Over on my Books page, I’ve a review on Hugh Kennedy’s The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live in. It’s a book I strongly recommend for those interested in how, over a period of barely 100 years, Islam spread from the Hijaz of Saudi Arabia to become the dominant political force in an area larger than the classical Roman Empire.
Kennedy deals systematically with each of the regions being conquered, discussing the pre-existing political climate, the demographic facts—including a major plague—, and the various vested interests that worked for and against the forces that did indeed change our world.
Perhaps even more interesting than the story of the conquests is Kennedy’s commentary on the problems (and solutions) of dealing with difficult source materials. He does an able job, in my opinion, of sorting out the conflicting, contradictory, biased, and self-serving histories (Islamic, Byzantine, Persian, and other) to find basic truths.
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April:15:2008 - 14:02
I read this book a few months ago and I enjoyed it very much. One thing that I liked about Kennedy’s writing was that even if he did not fully believe a story of a particular event from that time, he could still see some value in repeating the story if for its value of pointing out prevailing attitudes of the ummah at that time.
I also liked how, in his Conclusion, he answered the questions of, “Why were the Arab conquests so swift and far reaching and why did they turn out to be so permanent?” His answers:
1) Severely declined populations due to the mid-6th century bubonic plague outbreak.
2) These Arab conquests came on the heels of a war between the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires, leaving the Mid-East and North Africa still in a state of instability.
3) There were internal conflicts in both the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires at this time.
4) Not only were the Muslim armies motivated by their new faith and promise of war booty, but they were highly mobile and used to living on very little. There also traveled without their families.
There are more reasons, but they’re not coming back to me right now. I’ll have to hunt down the book and re-read the Conclusion. I think I remember something about highly effective Arab leadership on the battlefield, easy terms of surrender for those towns that give up without a fight and Arabs settling in the conquered areas.
I have yet to read Kennedy’s other book, “When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World.” How is that?
April:15:2008 - 14:02
I haven’t read his other book, unfortunately.
The conclusions you cite are his basic ones.