#209-Mongol 17.1: Rivers of Ink & Blood

<p>(NOTE: This is Pt. 1 or 2. The Full Episode &amp; all other bonus content is available via Patreon.com/thehistoryofchina)</p><br><p>Mongke has ascended as the Great Khan of the Mongols and set loose his younger brother, Hulegu Ilkhan to bring the Islamic world to heel.&nbsp;The Caliph of the Abbasid Dynasty, al-Mustasim, sits ensconced in his citadel city of Baghdad - the jewel of Islam - and believes that Allah above and his loyal subjects beneath will be more than a match for barbarian hordes.</p><br><p>He's about to learn a lesson neither he - nor the world - will ever forget...</p><br><p>Time Period Covered:</p><p>1258-1259 CE</p><br><p>Major Historical Figures:</p><p>Mongol Empire:</p><p>Hülegü Ilkhan [ca. 1215-1265]</p><p>General Kitbukha [d. 1260]</p><p>General Baiju [1201-1260]</p><br><p>Abbasid Caliphate:</p><p>al-Musta’sim-Billah Abu-Ahmad Abdullah bin al-Mustansir&nbsp;</p><p>Billah, 37th Caliph [1213-1258]</p><p>Governor Shahab al Din Sulaiman shah [d. 1258]</p><p>Vizier Ibn al Alkami [1197-1258]</p><br><p>Major Sources Cited:</p><p>Al-Din, Rashid. Jami al Tararikh (Compendium of Histories).</p><p>Al-Din, Rashid (tr. John Andrew Boyle). The Successors of Genghis Khan.</p><p>Chugtai, Mizra Azeem Baig. “The Fall of Baghdad” in The Annal of Urdu Studies.</p><p>Daftary, Farhad. The Isma’ilis: Their History and Doctrines.</p><p>Hillenbrand, Robert. “Propaganda in the Mongol ‘World History’” in British Academy Review, issue 17 (March 2011).</p><p>Hodgson, M. G. S. “The Isma’ili State” in The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods.</p><p>Jamal, Nadia Eboo. Surviving the Mongols: Nizari Quhistani and the Continuity of Ismaili Tradition in Persia.</p><p>Marozzi, Justin. Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood.</p><p>Paris, Matthew of (tr. John Allen Giles). Chronica Majora (Matthew Paris’s English History From the Year 1235 to 1273, Volume 1).</p><p>Saunders, J.J. The History of the Mongol Conquests.</p><p>van Ruysbroeck, Willem (tr. W. W. Rockhill &amp; Peter Jackson). The journey o