How much of an Anomaly is the Battle of Yarmouk?

by nasser408

The Battle of Yarmouk is wildly credited to be the greatest battle to ever be won by the Muslim General Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed, it is also Credited to be the Battle that allowed the Rashidun, and following Caliphates to get a permanent Foothold within the Region.

The Battle itself was an Encounter Battle, on an Open field, with two Armies, the Byzantine Army, led by the Armenian Prince Vahan, the army was said to be consisted by 140,000-200,000 men by Roman sources, Muslim Sources say they consisted of roughly 200,000 men, and Modern Estimates Put the Roman army at 100,000-150,000 men. The Muslim Army was Led by Khalid ibn Al-Waleed, with Muslim Sources putting the army at 24,000 men, and Modern Estimates putting them at 15,000-25,000 men.

The battle itself was fought on the Yarmouk Plateau, with the River Alan being at the Rear of the Byzantine Forces, and The River Harir being at the Rear of the Muslim Forces, the Lines were spread across the Battlefield were around 10 kilometres long on each side of the Battle, the Battle Lasted for roughly Six days, with sources at The Time saying between 70,000-120,000 Byzantine Men had died in the Battle, and Modern Estimates saying that 45,000-90,000 of the Byzantine Army had Died. The Muslim Army is said to have Lost between 3,000-5,000 men according to both Modern and Muslim Sources.

The Battle was Decisive Victory for the Rashidun Caliphate, and marked the Permanent Expulsion of the Byzantine Empire from Syria and the Levant.


With the Byzantine Army Outnumbering the Muslim Army atleast 4 to 1, and as much as 1 to 13, along with the fact that the battle was fought on Open ground, and the fact that the Byzantine Army had both Heavier Cavalry, and Better Military Equipment, just how anomalous was this Battle? And how does it compare to other Similar Battles?

DanKensington

There's enough reason to doubt the actual size of the Byzantine field army at the time, not yet mentioning that our actual evidence for Yarmouk is...iffy. More can always be said about this battle, especially since it appears to be an under-studied field; for the meantime, OP, these previous threads may be interesting:

u/shlin28 has two posts on Yarmouk, covering why there's a lot of room for doubt, and why we're doubting the above-given numbers for Yarmouk itself.