Abbasid Caliphate
In the year 747, a man named Abu Muslim stood in the city of Merv and raised a black flag. This banner signaled the start of an armed uprising that would topple the Umayyad dynasty within three years. The revolt drew its strength from Khurasan, a region far to the east of the Syrian heartland where Umayyad power had long rested. Thousands of soldiers marched under this standard, including Yemeni factions and aggrieved settlers who felt marginalized by the existing regime.
Abu Muslim commanded close to 10,000 troops when hostilities officially began. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar westward, defeating Umayyad forces at Gorgan, Nahavand, and Karbala during 748. The rebellion succeeded because it appealed to non-Arab Muslims known as mawali, who were treated as second-class citizens under Arab rule. These converts sought political inclusion and an end to the kinship-based society that excluded them from power.
By 750, the Abbasid Revolution had reached its climax near the Great Zab river. Abdallah, known as Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah, defeated the last Umayyad caliph Marwan II. Marwan fled to Egypt where he was killed, ending his family's line except for one male survivor who escaped to Spain. The victors established their first capital in Kufa before moving to build a new city called Baghdad.
In 762, Caliph al-Mansur laid the foundation for a circular walled city on the banks of the Tigris River. He named this new metropolis Madinat al-Salam, or City of Peace. The design featured four massive gates facing Kufa, Basra, Khurasan, and Syria. A workforce of 100,000 laborers constructed successive rings of brick walls around the central enclosure containing the palace and great mosque.
The decision to move the capital from Syria to Iraq brought the seat of government closer to the Persian mawali support base that had enabled the revolution. Al-Mansur also planned the city of Raqqa along the Euphrates before settling on Baghdad as the permanent administrative center. This shift addressed demands for reduced Arab dominance within the empire while integrating diverse cultures under one roof.
Decades later, in 836, Caliph al-Mu'tasim abandoned Baghdad to establish a new capital at Samarra. Located north of the old city, Samarra housed the caliph's army and allowed for unhindered construction of massive palaces. The site included race-courses and game preserves to create an elaborate courtly atmosphere. The Great Mosque of Samarra rose between 848 and 852 with its distinctive spiral minaret standing as a testament to Abbasid architectural ambition.
During the reign of Caliph al-Ma'mun, state-sponsored efforts translated ancient Greek works into Arabic. Scholars gathered at the House of Wisdom to translate scientific and literary texts from antiquity. These translations covered astronomy, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy, preserving knowledge that might otherwise have been lost.
Christian Nestorian families like the Bukhtishu served as private doctors to caliphs across eight generations. They contributed significantly to the formation of Arab culture by translating Greek philosophical works first into Syriac and then into Arabic. Persian scientists such as Al-Biruni and Abu Nasr Mansur enhanced recovered mathematical methods from Euclid and Claudius Ptolemy.
Algebra emerged as a formal discipline through Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi's landmark text Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala. His name gave rise to terms like algorithm and algorism while introducing Hindu-Arabic numerals beyond India. Ibn al-Haytham developed early scientific methods using experiments to distinguish competing theories in his Book of Optics published in 1021.
In 861, Turkish soldiers murdered Caliph al-Mutawakkil during a party, marking the first time the military intervened so directly and violently at court. This event set a precedent for future coups and plunged the empire into what historians call the Anarchy at Samarra between 861 and 870. Four different caliphs came and went within nine years, each at the mercy of military factions.
The new professional army recruited mainly from Turkic slaves provided loyalty only to the caliph himself rather than traditional elites. These outsiders had no political ties among existing groups, making them reliable instruments of power but also sources of tension with city inhabitants. Tax collection lapsed during this period, leaving the state short on funds and exacerbating infighting.
By 865, Turkish soldiers besieged Baghdad to overthrow Caliph al-Musta'in. They replaced him with al-Mu'tazz who was overthrown by the same faction in 869. Al-Muhtadi followed but met similar fate in 870 before al-Mu'tamid finally restored some order thanks to his brother al-Muwaffaq's control of the military.
In 945, Persian Buyids swept into Baghdad assuming control over bureaucracy while Abbasid caliphs retained nominal religious authority. The Buyid dynasty maintained a highly ritualized court even as real political and military power shifted to their hands. This arrangement lasted nearly one hundred years until the Seljuq Turks took temporal power in 1055.
Toghril Beg, the Seljuq sultan, restored Baghdad to Sunni rule when Shia Fatimid banners appeared in the city. He wrested control from both Buyids and Abbasids, taking Iraq for his own dynasty. Subsequent sultans Alp Arslan and Malikshah resided in Persia yet held absolute power over the caliphs in Baghdad.
The situation changed slightly when Seljuk influence waned in the twelfth century. Caliph al-Nasir extended control over former Seljuk territories including Isfahan, Hamadan, Qazvin, and Zanjan. He reinvigorated public displays of prestige through diplomacy with regions beyond Iraq and engagement with Sufi-inspired futuwwa brotherhoods he headed.
On the 29th of January 1258, Mongol forces began their siege of Baghdad under Hulagu Khan. The city's strength had been sapped by political rivalries, sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shias, and damaging floods. Months of diplomacy preceded the attack, during which correspondence may have revealed Baghdad's weakness to the invaders.
Hulagu demanded that Caliph al-Musta'im order defenders to stand down and come out of the city in exchange for mercy. The caliph complied but the Mongols slaughtered the population anyway before beginning the sack on February 13. Contemporary accounts describe destruction, looting, rape, and killing on a massive scale over many days with hundreds of thousands killed.
To avoid spilling royal blood due to a Mongol taboo, Hulagu wrapped al-Musta'im in a carpet and trampled him to death by horses on the 20th of February 1258. The caliph's immediate family was executed except his youngest son sent to Mongolia and a daughter who became a slave in Hulagu's harem. This event marked the effective end of the Abbasid Caliphate after five centuries of rule.
In 1261, Mamluk ruler Baybars invited a surviving member of the Abbasid family to establish himself in Cairo as a new caliph. Al-Mustansir II, brother of the former caliph, disappeared while leading an army to recapture Baghdad from the Mongols in 1262. Baybars replaced him with al-Hakim I, another family member proclaimed in Aleppo.
The Abbasid line continued in Cairo as a strictly ceremonial institution conferring prestige upon the Mamluk sultans. Other Muslim rulers including Delhi sultan Muhammad, Jalayirid Ahmad, and Ottoman Bayezid I sought diplomas of investiture or declared nominal allegiance to these figurehead caliphs. Even Caliph al-Musta'in reigned briefly as sultan in Cairo for six months in 1412.
By 1517, Ottoman Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluks and conquered Egypt. He met with the last Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil III in Aleppo before marching into Egypt. The caliph was then sent to Constantinople ending the dynasty definitively. A legend claiming he transferred the office to the Ottoman sultan emerged only in the nineteenth century without contemporary corrobation.
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Common questions
When did the Abbasid Caliphate begin and who started it?
The Abbasid Caliphate began in 747 when Abu Muslim raised a black flag in Merv to start an armed uprising. This revolt toppled the Umayyad dynasty within three years by drawing strength from Khurasan.
Who founded Baghdad and when was it built?
Caliph al-Mansur laid the foundation for Baghdad on the banks of the Tigris River in 762. He named this new metropolis Madinat al-Salam or City of Peace and constructed successive rings of brick walls with a workforce of 100,000 laborers.
What happened during the Anarchy at Samarra between 861 and 870?
Turkish soldiers murdered Caliph al-Mutawakkil on the 1st of January 861 which marked the first direct military intervention at court. Four different caliphs came and went within nine years while tax collection lapsed and the state remained short on funds.
How did the Mongol siege end the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258?
Mongol forces under Hulagu Khan besieged Baghdad starting on the 29th of January 1258 and began the sack on February 13. They slaughtered the population and trampled Caliph al-Musta'im to death by horses wrapped in a carpet on the 20th of February 1258 ending five centuries of rule.
Where did the Abbasid Caliphate continue after the fall of Baghdad?
In 1261 Mamluk ruler Baybars invited a surviving member of the Abbasid family to establish himself in Cairo as a new caliph. The line continued there as a strictly ceremonial institution conferring prestige upon the Mamluk sultans until Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered Egypt in 1517.