The Invaders Become Complacent
After Martel had agreed to Odo’s request, he set about the task of preparing a professional army. He had assessed the Umayyad’s attack on Aquitaine and realized that inexperienced conscripts wouldn’t be good enough to protect the realm from invasion. Martel angered the religious community by seizing church lands to raise money for his new army, but it was a necessary measure.
There is little doubt that the Muslims underestimated the Franks; this is how they had lost at Toulouse some 11 years earlier. There is nothing written about the military prowess of the Franks in the Arab Chronicles until after the Battle of Tours. The marauding Arabs made a crucial mistake by not scouting northward for possible enemies. Had they done so, they would have known about the military skill of Martel who had established a reputation for excellent command abilities for well over a decade.
Meanwhile, the Umayyad forces had advanced too quickly towards the Loire River which meant they were too far ahead of their supply train. As a consequence, they were forced to live off the land which delayed their assault on the Franks. The Muslims had lost to Odo at Toulouse in 721 because he launched a surprise attack that prevented the Arab cavalry from mobilizing. In later meetings, the Muslims had mobilized their cavalry and easily defeated Odo.
Martel Makes His Move
Therefore, Martel’s best chance of victory was to surprise his enemy, and he did so by using secondary roads to intercept the Arab commander Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi. Not only did he avoid detection, but he was also able to choose the site of the battle and Martel decided on a high wooden plain. The rationale was to force the Umayyad army to charge uphill through difficult terrain. He cleverly ensured that there were trees in front of his army as a means of reducing the impact of Arab cavalry attacks.
The size of both armies is open for debate. Paul K. Davis claims there were 80,000 Arabs against 30,000 Franks while Victor Davis Hanson believes both armies were equal in size with around 30,000 men each. Most estimates suggest that the Arab army was larger, but Martel eliminated any advantage by surprising his enemy. Indeed, Al Ghafiqi was reportedly so shocked by the size of the enemy army that he delayed battle for a week to decide his next move.
While Martel had succeeded in surprising the Arabs, he elected to avoid attacking them. Perhaps he was waiting for reinforcements or else he hoped that the cold climate would creep up on the enemy. Sure enough, the Umayyad army was not prepared for the winter, so they were forced to attack after seven days of waiting. Martel and his army waited in a phalanx-like formation and invited the enemy on. The fate of Western Europe was in his hands and ‘the Hammer’ would not let the realm down.