Anthony Sattin

The empire that sprang from nowhere under the banner of Islam

Justin Marozzi describes the religious fervour fuelling the Arab conquests of the seventh century that were to change history forever

The caliph Umar enters Jerusalem in 638. Credit: Getty Images

When the British formed the basis of their empire in the 1600s by acquiring territories in India and North America, they already had many centuries’ experience of foreign involvement. One of the most remarkable aspects of the force that reshaped Eurasia 1,000 years earlier is that there was no prelude: the Arab conquests, and the Islamic empire that they created, came out of nowhere.

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