To Heraclius the Arabs were a backward people living in a desert wasteland. The Arabs he knew were an unsophisticated lot in constant conflict with each other, just barely eking out an existence under the unforgiving desert sun. The Arabs were not a military threat let alone a military power they were just a thorn in his side, But united for the first time under the banner of Islam, the Arabs unleashed a gale force wind that would sweep across the Middle East and blow as far East as China and West across North Africa.