(29 Reviews)
TOURS, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT BATTLE IN HISTORY
This is not a history book — it aims to be far more significant than that, according to the author.
Tours, the largest city in the Centre region of France, is the site of what the author describes as one of the most decisive battles in human history. In 732, Charles “the Hammer” Martel halted an invading army said to number sixty thousand. According to the narrative, Martel annihilated the opposing force, leaving their remains as a warning to future invaders.
Since the birth of the prophet Mohammed in 471 AD, the author describes the spread of Islam across the Middle East and into southern Europe as a violent campaign of conquest. He characterizes the expansion as a process of subjugation, forced conversions, and destruction of local populations.
The story follows Charles Martel and explains how he came to be the key figure defending Western Europe on that pivotal day at Tours. The book argues that without Martel’s victory, Christianity and Western civilization would likely have been destroyed, with Europe and possibly the New World dominated by Islamic rule.
The narrative asserts that under such domination, scientific, cultural, and technological advancement would have been severely limited, leaving humanity in a stagnant state under oppressive religious authority.
The book notes that centuries later, during the Ottoman Empire, Europe again faced threats from Islamic expansion. According to the author, Martel’s triumph at Tours was essential in preventing earlier conquest and preserving Western civilization. Historian Edward Gibbon famously called Martel “the paramount prince of his age,” a sentiment echoed within the book.
The work portrays the Battle of Tours as if unfolding in the present day — recreating troop movements, supply challenges, and the thoughts and motivations of the leaders and soldiers on both sides. It depicts the opposing forces as driven by conflicting religious and cultural imperatives.
The author contends that Tours was the first major Western Christian victory against Muslim forces and laid the groundwork for future conflicts, including the Crusades. These earlier confrontations, the book suggests, contribute to the tensions and hostilities seen in modern-era jihadist movements.
Because source material from the era is limited, the book acknowledges using poetic license to reconstruct likely scenarios and internal perspectives of participants in the historic clash.
John C. Scott lives in London, England, with his wife and two grown sons. Born in Canada, he is the author of several historical narratives and previously worked as a professor of medieval history. Mr. Scott attended Cambridge University.
“Tours describes a battle that for whatever reason was left out of western history. All humanity owes Charles Martel everything. Had he lost, we would all likely be sticking our ass in the air five times a day.”
— Marshal Ebbits, Major General, retired
“The Arabs are sick from centuries of incest. Their blood is diseased and there's no way to undo the genetic damage. I'm a doctor of internal medicine but have studied enough about the human genome to know that these people are truly sick and beyond help.”
— Dr. Siegfried Marlowe, London, UK
(Note: This is the reviewer’s statement, not a factual or scientific claim.)
“Sir, Tours is an important and astounding book. Congratulations. I thought myself fairly knowledgeable about our history, but was taken completely by surprise when reading of the battle. How something so terribly important could have been left from our educations is beyond me. Tours provides the historical context without which we ‘infidels’ have little chance of understanding the terrible danger we all face from Islam.”
— Perceval Watkins, Sydney, Australia