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The Path of the Martyrs: Charles Martel, The Battle of Tours and the Birth of Europe
732.
The future of Europe is held in the balance.
A Frankish force, assembled at speed, ready themselves to resist an army from the largest empire the world has ever seen.
The Franks and Arabs give battle, between the cities of Poitiers and Tours.
Would France become part of the sophisticated Muslim world to the south, or remain in the control of the Christian barbarians?
The battle proves bloody, a clash of arms and civilisations.
With the west lying in ruins after the fall of Rome, Charles Martel's victory would become the defining battle of the age, leading a chronicler soon after to describe the defenders by a new term -‘Europeans’.
In this gripping and informed account Ed West records the rise of the Islamic Empire, the emergence of the Franks in the ashes of Rome, and the events leading to the fateful day when Europe’s future was decided close to the river Loire.
Ed West is an author, journalist and blogger who has written for the Daily Telegraph, Catholic Herald, Evening Standard, The Times, Daily Express, Standpoint and the Spectator. He wrote a regular blog first for the Daily Telegraph and later for the Spectator, described by Peter Oborne as 'one of the most interesting of the rising generation of political writers'. He is also the author of a number of history books, the latest of which, Iron, Fire and Ice, looks at the historical inspiration for Game of Thrones.
The future of Europe is held in the balance.
A Frankish force, assembled at speed, ready themselves to resist an army from the largest empire the world has ever seen.
The Franks and Arabs give battle, between the cities of Poitiers and Tours.
Would France become part of the sophisticated Muslim world to the south, or remain in the control of the Christian barbarians?
The battle proves bloody, a clash of arms and civilisations.
With the west lying in ruins after the fall of Rome, Charles Martel's victory would become the defining battle of the age, leading a chronicler soon after to describe the defenders by a new term -‘Europeans’.
In this gripping and informed account Ed West records the rise of the Islamic Empire, the emergence of the Franks in the ashes of Rome, and the events leading to the fateful day when Europe’s future was decided close to the river Loire.
Ed West is an author, journalist and blogger who has written for the Daily Telegraph, Catholic Herald, Evening Standard, The Times, Daily Express, Standpoint and the Spectator. He wrote a regular blog first for the Daily Telegraph and later for the Spectator, described by Peter Oborne as 'one of the most interesting of the rising generation of political writers'. He is also the author of a number of history books, the latest of which, Iron, Fire and Ice, looks at the historical inspiration for Game of Thrones.
108 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2018
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November 2, 2023
an essay on how modern Europe came to be
The significant battle at Tours, which repelled a powerful Islamic army from overthrowing what became France and Europe (though they would try several more times) is only a small part of this book. The long essay is mostly a crash course in the rise of Islam, in the rise of the Catholic Church, and in the rise of the Franks (the French) and the birth of modern Europe under Charlemagne.
While I’d read about the Crusades and the Middle East, I hadn’t read anything about the Muslim invasion of Europe that preceded it by several centuries, Islam’s subsequent conquest of Spain (Moorish Spain is a cypher to me), or its attempt to bring France to its knees. This was a helpful beginning of awareness and comprehension in that regard.
The significant battle at Tours, which repelled a powerful Islamic army from overthrowing what became France and Europe (though they would try several more times) is only a small part of this book. The long essay is mostly a crash course in the rise of Islam, in the rise of the Catholic Church, and in the rise of the Franks (the French) and the birth of modern Europe under Charlemagne.
While I’d read about the Crusades and the Middle East, I hadn’t read anything about the Muslim invasion of Europe that preceded it by several centuries, Islam’s subsequent conquest of Spain (Moorish Spain is a cypher to me), or its attempt to bring France to its knees. This was a helpful beginning of awareness and comprehension in that regard.
December 11, 2019
Ed West is taking a leaf out of the Tom Holland school of history writing: written like a thriller so you find yourself binging the whole thing; zooming in and out to give you the action scenes and the span of the centuries; an authorial voice which manages to be authoritative and yet modest about what's known, what's speculative, and what's propaganda, it switches gracefully from the omniscient narrator of history to the wry asides of the historian.
The actual battle takes up very little of the book, which is fair since there isn't much to be said when we can't even be sure where the battlefield was. As always with history, what ends up sticking with me is the little details, things I wouldn't even have thought of but which are actually quite important: the Saracens had the advantage of numbers and high-tech military equipment: stirrups. The Franks, in their turn, had weapons which were such a military secret that they couldn't be sold to outsiders. The Saracens brought their women with them in their camp, so confident were they that they'd easily wipe out these savages and settle for winter in their newly conquered cities.
Even Charles Martel himself hasn't left much to history, we don't even really know what he looked like, all we know for sure is that he spent most of his life fighting and winning. The greater part of the book is setting the scene: Europe as a hellscape, with bands of illiterate, dirty warlords leading their tribes through the ruins of Roman civilisation, camped out in cities whose populations were a tenth of what they'd been in their glory days, unable to establish trade or wealth since the old Roman roads were infested with bandits who'd kill anybody to loot the bodies: like the Frisians who hacked St. Boniface into pieces, only to be outraged when they searched his bags and found nothing but books (so they hacked those up too).
The Franks were ruled over by the Merovingians, who all had silly names, bad hair, and spent most of their time murdering each other. Luckily, if you want to follow the story, it's not really necessary to remember the huge cast of kings, queens, princes, and concubines who were incessantly knocking off each other's children in pursuit of the throne, you only need to know that this crazy murder-pit is what Martel climbed out of to be the great warlord who defended Europe and Christendom - in the process, creating those concepts - and laying the foundation on which his grandson, Charlemagne, would build his empire.
The actual battle takes up very little of the book, which is fair since there isn't much to be said when we can't even be sure where the battlefield was. As always with history, what ends up sticking with me is the little details, things I wouldn't even have thought of but which are actually quite important: the Saracens had the advantage of numbers and high-tech military equipment: stirrups. The Franks, in their turn, had weapons which were such a military secret that they couldn't be sold to outsiders. The Saracens brought their women with them in their camp, so confident were they that they'd easily wipe out these savages and settle for winter in their newly conquered cities.
Even Charles Martel himself hasn't left much to history, we don't even really know what he looked like, all we know for sure is that he spent most of his life fighting and winning. The greater part of the book is setting the scene: Europe as a hellscape, with bands of illiterate, dirty warlords leading their tribes through the ruins of Roman civilisation, camped out in cities whose populations were a tenth of what they'd been in their glory days, unable to establish trade or wealth since the old Roman roads were infested with bandits who'd kill anybody to loot the bodies: like the Frisians who hacked St. Boniface into pieces, only to be outraged when they searched his bags and found nothing but books (so they hacked those up too).
The Franks were ruled over by the Merovingians, who all had silly names, bad hair, and spent most of their time murdering each other. Luckily, if you want to follow the story, it's not really necessary to remember the huge cast of kings, queens, princes, and concubines who were incessantly knocking off each other's children in pursuit of the throne, you only need to know that this crazy murder-pit is what Martel climbed out of to be the great warlord who defended Europe and Christendom - in the process, creating those concepts - and laying the foundation on which his grandson, Charlemagne, would build his empire.
May 11, 2024
I have enjoyed several of this author’s concise, clever and humorous history books. Since my memory is a sieve, I wanted to reinforce the facts I learned recently reading Dan Jones’s excellent “Powers and Thrones”. I figured this book, about Charles Martel’s victory at the Battle of Tours cementing the idea of Christian Europe, dovetailed nicely with Jones’s fresh look at the aftermath of the Fall of Rome.
I appreciate West’s dry humor, and ability to pack so much interesting information into about 100 pages! As always with nonfiction reads, I’ve put some interesting and humorous bits into my Reading Progress to give a flavor of the author’s style. History is not dull, or at least doesn’t have to be; I find it fascinating and satisfying, and it often leaves me deeply grateful for the time and place in which I was born. Often chagrined, too, that mankind keeps repeating the same mistakes…
I appreciate West’s dry humor, and ability to pack so much interesting information into about 100 pages! As always with nonfiction reads, I’ve put some interesting and humorous bits into my Reading Progress to give a flavor of the author’s style. History is not dull, or at least doesn’t have to be; I find it fascinating and satisfying, and it often leaves me deeply grateful for the time and place in which I was born. Often chagrined, too, that mankind keeps repeating the same mistakes…
July 12, 2021
The Path of the Martyrs: Charles Martel, the Battle of Tours, and the Birth of Empire by Ed West is published by Sharpe Books. Ed West’s books and ideas can be found on his website: Ed West — Journalist and author . Among other attributes of this are its brevity (100 pages) and very cheap price (5.99).
I hate when I hear people “compliment” a history teacher or author when they say, “He/she makes history interesting.” This always sounds like history is a painful subject, forced on poor captive students, and desperately in need of of a makeover, a recasting, or a transformation from what it is to what it needs to be.
Granted, there are plenty of poor history teachers and rare is the history textbook that becomes the page-turner keeping students up too late at night. But bad teachers and poorly written texts are not confined to history. And students are not uniformly a group of neutral tabula rasas awaiting anxiously to be absorbing knowledge. Students, in many cases, are bored with almost everything. The “teach me by entertaining me” mindset is a different story.
Also, there are analytical, in-depth, highly scholarly accounts of history that are simply above the average reader. And they are above even the above average reader who is not a specialist in a particular area. Authors, particularly scholarly ones, assume a certain knowledge from their expected reading audience. If she is writing for non-historians who want to read a juicy biography, she writes a certain type of book. But if she is written to refute the claims of three other historians in their technical and critical biographies, she is assuming that the reader already has lots of knowledge of the subject. That is to be expected. All subjects can be examined at the more shallowed, wadable ends of the pool or be dived into on the deep end.
All of that is to say, Ed West’s little book doesn’t make history interesting. Instead, he does a fine job of tell a story that is already intrinsically and inescapably interesting, fun, and compelling. If you want to fit the book into a bigger picture, a meta-narrative, you can for it deals with an event that can be called “the Birth of Europe.”
Births are not easy, painless events. The metaphor of a birth is not an apt way to describe anything easy either. The fate of the world was hinging on two major worldviews, world orders, and philosophy/religions. The prevailing power of the age in which this book is set was the Muslim religion. While much of history bemoans (rightly so) European efforts during the Crusades to defeat Muslims (and Jews) in the Holy Land, that was just one chapter in a long history of struggles between the Christian West and the Muslim East. (And I know that both of those labels are inadequate.)
Islamic forces had long since captured what we call the Middle East. North Africa was also under their sway, and Spain had been taken by them as well. Europe, in contrast, was a hodgepodge of smaller, less powerful, but emerging nation-states. Judging from the look of the times, one would have speculated that Islam would become the ruling ideology and political force of the following ages. Europe would have been a weak holdout at best or a number of vassal states under Islamic domination.
But Charles Martel and the forces aligned with him changed all of that. France had been under the “rule” of wimpy, inadequate kings, but the real powers were exercised behind the throne by the Mayors of the Palace. As Muslim forces advanced by conquest and raids into the Frankish Kingdom, Charles Martel led the resistance.
The climatic battle, the one often regarded as a turning point in world or at least European history, took place somewhere in west-central France. Outnumbered by the Muslim forces, Charles’ heavy massed infantry not only held the battlefield but administered a sound defeat to the Muslim armies.
With the never ending debates and revisions and rewriting of history, some more recent historians have questioned the centrality of the Battle of Tours. Carry on with such explorations, but many of us profit from the less detailed historical records with the more catchy bullet points as markers. So, we can be allowed to persist in calling this victory of European Christendom over Islamic expansion as the “Birth of Europe.”
The events in this book are usually covered rather matter of factly in a paragraph or two in the textbooks. And I don’t mean to completely dismiss the role of such learning tools. But the richer story, which West tells, is one that the history teacher needs to learn and learn to tell. Or, since the book is short and inexpensive, it could be assigned to a class. The historical events are the background to a grand piece of literature called The Song of Roland, ably translated by Dorothy Sayers, so anyone teaching that poem should read this account.
I feel compelled to add that for the more serious reader, Ed West has the habit of inserting a few bits of humor along with way. I confess to having the same tendency. Plus–horror of horrors–he has based the book on a number of other books, all of which are secondary sources. I confess to having the same tendency. And finally, he includes a bibliography that only lists the names of the authors and titles of their books. How can we read a book that sites a secondary source and then doesn’t tell us that it was published in London in 1984? Actually, I didn’t have any problem with that, and in typical Ben House-fashion, I found several titles that I wish I had.
To repeat, Ed West failed to make history interesting. Instead, he aptly told a story that is more than merely interesting, but is rather fantastic. I think we might say it has had an impact on our lives as well.
I hate when I hear people “compliment” a history teacher or author when they say, “He/she makes history interesting.” This always sounds like history is a painful subject, forced on poor captive students, and desperately in need of of a makeover, a recasting, or a transformation from what it is to what it needs to be.
Granted, there are plenty of poor history teachers and rare is the history textbook that becomes the page-turner keeping students up too late at night. But bad teachers and poorly written texts are not confined to history. And students are not uniformly a group of neutral tabula rasas awaiting anxiously to be absorbing knowledge. Students, in many cases, are bored with almost everything. The “teach me by entertaining me” mindset is a different story.
Also, there are analytical, in-depth, highly scholarly accounts of history that are simply above the average reader. And they are above even the above average reader who is not a specialist in a particular area. Authors, particularly scholarly ones, assume a certain knowledge from their expected reading audience. If she is writing for non-historians who want to read a juicy biography, she writes a certain type of book. But if she is written to refute the claims of three other historians in their technical and critical biographies, she is assuming that the reader already has lots of knowledge of the subject. That is to be expected. All subjects can be examined at the more shallowed, wadable ends of the pool or be dived into on the deep end.
All of that is to say, Ed West’s little book doesn’t make history interesting. Instead, he does a fine job of tell a story that is already intrinsically and inescapably interesting, fun, and compelling. If you want to fit the book into a bigger picture, a meta-narrative, you can for it deals with an event that can be called “the Birth of Europe.”
Births are not easy, painless events. The metaphor of a birth is not an apt way to describe anything easy either. The fate of the world was hinging on two major worldviews, world orders, and philosophy/religions. The prevailing power of the age in which this book is set was the Muslim religion. While much of history bemoans (rightly so) European efforts during the Crusades to defeat Muslims (and Jews) in the Holy Land, that was just one chapter in a long history of struggles between the Christian West and the Muslim East. (And I know that both of those labels are inadequate.)
Islamic forces had long since captured what we call the Middle East. North Africa was also under their sway, and Spain had been taken by them as well. Europe, in contrast, was a hodgepodge of smaller, less powerful, but emerging nation-states. Judging from the look of the times, one would have speculated that Islam would become the ruling ideology and political force of the following ages. Europe would have been a weak holdout at best or a number of vassal states under Islamic domination.
But Charles Martel and the forces aligned with him changed all of that. France had been under the “rule” of wimpy, inadequate kings, but the real powers were exercised behind the throne by the Mayors of the Palace. As Muslim forces advanced by conquest and raids into the Frankish Kingdom, Charles Martel led the resistance.
The climatic battle, the one often regarded as a turning point in world or at least European history, took place somewhere in west-central France. Outnumbered by the Muslim forces, Charles’ heavy massed infantry not only held the battlefield but administered a sound defeat to the Muslim armies.
With the never ending debates and revisions and rewriting of history, some more recent historians have questioned the centrality of the Battle of Tours. Carry on with such explorations, but many of us profit from the less detailed historical records with the more catchy bullet points as markers. So, we can be allowed to persist in calling this victory of European Christendom over Islamic expansion as the “Birth of Europe.”
The events in this book are usually covered rather matter of factly in a paragraph or two in the textbooks. And I don’t mean to completely dismiss the role of such learning tools. But the richer story, which West tells, is one that the history teacher needs to learn and learn to tell. Or, since the book is short and inexpensive, it could be assigned to a class. The historical events are the background to a grand piece of literature called The Song of Roland, ably translated by Dorothy Sayers, so anyone teaching that poem should read this account.
I feel compelled to add that for the more serious reader, Ed West has the habit of inserting a few bits of humor along with way. I confess to having the same tendency. Plus–horror of horrors–he has based the book on a number of other books, all of which are secondary sources. I confess to having the same tendency. And finally, he includes a bibliography that only lists the names of the authors and titles of their books. How can we read a book that sites a secondary source and then doesn’t tell us that it was published in London in 1984? Actually, I didn’t have any problem with that, and in typical Ben House-fashion, I found several titles that I wish I had.
To repeat, Ed West failed to make history interesting. Instead, he aptly told a story that is more than merely interesting, but is rather fantastic. I think we might say it has had an impact on our lives as well.
December 18, 2025
My personal interest is primarily in the crusades so I find it very interesting to read about the Muslims previous advances into Europe, and how they were repelled by Charles Martel at the battle of tours in 732. Recommended for anyone looking to learn about the birth of Europe.
December 3, 2018
How could I not review a history book that starts off with the Battle of Tours? I only picked Charles de Steuben’s painting of the battle for my site banner.
West has written the kind of book I would give to a teen-aged boy that I think would end up being quite interested in history for its own sake, but needs an introduction to the subject that is neither stuffy nor boring. Perhaps the young man in question has heard bits and pieces of the chansons de geste through popular culture, perhaps knows of Beowulf or the Song of Roland, and is curious to know what really happened.
Quite a bit happened in the seventh and eighth centuries in France, and most of what did happen is not only epochal, but rather exciting, scandalous even. This is the spirit that West captures in his book. In order to capture the breath and scale of what was going on in the world, West does make some detours in both time and space. While this makes the narrative skip around a bit, I think the context it provides is crucial in understanding, for example, exactly why it was so surprising that the unlettered Franks stopped the advance of the Umayyad Caliphate in 732.
West also has the time point out less romantic facts like it was the Catholic Basques who killed Roland, Lord of the Breton marches in Roncesvalles, rather than the Muslims, and to highlight the rather unecumenical stance of St. Boniface when he chopped down Donar’s Oak. We get to see history, not legend nor hagiography here.
I read this on Kindle, and I found the footnotes were well-implemented, but I did find a number of typos. This sort of thing seems to be common in short little ebooks of this type, and the meaning is always clear from context, so it doesn’t bother me much. Ed West’s short little history book is pithy, irreverent, and above all, fun. I think you could spend 99 cents in many worse ways.
West has written the kind of book I would give to a teen-aged boy that I think would end up being quite interested in history for its own sake, but needs an introduction to the subject that is neither stuffy nor boring. Perhaps the young man in question has heard bits and pieces of the chansons de geste through popular culture, perhaps knows of Beowulf or the Song of Roland, and is curious to know what really happened.
Quite a bit happened in the seventh and eighth centuries in France, and most of what did happen is not only epochal, but rather exciting, scandalous even. This is the spirit that West captures in his book. In order to capture the breath and scale of what was going on in the world, West does make some detours in both time and space. While this makes the narrative skip around a bit, I think the context it provides is crucial in understanding, for example, exactly why it was so surprising that the unlettered Franks stopped the advance of the Umayyad Caliphate in 732.
West also has the time point out less romantic facts like it was the Catholic Basques who killed Roland, Lord of the Breton marches in Roncesvalles, rather than the Muslims, and to highlight the rather unecumenical stance of St. Boniface when he chopped down Donar’s Oak. We get to see history, not legend nor hagiography here.
I read this on Kindle, and I found the footnotes were well-implemented, but I did find a number of typos. This sort of thing seems to be common in short little ebooks of this type, and the meaning is always clear from context, so it doesn’t bother me much. Ed West’s short little history book is pithy, irreverent, and above all, fun. I think you could spend 99 cents in many worse ways.
February 21, 2019
Less about Charles Martel and the Battle of Tours than about the people and political situation leading to the battle. I did not find this a particularly serious history - the tone was quite flippant. However, if you don't know anything about the era, it might be a light introduction.
October 29, 2020
October 10th, 732 was a fateful day in European history. The Battle of Tours was the decisive Frankish blow that stopped the Umayyad Caliphate from advancing deeper into Europe, leaving only Iberia in their grasp. If not for Charles Martel, his forces, and his allies, Western Civilization as we know it might have been completely absorbed by the forces of the East.
Ed West has written an accessible work of this history changing battle.
Ed West has written an accessible work of this history changing battle.
June 17, 2019
If you like your history inaccurately written by someone who thinks they are writing for people with the IQ of your average Sun reader then this is for you....if not buy any one of the many books available that are better.
A francisca, the weapon which allegedly gave the Franks their name is not as Mr West would have you believe a long sword, but an axe.....yup it really is that badly wrong
A francisca, the weapon which allegedly gave the Franks their name is not as Mr West would have you believe a long sword, but an axe.....yup it really is that badly wrong
February 6, 2021
A Must Read
Never dull, never tedious; a thoroughly entertaining detailed exposition on a very little known event in history. The book details the historical context and this battle in a concise manner. The author combines cultural, religious, and military perspectives with fact, humor and wit! A must read.
Never dull, never tedious; a thoroughly entertaining detailed exposition on a very little known event in history. The book details the historical context and this battle in a concise manner. The author combines cultural, religious, and military perspectives with fact, humor and wit! A must read.
November 11, 2025
This slim book (under 100 pages) does a good job of describing events before the Battle of Tours, the battle itself, and its aftermath. What was especially informative was a review of how Islam spread so quickly and became a major adversary. However, the Battle of Tours was not described in enough detail, nor was a map of the confrontation provided.
September 13, 2021
What an enjoyment
As a novice in history and an ignorant of geography how can i express my thanks to this book. It introduced so many names and places and dates during the reign of all the Charleses in such a pleasant way that i could not put the book down.
As a novice in history and an ignorant of geography how can i express my thanks to this book. It introduced so many names and places and dates during the reign of all the Charleses in such a pleasant way that i could not put the book down.
July 2, 2025
Very good and interesting read
I found this a short book compared with other books on this subject,but this book is informative with out being boring.so if this subject interests you then I recommend this book.
I found this a short book compared with other books on this subject,but this book is informative with out being boring.so if this subject interests you then I recommend this book.
January 22, 2026
Probably the most informal and loosely edited history book I’ve read. The title is a little misleading, as it’s more of a general overview of the rise of the Franks and the roles of Charles Martel and Charlemagne in saving and building Christian civilization in Europe. Concise and enjoyable.
Want to read
October 8, 2019In lieu of a better book about Charles Martel, the Hammer.
May 16, 2020
Great concise history of this period.
May 29, 2020
It was briefer than I expected, with the battle itself not having many pages devoted to it, but there was an entertaining line of dry humour throughout that I enjoyed.
August 12, 2020
Good,quick read
Enjoyed book and authors style, learned what I needed in a concise, reader friendly way,enjoy it......I will look for his other books
Enjoyed book and authors style, learned what I needed in a concise, reader friendly way,enjoy it......I will look for his other books
July 8, 2021
Good read
I’ve read some of Churchill’s histories, and none of them were half as complete or entertaining . I look forward to reading more
I’ve read some of Churchill’s histories, and none of them were half as complete or entertaining . I look forward to reading more
November 8, 2022
Great history
You get the full story, the before the battle and the history after the battle. A complete history and how it fits on world stage.
You get the full story, the before the battle and the history after the battle. A complete history and how it fits on world stage.
August 4, 2024
Significantly expanded my knowledge of Western Europe from late antiquity through the early Middle Ages (roughly the latter half of the first millennium CE). There's still a lot more to learn though!
May 25, 2023
Rarely can one read a history of the Battle of Tours/Poitiers untainted by left-wing revisionism. What was once referred to by Edward Gibbon as an "encounter which would change the history of the world" has become a battle academics promise us was largely inconsequential. Such a contention is strange, as the same academics rush to defend the battle's decisive losers (the Umayyad Caliphate) from any criticism. “Well they lost because the Muslim force was tantamount to a raiding party.” Or the classic, “Abdul Rahman Al-Ghafiqi's forces were unfamiliar with Frankish tactics, namely heavy cavalry, therefore it's understandable that they lost the skirmish.” All laughable excuses, as Ed West makes perfectly clear in his short rundown of the matchup.
It would be easy for one to dismiss Ed West, a British conservative, as a right-wing revisionist with an axe to grind with Muslims, but readers of this book would have to admit that the opposite is true. West’s work is neither critical of Westerners, nor Muslims but rather exists as a balanced account of the circumstances surrounding that faithful day in 732 AD. Proof of which can be found in West's organization of the work, detailed below.
This short work is divided in several short chapters detailing the fall of the Roman Empire, the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, and the scramble to consolidate power in the Dark Ages, all culminating in the battle at Tours between the Franks and Moors. Because an entire book on what many historians describe as a glorified skirmish would be virtually impossible, West’s decision to include a breakdown of the known world’s geopolitics was a wise one. After all, who could expect a newcomer to medieval history to understand how a group of bedouins conquered Spain (Al-Andalus) when they were themselves subjugated polytheists a mere hundred years prior.
In all, West's contribution to the hotly debated Battle of Tours is a welcome one, especially when so much of the "new findings" have the unfortunate tendency to descend into pseudo-historical dribble. It was certainly helpful to a college student like myself, who immediately searches out books that validate my skeptical nature towards history professors after hearing their virtue filled ramblings of the "origins of Islamophobia" and similar platitudes. As usual, they had it all wrong.
4/5 stars
It would be easy for one to dismiss Ed West, a British conservative, as a right-wing revisionist with an axe to grind with Muslims, but readers of this book would have to admit that the opposite is true. West’s work is neither critical of Westerners, nor Muslims but rather exists as a balanced account of the circumstances surrounding that faithful day in 732 AD. Proof of which can be found in West's organization of the work, detailed below.
This short work is divided in several short chapters detailing the fall of the Roman Empire, the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, and the scramble to consolidate power in the Dark Ages, all culminating in the battle at Tours between the Franks and Moors. Because an entire book on what many historians describe as a glorified skirmish would be virtually impossible, West’s decision to include a breakdown of the known world’s geopolitics was a wise one. After all, who could expect a newcomer to medieval history to understand how a group of bedouins conquered Spain (Al-Andalus) when they were themselves subjugated polytheists a mere hundred years prior.
In all, West's contribution to the hotly debated Battle of Tours is a welcome one, especially when so much of the "new findings" have the unfortunate tendency to descend into pseudo-historical dribble. It was certainly helpful to a college student like myself, who immediately searches out books that validate my skeptical nature towards history professors after hearing their virtue filled ramblings of the "origins of Islamophobia" and similar platitudes. As usual, they had it all wrong.
4/5 stars
November 12, 2019
If you think history is boring, read this book and you'll be thinking again. This book, or any others by this author, will hook you on European history. His writing is succinct with a sly bit of wit. He condenses the facts into a fast paced, entertaining read that leaves you thirsting for more. This book is perfect for those who are interested in history and want a quick tour of the Middle Ages but don't have the time for a 500 page tome.
Above being said, I would have liked to have seen a bit more about the battle of Tours and Charles Martel in the book.
Keep more of these great books coming, Ed.
Above being said, I would have liked to have seen a bit more about the battle of Tours and Charles Martel in the book.
Keep more of these great books coming, Ed.
April 10, 2024
Highly engaging and entertaining, the Path of the Martyrs is a highly readable and short overview of mostly the events leading up to The Battle of Tours. The battle itself and it's chief architect, Charles Martel, is briskly described; likely because we know so little about either.
June 4, 2020
This was a whirlwind tour through the Middle Ages. I was hoping for a little more detail on Charles Martel and the battle itself but they didn’t seem to be the main focus which was kind of weird. If you want a biography of Charles Martel or an in depth battle study of Tours you should look else where.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews