Battle of Akroinon

Overview

The Battle of Akroinon was fought at Akroinon or Akroinos in Phrygia, on the western edge of the Anatolian plateau, in 740 between an Umayyad Arab army and the Byzantine forces. The Arabs had been conducting regular raids into Anatolia for the past century, and the 740 expedition was the largest in recent decades, consisting of three separate divisions. One division, 20,000 strong under Abdallah al-Battal and al-Malik ibn Shu'aib, was confronted at Akroinon by the Byzantines under the command of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian and his son, the future Constantine V. The battle resulted in a decisive Byzantine victory. Coupled with the Umayyad Caliphate's troubles on other fronts and the internal instability before and after the Abbasid Revolt, this put an end to major Arab incursions into Anatolia for three decades.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Akroinon was fought in Phrygia, on the western edge of the Anatolian plateau, between a large Umayyad Arab force and a Byzantine army commanded by Emperor Leo III and his son, the future Constantine V. The 740 expedition was the largest Arab incursion into Anatolia in recent decades, organized in three separate divisions; one of those divisions, numbering 20,000 men under Abdallah al-Battal and al-Malik ibn Shu'aib, was met and decisively defeated by the Byzantine forces. Umayyad casualties reached 13,200, a loss representing the bulk of that division. The defeat at Akroinon, combined with the Umayyad Caliphate's concurrent difficulties on other fronts and the internal instability surrounding the Abbasid Revolt, effectively ended major Arab raiding into Anatolia for three decades. The battle thus marked a turning point in a cycle of Arab incursions that had persisted for nearly a century, relieving sustained pressure on the Anatolian interior at a moment when Umayyad power was entering a period of structural crisis.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)