[Fungi]

Not what I expected. Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries Hardcover – October 1, 1998 by Paul Fregosi
https://www.amazon.com/Jihad-West-Muslim-Conquests-Centuries/dp/1573922471

[HonkyTonkMan]

ping

[frogjerk]

It's Hammer Time!

[frogjerk]

Charles “The Hammer” Martel, outnumbered, was a great and smart commander. In the battle he played on the greed of his enemy by sending some of his forces in a ruse that the Franks were stealing some of the Muslim’s booty and women from previous battles which caused some of the Muslims to leave the battlefield in pursuit in what looked like a Muslim retreat. This caused mass panic amongst the Muslims and contributed to their loss.

[SubMareener]

Charles Hammer Martel
676–741
BIRTH 23 AUG 0676 • Herstal, Liege, Belgium

DEATH 22 OCT 0741 • Quierzy, Aisne, Picardie, France

34th great-grandfather

[nicollo]

Martel was truly one of the few historical actors who were unto themselves the contingent element in historical outcomes -- without them, things didn't happen the way they did, and no one else could have made happen what happened. For example, Darwin is considered to have marked a turning point, but he wasn't alone to identify or articulate the idea of evolution (Alfred Russel Wallace developed the idea coincidentally). That is, if we remove Darwin as an historical cause, the impacts of the theory of evolution happen, anyway. Take away Charles Martel, and France was most likely conquered by the Saracens.

A few others come to mind: Alexander, Augustus, Christ, the Apostles, Constantine, Genghis Khan, Washington, Madison, Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, and perhaps Ronald Reagan -- each of these were along responsible for the historical changes that followed.

Note that this list does not include Mohamed. It is likely he never existed, or, if he did, he was a minor warlord or fakir who became the basis of a story that was extremely convenient to the Arab conquerors of the Middle East.

This book: Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins by Robert Spencer makes a rather convincing case for the fictitious invention of Mohamad.

[Jacquerie]

Great post.

Thirteen hundred years later, instead of killing the muslim barbarians, the West invites them.

[The Great RJ]

The French writer, Michel Houellebecq, has written a chilling novel called “Submission” that describes the subtle Muslim takeover of France after the election of a Muslim President.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Here I was guessing El Cid.

:D