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Sign up todayThe House of War
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Learn moreBloomsbury presents The House of War: The Struggle between Christendom and the Caliphate written and read by Simon Mayall.
A powerful new history detailing the most significant military clashes between Islam and Christendom over the 1,300 years of the Muslim caliphate.
From the taking of the holy city of Jerusalem in the 7th century AD by Caliph Umar, to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I, Christian popes, emperors and kings, and Muslim caliphs and sultans were locked in a 1300-year battle for political, military, ideological, economic and religious supremacy.
In this powerful new history of the era, acknowledged expert on the history of the Middle East and the Crusades Simon Mayall focuses on some of the most significant clashes of arms in human history: the taking and retaking of Jerusalem and the collapse of the Crusader states; the fall of Constantinople; the sieges of Rhodes and Malta; the assault on Vienna and the โhigh-water markโ of Ottoman advance into Europe; culminating in the Allied capture of Jerusalem in World War I, the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the dissolution of the sultanate and the caliphate, and the formation of modern Europe and the modern Middle East.
The House of War offers a wide, sweeping narrative, encompassing the broad historical and religious context of this period, while focussing on some of the key, pivotal sieges and battles, and on the protagonists, political and military, who determined their conclusions and their consequences.
Simon Mayall is a former soldier in the British Army, and an acknowledged expert on the history of the Middle East, and of the Crusades. Much of his 40-year professional career was focussed on the Middle East, and he has strong family and academic interests in the region. His last appointments were as the British Governmentโs Defence Senior Adviser for the Middle East, and the Prime Ministerโs Security Envoy to Iraq and the Kurdish Region. He has written book on Turkeyโs post-Cold War security policy, and a thesis on Jihadist ideology. He most recently published Soldier in the Sand โ A Personal History of the Modern Middle East. This work is a combination of military memoir, family story, and an examination of the history, religion, ideologies and culture of the Middle East. He is a regular media contributor on Middle East and defence and security issues.
Simon Mayall is a former soldier in the British Army, and an acknowledged expert on the history of the Middle East, and of the Crusades. Much of his 40-year professional career was focussed on the Middle East, and he has strong family and academic interests in the region. His last appointments were as the British Governmentโs Defence Senior Adviser for the Middle East, and the Prime Ministerโs Security Envoy to Iraq and the Kurdish Region. He has written book on Turkeyโs post-Cold War security policy, and a thesis on Jihadist ideology. He most recently published Soldier in the Sand โ A Personal History of the Modern Middle East. This work is a combination of military memoir, family story, and an examination of the history, religion, ideologies and culture of the Middle East. He is a regular media contributor on Middle East and defence and security issues.