- Unknown Binding
- ASIN: B002Q9VBEM
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,131,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Great Arab Conquests
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Great Arab Conquests is a summary of the initial 100 years (approx) erruption of Islam from its founding heartland of Arabia, relating events on a territory by territory basis.
Kennedy begins discouragingly by setting out the problem faced by the historian: the lack of detailed and reliable contemporary record. Unfortunately, but predictably, this problem is not overcome and the success of the conquests ultimately remains an enigma.
At commencement the two regional superpowers were Byzantine and Persia. To the east the Arabs subsumed the whole of the Persian Sasanian empire and extended their dominion beyond as far as Sind. They took from the Byzantines the Fertile Crescent and northern Africa before conquering almost all of Spain and Portugal, and leaving a Byzantine rump corresponding to modern day Turkey, Greece and the Balkans.
Both empires had been ravaged in the 6th century by bubonic plague. At the turn of the 7th century they fought a ruinous war against each other leaving them further depleted economically and demographically. Trade in the mediterranean had partly collapsed due to the strife in the former Western Roman Empire. Great cities were left depopulated by this combination of circumstances. Religious divisions between Christians meant that local communities often felt little allegiance to Byzantine. Yet these factors alone do not explain why time after time Arab armies overcame substantially more numerous opponents. Ultimately Kennedy has no real explanation for this - a Muslim is left entitled to attribute it to God's will.
What is striking for the modern reader is that the primary purpose of the conquests does not appear to have been religous conversion, which usually occurred only gradually over the ensuing 200-300 years. Rather it was a process of military conquest. There was a strong economic imperative in the initial form of "booty" and subsequently by means of the poll tax that non-muslim peoples required to pay in order to live peacefully. Wealth flowed from the conquered lands to Damascus in the form of precious metals and stones, and in human form as slaves (the Berbers of north Africa suffering in particular). Relatively small Arab populations formed miltary and administrative elites in the conquered lands with life otherwise going on much as before for the local populations. It is difficult not to see a parallel with the British presence in India a thousand years later.
Kennedy tells his story in a simple narrative style with occassional humour but his prose is often flat. The territory by territory presentation has its drawbacks. It is often hard to relate simultaneous events in different geographic areas. The central policy of Damascus (if one existed) is hardly defined. The religous and political disputes within the central authority are alluded to but not well explained.
Kennedy begins discouragingly by setting out the problem faced by the historian: the lack of detailed and reliable contemporary record. Unfortunately, but predictably, this problem is not overcome and the success of the conquests ultimately remains an enigma.
At commencement the two regional superpowers were Byzantine and Persia. To the east the Arabs subsumed the whole of the Persian Sasanian empire and extended their dominion beyond as far as Sind. They took from the Byzantines the Fertile Crescent and northern Africa before conquering almost all of Spain and Portugal, and leaving a Byzantine rump corresponding to modern day Turkey, Greece and the Balkans.
Both empires had been ravaged in the 6th century by bubonic plague. At the turn of the 7th century they fought a ruinous war against each other leaving them further depleted economically and demographically. Trade in the mediterranean had partly collapsed due to the strife in the former Western Roman Empire. Great cities were left depopulated by this combination of circumstances. Religious divisions between Christians meant that local communities often felt little allegiance to Byzantine. Yet these factors alone do not explain why time after time Arab armies overcame substantially more numerous opponents. Ultimately Kennedy has no real explanation for this - a Muslim is left entitled to attribute it to God's will.
What is striking for the modern reader is that the primary purpose of the conquests does not appear to have been religous conversion, which usually occurred only gradually over the ensuing 200-300 years. Rather it was a process of military conquest. There was a strong economic imperative in the initial form of "booty" and subsequently by means of the poll tax that non-muslim peoples required to pay in order to live peacefully. Wealth flowed from the conquered lands to Damascus in the form of precious metals and stones, and in human form as slaves (the Berbers of north Africa suffering in particular). Relatively small Arab populations formed miltary and administrative elites in the conquered lands with life otherwise going on much as before for the local populations. It is difficult not to see a parallel with the British presence in India a thousand years later.
Kennedy tells his story in a simple narrative style with occassional humour but his prose is often flat. The territory by territory presentation has its drawbacks. It is often hard to relate simultaneous events in different geographic areas. The central policy of Damascus (if one existed) is hardly defined. The religous and political disputes within the central authority are alluded to but not well explained.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a necessary book. The subject is poorly covered in the generally accessible historical literature and it needed someone steeped in the difficult source material to fill the gap.
Hugh Kennedy does this very well indeed. Certainly his style can be a little pedestrian, and I thought in the later parts of the book battle followed battle in rather monotonous fashion. But those are minor shortcomings.
The reader gets a clear picture of the nature of the Muslim conquests, which came as a surprise to me, and how it was almost an accident of historical timing that allowed them to take place. Kennedy is particularly good on the geopolitics of the late Antique world, explaining how relations between Byzantine and Persian empires and splits within the Christian church let Islam in through the back door.
This should be the standard introduction to the subject for years to come.
Hugh Kennedy does this very well indeed. Certainly his style can be a little pedestrian, and I thought in the later parts of the book battle followed battle in rather monotonous fashion. But those are minor shortcomings.
The reader gets a clear picture of the nature of the Muslim conquests, which came as a surprise to me, and how it was almost an accident of historical timing that allowed them to take place. Kennedy is particularly good on the geopolitics of the late Antique world, explaining how relations between Byzantine and Persian empires and splits within the Christian church let Islam in through the back door.
This should be the standard introduction to the subject for years to come.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a superb introduction to early Islamic history. It deals with the historical material cautiously but without totally dismissing it out of hand. It is, of course, written from a Christian perspective but that's to be expected and does not detract overall from the quality of the research.
Kennedy is respectful of his sources but some of his conclusions could have been elaborated further. It's not enough to attribute the crushing defeat of the 2 greatest empires of Eurasia within 8 years of the Prophet Muhammad's death to the bubonic plague and Romano-Persian wars: the Arab position was rather as if Poland had decided to attack both the Soviet Union and Germany in 1937 - both the Soviets and Germans had suffered from war and contagion - the great influenza epidemic - and, in the former case, even mass starvation but just as Poland wouldn't have lasted more than a couple of weeks, I would have expected the same for the Arabs in CE 632. We need to look elsewhere for the answer and it's a shame that Prof. Kennedy does not do so.
The writing is at times pedestrian but this book is a lot better written than The Court of the Caliphs and tackles a subject rarely covered well in history books.
Kennedy is respectful of his sources but some of his conclusions could have been elaborated further. It's not enough to attribute the crushing defeat of the 2 greatest empires of Eurasia within 8 years of the Prophet Muhammad's death to the bubonic plague and Romano-Persian wars: the Arab position was rather as if Poland had decided to attack both the Soviet Union and Germany in 1937 - both the Soviets and Germans had suffered from war and contagion - the great influenza epidemic - and, in the former case, even mass starvation but just as Poland wouldn't have lasted more than a couple of weeks, I would have expected the same for the Arabs in CE 632. We need to look elsewhere for the answer and it's a shame that Prof. Kennedy does not do so.
The writing is at times pedestrian but this book is a lot better written than The Court of the Caliphs and tackles a subject rarely covered well in history books.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The best introduction on the Great Arab Conquests
This book from Hugh Kennedy is probably the best introduction to the Great Arab Conquests that cover slightly more than a century from the death of Mahomet to the fall of the... Read more
Published 28 days ago by JPS
Good military account
The Great Arab Conquests is the story of the spectacular, Arab-led birth and expansion of the Muslim empire, from the Hejira in 626 to its stabilisation around 750. Read more
Published 16 months ago by reader 451
Very poor indeed
I bought this book after being impressed with the Hugh Kennedy's "Political History of Islamic Spain and Portugal" which was fascinating, well researched and comprehensive peice of... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by W. Qureshi
Well Presented Historical Account
'The Great Arab Conquests' by Hugh Kennedy is a delightful book to read, full of interesting facts and great stories. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2010 by Aussie Reader
Great read
Over all a great read. Well-researched and written in a narrative style which absorbs you and almost takes you in the midst of the battles (does not do the full job for lack of... Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2009 by Bilal Rana
Illuminating, but struggles with lack of sources
This is worth reading to try and understand how a motley group of nomads managed to defeat two great Empires (Persian and Byzantine). Read more
Published on 27 April 2009 by Paul Latham
book review
This is a very difficult read and I have put it down for the time being. It seems to require quite a bit of known info on the part of the reader and I am certainly not, in any... Read more
Published on 26 April 2009 by P. STACE
Sweeping history of early Muslim victories
This sweeping, engrossing narrative of Muslim conquests begins after the death of Muhammad in 632. The prophet's death and the subsequent Islam-inspired military conquests had... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2008 by Rolf Dobelli
Interesting but monotonous
I fully agree with the two comments below especially the fact that this book highlights the problems of analyzing Arab conquests without any attempt to address them. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2007 by Mohamed Abdulmalik
Surprisingly disappointing
Due to the mostly positive reviews i read i was greatly looking forward to appropriately filling the gap in my knowledge on the Arabic Conquests. Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2007 by M. E. Noone
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
