Eroberung von Damaskus (635)

Damascus was the first major city of the Byzantine empire conquered by the Muslims during the Muslim conquest of Syria. It fell to the Rashidun Caliphate after a siege lasting about one month,Vorlage:Cref from 21 August to 19 September 634 AD.

The last Roman-Persian Wars ended in 627, with Emperor Heraclius finally emerging victorious after his successful campaign in Mesopotamia against the Persians. Meanwhile Prophet Mohammad united the Arabs under the banner of Islam. After his death in 632, Abu Bakr succeeded him as a the first Rashidun Caliph. After Suppressing the revolts and uniting Arabia under a single political authority, Abu Bakr then sought to expand his empire beyond the Arabian Peninsula.

The Abu Bakr invaded the Byzantine empire in the Levant in April 634 and, after decisively defeating the Roman army at the Battle of Ajnadayn, the Muslim armies marched north and laid siege to Damascus. The city was captured after a persecuted monophysite bishop invited Khalid, the Muslim commander in chief, to enter the city via a loosely defended post on the city wall at night. While Khalid entered the city by assault from the Eastern gate, Thomas, the Byzantine commander in chief, negotiated a peaceful surrender at the Jabiyah gate with Abu Ubaidah, Khalid's second in command. After the surrender of the city, there was a dispute between the commanders whether or not to keep the peace agreement, after having been duped by Thomas. The commanders finally agreed that the peace terms given by Abu Ubaidah would be met.

Background

Map detailing the Rashidun Caliphate's invasion of Levant.

During Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628, in 610, Heraclius became the emperor of Byzantine empire, after overthrowing Phocas, meanwhile Sassanid Persians conquered Mesopotamia and in 611 they overran Syria and entered Anatolia, occupying Caesarea Mazaca. Heraclius, in 612, managed to expel Persian from Anatolia, but was decisively defeated in 613 when he launched a major offensive in Syria against the Persians. Over the following decade the Persians were able to conquer Palestine and Egypt. Meanwhile Heraclius prepared for a counter attack and rebuilt his army. Nine years later in 622, Heraculis finally launched his offensive. After his overwhelming victories over the Persian and their allies in Caucasus and Armenia, Heraclius, in 627, launched a daring winter offensive against Persians in Mesopotamia winning a decisive victory at the Battle of Nineveh thus threatening the Persian capital city of Ctesiphon. Discredited by this series of disasters, Khosrau II was overthrown and killed in a coup led by his son Kavadh II, who at once sued for peace, agreeing to withdraw from all occupied territories of Byzantine empire. Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem with a majestic ceremony in 629.

Meanwhile there were some quick political development in Arabia, where Prophet Mohammad had been preaching Islam and by 630, he had successfully united most of the Arabia under a single political authority. When the Islamic Prophet died in June 632, Abu Bakr was elected Caliph and his political successor. Troubles emerged soon after Abu Bakr's succession, when several Arabic tribes openly revolting against Abu Bakr. This was the start of the Ridda wars (Arabic for the Wars of Apostasy). Abu Bakr declared war against the rebels, and the Ridda wars were fought and completed during 632–33, with Arabia finally united under the central authority of the Caliph at Medina. After consolidating his position in Arabia, Abu Bakr started a war of conquest against the neighboring empires: the Sassanid Persian and the Byzantine empire. After a successful conquest of the Persian province of Iraq, Abu Bakr's confidence grew and in April 634 his armies invaded the Levant from four different routs. These armies, however, soon proved to be too small and were reinforced by Abu Bakr's most brilliant general Khalid ibn Walid from Iraq. Khalid crossed the Syrian desert and entered Syria from an unexpected route. With this bold move he unhinged the Byzantine defenses. He quickly captured the Ghassanid capital city of Bosra. In July 634 the Muslim army under Khalid's command defeated a Byzantine army at the Battle of Ajnadayn. After clearing their southern flank from the Byzantine garrison the Muslims laid siege to Damascus. Damascus was known as the paradise of Syria. The main part of the city was enclosed by a massive wall, 11 metres high.Vorlage:Cref The fortified city was c. 1,500 m long and 800 m wide and was entered by six gates:

• The East Gate (Bab Sharqi)
• The Gate of Thomas (Bab Touma)
• The Jabiya Gate (Bab al-Jabiya)
• The Gate of Paradise (Bab al-Faradis)
• The Keisan Gate (Bab Kisan)
• The Small Gate (Bab al-Saghir)Vorlage:Cref

Along the north wall ran the River Barada, which, however, was too small to be of military significance. At the time of the Syrian campaign, the Byzantine Commander-in-Chief at Damascus was Thomas, son-in-law of Emperor Heraclius. A deeply religious man and a devout Christian, he was known not only for his courage and skill in the command of troops but also for his intelligence and learning.

The siege

Muslim troop deployment (Red) during the siege of Damascus.

Early Muslim armies lacked siege equipments and therefore usually avoided siege warfare until it was inevitable as in the case of Damascus. Without necessary siege equipment, armies of early Muslim conquest would lay a close siege to the city, denying any supplies to it until the city under siege would fall short of supplies and agreed to surrender. Meanwhile any chance of breaking into the city would be availed to, if possible using stealth and espionage. Cities were usually isolated from the rest of the region and scouts were deployed on strategic routs to report the arrival of any relief force. Before the siege of Damascus Khalid isolated Damascus from the rest of the northern Syria, as the Byzantine reinforcements were most likely to be sent from northern Syria. A mounted detachment was left at Fahal, west from Damascus to keep the Byzantine garrison occupied and prevent it to come to the aid of Damascus, and to prevent any possible interfering between the Muslim forces and Madinah. So it acted as a rearguard of the Muslim forces on the Syrian front. Another detachment was sent on the road to Emesa to take up a position near Bait Lihya, about Vorlage:Convert from the city, and instructed its commander to send out scouts to observe and report the arrival of Roman relief columns. If unable to deal with such columns himself, the detachment commander would seek Khalid's help. Having thus arranged a blocking position to isolate Damascus, Khalid ordered his army to begin the siege of Damascus on August 21, 634 (the 20th of Jamadi-ul-Akhir, 13 Hijri). The corps commanders were instructed to throw back any Byzantine attack from the respective gates, and in case of heavy pressure Khalid should be sought for help. Zirrar bin al-Azwar was given command of 2000 housemen from the mobile guard to patrol in the empty spaces between the gates at night and to reinforce any corps attacked by the Byzantines. The following Muslim generals held the siege of the 6 gates of the Damascus. Each commander at the gate had 4,000–5,000 forces with him:

• Gate of Thomas: Shurahbil
• Jabiya Gate: Abu Ubaidah
• Gate of Faradis: Amr
• Keisan Gate: Yazid
• Small Gate: Yazid
• Eastern Gate: Raafe bin Umair

Khalid placed the main body of his corps under the command of Raafe bin Umair at the Eastern gate and he himself established a headquarter a short distance away from the Eastern gate in a monastery which as a result became known as Dair al Khalid, i.e monastery of Khalid. The Muslim army blocked off the city thereby preventing supplies going into Damascus, while Ghouta of Damascus provided the Muslim army with necessary supplies for men and their mounts.

Byzantine reinforcement

Emperor Heraclius was at Antioch during this siege. On September 9, 634 Emperor Heraclius sent a relief force, which is said to have consisted of 12,000 men, to Damascus. Muslim scouts posted on Damascus-Emesa road reported the arrival of a Byzantine relief force. Khalid sent Raafe ibn Umair with 5,000 troops to deal with the Byzantine force. This detachment of Muslims was however soon surrounded by the Byzantine troops but before it could defeat the Muslim detachment, Khalid arrived with another column of 4,000 men and the Byzantines were routed. The battle took place Vorlage:Convert north of Damascus at Uqab pass (Eagle pass) on Damascus-Emesa road. It is therefore known as Battle of Saniyyat-ul-Uqab (Battle of Uqab pass). The Muslim forces laying siege to the city had been weakened by this withdrawing of men (9000 in total). First with the departure of Raafe's detachment and then the reinforcement of the Mobile Guard under Khalid. At this point, if the Byzantine army attacked in strength against any Muslim corps guarding the gates, there would be a serious danger that they would break trough and so uplift the siege. Understanding the danger of the situation Khalid hurried to Damascus and did not pursue the routed Byzantine troops.

First Byzantine attack

Wall of Damascus at the Thomas gate. Although now only 7 m high, it used to be 11 m high at the time of the siege. Damascus has risen 4 meter since then.

After realising that no reinforcements from Heraclius would come, Thomas decided to launch a counteroffensive to drive the Muslims away. Early in the third week of September 634, Thomas drew men from all sectors of the city and formed a strong force to break out through the Gate of Thomas. His opponent here was Shurahbil with his corps of about 5,000 men. The Byzantine attack began with a concentrated shower of arrows against the Muslims. The Byzantine infantry, covered by the archers on the wall, rushed through the gate and fanned out into battle. Thomas himself led the assault. During this action Thomas was struck in his right eye by an arrow. Unsuccessful to break the Muslim lines, Byzantines retreated back to the fortress. The wounded Thomas is said to have sworn to take thousand eyes in return. He ordered another great sally to be carried out that night.

Second Byzantine attack

This time Thomas planned to launch sallies simultaneously from four gates. The main sector was to be again the Thomas gate, to take full advantage of the exhausted Muslim corps there. The sally on the other gates was intended to tie down the other Muslim corps so that they could not aid Shurhabil's corps at the Thomas gate. The other gates were the Jabiya Gate, the Small Gate and the Eastern Gate. At the Eastern Gate, Thomas assembled more forces than at the other gates, so that Khalid would be unable to move to Shurahbil's help and take command in that decisive sector. Attacking from several gates also gave more flexibility to the operation, that is if success was achieved in any sector other than the Gate of Thomas, it would be exploited by sending troops to that sector to achieve the breakthrough. Thomas ordered that if possible, Khalid should be taken alive. The attack was launched simultaneously from all selected gates. At the Jabiya Gate, commander Abu Ubaidah and his men, after some hard fighting repulsed the sally and the Byzantines hastened back to the city. At the Small Gate, which was guarded by commander Yazid and his men, the battle was intense as Yazid had fewer troops than were positioned at the other gates. However, before the Byzantines could force the retreat of the Muslims, Zirrar with his 2,000 cavalry of the Mobile guard came to Yazid's aid, and by attacking the flank of the Byzantine army, repulsed the sally. At the Eastern Gate, the situation also became serious, for a larger Roman force had been assigned to this sector. Raafa was unable to withstand their attacks. However, the timely arrival of Khalid with his reserve of 400 veteran cavalry and his subsequent attack on the flank of the Byzantine army, marked the turning point in the sally at the Eastern Gate, and forced the retreat of the Byzantine army back to the city. The heaviest fighting was at the Thomas gate, where Thomas again commanded the sally in person. After intense fighting, Thomas, seeing that there was no weakening in the Muslim front, decided that to continue the attack would be fruitless and would lead to even heavier casualties among his men. He ordered a withdrawal and the Romans moved back at a steady pace, during which they were subjected to a concentrated shower of arrows by the Muslims. This was the last attempt by Thomas to break the siege. The attempt had failed. He had lost thousands of men in these sallies, and could no longer afford to fight outside the walls of the city.

Khalid's attack

Remains of the Eastern gate. Khalid's troops entered Damascus through this gate.

On September 18 (the 19th of Rajab, 13 Hijrah) Jonah, son of Marcus, a Greek, was sent by a persecuted monophysite bishop of Damascus, to inform Khalid about the celebration of a festival in the city that nightVorlage:Cref, and about the opportunity to capture the city by a surprise attack on a relatively lightly defended wall. In return he was granted amnesty for himself and for his beloved fiance. According to Muslim chronicles, she was still not handed over to him because of the arrival of the Muslim army that was to besiege Damascus, and according to the narrations he came to Khalid with this information only to get his beloved wife soon. Jonah also converted to Islam.

There was no time to make a coordinated plan of attack for the whole army; and so Khalid decided that he would storm the fort by the East Gate himself. First Khalid, Qa'qa ibn Amr and Mazur ibn Adi climbed up the wall hand by hand from the side of the Eastern gate. As the wall was the strongest, no guard was there on the top. Khalid and other two warriors tied ropes and dropped them so that a band of 100 selected warriors could climb up the wall. Khalid left a few men to assist the remaining climbers, and with the rest descended into the city, killing the guards at the gate. Khalid and Qa'qa reached the Eastern gate and the gate was flung open. The Khalid's men entered the city and an intense battle begun between the Muslims and the Byzantine army.

Thomas noticed that there was no movement in the Islamic army at the other gates. He assumed therefore that only Khalid's army had entered the city and that most probably other corps commanders were unaware of this sudden attack. Thomas tried to save Damascus for one last time. He sent envoys to the Jabiya Gate to talk with Abu Ubaidah, the second in command to Khalid, and offered to surrender the fort peacefully and to pay the Jizya. Abu Ubaidah, who was famous for his peace loving nature accepted the terms and peace was made, thinking that Khalid, the commander in chief of army would also accept it. The message was sent to all the corps commanders. After dawn Abu Ubaidah entered Damascus from Jabiyah gate and the other commanders from their respective gates, while Khalid's corps was still battling in the city from the Eastern side. Abu Ubaidah marched peacefully with his corps, accompanied by Thomas, Harbees and several dignitaries and the bishops of Damascus, towards the center of city. On the other hand Khalid and his men fought their way towards the center of Damascus killing all who resisted. Both commanders met at the Church of Mary in the center of the city.

Capture of the city

Khalid argued that he had conquered the city by force but Abu Ubaidah on the other hand told him about the peace agreement made between him and Thomas. After all the corps commanders had discussed the situation, they reached agreement among themselves and conveyed their opinion to Khalid. They reportedly told him that the peace agreement should be honored, because if the Romans in Syria heard that the Muslims first had given a guarantee of safety and then had slaughtered those whose safety had been guaranteed, no other city would ever surrender to the Muslims, and that would make the task of conquering Syria immeasurably more difficult. Khalid, though not happy, agreed to honor the peace agreement. The terms of the peace agreement were that no one would be enslaved and no harm would be done to the temples and nothing would be taken as booty and that safe passage was given to Thomas, Harbees and every citizen of Damascus who was not willing to live under Muslim rule. The peace agreement also stated that the peace would end after three days and that if the Muslims decided to attack after these three days, they would then not be under a guarantee of peace.

The following pact was drawn up and signed by Khalid bin Walid:

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. This is given by Khalid bin Al Waleed to the people of Damascus. When the Muslims enter, they (the people) shall have safety for themselves, their property, their temples and the walls of their city, of which nothing shall be destroyed. They have this guarantee on behalf of Allah, the Messenger of Allah, the Caliph and the Muslims, from whom they shall receive nothing but good so long as they pay the Jizya.

Aftermath

After three days had passed, Khalid ibn Walid commanding a cavalry regiment followed the convoy of Byzantine commanders and soldiers along with thousands of people who left the city with them, going towards Antioch. Khalid's cavalry caught up with the convoy a short distance from Antioch near a sea shore during a heavy downpour. The battle thus fought is known as Battle of Marj-ud-Deebaj ("Battle of Meadow of Brocade") because of the great amount of brocade taken as booty. Thomas and Harbees are said to have been killed personally by Khalid in a duel, and the wife of Thomas, the daughter of Heraclius, was taken as captive. According to chronicles, the Greek man Jonah, who guided Khalid to the short cut route to Antioch, got his fiance, but she committed suicide, and Khalid offered Jonah the daughter of Emperor Heraclius, but he refused. She was later released by Khalid and send back to Emperor Heraclius. Jonah, the Muslim's informant, died two years later in the Battle of Yarmouk.

In Madinah Caliph Abu Bakr died, making Umar his successor. Umar removed Khalid from command of the Muslim army making Abu Ubaidah the new commander in chief. In later years, following the Battle of Yarmouk, the whole Levant was annexed by the Rashidun Caliphate followed by the conquest of Antioch in 638. Byzantine Armenia and Mesopotamia were also lost completely by 639. Emperor Heraclius now concentrated on the defenses of Egypt and Anatolia, creating a buffer-zone in Anatolia west of Cesarea by abandoning all the fortifications. The Muslims never invaded Anatolia. However by 642 Egypt and Tripolitania was also lost to the Caliphate.

The dome of Damascus' treasury in the Umayyad Mosque

While the Arabs administrated the city of Damascus, the population of Damascus remained mostly Christian—Eastern Orthodox and Monophysite—with a growing community of Arab Muslims from Mecca, Medina, and the Syrian Desert.

The city was chosen as the capital of Islamic Syria. Its first Muslim governor was Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan, one of the commanders of the Muslim army that captured the city. Yazid died of plague in 640 and his younger brother Mu'awiya I, the founder of the Ummayad dynasty, succeeded him. After the murder of the last Rashidun Caliph, Caliph Ali in 661, Mu'awiya installed himself as the caliph of the Islamic empire founding the Ummayad dynasty. Damascus subsequently became the capital of the Ummayad Caliphate and all of the surplus revenue of the Ummayad Caliphate's provinces were forwarded to the treasury of Damascus. Arabic was also established as the official language, giving the Arab minority of the city an advantage over the Greek-speaking Christians in administrative affairs.

Located on a strategic location, Damascus attracted merchants from all over the world. Trade and economics prospered in the city and under the Ummayads, Damascus remained one of the most dazzling cities of the world, until in 750 it fall to Abbasids. On August 25, 750, the Abbasids, having already beaten the Umayyads in the Battle of the Zab in Iraq, conquered Damascus after facing little resistance. With the heralding of the Abbasid Caliphate, Damascus became eclipsed and subordinated by Baghdad, the new Islamic capital.

Bibliography

Ancient sources

• Vorlage:Harvard reference
• Ibn Ishaq, Sirah Rasul Allah, 750.
• Theophanes the Confessor, Chronographia, 810–815.
• Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings, 915.

Modern sources

• Vorlage:Harvard reference
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