The Siege of Baghdad

Podcast Transcript

Within the yr 1258, two of the best empires in world historical past collided.

For one, it was one more in an unimaginable string of conquests.

For the opposite, it resulted in its downfall and the destruction of one of many world’s biggest facilities of information and studying.

For the individuals who suffered by means of it, it was one of many worst days in world historical past.

Study extra in regards to the Mongol siege of Baghdad on this episode of Every thing In all places Every day.

The Mongol Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate would each be placed on the checklist of the best empires in historical past.

Whereas the guts of every empire, the Arabian Peninsula and the steppes of Mongolia, are far aside from one another, the enlargement of each empires ultimately introduced them right into a lethal battle.

The Mongols sprung onto the world stage in a dramatic vogue within the early thirteenth century. The founding father of the Mongol Empire, Ghengis Khan, achieved the tough feat of conquering and unifying the Mongol tribes. Having achieved that, he led the Mongols to a string of unimaginable conquests working so far as China, Central Asia, Jap Europe, and Persia.

When Ghengis Khan died in 1227, not like Alexander the Nice, the empire didn’t die with him. Totally different bands of Mongols continued to increase and conquer.

Specifically, for the needs of this episode, in Persia, the Center East, and japanese Turkey, the Mongols have been often known as the Ilkhanate. In 1252, the chief of the Mongols within the southwestern a part of the Empire was Hulagu Khan, the brother of the Nice Khan, Möngke Khan, and the Mongol ruler of China, Kublai Khan.

The Ilkhanate discovered themselves in battle with the main energy within the area for the final a number of centuries, the Abbasid Caliphate.

The Abbasid Caliphate turned the dominant drive within the Islamic world after the Abbasid Revolution within the yr 750, with the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate.

The Abbasid Caliphate was broadly thought-about to be the golden age of Islam.

In the event you consider the Islamic world as a middle of information when Europe started to regress within the centuries after the autumn of the Western Roman Empire, this principally occurred in the course of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Specifically, the middle of the Abbasid Caliphate was its capital metropolis of, Baghdad.

Not like many cities within the fertile crescent, which had historic origins, Baghdad was based as an Islamic metropolis. The precise date of the founding of Baghdad was July 30, 762, when the Caliph Al-Mansur ordered the development of a metropolis on the banks of the Tigris River, which he had chosen.

He so liked the placement that he was reported to have mentioned, “That is certainly town that I’m to discovered, the place I’m to dwell, and the place my descendants will reign afterward.”

Town shortly grew to grow to be an important metropolis within the Islamic world and certainly your entire world.

In the event you keep in mind again to my episode on the biggest cities in world historical past, for a 300-year interval, between the years 900 to 1200, Baghdad was the biggest metropolis on the planet. At its peak, it had a inhabitants of 1.2 million folks, most likely changing into the primary metropolis to succeed in the million mark since historic Rome.

The success of Baghdad wasn’t only a operate of the variety of folks, it was additionally the standard of town and what it represented.

Quickly after its founding, Baghdad turned a significant middle of studying. It was most likely the world’s middle for science, philosophy, arithmetic, and drugs.

It was additionally the house to the Abbassid translation motion, which collected as many Greek texts as potential and translated them into Arabic.

The middle of the interpretation motion was often known as the Home of Knowledge. It was the best library on the planet and, on the time, the world’s biggest middle of studying. The famed mathematician al-Khwarizmi, who I’ve talked about many occasions in earlier episodes, studied on the Home of Knowledge.

Nonetheless, after 5 centuries, as with most empires, the Abbassid Caliphate started to enter decline.

The Seljuk Turks conquered a lot of modern-day Turkey, the Khwarezmian Empire managed Iran, and the Ayyubid dynasty managed most of Egypt.

By the yr 1200, the Abbassid empire had been diminished to the world across the Tirgis and Euphrates Rivers in modern-day Iraq.

So this was the state of the Abbassid empire when the Mongols started to maneuver south out of Central Asia.

The preliminary cause for the transfer into this area needed to do with what occurred to a Mongol commerce delegation despatched to the Khwarezmian Empire, which managed most of Persia on the time.

At this level, the Khwarezmian Empire was bigger and extra highly effective than the Abbassids.

Initially, Ghengis Khan initially had no intention of invading Khwarezmian Empire. Nonetheless, the Khwarezmian Sutaln, having heard tales of the Mongols, executed the commerce delegation.

Ghengis Khan wasn’t going to let this stand, so he moved into modern-day Iran and Central Asia.

The Mongols systematically destroyed lots of the cities they encountered, placing all of the inhabitants to the sword.

Ghengis Khan died in 1227, however the Mongols stored conquering and increasing. Hulagu Khan took management of the Mongols within the area and stored shifting towards the Abbassids and Baghdad. The purpose wasn’t simply to take Baghdad but in addition Syria and Egypt.

It was in January of 1258 that the Mongols arrived on the gates of Baghdad.

The Mongols, regardless of being horsemen from the Asian steppes, had shortly grow to be adept at siege warfare. That they had been in a position to take walled cities wherever they went.

Baghdad can be the biggest metropolis that the Mongols had ever tried to take, and thus can be their largest siege. In preparation, they raised an enormous military of 100,000 to 150,000 males. The biggest Mongol military in historical past.

Along with the Mongols, in addition they recruited a drive of 10,000 Christian mercenaries from Armenia, 1,000 siege engineers from China, and extra models of Persians and Turks.

When the Mongols arrived on the gates of Baghdad, they supplied the caliph the chance to give up town with out bloodshed. That is what the Mongols all the time did as a result of they, pragmatically, would relatively not spend the effort and time preventing if potential.

If a metropolis refused to give up, then the Mongols confirmed them completely no mercy.

The Abbassid Caliph, Al-Musta’sim, didn’t consider that Baghdad may presumably fall, so he refused the Mongol provide. He assumed that your entire Muslim world would rise as much as defend town.

Earlier than the widespread use of gunpowder and cannons, laying siege to a walled metropolis was a really tough factor. Some sieges may take years, relying on how well-defended and equipped town beneath siege was.

The Abbasids managed to assemble a defensive drive of fifty,000 males, together with 20,000 cavalry. Nonetheless, they weren’t properly outfitted and had little or no self-discipline. Town of Baghdad’s defenses have been additionally not properly ready, and town partitions hadn’t been correctly repaired.

Baghdad was just too massive of a metropolis to have satisfactory provides. Think about if New York Metropolis was shut off from the remainder of the world and nothing may are available in or out. How lengthy would the meals at the moment within the metropolis final?

On January 29, the Mongols started their siege. They constructed a picket wall across the metropolis and in addition dug a ditch so nobody may escape, and no forces may come out to assault.

Siege engines started attacking the partitions of town, and by February 5, that they had already taken or destroyed a big a part of town partitions.

At this level, the caliph knew that town can be taken so he tried to reopen negotiations, however Hulagu would have none of it. That wasn’t how the Mongols labored.

An estimated 3,000 main residents of town tried to barter individually, and all of them have been killed.

On February tenth, town formally surrendered, however Mongols didn’t do something. They waited for 3 days till February 13 to enter town.

February 13, 1258, was most likely the bloodiest day in human historical past up till that time. When the Mongols entered town, they spared nearly nobody. The one individuals who have been spared have been Nestorian Christians, and that was solely as a result of Hulagu’s mom was a Nestorian.

Estimates on the quantity of people that died vary from 200,000 as much as a million.

Women and men, younger and outdated, kids and adults, have been all killed. Anybody who tried to flee was intercepted and killed on the spot.

It was mentioned the Tigris River ran crimson with blood. Hulagu later needed to transfer his camp upwind from town as a result of stench popping out from it.

The caliph Al-Musta’sim was captured and compelled to observe his metropolis be systematically destroyed.

The royal palace constructed of unique wooden, was burned to the bottom. The good books discovered within the library of the Home of Knowledge have been burned or torn aside. The leather-based covers of the books have been used a sandals by Mongols. Thirty-six libraries have been destroyed.

It was the best destruction of information because the fireplace of the Library of Alexandria.

Finally, Al-Musta’sim himself was executed. The Mongols, nonetheless, believed it was unfortunate to spill royal blood, so that they rolled him in a carpet after which repeatedly ran over the rolled carpet with horses.

The autumn of Baghdad marked the tip of the Golden Age of Islam. The five hundred yr reign of the Abbasid Caliphate was over.

The autumn of Baghdad marked a turning level in world historical past in some ways.

The Islamic world was by no means as unified because it was earlier than the Mongol invasions. Infighting and factionalism divided the previously unified caliphate into quite a few sultanates, caliphates, and kingdoms.

The autumn of Baghdad was additionally the excessive level for the Ilkhanate Mongols as properly. They too started to collapse resulting from infighting factionalism. They made an try at attempting to beat Egypt, nevertheless it wasn’t profitable they usually by no means went a lot additional than Baghdad within the Center East.

A lot of the huge military which was assembled was despatched to China to help within the conquest of the Music Dynasty.

Berke Khan, the grandson of Ghengis Khan who lead the Golden Horde in Jap Europe and Russia, had transformed to Islam and was outraged over what his cousin Hulagu had completed. He ultimately had the Golden Horde declare struggle on the Ilkhanate.

The Mongols additionally managed to destroy the irrigation system in Mesopotamia which had sustained agriculture within the area for 1000’s of years. After the Mongols destroyed it, it was by no means rebuilt and lots of the irrigation channels silted up. In consequence, agriculture within the area was depressed for hundreds of years.

As for Baghdad, the Mongols did try to reconstruct town and used it as their capital, nevertheless it was by no means the identical. Town of Baghdad didn’t return to its earlier inhabitants till the twentieth century, and it by no means once more was as vital as a middle of studying.

The autumn of Baghdad was probably the most vital occasions in world historical past in that it utterly altered the trail of two main empires.

Even after all of the horrors of business and mechanized warfare of the twentieth century, February thirteenth, 1258, nonetheless stays one of many bloodiest and most violent days in all of human historical past.

The Government Producer of Every thing In all places Every day is Charles Daniel.

The affiliate producers are Thor Thomsen and Peter Bennett.

In the present day’s evaluate comes from listener a awsome dunce over on Apple Podcasts in america They write: