Western Civilization I / Unit 9 WC1 0824 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The First Caliphs and the Conquests, 632 to 650
Captions available
The idea
Abu Bakr became the first caliph, successor, in six thirty-two, then Umar and Uthman. Expansion held the tribes together: Persia fell at Qadisiyya in six thirty-seven, a witness name, Syria followed, Egypt by six forty-two. Within twenty years the Middle East's heartland was Arab.
In practice
The Arabs as conquerors for the first time.
Where people slip
Caliph means successor, spiritual and political head together.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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