QuoteReplyTopic: The Battle of Tours Posted: 30-May-2006 at 13:18
Hmm... the entire population of Europe at this time, excepting the
Byzantines and Iberia, was only around nine or ten million. These were
divided into hundreds of little factions. None of these people were
particularly wealthy or sophisticated in terms of tactics or equipment.
The fifty thousand warriors that the Franks brought to the Battle of
Tours was probably their ENTIRE army and if not the entire, certainly
the majority of it.
Contrast these with the resources of the Umayyad Empire. The Arabs
controlled an empire of perhaps more than fifty million people. The
Arabs held several cities that had over a hundred thousand people when
Charlemagne's capital at Aachen during the peak of Frankish power never
had over ten thousand. By conquering two of the greatest powers of Late
Antiquity, they were made grealty sophisticated and wealthy.
Furthermore, the Arabs were united. Their large population and wealth
allowed them to easily field and equip armies of tens of thousands
fighting in several different fronts.
Now, machine, can you honestly tell me that the petty kingdoms of
Europe living in their tiny unwalled towns could defeat the Arabs at
the peak of their power?
Guys re-read Machiavelli. The old chaps states rightfully enough that it is easier to conquer a centralized state than a feodal (which is too messy to actually hold).
One thing for decades the Ummeyyads of Cordoba have repeteadly crushed the Christian resistance in the Northen Iberia (see Al-Mansur taking Barcelona and Santiago de Compostella). But they were short of manpower (half of Al-Andalus land were fully inhbitated of Christian, as the Porto and Coimbra eras).
About Tours (well Poitiers to be exact), althouh very used by the frankish propaganda it was only a little battle against muslim raiders coming from South West France. Actually this victory is more important on the 'national' point of view as it represents the begining of the conquest of the South of France by Northern Frankish Kings.
The muslim raids didn't stoped in 732 but went on for about three centuries. In 741 if I remember correctly they weren't able to take Lyon. Muslim 'pirates' also sacked Europe as far as St Gall in Switzerland until 978 from three main bases one in France and two on the Italian western shores.
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