MOHAMMED AND THE EARLY CAMPAIGNS AND CONQUESTS

AS THE GREAT EMPIRES of Persia and Rome (Byzantium) fought each other to a standstill in the Middle East, and “barbarian” successor states began to carve out their spheres of influence in Europe, a new force emerged unseen by any of these. Within a few years starting in the fourth decade of the seventh century, the now Muslim Arabs were to create a vast new power that swept the Byzantines from provinces they had held for seven hundred years, and utterly destroyed the Persian kingdom. Pressing on, the Muslim armies were to reach deep into central Asia in one direction, and to eliminate the Visigothic kingdom in Iberia in the other. This phase of conquests ran out of steam after a century of expansion, but the Islamic presence transformed the classical world. At the beginning, although religious inspiration undoubtedly played a significant if intangible part in the conquests, it is necessary to offer some more material judgements to explain how two of the world's most sophisticated, cultured, and developed states collapsed before the impact of the Arabs.

The frontier against which the Arabs first pressed was almost unguarded. The immense drain of the wars with the Persians had led the Byzantines to give very low priority to Palestine and Syria. The Persian conquest of the area and its subsequent recapture had left many places defenceless. Byzantine garrisons were few and far between. There were watchtowers, but their upkeep was the responsibility of the local landowners. What was there was usually small, and as likely had a role in allowing the government to police trade routes to the Mediterranean coast as anything military.

Emperor Heraclius, so recently the saviour of Constantinople and victor over the Persians, was making his decisions on the basis of apparently sound arguments. The Arab tribes beyond the frontier were sometimes a nuisance, but were certainly not a threat. Indeed, defence for much of the time involved hiring them, or buying them off. Their level of technology and culture was low, as Procopius had observed before. Expensive fortresses, needing garrisons of professional soldiers, were quite unnecessary.