Show battles which made the wald TOURS seized lie provided by the greed of tate inafern In adern for to tile of the conflux r ng saracen by CAPT ROLAND F ANDREWS copyright 1317 1917 fry bt alo newspaper syndicate iga agg gibbon called t the lie battle of of 0 tile the events that rescued oui ancestors of britain und and our neighbors of 0 gaul from tile the civil and re lillous yoke 0 ot f the koran fought in the year it broke th the c power of the saracen who was then like to overrun all europe had not charles martel then and there won ills his victory a mosque might stand today where stands westminster abbey the discoverer of america have been a barbary corsair checking the arab conquest of western europe ro pe at tou tours rs charles martel rescued christendom from islam the tours touris engagement was fought in the same country where rages tho the heavy fighting of today it was lost to the turkish arab conqueror largely because ills soldiery yielded yield el to the same greed and passion for loot ascribed to tho the german troops of the present the modern historians have been forced to obtain their material for discussion of this battle f from born the manuscripts of the old ar arab ab writers and from the illuminated records of the monkish chroniclers the fight ended gely they all agree upon that but it Is difficult to obtain rel reliable lable data as what took place defore the rout charles I 1 martel duke of th the e australasian traIn tra lasian F franks r inks wa was a man of 0 exceeding extra boldness and resolution halam lain thinks lie he was rash in ailing lining the fate 0 of f europe on a single but charles Cli arles was a tried and experienced soldier whose impetuosity was guided by military brilliancy and who doubtless relied in large measure upon the discipline and military order with which lie lind been able to endow ills his prankish militia he had no standing army but he knew tho the weakness as lie he knew tile strength of ills enemy in any case he won and won ingay the saracens saracena Sara cens were led by abder ra liman of whom it is recorded that lie he came out of spain with tho the largest army tho the chroniclers had ever seen all his wives and all ills his children yea even lie he and all that were with him as if they were henceforth ever to dwell in france the aral arab writers picture abderrahman as a model of integrity and justice the christian monks relate that lie ho burned und murdered wherever lie he went that he was given over to all manner of vices and that ills his berber cavalry r a force of notable skill and valor ravaged the country until it was mere barrenness the rival historians agree upon practically nothing save that the saracens saracena Sara cens were defeated the arabs say that the force of abderrahman der rahman numbered the monks do not hesitate to increase tl this its by several hundreds of thousands one of these latter recorders puts the loss of the invaders in dead at tours tour at he adds that the number of christians killed was but 1007 for this disparity in losses lie he gives credit to direct interposition of providence the count eudo tried battle wit ald 1 l at the river garonne baronne Ga ronne b but it theMo the moslem shattered eudos army held a high carnival of slaughter among tile the prisoners and swept on it was then that charlest charles martel rallied every available man his first fortunes were like those of eudo abderrahman drove him back taking large numbers of prisoners and advancing through the country like it a desolating storm the writers set it down that the men of abderrahman were puffed up in spirit by their repeated successes and they were full of trust in the valor and war practice of their emir charles martel lind had every reason to believe that the death which had been meted out to eudo would soon be ills his own portion all the franks were trembling at the terrible army of swarthy men which devoured all that faced it presently charles Cli arles taking stand along the loire felt strong enough to risk a mighty cast of the dice he had gained important re and in spite of the general terrorization he had stiffened the spirit of ills his men ab derrah mans success in entering tours with the resultant demoralization demoralisation of his troops gave the Fra frankish Frankl sh leader the opportunity for which lie he waited once it came lie he pressed it to the full limit of success abderrahman stori stormed lied tours almost before the eyes of the army which came to savo save it the alie fury and cruelty of the successful moslems against the luckless inhabitants of the fallen town has been likened to that of raging tigers each man of the ip fv loaded himself with loot the sword and torch everywhere at work it was manifest manite bt says one arab historian that gods chastisement w was sure to follow such exas j besses and proceeds to lament the I 1 loss of discipline upon the saracen i army abderrahman was keenly alive to the lie danger in the disorder which resulted in the possession of so much spoil by each soldier yet he be dared not venture the displeasure of his men by ordering them thein to abandon everything except their arms and fearful though he was he yet trusted to the military skill of ills his tested fighters and to the good luck which had attended win him since the start of ills his expedition determined to have tile the advant advantage ag E of being the assailant instead of tho defender he attacked charles furiously as soon as lie he discovered the prankish frankish army in position his berber Berer hore hor e charged again and again the front line frank battalions resisting stubbornly and dying in their track kracl tr acl nightfall found the two armies still writhing in deadly grip but the rest brought by darkness was only brief at dawn the ali saracens saracena Sara cens attacked again some squadrons of the berbers hewing belving their way into the very heart of tho christian host then it was that greed played its part in tho undoing of what had biad every promise of becoming another other moslem triumph someone rals raised edthe the cry that a detachment of the lie enemy was plundering the camp wherein was stored tile tho rich 1 baty 0 ty taken tal from fr 01 I 1 I 1 luckless ill e k tours and other victims of the mohammedan ham march instantly a large part of the berber horse whirled ni off to the rescue of its goods the infantry thought them flying in defeat tumult reigned and abderrahman striving to rally ills forces was cut off by n U well timed charge launched laun clied by charles it is related that the number of spears I 1 inn it n through his body as he fell was not less than a 1 I score with IN ith the death of the emir the in became completely T they hey rushed off the field hotly put pursued sued by the victorious franks who butchered them by thousands as they th y fled the turkish host was utterly dissipated charles 31 maracl artel his son and his grandson were left at lelsie to consolidate and extend their power europe E u was a christian country |