Hattin: Trapping a Victory :: European Europe History

Hattin Trapping a VictoryOn June 26, 1187, the Muslim Sultan Saladin cover the river Jordan with 20,000 of his followers - an soldiers consisting of roughly 12,000 light horsemen and a number of posteriormen to a location south of the Sea of Galilee where he and his men encamped. They had been ravaging the nearby country spatial relation in hopes of provoking a Christian attack, but had been unsuccessful.The Frankish Christians take by King Guy in Jerusalem had also mobilized their accept phalanx and camped at the spring at Saffuriyah . Marshall W. Baldwin says that the Franks too had an army 20,000 strong, but it was different in composition. The Latins, as they are called, were a gymnastic horse of 1,200 heavily armored knights, 3,500 lightly armored, mounted sergeants, several thousand foot soldiers, as well as a large number of autochthonic auxiliaries as mounted bowmen .Between the two great forces (the largest memorable, Christian garner in years) lay an arid terrain t he hot summer sun make travel extremely difficult, especially for large numbers. One could easily transmit fatigue, dehydration, and low morale when venturing to the east of Saffuriyah until reaching the Sea of Galilee. Strategists of each side knew the consequences of traveling across the region and so, the waiting game was played to appear who would be the one to be provoked into a trap finished the valleys. Although Saladin had unified large sections of the Muslim world, his army was tranquil not a standing one. The crusaders counted on the fact that Saladin would have trouble holding his army together for a long period of time because his soldiers were not regular warriors. Many were also tradesmen or farmers that easily disbanded when there was no activeness to get back home .Saladin knew his situation and continually harassed the electron orbit of Tiberias in failed attempts to provoke the Christians into leaving Saffuriyah, until he decided on July, 2 to besiege the cit y itself. He moved the majority of his troops to the in high spirits ground west of Tiberias. From this location, the Muslims could block entrance to the city while still accessing water supplies from the Sea of Galilee through the eastern side of the ridge. Tiberias was poorly alter and Saladins well - supplied forces had no trouble entering its walls. Residents of the city took refuge in the citadel, including the wife of Count Raymond of Tripoli who urgently sent west for help.