Laval University From the SelectedWorks of Fathi Habashi March, 2016 Battles in Levant.pdf Fathi Habashi Available at: https://works.bepress.com/fathi_habashi/177/
DECISIVE Battles in Levant The Levant has been a battle ground since ancient times The Battle of Kadesh took place in 1274 BC showed the supremacy of iron in war, in the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 AD the Arabs entered the Middle East, in Hittin in 1187 Saladin defeated the Crusaders, in Ein Jalut in 1260 Baibars saved Egypt from destruction by the Mongol, in Marj Dabiq in 1516 the Ottomans opened the way to occupy Egypt and the Middle East, while in World War I General Allenby of the British Empire entered Jerusalem in 1917 thus marking the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of the problems in the Middle East.. --------------------------- Megiddo 1457 BC The Battle of Megiddo (Figure 1) took place about 30 km south-east of Haifa, known under its Greek name Armageddon was fought between Egyptian forces under the Pharaoh Thutmose III and a large rebellious coalition of Canaanite vassal states led by the king of Kadesh in April 16, 1457 BC [1482 BC or 1479 BC].. In ancient times Megiddo was an important city-state. It was an Egyptian victory re-establishing Egyptian dominance in the Levant. 1
Figure 1 - Modern map of Levant showing Megiddo Figure 2 - Hettite Empire and the Battle of Qadesh Qadesh 1274 BC In the Battle of Qadesh which took place in 1274 BC between forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II just upstream of Lake Homs near the modern Syrian - Lebanese border (Figure 2), the Egyptian military equipment were made of bronze while those of the Hittites were made of iron. For this reason Ramesses was unable to win and was forced to sign a peace treaty. Yarmouk 636 AD The Battle of Yarmouk, fought along the banks of the Yarmouk River, a branch of Jordan River, roughly 30 km north of the city of Irbid. The battle lasted for six days in August 636 was waged between the army of Khalid Bin Al Waleed during the Islamic Caliphate of Umar and the Byzantine Empire during the rule of Heraclius. Khalid Bin Al Waleed entered Syria coming from Iraq through the desert. It set the stage for the beginning of the expansion of the Islamic Caliphate. The Yarmouk River is the natural border with modern Syria (Figures 3-6). 2
Figure 3 - Modern map of Yarmouk River and the Battle of Yarmouk Figure 4 - Marking the way to the Battle of Yarmouk Figure 5 - Monument marking the Battle of Yarmouk Figure 6 - Monument marking the Battle of Yarmouk The Crusades Between 1098 and 1289 the Levant was the site of the Crusades from Europe - - a fight between Christians and Moslems where Christians founded Principalities and Kingdoms (Figure 7). 3
Figure 7- The Levant 1098-1289 Hattin 1187 Salah ad-din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, to the Western world, Saladin (1137/38-1193), was the Kurdish leader who founded the Muslim Ayyubid Dynasty. He defeated the Crusaders at the battle of Hattin in 1187 (Figure 8) near Tiberias in present-day Israel. Saladin expanded his Ayyubid Sultanate to include Syria, Mesopotamia, Yemen, Hejaz and parts of North Africa. 4
Figure 8 - Battle of Hattin in 1187 Ain Jalut 1260 The Battle of Ain Jalut took place on September 3, 1260 between Muslim Mamluk Al Ẓahir Baibars al- Bunduqdari and the Mongol Hulagu Khan in the southeastern Galilee (Figure 9). The battle marked the first time a Mongol advance had been permanently halted and saved Egypt from destruction by the Mongols. Figure 9 - The Battle of Ain Jalut Marj Dabiq The Battle of Marj Dabiq (Figure 10) was a decisive military clash in Middle Eastern history, fought on 24 August 1516, near the town of Dabiq, 44 km north of Aleppo in Syria. The battle was part between the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate, which ended ultimately in an Ottoman victory, the conquest of most of the Middle East by the Ottoman Empire, and the end of the Mamluk Sultanate. 5
Figure 10 - Dabiq Jerusalem 1917 The Battle of Jerusalem occurred in World War I when General Allenby of the British Empire entered the city on December 11, 1917 (Figure 11). This marked the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire. Britain would hold Jerusalem until the end of Mandatory Palestine in 1948. Figure 11 - Jerusalem Fathi Habashi Laval University, Quebec City, Canada Fathi.Habashi@arul.ulaval.ca December 2015 6