Battle of Akroinon

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)