Battle of Akroinon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Battle of Akroinon
Part of the Arab–Byzantine Wars
Map of Anatolia (Asia Minor) around 740 AD. Akroinon was located at the western edge of the central Anatolian plateau.
Date 740 AD Location Akroinon, Byzantine Empire (today's Afyon, Turkey) Result Byzantine victory
Belligerents
Umayyad Caliphate	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Abdallah al-Battal  † al-Malik ibn Shu'aib  †	Leo III Constantine V
Strength
20,000	unknown
Casualties and losses
13,200	unknown

The Battle of Akroinon was an important battle fought in 740 AD. It took place near a place called Akroinon (close to modern Afyon in Turkey). The fight was between a large army from the Umayyad Caliphate (an Arab empire) and the forces of the Byzantine Empire.

For about 100 years, Arab armies had often raided the Byzantine lands in Anatolia (which is modern-day Turkey). The expedition in 740 was one of the biggest in a long time. It involved three separate groups of soldiers. One group, with 20,000 fighters, was led by two commanders, Abdallah al-Battal and al-Malik ibn Shu'aib. They met the Byzantine army at Akroinon. The Byzantine forces were led by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (who ruled from 717 to 741) and his son, Constantine V (who would become emperor later, from 741 to 775).

The Byzantines won a major victory in this battle. This win, along with other problems the Umayyad Caliphate faced and internal fighting (like the Abbasid Revolt), stopped big Arab attacks into Anatolia for about 30 years.

Why the Battle Happened

Since the Early Muslim conquests began, the Byzantine Empire was the main enemy of the growing Caliphate. The Byzantines were the largest, richest, and strongest state next to the Muslim lands. After a terrible defeat at the Battle of Sebastopolis, the Byzantines mostly tried to defend their lands. Meanwhile, Muslim armies regularly launched raids into Byzantine-controlled Anatolia.

After failing to capture the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, in 717–718, the Umayyad Caliphate focused on other areas for a while. But from 720 AD, they started their attacks against the Byzantines again. Each summer, one or two campaigns would be launched. Sometimes, these attacks included a naval force. Sometimes, they even had winter expeditions. These attacks were not usually aimed at taking over land permanently. Instead, they were large raids to steal goods, destroy the countryside, and sometimes attack forts or big towns. These raids mostly happened in the central part of Anatolia.

Under the more aggressive Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (who ruled from 723 to 743), the Arab raids became much bigger. They were led by some of the Caliphate's best generals, including princes from the Umayyad royal family. However, the Muslims started to have fewer successes. This was especially true as their soldiers and money were needed for a growing conflict with the Khazars in the Caucasus region. The raids continued, but Arab and Byzantine writers mentioned fewer successful captures of forts or towns.

However, in 737, the Arabs won a big victory over the Khazars. This allowed them to focus more on Byzantium and increase their attacks. So, in 738 and 739, successful raids were led by Maslamah ibn Hisham. They even captured the town of Ancyra. For the year 740, Caliph Hisham put together the largest expedition of his rule. He chose his son Sulayman to lead it.

The Battle of Akroinon

According to a historical record by Theophanes the Confessor, the Umayyad army had 90,000 men in total. This number might be a bit too high.

The army was split into three parts:

• 10,000 lightly armed men, led by al-Ghamr ibn Yazid, were sent to raid the western coastlands.
• 20,000 men, led by Abdallah al-Battal and al-Malik ibn Su'aib, marched towards Akroinon.
• The main force, said to be about 60,000 men (this number is very likely exaggerated), led by Sulayman ibn Hisham, raided the region of Cappadocia.

Emperor Leo III and his son Constantine V faced the second Arab force at Akroinon. We don't know all the details of the battle. But the Emperor won a huge victory. Both Arab commanders were killed. Most of their army, about 13,200 men, also died. The remaining Arab soldiers managed to retreat in an orderly way to Synnada. There, they joined up with Sulayman's main force.

The other two Arab forces destroyed the countryside without being stopped. But they failed to capture any towns or forts. The Arab invasion army also suffered from severe hunger and a lack of supplies before returning to Syria. A historian from the 10th century, Agapius, wrote that the Byzantines took 20,000 prisoners from the invading forces.

What Happened After

The Battle of Akroinon was a huge success for the Byzantines. It was the first time in many decades that they had won a major battle against the Arabs. Emperor Leo saw this victory as a sign of God's favor. It also made him believe even more in his policy of iconoclasm, which he had started some years before. Iconoclasm was a religious movement that opposed the use of religious images, or "icons."

Right after this success, the Byzantines could become more aggressive. In 741, they attacked the main Arab military base of Melitene. In 742 and 743, the Umayyads were able to take advantage of a civil war within the Byzantine Empire. This civil war was between Constantine V and a general named Artabasdos. During this time, the Arabs raided Anatolia with little resistance. However, Arab historical records do not mention any major achievements from these raids.

The Arab defeat at Akroinon has often been seen as a turning point in the Arab–Byzantine wars. It caused the Arab attacks on Byzantium to slow down. However, some historians, like Walter Kaegi and Ralph-Johannes Lilie, have questioned this idea. They believe that the reduced Arab threat after Akroinon was also due to other major problems the Caliphate faced. These included heavy defeats in far-off provinces (like the battles of Marj Ardabil or The Defile). These defeats used up too many of their soldiers and resources. There was also internal fighting, like civil wars and the Abbasid Revolution.

Because of these problems, the Arab attacks against the Byzantine Empire in the 740s were not very effective. They soon stopped completely. In fact, Constantine V was able to use the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate to launch his own attacks into Syria. This gave the Byzantines an advantage on their eastern border that lasted until the 770s.

In the Muslim world, the defeated Arab commander, Abdallah al-Battal, was remembered. He became one of the greatest heroes in Arab and later Turkish stories and poems. He is known as Sayyid Battal Ghazi.

Sources

• Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). [Battle of Akroinon at Google Books The End of the Jihâd State: The Reign of Hishām ibn ʻAbd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads]. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-1827-7. Battle of Akroinon at Google Books.
• Foss, Clive F.W. (1991). "Akroinon". The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 
• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes (1999). "'Abdallāh al-Baṭṭāl (# 15)". Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit: 1. Abteilung (641–867), Band 1: Aaron (# 1) – Georgios (# 2182). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. 5–6. 
• Treadgold, Warren (1997). [Battle of Akroinon at Google Books A History of the Byzantine State and Society]. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2. Battle of Akroinon at Google Books.