Posted by Steve on September 14, 2001 at 19:20:25:
In Reply to: Re: A Muslim Perspective posted by Steve on September 14, 2001 at 19:10:35:
As the Mongols encountered the eastern Islamic world they wrought havoc. Samarkand, Bukhara and countless towns in between were leveled, their populations killed or enslaved. Nothing was able to stem the Mongol advance.
In 1253 Hulegu Khan, brother of the Great Khan Monge and a grandson of Ghengis Khan, had been told to gather his forces and move into Syria "as far as the borders of Egypt." His mission to conquer and annex the lands as part of Ghengis Khan's schema -- the entire world united under Mongol rule. Scholars debate the exact size Hulegu's force but it was enormous by the standards of the time. The ordu (horde) was comprised of approximately 300,000 warriors, who rode their ponies across the steppes to great effect. Adding women, children and other noncombatants the entire host numbered, by conservative estimate, about 2 million in all. It was not an army, it was more like a force of nature.
The Mongols arrived in Persia in 1256 and set about settling an old score. A few years earlier the Mongols had discovered a plot to send 400 dagger-wielding Assassins in disguise to their capital Qaraqorum with instructions to murder the Great Khan. It was a formidable task the Mongols had taken on, for over 100 years this Ismaili sect had terrorized the region. Their leader, Rukn ad-Din, was preceded by a herald who declared, "Make way for he who holds the life of kings in his hands." The 200 Assassin fortresses, called "eagle's nest" were placed in inaccessible locations atop mountains and rocky crags and considered impregnable. Crusader princes, atabeqs, emirs and even Saladin himself had been forced to come to terms with them or suffer the consequences.
Now the Mongols moved through the Elbruz mountains remorselessly seeking them out. For two years the Mongols moved from fortress to fortress with workmanlike efficiency. Chinese engineers set up siege engines and one by the one the eagle's nests fell. Hulegu showed no mercy, when a fortress was taken all the occupants, whether able-bodied men or babies in their cradles, were put to the sword. By the end of the campaign the Assassins were totally destroyed and Rukn ad-Din taken in chains to the Great Khan who had him executed.
The Assassins eliminated, Hulegu turned his attention to Mesopotamia and Baghdad. The Abassid capital was no longer the center of political power in the Islamic world, but it was still its intellectual heartland. Through a combination of Mongol skill, caliphal foolishness and treachery, Baghdad was captured, sacked and burned to its foundations in February 1258.
Hulegu now fell back to Tabriz while the aftershocks from Baghdad's fall shook the entire Islamic world. Emirs and sheiks along the Mongols' line of advance came and did homage. One, Kai Kawus, gave Hulegu a pair of sandals with the emir's face painted on the soles so the Khan could walk on his face.
Among those offering an alliance to Hulegu was Hayton, the Christian king of Armenia. Hayton thought of the Mongols as a new Crusade to free Jerusalem from the Muslims. This perception was encouraged by Hulegu's chief lieutenant, Kitbuqa who was not only a Christina but claimed to be a direct descendant of one of the three Magi who had brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Following his visit to the Mongol leader Hayton sent messages to his Crusader neighbors that Hulegu was about to be baptized a Christian and strongly urged they too ally themselves with this new force and turn it to the Crusader cause.
Only Kamil Muhammad, the emir of Mayyafarakin, had defied the Mongols, responding to their envoy's demand for submission by crucifying him. Hulegu dispatched a part of his army to the town and quickly breached its walls While Kamil Muhammad watched every living thing was killed. Then he was bound and pieces of his skin cut off, broiled over an open flame and fed to him piece by piece.