| August 15 |  |
Editor says, what if Constantinople had fallen to the Second Arab Siege? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 718 AD, after a combined land and sea effort, Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik finally seized Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire after a year-long siege. The successful campaign marked the culmination of twenty years of attacks and gradual Arab encroachment on the Byzantine borderlands.
Umayyads capture ConstantinopleAs a result, the relentless Arab advance would continue northwards imperilling the security of Christian Western Europe from two separate fronts, Spain and now also Asia Minor. This second regional threat was fully recognized by the Bulgars who willingly sent forces to the aid of the Byzantines in the knowledge that defeat would invite conquest of their own lands. But unfortunately Emperor Anastasius II had not taken seriously the signs of a major impending Arab invasion in 715. With only five months to prepare, the imperial collapse was exacerbated by internal division caused by the ongoing civil strife between Byzantine general Leo the Isaurian and Emperor Theodosius "the Unwilling".
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: Wikipedia Labels: Constantinople, Byzantium, Byzantine Empire, Umayyad, Al-Malik. Editor says, in reality Anastasius II did order preparations and as [Wikipedia reports] the failure of the siege had wide-ranging repercussions. The rescue of Constantinople ensured the continued survival of Byzantium, while the Caliphate's strategic outlook was altered: although regular attacks on Byzantine territories continued, the goal of outright conquest was abandoned. The siege is also credited with having halted the Muslim advance into Europe, and is hence often considered one of the most decisive battles in history.
~ We'd see a massively different world. No Crusades (or at least, no world where the Crusades happened at Byzantine request), pretty much an end to the Orthodox Church (the monks who'd head up to create Russian Orthodoxy wouldn't even have left for years to come).
~ Harry Turtledove covered this, in "Islands in the Sea." I don't know how far the Arab conquest would penetrate into Europe---the Balkans are _not_ the Middle East, and unlike the Turks, the Arabs wouldn't have the bogeyman of the Western Church to hold over people's heads.
~ That might have split Arab attentions in Europe, de-emphasizing the intensity in Spain, sending more troops to Constantinople...
The Spain, and Spanish we know, could be very different.
~ At this point the Balkans were more or less overrun by Pagan Slavs and Avars. They would fight to protect their political independence but, like the Berbers, have a fair chance of adopting the Arabs' faith. As for Orthodox Christianity I can easily see it lasting for a long while considering the fate of the Copts. IIRC, Spain was conquered in the middle of a civil war primarily by Berber and Maghrebian forces....
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© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
