Siege of Constantinople (674)

ARAB STRENGTH
Estimates at 200,000 with Egyptian reinforcements

ARAB LOSSES
150,000

The First Arab Siege of Constantinople in 674 was a major conflict of the Byzantine-Arab Wars, and was one of the numerous times Constantinople's defences were tested. It was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Umayyad Caliphate. Muawiyah I, who had emerged as the ruling dynasty of the Arab empire following the civil war, besieged Constantinople under Constantine IV. In this battle, the Umayyads, unable to breach the Theodosian Walls, blockaded the city along the Bosporus. The approach of winter forced the besiegers to withraw to an island 80 miles away.

Just prior to the siege, a Syrian Christian refugee named Kallinikos (Callinicus) of Heliopolis had invented for the Byzantine Empire a devastating new weapon that came to be known as "Greek fire". At the Battle of Syllaeum in 677, the Byzantine navy utilized it to decisively defeat the Umayyad navy in the Sea of Marmara, lifting the siege in 678. This victory halted the Umayyad expansion towards Europe for almost thirty years, although the Arabs would not be decisively defeated until the Second Arab siege of Constantinople.

The defeat can be attributed to two factors: the unbroken defences of the city, and the devastating winter. The naval victory that the Byzantines won ensured that the city could be resupplied by sea. Meanwhile, the Arab forces were beset with starvation in winter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Arab_siege_of_Constantinople

Siege of Constantinople (718)

ARAB STRENGTH
200,000 men,
2,560 ships

ARAB LOSSES
130,000-170,000 men,
2,555 ships

BYZANTINE STRENGTH
30,000 Byzantines,
50,000 Bulgarians

BYZANTINE LOSSES
UNKNOWN
The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople (717-718) was a combined land and sea effort by the Arabs to take the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. The Arab ground forces, led by Maslama, were defeated by Constantinople's seemingly impregnable walls and Bulgarian attacks while their naval fleet was defeated by Greek Fire and the remnants of it subsequently sunk in a storm on its return home. It is often compared to the more widely studied Battle of Tours in the fact that it halted Muslim expansion into Europe from the East for almost 700 years.

Norwich describes the 717/718 winter as "the cruelest winter that anyone could remember." Constantinople was supplied via the Black Sea and did not suffer much hardship, in contrast to the Arab besiegers on land, who suffered immense hardship and losses due to disease and starvation during the winter, as they were not able to supply adequate provisions and were forced to eat their camels, horses, donkeys and according to a Greek source even small rocks and the bodies of their dead. The ground was frozen and the Arabs were forced to throw hundreds of their dead into the sea of Marmara, including the Arab naval commander, Admiral Sulieman. An Egyptian fleet of 400 ships and an African fleet of 360 ships arrived in the spring with fresh reinforcements, but successive assaults on the city were unable to cause a breach in its defenses.[1] Many of the sailors who manned the Arab fleets were recently enslaved or dhimmi Christians who also deserted en masse.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Arab_siege_of_Constantinople



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""Maniots, known for their martial qualities, were the first to join the Greek liberation movement. The society called the Filiki Eteria ("Company of Friends") sent their representatives Perrevos and Chrisospathis to organize the Maniots. On March 17, 1821, 12,000 Maniots gathered in the church of Taxiarchs (Archangels) of Areopoli and declared war against the Ottoman Empire. The flag of the revolution was white with a blue cross in the center. On top of the flag there was a sign, "Victory or death". The Maniots were responsible for writing "Victory" and not "Freedom" on their banner since Mani was always free. On the bottom of the flag lied an ancient inscription, "With the shield or on the shield."
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Historical significance
This battle was a severe blow to Caliph Umar II and the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate was severely stunted during his reign. It has macrohistorical importance in that, had Constantinople fallen to this massive force of invaders, the Byzantine Empire most likely would have disintegrated and opened up new opportunities for Muslim expansion into Europe 700 years ahead of the Ottoman invasions. Many contemporary Arab and Western historians look at the Second Arab siege of Constantinople in the same light that modern Western historians look at the Battle of Tours, as a pivotal milestone in history that turned back the tide of Muslim incursions into Europe, ensuring Christianity would be the dominant religion at a time when Europe was in a state of disarray following the Decline of the Roman Empire. Leo III would go on to consolidate Byzantium's borders and defeat the Umayyad Caliphate again at the Battle of Akroinon. Bulgarian aid to the city was one of the key factors for the defeat of the Arabs and many poets and musicians glorified Khan Tervel as "The saviour of Europe". Blankinship argues that, along with the Battle of Toulouse and the Battle of Tours, the failure of the siege of Constantinople caused the Umayyad dynasty's weakness to be shown and was a primary factor in the fall of that Caliphate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Arab_siege_of_Constantinople


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""Maniots, known for their martial qualities, were the first to join the Greek liberation movement. The society called the Filiki Eteria ("Company of Friends") sent their representatives Perrevos and Chrisospathis to organize the Maniots. On March 17, 1821, 12,000 Maniots gathered in the church of Taxiarchs (Archangels) of Areopoli and declared war against the Ottoman Empire. The flag of the revolution was white with a blue cross in the center. On top of the flag there was a sign, "Victory or death". The Maniots were responsible for writing "Victory" and not "Freedom" on their banner since Mani was always free. On the bottom of the flag lied an ancient inscription, "With the shield or on the shield."
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