Siege of Algeciras (1369) | |||||||
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Part of the Reconquista | |||||||
Bridge of access to Al-Yazirat Al-Hadra | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Emirate of Granada | Kingdom of Castile | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Muhammad V | Henry II | ||||||
The siege of Algeciras (1369) was undertaken during the period of the Reconquest of Spain by Muhammad V, the Emir of Granada to reclaim the city of Al-Hadra Al-Yazirat, called Algeciras by the Christians, in the Kingdom of Castile. The siege lasted just three days, and the sultan was victorious. The Muslims thus regained a major city which had been in Castilian hands since Alfonso XI of Castile took it from the Moroccans after the long 1342–1344 siege. Ten years after the capture of the city, in 1379 the sultan of Granada decided to completely destroy the city to prevent it falling into Christian hands. It was impossible to defend the place at a time when the Muslim kings of the Iberian Peninsula had lost much of military power they enjoyed in earlier centuries.