Siege of Constantinople (674–678)

Siege of Constantinople (674–678)

The First Arab Siege of Constantinople was a major conflict of the Arab–Byzantine wars. It was the first culmination of the Umayyad Caliphate’s expansionist strategy towards the Byzantine Empire, led by Caliph Mu’awiya I. Arab fleets secured bases along the coasts of Asia Minor, and then proceeded to install a loose blockade around Constantinople. The siege left several traces in the legends of the nascent Muslim world, although it is conflated with accounts of another expedition against the city a few years previously.

About Siege of Constantinople (674–678) in brief

Summary Siege of Constantinople (674–678)The First Arab Siege of Constantinople was a major conflict of the Arab–Byzantine wars. It was the first culmination of the Umayyad Caliphate’s expansionist strategy towards the Byzantine Empire, led by Caliph Mu’awiya I. Arab fleets secured bases along the coasts of Asia Minor, and then proceeded to install a loose blockade around Constantinople. They used the peninsula of Cyzicus near the city as a base to spend the winter, and returned every spring to launch attacks against the city’s fortifications. Finally, the Byzantines, under Emperor Constantine IV, managed to destroy the Arab navy using a new invention, the liquid incendiary substance known as Greek fire. The Byzantine victory was of major importance for the survival of the Byzantine state, as the Arab threat receded for a time. The siege left several traces in the legends of the nascent Muslim world, although it is conflated with accounts of another expedition against theCity a few years previously. On the other hand, echoes of a large-scale siege of Constantinople and a subsequent peace treaty reached China, where they were recorded in later histories of the Tang dynasty. The Arab attacks on Chalcedon were repelled, and the Arabs remained on their way before returning to Syria and returning to Amorium. This time they captured the first garrison and captured the Amorion garrison. Accounts of what followed differ, and what followed differ from what Theophanes the Confessor reports.

The first time the Arab army was decimated by famine and disease, and another army led by Yazid I was dispatched to aid Fadhala ibn ‘Ubayd. In 668, the Arabs sent aid to Saborios, strategos of the Armeniac Theme, who had rebelled and proclaimed himself emperor. In spring 669, after receiving reinforcements, they advanced across Asia Minor and advanced across the Asian shore of the Bosporus to the Byzantine capital, Chalcedon. After receiving reinforcements from Melene, the Arab troops spent the winter in the Hexapolis around Melene awaiting reinforcements, and they advanced as far as far from the Chalcedons as far away as Bosporon. This is the first time that the Arabs captured a Byzantine capital. The second time that they captured a Greek capital, and this time they returned to Syria to return to Syria, before returning for a third time before returning. The third time the Arabs took the city, and it was captured and captured by the Arabs in 674. This was the beginning of the Second Arab siege of Constantinople in 674–678. The Siege of Constantinople was followed by the Battle of Amorium in 672–673 and the Battle of Hexapolis in 675. It is the last Arab attack on the Byzantine capital before the end of the First Muslim Civil War in 661, from which Mu’awiya and his clan emerged victorious, establishing the Muslim Caliphate. The Battle of Yarmouk in 636 left the bulk of its remaining forces from the Levant into Asia Minor.