Three Continents: Conflict and Commerce

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Chapter 8 Three Continents Conflict and Commerce
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The Abbasid Caliphate at the Height of its Power
1. In 750 the weakened Umayyads fell to the
Abbasids (750-1258) who moved the capital from
Damascus to Baghdad (Persian for "city of God")
which was built between 762 and 766 on the banks
of the Tigris River. The location was strategic
since it could take advantage of the river
traffic to the Persian Gulf and the caravans from
the Mediterranean and central Asia. The greatest
extent of the Abbasid Empire was under Haroun
al-Rashid (786-809). 2. In the wake of the
Abbasid victory, many of the Umayyad leaders were
executed. One who escaped was Abd al-Rahman who
made his way to Spain where he re-established the
Umayyad dynasty in 756. The Umayyad power began
to deteriorate in the middle of the tenth century
and Muslim Spain disintegrated into the smaller
states of Seville, Malaga, Toledo, Saragossa, and
Granada under the control of various
families. 3. In 788 a independent Sunnite regime
was established in Morocco. By the tenth century
the Umayyads of Cordoba had gained control of
Morocco but were quickly replaced in the middle
of the eleventh century by the Almoravids. The
Almoravids also conquered western Algeria and
southern Spain. Their capitals were at Marrakech
and Seville. As the Christians in Spain gained
territories in the twelfth century, the weak
Almoravids were succeeded by the Almohads (Muslim
Berbers) from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
The Almohads soon conquered parts of southern
Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli in response
to Norman expansion from Sicily. 4. In 909
control over Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) was
seized by a claimant who professed to be a
descendent from Fatimah, Muhammad's daughter. In
the second half of the tenth century, Egypt was
conquered by the Fatimids and they transferred
the capital from Tunisia to newly built Cairo.
By 1000 the Fatimids also controlled southern
Syria, the Hejaz, and Yemen as well as most of
North Africa. In the early eleventh century the
Fatimid empire began to disintegrate permitting
Byzantine control over northern Syria and make
possible the successes of the Crusaders. 5. In
the east, Iran was increasingly difficult for the
Abbasids to govern as independent dynasties were
created. Out of weakness the caliph recognized
their defacto control. Among the most important
were the Samanids controlling Khorasan and
Transoxiana from Bukhara and the Zaidi sect of
Shi'ites who flourished in northern Iran and
northern Yemen in the ninth century. 6. The
Seljuk Turks, originating in the steppes of
Turkistan, served as mercenaries for the
Abbasids. Taking advantage of the weakness of
the Abbasid, the Seljuks seized Baghdad and
control of the empire. In 1071 the Seljuks
defeated the Byzantines in eastern Anatolia and
then seized most of the peninsula. Question 1.
Examine the expansion and disintegration of the
Abbasid Empire.
The Abbasid Caliphate at the Height of Its Power
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• Golden Age of Islam
• Abbasids
• Baghdad
• Centralized government
• Grand vizier and an advisory council
• Wealth based on agriculture and trade
• Decline
• Rival dynasties in the Empire
• Look to Turkish and Persian leadership
• Economic strength of North and West Africa
• Religious schism

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• The Umayyads
• Crossed into the Iberian Peninsula, 710
• Umayyad caliphate established, 756
• Education
• Jews
• Islamic Theology, Philosophy, and Science
• Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
• Ibn Rushd (Averoës)
• Muhammad al-Ghazali
• Translation of Greek and Persian science
• Medicine, Maimonides
• Architecture
• Literature

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Example of Middle Eastern Islamic ironwork on
window
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The Early Crusades 1. In 1071 at Manzikert
in Asia Minor a mercenary army of Seljuk Turks in
the service of the Arabs defeated a Greek army.
The Turks soon occupied much of Asia Minor as
well as Jerusalem. Fearful, Emperor Alexius I
Comnenus (1081-1118) of Constantinople issued a
call for help to Pope Urban II (1088-1099). In
1095 at the Council of Clermont, Urban challenged
Christians to begin a holy war to recover the
Holy Land. The initial response was a ragtag
rabble under the leadership of Peter the Hermit
and Walter the Penniless. As it made its way to
Constantinople, the Peasants' Crusade terrorized
the people of the Balkans. Alexis wisely ushered
the peasant crusaders on to Asia Minor where the
Turks massacred them. 2. Coming primarily from
France and Germany, the armies of the First
Crusade (1096-1099) converged on Constantinople
with several thousand cavalry and perhaps 10,000
infantry. During three years of campaigning,
Antioch fell in 1098 and after a five-week siege
in 1099 so too did Jerusalem. In both cases, the
Muslim and Jewish inhabitants were massacred.
The region as a whole was divided into the
principality of Antioch, the counties of Tripoli
and Edessa, and the kingdom of Jerusalem.
Antioch, Edessa, and Tripoli were all held as
fiefs under the rule of the kingdom of
Jerusalem. 3. With narrow strips of land and a
small population, the Christian hold was
precarious. It was only a matter of time until
the Muslims attacked. When they did, Edessa fell
in 1144. Leading the reinforcements of the
Second Crusade were King Louis VII of France and
Emperor Conrad III of Germany. It failed. In
1187 the sultan Saladin captured Jerusalem. 4.
The Third Crusade brought together the three
major monarchs of Europe Richard I, the
Lionhearted, of England, Philip II Augustus of
France, and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany.
Barbarossa took a land route in 1190 but drowned
crossing a river in Asia Minor. His army
disbanded before reaching the Holy Land. Philip
traveled by land in 1191 to Genoa and then by sea
to Acre. He was joined shortly by Richard
sailing from Normandy. Together the forces
captured Acre but Philip and Richard quarreled
and Philip returned to France, leaving his troops
in the Holy Land. Although unable to recapture
Jerusalem, Richard did confirm peace with Saladin
in 1192 and safe conduct for Christians to
Jerusalem. 5. In the Fourth Crusade, Venetians
induced Crusaders to attack Christian Zara, a
trading rival. Captured in 1202, the Crusaders
turned to Constantinople that was sacked in 1203.
A year later, the Latin Empire of Constantinople
was created, lasting until 1261. 6. The Fifth
Crusade fruitlessly attacked Acre and then turned
its efforts on Egypt where Damietta was placed
under siege in 1218. After its fall in 1219,
Christians turned to the Nile Delta but were
forced to flee when the Egyptians broke the dams
in the canals. Damietta had to be surrendered
for a safe retreat. 7. On the Sixth Crusade,
Frederick II of Germany negotiated in 1229 an
agreement with the sultan for the restoration of
Christian Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and
several towns in Palestine. In return, he
promised not to aid Crusaders warring in Egypt.
The fall of Acre in 1291 ended the Crusader
states. Question 1. What were the objectives of
the Crusades and why did they ultimately fail?
The Early Crusades
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• The Crusades
• Pope Urban II, 1095
• Unite Christians under the Latin church
• Hoped for commercial gains for the Italian
  city-states
• Decline of the Byzantine Empire
• Declining protection of the Seljuk Turks
• Divided Muslim World
• Fragmented politics
• Seljuk Turks
• Syria

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• Crusader States
• Constantinople captured, 1098
• Jerusalem captured, 1099
• Feudal Crusader states
• Muslim Counterattacks
• Salah ed-Din (Saladin)
• Jerusalem falls, 1187
• Failure of the Third Crusade, 1189-1192
• Latin Empire of Constantinople, 1202-1261
• Culture exchange
• Trade
• Religious animosity

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The Mongol Empire in 1255 1. The Mongols were a
nomadic people originating in the southern
grasslands of China south of Lake Baikal. They
primarily raised horses and herded sheep. Their
organization was by clans and related the clans
to tribes. The unification of the tribes came
under Temuchin (1206-1227) in the late twelfth
and early thirteenth centuries. Through the
tribe of his wife, Temuchin allied with the Chin
ruling north China. In 1206 a meeting of the
tribes in the Gobi Desert elected Temuchin their
great khan ("ruler"). Genghis Khan, as he was
now known, was the unquestioned leader. In 1227
Genghis was assassinated, the same year that
Peking fell. His forces went on to take the
southern reaches of the Yellow River in 1234 and
by 1241 held all of north China. In the
ascendancy of the Mongols, millions had been left
slaughtered in their wake. 2. The army, never
more than 130,000, was recruited from the Uigher
Turks, the Manchus, and other nomadic people. It
was divided into myriads of 10,000 with
subdivisions of 1,000, 100, and 10. They were
superior horsemen possessing a powerful compound
bow, needed supplies, and remounts. Although
their tactics utilizing siege warfare and cavalry
that encircled and compressed the enemy were very
successful, these were less effective in tropical
terrain and hilly regions than in the arid Mongol
heartland. 3. The empire of Genghis Khan was
divided among his four sons Juji (who had died
and his three sons received the inheritance),
Chaghatay, Ogotai, and Tului. Ogotai was
designated the grand khan. Eventually the
khanates became independent in central Asia was
the Khanate of Chaghatay (Changhadai) in Russia
the Khanate of Kipchak (Golden Horde, the sons of
Juji) in Persia the Khanate of Persia
(IlKhanate, Ogotai) and in Mongolia to southern
China the Khanate of the Great Kahn (Tului). 4.
In 1237 a Mongol expedition set out to conquer
Europe. They were led by Batu, grandson of
Genghis, and swept across Russia, capturing
Moscow, Kiev, and other cities. The Mongols then
advanced through Poland, East Prussia and
Bohemia, and Hungary, capturing Buda and Pest.
By the end of 1241 the Mongols were set to invade
the Holy Roman Empire. Europe was saved when
Ogotai died at the end of 1241. The Mongol
princes and generals rushed back to their
homeland to elect a new khan. Batu withdrew to
the Volga valley and remained there to form the
khanate of the Golden Horde. 5. The capital of
the Khanate of the Great Khan was moved from
Karakorum to Khanbaligh (modern Beijing) in 1264
(Beijing, the former Chin capital, was captured
in 1227). The summer palace was at Shang-tu. 6.
Chosen in 1260 as the great khan was Khubilai
(1260-1294) grandson of Ghengis. He adopted the
Chinese dynastic name of Yüan in 1271. Only
about 400,000 Mongols lived in China during the
Yüan period. 7. The Mongols conquered Tibet,
Korea, Sung China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma,
Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria. They were
stopped by the Egyptians in Palestine in 1260 and
Japan in 1274 and 1281. In 1281 Khubilai Khan
sent an army of nearly 150,000 to Japan but
failed to subdue it, especially after a massive
typhoon destroyed the entire Mongol fleet. In
1293 the Khan's forces failed against Java.
Questions 1. What weaknesses existed in the
khanate system? 2. How was the Mongol empire
enlarged after the death of Genghis khan?
The Mongol Empire in 1255
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Steppes of Central Asia with Heavenly Mountains
in background
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• Mongol Conquest of Eurasia
• Genghis Khan (Temuchin)
• Wars
• Techniques of warfare
• Law code, Yasa
• Administrative structure
• Division of land among his sons
• Ogotai succeeded his father to become the second
  khan
• Mongol attacks on Kiev and eastern Europe
• Kubilai becomes the fifth khan, 1260
• Civil war
• Peking established as the capital
• Expansion

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• Decline
• Mongol defeat, Battle at the Spring of Goliath,
  1260
• With Baghdad under Mongol control, Egypt became
  the political center of Islam
• Failed campaigns against Poland and Lithuania
• Legacy of the Mongols
• Yuan Dynasty, 1279-13
• Kublai Khan (1260-1294) first emperor of China
  and Mongolia
• Four hierachical classes
• Favored Muslim and non-Chinese to administer
• Trade
• Poverty, slavery, degradation for the Chinese
  brought rebellions

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• Il-Khanate of Persia, 1256-1359
• Hulagu named il-khan by brother Kublai Khan
• Around 1300 the il-khan converts to Islam
• Civil wars ended the dynasty in 1349
• The Golden Horde
• Retained nomadic habits
• Submission of Russian princes, 1240-1242
• Battle of Kulikovo, 1380, prince of Moscow
  defeats Mongols
• Ivan III, prince of Moscow, renounces allegiance
  to the khan
• Golden Horde splits up

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Tomb of Tamerlane in Samarkand
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• Khanate of Chagatai
• Silk Road passes through the territory
• No room to expand, turned energies inward leading
  to dynastic struggles and civil war
• Khanate broke up in the 14th century
• Timurlane (Timur the Lame)
• Career of conquest begins in Samarkand
• Depopulated lands left in his soldiers wake
• Empire collapses after his death (1405)
• Legacy of the Mongols
• Population reduced by half
• Racism
• Turkic language
• Reshapes religious patterns

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• Islamic Culture in Persia
• Il-khans converted to Islam and adopted Persian
  language (Farsi)
• Freed of Arab domination, developed separate
  linguistic, political, and cultural lines
• Literature
• Mamluk dynasties
• Turkish and Mongol origins, former slaves and
  soldiers
• Following collapse of the Ayyubids, slaves became
  the masters
• Hierarchical and feudal system of government
• Protect trade routes, support education

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Ottoman Empire's Growth and Decline 1. The
Ottomans are named after a Turkish emir named
Osman (1299-1326) who founded a dynasty when he
set up a border state on the Byzantine frontier
in western Anatolia about 1288. Taking advantage
of the collapse of the empire of the Seljuk
Turks, the Ottomans began expansion in the
fourteenth century. 2. In 1345 Ottoman forces
crossed into the Balkans where they were able to
take advantage of the weakness created by the
Black Death. At Kossovo in 1389 the Ottomans
decisively defeated Christian Balkan forces.
The Christians were again routed at Nicopolis in
1396. 3. Mehmet II (1451-1481) turned his
attention on Constantinople (Istanbul). He
assembled a fleet at Gallipoli, amassed
armaments, and built the fortress of Rumeli Hisar
on the European shore of the Bosporus. In April
1453 the siege began. Fifty-four days later, May
29, 1453, the city walls were breached and
Constantinople fell. Renamed Istanbul, it was to
be the new capital. Considering themselves the
successors to the Byzantine emperors, the
Ottomans began further imperialistic
expanson. Anatolia was conquered in the east and
in the west the Ottomans drove into the Aegean
and then up the Adriatic coast. In 1480 the
Italian port of Oranto was taken. Wallachia in
the north was conquered in 1476 but the
resistance from the Hungarians kept the Ottomans
in check thereby preventing them from going up
the Danube valley. 4. South of Asia Minor, the
Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517 and held Syria
and Palestine by 1526. Throughout the rest of
the century attacks would be pressed in North
Africa until it too was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire. 5. In 1521, after consolidating
their eastern provinces, the Ottomans under
Suleiman I (1520-1566), the Magnificent, began a
thrust up the Danube and gained the Serbian
capital of Belgrade. At the battle of Nohacs in
1526 the Hungarians were crushed. Three years
later, Vienna was under siege. The Turkish
forces withdrew, however, due to the insistence
of the Janissaries (the elite, professional
soldiers of the Ottoman army) that they return
home before winter. 6. In 1571 a large Turkish
fleet was smashed at Lepanto by an armada of over
two hundred ships from Spain, Venice, and the
papacy. Although defeated, the Turks rebuilt
their fleet and continued to exercise control
over the Mediterranean. 7. The Ottomans were on
the move again in the seventeenth century across
the Hungarian plain and by 1683 were laying siege
to Vienna. Defeated by a large united Christian
force that used heavy artillery (the Turks had
none), the Ottomans withdrew. In the Peace of
Karlowitz in 1699 the Turks gave up Hungary and
Transylvania to Austria. Question 1. What
successes and failures did the Ottomans have in
their expansion up to the end of the fifteenth
century? 2. what was the driving force for
Ottoman expansion? 3. What was the threat of
Ottoman expansion to Europe?
The Ottoman Empires Growth and Decline
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• House of Osman
• Osman, Turkish emir
• Ghazis maintain the warrior life, guardians of
  Islam
• Janissary corps, male child slaves become
  professional warriors
• Expansion at the expense of the Byzantine Empire
• Economy
• Edirne (Adrianople)
• Battle of Kosovo (1389) and Nicopolis (1396)
• Constaninople
• Mehmed II (1451-1481)
• Assault on Constantinople, 1453