The Battle of Balanjar was a battle that took place during the First Khazar-Arab War between the armies of the Khazar Khaganate and the Caliphate, whose commanding general was Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah.
Ibn Rabiah, probably the brother of Salman ibn Rabiah, governor of Armenia, was charged with the task of conquering the Khazars and, to this purpose, invaded the northern Caucasus for in the late 640s CE. In 652 (or according to some sources, 642) Abd ar-Rahman and his army met a Khazar force outside Balanjar and were annihilated. According to Arab historians such as al-Tabari, both sides in the battle used catapaults against the other.
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“Napoleon said of Massena, that he was not himself until the battle began to go against him; then, when the dead began to fall in ranks around him, awoke his powers of combination, and he put on terror and victory as a robe.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)