Hassan ibn al-Nu'man

Hassan was appointed by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik to lead the Arab reconquest of Ifriqiya (modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa.[1] The chronology of Hassan's campaign and those of his immediate predecessors is uncertain as a result of the different dates provided by the medieval sources.[2] The historian Mohamed Talbi asserts that the accounts of the two earliest sources, Ibn Abd al-Hakam (d. 871) and Ibn Qutayba (d. 889), confirmed by Ibn Asakir (d. 1175), are the "most probable ... agrees with the logical sequence of events and makes it possible to avoid inconsistencies".[2] Prior to Hassan's appointment, Ifriqiya had fallen to the Berbers under Kasila and the Byzantines at the Battle of Vescera in 682. An initially successful attempt by Zuhayr ibn Qays al-Balawi to reconquer the region ultimately ended with Zuhayr's slaying and the Byzantines' capture of Barce in Cyrenaica in c. 688.[1] Abd al-Malik, having consolidated his control over the Caliphate in the Second Muslim Civil War and resumed hostilities with Byzantium in 692,[2] had troops to spare and equipped Hassan with 40,000 men. The deployment of an Arab force of this size to North Africa was unprecedented.[3]

Marching along the North African coast,[3] Hassan likely entered Ifriqiya in 692/93, 693/94,[2] or 695.[4] He first captured and plundered the port city of Carthage, the Byzantines' fortified capital in the province.[2] Carthage had retained its Byzantine garrison and population through the first Muslim conquest of Ifriqiya in 670, but had long lost its former power and prosperity by the time Hassan entered the city.[3] Nonetheless, it was still deemed a threat by the Arab general, as demonstrated by its fleet's attack on Cyrenaica in 688.[3] The city was apparently deserted before the Arabs' entry,[3] its inhabitants having fled to Sicily,[2] and there is neither an account of a siege or serious resistance nor any details about the captured spoils.[3] Hassan continued northward and defeated the Byzantines and the Berbers at Bizerte.[2] Afterward, the Byzantines withdrew and reinforced their position in Vaga (modern Béja), while the Berbers fled eastward to Bône (modern Annaba).[2]

In 697, the Byzantine emperor Leontios (r. 695–698) dispatched a strong fleet, which retook Carthage,[2] which resulted in the city's Arab forces fleeing to Kairouan, which had been established by the Arabs in 670 as their capital in Ifriqiya. In 698, Hassan forces recaptured Carthage, which was destroyed, its walls torn down, its water supply cut off, and its harbors made unusable. Afterwards, Hassan moved against the Berbers led by their warrior queen, al-Kahina.[2] Though information about her is difficult to disentangle from legend, it is apparent that she ruled the Aurès, a rugged massif a few days' distance from Arab possessions in Ifriqiya and strategically located between Ifriqiya and the western half of North Africa (the Maghreb, i.e. modern-day Algeria and Morocco).[5] According to the 13th-century historian Ibn Idhari, who provides the fullest known account of al-Kahina, Hassan, upon entering Kairouan, inquired about the strongest king left in Ifriqiya and was informed that al-Kahina commanded the loyalty of the Berber tribes and if she should be eliminated, the Maghreb would fall to Hassan.[6] Skipping over the Byzantine fortress of Baghaya (al-Majjana),[2] which al-Kahina had preemptively captured and destroyed to prevent its utilization by the Arabs,[6] Hassan met the Berbers at the Battle of Meskiana.[2] There, he was dealt a heavy blow by al-Kahina, forcing him to retreat first to the vicinity of Gabes before evacuating Ifriqiya altogether.[2] Many of his troops were killed or captured by the Berbers as they fled.[6] He stopped at an area containing several forts, later collectively called "Qusur Hassan" after him, about four-days march to the east of Tripoli.[2][6]

Hassan requested reinforcements from Abd al-Malik and informed him of the Berbers' indefatigability and seeming anarchism.[6] He was ordered by the caliph to hold his position,[6] and Hassan remained in Tripolitania for about three[2] to five year. Meanwhile, al-Kahina, according to Ibn Idhari, engaged in a massive scorched earth campaign against the cities and orchards of the Maghreb "from Tripoli to Tangier", leading to a mass flight of the affected areas' inhabitants to the Iberian Peninsula and various Mediterranean islands.[7] By attacking the Maghreb's civilized wealth, i.e. potential war booty for the Arabs, her aim was to disinterest the Arabs from future invasions of the region, while not disturbing the Berbers' agricultural and pastoral livelihood.[6] Though Ibn Idhari's account reduces the centuries-long process of the Maghreb's "environmental and urban degradation" to the span of a few years, the historian Hugh N. Kennedy points out that it nonetheless offers a clue about the region's urban and agricultural decline in the 6th–7th centuries, but here the Arabs are portrayed as the "preservers of urban life and civilization", not its "destroyers" as they are often depicted in modern sources.[8]

Hassan ultimately received more troops from the caliph and gained the defections of some 12,000 Berbers disillusioned by al-Kahina's policies.[2][8] With this new army, he recommenced his campaign most likely by 701, 702 or 703, scoring a victory against al-Kahina at Gabes, before pursuing her into the Aures, where he defeated and killed her near the modern-day town of Tobna.[8] There is scant information about the battle except that al-Kahina portended her defeat and sent away her sons to be protected by the Arab troops.[8] Hassan then turned his attention to Byzantine-held Carthage; upon his approach, the city was abandoned and he ordered its destruction in 698 to prevent future reuse by the Byzantine navy.[2][9]