Hattin: Great Battles Series

On July 4, 1187 the legendary Muslim leader Saladin destroyed the Crusader army of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem with a terrible slaughter at the battle of Hattin - and subsequently restored the Holy City of Jerusalem to Islamic rule.

The carnage at Hattin was the culmination of almost a century of religious wars between Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land. It had enormous consequences for the whole medieval world because it produced an intensification of holy war between Islam and Europe for over another century and, in retrospect, marked the beginning of the end for the Crusader presence in the Middle East.

In the 20th century, memory of the battle was revived as a symbol of Arab hope for liberation from Crusader Imperialism and in the 21st, it has become a rallying cry for radical Muslim fundamentalists in their struggle for the soul of Islam.

In this new volume in the Great Battles series, John France analyzes the origins and course of this pivotal battle, illuminating the roots of the bitter hatred that underlay it and explains its significance in world history - from medieval times to the present.

• The Siege of Acre, 1189-1191: Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, and the Battle That Decided the Third Crusade
• Medieval Military Technology, Second Edition
• The Field of Blood: The Battle for Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East
• Rome's Gothic Wars: From The Third Century To Alaric (Key Conflicts of Classical Antiquity)
• The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (The Revolution Trilogy)
• Valley of the Shadow: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu
• The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
• The Battle of Arnhem: The Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II
• Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila
• The Crusader Armies: 1099–1187