10. Genghis Khan’s Grandson Terrorized the Middle East
Genghis Khan’s grandson Hulagu (1217 – 1265) was definitely a grand chip off the bloody old conqueror’s block. A younger brother of the Grand Khans Mongke and Kublai, Hulagu expanded the Mongol domain into Western Asia with a savagery that remains in the region’s memory to this day. In 1251, Hulagu was recognized by his brother Mongke as ruler of Persia, and tasked with extending Mongol power into the Islamic world. During his ensuing rampage in the region, he destroyed Baghdad and extinguished the Abbasid Caliphate, conquered Syria, and menaced Egypt and the surviving Crusader states. He also destroyed medieval Persian culture, and founded the Ilkhanate in Persia – a precursor of modern Iran.
Hulagu attacked and seized the mountain fortress of the Assassins cult, a militant Islamic sect led by a mystic known as the “Old Man of the Mountain”, who recruited and brainwashed young men by getting them high on hashish. He then set them loose in a beautiful garden full of gorgeous women. When they came down from the high and woke up, they were back in regular and austere surroundings. He convinced the youth that they had had been in paradise, and that the only way to return was to die while killing for him. It proved highly effective. The Old Man of the Mountain, with no shortage of horny young men high on hash and desperate to die while killing his enemies so they could return to paradise, terrorized the Middle East for generations, until Hulagu extinguished the cult.
Read More: Deadliest Assassin Groups in History.
