1,400 Years of Conflict

A History Written in Blood

The relationship between Islam and Christendom is not, as some modern voices suggest, a story of eternal peaceful coexistence interrupted by occasional misunderstandings. It is a story of nearly continuous warfare spanning fourteen centuries, from the first Arab armies that burst out of the Arabian Peninsula in the 630s to the conflicts that continue to this day.

This is history. And Christians who wish to engage Muslims with the Gospel must understand this history—not to hate Muslims, but to understand the civilizational context in which both faiths have developed and to respond honestly when Muslims claim that Islam has always been a "religion of peace."

The historical record shows something different: Islam spread primarily through military conquest, and the borders between the Islamic world and Christendom have been battlegrounds for most of recorded history since Muhammad's death.

The Initial Arab Conquests (632-750 AD)

When Muhammad died in 632 AD, Islam controlled the Arabian Peninsula. Within one hundred years, his successors—the Caliphs—had conquered an empire stretching from Spain to India. This was one of the most rapid military expansions in human history, and it came almost entirely at the expense of Christian lands.

The Fall of the Christian Middle East

The first targets were the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) and Persian Empires, both exhausted from decades of war against each other. The results were catastrophic for Christianity:

• 636 AD — The Battle of Yarmouk destroyed Byzantine power in Syria. Damascus, one of the oldest Christian cities, fell to Muslim armies.
• 637 AD — Jerusalem, the holiest city in Christendom, surrendered to Caliph Umar.
• 639-642 AD — Egypt, home to one of the oldest Christian communities and the great theological center of Alexandria, was conquered.
• 647-709 AD — North Africa, once home to Augustine and Tertullian, was overrun. The vibrant North African church was virtually extinguished.

These were not empty lands. They were the heartland of ancient Christianity— where the faith had flourished for six centuries. Within decades, they were under Islamic rule, and the slow process of Islamization began.

The Conquest of Persia

The Persian Empire fell even more completely. By 651 AD, the last Persian emperor was dead, and the entire region came under Arab Muslim control. The ancient Zoroastrian religion was largely destroyed, and the significant Christian minority in Persia became a persecuted remnant.

The Invasion of Europe

The conquests did not stop at the Mediterranean. In 711 AD, Muslim armies crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and invaded the Iberian Peninsula. Within seven years, most of what is now Spain and Portugal was under Islamic control. The Muslim advance was only stopped in 732 AD at the Battle of Tours in central France, when Charles Martel defeated the invading army.

Had Tours gone differently, the history of Europe—and Christianity—might have been radically altered. As historian Edward Gibbon observed, without this victory, "the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford."

Centuries of Continuous Conflict (750-1500 AD)

The initial conquests established the pattern. For the next seven centuries, the borders between Christendom and Islam were almost continuously at war.

The Byzantine Struggle for Survival

The Byzantine Empire—the Christian continuation of the Roman Empire in the East—spent the next 800 years fighting for its existence against Islamic powers. Muslim armies besieged Constantinople itself in 674-678 and again in 717-718, only to be repelled by Greek fire and fierce resistance.

The empire slowly contracted as territories fell to Muslim conquest: Armenia, Crete, Sicily, and eventually most of Anatolia (modern Turkey) after the disastrous Battle of Manzikert in 1071. This defeat was one of the factors that led to the Crusades.

The Crusades (1095-1291)

The Crusades are often presented today as unprovoked Christian aggression against peaceful Muslims. This is historically illiterate. The Crusades were a response—belated, flawed, and often brutal—to four centuries of Islamic conquest.

When Pope Urban II called the First Crusade in 1095, he was responding to an appeal from the Byzantine Emperor for help against the Seljuk Turks, who had conquered most of Anatolia and were threatening Constantinople. The Holy Land, Christian for six centuries before the Islamic conquest, had been under Muslim rule for over 450 years.

The Crusades were marked by tremendous violence on all sides—including shameful atrocities by Crusaders against Jews and Eastern Christians. The sack of Jerusalem in 1099 was a bloodbath. These sins must be acknowledged. But the Crusades must also be understood in context: they were an attempt to reclaim lands that had been Christian for centuries before being conquered by Muslim armies.

The Crusader states lasted about 200 years before falling to Muslim reconquest. The last Crusader stronghold, Acre, fell in 1291.

The Reconquista (722-1492)

In Spain, the Christian kingdoms waged an 800-year war—the Reconquista—to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule. This was not a conquest of Muslim lands but a reconquest of lands that had been Christian before the Islamic invasion of 711.

The Reconquista finally concluded in 1492 when Granada, the last Muslim stronghold, fell to Ferdinand and Isabella. The same year, Columbus sailed for the Americas.

The Ottoman Threat (1300-1683)

Just as the Crusades ended and the Reconquista neared completion, a new Islamic power arose that would threaten Europe for four more centuries: the Ottoman Turks.

The Fall of Constantinople

In 1453, the Ottomans achieved what Arab armies had failed to do: they conquered Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the greatest Christian city in the world. The city that had stood as a Christian bulwark for over a thousand years fell to Sultan Mehmed II after a brutal siege.

The great church of Hagia Sophia—built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century and the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years—was converted into a mosque. It remained one until 1934 and was controversially reconverted to a mosque in 2020.

The Ottoman Advance into Europe

Constantinople's fall was not the end but the beginning of Ottoman expansion into Europe:

• 1456 — The Ottomans were stopped at Belgrade (temporarily)
• 1521 — Belgrade fell to Suleiman the Magnificent
• 1526 — The Battle of Mohács destroyed the Hungarian army; most of Hungary came under Ottoman rule
• 1529 — The First Siege of Vienna; the Ottomans were turned back at the gates of the Habsburg capital
• 1565 — The Great Siege of Malta; the Knights of St. John held off the Ottoman fleet
• 1571 — The Battle of Lepanto; a Christian fleet destroyed Ottoman naval power in the Mediterranean
• 1683 — The Second Siege of Vienna; the Ottoman army was decisively defeated, marking the beginning of Ottoman decline

For nearly 400 years, the Ottoman Empire was an existential threat to Christian Europe. Generations grew up under the shadow of the "Turkish menace." Church bells were rung at noon across Europe to call Christians to pray for deliverance from the Turks.

The Modern Era (1683-Present)

The defeat at Vienna in 1683 began the long Ottoman decline. Over the next two centuries, the empire slowly contracted as Christian peoples—Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians—fought for and won their independence.

Colonialism and Its Aftermath

By the 19th century, European powers had gained technological and military superiority over the Islamic world. Much of the Muslim world came under European colonial rule: the British in Egypt, India, and the Gulf; the French in North Africa and the Levant; the Dutch in Indonesia.

Colonialism involved its own injustices and is rightly criticized. But it also ended practices like slavery, which had been endemic in the Islamic world, and introduced education, infrastructure, and legal reforms. The legacy is complex and contested.

The colonial period created deep resentment in the Muslim world that persists today. Many Muslims view the current world order as a continuation of colonial humiliation and Western aggression. This perspective, while understandable, often ignores the 1,000 years of Islamic aggression that preceded colonialism.

The Armenian Genocide

One of the most horrific episodes in this long history occurred during World War I, when the Ottoman government systematically murdered approximately 1.5 million Armenian Christians. This genocide—which also targeted Assyrian and Greek Christians—was religiously motivated, carried out under the banner of jihad, and remains denied by Turkey to this day.

Modern Conflicts

The end of colonialism did not bring peace. The modern era has seen:

• The creation of Israel (1948) and subsequent Arab-Israeli wars
• The persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East
• The Iranian Revolution (1979) and the rise of political Islam
• The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990)
• The Sudanese Civil War and genocide in Darfur
• The rise of jihadist terrorism (Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram)
• The attacks of September 11, 2001
• Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen
• The near-extinction of ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria

The conflict continues. The methods have changed, but the fundamental tension between Islamic civilization and the non-Muslim world remains.

The Pattern of History

What does this 1,400-year history reveal? Several patterns emerge:

1. Islam Spread Primarily Through Conquest

With few exceptions (Indonesia, parts of sub-Saharan Africa), Islam spread through military conquest, not peaceful missionary work. The great Islamic empires—the Umayyad, Abbasid, Ottoman—were built on the sword.

2. The Borders Have Always Been Violent

Wherever Islamic and non-Islamic civilizations meet, there has been conflict. This is true historically and remains true today. Political scientist Samuel Huntington called these "Islam's bloody borders."

3. Conquered Peoples Were Subjugated, Not Treated as Equals

Christians and Jews under Islamic rule were dhimmis—second-class citizens subject to special taxes, legal disabilities, and periodic persecution. We will examine the dhimmi system in detail in a later lesson.

4. Christianity in the Middle East Has Been in Continuous Decline

Before the Islamic conquests, the Middle East was the heartland of Christianity. Today, Christians are a tiny, persecuted minority throughout the region. This decline was not natural; it was the result of 1,400 years of pressure, persecution, and discrimination.

Why This Matters for Evangelism

Why study this difficult history? Several reasons:

1. To Respond to False Claims

When Muslims claim that Islam is a "religion of peace" or that Islamic civilization was a model of tolerance, you will know the historical record tells a different story. You can respond with facts, not just opinions.

2. To Understand Muslim Grievances

Muslims often feel aggrieved by history—the Crusades, colonialism, Western intervention. Understanding this perspective helps you engage more effectively, even when you don't entirely agree with it.

3. To Appreciate What's at Stake

Wherever Islam has dominated, Christianity has declined. The stakes of the spiritual battle are real. This should motivate us to pray and to share the Gospel with urgency.

4. To Maintain Perspective

Christianity has survived 1,400 years of Islamic pressure. The church in the Middle East has endured persecution that would have destroyed lesser movements. This should give us hope: the gates of hell have not prevailed.

Conclusion: Eyes Open, Hearts Full of Love

This history is sobering. It should dispel any naive notions that the conflict between Islam and Christianity is merely a misunderstanding that better dialogue could resolve. The differences are deep, and they have been fought over for fourteen centuries.

But remember: history explains the present; it does not excuse hatred. The Muslim you meet today is not responsible for the sack of Constantinople or the Armenian Genocide. They are a person made in God's image who needs the Savior.

We study this history to understand—not to hate. We learn the truth so that we can respond to falsehood. But we do it all in the service of love: love for truth, and love for people who are lost without Christ.

Our battle is not against Muslims but against the spiritual forces that hold them captive. May we fight that battle with truth, prayer, and the sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God.