Post by azrur on Oct 7, 2013 20:34:47 GMT -5
The Battle of the Nobles
First Encounter
Maysara's Berber forces encountered the vanguard Ifrqiyan column of Khalid ibn Abi Habib somewhere in the outskirts of Tangiers. After a brief skirmish, Maysara ordered the Berber armies to fall back. Rather than give pursuit, the Arab cavalry commander Khalid ibn Abi Habib held the line just south of Tangiers, blockading the Berber-held city while awaiting the reinforcements from the Sicilian expedition.
Regrouping after these skirmishes, the Berber rebels deposed and killed their leader, Maysara al-Matghari and elected the Zenata Berber chieftain, Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati as the new Berber commander. The reasons for Maysara's fall are not altogether clear - possibly because his sudden cowardice shown before the Arab cavalry column proved him military unfit, possibly because the puritan Sufrite preachers found a flaw in the piety of his character, or simply because the Zenata tribal chieftains, being closer to the Ifriqiyan frontline, felt they should be the ones leading the rebellion.
The chronicler Ibn Khaldun claims Khalid ibn Abi Obeida's encountered the Berber forces and held his position at the 'Shalif' river, which many commentators have taken to be the well-known Chelif river (Wadi ash-Shalif) in central Algeria. However, it is highly improbable that the Berber rebel army would have been that far east by then. Modern historians have suggested Ibn Khaldun or his transcribers made a mistake here. Julien (1961: p. 30) suggests Ibn Khaldun actually meant to say the Sebou river, whose upper reaches would indeed appropriately place the Ifriqiyan column close to Tangiers. The chronicler En-Nuweri indeed reports the skirmish was outside the walls of Tangiers.
The battle
Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati opted to immediately attack the Ifriqiyan army mulling around the 'Shalif' (or the outskirts of Tangiers) before the arrival of the reinforcements from Sicily. The Berber rebels under Khalid ibn Hamid overwhelmed and completely defeated the army of Khalid ibn Abi Habib, massacring the cream of the Ifriqiyan Arab nobility.
Aftermath
News of the slaughter of the Ifriqiyan nobles spread like a shock-wave. The reserve army of Ibn al-Mughira in Tlemcen fell into a panic. Seeing Sufrite preachers everywhere around the city, the troops launched a series of indiscriminate massacres, provoking a massive uprising in the hitherto-quiet city.
The Sicilian expeditionary army of Habib ibn Abi Obeida arrived too late to prevent the massacre of the nobles. Realizing they were in no position to take on the Berbers by themselves, they retreated to Tlemcen to gather the reserves, only to find that that city too was now in disarray and the troops killed or scattered.
Habib ibn Abi Obeida entrenched what remained of the Ifriqiyan army in the vicinity of Tlemcen (perhaps as far back as Tahert), and called upon Kairouan for reinforcements. The request was forwarded to Damascus.
Hearing of the defeat of the nobles, Caliph Hisham is said to have exclaimed "By God, I will most certainly rage against them with an Arab rage, and I will send against them an army whose beginning is where they are and whose end is where I am!".
In February, 741, the Umayyad Caliph Hisham appointed Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi to replace the disgraced Obeid Allah as governor in Ifriqiya. Kulthum was to be accompanied by fresh Arab army of 30,000 raised from the Syrian regiments (junds) of the east. This would set up the even more momentous Battle of Bagdoura in late 741.
Baqdura
The battle
The Arab armies under Kulthum ibn Iyad met the Berber army of Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati at Bagdoura (or Baqdura), by the Sebou river in the vicinity of modern Fes.
Having fought with and against Berbers before, Habib ibn Abi Obeida and the other Ifriqiyan officers advised the governor Kulthum ibn Iyad against impetuousness. The army should not be tempted to open battle, but should instead entrench itself, and dispatch the cavalry out only to harry. Habib strongly urged Kulthum to fight only "foot against foot, cavalry against cavalry". But Balj ibn Bishr persuaded his uncle that the Berber rabble could be easily and defeated, and they should set out against it at once.
Listening to his nephew, Kulthum ibn Iyad dismissed the Ifriqiyan advice, and the forces were arrayed. Balj was given command of the elite Syrian cavalry while Kulthum remained with the Syrian infantry. Habib ibn Abi Obeida and his Ifriqiyan troops were placed under Umayyad client officers.
Certain his superb cavalry could easily handle the ragged Berber foot, Balj ibn Bishr was the first to set out. But the Berbers turned out to be excellent slingers and skirmishers. They swiftly ambushed and dehorsed many of the Syrians (sometimes by the simple device of throwing a bag full of pebbles at the horses's heads).
To prevent the Arab infantry from stepping up to give their dehorsed comrades support, the Berbers unleashed a stampede of wild mares (maddened by water bags and leather straps tied to their tails) straight across the Arab ranks, sowing much confusion. By these rudimentary means, the Arab forces were soon deprived of much of their cavalry, their principal advantage.
Regathering the remnant of his cavalry, Balj furiously charged the Berber lines directly. But rather than hold ground, the Berber forces stepped aside to open up a corridor and let the Syrian cavalry through, then closed it again, separating the Arab cavalry away from the Arab foot.
While the rearguard held a line to prevent the cavalry returning, the bulk of the Berber army, using its numbers to its advantage, fell upon the Arab infantry. The Ifriqiyan column was the first to be hit. Specially targeted, the chief Ifriqiyan commanders, including Habib ibn Abi Obeida, were quickly slain. Seeing their officers down and not particularly caring to remain with the Syrians, the Ifriqiyan ranks broke up and fell into retreat. Now alone, the Syrian infantry, Kulthum at their head, held ground for a while longer, but Berber numbers soon overwhelmed them.
The Arabs were routed. Of the original Arab troops, it is said a third were killed, a third captured and a third escaped. Another account estimates losses at 18,000 Syrians and some 20,000 Ifriqiyans. Among the dead were the governor Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi and the Ifriqiyan commander Habib ibn Abi Obeida al-Fihri.
Aftermath
The remaining Ifriqiyan forces took flight in a scattered manner back towards Kairouan. The remaining Syrian troops (some 10,000), now under the leadership of Kulthum's nephew, the cavalry commander Balj ibn Bishr, scrambled up towards the coast, with the Berbers in pursuit. The Syrians barricaded themselves to Ceuta and requested passage across the water to Spain. The wary Andalusian ruler Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan al-Fihri refused at first, but eventually relented and allowed them to cross in early 742, an event that would have destabilizing repercussions in al-Andalus.
No more is heard the Zenata Berber leader Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati who delivered the two great victories over the Arab armies. He disappears from the chronicles soon after this battle. The Berber Revolt will continue under other commanders.
News of the Berber victory over the Arabs encouraged wider Berber rebellions throughout North Africa and Spain, and even greater Berber armies were assembled by two other commanders, Oqasha ibn Ayub al-Fezari and Abd al-Wahid ibn Yazid al-Hawwari, against Kairouan itself. But the rapid reaction of Egyptian governor Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi prevented them from taking the city. The Berber armies in Ifriqiya were destroyed by Handhala in 742 in two massively bloody battles at El-Qarn and El-Asnam.
Nonetheless the Battle of Bagdoura proved decisive. It permanently broke the Arab hold on the Far Maghreb (Morocco and western Algeria). These regions devolved to local Berber rulers and would never be recovered by the eastern Caliphate. It was the first great territorial loss of the Islamic Caliphate, the first Muslim provinces to break away and chart an independent course.
First Encounter
Maysara's Berber forces encountered the vanguard Ifrqiyan column of Khalid ibn Abi Habib somewhere in the outskirts of Tangiers. After a brief skirmish, Maysara ordered the Berber armies to fall back. Rather than give pursuit, the Arab cavalry commander Khalid ibn Abi Habib held the line just south of Tangiers, blockading the Berber-held city while awaiting the reinforcements from the Sicilian expedition.
Regrouping after these skirmishes, the Berber rebels deposed and killed their leader, Maysara al-Matghari and elected the Zenata Berber chieftain, Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati as the new Berber commander. The reasons for Maysara's fall are not altogether clear - possibly because his sudden cowardice shown before the Arab cavalry column proved him military unfit, possibly because the puritan Sufrite preachers found a flaw in the piety of his character, or simply because the Zenata tribal chieftains, being closer to the Ifriqiyan frontline, felt they should be the ones leading the rebellion.
The chronicler Ibn Khaldun claims Khalid ibn Abi Obeida's encountered the Berber forces and held his position at the 'Shalif' river, which many commentators have taken to be the well-known Chelif river (Wadi ash-Shalif) in central Algeria. However, it is highly improbable that the Berber rebel army would have been that far east by then. Modern historians have suggested Ibn Khaldun or his transcribers made a mistake here. Julien (1961: p. 30) suggests Ibn Khaldun actually meant to say the Sebou river, whose upper reaches would indeed appropriately place the Ifriqiyan column close to Tangiers. The chronicler En-Nuweri indeed reports the skirmish was outside the walls of Tangiers.
The battle
Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati opted to immediately attack the Ifriqiyan army mulling around the 'Shalif' (or the outskirts of Tangiers) before the arrival of the reinforcements from Sicily. The Berber rebels under Khalid ibn Hamid overwhelmed and completely defeated the army of Khalid ibn Abi Habib, massacring the cream of the Ifriqiyan Arab nobility.
Aftermath
News of the slaughter of the Ifriqiyan nobles spread like a shock-wave. The reserve army of Ibn al-Mughira in Tlemcen fell into a panic. Seeing Sufrite preachers everywhere around the city, the troops launched a series of indiscriminate massacres, provoking a massive uprising in the hitherto-quiet city.
The Sicilian expeditionary army of Habib ibn Abi Obeida arrived too late to prevent the massacre of the nobles. Realizing they were in no position to take on the Berbers by themselves, they retreated to Tlemcen to gather the reserves, only to find that that city too was now in disarray and the troops killed or scattered.
Habib ibn Abi Obeida entrenched what remained of the Ifriqiyan army in the vicinity of Tlemcen (perhaps as far back as Tahert), and called upon Kairouan for reinforcements. The request was forwarded to Damascus.
Hearing of the defeat of the nobles, Caliph Hisham is said to have exclaimed "By God, I will most certainly rage against them with an Arab rage, and I will send against them an army whose beginning is where they are and whose end is where I am!".
In February, 741, the Umayyad Caliph Hisham appointed Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi to replace the disgraced Obeid Allah as governor in Ifriqiya. Kulthum was to be accompanied by fresh Arab army of 30,000 raised from the Syrian regiments (junds) of the east. This would set up the even more momentous Battle of Bagdoura in late 741.
Baqdura
The battle
The Arab armies under Kulthum ibn Iyad met the Berber army of Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati at Bagdoura (or Baqdura), by the Sebou river in the vicinity of modern Fes.
Having fought with and against Berbers before, Habib ibn Abi Obeida and the other Ifriqiyan officers advised the governor Kulthum ibn Iyad against impetuousness. The army should not be tempted to open battle, but should instead entrench itself, and dispatch the cavalry out only to harry. Habib strongly urged Kulthum to fight only "foot against foot, cavalry against cavalry". But Balj ibn Bishr persuaded his uncle that the Berber rabble could be easily and defeated, and they should set out against it at once.
Listening to his nephew, Kulthum ibn Iyad dismissed the Ifriqiyan advice, and the forces were arrayed. Balj was given command of the elite Syrian cavalry while Kulthum remained with the Syrian infantry. Habib ibn Abi Obeida and his Ifriqiyan troops were placed under Umayyad client officers.
Certain his superb cavalry could easily handle the ragged Berber foot, Balj ibn Bishr was the first to set out. But the Berbers turned out to be excellent slingers and skirmishers. They swiftly ambushed and dehorsed many of the Syrians (sometimes by the simple device of throwing a bag full of pebbles at the horses's heads).
To prevent the Arab infantry from stepping up to give their dehorsed comrades support, the Berbers unleashed a stampede of wild mares (maddened by water bags and leather straps tied to their tails) straight across the Arab ranks, sowing much confusion. By these rudimentary means, the Arab forces were soon deprived of much of their cavalry, their principal advantage.
Regathering the remnant of his cavalry, Balj furiously charged the Berber lines directly. But rather than hold ground, the Berber forces stepped aside to open up a corridor and let the Syrian cavalry through, then closed it again, separating the Arab cavalry away from the Arab foot.
While the rearguard held a line to prevent the cavalry returning, the bulk of the Berber army, using its numbers to its advantage, fell upon the Arab infantry. The Ifriqiyan column was the first to be hit. Specially targeted, the chief Ifriqiyan commanders, including Habib ibn Abi Obeida, were quickly slain. Seeing their officers down and not particularly caring to remain with the Syrians, the Ifriqiyan ranks broke up and fell into retreat. Now alone, the Syrian infantry, Kulthum at their head, held ground for a while longer, but Berber numbers soon overwhelmed them.
The Arabs were routed. Of the original Arab troops, it is said a third were killed, a third captured and a third escaped. Another account estimates losses at 18,000 Syrians and some 20,000 Ifriqiyans. Among the dead were the governor Kulthum ibn Iyad al-Qasi and the Ifriqiyan commander Habib ibn Abi Obeida al-Fihri.
Aftermath
The remaining Ifriqiyan forces took flight in a scattered manner back towards Kairouan. The remaining Syrian troops (some 10,000), now under the leadership of Kulthum's nephew, the cavalry commander Balj ibn Bishr, scrambled up towards the coast, with the Berbers in pursuit. The Syrians barricaded themselves to Ceuta and requested passage across the water to Spain. The wary Andalusian ruler Abd al-Malik ibn Qatan al-Fihri refused at first, but eventually relented and allowed them to cross in early 742, an event that would have destabilizing repercussions in al-Andalus.
No more is heard the Zenata Berber leader Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati who delivered the two great victories over the Arab armies. He disappears from the chronicles soon after this battle. The Berber Revolt will continue under other commanders.
News of the Berber victory over the Arabs encouraged wider Berber rebellions throughout North Africa and Spain, and even greater Berber armies were assembled by two other commanders, Oqasha ibn Ayub al-Fezari and Abd al-Wahid ibn Yazid al-Hawwari, against Kairouan itself. But the rapid reaction of Egyptian governor Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi prevented them from taking the city. The Berber armies in Ifriqiya were destroyed by Handhala in 742 in two massively bloody battles at El-Qarn and El-Asnam.
Nonetheless the Battle of Bagdoura proved decisive. It permanently broke the Arab hold on the Far Maghreb (Morocco and western Algeria). These regions devolved to local Berber rulers and would never be recovered by the eastern Caliphate. It was the first great territorial loss of the Islamic Caliphate, the first Muslim provinces to break away and chart an independent course.
