ONE OF THE MOST DECISIVE BATTLES IN EUROPEAN HISTORY
In 732, on a hilltop between Tours and Poitiers in France, on of the most decisive battle in European history was fought. In the hundred years following ,armies inspired by the Islamic faith had pressed forward through north Africa and the Iberian Peninsula to arrive in the heart of Western Europe. In 732, the governor-general of Muslim Spain, Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, led an army across the Pyrenees and conquered Aquitaine, laying waste to Bordeauxe. He than headed for the kingdom of the Franks, toward the city of Tours.
The Frankish leader Charles Martel placed his 30,000-strong army on high, wooded ground, in their line of advance. He formed his men into a tight infantry square, and waited. Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi held off from attacking from 7 days, although his force may have outnumbered the Franks by two to one. when he finally lunched his cavalry, the Frankish infantry stood firm and repelled their charges. After a long fight, the Muslim horsemen withdrew to defend their war chests, and abandoned by his men, Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi was surrounded and killed.
It is likely that Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi had not sought to coquer European Chsistendom, but just to lead a raidinng expedition. But if the Frankish warriors had lost, nothing would have stood in the way of a Muslim takewover of western Europe. Charls Martel consolidate the Carolingian Empire, which formed a barrier to the northward expansion of Islam.
In 732, on a hilltop between Tours and Poitiers in France, on of the most decisive battle in European history was fought. In the hundred years following ,armies inspired by the Islamic faith had pressed forward through north Africa and the Iberian Peninsula to arrive in the heart of Western Europe. In 732, the governor-general of Muslim Spain, Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, led an army across the Pyrenees and conquered Aquitaine, laying waste to Bordeauxe. He than headed for the kingdom of the Franks, toward the city of Tours.
The Frankish leader Charles Martel placed his 30,000-strong army on high, wooded ground, in their line of advance. He formed his men into a tight infantry square, and waited. Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi held off from attacking from 7 days, although his force may have outnumbered the Franks by two to one. when he finally lunched his cavalry, the Frankish infantry stood firm and repelled their charges. After a long fight, the Muslim horsemen withdrew to defend their war chests, and abandoned by his men, Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi was surrounded and killed.
It is likely that Abd-ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi had not sought to coquer European Chsistendom, but just to lead a raidinng expedition. But if the Frankish warriors had lost, nothing would have stood in the way of a Muslim takewover of western Europe. Charls Martel consolidate the Carolingian Empire, which formed a barrier to the northward expansion of Islam.
