Abode of Peace

ABODE OF PEACE
An Alternate History by ‘Bertie Wooster’


In 732, the Umayyad Caliphate, one of the largest empires the world had ever seen, the second Caliphate of Islam, and the foremost military power of its day, set out across the Pyrenees, with a force estimated as high as fifty thousand men, under the command of the great Abdul Rahman al Gafiqi. They were faced and defeated at Tours by another Dark Age giant – Charles Martel, mayor of the palace in the Frankish state, repelling Islam’s furthest advance over the mountains and into Western Europe.


What if they triumphed and the banner of the Prophet was raised on the Loire?

Before the Battle of Tours, Frankish forces arranged themselves in a defensive phalanx on a wooded hill – a good position, as it hid the size of their army – which was smaller than the Caliphate forces. Martel had no heavy cavalry, and relied entirely on Frankish infantry – well trained and hardened – and a mass of irregular levies.

Abdul Rahman had a larger force of heavy cavalry, which had earlier inflicted a heavy defeat on Odo of Aquitaine and plundered southern Gaul. His army broke up to loot, and attacked fairly late in the year, due to the need to grow crops to eat.

On the day itself, after a few days of skirmishing, Abdul Rahman decided to send a force of cavalry to assess the Franks – they discovered that a high slope would have to be advanced up in order to reach their positions. However, with winter approaching, an attack had to be made. Several charges of Arab horsemen were repulsed by the Franks, until one of the attacks that broke through the square managed to get through, and kill Martel, although they were repulsed afterwards. The Frankish irregulars panicked and fled down the hill into the Umayyad army, where they were massacred, before encirclement forced the Franks still on the height to come down, where they were killed.

[I believe this fairly closely follows history – the Arabs did indeed break through several times, and I believe it is fairly plausible one may have managed to kill Martel and break morale]

The battle of Tours was a heavy defeat inflicted on Christendom – irreplaceable Frankish troops were lost and a military genius killed, as well as the political leader, paralysing Francia.

The Umayyads sacked Tours, but with the advancing winter, coupled with the fact that the Arabs had only tents to sleep in, led to the Umayyad army returning home, burning and killing as they went. The real damage of Tours was not wrought in territory, but in prestige - the Franks were defeated by an infidel as far north as Neustria and the Loire, their leader killed and a holy shrine sacked and plundered - the Merovingian King was left untouched, but his realm would never now achieve the power it could have.
PS: This is still very draft-y, and in need of much work.
















 
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Who knew that the young boulevardier and dashed fine bibber of wines was also hankering to see the dons of Oxford preaching Islam to a circumcised people?
 
:D

Ha! Well, Islam is never getting to Oxford here [Gibbon overshot a bit] - although it will get pretty prolific.

And yes, there probably is some mild oddity in being a PG Wodehouse nut and writing this.
 
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Its not a bad idea, but there are a few points that need to be made (the same ones that always appear in the Tours WI). One; this would not be the greatest defeat that Christians suffered at the hands of Musclims. That would likely be the initial Arabic expansion against the Byzantines which saw half of their, newly reconquered, empire ripped away.
Second, there is no evidence that *Spain wanted to expand its power into Gaul. Tours was a glorified raid that became much more significant in the historian's eye because the propoganda efforts of Charles the Hammer and his descendents. Gaul, compared to Spain, was a miserable backwater that held little of worth A loss at Tours most likely means that Gaul is raided, and the raiders return home with some loot. Maybe they force a treaty on the Franks requiring the King to sweat loyalty to the caligphate; a treaty that would be impossible to enforce.
Honestly, the greatest change that occures (and its a big one, that many people miss) is that this might well short circuit the rise of the Carolingian dynasty in France. You might see a continued Merovingian dynasty, possibly a balkanized Gaul, and a continued pagan Saxony. Now, THIS, is interesting :)
 

Starseed

Banned
The name of this AH is filled with so much Iron that in the far future kingdoms will send thousand of knights just to obtain a physical record of this AH. Kingdoms will fall in a attempt to accquire it - nations will be created with the iron that can be wrought from this AH's name.


(IOW: The name of this AH is filled with Iron-y.)
 
Its not a bad idea, but there are a few points that need to be made (the same ones that always appear in the Tours WI). One; this would not be the greatest defeat that Christians suffered at the hands of Musclims. That would likely be the initial Arabic expansion against the Byzantines which saw half of their, newly reconquered, empire ripped away.
Second, there is no evidence that *Spain wanted to expand its power into Gaul. Tours was a glorified raid that became much more significant in the historian's eye because the propoganda efforts of Charles the Hammer and his descendents. Gaul, compared to Spain, was a miserable backwater that held little of worth A loss at Tours most likely means that Gaul is raided, and the raiders return home with some loot. Maybe they force a treaty on the Franks requiring the King to sweat loyalty to the caligphate; a treaty that would be impossible to enforce.
Honestly, the greatest change that occures (and its a big one, that many people miss) is that this might well short circuit the rise of the Carolingian dynasty in France. You might see a continued Merovingian dynasty, possibly a balkanized Gaul, and a continued pagan Saxony. Now, THIS, is interesting :)

Grandiose language removed, altered as to your suggestions. Should be a lot more fun now.

PS: The title refers to dar-al Islam, the Abode of Peace, a division of the world in Islam, as opposed to the dar-al Harb , the non-Islamic world.
 
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Ripples and Butterflies in Austrasia

After the fall of Charles Martel and his army on the Loire, the Frankish Kingdom stalled - with Martel gone, southern Gaul burning and the army in tatters, King Theuderic IV took the reins - Carloman, son of Martel received Austrasia and Pepin Neustria [as OTL, but with less power as Martel was weaker, please correct me if wrong]. He proved a poor king in his five years of reign , with further Muslim raids into Southern Gaul, plundering and burning and often managing to escape before battle, and seeing fit to leave much more power to magnates in the provinces. He died in 737, in the midst of a civil war, to be succeeded by Childeric III.

Odo the Great of Aquitaine had retained fairly amicable relations with the Franks, but his son, Hunald, did nothing of the kind. Aquitaine was a new addition to the Empire, and the young Hunald refused to submit to Carloman, Pepin and the Merovingian king. In 735, in the last years of Theuderic's reign, he crossed the Loire and burned Chartres [as in OTL]. Theuderic vaccilated, and a Frankish army sent against him suffered a heavy defeat at Bordeaux, making Aquitaine de-facto independent.

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Draft of Francia at the acession of Childeric


Still underway, criticism welcome.
 
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