Episode 34: Hard mode

Hisham’s armies faced many different opponents during his long and formidable reign. The mismanagement of the half-brothers who preceded him had taken its toll on the umma’s unity, and the caliphate’s borders were no longer as secure as they had once been. We’ll take a whirlwind tour of the fighting along its edges to show just how many threats the capable caliph beat down during his two decades in charge. 

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Images

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Glossary

Sindh

• Junayd: a commander who had a good job conquering weakened areas in Pakistan for a spell.
• Tamim: Junayd’s replacement was abandoned by his armies for unclear reasons and eventually lost much of what his predecessor had controlled. Our sources have relatively little information on this part of the East.

Byzantium

• Maslama ibn Abdulmalik: Abdulmalik’s warrior son continued his decades-long fight against the Byzantines before the Khazars proved too much for him to handle and he was removed.
• Suleiman ibn Hisham: the caliph’s son raided with his uncle Maslama very often. He and his brother Mu’awiya became well-known commanders due to their commitment to the fight.
• Mu’awiya ibn Hisham: the caliph’s other son also raided the Byzantines along with Suleiman and Maslama. While he died on one of his campaigns there, his progeny will be the only Umayyads who will go on to greater glory.
• Abdallah il Battal: an Arab commander who is often celebrated in impressive stories (not exactly tall tales, but they are prone to glorious exaggeration) and epic poetry.
• Leo III: after evading the Arabs for decades, the Byzantine emperor ultimately proved victorious  against them. His decision to meet the Arabs in a pitched battle during the defense of Akronion destroyed the armies they had repeatedly sent to ravage his lands, and put an end to fighting beyond the border zone between the two empires.

Khazar khaganate

• Al Jarrah ibn Abdallah al Hakami: al Jarrah had already earned a reputation as the vanquisher of the Khazars just before Hisham came to power. Following Maslama’s failure to deal with their armies, he was put in charge again, but died in the disastrous battle outside Ardabil, the Arab capital of Azerbaijan.
• Sa’id il Harashi: Sa’id managed to somewhat restore the Arab position against the Khazars after the umma’s loss in Ardabil. His success provoked the ire of Maslama, who had him arrested for a spell before the caliph ordered his release. 
• Marwan ibn Mohammad ibn Marwan: this Umayyad was a real military powerhouse who made reckoning with the Khazars seem like a walk in the park. His father was Armenia’s first Umayyad governor, Mohammad ibn Marwan, and his mother was Kurdish. He was quite adept at military strategy and command in the mountainous environments of the caliphate’s north, and he forged close alliances with the area’s Adnani tribes during his command. He’s someone to keep an eye on.

Maghreb

• Musa and Tarek: these were (respectively) the Arab and Berber commanders responsible for first conquering the Maghreb. Literally translated as “where the sun sets”, the Maghreb consists of modern-day Algeria, Morocco, and western Sahara. The pair were recalled to Damascus by Abdulmalik’s successor, Walid, then dispossessed by his brother Suleiman. 
• The Fihris: the sons, grandsons, and great grandsons of ‘Uqba bin Nafi’ are many and illustrious. I’ve uploaded a family tree with some notes in its caption. As the most prominent clan in the Maghreb, they played a pivotal role in maintaining Arab control of the province.
• Ubaydallah: Hisham’s man in charge of the province worked closely with the Fihris, and is remembered for exacting unconscionable taxation.
• Kulthum: the Syrian commander sent by the caliph to tamp out the Berber rebellion who failed at his task. He was probably a very capable commander and our sources fault him for not listening to the advice of the more experienced locals. The friction between his army and the remaining Ifriqiya forces under the command of the Fihris seems to have been the major reason they failed to stand up to the Berbers.

Andalucia

• Abdulrahman: Hisham’s first governor in charge of Spain had to manage a balancing act from day one. His decision to invade Odo’s domain came only after the risk of allowing an alliance between the locals and the Berbers became apparent. The invasion of France was as much about securing the borders of Andalusia as it was about winning tribute from its richer cities. There were no plans to populate the areas conquered by the Arabs, and they left local nobility in charge when they complied. 
• Odo: the duke of Aquitaine defeated the Arabs more by luck the first time, and his forces were annihilated when he met them in open field. 
• Charles Martel: A local king who defeated the invading Arab forces by picking a strategic location for an ambush. He won other victories against the Arabs across France, and managed to push their influence back to the cart of Narbonne, at the edge of Andalusia.
• Balj: Kulthum’s nephew is blamed for much of the friction between the Syrian and Ifriqia armies before his uncle’s death. After the loss to the Berbers, Balj led the remaining Syrian forces first to Ceuta, then to Andalusia. There he defeated the Berbers, and when the local Fihri governor tried to expel the Syrians when he no longer needed them, Balj took care of him as well. This started a war in the province between the Syrians, Andalusians, and Berbers.

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