Razzia (military): Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Rapid incursionattack into enemy territory in order to attack}}

The word is from French ''Ghazwrazzia'' 'incursion', and from Algerian Arabic ''ġaziya'' (غزية),'' "algara"'' or 'raid'. ''ghazahGhazwah'' (plural ''ghazawa-tghazawat'') ([[Arabic]]: غزوغزوة) is an originally Arabic term meaning "[[battle]]invasion", generally used in the context of a battle for the cause of [[Allah]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Zahid |first=Ishaq |title=GLOSSARY OF ISLAMIC TERMS |url=http://www.islam101.com/selections/glossaryGH.html |url-status=live |access-date=20 November 2008}}</ref> It comes from the triconsonantal root ''g.z.w.'' ("to attack"). It has the same connotation as the words ''ghaziya'' and ''maghazi'', which in pre-Islamic times referred to raids organized by [[Nomad|nomadicnomad]]ic [[Bedouin]] warriors for the purpose of plundering rival tribes or sedentary, wealthier neighbors.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Lynch |first=George |title=List of languages: Ghazw |url=https://essaywriter.org/language-essay-topics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209042750/http://www.aboutlanguageschools.com/language/list/list_g.asp |archive-date=9 December 2008 |access-date=20 November 2008}}</ref> The plural ''ghazawat'' is used in some [[Islam|Islamic]]ic countries as a synonym for "judgment".<ref name=":2" />

* The word ''ghazwa'' was originally applied to those battles in which [[Muhammad]] personally participated.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |lastlast1=Aboul-Enein |firstfirst1=H. Yousuf |title=Islamic Rulings on Warfare |last2=Zuhur |first2=Sherifa |year=2004 |publisher=Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, Diane Publishing Co., Darby PA |isbn=1-4289-1039-5 |pages=6}}</ref> Over time it has evolved to be associated with battles related to the expansion of [[Islam]]. The term ''ghazi'' or ''"Warrior of the Faith"'' was used to identify participants in such battles<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> and is synonymous with the roots ''ghāziya'' and ''maghāzī''.

* In [[Western Europe|Western European]]an [[literature]] it is known by the name ''razzia'', derived from the [[French language|French]] word ''razzier'' (''rezzou''), which entered the French vocabulary after the [[French Algeria|colonization of Algeria]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bustamante Costa |first=Joaquin |title=Algunos aspectos de las interferencias léxicas árabes en las lenguas de Europa. Inside of: Estudios de la Universidad de Cádiz ofrecidos a la memoria del profesor Braulio Justel Calabozo. |collaboration=Martín Castellanos, Javier et al. |publisher=Universidad de Cádiz |year=1998 |location=Cádiz |pages=16 |language=Spanish}}</ref> and which is no more than a [[transliteration]] of the colloquial Arabic word ''ghazya''.<ref name=":2" />

* ''[[akinji]]'': "raider,", a late synonym of ''ghāzī''.

* ''[[Al-Awasim|al-'Awāsim]]:'' the [[Syria|Syrian]]n-[[Anatolia|Anatolian]]n border area between the [[Byzantine Empire]] and its successive opponents.

[[File:Map Almanzor campaigns-es.svg|thumb|451x451pxupright=1.8|Military campaigns of [[Almanzor]]. In dark green, territories reconquered for Al-Andalus. The map shows the different aceifas of Almanzor and the dates on which they were carried out.]]

Internal strife in the [[Emirate of Córdoba|emirate of Cordoba]] interrupted the raids, at least intensively, until the accession to the throne of [[Abd al-Rahman II|Abderraman II]]. After putting an end to his uncle [[Abd Allah (name)|Abdallah's]] pretensions to the throne and putting down a revolt in Murcia, he organized annual aceifas against the Christians (at their most intense, up to three were organized in the same year). Most were directed against [[Álava|Alava]] and, especially, [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], which was the most vulnerable region of the [[Kingdom of Asturias]]. Despite this, there was no lack of attacks against Ausona ([[Vic, Spain|VichVic]]h), [[Barcelona]], [[Girona]] and even [[Narbonne]] in the expeditions of the years [[828]], [[840]] and [[850]].

In the Malikí law there was a precept on how the holy war was to be carried out:{{Quote frame|The holy war must be carried out every year, with a sufficient military force, towards the most exposed side. It is a duty of solidarity (some contributing with their persons, others with their goods) that is imposed on every free, pubescent and valid man, even under the direction of an iniquitous leader.<ref>{{Cite bookjournal |last=Maíllo Salgado |first=Felipe |title=La Guerra Santa según el derecho Malikí. Su preceptiva. Su influencia en el derecho de las comunidades cristianas del medioevo hispano. "Studia Histórica, Historia Medieval" |journal=Studia Historica Historia Medieval &#91;Elektronische Ressource] |publisher=Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca |year=1983 |volume=I |location=Salamanca |pages=32 |language=Spanish |issn=0213-2060 |issue=2|ref=maillo}}</ref>|Fueros of the ''Cuenca-Teruel family''}}

At his death, after the [[battle of Calatañazor]] ([[1002]]), Almanzor left a terrible legacy: up to 52 victorious military campaigns to the Christian kingdoms,<ref>'Acerca de las campañas militares de Almanzor', ''Miscelánea de Estudios Árabes y Hebraicos'' (in Spanish). XIX-XV. I (1965-1966), p. 7-29. "New light on the military campaigns of Almanzor". ''Islamic Quarterly''. XIV (1970), Pp. 126-142.</ref> of which the best known are the aceifas organized to [[Barcelona]] ([[985]]) and [[Santiago de Compostela]] ([[997]]), where according to legend he made Christian slaves carry the bells of the [[Santiago de Compostela Cathedral|cathedral]] to [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoba]]. But a large number of Christian monasteries such as [[Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla|San Millán de Suso]], Portuguese cities, or the capitals of the Christian kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Navarre|Pamplona]] and [[Kingdom of León|León]], which he sacked up to four times, were not spared either.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castellanos Gomez |first=J. |title=Geoestrategia en la España musulmana: las Campañas Militares de Almanzor |year=2003 |publisher=Centro de Publicaciones del Ministerio de Defensa de España |isbn=978-84-7823-967-2 |language=Spanish}}</ref>

The ''ghāzī'' warrior dates back to at least the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian period]], when he appears as a [[mercenary]] and frontier fighter in [[Khorasan province|Khorasan]] and [[Transoxiana]]. Subsequently, as many as 20,000 ''ghazi'' took part in the [[India|Indian]]n campaigns of [[Mahmud of Ghazni|Mahmud of Gazni]].

[[File:Mamluk.jpg|left|thumb|353x353px|[[Mamluk]] warrior]]

The ''ghāzī'' way of life was based on plunder, so in times of peace they engaged in [[banditry]] and [[sedition]]. They were organized into guilds that attracted adventurers, [[zealots]], and political and religious dissidents of all ethnicities. Soldiers of [[Iranian peoples|Turkish]] descent predominated, especially after the acquisition of [[Mamluk|Mamluks]]s, [[Turkey|Turkish]] [[Slavery|slaves]], and guard corps of the caliphs and [[Emir|amirs]] for the ''ghāzī'' ranks. Some of them would climb to control positions of military and eventually political power in various Muslim states.

In the west, Turkish ''ghāzīs'' regularly raided along the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[Al-Awasim|frontier]], finding in the [[Greece|Greek]] and [[Armenia|Armenian]]n ''[[Akritai|akritoi]]'' their nemesis. After the [[battle of Manzikert]], these raids intensified, while the ''ghāzī'' guilds grouped together to form fraternities similar to Christian [[Military order (religious society)|military orders]]. They adopted as their emblems the white cap and the club. The rise of the ''ghāzī'' organizations occurred during the [[Mongol Empire|Mongol]] conquest, as a result of which many fled to [[Anatolia]] from [[Iran|Persia]] and [[Turkestan]].

[[File:Mamluke.jpg|thumb|343x343px|Mamluk soldier on horseback ([[1810]])]]

{{Quote frame|Are exempted from making the holy war the sick, impuberal, insane, blind and lame, women, individuals without sufficient resources required by the needs of war (weapons, mounts, supplies, etc.), slaves, debtors and, finally, those to whom the father and mother (or one of them) refuse permission to go; but the prohibition of a grandfather is not sufficient to prevent the departure. The paternal refusal prevents, likewise, a maritime or dangerous voyage (for commercial purposes), and when the prohibition emanates from an infidel father it must be respected as if it came from a faithful, if it is other than holy war.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvard citation text|Maíllo Salgado|1983|p=32}}</ref>}}

{{Quote frame|The infidels will be invited to embrace Islam, but if after three days the infidels do not accept it, they will be ordered to pay the legal capitulation (yizya); in case they refuse, then they are to be fought and may be annihilated, except women (unless they have participated in the fight against the Muslims), children, the mentally weak, the old, the physically handicapped, the blind and monks who live retired in convents or hermitages. All those whom the law orders to be pardoned shall be left, from what they possess, what is necessary for subsistence.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvard citation text|Maíllo Salgado|1983|p=32}}</ref>}}The only way to avoid the offensives of the ''ghāzīs'' was to submit to the Islamic state. In that case, non-Muslims enjoyed the status of ''dhimmi-s'', living under its protection. Many Christian sources confuse these two phases in the Ottoman conquests. Faced with the terrible threat of the ''ghāzīs'', the population in the [[Divisions of the world in Islam#Dar al-harb|confines]] of the [[Byzantine Empire|Empire]] often renounced the ineffective protection of the Christian states, seeking refuge by defection to the [[Ottoman Empire]]. In this way, [[Peasant|peasantspeasant]]s living in the open countryside gained far more than they lost.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cambridge |title=Historia del Islam |pages=285 |language=Spanish}}</ref>

{{Quote frame|In the country of infidels the imam can apply the penalties determined by the law (hadd) 33. One can destroy the dwellings, cut and burn the palms (trees), if that causes harm to the infidels or there is no hope of remaining as owner. Destruction, according to Ibn Rusd, is then recommended, as it is recommended to abstain if the hope of remaining exists.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvard citation text|Maíllo Salgado|1983|p=32}}</ref>}}

One of the main sources that tell us about the development of a traditional razzia are the medieval Islamic [[Jurist|juristsjurist]]s, whose discussions of what was and was not permitted in such actions in the course of war reveal some of the practices of this institution. One of the most important is the [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] [[Averroes]], in his work ''Bida-yat al-Mujtahid wa-Niha-yat al-Muqtasid.''

''Maghāzī'', literally meaning "campaigns", is a term often used in [[Islamic literature]] to represent the military campaigns conducted by the [[Muhammad|Prophet Muhammad]] following the [[Hijrah|Hegira]]. The annals of these campaigns, often reflected as preemptive measures or attacks against invaders, which entailed the traditional plunder, constitute their own genre of prophetic biography within Islamic literature, distinctive of the sira. A famous example of this genre is [[Al-Waqidi|al-Waqidi's]] ''Maghāzī''.

[[File:Monument of the 1942 raid victims near Žabalj.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Monument to the victims of the [[Nazi Germany|German]] razzia of [[1942]] in [[Žabalj]], [[Serbia]].]]

Some of these well-known razzias are the [[Night of the Long Knives]] or the [[Kristallnacht|Night of Broken Glass]], carried out by the [[Gestapo]] in [[Germany]]. The [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] raid on the [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] city of [[Žabalj]] (present-day [[Serbia]])<ref>{{Cite web |last=Enciclopedia Microsoft® Encarta® Online 2008 |year=1997-20081997–2008 |title=Noche de los cristales rotos |url=http://es.encarta.msn.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224200826/http://es.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_961521259/Noche_de_los_cristales_rotos.html |archive-date=20082009-02-24 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation |language=Spanish}}</ref> and [[Denmark in World War II|occupied Denmark]] is also known as such.

Other examples of current razzias are the death squad raids in the Brazilian [[Favela|favelasfavela]]s, or the paramilitary incursions during the [[Second Congo War|war]] in [[Central Africa]]. The multiple attacks by [[Colombian nationality law|Colombian]] [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] groups on Colombian army squads and vice versa could also be considered as such.

== Notes and Referencesreferences ==

# {{Cite bookjournal |last=Melo |first=Diego |title=El concepto Yihad en el islam clásico y sus etapas de aplicación |journal=Temas Medievales |publisher=Temas Mediev. |year=2005 |isbn= |volume=13 |pages=157-172157–172 |language=Spanish |issn=0327-5094}}

# {{Cite journal |last=Cañada Juste |first=A. |year=1993 |title=Nuevas propuestas para la identificación de topónimos e itinerarios en las campañas de Almanzor |journal=Anaquel de estudios árabes |issue=4 |pages=25-3625–36 |issn=1130-3964}}

* [[:es:Dolors_BramonDolors Bramon|Dolors Bramon]], ''"La batalla de Albesa: Nuevas aportaciones"'' (in Spanish). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928020808/http://www.alyamiah.com/cema/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=280 C.E.M.A.]