The Great Arab Conquests

Hugh Kennedy combines readable narrative and careful scholarship to explore the origins, conduct and consequences of the early Arab expansions. The book follows campaigns that transformed the political map of the Near East, Persia and North Africa, but its focus is not merely a battlefield chronicle: Kennedy examines the organizational strengths of the expanding polities, their military techniques, leadership patterns, recruitment and supply, as well as the administrative mechanisms used to incorporate diverse populations and manage newly acquired territories. He also assesses how rival states’ internal divisions and logistical constraints shaped outcomes. Drawing on contemporary chronicles and later historical tradition, the account balances operational detail with analysis of economic and institutional change. Accessible yet grounded in research, the study will appeal to readers interested in medieval history, military affairs, and the evolution of state structures across the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world.