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| * It is said that Hulagu had to move his camp upwind of the city, as the stench was too much for even the bloodthirsty Mongols. | * It is said that Hulagu had to move his camp upwind of the city, as the stench was too much for even the bloodthirsty Mongols. | ||
| Typically, the Mongols destroyed a city only if it had resisted them. Cities that capitulated at the first demand for surrender could usually expect to be spared. The utter ferocity of the rape of Baghdad was to |
Typically, the Mongols destroyed a city only if it had resisted them. Cities that capitulated at the first demand for surrender could usually expect to be spared. The utter ferocity of the rape of Baghdad was to some extent a military tactic: it convinced other cities and rulers to surrender without a fight. But even for the Mongols, the destruction at Bagdad was unusual, and the utter devastation of the irrigation system prior to attacking the city turned Iraq into the desert much of it is today. Steven Dutch writes of the aftermath: | ||
| "Iraq in 1258 was very different from present day Iraq. Its agriculture was supported by a canal network thousands of years old. Baghdad was one of the most brilliant intellectual centers in the world. The Mongol destruction of Baghdad was a psychological blow from which Islam never recovered. Already Islam was turning inward, becoming more suspicious of conflicts between faith and reason and more conservative. With the sack of Baghdad, the intellectual flowering of Islam was snuffed out. Imagining the Athens of Pericles and Aristotle obliterated by a nuclear weapon begins to suggest the enormity of the blow. The Mongols filled in the irrigation canals and left Iraq too depopulated to restore them." | "Iraq in 1258 was very different from present day Iraq. Its agriculture was supported by a canal network thousands of years old. Baghdad was one of the most brilliant intellectual centers in the world. The Mongol destruction of Baghdad was a psychological blow from which Islam never recovered. Already Islam was turning inward, becoming more suspicious of conflicts between faith and reason and more conservative. With the sack of Baghdad, the intellectual flowering of Islam was snuffed out. Imagining the Athens of Pericles and Aristotle obliterated by a nuclear weapon begins to suggest the enormity of the blow. The Mongols filled in the irrigation canals and left Iraq too depopulated to restore them." | ||
| Though it is hard for those who have either visited Iraq, or seen pictures of it, to believe, most of the country was green, with either agricultural products or date and palm trees. It literally was turned to desert almost overnight, and has remained so for eight centuries. | Though it is hard for those who have either visited Iraq, or seen pictures of it, to believe, most of the country was green in 1258, with either agricultural products or date and palm trees, a flowering and beautiful land, kept so by an intricate system of canals and irrigation. It literally was turned to desert almost overnight, and has remained so for eight centuries. There is nothing comparable in history to the complete devastation of an entire country in comparison with what Hulagu Khan and his army did to what is now Iraq. | ||
| The Muslim historian Wassaf writes of the horror in the city after the Caliph surrendered: | The Muslim historian Wassaf writes of the horror in the city after the Caliph surrendered: | ||
| "They swept through the city like hungry falcons, attacking a flight of doves, or like raging wolves attacking sheep, with loose reins and shameless faces, murdering and spreading terror...beds and cushions made of gold and encrusted with jewels were cut to pieces with knives and torn to shreds. Those hiding behind the veils of the great Harem were dragged...through the streets and alleys, each of them beoming a plaything...as the population died at the hands of the invaders." Wassaf claims the loss of life was several hundred thousand. | "They swept through the city like hungry falcons, attacking a flight of doves, or like raging wolves attacking sheep, with loose reins and shameless faces, murdering and spreading terror...beds and cushions made of gold and encrusted with jewels were cut to pieces with knives and torn to shreds. Those hiding behind the veils of the great Harem were dragged...through the streets and alleys, each of them beoming a plaything...as the population died at the hands of the invaders." Wassaf claims the loss of life was several hundred thousand. | ||
| Baghdad was a depopulated, ruined city for several centuries and only gradually recovered something of its former glory. | Baghdad was a depopulated, ruined city for several centuries and only gradually recovered something of its former glory. The province that became the country of Iraq never recovered physically from the Mongol destruction of the canal and irrigation system. | ||
| == References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 16:37, 2 February 2006
The Battle of Baghdad in 1258 was a victory for the Mongol leader Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan.
Baghdad was the capital of an Islamic state in what is now Iraq and parts of Iran; it was ruled by Al-Musta'sim, then the Abbasid caliph.
The Abbasid caliphate had been in existence for over 500 years, since the accesssion of the first caliph in Baghdad 751 CE. The Abbasids were the second of the Islamic dynasties; they had defeated the Umayyads, who had ruled since the death of Ali in 661.
Once mighty, the Abbasid caliphate had lost control over much of the former Islamic empire and had declined into a minor state. The caliph had become a figurehead, controlled by Mamluk or Turkic warlords. However, the caliphate still had great symbolic significance, and Baghdad was still a rich and cultured city.
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The Mongol army, led by Hulagu (or Hulegu) Khan set out for Baghdad in November of 1257. Once near the city, Hulagu divided his forces, so that they threatened both sides of the city, on the east and west banks of the Tigris. The caliph's army repulsed some of the forces attacking from the west, but were defeated in the next battle. The attacking Mongols broke some dikes and flooded the ground behind the caliph’s army, trapping them. Much of the army was slaughtered or drowned.
The Mongols then laid siege to the city, constructing a palisade and ditch, wheeling up siege engines and catapults. The siege started on January 29, after only a few days, by February 5 the Mongols controlled a stretch of the wall. Al-Musta'sim tried to negotiate, but was refused.
On February 10 Baghdad surrendered. The Mongols swept into the city on February 13 and began a week of massacre, looting, rape, and destruction. Many historical accounts detailed the cruelties of the Mongol conquerors.
- The Grand Library of Baghdad, containing countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river.
- Citizens attempted to flee, but were intercepted by Mongol soldiers who raped and killed with abandon. The death toll has been variously estimated; Martin Sicker writes that close to 90,000 people may have died (Sicker 2000, p. 111). Other estimates go much higher.
- The Mongols looted and then destroyed. Mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals -- grand buildings that had been the work of generations were burned to the ground.
- The caliph was captured and forced to watch as his citizens were murdered and his treasury plundered. The caliph was killed by trampling. The Mongols rolled the caliph up in a rug, and rode their horses over him, as they believed that the earth was offended if touched by royal blood.
- It is said that Hulagu had to move his camp upwind of the city, as the stench was too much for even the bloodthirsty Mongols.
Typically, the Mongols destroyed a city only if it had resisted them. Cities that capitulated at the first demand for surrender could usually expect to be spared. The utter ferocity of the rape of Baghdad was to some extent a military tactic: it convinced other cities and rulers to surrender without a fight. But even for the Mongols, the destruction at Bagdad was unusual, and the utter devastation of the irrigation system prior to attacking the city turned Iraq into the desert much of it is today. Steven Dutch writes of the aftermath: "Iraq in 1258 was very different from present day Iraq. Its agriculture was supported by a canal network thousands of years old. Baghdad was one of the most brilliant intellectual centers in the world. The Mongol destruction of Baghdad was a psychological blow from which Islam never recovered. Already Islam was turning inward, becoming more suspicious of conflicts between faith and reason and more conservative. With the sack of Baghdad, the intellectual flowering of Islam was snuffed out. Imagining the Athens of Pericles and Aristotle obliterated by a nuclear weapon begins to suggest the enormity of the blow. The Mongols filled in the irrigation canals and left Iraq too depopulated to restore them."
Though it is hard for those who have either visited Iraq, or seen pictures of it, to believe, most of the country was green in 1258, with either agricultural products or date and palm trees, a flowering and beautiful land, kept so by an intricate system of canals and irrigation. It literally was turned to desert almost overnight, and has remained so for eight centuries. There is nothing comparable in history to the complete devastation of an entire country in comparison with what Hulagu Khan and his army did to what is now Iraq.
The Muslim historian Wassaf writes of the horror in the city after the Caliph surrendered: "They swept through the city like hungry falcons, attacking a flight of doves, or like raging wolves attacking sheep, with loose reins and shameless faces, murdering and spreading terror...beds and cushions made of gold and encrusted with jewels were cut to pieces with knives and torn to shreds. Those hiding behind the veils of the great Harem were dragged...through the streets and alleys, each of them beoming a plaything...as the population died at the hands of the invaders." Wassaf claims the loss of life was several hundred thousand.
Baghdad was a depopulated, ruined city for several centuries and only gradually recovered something of its former glory. The province that became the country of Iraq never recovered physically from the Mongol destruction of the canal and irrigation system.
References
- Sicker, Martin -- The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of Vienna, Praeger Publishers, 2000
External link
- An article describing Hulagu's conquest of Baghdad, written by Ian Frazier, appeared in the April 25, 2005 issue of The New Yorker.