Simon Mayall, "The House of War: The Struggle Between Christendom and the Caliphate" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

May 3, 2025

Simon Mayall, a former British Army soldier and international relations scholar, dives into the historic military clashes between Christendom and the Caliphate. He examines pivotal moments like the capture of Jerusalem in 636 AD and the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Mayall discusses how these historical narratives continue to shape modern geopolitical tensions and the necessity of understanding them for informed dialogue today. The conversation highlights the impact of these conflicts on both the Middle East and Europe, emphasizing their relevance in international relations.

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ANECDOTE

Mayall's Military and Family Insight

Simon Mayall's 40 years as a British Army officer focused heavily on the Middle East and its history.
His family and professional experiences inspired his deep understanding of the region's conflicts.

INSIGHT

Complex Religious Alliances

The Muslim-Christian conflicts were complicated by internal religious divisions like Sunni-Shia and Catholic-Protestant splits.
Alliances sometimes crossed religious lines, making historical conflicts less binary than often perceived.

INSIGHT

Timeless Military Lessons

Enduring military principles like leadership, logistics, and morale remain relevant from ancient battles to modern warfare.
Ottoman centralized logistics and artillery reshaped European political and military organization over time.

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A powerful new history detailing the most significant military clashes between Islam and Christendom over the 1,300 years of the Muslim caliphate.

From the taking of the holy city of Jerusalem in the 7th century AD by Caliph Umar, to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I, Christian popes, emperors and kings, and Muslim caliphs and sultans were locked in a 1300-year battle for political, military, ideological, economic and religious supremacy. In this powerful new history of the era, acknowledged expert on the history of the Middle East and the Crusades Simon Mayall focuses on some of the most significant clashes of arms in human history: the taking and retaking of Jerusalem and the collapse of the Crusader states; the fall of Constantinople; the sieges of Rhodes and Malta; the assault on Vienna and the 'high-water mark' of Ottoman advance into Europe; culminating in the Allied capture of Jerusalem in World War I, the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the dissolution of the sultanate and the caliphate, and the formation of modern Europe and the modern Middle East.

The House of War: The Struggle Between Christendom and the Caliphate (Bloomsbury, 2024) offers a wide, sweeping narrative, encompassing the broad historical and religious context of this period, while focussing on some of the key, pivotal sieges and battles, and on the protagonists, political and military, who determined their conclusions and their consequences.

Simon Mayall is a former soldier in the British Army, and an acknowledged expert on the history of the Middle East, and of the Crusades. Much of his 40-year professional career was focussed on the Middle East, and he has strong family and academic interests in the region. His last appointments were as the British Government's Defence Senior Adviser for the Middle East, and the Prime Minister's Security Envoy to Iraq and the Kurdish Region.

Caleb Zakarin is editor at the New Books Network.

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