ABSTRACT

The Arab expansion, the rapidity and the relative ease with which the Arabs accomplished their conquests and extended their domination from Central Asia to the Atlantic. Islamism and Arabism had become synonymous and a spirit of Arab imperialism had developed. The Umayyads Caliphate wanted to destroy the Byzantine empire which they both admired and detested, and substitute for it an Arab empire professing the Muslim religion. In the Umayyad period, military organization reached a high degree of development. The Arab tribes would not have succumbed so easily if the conquests had not offered them a diversion, if they had not provided a satisfactory solution to the economic problems of the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs often had the good fortune to be aided, not only by the weakness of their enemies, but also by various circumstances. The Arabs were forced to organize their defences in North Africa, founding the ribat of Monastir, fortifying Tripoli.