Battle Of Guadalete
The battle took place Guadalete in Hispania July 19 711 by the river Guadalete in Betic (the Andalusia ).
| Battle of Guadalete | |
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Date | July 19 711 |
| Location | Undetermined: 3 locations proposed |
| Issue | Muslim victory |
| Belligerents | |
 Umayyad | Visigoths regular |
| Commanders | |
| Tariq ibn Ziyad | Rodrigo (Don Rodrigo) |
| Forces present | |
| 12,000 warriors | 40,000 warriors |
| Losses | |
| unknown | unknown |
| Muslim conquest of Spain | |
| Battles | |
| Guadalete - Toulouse - Covadonga - Bordeaux - Poitiers - Narbonne - Roncesvalles - Tourtour - Cap Column | |
change  | |
Summary |
Strategic Situation
The chronicles of the time recall about 10,000 Muslim soldiers against 100,000 soldiers Visigoth.
In this battle the Visigoth king Rodrigo was defeated and probably killed at the hands of Muslim forces commanded by Tariq ibn Ziyad History The clash took place on July 19, on the Rio Wadi Lakkah ( Guadalete ) near Cadiz , although historians are near the Rio Barbate , between Medina Sidonia and the lagoon of La Janda , where in Medina Sidonia it itself (Fernandez Guerra y Saavedra, Levi Provencal ...), others (Joaquin Vallv) proposed a third location, on the shores of Guadarranque (Arabic Wadi ar Rinq) a few kilometers north from Gibraltar. For two days the two armies are measured in bloody skirmishes. From the beginning the battle, the son of Witiza and his supporters are spreading discord in the ranks of supporters Rodrigue , betraying them, withdrawing, and without leaving the flanks of the army. The center of the army Rodrigue resisted as much as he could, but finally yielded. The destruction of Visigothic forces at the betrayal of supporters Witiza, total ignorance of how to fight Arab and the probable death of Rodrigue, leaving the door open for Tariq to conquer Toledo (ulayulah) in 714. Rodrigue has recruited his "comitatus" and "spatarios" of his royal guard, the city could not oppose any resistance. The Muslim advance sudden, based on a disagreement in the ranks of the Visigoths , after the defeat of the army and bewildering death of the king, increased by the rapid fall of the capital which has prevented the election of a new king and the establishment of a line of resistance. The conspirators were far from suspecting that their request for help in recovering the throne in exchange for a toll would be costly and the real intentions of conquering Arabs. Other factors that propitiated this defeat should be taken into account. By finding the collaboration of the Jewish population, which was persecuted by the Visigoth monarchy Christian, and much of the Iberian population, which did not oppose resistance, exasperated by the continuous famine and epidemics, and wishing to political stability. Barely two years later, around 714 , Musa bin Nusayr landed at Algeciras with an army of 18,000 Berbers and takes Zaragoza ( Medina Albaida Saraqusta ). The two leaders occupy most of the Iberian Peninsula , which is almost entirely made on behalf of the Caliph al-Walid I. In 716 , a new Muslim province, Jazirat al-Andalus (Arabic ) is formed. (The Andalusian , the "land of the Vandals , "referring to the predecessors of the Visigoths, a distortion of the word goth" landalhaut "without land, a third hypothesis would be an expression of Tamazight (Berber language): anna = rio = read and cultivated land). The Battle of Guadalete, which could be a mere confrontation had resulted in the almost total conquest of the Iberian Peninsula , the disappearance of the Visigothic kingdom of Hispania and a Muslim presence on the peninsula during nearly eight centuries. Visigothic Celtiberian populations and even lost their name, and became the Mozarabic vis--vis their conquerors. Only a few pockets of resistance here and there and resist the mountainous north, the Cantabrian Mountains and Pyrenees , escaped from the conquerors, who do not seem to have bothered to establish lasting dominance. And where many Visigoths go into exile voluntarily. Among the forces bodychecks fleeing northward was probably Pelayo , a noble Visigoth, probably the king's spear carrier Rodrigue, a precursor of Reconquista after the Battle of Covadonga. Consequences
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