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Showing posts with label Charles Martel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Martel. Show all posts

Monday, July 29, 2024

Introducing THE HAMMER Commentary:

Beginning with Cheatle, then on to Que-Mala (Kamala) and More on America

John R. Houk, Blog Editor

© July 29, 2024

 

There is a fellow who posts on the Canada Free Press and Rumble who goes by the pseudonym Charles Martel. I enjoy reading/listening to him for his irreverent commentary.

 

A bit on the pseudonym Charles Martel. The name comes from an actual historical Middle Ages European figure (686-741 AD) who has a fascinating history but is most remembered for stopping Muslim invaders from conquering Europe at the Battle of Tours (sometimes noted as Poitiers) in 732 AD. 


 

Martel = The Hammer – Description How It Happened:

 

By turning back the Muslims at Tours, the Franks broke the string of Muslim conquests that had spread like a terrible storm through the Iberian Peninsula and beyond. Charles was given the sobriquet Martel (the Hammer) by contemporary chroniclers for the way he had battered his enemies in battle.” (Charles The Hammer At Tours; By William E. Welsh; WARFARE HISTORY NETWORK; December 2021)


 

An interesting yet brief history of the actual Charles Martel: HERE.

 

The pseudonymous Charles Martel shares his opinion in an irascible - and in my opinion - sometimes with a bit of stinging humor. The top of the CFP post is a Rumble video that precedes the text which is actually a transcript of the video (but is actually only an audio). In this cross post, I’m placing the video/audio toward the end. In my opinion, there is more HAMMER in the text than the well-deserved audio.

 

ENJOY.

 

JRH 7/29/24

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The lies that unbind us

Bringing Down The Hammer For Canada Free Press: How do we find common ground with people who refuse to stop hating us? I don’t know, but I know this can’t and won’t continue

 

By Charles Martel

July 29, 2024

Canada Free Press

 

This is Charles Martel coming to you from Florida and bringing down the hammer for the Canada Free Press because without America, there is no Free World. Let me begin by saying I was wrong about Kimberly Cheatle. The now former head of the Secret Service was drummed out, made to resign, forced to walk the plank. This happened, of course, because Democrats called for her ouster. She’d never have left if it were only Republicans demanding she be held to account.

Screengrab of Rumble Video - Charles Martel Commentary including Harris border czar

 

Speaking of Border Czar Harris

 

Because of the time in which we are living, and because Democrats are wholly untrustworthy, it is impossible not to become suspicious when progressive politicians who are otherwise profoundly execrable turn on one of their own DEI hatchlings. I can only figure one thing: Dem pols are aware that the rank and file in the Secret Service lean right; perhaps, thinking of when they might need protection, they didn’t want to run the risk of some agent “accidentally” not seeing some crackpot with a gun slipping past.

 

Essentially, Ms Cheatle became expendable chum to be tossed in the water as the fishing boat sails home. It’s a big flashing neon sign designed by Dems that reads to the agents “Hey, look guys, we tossed the idiot overboard. We got your back; please don’t forget to cover ours.”

This is, of course, near lunatic thinking, but such is the destination to which we’ve been forced-marched. Everything is possible; the distorted is now the norm. Neither paranoia nor conspiracy exist. The terms have disappeared from our political lexicon faster than a talking head regurgitates that Kamala Harris was never Joe Biden’s border czar.

 

Speaking of Border Czar Harris, I read something this week that I’m going to repeat here. I wish I could recall who said it and give credit; more than that, I wish I’d thought of it myself; however, I didn’t and to claim so would make me as dishonest as a corporate media journalist. Here it is: “If DEI is a good thing, then why do lefties get upset when the term is applied to Kamala Harris?”

 

Good question, eh? Unspoken is, if it’s not a good thing, then why don’t we denounce it and get rid of it? I suppose it’s too much to expect consistency in logic from a progressive.

 

The lies that unbind us

 

In April, 2021, Roberta Jacobson, our ambassador to Mexico, surrendered that part of her portfolio that included border responsibility. As was reported by the Washington Post, this was done as a result of Biden assigning that part of Ms Jacobson’s job to Kamala Harris. As reported by Matt Taibbi, corporate media outlets from Meet the Press, to CNN, the AP, to the Los Angeles Times, to Axios had all referred to the position as “border czar.”

 

Now that Harris is running for president, and the border fiasco, largely solved by Trump, is an unmitigated disaster at or near the top of voters’ concerns, all record and remembrance of Harris having been placed in charge of the border is to be burned and buried like Nazi intel files when the allies were closing in. Watching media members react to “border czar Harris” is akin to watching your knee when the doctor taps it with his hammer. The reaction is instant and reflexive; “no, root cause,” “root cause,” “root causes,” “no, in charge of root causes.” They received the talking points, and they’re sticking to them even if the spin puts them in neck traction.

 

George Orwell’s 1984 is brought to mind: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. And if all others accepted the lie, if all records told the same tale, then the lie passed into history and became the truth.”

 

The most rib-breaking belly laugh from media tramps arrived courtesy of Axios. The outlet slipped on a hairshirt and inflicted self-flagellation with this howler: “This article has been updated and clarified to note that Axios was among the news outlets that incorrectly labeled Harris a ‘border czar’ in 2021.”

 

Hey, Axios, debase yourself much?

 

That brought to mind for me an anecdote. I don’t know where I heard it, but it’s illuminating. During one of Stalin’s purges a true believer is rounded up and accused of treason. There is no evidence and the man is innocent, but hearing the charges and knowing the sentence will be execution the man responds “If the Party says it, then it must be so.”

 

Bedwetting progressives in TV and print and on social media were endlessly soiling themselves

 

This is our corporate media, the people who write for the nation’s newspapers and somberly stare out at us from TV screens. They claim curiosity and concern about lost credibility. This is simply another lie; they are neither curious nor concerned. But here’s a newsflash for these dolts: Biden put Harris in charge of illegal immigration on our southern border, case closed.

 

Of a piece with the above nonsense has been the debate about whether a bullet, a bullet fragment, or a piece of the shattered teleprompter hit Donald Trump’s ear in the assassination attempt two weeks ago. Bedwetting progressives in TV and print and on social media were endlessly soiling themselves over this question. FBI director Christopher “radar” Wray, aka, Inspector Clouseau, aka, the Dullard of Langley, had, last week, added, predictably, his two cents of muddled confusion. However, finally, ballistic geniuses at the FBI concluded that water was wet and that, indeed, Donald Trump’s ear had been hit by a bullet. In other words, he had been shot.

 

What is obvious to everyone with an IQ higher than that of Czarina Kamala Harris is that the story is the assassination attempt that led to the murder of one man, the seriously wounding of two others and the near death of one party’s candidate for president. That’s it and that’s all. The FBI concluded Trump was hit by a bullet. It would make precisely zero difference if he’d been hit by a piece of broken teleprompter. One man would still be dead and two others wounded, and Donald Trump would still be the fortunate survivor of an assassination attempt. Anyone failing to understand this is in a state of cognitive decline best described as a vegetative or is a progressive.

 

I suspect there are some listening to or reading this who are thinking “Okay, Martel, media and progressives are liars and despicable, yada, yada, yada, what else is new?”

 

This streak of intolerance and malevolence in the left is not new

 

You are correct in that these are but two more examples, neither greater or lesser than the garden variety swarm of progressive perfidy to which we are relentlessly treated. The examples are legion and never far from the surface: Trump is Hitler; Trump is an existential threat; Trump will be a dictator; the attempt to kill Trump was a hoax; Charlottesville proves Trump is racist; America is racist; defund the police; Kavanaugh is a gang rapist; Russian collusion; Hunter Biden’s laptop; the economy is great; Joe Biden is sharp and cogent; Joe is unfit to run, but he can remain president…the list is seemingly endless, but this is tangential to my point.

 

A July 18th survey of 235 Democrats agreed with the statement “I wish Trump’s assassin didn’t miss.” [Blog Editor Bold Text Emphasis] Support for the statement didn’t vary by age, race, or education. Turns out those expressing that desire believe overwhelmingly that Republicans are racists. I believe the question naturally follows “If you wish Trump dead and believe Republicans are racists, what should be done to them? Impoverishment? Re-education camps? Prison? Execution?” It’s not farfetched to ask, as we’ve already seen examples of most of this. Moreover, I saw no reports of this survey in our legacy media, and no Dem leaders spoke up to denounce it. Do you think that would have been the case if a third of Republicans declared they wish an assassin would take out Harris or Biden or Obama?

 

By the way, this streak of intolerance and malevolence in the left is not new. Many years ago, walking up the upper west side of Manhattan, having lived there about 5 years, I was suddenly struck with this thought: “We’re the enemy to them. Straight, southern, white, male, Christians are the enemy.” At the time, it was saddening but a little amusing in that I knew that none of my family and friends, no one I grew up around had any idea how much liberals despised them. We may have thought they were silly, misguided or even stupid, but we didn’t hate them. The despised have since become deplorable and the target has expanded, but the hatred remains the same.

 

LEFT refuse to accept that disagreeing with them is not de facto evidence of someone being either a racist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a misogynist or something else ugly

 

My question today is, where is the rapproachement? How are we to arrive at a place of good faith? Where is the middle ground? The compromise? How can it be found if Dem leaders continue to insist that Donald Trump endangers our democracy? That Trump will become a dictator? How do we return to an assumption of good will political opposition if one side refuses to recognize a basic principle of decency?

 

I believe Trump is going to win in November. I believe it likely the GOP will take the Senate and strengthen its hold on the House. This is going to make a difference. The administrative state will be rolled back and individual freedoms provided greater protection.

 

However, we will continue to have among us a substantial percentage of people who hate this country as founded, who hate our Constitution; they believe in Marxist economic theory over the free market, and refuse to accept that disagreeing with them is not de facto evidence of someone being either a racist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a misogynist or something else ugly. Ironically, they also have no understanding that it’s this kind of dehumanization that led, first, to a polite Tea Party and now, second, to a much more combative Trumpism.

 

To the extent they are restrained at all by the system governing us, they determine to change it by either packing the Supreme Court, or getting rid of the electoral college, or letting illegals vote, or making it impossible to assure a fair vote in which we can have confidence. They insist on applying a set of rules and standards to us that they routinely ignore.

 

Every thought they have, every action they take, every belief they embrace, either earnestly as useful idiots or cynically in a lust for power, is founded in lies.

 

How do we find common ground with people who refuse to stop hating us? I don’t know, but I know this can’t and won’t continue. And if progressives won’t afford conservatives an acknowledgement of decency, and if they can’t accept that their convictions may only enjoy minority support, then America, whether it stands or falls, is going to be decided through violence.

 

Rumble VIDEO: The lies that unbind us

 

[Posted by The Hammer Charles Martel

Published July 28, 2024

 

MORE DESCRIPTION]

 

Charles Martel -- Bio and Archives

Charles Martel, laying down the Hammer for Canada Free Press
Charles can be found on Rumble and on Spotify as @CharlesMartelCFP

 

SUPPORT Canada Free Press

Content is Copyright 1997-2024--the individual authors | Site Copyright 1997-2024 Canada Free Press

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Charles Martel: Dem-Marxist Control vs MAGA Liberty

John R. Houk, Blog Editor

© January 24, 2024

 

Since Woke history doesn’t teach relevant history any longer, you may never have heard of the historical figure Charles (THE HAMMER) Martel. The Hammer is given historical credit for stopping Islamic Jihadists from conquering Western Europe in 732 AD in the battle that has two names – Tours or Poitiers.

 

Here's the thing…There’s a pseudonymous political writer who has adopted the nom du plume Charles Martel. When I focused on Counterjihad issues I ran into a person going by the name Charles Martel often. And so the same name posts on the Canada Free Press (CFP). I have no idea of it’s the same guy. If it is the same guy, he has moved from Counterjihad issues to PRESERVE THE REPUBLIC issues. Pretty much, I have taken the same route.

 

On 1/23/24 CFP posted a title that stroke all kinds of favorable heart-string cords: “The hangman's noose has been fashioned. On whose neck is it to be fitted?” Charles Martel takes a look at all things concerning to Conservative-Patriots: Globalist Tyranny, the CCP agenda for world domination, a little Counterjihad AND a lot of Dem-Marxist control vs MAGA Liberty. The post has a little less than 11-minute Rumble video synopsis of the CFP post which I will post at the top of the post (Charles Martel sticks the video after the second paragraph).

 

Watch the video, but it’s my opinion you’ll gain a greater grasp of the point by reading the article text.

 

JRH 1/24/24

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The hangman's noose has been fashioned. On whose neck is it to be fitted?

This election is the last chance for peace, freedom. Biden can’t win, and will be replaced, I’m guessing the Dems run Michelle Obama-- and she will lose to Trump, too. We have awakened from our slumber; we are not bowing to them; we will not give up

 

By Charles Martel 

January 23, 2024

Canada Free Press

 

Rumble VIDEO: The hangman's noose has been fashioned. On whose neck is it to be fitted?

[Posted by The Hammer Charles Martel

Published January 22, 2024

 

MORE DESCRIPTION]

 

Immigration, climate change, globalization…Like poisonous snakes, the various themes, in macro and micro, foreign and domestic, continue to intertwine, weaving themselves into a hangman’s rope, with the only question being whose neck is the noose to be fitted? I don’t know the outcome, but I’m certain this year is the last opportunity to avoid global-scale cataclysm. The fulcrum by which history will be decided is the United States, and the coming election is what will tip the balance.

 

Russia has taken hold and will not be removed from east Ukraine; the bear is openly threatening Poland and the Baltic states, evidencing a belligerence that has Sweden on the brink of joining NATO. Leaders in England, Sweden and Germany warned this week of the possibility, indeed the likelihood of war with Russia before another decade elapses. They’ve advised their countrymen and militaries to prepare.

 

The country’s economy is in shambles, with worse to come because of an inability to tame inflation and to deny cheap energy

 

While the Biden admin continues a passionate tongue kiss to the Chinese arsehole, President Xi Jinping asserts to all that Taiwan’s subjugation is imminent. He’s made clear that China’s political dominance of southeast Asia and economic dominance of the world are the goals in his sights.

 

Iran remains determined to achieve nuclear weapons capability and continues a proxy war using satellites Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Israel is the immediate target, but America is the ultimate goal. And asinine immigration policy has made much of Europe a tantalizing available target.

 

None of these enemies are new, but all of them are aware that the US is a divided nation. Its intelligence apparatus is more concerned with diversity training and identifying and punishing Trump supporters than protecting the country; staff officers in the armed forces believe white supremacy poses the greatest threat to America, not foreign enemies, and the capacity to wage, let alone win a war on multiple fronts is doubtful.

 

The country’s economy is in shambles, with worse to come because of an inability to tame inflation and the present administration’s refusal to let the country avail itself of cheap energy, and a determination to continue to allow poverty to pour over the border. In short, our enemies see we are weak and poorly led, and they emerged from their caves.

 

The picture emerged and Obama was the flashing light signal for a power lusting left

 

The end of the post-Soviet world – in what is the most terrible irony ever imagined--saw the ascension of globalists/socialists/one world advocates in the West. Their infiltration began in the 60s; American action, example and influence enriched North America and rebuilt and enriched west Europe. In the face of such success those who love individual freedom and affluence became lazy to the threat posed by power hungry leftists and their ignorant and idiot acolytes.

 

It was a laziness borne of obvious success. Again, and again, and again the failed philosophy of collectivism had produced poverty, oppression and murder. Who in their right minds could be an adherent? Even the poorest in capitalist nations enjoyed comforts and a relative safety never imagined. Let the faculty lounge loonies preach what they want. I mean, Who wants to be an administrator or a bureaucrat? Jobs of pretend importance, they may come with a bit of power, but they create nothing and produce nothing of value. The jobs are a kind of sop, rich welfare for mediocrities.

 

Conservatives and capitalists were like parents who spoil a badly behaving child. They simply patted the brat on the head, never realizing that in surrendering one institution after another, eventually, the institutions would be wholly owned, entirely run by the brats who’d been indulged. The left continued its long march.

 

By the beginning of this century all the pieces were assembled and in position on the board. The election of Barack Obama, a fake, a phony, a cipher of no substance and steeped in garden variety faculty lounge toxic bullshit was awarded supreme power; he became the glue to the pieces. The picture emerged and Obama was the flashing light signal for a power lusting left, thought to be buried since the fall of the Soviet Union, to make its grab for the brass ring.

 

Trump’s MAGA movement has shown greater assertiveness and poses a bigger threat than the Tea Party

 

In response, first came the Tea Party, a tame and polite, predominantly white and working class movement that was instinctually opposed to the left’s cultural desires and had become empirically at odds with globalization and climate change, both of which had diminished and even erased their hopes and standard of living. In what was a harbinger of things to come, progressives and their corporate media # branded Tea Party members racists, and RINOs in the Republican Party coopted the movement so that it could be destroyed from within.

 

This led to Trump and the MAGA movement, more drastic in the sense that it’s angrier; the people in the movement have come to terms with the fact that the left hates them, and the left is the enemy. There is a thorough realization of who and what progressives are and what they want, and a bracing acknowledgment that progressives have monopolized all of our institutions, all the levers of power. There is recognition that John Kennedy’s Democratic Party has been hijacked and is now owned by a dangerous and authoritarian enemy of the people. And that’s why Trump’s MAGA movement has shown greater assertiveness and poses a bigger threat than the Tea Party.

 

Progressive leaders understand this. It’s why they went after Trump from the beginning and continue now their attempts to jail and/or destroy him. The same lust and logic that made it imperative to brand Brett Kavanaugh a gang rapist, to insist we surrender our guns, to divide us by race, to open our border, to allow anointed gangs to burn and loot, to corrupt elections and imprison conservative protestors continues to animate them, because any conceivable hurdle to their domination must be dealt with and destroyed.

 

Trump and his movement pose the left an existential threat

 

Trump and his movement pose the left an existential threat. In power again, having seen the left exposed, Trump could and will begin an extirpation and destruction of the Deep State and academia that would, at least, set the globalist one-world socialist movement back for a generation, and might possibly destroy it for many decades to come.

 

Movements similar to MAGA have come alive in Europe and South America: Hungary, Sweden, Italy and Argentina have governments created in response to progressive overreach; France and Germany threaten to do the same. Japan and India have let it be known they will not ride the globalist train. Still, all will, finally, live or die according to what happens in America. If there is no magnetic pole pulling in opposition to the tyrannous regimes, resistance will eventually become impossible. China, Iran and Russia will be left to determine the direction of the world. I suspect China would win that fight, but don’t discount a billion Muslims. On the other hand, what’s left won’t be worth owning.

 

At present, with respect to foreign enemies, our greatest strength is their weakness. The Chinese and Russians are demographic time bombs and their technology is not equal to that of the US. Iran is a Tenth Century basket base at the mercy of mad men who are hated by the majority of their countrymen. For the present, our superior system has kept us elevated.

 

But as our enemies abroad are weak, so are they within our borders

 

However, that genius system, created by genius men, faces a threat greater than that ever encountered…It is the threat from within that Lincoln warned us of when he said “All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined…could not by force take a drink from the Ohio. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”

 

But as our enemies abroad are weak, so are they within our borders. This is no guarantee of victory; we’ve all seen evil triumph, but it is a guarantee of a fight, and a greater fight than our domestic enemies imagined. The determination to power and a conviction of infallibility blind progressives and leave them unable to see, let alone acknowledge, error.

 

They know Trump poses them a grave threat, but they don’t see that if Trump fails what comes after him will be worse. This election, this year is the last chance for peace and freedom. Biden can’t win, and he will be replaced, I’m guessing the Dems run Michelle Obama. No matter: she will lose to Trump, too. We have awakened from our slumber; we are not bowing to them; we will not give up to them.

 

2024 is the year. [Bold Text Emphasis Blog Editor’s]

 

Charles Martel -- Bio and Archives Charles Martel, laying down the Hammer for Canada Free Press

 

Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2023 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2023 Canada Free Press.Com


Sunday, July 30, 2023

Insidious Tyranny – STOP TOLERATING IT!

Posted by John R. Houk, Blog Editor

Posted on July 30, 2023

 

I am astonished about the apparent toleration of Tyranny in America. I watch two videos: The first infuriates my astonishment and the second is some commentary from the pseudonymous Charles Martel on Biden Administration corruption.

 

The first video is a re-post of a Bannon War Room interview of Dr. Robert Malone (The Website, Bitchute & Rumble). I’m not sure of the original date but I am aware it was recent. The clip I have is about 24-minutes. There are plenty of topics of insidious tyranny, BUT THE BIGGEST topic of treason is America’s own Intelligence Community cooperating with the CCP and Biden puppeteers against the American People.

 

The next video comes from the Canada Free Press and is essentially Charles Martel narration (almost 11-minutes) of that CFP post. The facts oft denied or obfuscated by Dem-Marxists are actually documented. The video narration makes the post memorable.

 

JRH 7/30/23

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Bitchute VIDEO: DR. ROBERT MALONE: THE CIA WAS BEHIND COVID

Posted by Americans United Against The New World Order -

AmericansUnitedAgainstMarxismAndTheNewWorldOrder

First Published July 30th, 2023 15:39 UTC

 

++++++++++++++++

Dems chose Biden, and the Devil has arrived to collect

 

By Charles Martel [a pseudonym]

July 30, 2023

Canada Free Press

 

Government censorship, Hunter’s laptop, the DOJ, the FBI, Merrick Garland, the corrupt press and sweetheart deals.

 

It is a melange of trapdoors, bouncers and passwords —all hurdles to obfuscate and protect. It is a mountain of disgusting and vile garbage—each and in its own way a specific threat to our well-being.

 

We must get past the distractions and blow away the smoke to see with clarity.

 

Hunter Biden is a cog, a button to be pushed, Joe Biden is the centre and throne of the worst political scandal in American History.

 

Evidence is mounting that he accepted bribes to guide American policy to favor foreign entities, and to enrich himself while selling out his country.

 

Before us now is a legitimate opportunity. Despite best efforts of Media, Big Tech and Dem polls, this damn stain will not wash out!

 

There is more and worse to come and cataclysm awaits the loser. But for the first time in a long time the enemy is having to defend its flanks.

 

Rumble VIDEO: Dems chose Biden, and the Devil has arrived to collect

[Posted by CFPVideo

Published July 30, 2023

 

Dems chose Biden, and the Devil has arrived to collect, Fear has descended, and the Deep State is trembling, What foul stench adheres to Joe?, Charles Martel Bringing down the Hammer for Canada Free Press]

 

Site Copyright 1997-2022 Canada Free Press.Com


Saturday, October 10, 2009

Muslim Invasions: Battle of Tours



Today is October 10, 2009. This is a day which just be celebrated in the West much like Columbus Day honors Christopher Columbus for what was thought to be the first European to discover the Americas.

On this day in the year of our Lord 732 Charles Martel repulsed Umayyad general Abdul Rahman at the battle of Tours (Poitiers) to send blood thirsty Muslims packing from the Frankish Kingdom. The exploit saved Europe from a fate that is slowly occurring today via the birth explosion of Muslim immigrants.

JRH 10/10/09
*************************
Muslim Invasions: Battle of Tours

By Kennedy Hickman
About.com


Conflict:

The Battle of Tours was fought during the Muslim invasions of Western Europe in the 8th century.

Armies & Commanders at the Battle of Tours:

Franks


• Charles Martel

• 20,000-30,000 men

Umayyads

• Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi

• unknown, but perhaps as high as 80,000 men

Date of the Battle of Tours:

Martel's triumph at the Battle of Tours occurred on October 10, 732. [Emphasis from SlantRight]

Battle of Tours Overview:

In the early 700s, after conquering the Iberian Peninsula, Umayyad forces pushed north into modern-day France. Initially meeting little resistance, they were able to gain a foothold and began launching attacks against Aquitaine. At the Battle of Toulouse in 721, Duke Odo was able defeat the Muslim invaders and forced them out of his realm. Returning ten years later, Umayyad forces led by the governor of Al-Andalus, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, crushed Odo at the Battle of the River Garonne. Fleeing north, Odo sought aid from the Franks.

Coming before Charles Martel, the Frankish mayor of the palace, Odo was promised aid only if he promised to submit to the Franks. Agreeing, Martel began raising his army to meet the invaders. In the years previous, having assessed the situation in Iberia and the Umayyad attack on Aquitaine, Charles came to believe that a professional army, rather than raw conscripts, was needed to defend the realm from invasion. To raise the money necessary to build and train an army that could withstand the Muslim horsemen, Charles began seizing Church lands, earning the ire of the religious community.

Moving to intercept Abdul Rahman, Charles used secondary roads to avoid detection and allow him select the battlefield. Marching with approximately 30,000 Frankish troops he assumed a position between the towns of Tours and Poitiers. For the battle, Charles selected a high, wooded plain which would force the Umayyad cavalry to charge uphill through unfavorable terrain. Forming a large square, his men surprised Abdul Rahman, forcing the Umayyad emir to pause for a week to consider his options. This delay benefited Charles as it allowed him to summon more of his veteran infantry to Tours.

On the seventh day, after gathering all of his forces, Abdul Rahman attacked with his Berber and Arab cavalry. In one of the few instances where medieval infantry stood up to cavalry, Charles' troops defeated repeated Umayyad attacks. As the battle waged, the Umayyads finally broke through the Frankish lines and attempted to kill Charles. He was promptly surrounded by his personal guard who repulsed the attack. As this was occurring, scouts that Charles had sent out earlier were infiltrating the Umayyad camp and freeing prisoners.

Believing that the plunder of the campaign was being stolen, a large part of the Umayyad army broke off the battle and raced to protect their camp. While attempting to stop the apparent retreat, Abdul Rahman was surrounded and killed by Frankish troops. Briefly pursued by the Franks, the Umayyad withdrawal turned into a full retreat. Charles reformed his troops expecting another attack, but to his surprise it never came as the Umayyads continued their retreat all the way to Iberia.

Aftermath:

While exact casualties for the Battle of Tours are not known, some chronicles relate that Christian losses numbered around 1,500 while Abdul Rahman suffered approximately 10,000. Since Martel's victory, historians have argued over the battle's significance with some stating that his victory saved Western Christendom while others feel that its repercussions were minimal. Regardless, the Frankish victory at Tours, along with subsequent campaigns in 736 and 739, effectively stopped the advance of Muslim forces from Iberia allowing the further development of the Christian states in Western Europe.

________________________

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