Battle of the Zab
| Battle of the Zab | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Abbasid Revolution | |||||||||
Greater Zab River Map in Iraq | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Abbasid Caliphate | Umayyad Caliphate | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Saffah Abu Muslim Abd Allah ibn Ali Abu Awn | Marwan II | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 10,000–30,000 | 100,000–150,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Minimal | 30,000 Killed or drowned (per al-Ṭabarī) 30,000-50,000 killed or drowned (modern estimates) | ||||||||
The Battle of the Zab (Arabic: معركة الزاب), also referred to in scholarly contexts as Battle of the Great Zāb River, took place on January 25, 750, on the banks of the Great Zab in what is now the modern country of Iraq. It spelled the end of the Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate, which would last from 750 to 1517.