At the same time, a new civilization was born at the frontier of the empire. The barbarians who had looted and pillaged the territories of the Roman Empire grew more civilized as they integrated advanced Roman culture and technologies through wars with Romans. The barbarians increased the intensity and frequency of anti-Roman aggression, while evolving into tribal states with systemic ruling organizations and military forces.
It is not easy to pinpoint exactly when the decline of the Roman Empire started. However, what is apparent is that the Roman Empire, after the Crisis of the Third Century, started to decline rapidly in the late fourth century. The Roman Empire in decay was incapable of financing military forces to defend its huge frontlines. The massive provinces across several continents had been a symbol of expansion of the Roman Empire, but their defense became an extremely heavy burden for the Roman Empire as it fell into decline. As a consequence, the barbaric mercenaries who had lived in the Roman territories took the place of Romans. This meant that the national defense of Rome itself was actually handed over to the tribes that had been its enemies.
The Roman Empire, which had become impossible for a single emperor to rule, was eventually divided into the Western and the Eastern empires in 395. The Western Roman Empire was totally vulnerable to the barbarians who invaded deep inside the territories. In the end, the brilliant millennium of the Roman Empire came to an end in 476 with attacks led by tribal chief Odoacer.
Advent of Muslims
Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, German barbarians occupied the Italian Peninsula and North Africa. Justinian the Great of the Byzantine Empire, who sought to revive the empire’s greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the historical Roman Empire, recovered the Italian Peninsula from the barbarians over 20 years. After he died, however, the southern territories of the historical Western Roman Empire were occupied by the Longobards. As such, the Italian Peninsula was divided into two parts – one part ruled by the Eastern Roman Empire and the other, by the Longobards.
Meanwhile in the Arabic Peninsula, which had been under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, one of the most seismic events in world history took place. That is, Islam was founded. The Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, received the revelations of God delivered by Gabriel at the age of 40 while he prayed in a mountain cave, named Hira. After he started preaching in 613, Islam spread rapidly throughout neighboring regions, the religion spreading like wildfire through a dry field. Muhammad, who proclaimed “God is One” was persecuted by Meccan polytheists, and he escaped to Medina in 622 in the Hegira which marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
Mohammad conquered Mecca with his followers in 629. Islam expanded into a dominating force that ruled nearly all the Arabian Peninsula in less than 20 years since its foundation. Following Mohammad’s death in 632, the Islam community led by the Caliph, a supreme religious, political and military leader, evolved towards an enormous empire as it continued to conquer the neighboring regions. At last, the Caliph completed the conquest of the entire Arabian Peninsula in 634, and in the following year, Damascus in Syria. The Byzantine Empire sent troops to recover its province but was defeated, and as a result, Damascus came under the full control of Islam. The Islamic forces advanced to Mesopotamia in the east, West Asia to the west and Egypt to the south and conquered Alexandria in 642, making Egypt an Islamic state.
The Islamic forces continued to conquer North Africa, bringing most of the region under its control by 689. The conquest of the entirety of North Africa in a short period was made possible in large part because of its flat geography, allowing Islamic forces to move swiftly on their Arabian horses. The grain belt, which had supplied one-third of the Romans’ food, came under the rule of Islam.
Islamic Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula
Following the conquest of North Africa, the Islamic force crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to advance upon the Iberian Peninsula in 711. The Islamic force, which attempted to go into France through the Iberian Peninsula, was blocked by the Frankish Kingdom after the Franks won the Battle of Poitiers in the Pyrenees Mountains in 732. As a consequence, the ambitious Islamic goal of expansion into Western Europe failed. Afterwards, the Muslims stayed in the Iberian Peninsula for about 780 years, until they were forced to leave Granada, the last bastion of Muslims, in 1492 during the Reconquista – otherwise known as the Christians’ recovery of those conquered territories from Muslim rule. Assumption is not allowed in history. However, supposing that the Franks had been defeated in the battle, Western Europe would have been under the rule of Islam, and the history of modern Europe – and by extension, the history of the world – would be greatly changed.
The tremendous wave of the Islamic forces, represented by the phrase “A sword on the right hand, Quran on the left hand,” swept through Central Asia, conquering the Sassanid Persian Empire (226–651). Most of the former territories of the Roman Empire came under control of Islam, except for Western and Eastern Europe. As a consequence, Christians and Muslims confronted each other across the Mediterranean Sea. A totally different circumstance from the era of the Roman Empire, in which Christianity was the state religion, appeared. The conditions for Saracen pirates, who left a big scar in the history of Europe and the Mediterranean over several centuries, emerged.
Saracen Pirates
The term ‘Saracen’ is derived from ‘Saraceni’ that ancient Greeks and Romans had used in reference to Arabs. Initially, Europeans had called Arab Muslims ‘Saracens.’ Later on, they referred to all Muslims living in North Africa, including Berbers and Moors, as Saracens. Despite the fact that North Africa was a fertile region, the Arabs, Berbers and Moors who occupied North Africa had no interest in or aptitude for farming in settlements. Instead, the nomads in desserts were attracted to the plundering of Christians across the Mediterranean. At this juncture, one might be curious of how a desert people, not familiar with sea-faring, could become engaged in looting by sailing across the harsh Mediterranean Sea. The answer to the question might be found in the facts that Arabs developed the highest level of science and math as well as technology at the time, even to the extent that they used compasses. They employed Greeks who had the highest level of navigation skills, as crews. Additionally, they felt they had found a righteous cause in looting Christians, making piracy a front in a holy war against non-Muslims.
It was known that Islamic pirates first attacked a Christian community in 652. The Muslim ships that had departed from Alexandria raided and looted Siracusa, Sicily, capturing 800 locals as prizes. The pirates sold the captives at slave markets. This event was recorded as the beginning of the Saracens’ lootings across the Mediterranean, which would persist for the next millennium. The Saracen pirates, based in cities on the coast of North Africa, such as Cairuan, Carthage and Tunis, continued to attack the Sicily Island. While the Islamic forces advanced to the Iberian Peninsula, their plundering ceased for a while until they resumed in 725.
During the period between the 7th and 8th centuries, the Mediterranean Sea was ‘the Sea of Islam.’ The Mediterranean Sea off the Italian Peninsula under the attacks of Saracen pirates turned into the ‘Sea of Lawlessness’ itself. Despite the constant aggression of Saracen pirates, the Byzantine Empire did not have naval power to protect its shipping from pirate attacks, and it also lacked the capability to combat the pirates. As for the Byzantine Empire, which had lost the Near East, North Africa and Asia Minor to Islamic force, even the security of Constantinople was at risk. The Byzantine Empire was also under attack from northern Slavs. Such instability was also the case for the Longobards who had controlled the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. They still remained divided and thus had no ability to deal with the pirates. Under these circumstances, the seas off the Italian Peninsula were exposed to the uncurbed lootings of Saracen pirates.
The vulnerability of navigation off coastal areas to pirate attacks resulted in the shrinking of sea-borne trade. Merchant ships that had been actively engaged in shipping valuable goods across the Mediterranean gradually disappeared. Fishing vessels operated only inshore, instead of going to distant waters. As