How important was the Battle of Tours and Poitiers (732) really?

by Ulmengarten

It is often presented that if the franks lost the battle, europe would have been sacked by the muslims. How accurate is that?

nemtrif

The question has already been asked and mostly answered:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/r79sf/is_it_true_that_if_charles_martel_had_lost_the/

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1uce2a/how_viable_was_an_umayyad_occupation_of_france/

In general, most historians believe the view that you are presenting is not correct - the Arabs were overextended at that point and did not have resources to take Europe.

A much more important battle in this regard was the siege of Constantinople 717-718.