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Battle of the Bridge

634 battle between Sasanians and Arab Muslims

Field	Value
conflict	Battle of the Bridge
Battle of al-Jisr
partof	the Muslim conquest of Persia – Second invasion of Mesopotamia
image	File:Zalabiya,Euphrat.jpg
caption	The battle was joined on the banks of the Euphrates
date	25 October 634
place	Marauha at the Euphrates near Kufa, Iraq
result	Sasanian victory
combatant1	Rashidun Caliphate
combatant2	Derafsh Kaviani flag of the late Sassanid Empire.svg Sasanian Empire
commander1	Abu Ubayd al-Thaqafi
Al-Hakam al-Thaqafi
Jabr ibn Abi Ubayd
Al-Muthanna
commander2	Bahman Jadhuyih
Jalinus
strength1	6,000–10,000
strength2	10,000
casualties1	6,000–7,000 killed
3,000 drowned or escaped
casualties2	Unknown
campaignbox

Battle of al-Jisr Al-Hakam al-Thaqafi Jabr ibn Abi Ubayd Al-Muthanna Jalinus 3,000 drowned or escaped

The Battle of the Bridge or the Battle of al-Jisr () was fought at the bank of the Euphrates river between Arab Muslims led by Abu Ubaid al-Thaqafi, and the Persian Sasanian forces led by Bahman Jaduya. It is traditionally dated to the year 634, and was the only major Sasanian victory over the Rashidun Caliphate army.

Context

The Muslim forces had already taken Hira and assumed control of the surrounding Arab-inhabited areas of Mesopotamia, on the banks of the Euphrates. The fall of Hira shocked the Persians, as the "youthful Yazdgard, began to take the business of the Arabs more seriously." Yazdgard sent forces to the Arab border areas, and looked to be gaining the upper hand, as Al-Muthanna had to call for reinforcements from Medina.

The new Caliph, Umar, sent Abu Ubaid to Mesopotamia to take command from Al-Muthanna. He encountered the main Persian force under Bahman Jaduya, near what is the present site of Kufa. The two forces faced each other on opposing banks of the Euphrates. As it was crossed by a bridge, the battle came to be known as the Battle of the Bridge.

Battle

Bahman invited Abu Ubayd to decide who should cross the river. The latter took the initiative, and crossed the river aggressively; this proved to be disastrous for his forces. According to accounts, the sight of the elephants in the Persian army frightened the Arabs' horses. A white elephant apparently tore Abu Ubaid from his horse with its trunk and trampled him underfoot during his misguided attempt to attack its trunk. The death of their commander and the inability of the Arab troops to push back the Persians who had formed a rigid line close to the bridge, led the Arabs to panic and flee. After Abu Ubayd the command was taken by al-Hakam and Jabr, his brother and son, respectively, and eventually Al-Muthanna. According to tradition, Al-Muthanna remained to fight so that the Arabs could repair the bridge and flee losing 4,000 men, although any accurate estimates of the figures involved in this and other contemporaneous battles are not known. Around 3,000 Arab Muslims were carried away by the river.

Sources agree that, whatever his reasons might have been, Bahman Jaduya did not pursue the fleeing Arab army.

References

Sources

References

electricpulp.com. "ʿARAB ii. Arab conquest of Iran – Encyclopaedia Iranica".
Brown, Daniel W.. (2011-08-24). "A New Introduction to Islam". John Wiley & Sons.
Ancient Persia page 360
Ancient Persia page 360 & 361

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

muslim-conquest-of-persia battles-involving-the-rashidun-caliphate battles-involving-the-sasanian-empire arab-conquest-of-mesopotamia 634

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