1381 Years ago between the 15th and 20th of August the geopolitical situation in the middle east changed forever
The eastern Roman Empire faced an invasion from the new Religion Islam and they fought for dominance in the region during the battle of Yarmouk
Thousands died during these six days and violence still rages in the region
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In one of our previous videos we covered the war between the Byzantine empire and the Sassanian shahdom that took place between 602 and 628
Now in order to understand the situation the region before the early Muslim conquest
please watch our previous videos. To summarize, that war ended inconclusively neither side gained much and
conflict week in both states and exposed them to an invasion from the new caliphate
While the two great empires were fighting a bitter war to the south of them the prophet of Islam Muhammad was preaching his new religion
By 630 he had successfully united most of Arabia under his control
Muhammad died in 632
And was succeeded by Abu Bakr although most of the peninsula rebelled against him the new caliph was able to restore his kingdom in 633
Abu Bakr launched an invasion against lands Beyond Arabia during the very same year
Eastern Syria Western Iraq and central Jordan were all conquered it became the foothold for the next phase of his plan
The invasion of Palestine and Syria
This region was a weakness in the Byzantine defenses
The local population was often disloyal for religious reasons and Roman rule was just recently restored after the war against the Sassanids
Historically these lands were usually invaded by the Persians from the east so the defenses to the south were lacking
in 634 Abu Bakr ordered the invasion of Palestine and Syria, his plan was to take control of these provinces and cut the byzantine Empire in half
Emperor Heraclius still considered an attack from the south to be unlikely and only left local garrisons to defend the region
The first battle happened on the Roman Sassanian Border at Faraz
Arab Force then moved to Palestine with the Roman Garrison of Gaza was handily defeated in February
Heraclius then reacted to that and sent a larger army to the center of the region
Caesarea Maritima
The best Muslim commander Khalid Ibn Al-Walid who previously operated in Sassanian territory joined the army
In June and July he defeated Ghassanid forces and then the United byzantine Ghassanid army
led by Heraclius himself while taking only minimal losses
The Central battle of this campaign took place in August at Ainadayn
The Byzantines lost more than 10,000 men along with the ability to defend Palestine
the Muslims now controlled the Countryside
But weren't eager to attack any of the coastal cities since the Byzantines still led an overwhelming Naval advantage
Arab Forces moved to the North Slowly taking over the land
Heraclius traveled from Emesa to Antioch and started recruiting a new army to stop the invaders along the Yarmouk river
however Muslim forces were moving too fast and soon Basra and Tiberias fell under the pressure
Enemies were now in the vicinity of strategically crucial Damascus and Heraclius sent his armies to stop them
Unfortunately for them Al-Walid defeated the Romans twice and besieged Damascus
Sources offer different versions of the events however either through an assault or betrayal Damascus fell at the beginning of September
The death of the caliph slowed down the invasion as his successor Umar demoted Al-Walid
but the new Muslim leader still wanted to conquer Syria and at the beginning of 636
The most important City of Central Syria Emesa was occupied
Aleppo, and Antioch were now under imminent danger however now Heraclius had five armies under his command and also agreed on a plan with
a Persian shah Yazdegerd the third to launch a simultaneous offensive
For the first time Byzantine forces dominated the Muslims numerically and although the Sassanians failed to start their attack
Heraclius decided not to wait
His plan was to either fight four Arab, army separately or at least push them back
Despite the fact that Al-Walid was not the commander anymore
He was still respected and his new General took his advice to Abandon Emesa and Damascus
initially Muslim forces decided to defend on the Yarmouk river
But they were forced their withdrawal to the plains beyond it. The Byzantines and Arabs held their positions for almost three months
there were attempts to negotiate a ceasefire, but they broke down
And finally both armies engaged on the 15th of August
The number of Troops is still contested by historians, but it seems that the byzantines outnumbered their foes two to one
However some estimations are too fantastic
There are claims that the Romans had
400,000 men which seems extremely unlikely as in the previous war against the Sassanids Heraclius was only able to muster around 40,000
Even if recruitment lasted for a year the Byzantines wouldn't be able to field much more than that
We know that the Arabs had around 15,000 during the siege of Emesa
And were joined by Forces raiding Palestine and reinforcements from Arabia since then so it was probably more like 20 to 25 thousand strong
The leader of Byzantines was Armenian general Vahan
He used Ghassanid light cavalry under his command as a screening and skirmishing force
Armenian infantry was in the center flanked by Mercenary foot soldiers to the left and Greek infantry to the right
Infantry was a mix of skirmishers and melee warriors
Each of these groups were backed by cavalry line
consisting mostly of cataphracts
The commanding Chief of the Muslim Army Was Abu Ubaidah
But he allowed Al-Walid to lead during the battle
Al-Walid divided his infantry into four groups with three cavalry squadrons behind them and a bigger cavalry group in reserve
Arab Troops had lighter armor but compensated that with a higher mobility. It should also be said that the roman army was
international and multi-confessional the Arab army however worshiped one religion and consisted of one ethnicity
So the later had a substantial edge regarding morale
Both sides consider the plains to the east of the Yarmouk river favorable
As the Byzantines relied on their numbers while the Arabs felt that mobility was their real strength
On the first day the elite warriors on both sides dueled each other it is said that the Muslims won most the battles and killed many rival officers
At noon Vahan sent one third of his infantry forth for reconnaissance action
And in some areas began pushing the Arabs back
But most of the army was ordered to not attack at all so this initial success did not last long
Eventually units returned to their original positions
During the Muslims morning prayer at the dawn of the next day the Byzantines attacked
Vahan plan was to tie down the enemy center and use a numerical advantage on the flanks
After some struggle the Byzantines succeeded on their left side and their enemies had to retreat all the way back to camp
Sources claim that camp followers and even the wives of the Muslims joined the defense and that allow the defenders to drive the Byzantines back
The Arabs also had to retreat on the left
But eventually took back most of the lost territory as Al-Walid led his cavalry to the area
The Byzantine plan had failed as the Muslim reserve counter attacked their center, and they had to retreat to restore the front
The third day started similar to the second as Vahan left flank was able to get an advantage and killed many Muslims
But Al-Walid restored the formation by sending his cavalry reserve to the right
The number of losses the Arabs took was much higher than that of the Byzantines
So Al-Walid understood that his defensive tactics were bound to end in defeat and tried to come up with a new strategy
The Byzantine leader was sure that his tactics were working and decided to attack the left once more
And as in the previous days his forces were able to drive the enemy all the way back to camp
This time the right center group of the Arabs also had to retreat
And it seemed that the breakthrough would happen soon
Al-Walid had to save the day
He ordered his left and left center to attack and tie down the opposition, as the Byzantine left and left center advanced too much
They had no one to defend their right side. Al-Walid would take advantage of this and send a group to attack there
The Byzantines took many losses and had to retreat to avoid encirclement. The Arab right and right center
had its share of casualties, but it held off the opposing forces
Vahan decided to ask for a ceasefire on the fifth day
But his counterpart empathetically declined, as he was sure that his army was on the verge of victory
Instead Al-Walid sent a cavalry squadron to secure the closest bridge and now the Byzantines had no way to retreat
He concentrated his remaining cavalry on the right flank
On the 6th and the last day of the battle the Muslims were ordered forward
When the infantry engaged, Al-Walid attacked the enemy cavalry and infantry from the flank and rear
The Byzantines still had an advantage in cavalry, but while theirs were spread throughout the front the enemy riders were concentrated
Vahan's cavalry was crushed
The Muslim right succeeded in their battle against the Byzantine left as the later were attacked by the cavalry from the rear
Soon these troops attacked the byzantine center
And that was the end of the battle. As the closest bridge was now under Arab control many Byzantines among them Vahan...
was killed during the retreat and there were more than 25,000 casualties
The Muslims continued their invasion in the next decades they took Syria
Egypt and North Africa from the Eastern Roman Empire, and even Constantinople was besieged on multiple occasions
The Romans never returned to these lands and the Muslims still hold dominion over them today
Thank you for watching our documentary on the battle of Yarmouk we hope that you enjoyed it
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I'm Commissar BRO narrating ------- in Phoenix, and we'll catch you on the next