Interests
Battle of Tours
Part of the Muslim conquests
Date: October 10, 732
Location: near Tours, France
Result: Decisive Frankish victory
Combatants
Carolingian Franks and the Umayyad Caliphate
The Commanders were
Charles Martel and the Arab 'Abd-al-Raḥmān al-Ghāfiqī†
Strength
Unknown, but probably around 33,000 Unknown, but one modern source estimates around 20,000 to 30,000 Some later Arab sources mention a figure of 80,000. Modern Historian Paul Davis echoes this estimate,
Casualties
Unknown; 1500 reported in early Christian chronicles, but probably far heavier Unknown, but possibly 10,000, notably 'Abd-al-Raḥmān
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
Guadalete -- Toulouse -- Covadonga -- Tours
Campaigns of Charles Martel
Cologne -- Amblève -- Vincy -- Soissons -- Tours -- Avignon -- Narbonne -- River Berre -- Nîmes
The Battle of Tours (October 10, 732), often called Battle of Poitiers and also called in Arabic Balâṭ al-Shuhadâ. The Court of Martyrs was fought near the city of Tours, close to the border between the Frankish realm and the independent region of Aquitaine. The battle pitted Frankish and Burgundian forces under Austrasian Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel against an army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by 'Abd-al-Raḥmān al-Ghāfiqī, Governor-general of al-Andalus. The Franks were victorious, 'Abd-al-Raḥmân was killed, and Martel subsequently extended his authority in the south. Ninth-century chroniclers, who interpreted the outcome of the battle as divine judgment in his favour, gave Charles the nickname Martellus , possibly recalling Judas Maccabeus of Maccabean revolt, to whom God also granted a victory over the Syrians. Details of the battle, including its exact location and the exact number of combatants, cannot be determined from accounts that have survived.
As later chroniclers increasingly came to praise Charles Martel as the champion of Christianity, pre-20th century historians began to characterize this battle as being the decisive turning point in the struggle against Islam. Most of the 18th and 19th century historians, like Gibbon, saw Poitiers, (Tours) as a landmark battle that marked the high tide of the Muslim advance into Europe. Leopold Von Ranke felt that Poitiers was the turning point of one of the most important epochs in the history of the world.
While there is modern debate over whether or not the victory was responsible as Gibbon and his generation of historians claimed, for saving Christianity, and being responsible for halting the conquest of Europe by Islam - with historians making arugments for and against that position - the battle helped lay the foundations for the Carolingian Empire, and Frankish domination of Europe for the next century. The establishment of Frankish power in western Europe shaped that continent's destiny and the Battle of Tours confirmed that power.
