Interesting thread here…
"Despite the 800-year timespan of 'Muslim' Spain, large full-army battles where both sides sought battle were actually quite few and far between. It was all about land, and castles. The underlying reason was that no one wanted to risk losing their force and potentially power and kingdom, but when you see some of the poor battle tactics, it is easy to see why they were best avoided. Modern analysis shows some grim failures in leadership, often by overconfidence combined with poor tactics and lack of respect for the opposition. Here are a few examples – I obviously don't have space to write full accounts of all factors, just some glaring issues.
'Guadalete', 711 (Battle of the Lake) – probably the least well documented. But there are some things we know. It was fought over 7 days in July 711, which means it was a particular sort of battle, a series of skirmishes, over a wide marshy area interspersed by hills. Rodrigo(Roderic) lost and forfeited his life, Tariq won, with an army of berbers with a some exiled Visigoths. Rodrigo had a lot of problems, inheriting a disjointed and dysfunctional Kingdom he was away fighting the Northern rebels of Agila II when he heard of the arab-led invasion. He broke off what he was doing and crossed the whole country, gathering what extra forces he could and heading straight for Tariq's army. Tariq had pulled back from territory raided/conquered in the previous 4 months, withdrawing his forces back toward a fortified Algeciras on the approach of the Visigothic army which, though having many problems, was still a powerful and well-armed unit and should have been favourite. Tariq was allowed to choose the battleground, which ultimately favoured his forces in some sort of hit and run strategy that nullified the Visigothic power – a straight fight on a large plain would quite likely have seen the invaders smashed – and there was also a little in-army treachery thrown in during the battle, the nature of which is not clear.
Rodrigo had crossed all Spain with a very tired army, to go headlong for the enemy on ground of Tariq's choosing. If he had held back, forced the invaders to over-winter around Algeciras, where they could not be re-supplied – he may have won hardly without fighting…"
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Amicalement
Armand
takes a look at flexible roads made from long-lasting flexible resin.
