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TERMS & NAMES

3 Turkish Empires Rise


mamelukes
Seljuks
vizier

in Anatolia Malik Shah

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Turkish people converted to Islam and In the 20th century, the collapse of the
founded new empires that would Turkish empire left ethnic and religious
renew Muslim civilization. hostilities that still affect the world.

SETTING THE STAGE To the east of Constantinople and south of Russia, the power-
ful Muslim empire of the Abbasids had ruled since the 8th century. (See Chapter 10.)
By the late 10th century, however, their empire seemed ripe for conquest.

The Turks March from Central Asia

As early as 1300 b.c., Chinese records mention a people called the Durko living west of
their borders. The Durko may well have been the Turks. For centuries, these nomads
rode their horses over the vast plains. They herded goats and sheep, lived in tents, and
used two-humped camels to carry their goods. The Islamic world first met them as
raiders and traders along their northeastern frontiers. In the 10th century, the Turks
began converting to Islam and slowly migrating into the Abbasid Empire.
A. Answer Slaves
would be loyal From Slaves to Masters When the Abbasids first noticed
because their position
depended on their
the military skills of the Turks, they began buying Turkish
masters position. children to raise as slaves, train as soldiers, and employ as
THINK THROUGH HISTORY bodyguards. The Abbasids came to prize the slaves for their
A. Recognizing skill and loyalty. On this subject, one author wrote: One obe-
Motives How would
giving slaves position
dient slave is better than 300 sons; for the latter desire their
and power assure fathers death, the former [desires] long life for his master. Over time,
their loyalty? Turkish military slaves, or mamelukes, became a powerful force in
Vocabulary the Abbasid Empire. The mameluke forces soon became
caliph: an Islamic stronger than their Abbasid caliph masters in Baghdad.
religious and political This foreign influence could not have come at a worse
leader.
time for the Abbasids. For 200 years, their empire had been losing
significant stretches of territory. Spain broke away in 756, six
years after the Abbasids came to power. After setting up their
capital in Baghdad, the Abbasids saw other parts of their
empire break away: Morocco in 788 and Tunisia in 800. In
809, some regions of Persia were lost. Then, in 868, the Abbasids lost control of Egypt. A mameluke
Finally, in 945, Persian armies moved into Baghdad and put an end to the caliphs horseman aims his
political power. Even though the caliph continued as the religious leader of Islam, he bow at the enemy
in this drawing
gave up all political power to the new Persian ruler.
from around the
The Rise of the Seljuks At this time of weakness and division, large numbers of year 1300.

Turks migrated into the Abbasid Empire around 970. One of the first of these migrat-
ing Turkish groups was known as the Seljuks (SEHL JOOKS), after the family that led

Background them. By the year 1000, the Seljuks had converted to the Sunni branch of Islam.
For a discussion of the Despite their conversion, however, they continued to make war on other Muslims. In
split between Sunni
and Shiite Muslims, 1055, they attacked and captured Baghdad from the Persians.
see Chapter 10, page Twenty years later, the Seljuk sultans marched on the Byzantine Empire. At the
240. Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Turks crushed the Byzantines. Within ten years, the
Seljuks occupied most of Anatolia, the eastern flank of Byzantium. This brought the
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Turks closer to Constantinople than the Arabs or Persians had ever come. THINK THROUGH HISTORY
This near conquest of the New Rome also inspired the name of the Seljuk B. Contrasting
What advantages
sultanate of Rum (from Rome). Rum survived in Anatolia after the rest would a nomadic peo-
of the Seljuk Empire had crumbled. ple like the Turks have
in fighting settled
The Turks Secure Persian Support Seljuk rulers wisely courted the people like the
support of their newly conquered Persian subjects. In fact, the founder of Persians or
Byzantines?
the Seljuk Dynasty, Toghril Beg, chose the Persian city of Isfahan B. Answers Nomads
(IHS fuh HAHN) as the capital of his kingdom. This favorable treatment

would have almost
made the Persians loyal supporters of the Seljuks, and the Turks often nothing to lose in war.
appointed them as government officials. The brilliant Nizam al- Nomads would be
more mobile and
Mulk, for example, was a Persian who served as the vizier, or prime
HISTORY
MAKERS could strike at will.
minister, of the most famous of Seljuk sultans, Malik Shah.
Malik Shah
The bond between Turks and Persians also grew strong because of
10551092 Turkish admiration of Persian learning. The nomadic Seljuks had
Malik Shah, the third and greatest arrived in Southwest Asia basically illiterate. They were unfamiliar
Seljuk sultan, was a conqueror like with the traditions of Islam, which they had just adopted. As a result,
the sultans before him. However, he they looked to their Persian subjects for both cultural and religious
is remembered today for his love of
guidance. The Turks adopted Persian as the language of culture and
art, science, and literature. Among
his achievements, he built the great adopted features of the Persian way of life that they so admired.
mosque Masjid-i-Jame (shown Seljuk rulers were called shahs, from the Persian word for a king.
above) in Isfahan. Malik also They also promoted Persian writers like the mystical Islamic poet
established religious tolerance Jalaludin Rumi, whose poetry is widely read today. Rumi often wrote
throughout his empire.
He patronized intellectuals and of his desire to achieve a personal experience of God. In this poem,
artists like Omar Khayyam (OH mahr
he expresses that desire in passionate terms:
kyYAHM), who is most famous today
for the Rubaiyat (ROObeeAHT). The A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
Rubaiyat is a collection of poems Burning with longing-fire
describing the poets love of lifes Wanting to sleep with my head on your doorsill,
pleasures. Omar also created a more My living is composed only of this trying to be in your presence.
accurate calendar for Malik. JALALUDIN RUMI, quoted in Unseen Rain
Malik Shah was also capable of
great cruelty. When his brother Seljuk shahs like the great Malik Shah took pride in supporting
Takash revolted against him, Malik
punished Takash by blinding him.
Persian artists and architects. Malik beautified the city of Isfahan, for
Malik Shah died suddenly at the age example, by building many splendid mosques.
of 37, possibly poisoned by his wife. The Turks political and cultural preference for the Persians
caused the almost complete disappearance of the Arabic language
from Persia. Only religious scholars studying the Quran used Arabic.
As a result of their policy, the Seljuks won strong support from Persians, who were
proud of their long heritage. Like other conquering peoples throughout history, the
Seljuk Turks found that they had much to learn from those whom they had defeated.

Turks saw control

of cities as the key
to victory. This
drawing from an
early 13th-century
manuscript illus-
trates a siege of a
city that took place
two centuries
earlier. Notice the
two soldiers being
catapulted over
the wall.

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Seljuks Confront Crusaders and Mongols

Malik Shah ruled as the last of the strong Seljuk leaders. After his unexpected death in
1092, no capable shah appeared to replace him. So, the Seljuk Empire quickly disinte-
grated into a loose collection of minor kingdoms. Just at that point, the West launched a
Background counterattack against the Turks. This series of military campaigns is called the Crusades.
For a full discussion of
the Crusades, see The Seljuks and the Crusaders Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in
Chapter 14, page 343. 1095. He called for Christians to drive the Turks out of Anatolia and recover
Jerusalem. Armies from Western Europe soon poured through Constantinople and
proceeded on to Palestine. In 1099, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem and massacred
its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants. They established a Latin Christian kingdom that
lasted about a century.
Eventually, a fragment of the former Seljuk Empire gathered enough strength to
fight back. Under their famous Kurdish captain Saladin, the Muslims recovered
Jerusalem in 1187. Eventually, Saladin and his Western opponent King Richard I of
England signed a truce. Their agreement gave Jerusalem to the Muslims but granted
Background Western pilgrims access to Christian holy places.
Christian holy places The popes called for further Crusades. But each new one was weaker than the last.
included sites
believed to be con-
The Western threat to the Turks was fading. However, just as the menace of the
nected with Jesus Crusades was subsiding, the Muslim world suffered another devastating shock. This
life, death, and time it came from the east.
resurrection.
Seljuks Face the Mongols The new threat to Turkish power was the Mongol army
of conquest and destruction led by Genghis Khan. Early in the 1200s, Genghis Khan
had forged his Mongol tribes into a unified force and conquered China.
In the course of their rampage west, the Mongol armies leveled any cities that
dared to resist them. They slaughtered whole populations. In 1258, when Genghiss
grandson Hulagu finally took Baghdad, he had tens of thousands of people killed. He
burned down the caliphs palace. Mongol belief warned against the spilling of sacred
blood. So Hulagu executed the last Abbasid caliph by having him wrapped in a carpet
and trampled to death by horses.
With untold brutality, Genghis Khan and his successors shaped the biggest land
empire in history. (See Chapter 12 for more about the Mongol Empire.) The warrior
Mongols, however, knew little about administering their territory. As a result, their
vast empire crumbled in just a few generations. And out of the rubble of the Mongol
Empire rose another group of Turksthe Ottomans. They would build an empire
that lasted into the 20th century. You will learn about more about the Ottoman
Empire in Chapter 18.

Section 3 Assessment
1. TERMS & NAMES 2. TAKING NOTES 3. ANALYZING ISSUES 4. THEME ACTIVITY
Identify Create a time line like the one In what ways would it be accurate Empire Building Between
mamelukes below to show the events in the to say that the Persians actually Abbasid and Mongol rule,
Seljuks last 200 years of the Abassid won over their Turkish Baghdad was occupied and
vizier Empire. conquerors? governed by four different powers.
Malik Shah THINK ABOUT In a chart like the one below,
religion summarize important events and
756 culture features of those occupations.
Spain
breaks political influence
away Occupiers Events/Features
Abbasids
Persians
Seljuks
Mongols

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