded in history other powers tried
to copy the use of Greek fire but they
could never figure out how to use it as
effectively as the Byzantines the
deployment of Greek fire is credited as
one of the main reasons the Empire
survived for so long despite being under
relentless attack from all sides for
centuries
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