| Battle of Walaja | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Islamic conquest of Persia Campaigns of Khalid ibn al-Walid | |||||||
 Map showing the region in Iraq where Battle of Walaja was fought. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Rashidun Caliphate |
Sassanid Persian Empire, Christian Arab allies | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Khalid ibn al-Walid | Andarzaghar† | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 15,000[1] | 25,000-30,000[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| ~2000+ [1] | 20,000 [1][2] | ||||||
The Battle of Walaja was a battle fought in Mesopotamia (Iraq) in May 633 between the Rashidun Caliphate army under Khalid ibn al-Walid and the Persian Empire and its Arab allies. In this battle the Persian army is said to be at least three times the size of the Muslim army.[2]
Khalid decisively defeated the numerically superior Persian forces using a variation of the double envelopment tactical manoeuvre, similar to the manoeuvre Hannibal used to defeat the Roman forces at the Battle of Cannae; however, Khalid is said to have developed his version independently.[1]
- ^ a b c d e A. I. Akram (1970). The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed, His Life and Campaigns. National Publishing House, Rawalpindi. ISBN 0-7101-0104-X.
- ^ a b Campaigns in Eastern Iraq, "Khalifa Abu Bakr", Companion of the Prophet. Virtual library of Witness-Pioneer.