On 20 August 636, the Battle of Yarmuk was fought in Palestine between the Byzantines under Vahan against the Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid during the Wars of Arab Expansion.
Why did it happen?
In 622, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius led a large army out of Constantinople to counterattack the Sassanid Empire, which had overrun much of the Byzantine Empire’s eastern provinces. Although Heraclius won a decisive victory over the Sassanids at the Battle of Nineveh in 627, the war had left both empires exhausted and vulnerable to outside attack. Beginning in 633, the Arabs under Caliph Abu Bakr and his brilliant general Khalid ibn al-Walid began to make probing attacks on the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires. Fueled by their belief in Islam, the Arabs defeated a Byzantine army at the Battle of Ajnadayn on 30 July 634 and were able to conquer most of Palestine. Because of religious persecution and harsh taxation, most people inhabiting Palestine welcomed the Muslim Arabs as liberators, and in 635, Damascus was captured by Khalid ibn al-Walid. In 636, Heraclius assembled a large Byzantine army at Antioch under the Armenian general Vahan who marched south to the Sea of Galilee where he met an Arab army under Khalid ibn al-Walid. Skirmishing took place near the Yarmuk River between 15-19 August before the main battle was joined on 20 August.
Who was involved?
The Byzantine army at Yarmuk numbered 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. The Byzantine infantry was arrayed in a long shield wall under the command of Vahan, while the cavalry was arrayed in the second line on both the left and right wings under Buccinator and Gargis, respectively. The Arab army at Yarmuk numbered 17,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry. The Arab infantry was arrayed in four divisions with Yazid Ibn Abu Sufyan commanding the left wing, Khalid ibn al-Walid in the centre and Amr Ibn al-As commanding the right wing along with the cavalry. While much of the Byzantine army was comprised of Slavic, Frankish and Christian Arabic mercenaries who resented Byzantine rule, the Muslim Arabs were united in both religion and purpose and were under the command of a military genius.
What happened?
On the night of 19/20 August, Khalid-ibn al-Walid sent 500 Arab cavalry to capture the Ayn Dhakar bridge to cut off the Byzantine’s line of retreat. On 20 August, the battle began with the Byzantine and Arab archers exchanging arrow fire, during which Gargis was killed by an arrow. After ordering a general attack by the infantry on the Byzantine army, the Arab cavalry on the right wing outflanked and enveloped the Byzantine left wing, which caused the cavalry on that wing to rout. After all the Byzantine cavalry had been routed, the Arab cavalry charged the Byzantine left-wing in the rear, which caused the whole Byzantine army to panic and flee towards the Wadi al Raqqad River, only to be stopped by the 500 Arab cavalry stationed there. Surrounded, the Byzantines were slaughtered with casualties approaching 40,000 men as opposed to 5,000 Arabic losses.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Yarmuk was a decisive Arab victory. In the aftermath of the battle, Byzantine soldiers retreated north to Anatolia while the Arabs continued their advance into Syria. As he departed Syria, Heraclius said in sorrow, “Peace be with you, Syria – what a beautiful land you will be for the enemy” (Nicolle, 2006, p.85). In 638, Jerusalem was captured by the Arabs followed by Egypt in 642, with the rest of North Africa being conquered by the end of the seventh century. The Battle of Yarmuk was significant as it ensured that the Middle East and North Africa would become Muslim lands, which they still are today. In addition, the building of the Dome of the Rock on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in 692 meant that conflict between the Muslims, Jews, and Christians for control of the Holy Land would continue through to the Crusades and right up to the Arab-Israeli Wars of the present day. As stated by Geoffrey Regan, “Few if any battles in history have matched Yarmuk in their consequences” (Regan, 2002, p.43).
Bibliography
Adhil, Mohammad. “Mohammad adeel-day-6 phase-1.” Wikimedia Commons. Last revised February 20, 2011. www.commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mohammad_adeel-day-6_phase-1.PNG
Grant, R.G. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. London, Cassell Illustrated, 2011.
Nicolle, David. Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim Conquest of Syria. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2006.
Regan, Geoffrey. Battles That Changed History: Fifty Decisive Battles Spanning Over 2,500 Years of Warfare. London, Andre Deutsch, 2002.
Webb, Jonathan. “Battle of Yarmuk, 636.” The Art of Battle. Last revised 2009. http://www.theartofbattle.com/battle-of-yarmuk-636/