Islam-wank #2: most plausible high tide for islam in Europe b4 1000ce

it would be most plausible for Muslims to conquer up to which river in Europe b4 1000 ce

  • Seine river, France?

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • Arno river, Italy?

    Votes: 2 8.3%
  • Maritsa river, Thrace?

    Votes: 16 66.7%

  • Total voters
    24

raharris1973

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would it be more plausible for Muslims in Islam's first few centuries to conquer up to the Seine river in France, the Arno river in Italy, north of Rome, or the Marisa river in Thrace, past Constantinople?

why?
 
The Maritsa, easily. All it takes is some more steppe nomads converting to Islam and spreading the religion among Slavs in Eastern Europe before Orthodoxy can spread, or the early Arab sieges of Constantinople going better (e.g. no storm after the Battle of Phoenix in 654).
 

raharris1973

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really? I've heard of the Byzantine walls and fleet being invincible, and also that in the early Caliph the Muslims didn't convert nomadic barbarians, they conquered them. See John(arabic letters) the lightweight faqih's posts on this latter aspect.

It does seem though that Constantinople falling to the Muslims before 1000 CE is the clear favorite (10 votes) in comparison to greater conquests France (2 votes) or Italy(1 vote), at the moment.
 
I've heard of the Byzantine walls and fleet being invincible
I'm not sure how the fleet was "invincible" when it was crushed to smithereens by the Arabs just twelve years after their conquest of Egypt. Emperor Constans II would almost have certainly died in that battle had he not been as lucky as OTL, and no storm after the Battle of Phoenix + dissension in Constantinople probably delays the First Fitna. If Uthman besieges Constantinople in 655, the city would only have its Walls to save it.

in the early Caliph the Muslims didn't convert nomadic barbarians, they conquered them. See John(arabic letters) the lightweight faqih's posts on this latter aspect.
The Volga Bulghars formally converted in 922, while the Karakhanids formally did in 934.
 
really? I've heard of the Byzantine walls and fleet being invincible, and also that in the early Caliph the Muslims didn't convert nomadic barbarians, they conquered them. See John(arabic letters) the lightweight faqih's posts on this latter aspect.

It does seem though that Constantinople falling to the Muslims before 1000 CE is the clear favorite (10 votes) in comparison to greater conquests France (2 votes) or Italy(1 vote), at the moment.
Read up on the Fourth Crusade.It tells you how it could be done without the use of gunpowder,and with the city being fully garrisoned.
 
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raharris1973

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What are the obstacles to getting up to the Seine, or conquering most of Italy in this timeframe 600s-1000 CE?
 
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