History
Oman has a military history which dates back to the 7th century. At the time, the forces of the Azd tribe were powerful enough to help the prophet Mohammed's companion Abu Bakr the War of al Mortadeen. It is said that even before that, the Azd tribe, led by Malek bin Faham, were able to defeat a Persian force which controlled Oman at that time.
The second known Omani army force was raised during the Yarubid dynasty, who forced the Portuguese out of the country in 1650. During the rule of the Yarubi dynasty, fortified buildings covered the country from the north of Musandam to the south of Dhofar, making Oman a great power in the Persian Gulf.
During the later al Busaidi dynasty, (mainly during the time of Said bin Sultan), Oman was a substantial empire with a very powerful military force, making Oman one of the greatest forces in the Indian Ocean, second only to the United Kingdom. After Said bin Sultan's death, political conflicts in Oman forced Oman to close in upon itself, and to transform from a powerful empire to a relatively poor country.
Read more about this topic: Sultan Of Oman's Armed Forces
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armour, the apostles of the martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when the time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)