Battle of Walaja - Part of the Muslim Conquest of Persian Iraq

The Battle of Walaja was one of the initial campaigns of the Rashidun Caliphate against the Persian Sassanid Empire. In the same year 633, the Muslim army under Khalid ibn Walid had already defeated the Persians in two major battles (Battle of Chain and Battle of River).

The purpose of these initial engagements was to capture the important city of Hira in modern-day Iraq. The victory in the Battle of Walaja played a major role in fulfilling this aim as Muslims defeated a strong and numerical superior (two times higher) force in this important battle.

The Battle of Walaja was part of a campaign to capture Hira, an ancient city south of Kufa

Preparation by Persians

The defeats in the first two battles against Muslims forced Sasanian Emperor Yazdegerd III to take this campaign seriously. He ordered all his troops in garrisoned areas to amass against the invading Muslim army. Troops from different parts of the empire gathered to form two armies. Persians decided to join these armies at Walaja and crush the Muslim force of around 20,000 with their massive force in a single battle.

The first army reached Walaja earlier under the command of Andarzaghar, governor of Khurasan. He was joined by thousands of remnants of the first two battles and also other Arab volunteers. The second army, under the command of experienced general Bahman, was due to join the first army in a few days.

Khalid’s Strategy

But Khalid got the clue of their plan thanks to his spies. Khalid had two things to achieve to make this battle a decisive one. The first was to stop the joining of the two armies. The second was to annihilate the first army so that the second army could not get additional soldiers from the remnants of this battle as had happened previously.

Khalid took two important steps to achieve both of these goals. He initially reached Walaja quickly and started preparing the battle to engage the Persian first army before the arrival of the 2^nd army. To achieve the second goal, he devised a plan to encircle the large Persian army and implemented it successfully.

The two armies encamped between two ridges. Though Persians had a far higher number of troops than Muslims (around 30,000 as compared to 15,000 Muslims), their cavalry was heavy and relatively smaller. Khalid took advantage of his strong and mobile cavalry to accomplish his second plan of encircling Persians. The night before the battle, he secretly placed part of his cavalry behind the western ridge where the Persian army was stationed. They were instructed not to move ahead until given orders.

Battle

At the start of the battle, both opposing armies divided their troops into a center and two flanks, and cavalry backed the flanks. In the first phase of the engagement, the Persians let Muslims charge. They easily defended their positions thanks to their numerical superiority. Their strategy was to wear down Muslims which happened accordingly.

At this moment, the Persian counterattack began. Khalid ordered his center to retreat orderly to lure the Persian army to intensify their attack. This worked and the Persian army penetrated deep into the center of the Muslim army which allowed them to surround the Persian troops from three sides.

At this moment, Khalid ordered his cavalrymen behind the western ridge to attack the Persians from the rear. Now the Persian army was completely encircled. The complete encirclement and arrival of fresh troops created panic among Persians and they tried to flee. But only a few thousand soldiers along with their commander could manage to retreat. Most of the army was destroyed thanks to the effective strategy of Khalid.

Reasons for Muslim Victory in the Battle of Walaja

1. Khalid got information about the Persian plan to annihilate the Muslim army by heavily outnumbering them. He took steps to engage with the first arriving army and almost destroyed them in the battle before the arrival of the second army.
2. Despite having a large number of troops, the Persians had a smaller and heavy cavalry. Khalid used his mobile and relatively larger cavalry to encircle them in the later stage of the battle.
3. Persians fell into Khalid’s trap by assuming that Muslims were retreating after their strong counteroffensive. They penetrated deeper and were easily encircled by Muslim forces.
4. At the start of the battle, Khalid killed a famous champion (known as Hazar Mard or “a thousand men” due to his size and power) of the enemy in a duel. This proved to be a psychological blow to the enemy’s ranks.

Consequences

The outcome of this battle was very favorable for Muslims. Compared to previous battles, the Muslim army assassinated most of the Persian troops. This prevented the Persian army from getting a boost in the next engagement through remnants from the previous battle.

This battle also failed their ambitions to deal with Muslims in a single combat with a huge army as Khalid started the battle according to the timing of his choice. All these measures made it easier for Muslims to defeat the Persians in the next Battle of Ullais, which proved to be the decisive battle to capture Hira.