Battle of Mu'tah

Battle context

The Battle of Mu'tah was one of the earliest direct military engagements between the forces of the First Islamic State and the Byzantine Empire, placing it at the opening of the long Arab–Byzantine confrontation that would define much of the following four centuries. Fought near the village of Mu'tah in Palaestina Salutaris east of the Jordan River, the battle set Muslim forces against a Byzantine army reinforced by Ghassanid vassals. The disparity in recorded force sizes — 3,000 for the Islamic State against 10,000 for the Byzantine and Ghassanid side — indicates the scale of the challenge faced by the Muslim expedition. Three successive commanders on the Islamic side were engaged during the fighting, with Khalid ibn al-Walid assuming command in the course of the battle. The engagement established an early precedent for direct Islamic military contact with Byzantine frontier forces and their Arab client states, foreshadowing the far larger campaigns that would follow under the Rashidun Caliphate in the following decade.