Arab-Byzantine Wars
Centuries of warfare between Byzantine forces and successive Islamic states across Anatolia, Syria and the Mediterranean.
Historical overview
Overview adapted from a Wikipedia summary and stored locally on May 11, 2026.
The Arab-Byzantine wars were centuries of conflict between Byzantine forces and successive Islamic states. Anatolia, Syria, Cyprus and Mediterranean sea routes were repeated theaters.
Theater countries
Actors
Tags
Border context
Late antique empires and migration wars
Roman, Byzantine, Sasanian, Gothic, Hunnic and post-Roman powers redraw frontiers across Europe and the Near East.
The Western Roman Empire fragments into successor kingdoms. Byzantine and Sasanian wars exhaust the eastern imperial frontier.Caliphate expansion
Rashidun and Umayyad conquests rapidly transform the Levant, Egypt, Persia, North Africa and Iberia.
Former Byzantine and Sasanian territories move into Islamic imperial systems. Iberia becomes a major western frontier.Regional empires and frontier worlds
Carolingian, Byzantine, Abbasid, Tang and Viking-era conflicts shape medieval regional frontiers.
Viking expansion changes North Atlantic politics. Tang China and Abbasid power both face internal military crises.Feudal kingdoms and first crusading frontier
Medieval kingdoms, Norman expansion and the First Crusade reshape western and eastern frontiers.
The Norman conquest changes England's ruling order. Crusader states emerge in the Levant.