/althis/

>>2238050
>If the Franks had lost at Tours, would Islam have been able to spread to Western Europe, or was the significance of the battle overblown?
Maybe just western Europe.I think that central Europe would have remained catholic after the battle

>>2238050
>If the Franks had lost at Tours, would Islam have been able to spread to Western Europe,


No. The Islamic army was actually already heading back to Spain before Tours, and the battle didn't even settle the Aquataine campaign, let alone anything else.

> or was the significance of the battle overblown?

Ding Ding Ding. Actually, pretty much every one of Creasy's "15 decisive battles" was massively overblown. He had a real talent for picking unimportant battles in important conflicts.

If you want to posit a world in which Islam could or did make enormous inroads into Europe, don't change the outcome of Tours. Change the outcome of the 717-718 siege of Constantinople, which had about 5 times the forces committed and was backed by the biggest Islamic state by far.

Fact is the battle was not viewed as a really important event by contemporaries. It can only be speculated about its significance, but it is most probably not the outstanding battle that saved the West.

Another fact is that, after the battle, the Moors had no particular interest to start follow-up campaigns in order to conquer more of northern Europe. There were more profitable regions to be conquered, not to mention regions with better climate, more fertile grounds, more wealth and better infrastructure.

This is the same reason the Romans stopped conquering the lands in Northern Europe once they reached Scotland or the Rhine. This also goes for Alexander the great and the Mongols, as there were more highly developed regions: Alexander wanted to reach India, the Mongols wanted Egypt first and stopped in Hungary.

>>2238050
The significance of Tours had little to do with Islam in Europe and instead was about securing Carolingian hegemony over Southern France. Had Charles Martel lost, Southern France would look more like Southern Italy and Spain - a hodgepodge of local counts and dukes with a variety of diplomatic and religious alliances attracting mercenaries to their petty fights until some enterprising regime achieves victory.

>>2238057
This for the most part.

The caliphate had trouble securing the Iberian Peninsula as it was, it's not very plausible that they would get any further than just having raiding parties go as far as Central France.

Considering the Umayyad's were beaten out of Leon and Galicia shortly after the Battle of Tours, it's doubtful they would have gone forward to secure France, Germany, and Italy.

But yes I agree that the true significance of it was securing Charlemagne's dynasty in its rise to power, the victory at Tours set the stage for a resurgence of Western Europe.

>>2238429
This

Who gives a shit what day French people pray, in the end the unification of France was far more important in history. Islam would look different in France than it does in Saudi Arabia if that's what you're getting at.