Byzantine Battles: Fall of Taormina

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Fall of Taormina	year: 902 1 August 902
The Arabs captured the city, the last Byzantine possession in Sicily	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Arabs (Aghlabids)	location: Taormina, Sicily	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: City Capture	war: Muslim conquest of Sicily	modern country: Italy

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Leo VI the Wise)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	Unknown	ex-Emir Ibrahim II
Forces:	Unknown	Unknown
Losses:

Background story:

The conquest of Byzantine Sicily by the Arabs lasted 75 years. It began in June 827, when the first Muslim army landed in Mazara, and ended in 902, when Taormina fell.
During all this time the Arabs were gaining ground slowly and with difficulty, in contrast to their earlier successes against Byzantium.
After the fall of Syracuse in 878, the Byzantines had the control of only a short stretch of coast around Taormina. The rest of the island was at the hands of the Arabs.
In the early 902s, the bloodthirsty and paranoid Aglavid emir of Kairouan Ibrahim II (full name: Abu Ishaq Ibrahim II ibn Ahmad ) was forced to resign by the caliph of Baghdad because of his atrocities against other Muslims. Ibrahim abdicated in favor of his son Abdullah II, but instead of going to Baghdad as requested by the caliph, he declared himself a mujahideen and decided to wage a holy war - jihad - against Christians from all over Europe, starting with Sicily where he had unfinished business with the Byzantines.

The Battle:

ruins of the Taormina castle

The former emir Ibrahim organized an army of volunteers and landed in May 902 in Sicily, in Trapani from where he went to Palermo. There he recruited other volunteers for his holy war. The preaching of Ibrahim that took those who followed him was that they would advance all over Europe slaughtering Christians and would reach as far as Constantinople ...
Ibrahim marched to the east and at Giardini, just south of Messina, met a Byzantine unit that had just arrived to reinforce Taormina. After defeating this force, he proceeded to Taormina and besieged it.
Taormina was a strong fortress on a steep cliff and looked impregnable. Ibrahim nonetheless ordered some of his men to climb the rocky seaward face of the citadel, which the defenders had neglected to guard. Once the black flag of the Caliphate was unfurled at the top, Ibrahim’s army surged towards the gates. The defenders were overwhelmed, the gates flung open and Taormina fell on 1 August 902.
Shortly afterwards, Ibrahim moved north to Calabria to continue the jihad. For a while, panic spread in southern Italy (his bloodthirsty reputation preceded him), but Ibrahim died of dysentery three months later, while besieging the insignificant Lombard fortress of Cosenza.

Noteworthy:

Ibrahim, when asked by the caliph to explain why he did not come to Baghdad after his resignation, claimed that he fully complied with the orders, he simply chose to go to Baghdad via Constantinople!

Aftermath:

The fall of Taormina effectively concluded the 75-year conquest of Sicily by the Arabs. Some small isolated forts remained in Byzantine hands until 965. The Muslim rule of the island lasted until 1061.
Byzantium never took back Sicily, despite some serious efforts by general Georgios Maniakes in the mid 11th century..