The siege of Germanicia or Marash was led by Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate during their campaigns in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

in 638. The city surrendered without much bloodshed. This expedition is important because it marks the end of the military career of the legendary Arab Muslim general Khalid ibn Walid, who was dismissed from the army a few months after his return from the expedition.

Background

The Muslims won a decisive victory at the

Battle of Yarmouk The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, ...

fought in August 636, thus the attempt made by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius to roll back Roman Syria failed. Further, unable to send more imperial troops to Syria, Heraclius made yet another attempt to re-conquer Syria by the aid of his Christian Arab allies of

Jazira Jazira or Al-Jazira ( 'island'), or variants, may refer to: Business *Jazeera Airways, an airlines company based in Kuwait Locations * Al-Jazira, a traditional region known today as Upper Mesopotamia or the smaller region of Cizre * Al-Jazira ( ...

. The army of the Christian Arabs laid siege to Emesa in mid-summer of 638. The Muslims avoided a battle in the open and instead opted for a defensive strategy which led to the Battle at Emesa. All the regiments from outposts in northern Syria were called to Emesa. The Christian Arab Army was forced to withdraw their siege when, by the orders of Caliph

Umar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...

, the Muslim army from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

attacked Jazira. At this point, the rear elements of the besieging army were attacked by a Mobile guard led by Khalid ibn Walid, which in effect left the Byzantine forces devastated. Caliph Umar then launched a full-scale invasion of Jazira which was completed without much resistance in just a few months. As soon as the western part of Jazira was occupied,

Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ ( ar, عامر بن عبدالله بن الجراح; 583–639 CE), better known as Abū ʿUbayda ( ar, أبو عبيدة ) was a Muslim commander and one of the Companions of the Islamic prophet ...

wrote to Umar and asked for Ayadh bin Ghanam, who was operating in western Jazira, to be put under his command so that he could use him in raids across the northern border. Umar agreed to this request, and Ayadh moved to Emesa with a part of the Muslim forces sent from Iraq to Jazira.

The siege

In the Autumn of 638, Abu Ubaidah launched several columns, including two commanded by Khalid ibn Walid and Ayadh, to raid

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

territory in

as far west as Tarsus. Khalid's objective was

Germanicia Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş ...

(Arabic: Marash), the city which lies on a plain at the foot of the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...

. The region is best known for its production of

salep Salep, also spelled sahlep or sahlab,( tr, salep, sahlep; fa, ثعلب, ; ar, سحلب, ; al, salep; az, səhləb; he, סַחְלָבּ, ; el, σαλέπι, ; Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Bosnian: салеп, ''salep'') is a flour ma ...

, a flour made from dried

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

tubers. In late 638, the Muslim army laid the siege to the city which contained a Byzantine garrison. Expecting no help from their Emperor, the Byzantine garrison surrendered the city on the usual terms of Jizya offered by the

Rashidun army The Rashidun army () was the core of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. The army is reported to have maintained a high level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization, granti ...

, which included terms stating that the garrison and the populace be spared. As for material wealth, the Muslims could take all they wished.

Aftermath

It is narrated that Khalid returned to

Qinnasrin Qinnasrin ( ar, قنسرين; syr, ܩܢܫܪܝܢ, ''Qinnašrīn'', lit=Nest of Eagles), also known by numerous other romanizations and originally known as ( la, Chalcis ad Belum; grc-gre, Χαλκὶς, ''Khalkìs''), was a historical town in ...

laden with spoils of war that had seldom been seen before. Many

Muslim historians :''This is a subarticle of Islamic scholars, List of Muslim scholars and List of historians.'' The following is a list of Muslim historians writing in the Islamic historiographical tradition, which developed from hadith literature in the time of ...

commented that ''Just the spoils of Marash were sufficient to make the soldiers of this expedition rich for life''. Khalid ibn Walid, who was at the peak of his military career was unfortunately dismissed by Caliph Umar because of his immense popularity which was a result of his very successful military career. It was a general view that Umar had dismissed Khalid because he was angry with Khalid, though it was clarified later by Caliph Umar that: {{cquote, ''I have not dismissed Khalid because of my anger or because of any dishonesty on his part, but because people glorified him and were misled. I feared that people would rely on him, rather than God, for victory. I want them to know that it is God who does all things; and there should be no mischief in the land.'' Khalid was urged by many of his companions to retaliate against Umar for this.Tabari: Vol. 3, p. 99. Khalid did not, although he was powerful enough to launch a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against Umar and in effect seize the power of the Rashidun Empire. He instead chose to stay away from politics and died four years later in 642 in Emesa. Caliph Umar was said to have felt embarrassed for his conduct against Khalid and was reported to have said at his death that 'he would have appointed Khalid as his successor if he was still alive.'

References

On-line resources

A.I. Akram, ''The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns'' Lahore, 1969

630s in the Byzantine Empire

638