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Rubbing It In: History’s Greatest Flexes and Ownages

Khalid Elhassan June 3, 2025 17 min

10. Displays of Total Domination Over Defeated Rulers

Mongols in the captured caliph’s palace. Mongolia Live

Though accounts of Mongols feasting atop captives after capturing Baghdad may be exaggerated, they align with other Mongol practices of demonstrating total domination over defeated rulers. As seen below, the most famous variation of this humiliation was likely inflicted on Al-Musta’ṣim, the last Abbasid caliph.

The message was clear: total Mongol supremacy, and the utter defeat of their enemies. Such acts were part of a broader strategy of intimidation and psychological control. The dramatic humiliation and desecration of enemy elites terrorized their remaining opponents, and made many of them surrender without a fight. The brutal spectacles were shocking, but effective tools to build the Mongols’ fearsome reputation.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.