In the early decades of the 8th century AD, Islamic forces were flooding into Europe through the Iberian peninsula, threatening Frankish and Burgundian territory and raiding it with ever-increasing ferocity. At the battle of Poitiers, also known as Tours, Christian forces under the Frankish leader Charles Martel "The Hammer" (grandfather of Charlemagne) confronted a massive invading Islamic army. The Franks were victorious, effectively halting the northward advance of Islam and preserving Christianity as the dominant faith in Europe. Expert medievalist David Nicolle draws on contemporary sources to reconstruct this turning-point battle, places it in its historical context and reviews its background and immediate and longer-term historical consequences.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Difficult task...:
David Nicolle is one of the foremost medievalists alive. This time he had a particularly difficult task: write a book about a campaign that the few sources are unreliable, biased, fragmentary, toponimical, folklore, etc. The author makes an heroic effort to frame the campaign in the political context, revealing interesting features that are rarely mentioned, for example the Berber as second class citizens (that eventually led to a serious rebellion on North Africa and Iberian peninsula), Aquitaine as rival... more info
Well-Written Look at a Controversial Battle:
In Osprey's Campaign No. 190, veteran medieval historian David Nicolle tackles the controversial Battle of Poitiers (also known as Tours) in 732, where Charles Martel defeated a Muslim invasion of France. Traditionally, the battle was viewed as a `decisive engagement' that stopped the Muslim conquest of France (and the rest of Europe) in its tracks. However, the historical impact of the battle has now became fairly controversial, with one group of historians arguing that Poitiers (Tours) was decisive and... more info
Good account of the campaign but dryily written:
Poitiers AD 732 is another pretty decent title from Osprey Campaign series written by David Nicolle. The book follows the typical Osprey Campaign series format where the background information is given, leaders are discussed, armies are discussed and then you get into the heart of the campaign followed up by the aftermath. Its pretty standard stuff and this book does a good job. The research done in this book is pretty good and I have no real complaint about it. But to be honest, David Nicolle is not... more info
Charlemagne against all odds:
Though many books are written about this battle, this all the same differs from other researches by a new sight at events of that period. David Nicolle also considers the disputable moments of campaign and analyzes the points of view of different historians. The balanced approach allows to look at events of those days a little differently. The author starts with brief introduction on islamic conquests, which is quite interesting. Then follows the chronology of main events and analysis of an alignment... more info
