Why Not to Take a Slow and Unsupplied Army into the Middle of the Desert

On July 4th 1187, the forces of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem were almost entirely wiped out by a Muslim army at the battle of Hattin. This was one of the most crushing defeats for western forces during the Crusades, and highlighted the ignorance and arrogance which so often led to Christian forces being butchered on the battlefield by more intelligent and tactically superior enemies.

The battle was largely the fault of Raynald of Chatillon, a haughty and impetuous general who had caused much of Saladin’s wrath to be waxed on the Crusaders by Raynald’s constant slaughter of innocent Muslims. Saladin decided to move to confront the Crusaders in the middle of 1187 therefore devised a plan to trap the Crusaders and destroy them entirely.

It was Saladin’s plan to bring the Crusader army to a location in the middle of the desert where their slow units of cavalry and men at arms would be at the mercy of his quick and maneuverable soldiers. Saladin therefore began to siege the fortress of Tiberias, a city 15 miles distant from the Crusader stronghold of Sephoria, where their main army was located. The most direct route to Tiberias from Sephoria stretched across a large desert. Saladin was gambling that that Guy of Lusignan, the King of Jerusalem would try and come to the immediate aid of Tiberias and unwisely move his army away from safety into the desert where Saladin would be able to destroy him.

The Crusaders took the bait, and with an army of 20,000 men began their march early in the morning of July 3rd towards Tiberias. The decision to move out had been made the night of July 2nd during a war council of the Christian generals. The decision was made impart because the more prudent generals were insulted and called cowardly by the others. Therefore everyone, much more afraid of being called a coward than foolishly throwing away thousands of lives agreed to the ill-fated campaign.

Immediately the Frankish forces were harassed by Saracen horse archers. By noon on that day, the Crusaders had traveled a distance of six miles to reach reached a spring at the village of Turan, this in itself was a great accomplishment. To travel so far was a significant feat, yet it was still nine miles to Tiberias. This meant that any attempt to try and make it to Tiberias that day would be disastrous, for it would mean leaving the last source of water, in the heat of day, in the middle of a desert, while facing the entirety of Saladin’s army. But, as Saladin wrote, “Satan incited Guy to do what ran counter to his purpose.” That is, for unknown reasons, Guy set out that very afternoon, marching his army forward towards Tiberias.

As the Franks moved away from Turan, Saladin sent his forces around the French force, thus simultaneously surrounding them and seizing the spring the Franks had just left. This blockaded the Christians without giving them any line for retreat.

Unable to reach Tiberias, the Franks were forces to stop for the night, surrounded by the Muslims, exhausted from an arduous day of travel, distraught at their inability to attack their enemies, and without either water or any hope of receiving supplies or reinforcements.

An Islamic historian chronicles the situation of the Frankish army by saying,

“They were closely beset as in a noose, while still marching on as though being driven to death that they could see before them, convinced of their doom and destruction and themselves aware that the following day they would be visiting their graves.”

The following morning, July 4th, Saladin had his forces build hundreds of fires to blow smoke into the eyes of the Crusaders and blind them. He followed this up with hundreds of waves of arrows into their midst. Thirsty and demoralized, the Crusaders desperately attempted to force their way through the Muslim ring surrounding them, but each time they were beaten back. The Muslim arrows kept them at bay, while the maneuverability of the Muslim army allowed them to keep ahead of the slow Frankish soldiers.

The battle quickly turned into a slaughter. Hopelessly the Christians threw themselves onto the Muslims time and again to no avail. By the end of the day, only around 3,000 Crusaders of the entire army were left. The “True Cross” which had been with the army was captured, Raynald was executed, and Guy was held for ransom in Damascus. The power of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was essentially extinguished and as a direct result of the battle, Islamic forces once again became the eminent military power in the Holy Land, eventually reconquering Jerusalem and several other Crusader-held cities.