«Qui inde egressi, Vulgarum gentes, quae super Danubium, bello adgrediuntur». Considérations concernant une action militaire arabe au Danube (l’automn
«Qui inde egressi, Vulgarum gentes, quae super Danubium, bello adgrediuntur». Considérations concernant une action militaire arabe au Danube (l’automn

Summary/Abstract: In the autumn of 718, most likely around Spetember-October, after the failure at the siege of Constantinople (August 717-September 718), the Arabs undertake a military campaign against the Bulgarians of the Danube, the allies of the Byzantine Empire at the time. The forces landed against the Bulgarians were defeated by them, and most of the Islamic fleet was distroyed by the storm, the military action ending with a real disaster. The region targeted by the Arab campaign in the autumn of 718 was, most likely, the Danube’s mouths area, known for its strategic and military importance. The establishment of some Arab bases at Danube’s mouths would have allowed the Arab Caliphate to exert a strong pressure on the two allies of the Byzantine Empire: the Bulgarian Khaganate in the Balkan Peninsula and the Khazar Khaganate in northern Black Sea. The annihilation of the two allies of Constantinople would have allowed the Arabs the realize the encirclement of the Byzantine Empire, the center of European civilization of this Age. But the defeat suffered by the Islamic forces against the Bulgarians in the autumn of 718 annihilated forever this danger (Theodora Mărculeţ).

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