Rashidun Caliphate · 633-651

Out of Arabia: Yarmouk, Qadisiyya and the great conquests

Within twenty years of the Prophet's death, Arab armies took Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Iran. Students compare the empires before and after, and weigh the reasons historians give for such fast conquests.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 630 to AD 641
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Within twenty years of the Prophet's death, Arab armies took Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Iran. Students compare the empires before and after, and weigh the reasons historians give for such fast conquests.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the Byzantine and Sasanian empires on the map in 630.
  • Describe the main battles and conquests between 634 and 651.
  • Compare at least two explanations for the speed of the conquests.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 630

Before the storm

Open the map in 630. Find the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire. They have just ended a war of 26 years. Where do their lands touch Arabia?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 636

Yarmouk, 636

Move to 636 and turn on Historical Events. Find the Battle of Yarmouk and zoom in. Which river is it named after, and which modern countries meet near here?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 641

Into Egypt

Keep Historical Events on and move to 641. Find the Religious Event about Egypt. Why was Egypt, with its Nile grain, so valuable to any empire?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The Byzantines and Sasanians fought each other from 602 to 628. How did that war make the Arab conquests easier?
  2. Many Christians in Syria and Egypt disagreed with the church leaders in Constantinople. Why might some of them accept new rulers without much resistance?
  3. Conquered Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians could keep their faith if they paid a tax. Why would conquerors choose this instead of forcing people to convert?
  4. The Sasanian Empire vanished completely, but the Byzantine Empire survived. Look at the map: what protected Constantinople?
  5. Historians still argue about why the conquests were so fast. Which reason do you find most convincing, and why?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Justinian I, whose rebuilt Eastern Roman Empire the Arab armies faced about 70 years after his death. Discuss: which of his choices (wars in the west, high taxes, quarrels over church teaching) may have left the eastern provinces weaker?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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