Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim conquest of Syria (Campaign) [Paperback]

David Nicolle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Campaign | Publication Date: May 26, 1994

Osprey's Campaign title for one of the battles in which Muslims attempted to overtake Syria. In 636 AD, after protracted skirmishing and minor engagements the Arab and Byzantine armies faced each other on the banks of the Yarmuk river. The Byzantines were initially successful, driving back the Arab right wing. Finally, though, the Arab counter-attacks broke the Byzantine lines and the subsequent pursuit became a rout. The awful fate of the fleeing Byzantine soldiers was remembered for several generations until it was recorded in early Islamic histories. David Nicolle not only looks at the battle itself but also the whole decisive Arab campaign - from the Muslim invasion of 633/4 to the fall of Byzantine Syria.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly visual guides to history's greatest conflicts, detailing the command strategies, tactics, and experiences of the opposing forces throughout each campaign, and concluding with a guide to the battlefields today.

About the Author

David Nicolle was born in 1944, the son of the illustrator Pat Nicolle. He worked in the BBC Arabic service for a number of years, before going 'back to school', gaining an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and a doctorate from Edinburgh University. He later taught world and Islamic art and architectural history at Yarmuk University, Jordan. He has written many books and articles on medieval and Islamic warfare, and has been a prolific author of Osprey titles for many years. David lives and works in Leicestershire, UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (May 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855324148
• ISBN-13: 978-1855324145
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 0.3 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,472,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, well-illustrated and detailed., May 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim conquest of Syria (Campaign) (Paperback)

I find it odd that most military historians omit the Battle of Yarmuk in their descriptions of great battles. It was the crucial struggle that permitted the outnumbered Muslims (12,000 Muslims vs 80,000 Byzantines )to take Syria from the Byzantines, was titanic in scale and lasted several days. The book is very detailed in its description of tactics and armaments used by both sides, as well as the organisation of the opposing forces. It describes the crucial events of the battle each day it lasted, and includes funny anecdotes such as the actions of Hind bint Utbah, Abu Sufyan's formidable wife, who took part in the battle. A must read in order to complete the historical picture of the Islamic Conquest, and to add one more to the list of Great Battles. I'd like to see the Muslim conquest of Persia described in the series as well.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Coverage of an Important Muslim Battle, October 14, 2007

By 

Mike Dillemuth (Virginia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim conquest of Syria (Campaign) (Paperback)

The author does a pretty good job of covering this battle between the Muslim forces of the 7th Century and the Byzantine Empire. Recent books on the Jihadist movement cite this battle as an inspiration for Muslim terrorists. As such, western readers should find this ancient battle interesting. Unfortunately, the historical records appear to be weak. It is a weakness that Mr. Nicolle could not fully overcome.

Nevertheless, the book provides a basic understanding of the overall campaign that led up to this battle. Only the second half of "The Campaign" chapter deals with the Battle of Yarmuk. The first half is focused on the overall campaign and the associated battles of Ajnadayn and Pella, among others. Thus, the coverage of the Yarmuk battle itself is somewhat truncated. Some stories are apocryphal and not fully developed. In addition, the author often refers to several important personalities without fully explaining their identity. Basically, there are too many names to keep straight. The Chapter on the "Opposing Armies" is quite good in its description of tactics and recruiting methods. It is well-organized into Byzantine and Muslim sections. The ending chapter does an excellent job of explaining the fall of Syria, which was the major goal of the campaign. The author points out that this Muslim victory had far more to do with the individual cities surrendering than with the defeat of the Byzantine army at Yarmuk.

The 3D maps are pretty good despite a few minor shortcomings. The map of the 4th day of battle contains a landmark or "Tel" with only half the name. This reference is useless, as the reader has no way of knowing what Tel the author is trying to emphasize. The text refers to a Byzantine base camp at Yaqusah, which the Muslims eventually overran. Unfortunately, this camp is not located on any of the three Yarmuk battle maps. Nevertheless, the other maps are quite good; the siege of Damascus being one example. Also, the large area maps that detail the overall movement of both Byzantine and Muslim forces are quite helpful.

The book contains numerous photographs that are a standard feature of Osprey books. Unfortunately, the pictures of the various wall paintings are hard to see due to years of decay, or taken at an angle that makes the photo less than clear. The photographs of the various sculptures, however are first rate and quite helpful.

Bottom line: this is a pretty good book on a very important battle. Despite some minor weaknesses, the reader will gain a basic understanding of this battle that appears to loom large in Islamic mythology.

4.0 out of 5 stars The beginning of Islamic expansion, October 5, 2009

By 

Anibal Madeira (Lisboa Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yarmuk AD 636: The Muslim conquest of Syria (Campaign) (Paperback)

Prof. Nicolle is one of the foremost medievalist, specially regarding middle eastern history. this book tries to give not only the description of the six days battle but also of the events leading to the conflict. That includes relationship between Byzantine power and their Arab auxiliaries (like the Gassanids), with minorities (like jews or some christhian factions), the muslim faith and their need to spread the word and power of God to all, the weakness of the Persian Sassanid Empire after their last confrontation with the Byzantine Empire, etc.

The author also describes the military of both powers, including recruitment, organization, weapons, armours, types of units, etc...maybe a little too much for a small book of this nature. The leaders are only cursory abridged (but there are very few sources regarding most of them).

The initial invasion lead to the Muslim victories at Ajnadayn and Pella and the massive Byzantine counterattack that lead to Yarmuk.

The battle is described with the possible details with the important events being highlighted by the maps, including the initial and powerfull attack that took the bizantines to the Muslim camps, the flanking by Khalid or the taking of the bridge over the Wadi that led to Yaqusah by the Muslim champion Zarrar.

In this work you will find good maps, good colour illustrations by Angus McBride (although the action plates seem a little static). Also a good description how they fought (Muslims at this time were infantry and mounted infantry based armies, with small cavalry arms). You can also find historical anecdotes like the Muslim Women exorting their men or the battle prowess of Zarrar and his sister.

There are a few weaknesses, like the imprecision in the numbers of the forces (obviously its impossible to accurately determine numbers, but in the initial dissertation about Byzantine numbers the maximum numbers they could field is numbered at 50000 non arabs including garrisons, and in the description of the beginning of the battle the Muslims were outnumbered 4:1! When the author states that Muslim forces were around 20000-40000 we have a math problem here: Never in their history the Byzantines could field armies of 80000 - 160000 combatants), that could be probably be explained with non combatants, etc. The author is also slightly pro Muslim but not excessively so.

All in all a very good book that will clarify several aspects of Muslim expansion and how it was possible.