641 – 642 · Egypt Theater
641 – 642
The general Amr ibn al-As invaded Egypt with a small army, defeated the Byzantines at Heliopolis, and after a long siege took the great fortress-port of Alexandria, one of the largest cities in the world. Egyptian society was divided by theology and imperial policy, but Coptic attitudes were varied and the older claim that the population simply welcomed the conquerors is too sweeping.
Commanders