Abbasid Caliphate

Legacy

Abbasid scholars preserved and built on ancient learning, giving the world algebra, algorithms and much of the science later passed on to Europe.

Timeline of Abbasid Caliphate

1. 750
   Abbasids defeat the Umayyads at the Zab; al-Saffah is caliph

   The Abbasids were descendants of al-Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, and claimed a better right to rule than the Umayyads. Their revolution began in Khurasan in June 747 under the Persian commander Abu Muslim, whose armies marched west under black banners. In Kufa they proclaimed Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah as caliph, and in January 750 his uncle Abdallah ibn Ali defeated the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, at the Great Zab river. The Abbasids inherited almost the whole Umayyad empire, from North Africa to Central Asia, and moved its centre from Syria to Iraq.

2. 751
   Abbasid victory over Tang China at Talas

   While the Abbasids were taking power, Tang China had pushed its armies deep into Central Asia under the general Gao Xianzhi. In 751 an Abbasid army led by Ziyad ibn Salih, joined by Karluk Turks, defeated the Tang force near the Talas river, on today's Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border. The battle confirmed Muslim control of Transoxiana, the lands around Samarkand and Bukhara. Chinese prisoners are said to have brought papermaking to the Islamic world, though some historians doubt this. Tang power in the region soon collapsed anyway because of the An Lushan rebellion.

3. 756
   Umayyad prince Abd al-Rahman sets up an independent al-Andalus

   Abd al-Rahman, a grandson of the Umayyad caliph Hisham, escaped the Abbasid massacre of his family in 750 and fled across North Africa, hiding among Berber tribes. In 755 he crossed to Spain, where many soldiers were still loyal to the Umayyads. In 756 he defeated the governor of al-Andalus and made himself emir at Córdoba, refusing to recognise the Abbasids. His dynasty ruled Muslim Spain for nearly three centuries. It was the first province to break away from the Abbasid Caliphate, and the Iberian Peninsula drops off the Abbasid map.

4. 762
   Al-Mansur founds Baghdad as the new capital

   In the early years the Abbasids governed from Kufa and other towns in Iraq, but they distrusted Kufa's support for rival claimants. The second caliph, al-Mansur, chose a site on the Tigris and began building a new capital in 762, a round city with walls and four gates, based on Persian designs. Chroniclers report that 100,000 workers took part. The Round City was finished by 766, and Baghdad grew into one of the largest cities in the world. It became a centre of trade and learning, home to the famous House of Wisdom.

5. 813
   Al-Ma'mun's forces take Baghdad, ending the civil war

   Caliph Harun al-Rashid named his son al-Amin as heir, with a second son, al-Ma'mun, to follow and to govern Khurasan. After Harun died in 809 the brothers fell out. In 811 al-Amin's army marched east, but al-Ma'mun's general Tahir ibn Husayn defeated it at Rayy and then besieged Baghdad. The city fell in September 813, al-Amin was killed, and al-Ma'mun became sole caliph. The main war was over, though unrest in Iraq went on until al-Ma'mun entered Baghdad in 819, and the long siege had badly damaged the capital.

6. 836
   Al-Mu'tasim moves the capital to Samarra

   Caliph al-Mu'tasim, ruling from 833, built his army around Turkic slave soldiers, whose presence caused clashes with the people of Baghdad. In 836 he founded a new capital and military base at Samarra, further up the Tigris. Later caliphs filled it with vast palaces and the Great Mosque with its spiral minaret, built in 847. Samarra remained the caliph's residence until 892, when the capital returned to Baghdad. The move kept the army apart from the city but left the caliphs dependent on their Turkic commanders.

7. 861
   Al-Mutawakkil murdered; the 'Anarchy at Samarra' begins

   In 861 Caliph al-Mutawakkil was murdered by his own Turkic guards. This began the 'Anarchy at Samarra' (861–870), when four caliphs in a row were made and unmade by rival army factions. Several were deposed or killed, and the Turkic troops even besieged Baghdad in 865–866. The anarchy ended in 870 with the accession of al-Mu'tamid. But the caliphs' prestige and treasury were badly damaged, and provincial governors began to act on their own, so that the empire on the map began to break up.

8. 870
   c. 870: Egypt becomes autonomous under Ahmad ibn Tulun

   Ahmad ibn Tulun was a Turkic slave-soldier sent to govern Egypt in 868. Within about four years he had made himself a virtually independent ruler, taking over Egypt's finances from the caliph's tax agent and built a large army loyal to himself. In 878 he also took control of Syria. His Tulunid dynasty ruled Egypt and Syria until 905, when the Abbasids briefly won them back. Egypt's wealth no longer flowed to Baghdad, and the caliphate's western provinces were slipping away.

9. 909
   Fatimids take Ifriqiya from the Aghlabids; North Africa lost

   The Fatimids were an Isma'ili Shia dynasty who claimed descent from the Prophet's daughter Fatima and rejected the Abbasids' right to rule. From 902 their missionary Abu Abdallah led Kutama Berber tribesmen against the Aghlabid emirs of Ifriqiya (Tunisia), who ruled in the Abbasids' name. In 909 he conquered Ifriqiya, and the Fatimid leader Abdallah al-Mahdi was proclaimed caliph. The Islamic world now had a rival Shia caliphate, and the last Abbasid foothold in North Africa west of Egypt was lost.

10. 945
    Buyids seize Baghdad; the caliphs become figureheads

    The Buyids were a Shia family from Daylam, in the mountains south of the Caspian Sea, who had built a state in western Iran. In 945 the youngest brother, Ahmad ibn Buya, took Baghdad and was given the title Mu'izz al-Dawla. From then on the Buyid emirs held real power in Iraq, while the Sunni Abbasid caliphs kept only a religious and ceremonial role. The caliphs no longer controlled any territory of their own. This is why the Abbasid map soon goes blank for more than two centuries.

11. 969
    Fatimids conquer Egypt and found Cairo

    Egypt was ruled by the Ikhshidid dynasty in the Abbasids' name, but by the 960s it was weakened by famine and infighting. In 969 the Fatimid caliph al-Mu'izz sent his general Jawhar with a large army from Ifriqiya. Jawhar crossed the Nile and took Fustat, Egypt's capital, in July 969, and soon began building a new capital nearby, Cairo. The Fatimids now ruled Egypt, and soon Palestine and parts of Syria as well. A rival caliph in Cairo now challenged Baghdad for leadership of the Muslim world.

12. 1055
    Seljuk leader Tughril enters Baghdad, replacing the Buyids

    The Seljuks were Turkish nomads who had conquered Iran in the 1040s. In 1055 their leader Tughril entered Baghdad, pushed aside the Buyids and took the title of sultan. The caliph, al-Qa'im, kept his religious authority, but the Seljuk sultans now ran the government and the army. As Sunni Muslims, the Seljuks presented themselves as protectors of the Sunni caliph against the Shia Fatimids. The caliph still had no territory of his own, so the Abbasid map stays blank in this period.

13. 1180
    Al-Nasir's long reign (to 1225) revives a caliphal state in Iraq

    As the Seljuk Empire weakened in the 12th century, the caliphs began to rebuild their own power, regaining control of Iraq under al-Muqtafi (r. 1136–1160). Al-Nasir, who ruled for 45 years from 1180 to 1225, went further. He expanded the caliph's state, extending his rule into parts of western Iran, and used diplomacy and religious brotherhoods to raise the caliph's prestige across the Muslim world. For the first time in over two centuries the Abbasids again ruled a real territorial state, which reappears on the map centred on Iraq.

14. 1258
    Mongols under Hulagu sack Baghdad and execute al-Musta'sim

    In 1252 the Mongol Great Khan Möngke sent his brother Hulagu west with a huge army. After destroying the Assassins in Iran, Hulagu demanded that Caliph al-Musta'sim submit, and the caliph refused. The Mongols attacked Baghdad at the end of January 1258, the caliph surrendered on 10 February, and the city was sacked, with huge loss of life, and al-Musta'sim was killed. The Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, which had lasted five centuries, came to an end.

Periods and reigns

• al-Saffah 750–754
• al-Mansur 754–775
• al-Mahdi 775–785
• Harun al-Rashid 786–809
• al-Amin 809–813
• al-Ma'mun 813–833
• al-Mu'tasim 833–842
• al-Mutawakkil 847–861
• al-Mu'tadid 892–902
• al-Muqtadir 908–932
• al-Qa'im 1031–1075
• al-Nasir 1180–1225
• al-Musta'sim 1242–1258

Rulers

• al-Saffah 750 – 754

  First Abbasid caliph

• al-Mansur 754 – 775

  Founded Baghdad

• Harun al-Rashid 786 – 809

  Caliph of the Thousand and One Nights

• al-Ma'mun 813 – 833

  Patron of the House of Wisdom

• al-Mu'tasim 833 – 842

  Built an army of Turkish slave soldiers

• al-Musta'sim 1242 – 1258

  Last caliph in Baghdad, killed by the Mongols

Realms on the map

• Abbasid Caliphate 750–1257
• Abbasid Caliphate/Buyid Dynasty 947–969

Wars

• Mongol conquests (1206–1260) 1206 – 3 September 1260

Chapters

• The world in 800: Charlemagne Crowned
• The world in 900: Empires Breaking Apart