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711| 711 | Byzantine Empire [wars] | The Byzantine emperor Justinian II's ruthless pursuit of his political opponents causes discontent and fear. When he sends an expedition to punish the people of Cherson who ill-treated him while in exile in the Crimea, the army and navy rebel. Bardanes, an Armenian general, is proclaimed emperor (under the name Philipicus). He sails to Constantinople and captures and executes Justinian and his family. | | 7 July 711 | Spain, Arab Caliphate [wars] | At the invitation of the rebel governor of Ceuta, the Arabs and their Moorish allies invade the Visigoth kingdom of Spain. Led by the Moorish chief Tariq, the Muslim army lands at Gibraltar (Jebel el-Tariq, ‘the mountain of Tariq’). At the battles of Guadelete and Ecija the smaller Arab army decisively defeats Roderick, the last Visigoth king of Spain, and before the end of the year the Visigoth capital of Toledo falls without resistance. Except for the mountainous northwest, all of Spain comes under Muslim control within two years. |
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