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The Mongol Invasion of the Fertile Crescent

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OVERDUE FINES: 25¢ per w per in- _________-_——-RETURNING LIBRARY MATERIALS: Place in book return to remove charge from circulation records © COD. SaUI © Copyright by Saud Hussien Qusti 1979 THE MONGOL INVASION OF THE FERTILE CRESCENT (1257-1260) by Saud Hussein Qusti A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of History 1979 He ne tu ac gre EVE ”En 1:10 SW to t even ABSTRACT THE MONGOL INVASION OF THE FERTILE CRESCENT 1257-1260 by Saud Hussien Qusti The Mongol invasion of the Fertile Crescent 1257-l260 has never been studied as an independent subject. The subject has been treated by historians as a part of the history of the Mongols, the history of the Mongol Conquest; the history of the Crusades and the history of the Mamluks. These treatments of the subject are not satisfactory as they neglect the need for an independent approach to the subject, which in turn is necessitated by several factors. First, the invasion was the accomplishment of one Mongol Campaign, that of Hulagu. Second, the lands that the invasion occurred in, constitute a cultural and geo- graphical unit. Third, the invasion occurred as a consecutive chain of events during a span of three years (l257-1260). The independent treat- ment I attempted in this study was benefitted by up-to-date publica- tions of the primary sources that were not previously available. The study not only added a new topic, but also gave more detailed treatment to the subject and further investigation and characterization of the events. DEDICATION To the memory of my aunt Sa'diyah, my first history teacher: As passionate a teller as she was, she never concealed facts, and never told lies! ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study began as a short paper on the Battle of Ain Jalut (September 1260), for Dr. Allan Fisher. Dr. Fisher later guided the whole study through the stages of research. His patience, kindness and positive remarks made the task of researching and writing more pleasurable than they normally would have been. A part of this study on the Mongol invasion of Syria, and the Mongol-Frankish relations 1260, was submitted to Dean A. Sullivan, who enlightened this portion of study by his valuable criticism and notes. My friend Susan M. Brown, a Master's candidate at Michigan State University edited the first two chapters of the study with care; helping to make my original writing readable in English. She also criticized several points and thus turned my attention to new perspectives. Mr. Salih al-Hakami and Mr. Abd-Allah al-Meiegeel, both Ph.D candidates at the University of Michigan offered me their best help by loaning the necessary Arabic primary sources for the study from the graduate library of University of Michigan. I am deeply gratful to my wife, Salma, and my sons, Hussien, Dhia, Alla and Raid for their moral support, and for their understanding for the time I had devoted for researching and writing. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION . .' ................. II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................. III. EGYPT AND SYRIA ON THE EVE OF THE MONGOL INVASION. 24 24 4O IV. THE MONGOL INVASION OF THE FERTILE CRESCENT (1258-1260) .................... 54 The Destruction of the Ismaelis: The Persian Entrance to the Fertile Crescent (l255-l257) . 58 The Destruction of the Abbassid Caliphate (1258) . 64 The Subjugation of Upper Mesopotamia (1259) . The Invasion, Occupation of Moslem Syria and The Subjugation of the Latin Principality of Antioch (l260) ................ V. THE EGYPTIAN ENGAGEMENT AND THE END OF THE MONGOL TIDE IN THE NEAR EAST (1260) ............ 158 VI. CONCLUSION ...................... 204 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................... 216 iv of in inve ing the thei sweep the r polit wards existe unitar Eventue EXtende out of INTRODUCTION The Mongol invasion of the Fertile Crescent is - with no sense of exaggeration - an historical landmark in the history of this region in particular, and in the history of Islamdoniin general. The stormy invasion (1257-1260) carried out by the Mongol and Turkic hordes driv- ing out of their homelands in Mongolia and central Asia, had affected the political and cultural development of the region and have left their marks up today. What the Mongols actually accomplished was the destruction and sweeping away of decaying or stagnating socio-political structures of the region, and the enhancement of and provocation to new socio- political structural forces to come out and prevail for centuries after— wards. The Mongol storm that had destroyed the Abbassid Caliphate existed up to l258, and by then was still functioning as a spiritual unitary leadership for IslamdonL The last Caliphs in Baghdad had eventually lost the Abbassid secular imperial sovereignty that once extended from Spain to Western India. What was left for them to govern out of this vast empire of the 8th and 9th centuries was approximately the area that constituted most parts of the present state of Iraq. The very existance of the Caliphate had survived since the 10th cen- tury despite the rising up of several expansionist Muslim powers and only through historical compromises. The Caliphs surrendered their secular sovereignty to the rising powers and in return maintained the spiritual one, and thus the Caliphate managed to exist until the coming of the Mongols at the gates of Baghdad in l258. With the coming of the Mongols, such previous compromises could not work out, simply because the Mongols had no claim or desire to claim that they were a Muslim power. Consequently the Caliphate in Baghdad had no choice but to commit a suicidal struggle in defense of all its secular and spiritual possessions. With overwhelming power, the Mongols did destroy the fPapacy of Islam? in l258, and the Abbassid Caliphate that was established in Cairo three years later, retained nothing that belonged to that of Baghdad except the name and the claimed descent of the nominal "Caliphs" to the house of Abbass. Another historical contribution of the Mongol invasion was the destruction of the Ayyubid principalities, in inner Syria and upper Mesopotamia, that constituted the fragmental remnant of the l2th century empire of Saladin. The house of Ayyub had lost its rule over Egypt in 1250 but was still ruling over the western flank of the empire. The Mamluk regime that was established had failed so far to ti tr Pa ha! 395 extend its power from Egypt into Syria, and it was the Mongol power which carried out the task of destroying the decaying Ayyubid princi- palities. By this destruction, and the extension of the Mongol power to Gaza in southern Palestine, and the Mongol demand to the Mamluks in Egypt to submit, the Mongols had evoked to the Mamluks in Egypt to submit, the Mongols had evoked the only capable united Muslim power, Mamluk Egypt, to come out of the Nile Valley to the hills of Palestine for self-defense and pan-Islamic action. The Mongol power in Palestine had reached its further exten— sion in Asia, and the Islamic power had reached its last line of defense. When the Mamluks won the battle, they consequently inherited Syria. By unifying Muslim Egypt and Syria in the Mamluk state, the crusader states in the Syrian Coast were sandwiched again at a period of declining European supplies and commitment to the crusade, and the revival of vigorous pan-Islamic tide resulted from the defeat of the Mongols and the inheritance of inner Syria by the Mamluks. The destruction of the crusader.states in the Syrian Coast by the end of the 13th century should be considered as an indirect con- tribution of the Mongol invasion of the Fertile Crescent. It was a paradoxical result. The Mongols and the Franks, more than once, had had the vision of a Mongol-Frankish alliance that would be directed ragainst the Muslims, but here the Mongol invasion eventually had he hi ch cre "eé whi 125 cu] par: tary th0u Whit. init' than the t 11m 1.: provoked an Egyptian expansion andbrought about the process that would end the Frankish existance in Syria and brought with it practically the end of that vision. These significant events of the Mongol invasion and its impact have been treated, so far, by historians either as a part of Mongol history or the history of the Mongol conquest as a whole. Such treat- ment has its defects. First it neglects the political and cultural characteristics that a certain region - in this case the Fertile crescent - has in common. It was a politically and culturally unified region which historically experienced one particular military campaign - which in this case is the Hulagu campaign - during a particular period, l257-l260. The geographical continuance of the region, its unified culture and political interrelations made the invasion of one of its parts felt in and had its immediate consequences on the other parts. The other defect of this treatment is its neglect of the uni- tary characteristics of the Mongol campaign commanded by Hulagu. Al- though the campaign essentially is an extension of the Mongol expansion which resulted from the unification of the Mongol hordes and had its initiative in the campaign of Chingis Khan, it is distinct in more than one aspect. First, it was carried out by a new generation, namely; the third generation of the Mongol expansionists; second its aim was limited to the conquest of the Fertile Crescent and Egypt besides the or C6 U6 I111 COL its subjection of the Ismaelis in.Persia; third, it marked the last phase of the Mongol expansion in west Asia and perhaps carried with it the seed of its end.
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