Military Architecture

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Interview du professeur Riadh Mrabeth, Maitre assistant, Faculté des lettres, arts et humanités de la Manouba

In Islam

Fortifications were virtually unknown in Arabia in the early years of Islam, and only the Tā’if oasis had an enclosing wall; the Prophet Muhammad’s main contribution to defensive fortifications was to construct the dry moat (in 627) around his capital city, Medina, to resist the attacks of the Meccans. However, the Persian and especially the Byzantine provinces that came under Islamic rule in the 630s already had an extensive network of fortifications that could be reused or serve as models for Muslim constructions. However, during the first century of expansion, the dār al-islām was continually expanding and extending its frontiers, so there was no need to construct defensive systems. It was only in the middle of the eighth century, when the Empire established its borders, that it became necessary to defend them with a system of fortifications. These defences were realized in various ways, depending on whether the borders that required protection were terrestrial or maritime. The Muslim regions of south-east Anatolia that bordered on the Byzantine Empire were militarily protected by two lines of fortifications, known as thughūr, for the front line, and ‘awāsim for the rear or inner line. These fortresses were occupied by the warriors of the holy war, or ghazi, who travelled there from the most far-flung regions of the Muslim world, and the regular armies, who used it as a base for launching their summer raids, or sawā’if, on the Anatolian plateau. In al-Andalus, the ‘marches’ that were designed to resist the Reconquista were established in three parts (the superior, the middle, and the inferior), and were also known as thughūr, but was a weaker defensive network that was mainly established around certain cities, like Zaragoza (the superior march). However, in the ninth century in the Iberian peninsula, elevated and fortified habitations were constructed known as husūn, which often assumed the layout of a simple enclosing wall that followed the landscape’s contours; as well as giving structure to the area, it also provided populations with a temporary refuge or permanent residence.

On the maritime frontiers of Muslim territories, the constant attacks by the Byzantine fleet led to the construction (at the end of the eighth century) of an original and continuous defence system, which comprised watch towers and small forts that communicated with each other or with the enclosed areas using a system of light or smoke signals. The most original works, the ribāt, which flourished in Ifriqiya in the ninth century during the dynasty of the Aghlabids—some of which, like those of Monastir or Sousse, have remained in a very good state of conservation—were intended as buildings that were both military and religious, whose architecture followed the region’s Roman and Byzantine traditions. The edifice was generally made of stone and had a square plan, with three round corner towers and another that was used as a watchtower. Semi-circular projections flanked the middle of the curtain walls. The single entrance led to the central courtyard, around which were arranged a series of rooms that accommodated the residents. The same layout was used on three of the sides on the first floor and an oratory occupied the other side.

At the beginning of the eighth century there was also an increasing trend for fortifying certain centres of power within Muslim territories. This was done, for example, by new rulers who wished to establish their authority by pioneering zones for colonialization: the Umayyad caliphs built many small forts in the Syrian steppes known as ‘desert palaces’, and the best surviving examples of these are Mshattā (in Jordan) and Qasr al-Hair al-Gharbī. These edifices, which generally had a square enclosure wall with circular corner towers, became settlements that controlled the caravans and underlined the presence of the central authorities.

In the Abbasid period, various Muslim princes had to protect themselves from many adversaries who represented political or religious movements that wanted to overthrow them. The great palatial foundations established at this time were generally protected by a vast geometrical enclosure wall, which was flanked by many towers and preceded by a ditch. The most typical example of this can be seen in the round city of Baghdad, with its triple mud-brick enclosing walls preceded by a moat, whose plan originated in the Persian tradition and spread to the Maghreb when Sabrā-Mansūriyya was founded, not far from Kairouan. This caliphal model was adopted by the Empire’s princes and governors, who, like the Abbasid prince, ‘Isā ibn Mūsā, had the Iraqi palace of Ukhaydir built to protect himself from the famous Hārūn al-Rashīd, who wanted to prevent him from succeeding to the Caliphate.

Similarly, the many capitals that the Fatimid caliphs built were all fortified to protect them from the populations who were subjected to Shiite rule. In 943, the triple enclosure walls that provided access to the Mahdia peninsula in Ifriqiya managed to fend off ‘the Man on a donkey’ Kharijite rebellion and also served as the last defensive enclave for the Zirid dynasty. Likewise, the foundation in 973—again by the Fatimids—of the caliphal city of Cairo, which was initially surrounded by clay brick walls, and was replaced a century later by a new enclosure wall in stone, reflected the challenges faced by the dynasty when it was establishing its authority in Egypt, and the need to protect the inhabitants of the nearby town of Fustat.

When the Turkish, Kurdish, and Berber princes came to power in the middle of the eleventh century, new, more compact strongholds were constructed, which were citadels and were known as qasaba in the Muslim West and qal‘a in the East. These fortified edifices were generally constructed on high ground overlooking the great capitals of the Muslim world, at Aleppo, Cairo, Tunis, and Granada, ‘dominated’ by the famous Alhambra castle complex. These constructions, which generally commanded the city walls, protected the princes from external dangers—the Christian offensives in the Mediterranean (the Reconquista, the Norman invasions, and the Crusades)—and from the local, mainly Arab populations, who were generally hostile to them. The increasing numbers of these edifices coincided with a period in which central power collapsed and the emergence of independent principalities where local rulers consolidated their sovereignty by constructing fortresses. In the Ayyubid epoch alone (1174–1260), dozens of fortresses were built on Syrian territory. Developments in siege-engine technology, especially during the Crusades, led to constant improvements of these edifices to improve their defensive capacities. Various works were undertaken, such as the construction of ramps at the bases of the walls and the introduction of multiple-bend entrances—like those at Aleppo—, massive towers, and machicolations. Most of these citadels were constantly reoccupied until the end of the medieval era and the main modifications very often involved the restoration of the crowns of the towers and the curtain walls and the construction of new palaces, mosques, and hammams inside these defensive keeps to satisfy the requirements of the new occupants, who wanted to leave their own mark on these buildings. However, developments in artillery systems at the end of the fifteenth century produced major changes in military architecture, which resulted in the increase in forward bastions, redoubts, and moats; and there was large-scale reintroduction of mud-brick constructions, which were more effective in resisting enemy firepower and facilitated the deployment of many canons.

J. Z.