IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 125: Umayyad Borders: Frontiers in the First Islamic Empire
Monday 6 July 2020, 11.15-12.45
Organiser: | Andrew Marsham, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge |
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Moderator/Chair: | Harry Munt, Department of History, University of York |
Paper 125-a | Did the Umayyads Have a 'Grand Strategy'? (Language: English) Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies, Military History, Politics and Diplomacy |
Paper 125-b | Destroying the 'Brazen Wall': The Development of the Umayyad-Byzantine Eastern Frontier, 660-718 (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Military History, Politics and Diplomacy |
Paper 125-c | Left Behind: Pre-Islamic Mercenary Bands on the Iraqi-Syrian Border, 628-695 (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Military History |
Abstract | This session brings together a reassessment of the nature of strategic thinking and practice within the Umayyad elite (Marsham) with two specific case studies focusing on Anatolia and Syria (Forrest and Rezakhani, respectively). Marsham argues that the polycentric (after Nef and Tillier) Umayyad empire required keeping the strategic objectives of provincial actors broadly in line with and responsive to, the centre. Forrest reviews the evidence for warfare and diplomacy on the main land frontier between Byzantium and Islam between 661 and 718 CE. Rezakhani proposes that unrest in Syria in the 7th century can be attributed in part to remnants of the Sasanian army of occupation remaining active there. |