In our last video on the early Islamic conquests, we saw the Umayyad Caliphate greatly
expand its borders in the aftermath of the Second Fitna: pushing into Afghanistan and
finally completing the decades-long conquest of North Africa. Today, greater conquests
will follow in both the West and the East, as the Caliphate’s attention turns to
Sindh, Transoxiana, and Visigothic Iberia. However, as the Caliphate grew ever larger,
cracks in the state apparatus had begun to show, and the problems of overextension, mistreatment
of the non-Arab majority, and sectarian unrest would continue to plague the Umayyads even
as they approached the apex of their power. And as we probe these weaknesses in the caliphate,
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That’s K-E-E-P-S dot com slash kings. The years immediately following the
Berber Queen Dihya’s defeat would be marked by both victory and some turmoil,
particularly in Khorasan and Transoxiana, where Caliphal authority had still not
been fully restored since the Second Fitna. Between 692 and 705 the largely independent
governor, Musa ibn Abdallah, had expanded his powerbase: first by conquering local
Hephthalite and Sogdian city-states, even clashing with forces of the Tibetan Empire
over influence in the region, then later forging local alliances in order to expand at the expense
of other Arab governors in the region despite his nominal loyalty to the Caliph. Musa was eventually
brought to heel and slain in a campaign ordered by al-Hajjaj and led by al-Mufaddal and Mudrik, both
sons of Khorasan’s previous governor al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra, with the aid of the Arab-friendly
monarch Tarkhun, ruler of Samarkand and the most powerful of the Sogdian rulers. However, the
episode highlighted the increasing difficulty of maintaining control over such distant frontiers,
and much of the following decades would see the Umayyads attempting to centralize their
vast realm with varying degrees of success. A different sort of turmoil simmered in the
capital during this same period, with Caliph Abd al-Malik now aged and sickly, thorny questions
surrounding his succession began to arise. Though Abd al-Malik favored his sons al-Walid and
Sulayman as successors, his brother Abd al-Aziz, governor of Egypt, was the preferred candidate
for many despite his advanced age, particularly as their father Caliph Marwan, now dead twenty
years, had previously declared that Abd al-Aziz should succeed his brother. Abd al-Malik’s
request for his brother to renounce this claim and withdraw from succession drove a wedge between
the two, with Abd al-Malik seemingly fearing another civil war as evidenced by his attempts
to compel tribute from Abd al-Aziz and chip away at his traditionally very autonomous power base.
These fears were quelled when Abd al-Aziz died in late 704, though the continuing uncertainty
surrounding succession spurred Abd al-Malik to make an unprecedented move: summoning his
vassals to take their oath of allegiance to his son al-Walid while he still lived. Though power in
the Caliphate had now been dynastic for 24 years, swearing fealty to a designated heir before
his succession marked a further departure from the elective tradition of the Rashidun and was
disliked by many, with the respected judge and scholar Sa’id ibn Musayyib even being jailed
and beaten for his refusal to swear the oath. Despite this dissatisfaction, al-Walid’s reign
would be one of the most successful of any Umayyad caliph, and he took the throne after his father’s
death in October 705 without serious opposition. New conquests would swiftly follow on three
main fronts. In the East, governor al-Hajjaj, a trusted companion and advisor to the new Caliph,
would grow ever more influential, ruling Iraq and Persia like a kingdom of his own and appointing
his own governors to oversee further expansion. The most significant of these frontier governors
were Qutayba ibn Muslim, who replaced al-Mufaddal as governor of Khorasan and continued the conquest
of Transoxiana, and Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, governor of Fars, who would oversee the
greatest Arab victories in India to date. In the West, Musa ibn Nusayr ruled
the frontier as Governor of Ifriqiya, with Visigothic Spain the next target
of the Caliphate’s unstoppable march. The first conquests of al-Walid’s reign would
be undertaken by Qutayba, who skillfully took advantage of the feuding and conflict between the
Sogdian principalities of the region to bring them into the Caliphate’s sway. Tish al-A’war, ruler
of Chaghaniyan, was facing aggression from the neighboring principalities of Shuman and Akhrun
to the North at the base of the Hissan mountains. To preserve his throne, he offered his tribute and
fealty when Qutayba’s army arrived in late 705, lending his strength to that of the
Arabs in their swift campaign against his rival princes and against Balkh, the
power center of the Tokharistan region. The disunity of the many princes of Transoxiana
made it relatively easy for Qutayba to compel tribute from the region and bring it under the
suzerainty of the Caliphate, though his power in the region remained a delicate balancing act, as
demonstrated by difficult campaigns such as his months-long conquest of Paykand, a mercantile
city whose great wealth allowed it to attract soldiers and mercenaries from across Sogdh to
resist Qutayba for some time before its fall and brutal sacking. Indeed, he would be forced
to wage several costly campaigns over the next few years as individual rulers or small coalitions
came into conflict with the new lords of the Oxus, with further fighting in Bukhara following
Paykand’s sacking. 706 also saw some small victories on the border with the Byzantine Empire
along the Taurus mountains, with al-Walid’s brother Hisham defeating opposition made up
mostly of the Christian Mardaites resettled by Justinian II: a low-intensity border conflict that
would continue over the following year, coming to a close with the fall of Tyana near today’s
Kemerhisar in the early Summer of 707 and see the bulk of these Mardaites resettled once more
into Syria to remove them as a Byzantine asset. Following these victories, the Caliphate would
enjoy four relatively peaceful years, with al-Walid appointing new governors and ensuring his
authority as the new Caliph was recognized across his vast realm. However, the years 711 and 712
would see two major campaigns erupt almost seven thousand kilometers away from each other, on
opposite sides of the Caliphate. While on the western front, Musa ibn Nusayr and Tariq ibn Ziyad
brought the might of the Caliphate to Visigothic Hispania, the topic of our next video, a recent
string of failures in the East had galvanized al-Walid and al-Hajjaj to redouble their efforts
in India. Sindh had long been a base for pirates, who preyed on vessels in the Indian Ocean,
and of further concern was the sanctuary many Sassanid loyalists and various defeated rebels had
received upon fleeing Umayyad territory for India. The apparent inciting incident for the campaign
occurred when pirates seized eight ships traveling from the Kingdom of Anuradhapura in modern Sri
Lanka, whose hulls contained jewels, pearls, slaves, and other gifts from King Manavamma to the
Caliph, as well as Muslim women on pilgrimage, who were taken captive. Details on the first punitive
expedition are scarce, but following the seizure of the ships and King Dahir of Sindh’s refusal or
inability to have them recovered from the pirates, Hajjaj petitioned a reluctant al-Walid for
support in an invasion, which was finally granted. Led by a general named Buzail, 3,000 men
sailed to the port city of Nerun, near Pakistan’s modern city of Hyderabad, before marching with a
vengeance on the prominent pirate haven of Debal. The garrison and local forces would
crumble rapidly before the small Arab army, but this initial victory would last only until the
arrival of Prince Jaisiah of Sindh with 4000 men, mounted on camels and accompanied by war
elephants. Though the Arabs fought valiantly, the elephants drove many of the Arab cavalry’s
horses to panic, including Buzail’s own steed, leading to the general’s death and the
defeat of his already outnumbered army. Dahir and Sindh’s victory would be very
short-lived, however. Even before the launching of the second invasion, cracks were beginning to
show in the kingdom. Fearing another invasion, the governor of Nerun began paying tribute to
al-Hajjaj, a sign of the breakdown in central authority in Sindh that had allowed the
kingdom to become such a haven for pirates, and which would later see the Caliphate gather
significant support from within its borders. In addition, various tribes and communities
existed effectively independently within Sindh borders, most notably the nomadic
Jat people and the Meds of Balochistan, who lived along the coasts as fishermen
and pirates. During the reign of Rai Chach, who established the Chacha dynasty in Sindh around
the same time Islam was first emerging in Arabia, humiliating and discriminatory decrees had
been leveled against such tribal groups, the Jat in particular. These included bans on
their wearing of silk and carrying of swords, with children of prominent Jat leaders
held hostage to enforce these rules. By the time of al-Walid and Dahir, these
grudges still ran deep, but the crown of Sindh seemingly no longer had the power or authority
to control its coasts or its populace, leaving large minority populations and disloyal vassals
within the nation ready to take up arms against the state at the first showing of weakness. This
opportunity would come swiftly when in late 711, a second army was raised with al-Walid’s direct
support, al-Hajjaj using the soldiers from Buzail’s army still held prisoner in Sindh as a
further grievance to goad the Caliph into war. Under the leadership of Muhammad ibn Qasim,
the still-teenaged governor of Fars and al-Hajjaj’s brother-in-law and counting 6,000
horsemen from the Caliphate’s core Syrian army, an equal number of camel-mounted irregular
warriors joining at Shiraz, and a further 3,000 at Makran lead by the province’s elderly
and sickly governor Muhammad ibn Harun, this army would greatly outnumber Buzail’s. And
though his family ties and personal loyalty to al-Hajjaj seem to have contributed more to the
young governor’s selection as leader than his military experience, particularly with al-Hajjaj
having suffered near-defeat at the hands of one rebel general already, he would rapidly prove
his skill as a commander in the years to follow. From Makran, the army marched into Sindh with a
vengeance, first conquering the Balochi city of Armanbelah: today’s Bela, Pakistan. Despite his
youth and his larger army, ibn Qasim proceeded with far greater caution than Buzail had, wary of
the Sindhi prince’s army that had foiled the first expedition and constructing a series of fortified
camps as he advanced to guard against ambush. Reaching Debal on October 28th, 711, ships arrived
to unload vast siege engines and catapults, along with frequent correspondence from al-Hajjaj, and
the ever-cautious commander dug trenches around the besieged city to guard against any relief
army or sortie before beginning a bombardment. While the 13th Century Chach Nama’s account
of the siege to follow is rather fanciful, featuring a magical battle standard that rendered
the city unconquerable until its flagpole atop the temple was shattered by a catapult stone,
among other obvious embellishments, the basic overview of the brief siege is simple enough.
After seven days of bombardment from mangonels and the enormous catapult known as the ‘little
bride’ the Caliph had provided, the defenders of the city attempted to sally forth against the
besieging army, only to be driven back easily. The following day, ibn Qasim’s army assaulted
the battered walls from every direction, soon scaling the walls and storming the city. A
brutal sack followed, with the city nearly razed, many killed as they sought refuge in the
temple, and far more carried off as captives. Leaving the recently-freed prisoners
from Buzail’s army in charge of Debal, along with their former jailer Kublah, who
was spared thanks to his kind treatment of the Muslim prisoners and swift conversion to
Islam upon their victory, the great army swiftly departed their conquest to push on towards
Nerun, where Jaisiah was still encamped. Outnumbered by the approaching army and
receiving word of the fall of Debal, the prince opted to withdraw to his father’s side, commanding Nerun’s governor to resist the
approaching Arabs unaware of the tributary agreement he had already reached. When ibn Qasim
arrived in Nerun soon after Jaisiah’s departure, he found no resistance, instead being allowed to
rest and resupply while Jat and Med tribespeople, hostile to the Chach monarchs and hearing word
of Qasim’s victory, flocked to his banner. From here he went first north-west along the
West bank of the Indus, conquering Sehwan with little more difficulty than Debal despite
the stubborn defence of its leader Bachera, cousin to King Dahir. After another week-long
siege, its citizenry, frightened by tales of Debal’s razing - favored surrender, eventually
driving Bachera out in order to do so. A few days later at Budiah, Bachera attempted
another stand after fleeing Sehwan’s fall, joining that city's headman Karah Kotak to launch
a night attack against the encamped Arab army. A thousand of his best warriors split into four
groups for the raid under cover of darkness, backed up by Jats loyal to Sindh. Confused orders
would see the nighttime attack come to naught, however, with the four groups failing
to properly coordinate in the darkness, some becoming lost and failing to reach the Arab
army while the rest were discovered and driven by the alert sentries of the well-fortified camp.
In the aftermath of this defeat, Karah Kotak submitted to ibn Qasim as so many of Dahir’s
vassals had already, while Bachera and his loyalists were slain, bringing almost the whole
of Sindh west of the Indus under the sway of the Caliphate. The true test would be the crossing
of the Indus, however, and here Qasim’s army, camped at Kohal, began to face difficulties. Dahir
and Jaisiah stood ready on the opposite bank, the two armies at times within bowshot of each other,
guarding against a crossing. Despite nominally commanding the loyalty of the nearby conquered
cities, Qasim’s position was still tenuous, based on fear that might fade if the conquerors
showed too much weakness. Indeed, as the 50-day standoff across the Indus drew on, the Arabs found
great difficulty in keeping themselves supplied, with the army beginning to suffer from hunger
and disease and being forced to eat many of their horses, while Sehwan rose in revolt behind them
and expelled its recently-installed Arab garrison. Though this revolt was quickly suppressed and
2,000 fresh horses laden with supplies were soon sent by al-Hajjaj, the long period of inactivity
was clearly weakening the Arab position. Thus, on Hajjaj’s orders, the army departed
towards Thatta, most likely in May of 712. A successful crossing was made at
Jhim: today the site of Keenjar Lake, but at the time a relatively safe ford where a
small island stood in the middle of the Indus. Provided boats by the local leader Mokah Basaleh,
ibn Qasim had them filled with ballast and connected by planks to form a bridge, crossing
before the unprepared Dahir could bring his forces to bar their way and routing the paltry
force under Mokah’s loyalist brother Rasil. From here, Qasim marched swiftly North towards
the Sindhi capital of Aror, defeating several Sindhi armies along the way. At a lake just south
of today’s Nawabshah, the first major engagement was fought, with Jaisiah taking a strong force
of soldiers and elephants to oppose the invaders. Though they fought bravely and the elephants
caused great chaos among the mounted Arabs, they were swiftly enveloped and hemmed in by their
more mobile foes, with the majority of the army being cut down while Jaisiah broke through the
foes surrounding him atop an elephant to escape to his father’s side. This defeat further
shook the confidence of Dahir’s vassals, with Rasil now defecting to join his brother
in ibn Qasim’s service and securing boats to cross the lake as a sign of his new
loyalty. Over the following three days, Dahir, facing loyalty problems and apparently
allowing the readings of his astrologers to inform much of his strategy, threw several
detachments against ibn Qasim to no avail, allowing the Arabs to overcome these small forces
piecemeal and reduce the Sindhi numbers advantage. On June 16 712, following the advice of Muhammad
ibn Haris, leader of the Muslim Alafi tribe, which had fled Makran after a blood feud brought them
into conflict with al-Hajjaj, he finally brought his full army to bear against ibn Qasim’s army,
which had crossed the lake lead by his lieutenant Uwais ibn Kais. Arranging his horsemen on his
left, archers on his right, with foot soldiers supported by war elephants in the center,
the Sindhi army numbered approximately 20,000 men to ibn Qasim’s 15,000. Though he initially
attempted to rout them with an elephant charge, the Arabs and their mounts now had experience
fighting the great beasts, and divided into small groups to confuse and frighten the war elephants
sent against them. Meanwhile, a cavalry charge by the Muslim second in-command Muhriz ibn Sabat into
the enemy center saw significant success despite Muhriz’s own death in battle, causing great damage
to the enemy before both forces were forced to withdraw after the day’s bloody fighting.
The following day would be the climax of the conflict, with Dahir this time issuing forth
with his horsemen at the center of his army while the Arabs shot arrows treated with flaming
Naphtha to panic the elephants. Initially, the battle favored the Sindhis, with Shujah the
Abyssinian, a renowned champion in ibn Qasim’s army, being killed with an arrow to the neck and
the Caliphal army beginning to retreat before the cavalry onslaught. Ibn Qasim managed to rally his
forces, however, with Mokah Basayeh’s own mounted detachment reinforcing his commander in the center
as the battle raged across the banks of the lake. Soon, Dahir’s lack of authority would be
his undoing, with huge numbers of his levied footmen and archers fleeing, leaving mostly the
dwindling noble-born cavalry to defend their king as the rallying Arab army began to push back.
As the left wing of his army began to rout, Dahir launched a last valiant charge from atop
his elephant, only for a flaming arrow to set the litter he rode in aflame, causing the elephant
to panic and rush into the water of the lake. Some of his remaining men attempted to rally about
him in the shallows, but now cut off from retreat, the king and those about him were cut down by
a volley from the Arab archers along the banks. While Jaisiah would escape to continue the war,
this victory shattered the Sindhi resistance, with ibn Qasim executing every prisoner save
the merchants and artisans and few willing to back Jaisiah in continuing a losing battle. Many
towns and cities would swear fealty to ibn Qasim and the Caliphate in the immediate aftermath,
with Jaisiah holding out in Brahminabad until its fall to a siege nearly a year later in November
713 officially ended the Chach dynasty and the Kingdom of Sindh. This conquest, together
with the simultaneous campaigns in Iberia, would soon bring the Umayyad Caliphate to near
its greatest extent, yet for all its power the Caliphate was not invincible, and dangers
both internal and external continued to loom. Join us next time for some of the greatest
victories and defeats of the Caliphate alike, at the Guadalete River and the gates of
Constantinople. This series will continue, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the
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