The House of War: The Struggle between Christendom and the Caliphate

About the Book

'A fascinating history', Charles Moore, The Spectator

A powerful history of the most significant military clashes between Islam and Christendom over the 1,300 years of the Muslim caliphate.

From the taking of the holy city of Jerusalem in the 7th century AD by Caliph Umar, to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I, Christian popes, emperors and kings, and Muslim caliphs and sultans were locked in a 1300-year battle for political, military, ideological, economic and religious supremacy.

In this powerful history of the era, acknowledged expert on the history of the Middle East and the Crusades Simon Mayall focuses on some of the most significant clashes of arms in human history: the taking and retaking of Jerusalem and the collapse of the Crusader states; the fall of Constantinople; the sieges of Rhodes and Malta; the assault on Vienna and the ‘high-water mark’ of Ottoman advance into Europe; culminating in the Allied capture of Jerusalem in World War I, the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the dissolution of the sultanate and the caliphate, and the formation of modern Europe and the modern Middle East.

The House of War offers a wide, sweeping narrative, encompassing the broad historical and religious context of this period, while focussing on some of the key, pivotal sieges and battles, and on the protagonists, political and military, who determined their conclusions and their consequences.

Table of Contents:

Author's Note and Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations and Maps
Introduction

Part One: The Battle Lines are Drawn
1. Rise of the Caliphate: Yarmouk and al-Qadisiyyah 636

Part Two: The Contest for the Holy Land
2. Victory in the East: Jerusalem 1099
3. Disaster at the Horns: Hattin 1187
4. Expulsion from Eden: Acre 1291

Part Three: Ruin of an Empire
5. The Walls Fail: Constantinople 1453

Part Four: The Struggle for the Middle Sea
6. The Knights at Bay: Rhodes 1522
7. They Shall Not Pass: Malta 1565
8. ‘There Was a Man Called John’: Lepanto 1571

Part Five: The Marches of Central Europe
9. ‘Like a Flood of Black Pitch’: Vienna 1683

Part Six: The World Remade
10. He Stoops to Conquer: Jerusalem 1917

Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author :
Simon Mayall is a former soldier in the British Army. Much of his 40-year professional career was focussed on the Middle East, and he has strong family and academic interests in the region. His last appointments were as the British Government’s Defence Senior Adviser for the Middle East, and the Prime Minister’s Security Envoy to Iraq and the Kurdish Region. He is currently Chair of the Council of the National Army Museum.

Review :
Ambitious in range, pacy and highly readable, and admirably clear, it should be essential reading for diplomats, military leaders and politicians. No one could be better qualified to write on this fascinating subject … Simon Mayall is a soldier-scholar at the top of his game. This is a remarkable book. An engrossing account of over a thousand years of conflict that has shaped our world. Rarely has a military history book been so necessary and well-timed as Simon Mayall’s erudite and entertaining The House of War. A fascinating history. Simon Mayall sustains remarkable clarity in description and analysis. The book will be of enormous interest to historians who seek to understand the many dimensions of the situation in the Middle East and beyond. ...[The] House of War is a great narrative history.