Practice question · Multiple choice
Egypt and much of Syria rejected the Chalcedonian formula and were governed for two centuries by an empire that enforced it. How does that bear on the Arab conquests of the 630s?
Hints
- Consider what two centuries of being on the losing side of a doctrinal dispute does to loyalty.
- The question is not whether the provinces welcomed conquest, but whether they had reason to defend the status quo hard.
Show the answer
A. Centuries of religious coercion from Constantinople weakened local loyalty to imperial rule
Why
The point is a weak claim, not a strong one: alienation is not enthusiasm, and there is no evidence of mass welcome. But a province whose majority church has been harassed for two centuries has less reason to bleed for the emperor, and the new rulers taxed non-Muslims while leaving their church hierarchies in place.
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