The great Arab conquests

the long version

In less than fifty years, the Bedouins of Arabia established the greatest empire in the world of their day and one of the greatest in history. These years, from 630-680, not only transformed a whole vast region, but ensured that the pattern of life in the Middle East would never be the same again. Muhammed and his immediate successors decided the framework of many things for thirteen hundred years. In this vivid book, Arabic scholar John "Pasha" Glubb chronicles the short period of time in which the Bedouin Empire developed, highlighting the simplicity of its administration and the many victories achieved through sheer zeal and courage by relatively untrained and unorganized armies.