11. The Turk Bodyguards Who Ruled an Empire
The Abbasid Caliphate (750 – 1258) was the second of two hereditary dynasties that claimed suzerainty over the Islamic world. At the height of their power, the Abbasids’ realm stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China, and from Central Asia to India’s borders. Things fell apart when shortsighted caliphs hired Turkish mercenaries, then failed to control them. It began in the ninth century, with al Mu’tasim, a younger son of the dynasty’s most famous caliph, Harun al Rashid – a contemporary of Charlemagne and a recurring character in the Arabian Nights fables. Al Mu’tasim created a private army of Turkish mercenaries and slaves, and formed them into a Turkish Guard that helped him secure power in 833. Unfortunately, the Turks engaged in widespread robberies and assaults that made them hugely unpopular with the civilian population.
To reduce the friction between his subjects and soldiers, al Mu’tasim relocated his capital in 835 from Baghdad to a new city, Samarra. That calmed things down for a while, but did not solve the core conundrum of how to control the Turkish mercenaries. In 861, things came to a head in what came to be known as “The Anarchy at Samarra”. It began when the Turkish Guard murdered the caliph al Mutawakkil, and replaced him with his brother, al Muntasir. The new caliph lasted for six months, before the Turks did him in. They then held a conference to appoint a successor, al Musta’in. He escaped in 865, but the mercenaries pursued, captured, and put him to death. The Turks then appointed another caliph, al Mu’tazz, but he bucked. So they deposed and killed him in 869, and replaced him with another puppet, al Muhtadi.
Al Muhtadi also tried to assert his authority, only to get murdered by the mercenaries and replaced in 870. The anarchy finally ended with the appointment of a caliph who realized that power no longer lay with himself, and accepted his role as a puppet. The Abbasid Caliphate stumbled on for another four centuries. It survived as a shadow of what it had once been, with its caliphs as playthings of strongmen and sultans. It finally came to an end in 1258, when the Mongols sacked Baghdad. They rolled the last caliph inside a rug, then trampled him to death beneath their horses’ hooves.
