The Handy Military History Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton

people, equipped only with camels and horses, beat so many other peoples and advance so far?

      Who led the way for the Arabs?

      During his lifetime ‘Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, was the leader of most of the Arab forces. By the time the Arabs fought the Byzantines and the Persians, however, they were on the verge of the great split that remains today: that between Sunni and Shi’ite.

      Those who claimed that the leader of the Arabs must be connected by blood to the Prophet followed ‘Ali, and his name remains, in that Shi’ite means “follower of ‘Ali.” Those who claimed that majority ruled and whoever was designated by the majority would serve as the caliph became known as Sunnis, meaning majority. By the time ‘Ali died in 664 the split was apparent, but the Arabs kept on winning battles and wars.

      What was the farthest westward extent of Arab conquest?

      In 711, the Muslim leader al-Tariq led a group of Arabs and Berbers across what the Greeks called the Pillars of Hercules and what we know as the Strait of Gibraltar. Little known is the fact that the very word Gibraltar comes from Arabic: it is a corruption of Tariq’s Rock.

      The Muslims soon occupied the southern two-thirds of Spain. They seemed destined to take over much of Western Europe, but they suffered a defeat at the hands of the Frankish cavalry at the Battle of Tours in 732. The defeat was not large, by Arab standards, but it prevented any further crossings of the Pyrenees, which became the unofficial division between Muslim and Christian Europe.

      Charles Martel, king of the Franks, defended Europe from the further advance of the Muslims at the Battle of Tours in 732 (painting by Charles de Steuben, c. 1835).

      What was the farthest eastward extent of Arab conquest?

      In 751, an Arab army clashed with a Chinese one at the Battle of Talas, in Central Asia. This battle was a standoff, but, like Tours, it was enough to stop the Arab momentum. No one can minimize the terrific extent of the Arab conquests, though; in the century that followed the Prophet’s death, the Arabs took over ninety percent of all the urban centers in the Western world, and their conquests equaled those of ancient Rome.

CHARLEMAGNE

      Why is Charlemagne’s name still so well known today?

      He lived in a time—the eighth century—when the population of Europe was much smaller than today, and he lived such a dramatic and full life that he is one of the few Europeans from that time we know much about. In addition, no fewer than five countries—France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Luxembourg—claim him as their founding father. Even more significant, many people around the world today like to claim they are descended from Charlemagne.

      While we are on the subject of genetics, it is worth pointing out that if one traces his or her lineage a long way, he often finds that he is related—in one way or another—to almost all the people who were alive at any given time. Roughly fifty generations separate our time from that of Charlemagne, and if we really have as many ancestors as mathematics suggests, then we would be right to claim descent from him, but also from the fellow who held his horse!

      What advantages did Charlemagne have in his early life?

      He was one of the two sons of the king of the Franks, and given that his elder brother was a halfwit, it was obvious that Charlemagne would inherit the throne. He did corule with his brother, Carloman, for a time, but he deposed him and established his own one-man rule.

       How do we know so much about Charlemagne’s appearance?

      O ne of the scholars at his court—in present-day Holland—wrote a biography, and when Charlemagne’s bones were exhumed in 1862, they confirmed many things which had been written. We know, for example, that Charlemagne was about six foot two, very impressive for that time, and that he suffered a number of wounds over the years. Whether he actually spoke in a high, light voice is impossible to say.

      Charlemagne—whose name means “Charles the Great”—was obsessed with the idea of rebuilding Rome, rebuilding what the Roman Empire had once been. He was not the only person to have this vision, but he was, perhaps, the person equipped with more tools than anyone else. Even so, he knew many years of struggle.

      How many campaigns did Charlemagne undertake?

      In the neighborhood of forty. He typically spent the winter and spring at his capital city of Aachen and campaigned in the summer and fall. Charlemagne was an ardent Christian who wished to convert all the peoples of Europe, and he certainly was willing to employ the sword to do so.

      Charlemagne fought the Saxons—from whom many today derive the ethnic name of Anglo-Saxons—in north-central Germany for many years. Upon finally defeating them, he looked further to the east and commenced a series of campaigns against the Avars, a tribe of Central Asia nomads who had moved into what are now Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Tradition has it that when Charlemagne finally defeated the Avars, he came away with wagonloads of gold, which were used to finance the cultural changes he had underway at Aachen.

      Did Charlemagne fail in any of his campaigns?

      Only once. In 778, he invaded Muslim Spain and besieged the towns which are now the major cities of Barcelona and Pamplona. Thwarted in his attempts, Charlemagne headed for home and to his chagrin, the Basque tribesmen of northern Spain—who were fellow Christians—ambushed his rear guard. Count Roland, one of Charlemagne’s most dedicated knights, was killed in the battle. For centuries afterward, French children were raised on stories of Roland’s bravery in the same manner as English children who delighted in tales of King Arthur.

      What was the highest point of Charlemagne’s long reign?

      Having fought the Lombards and thereby made life easier for Pope Leo III, Charlemagne wished to cement his alliance with the papacy. In the autumn of 800, Charlemagne and several thousand of his countrymen journeyed south and crossed the Alps (this was one of the few times they were not traveling to a military destination). Arriving in Rome, Charlemagne made his last backstage deals, and on Christmas Day, Pope Leo crowned him emperor of the Romans in full view of thousands of people.

      Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, unified much of Europe in an attempt to restore some of the former glory of Rome. In 800 he was crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo.

      This was obviously a great moment for Charlemagne: it proved the cap or crowning moment of his long career. But it was also a major step forward for the Northern European peoples. Three hundred years had passed since Rome fell, and during most of that time, there had been little hope for a recovery. Charlemagne’s coronation meant that the Pope and the king of the Franks were now political and military allies and that they intended to rebuild the glory of Rome, no matter how long it might take.

      What is meant by “The World Island”?

      Halford MacKinder (1861–1947), a British geographer and historian, coined the term in his essay “The Geographical Pivot of History,” delivered to the Royal Geographical Society in 1904. By “The World Island,” MacKinder was referencing the great Eurasian landmass which runs from the west side of the Pacific Ocean to the eastern edge of the Atlantic. To MacKinder, it was apparent that The World Island was key to military and strategic dominance of the globe. He rightly pointed out that the Eurasian landmass was far larger than either Africa on its own or the two Americas jointed together. In more recent times, the historian Jared Diamond has proposed something similar, pointing out that both trade and people migrated more naturally across the Eurasian land-mass—much of which is parallel in latitude to North, South,