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The Field of Blood: The Battle for Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East

Nicholas Morton

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In 1119, the people of the Near East came together in an epic clash of horses, swords, sand, and blood that would decide the fate of the city of the Aleppo-and the eastern Crusader states. Fought between tribal Turkish warriors on steppe ponies, Arab foot soldiers, Armenian bowmen, and European knights, the battlefield was the amphitheatre into which the people of Eurasia poured their full gladiatorial might. Carrying a piece of the true cross before them, the Frankish army advanced, anticipating a victory that would secure their dominance over the entire region. But the famed Frankish cavalry charge failed them, and the well-arranged battlefield dissolved into a melee. Surrounded by enemy forces, the crusaders suffered a colossal defeat. With their advance in Northern Syria stalled, the momentum of the crusader conquest began to evaporate, and would never be recovered.

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Nicholas Morton

Nicholas Morton

Nicholas Morton is an associate professor at Nottingham Trent University specialising in the history of the Medieval Middle East, writing extensively on topics including the Crusades, the Mongol Empire and the Seljuk Turks. An award-winning author, his books include The Mongol Storm, which the Sunday Times described as 'a reminder that the best history writing is eminently readable', and the highly anticipated The Crusader Storm: A Global History of the Wars for the Middle East, which will be published in June 2026.

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