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Baghdad, the majestic capital city of the great Abbasid Caliphate. For centuries, the city was a center of culture, learning, trade and religious life. However, in the 1250’s, Hulagu, brother of the Mongol Khan, demanded that the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mustasim, submit himself as a vassal to the Mongol Empire. The Caliph rejected this. In response, Hulagu raised an enormous army and marched on Baghdad itself. The Abbasids were now faced with the greatest threat in their history. Monke Khan instructed his brother Hulagu to destroy Baghdad if the Abbasids refused to surrender. Was resistance possible? Could the Abbasids overcome the war machine of the Mongol Empire?

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Sources:
-Chambers, James - The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe, (Castle Books, 2003)
-Jackson, Peter - The Mongols and the West: 1221–1410, (Routledge, 2005)
-Khanbaghi, Aptin - The Fire, the Star, and the Cross: Minority Religions in Medieval and Early Modern Iran, (I.B. Tauris, 2006)
-Marozzi, Justin - Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood: A History in Thirteen Centuries, (De Capo, 2014)
-Nicolle, David - The Mongol Warlords: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, Tamerlane, (Brockhampton, 1998)
-Saunders, J.J. - The History of the Mongol Conquests, (University of Pennsylvania, 2001)

#MongolEmpire #Abbasids #HistoryFacts

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