Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) DOCUMENTARY

[Music] charles martel and his frank stopped the muslim invasion during the battle of tours in 732 and because of this they are often lauded as the saviors of europe but it was the peoples of the pyrenean peninsula who despite early setbacks resisted the muslims for centuries eventually the spaniards and the portuguese started taking back their lands and what was called the reconquista or the reconquest welcome to our new video on the reconquista and the battle of los navas de tulosa in the kings and generals documentary series [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] we thank you for your interest in our videos hopefully you will like share and subscribe right away as that would assist us immensely so please subscribe today now on to the video the muslim caliphate conquered vast territories from central asia to north africa in less than a century by 708 the muslims had reached and conquered modern-day morocco the warriors of islam were now just 50 kilometers away from europe and in 711 berber general tariq launched an invasion into hispania at this point the old roman province was under control of a visigothic kingdom muslim forces landed in gibraltar which in translation for arabic means the mount of tariq although their forces only numbered around twelve thousand strong they started conquering the land and decisively defeating the visigoths of king rodrick in 712 at the battle of guadalete shortly after the capital toledo was occupied the visigoth kingdom collapsed and in just seven years all of the pyrenees were subdued saved for some remote mountainous regions the ancestors of the basques the people called the vascons were not eager to surrender their small force led by noblemen pelagius defeated the muslims in 718 at the battle of kovadunga pelagius was able to form a new state in the northern part of the peninsula and it was called asterius his victory is considered the event that kickstarted the reconquista the muslims saw very little gain in attempting to pacify this inhospitable region and set their eyes on france between 719 and 759 their forces tried to invade the franks on multiple occasions but every time were stopped back in spain the new king of asterius alfonso the first took pamplona and then most of galatia by 750 the muslims also had their share of internal problems as in the same year the ruling yumiya dynasty was toppled by the abbasids one of the last remaining members of the umed's al-rahman managed to save his life and take over cordoba in 756. he formed an independent emirate and unified most of muslim spain under his control within the next 25 years the emirs attempted to take over the northern part of the peninsula but were stopped in 794 during the battle of lutos muslim forces were wiped out by king alfonso ii of asturias [Music] to the east christians formed a new kingdom of pamplona eventually this state would transform into the kingdom of navarre while asturias became known as the kingdom of leon two countries were allied in their attempts to drive back the emirate but this alliance was defeated during the battle of alden cuera this defeat would be the greatest the christian suffered during the reconquista the emirates of cordoba felt influential enough to declare itself a caliphate this was a symbol showing that they were just as great as the abbasid or fatimid caliphates despite this the king of leon romero ii managed to defeat cordovan forces in 939 at the battle of cemuncus unfortunately the situation in the kingdom of lyon was not stable and soon after this victory castilia rebelled and that didn't allow the christians to continue their re-conquest [Music] eventually the situation would become more dire in the late 10th century the caliph started to spend less time in the state affairs and nobleman almanzor became the de facto ruler of the caliphate he completely changed the situation in the peninsula as between 978 and 1002 he managed to defeat all christian domains on multiple occasions these kingdoms were forced to pay tribute to cordoba after their crushing defeat at the battle of savera in 1000 his death in 1002 plunged caliphate into a civil war that ended with its own collapse muslim domain was divided into dozens of war in states called typhas which can be translated as tribes it seemed to be the perfect moment for the christians to strike and take the peninsula back and so the neverese king sancho iii succeeded in the unification of castile leon and aragon however upon his death his realm was divided amongst his many sons this resulted in a number of wars between castile lyon aragon and navarre non-stop raids in chaos marked the 11th century the central figure of the events that took part during the time is rodrigo diaz de vivar who is also known as el sid this military leader entered the collective mythos of spain in the whole of christendom through his actions one of the kings he served alfonso vi managed to unite leon castile and galicia by 1077 alfonso was strong enough to declare himself the emperor of spain indeed many muslim typhas were forced to pay him tribute and in 1084 he was able to take control of the ancient capital toledo this act worried muslim entities all over the peninsula and they asked their southern neighbors the alma ravid berbers for help the berbers came to spain soon and delivered a decisive defeat to alfonso in 1086 at sagradas the almora vids decided to use the weakness of the typhus and by 11 10 they occupied the southern part of the peninsula however it was too late as the christian kingdoms were now receiving significant help from their brethren and it was showing itself all over the region in 1139 portugal was established as a kingdom and with the aid of the crusaders lisbon was reconquered in 1147 the berbers were also having problems to the south as a new sect called the alma had started to take over morocco in spain and by 1173 this process was concluded the alma had represented a more fanatical sect of islam while the muslims were fighting each other in the north spanish kingdoms were building a strong alliance the kingdom of castile led by alfonso viii launched a campaign into almahad territory but during the battle for alarcos in 1195 he was heavily defeated and any dreams of reconquista was postponed for now neither the al-muhads nor the christians were fond of a new balance and in 1211 the cow of muhammad al nasir launched across the strait of gibraltar with an army seventy thousand strong pope innocent iii called for a new crusade with more than forty thousand crusaders coming together in toledo by the spring of twelve twelve the kingdoms of castile aragon portugal and navarre along with the knights templar santiago and calatrava orders were part of this army and this army would be led by the castilian king alfonso viii never before had christians or muslims fielded such large armies in spain and this campaign was going to be decisive muslim strategy was simple al-nasir moved most of his forces fast to block passages in the sierra moreno mountains while sending groups to besiege enemy castles in the area he thought that the knights will not be able to effectively fight in the mountains and would soon run out of provisions alfonso attempted to cross the mountains in multiple locations but was blocked the legend tells that alfonso's army was approached by a shepherd who promised to guide them by in an undefended passage this maneuver seemingly surprised al-nasir who didn't have his whole army under his command the armies were now in an area called las novas de tulosa where the decisive battle for spain would take place the spaniards had to fight uphill their army was divided into three groups with alfonso in this center with knights from his orders the king of aragon pedro to the left and the king sancho of navarre to the right each of the groups were divided into three lines with infantry in the first cavalry in the third and a mix of the two within the second the muslims fortified a small position for the caliph and his guard the alma hads had all of their cavalry on the left and right with center occupied by the infantry consisting of local muslims in the front line and moroccans in the second the vanguard of the army consisted of light skirmishers everything began with the muslim cavalry attack on the left and the right after some initial success the muslim riders were counter-attacked by knights in the second line the calips cavalry was pushed back uphill and muslim skirmishers in the center retreated on contact but the second line joined the attack and the christian lines were dangerously close to breaking it is said that at this point alfonso even panicked as he remembered the quraishing defeat at alarcos and only after encouragement from the clergy he managed to come to his senses and lead his center in a counter-attack the spaniards stopped their retreat the situation was still shaky however they would be saved by a brave tactical maneuver of king sancho himself the navaris ruler saw that most of the enemy was engaged in the center and on the flanks so he led his knight uphill to attack the caliph himself the guard did not expect this move and the knights were closing in on the calendar the caliph lost heart at this moment and decided to run as soon as muslim forces saw that his banner was not present anymore they broke their lines and attempted to withdraw sources claimed that the majority of the alma had army was killed or taken hostage and the spaniards were victorious [Music] although this victory did not bring any immediate results it was a turning point the alma had soon collapsed and the muslims never mounted a serious offensive into the christian spain and gradually region by region city by city the reconquista reclaimed all of the peninsula with granada being the last to be reconquered in 1492 by the united spanish kingdom thanks for watching our newest documentary we really hope you enjoyed it and we really hope you'll support us on portraying every dollar counts we also hope that we can discuss this video together so join us in the comments the video is narrated by me commissar bro so please check out my channel if you like strategy let's plays this has been nurks and phoenix's channel and we will catch you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,065,209

Keywords: Crusades, Crusaders, Templars, Reconquista, Spain, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, Portugal, Leon, Almohads, Almoravids, Berbers, Arabs, Muslims, knights, medieval, battle, tactics, strategy, animated documentary, kings and generals, history, lesson, study, educational, world history, extra credits history, byzantium, bazbattles, Epic history tv, war, evolution, muhammad, invasion, yarmouk, caliphate, jerusalem, walid, waleed, tours, charles martel, guadalete, 1212, las navas de tolosa, documentary, battle of las navas de tolosa

Id: Yl8iWejuZmM

Length: 13min 1sec (781 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 27 2017