Siege of Constantinople (674)

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First Arab Siege of Constantinople

The Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, which proved impregnable during the siege

Date	674-678
Location	Constantinople
Result	Byzantine victory

Combatants

Roman (Byzantine) Empire

Umayyad Caliphate

Commanders

Constantine IV

Muawiyah I

Strength

Far fewer

estimates at 200,000 with Egyptian reinforcements

Casualties

Unknown

150,000

Byzantine-Arab Wars
Mutah – Tabouk – Dathin – Firaz - Qarteen – Bosra – Ajnadayn – Marj-al-Rahit – Fahl - Yarmouk – Hazir – Aleppo – Iron Bridge - Nikiou – 1st Constantinople – Syllaeum – That Al-Sawari – Carthage – 2nd Constantinople – Akroinon

The First Arab Siege of Constantinople in 674 was a major conflict of the Byzantine-Arab Wars, and was one of the numerous times Constantinople's defences were tested. It was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Umayyad Caliphate. Muawiyah I, who had emerged as the ruling dynasty of the Arab empire following the civil war, besieged Constantinople under Constantine IV. In this battle, the Umayyads, unable to breach the Theodosian Walls, blockaded the city along the River Bosporus. The approach of winter forced the besiegers to withraw to an island 80 miles away.

Just prior to the siege, a Syrian Christian refugee named Kallinikos (Callinicus) of Heliopolis had invented for the Byzantine Empire a devastating new weapon that came to be known as "Greek fire". At the Battle of Syllaeum in 677, the Byzantine navy utilized it to decisively defeat the Umayyad navy in the Sea of Marmara, lifting the siege in 678. This victory halted the Umayyad expansion towards Europe for almost thirty years, although the Arabs would not be decisively defeated until the Second Arab siege of Constantinople.

The defeat can be attributed to two factors: the unbroken defences of the city, and the devastating winter. The naval victory that the Byzantines won ensured that the city could be resupplied by sea. Meanwhile, the Arab forces were beset with starvation in winter.