772 · Saxony (northern Germany) Theater
772
Charlemagne opened his longest war by invading pagan Saxony, storming the fortress of Eresburg and destroying the Irminsul — a great sacred pillar or tree-trunk at the heart of Saxon religion. It was the first blow in a struggle to conquer and forcibly Christianise the fiercely independent Saxon tribes that would drag on for more than thirty years.
Commanders