Linch-Pin

Now I know you all have been waiting with baited breath for my much publicized return to Bloggerdom,(okay stop rolling your eyes in disgust)So here I am.(master of the obvious here.)

ahem
hmmmhmmm
aaahhhhhheeeeemmmmmm(sorry got a bit of a cold:)

Now in the picture above you see a picture of the Mediterranean World,the outlined areas are the 750 A.D borders of the Umayyad Caliphate.The Umayyad Caliphate was the fourth reincarnation of the Arabian Empire,started by Muhammad's jihads in 622 A.D.The Caliphate was by far the strongest country in the world at that time;doubly larger than the Byzantines,and four times larger than the Frankish Empire.But size was not the only way this country was stronger than others,it had a centralized government when others were falling into feudalism,it still had many of the scientific methods lost in the Dark Ages,but perhaps the greatest of all it was united in religion and drive while the countries of Europe were wracked by the Catholic/Orthodox/Arianism debacle and rampant anarchy.The Umayyad royal family could indeed boast of much,especially having weathered civil disturbance early in their reign.The Umayyad Caliphs were on a march to world domination,with only the wily-Byzantines and the newly born Frankish Empire to stop them.But like all Muslim rulers,their key to victory was also their weakness,Islam.The ability of generations of Muslim rulers to be able to throw hordes of unrelenting,non-stop,zealots(with heaven assured to those who died) against the "infidels" was one of the main reasons for their success.Unfortunately for the Caliphs it was a two edged sword.The Caliphs soon found that the beast of war fueled with Islamic furor is hard to stop.Unable to halt their armies of zealots,they decided to turn them on the final strongholds of resistance between them and the sundered,easy-target of Europe.
The Arabian invaders attacked the Byzantines first,hoping for the final destruction of their long hated enemies.Gaining a handful of victories in the beginning, the Caliphate was forced to back down due to a major loss at the Battle of Akrionon.(From then on the Arabians would never again move past that point in their invasion of Asia minor.That was completed by the Turks.)
With the failure of the Eastern invasion the Umayyad family lost quite a bit of prestige,the only way to keep their positions(and heads)was to declare an attack up the Iberian peninsula into the Franks.
The wide fields of Gaul(lower west France)and Burgundy(lower east France)were raided and attacked by the Arabs,but in order to take and hold that area the Caliphate needed to own Tours a linch-pin city keeping the Frankish border from reduction.It was here that the Charles Martel(Mayor of the Palace,de facto King of the Franks)decided to stop the Muslim advance.Now take a minute to view the stakes,here is the literal last line of defense for the European Christendom,a loss would give the Arabs dominance in all of western Europe and establishing a caliphate which undoubtedly would have solidified and crushed any and all resistance.
The Battle of Tours is one of the rare victories of Medieval Europe.The tactical genius of Charles Martel probably had the most to do with it.He prepared his infantry and chose the perfect place for the battle to negate his opponents better size and maneuverability.
When the Arabians came they met a unexpectedly stiff Resistance.The commander of the Muslim soldiers panicked and ordered a siege in put in place.This was exactly what the Frankish commander needed for in the few days the Caliphate troops needed to get situated,the literal Frankish Calvary arrived from the out flung areas of the kingdom.Veterans all, these troops were the elite of the Frankish army.With these troops with him,Charles Martel faked weakness.The Arabian commander falling for the trap ran right into the Frankish core of hardened elites while the bulk of the Frankish army swung around and decimated the enemy forces.
phew
And that is how Western Christendom was saved.I would be glad for any comments.:)