Third Great Jihad

The Third Great Jihad was a large scale invasion of eastern Christendom by the Abbasid Caliphate. It was the third attempt to invade Christendom by the Muslims (and the second by the Abbasids).

The Abbasids declared the Jihad and marched into Assyria on the 19th of June, prompting Romania to come to Assyria's aid, and forcing both Romania and Assyria to peace out of the ongoing Dragon War. On the 20th of June, the Abbasids invaded Jersualem, and on the 21st of June they also invaded Egypt, bringing both countries into the war.

Initially the Abbasids were incredibly successful, overrunning Jerusalem by the 26th, Assyria by the 30th, were laying siege to Alexandria by the 1st of July and Constantinople by the 4th. However, on the 5th of July, the Romans and remaining Assyrians at Constantinople (alongside many volunteers from across Europe), after withstanding a powerful Abbasid assault, made an extremely effective counter-attack, completely routing the Muslim forces and sending them retreating. The Abbasids had to divert forces from Egypt to react to this, allowing the Egyptian and remaining Hebrew forces to break the siege of Alexandria and reclaim Cairo by the 10th of July. Jerusalem was retaken on the 19th and Antioch on the 23rd, and after Nineveh was retaken on the 25th and the Abbasid army was utterly shattered, Caliph Jaspar Abbasid agreed to an armistice and sued for peace.

Pre-war borders were restored and the Abbasids were forced to pay heavy reparations to all the countries they had invaded, and they were also forced to sign a permanent non-aggression pact and give greater freedom to the Christian and Zoroastrian minorities in their borders.

The war was notable for its extreme speed, with the Muslim advance, Christian counter-attack and subsequent Muslim collapse happening very rapidly, with previously unheard of movement speeds across hundreds of miles on both sides.