The aggression of the Mongols crawled with their utmost readiness and the largest equipment in their history in wars sweeping all dry land and water, so they do not leave a human being safe or fully built, and under the leadership of Hulagu Khan, the grandson of the founder of the Mongolian Empire, Genghis Khan, the armies headed towards Western Asia to Mesopotamia, where Mesopotamia and the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate Baghdad .
Hulagu Khan imams Baghdad after he eliminated the control of the Khwarezmians in northern Persia and parts of Central Asia, and they were a fortified shield for the Abbasids in Iraq in repelling the attacks of the Mongols. Between the two armies only the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
It was a golden opportunity for the Mongolian state to strengthen its presence and extend its influence over the regions of Central and Western Asia in light of the presence of two hundred thousand fighters from the Mongols and Tatars in addition to reinforcements coming from the Armenian Cilicia Kingdom and the Georgian Kingdom of Karaj in the aim of overthrowing the Abbasid state, which was disintegrated at the end of its era by virtue of the vast distances. which it was covering, and its condition became closer to the autonomous emirates, so the Caliph of Muslims residing in Baghdad would have no choice but to pray for him in the pulpits, in addition to that, the rule was up to the rulers and shepherds in those areas.
At the beginning of the year 1258 AD, “Hulagu” sent a letter to the Abbasid Caliph “Al-Mu’tasim Billah” urging him to surrender his state and to submit to the rule of the Mongols, otherwise war is the decisive factor. Despite the weakness of the Abbasid army, which did not exceed ten thousand fighters, according to Ibn Kathir’s estimation, the Caliph refused to surrender, and tried to dissuade him from the war with some gifts and money, but “Hulagu” despised it and determined to fight.
On the eighteenth of January, “Hulagu” besieged the city of peace, Baghdad, and surrounded it with an army that has not been witnessed in history, the last of which is unknown, and extended from west to east. The devastating invasion directed you to have the lighthouse of the ancient world extinguished forever on the night of the fall of Baghdad.
It was a golden opportunity for the Mongolian state to strengthen its presence and extend its influence over the regions of Central and West Asia in the presence of two hundred thousand fighters from the Mongols and Tatars in addition to reinforcements coming from the Armenian Cilicia Kingdom and the Georgian Kingdom of Karaj in the aim of overthrowing the Abbasid state, which disintegrated at the end of its era by virtue of the vast distances. which it was covering, and its condition became closer to the autonomous emirates, so the Caliph of Muslims residing in Baghdad would have no choice but to pray for him in the pulpits, and other than that, the rule belonged to the governors and shepherds in those areas.
The catapult of Hulagu … the meteors falling on Baghdad
At the beginning of the year 1258 AD, Hulagu sent a letter to the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustasim, by God urging him to surrender his state and submit to the rule of the Mongols. To surrender, and tried to dissuade him from the war with some gifts and money, but Hulagu despised them and resolved to fight.
On the eighteenth of January, Hulagu besieged the city of peace, Baghdad, and surrounded it with an army unseen in history, the end of which is not known from the beginning, and it extended from west to east, and prepared catapults, raining the city with blazing fires as if the stars of the sky fell on the ground and its intensity covered the city with thick smoke , Neither the night is dark nor the sun is after darkness.
On the other hand, the Abbasid army protected the walls of the city with the help of the arada (the Arada: an ancient war machine that resembles a small catapult), but it did not last long. After 12 days, the Mongols were able to storm the city, and one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of Islamic civilization and the largest human massacre in history occurred.
The Mongols violated the streets of Baghdad, so they did not encounter a soul that did not but kill it, and did not leave a standing structure until they destroyed it, and it was said that a million martyrs were shed their blood within 40 days, and blood was flowing in the city streets like a stream of Tigris water, so that Hulagu and his army set up their army far from the center The city because of the smell of the dead.1
And because Baghdad was an example of a glorious civilized model, the scientific movement was active, which was represented by the finest and most beautiful buildings, and was full of schools – which are like universities today – and its annexes of libraries, publishing houses and astronomy observatories, and the most prominent and brightest of its features was the House of Wisdom, which was not spared from The oppression of the Mongols, and as a result of that devastating invasion, the beacon of the ancient world was extinguished forever on the night of the fall of Baghdad.
The round city of Mansour .. Building the capital of the Abbasid caliphate
When the Banu al-Abbas assumed power in the year 750 CE / 132 AH, they transferred the capital of the caliphate from Damascus to Mesopotamia, and the second Abbasid caliph, Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, chose the geographical location of his capital after great care and consultation, so the location of Baghdad was chosen on the banks of the Tigris River in the west and near the Euphrates River.
The Caliph imposed strict control on building the city, so that he had laid the foundation stone in it himself, and he ordered the builders to put cotton balls soaked in a liquid oil and set them on fire and place them on the outer city borders where the high fences built of red tiles would be constructed, and the shape of the city was in the form of a circle. It is elaborate and reflects the works of the Greek mathematician Euclid, which was studied and loved by the Caliph.
The city was surrounded by four gates, each two opposite each other. The gates are separated by an equal distance, and a road passes through each door that leads to the city center where the Caliph’s court is located, and each gate is named according to the destination it refers to. There is the Kufa Gate, the Basra Gate, the Levant Gate and the Khorasan Gate.
In the mention of Baghdad by its historian al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (1002-1071 AD), it was stated that: There was no equal for Baghdad in this world in the majesty of its destiny, the splendor of its affair, the abundance of its scholars and figures, and the distinction of its roles, homes, paths, streets, shops, and other.
Its drivers, trails, alleys and mosques, its pigeons, trails and inns, the goodness of its air, the sweetness of its water, the coolness of its shades and its winters, the moderation of its summer and winter, the health of its spring and autumn, and the increase of the number of its residents. And most of what was built and welcomed in the days of Rashid, as the world was the comfort of beds, the home of nurseries, fertile farms, and the source of projects.”3
Baghdad was an ideal image of economic and social well-being, and a source of inspiration for every merchant, poet, scientist, researcher, writer, philosopher, astronomer, and others who had wished himself to promote the advancement of its people and their condition, so that it was popular for them to say that so-and-so “pleases”, meaning kindness and kindness, or that he saw himself as the highest status. The writer Yaqut al-Hamwi (1179-1229 AD), describing the people’s turnout for the city of peace, says: I would not pass one of the roads of this city without thinking that the people were called upon.The House of Wisdom .. The fire of the Islamic renaissance that the caliphs ignited and extinguished by the Mongols