All Battles 
Emperors 
Siege of Constantinople (2nd) |
year: 717-718 |
| An unsuccessful siege of Constantinople and a disaster for the Arabs | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
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enemy: Arabs (Umayyads)
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location: Constantinople
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accuracy:
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battle type: Siege |
war: Early Byzantine-Muslim Wars |
modern country:
Turkey |
| ▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Leo III) | ▼ The Enemies | |
| Commander: | Emperor Leo III | Masalmas (Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik) |
| Forces: | 30,000 Byzantines & 50,000 Bulgarians (cavalry) | 80,000 to 120,000 + 2,560 ships |
| Losses: | 2555 ships and almost the entire army |
| Background story: |
| After the first Arab siege of Constantinople (674-678), the Arabs decided a second decisive attack on the city. It was known that the Arabs had been preparing for years. Emperor Leo III was able to seize the throne because his predecessors were not in position to deal with the Muslim threat. An 80,000-strong army led by Maslamas crossed the Bosporus from Anatolia to besiege Constantinople by land, while a massive fleet of Arab war galleys commanded by admiral Suleiman, with 1,800 ships, sailed into the Sea of Marmara to the south of the city. The Byzantines had been well prepared though. In addition, they had a valuable ally: the Bulgars. The Bulgars, who had established friendlier relations with the Byzantines a year earlier under Khan Tervel, on the face of the looming Arab threat, came to the aid of the besieged city by attacking the rear of the Arab forces. Norwich states “The Bulgars had no love for the Byzantines, but they preferred them to the infidel and were in any case determined that, if Constantinople were to be taken, it should fall into Bulgar rather than Arab hands”. |
The Battle: |
 the walls of Constantinople On September 1, 717, the Muslim fleet with 1,800 ships arrived in Propontis. Leo III, seeing the enemy ships in a dense formation and being swept away in the middle of calm by the current of the Bosporus, ordered the Byzantine fleet to attack. The losses inflicted by the “Greek fire” were unprecedented and the enemies were terrified by the effectiveness of the new Byzantine weapon. Later, in the fall of 717 the Bulgars started their attacks on the West side. The Arabs were surprised by the new enemy who caused them heavy losses. Encouraged by this, the Byzantines opened the gates and attempted to break the siege, but were stopped at the Arab trenches and had to retreat. This scene was repeated several times during the siege with the same ill success for both sides. The constant Bulgar attacks in the rear of the Arabs forced them to build trenches also against the Bulgars. This way, however, the Arabs found themselves in a thin line between two fortifications, which was under attack on both sides. The 717/718 winter was “the cruelest winter that anyone could remember.” Constantinople was supplied via the Black Sea and did not suffer much hardship, in contrast to the Arab besiegers on land, who suffered immense hardship and losses due to disease and starvation during the winter, and they were forced to eat their camels, horses, donkeys and even small rocks and the bodies of their dead. The ground was frozen for 100 days and the Arabs were forced to throw their dead into the sea of Marmara. An Egyptian fleet of 400 ships and an African fleet of 360 ships arrived in the spring with fresh reinforcements. These fleets tried to keep their arrival as secret as possible as they were informed of the tremendous power of the Byzantines at sea. So they anchored in a remote bay off the coast of Asia Minor. But they were betrayed by Egyptian Christian sailors who surrendered en mass to the Byzantines. The Byzantine fleet attacked again and destroyed a large part of this armada too, which, however, had managed to unload some supplies and this enabled the besiegers to make new raids against the city, but without any results. After an unusually harsh winter, weary from the long attrition of siege warfare, thinned out by disease and hunger, and demoralized by the lack of success in assaulting the city, the Arabs attempted to retreat to their ships in July, but were devastated by a Bulgar attack against their land forces. Contemporary chroniclers report that 22,000 to 32,000 Arabs died in that attack. Unable to continue the siege under these circumstances, the Arabs were forced to abandon their ambitions on Constantinople.The siege ended on August 15, 718, exactly one year after it began. The afflicted besiegers boarded as on the remaining ships, but on their departure a great storm, in the Propontis, sank most of the ships. Eventually, after a new storm in the Aegean, only five galleys survived and were able to return to Syria. The rest of the fleet was destroyed. According to Arab sources, the Muslims lost 2,500 ships and 150,000 men in this siege (today it is believed that the losses were 80,000-120,000) |
Aftermath: |
| It was a -historic victory for Byzantium. For the Arabs was a severe blow and a pivotal event that turned back the tide of Muslim incursions into Europe. |
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