In Segment 3-I, I discussed how much territory the Muslims conquered in a very short time such that by 750 AD, they controlled over 4.1 million square miles of territory. The Roman Empire, which encompassed less territory, became so huge that in 395 it split into two empires – east and west. This was 900 years after the founding of the Roman Republic – a period during which the Romans had established the best educational, administrative and miliary institutions in world history. Of course, there was no way these former Arabian desert dwellers and caravan raiders could keep their gargantuan empire intact. So, it fractured into multiple kingdoms as shown on the map of the Islamic World in 1000 AD.
In Segment 3-IV, I explained how the Sunnis and Shia split back in the 600’s. Three and half centuries later, we see that the Sunnis are on the east and west edges of the Muslim world and included modern Iran (which is now Shia.) The Shias controlled the middle including Saudi Arabia (now Sunni.) What is so amazing is that the religion of those Arab founders, Islam, would remain the predominant religion throughout this huge region of the world and that Arabic would continue to be the lingua franca.
Before turning to the Ottomans, who got going around 1300, we need to lay some groundwork and address two mass invasions which had huge impacts on the world: the first was by the Seljuk Turks whose invasion resulted in the Crusaders coming to Palestine. Even more relevant is that the founders of the Ottomans are descendants of the Seljuks. The second invasion was by the Mongols, who slaughtered over 10% of the world’s population within a century and half. Their westward advance was halted by a decisive battle in Palestine.
(We are not going to be able to get beyond the Seljuks and the First Crusade with this segment. I do hope you will find it interesting and worthwhile reading. Segment 3-VI will pick up with the Crusades and get us to the Ottomans.)
The origin of the Seljuks. Around 950, a group of Turkic nomadic tribesmen, led by a chief named Seljuk, moved out of Central Asia, and settled in a region north of Iran. Seljuk converted to the Sunni form of Islam. His grandson, Toghril Beg is considered the true founder of the Seljuk Dynasty. That man was a military and administrative genius. He was able to conquer/unite the many Sunni kingdoms in the east.
The Sunni Caliph resided in Bagdad and he and other Sunni leaders commissioned Toghril to overthrow the Shia Caliph in Cairo Egypt ruled by the Fatimids. Meanwhile, the Shia Caliph made a similar arrangement with a fellow name Basasiri and in 1058, Basasiri’s forces with help from Shias in Persia, invaded Bagdad and captured the Sunni Caliph. The following year, Toghril and his boys, retook Bagdad, freed the Sunni Caliph, Toghril married the Caliph’s daughter, and they lived happily ever after.
I wish it was as simple as that. The history during this period of who did what to whom is just way too complex to address. Some of the key things to know include:
The Seljuks defeat the Byzantines in a decisive battle. Toghril died in 1063 and after some scrapping, his nephew Alp Arslan became Sultan and was at the head of the Seljuk army at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Byzantine army was destroyed and the Emperor, Romanus, was captured. Alp Arslan extracted major land cessions before releasing him. Upon his return to Constantinople, Romanus was blinded and later murdered. Years of chaos and civil war in Byzantium followed the demise of Romanus. In 1081, general Alexius Comnenus seized the throne and consolidated control over the remaining empire as Emperor Alexius I. Meanwhile the Seljuks were running rampant throughout what was left of the Byzantine Empire.
No longer all power in one man. Toghril made himself Sultan and ruled the state and military. The Sunni Caliph in Bagdad was relegated to being just the religious leader.
A cry for help from The West. In 1095, Alexius sent envoys to Pope Urban II asking for mercenary troops from the West to help confront the Turkish threat. Though relations between Christians in the East and those in the West had long been fractious, Alexius’s request came at a time when the situation was improving. In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the Pope called on Western Christians to take up arms to aid the Byzantines and recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. This marked the beginning of the Crusades. Pope Urban’s plea was met with a tremendous response, both among the military elite as well as ordinary citizens.
The First Crusade (1096-1099). Four armies of Crusaders were formed from troops of different Western European regions. These groups departed for Byzantium in August 1096.A less organized band of knights and commoners known as the “People’s Crusade” set off before the others under the command of a popular preacher known as Peter the Hermit. Ignoring Alexius’ advice to wait for the rest of the Crusaders, Peter’s army crossed the Bosporus Strait in early August. In the first major clash between the Crusaders and Muslims, Turkish forces crushed the European invaders.
Crusaders massacre Jews. Another group of Crusaders, led by the notorious Count Emicho, carried out a series of massacres of Jews in various towns in the Rhineland in 1096, drawing widespread outrage and causing a major crisis in Jewish-Christian relations. (Another case of Jews being less safe with Christians than Muslims.)
Crusaders defeat the Seljuks. In May 1097, the Crusaders and their Byzantine allies attacked Nicaea, the Seljuk capital in Anatolia. The city surrendered in late June. Despite deteriorating relations between the Crusaders and Byzantine leaders, the combined force continued its march through Anatolia, and captured another important Seljuk city, Antioch, in June 1098.
The Fall of Jerusalem. The Christian army continued south along the eastern Mediterranean coast and entered into Fatimid (Shia) territory – the arch enemies of the Seljuk Sunnis. The Crusader’s goal was to capture Jerusalem. They besieged the City for six weeks. Tancred, one of the Crusade leaders assured the City’s governor they would spare its inhabitants if he surrendered. Despite Tancred’s promise, the Crusaders slaughtered hundreds of men, women, and children – both Muslims and Jews – in their victorious entrance into Jerusalem.
There were a total of 8 Crusades. (We are not going to cover all of them.) Only this First Crusade could be considered a success from the perspective of the Byzantines. With their western allies, they had defeated both the Seljuks and Fatimids. However, a century later, the Fourth Crusade would prove to be the greatest disaster in the history of Byzantium, and it would come at the hands of the perfidious avaricious Latin Christian Crusaders.
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