When History Repeats Itself

Spain was first invaded by muslim armies in 711 AD. By 756 AD, the Iberian Peninsula was essentially conquered. It stayed under Islamic rule until the end of the Reconquista in 1492, the same year Columbus discovered America.

Spain served as a beachhead for the Islamic invasion of Europe. Islamic armies marched north into France and East into Italy, until they were stopped by Charles Martel, known as Charles the Hammer, at the battle of Poitiers in central France.

What few Christian and Jewish records as exist tell a different story of violent persecution, enslavement, and severe discrimination on the basis of religion

It took an additional almost 800 years to drive the invaders out of Europe and Spain. The Eastward march of Islam, combined with the conquest of the holy lands of the Middle East by Seljuk Turks, prompted Pope Urban II to call for the first Crusade to strike at the heart of the Islamic invasion based in Jerusalem. The hope was that if the head were cut off, the body would die.

Now Spain is experiencing its second Islamic invasion. Just as before, tens of thousands of invaders are pouring across the Mediterranean from Morocco in North Africa. Spanish authorities, just as before, seem powerless to stop them. The second occupation of Spain has started.

It is said that history is written by the winners. Islamic records report that Spain during the time of the Islamic Occupation was peaceful, prosperous, and a time when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together in harmony. What few Christian and Jewish records as exist tell a different story of violent persecution, enslavement, and severe discrimination on the basis of religion. We may never know the true story of what happened in Spain during those years, but judging by histories from other regions conquered by Islam as well as modern experience, it likely wasn't pretty.

One lesson Islam has learned well is that conquest by armies is destructive and expensive. For an ideology that asserts its superiority and its right to take from those who do not subscribe to Islam, wars are wasteful of good booty. Far better to conquer by colonization and migration, and by seduction of the gullible with promises that they, too, will share in the wealth of conquest and will enjoy the peace and plenty that Islam provides.

Where is the new Charles Martel? Will it take another 800 years to free Europe, or will Europe be conquered this time around?

This new process of conquest has been intensified in recent years with the assistance of European leaders in search of more compliant voters and workers who know their place. They are learning, that the ones they have invited are not the ones they seek. Some still foolishly cling to the idea that these invaders can be converted into good little subjects. Most are beginning to realize the truth, that they have mistaken a wolf for a tame pet, and are now locked in the house with a hungry predator.

Just in the last week or so, a new wave of the invasion has begun. Instead of sending armies, Islam is now sending hungry hordes of locusts to consume the harvests, first of Spain, and soon of Europe. Will Europe wake in time? Where is the new Charles Martel? Will it take another 800 years to free Europe, or will Europe be conquered this time around?

Iran has been the center of support for Islamic conquest in recent years. It has used the great wealth of its oil production to fund mass migrations, terrorism, and the spread of militant Islam throughout the world. It has sponsored and supported with weapons and money the violent organizations of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. In many ways, they have assumed the role of the Seljuk Turks of a thousand years ago.

Is the current attack by Western leadership on Iran the modern equivalent of the Crusades? Will it have the same effect on Islamic expansion that the first Crusades accomplished? So far, just as with the original Crusades, cutting off the head has left a decapitated monster behind, weakened, but still fighting and exhibiting a semblance of life.

A civilization that relies on exploitation of others will eventually run out of others to exploit

Islam is persistent. Like an infectious disease, it can lie dormant for years until it erupts in some terrible form. Christianity was the cure for the disease in its first manifestation, but stopped short of a full cure, leaving the world vulnerable to the current relapse. Christianity has, in large measure, built our current civilization that has lifted much of the world out of poverty and suffering, has freed nations from tyranny, and has promoted the system of justice based on individual rights we now enjoy.

Islam, on the other hand, is a destroyer of civilizations. Islamic armies brought down the great civilizations of Persia and the Indus River and India. Its conquest of Africa, and subsequent development of a massive trade in black slaves destroyed the budding civilization of Ethiopia and prevented the rise of any humane civilization throughout Africa. The poverty, instability, and chaos in Africa today is a direct outgrowth of its Islamic conquest a thousand years ago.

Oil wealth has enabled the spread of this virulent disease that for the most part lacks the essentials of an enduring civilization. A civilization that relies on exploitation of others will eventually run out of others to exploit. It must either grow out of its roots and transform itself into a productive self-sustaining civilization or descend into decay and chaos.

History does not stop. Sometimes it rhymes, and sometimes it actually repeats itself. Right now looks like a genuine repeat. Spain is being invaded. Will history repeat, will it rhyme, or will it take a new course? Time will tell.