Thread: Visigoths and Arab invasions

Hey, thanks conon for a useful contribution (as usual). I am aware of that article, of course. However, I am also aware of newer articles (about two decades more recent) in both The Journal of World History and The Journal of Economic History dealing with roughly the same topic(s). Let me see if I can get those up on JSTOR and find relevant excerpts, and we can compare.

Quote: Originally Posted by motiv-8 Indeed, but see above. The results were entirely different than the original intentions and actually it's rather amazing how quickly the Arabs adjusted to a new lifestyle. Agreed, in retrospect the Islamic conquest had positive effects on North-Africa, the Middle-East and Spain.

Quote: Originally Posted by Arbogast Well, as an “what if” scenario it is interesting. I’m not so sure of the capacity of those kingdoms to survive on their own, frankly. Would the Vandals be able to resist the Arab invasions? Possibly not in the long run. Possibly, they would delay the advance of the Arabs but not stop them. Would the Ostrogoths resist the Lombards? That I find far more credible. How would that impact on Visigothic...

Quote: Originally Posted by TheUnknownEntity Of course not, as I said my current standpoint doesn't apply to the any age before this one (hell I don't even think it applies to this age), from a moral standpoint conquest is wrong, but it may bring about a more just society, the Islamic conquest of Spain did that, but the goal of the operation was not to bring about said change, it was a purely imperialist matter, nothing more. What...

Baghdad was the most advanced city in the world for a while. It was founded under Islam and Arabic rulers. We can also not forget the education system which was introduced which led to the cornucopia of talented Arabic mathematicians. People like Al-Uqlidisi, Thabit ib Qurra and Ibn Tahir al-Baghdadi. These were Arabic, not just Islamic, scholars, many of whom worked in and around Baghdad during a similar period of time. You cannot simply...

Quote: Originally Posted by motiv-8 No, that's not accurate at all, I'm afraid. Before the Arab conquests the predominant feature in the Near East was that of demographic decline and urban decay. The new centralization and direction of the Muslim Empire reversed these trends and rebuilt the economic strength of the regions in question, while retaining or even importing scholars to perform work at the behest and recompense of the...

Quote: The following question comes to mind: If Al-Andalus supposedly had much influence on the West and passed on so much "Arab" knowledge through the West, then why did the Renaissance start with the influx of Greek intellectuals around the fall of the Byzantine Empire, in Italy and not in Spain? The obvious answer: Al-Andalus passing through a lot of knowledge is a myth. Al-Andalus was an important cultural center, but it...

Are you joking They reformed eveything. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventions_in_medieval_Islam#Architecture

[QUOTE][QUOTE=motiv-8;6279838]Er? In the 7th Century it was still several centuries off before a clear and consistent definition of what Europe was would appear, much less notions about European civilization. it's very subjective and debatable when you could date a 'a clear and consistent definition of what Europe was', depending on some definitions it could be WW1. On the same basis you could say a clear and consistent idea of...

Telling ""Arabs got it from Greeks and Romans and thats all" is pointless since this is the way how civilization builds up. Also, Arabs-Muslims didnt just studied and used Ancient works, they certainly developed them too. If all works are originated from Ancient Greeks and Romans then why so much Arabic words in science ? Because those are either invented by Arabs or taken from ancients presented to Europe by Arabs....