Rise and Fall of The World's Richest City Baghdad: From Tatars to the U.S. Military attacks 2020.

About 1,260 years ago, the Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad in November, which took four years to build.

According to encyclopedia Britannica, before the arrival of The Arabs in 637, there were traces of population in the region and the capitals of many ancient states remained in nearby places.

However, the city of Baghdad was actually founded in a village on the site, which was specially chosen by the Abbasid caliph Abu Ja'far al-Mansur as his capital. It was at this place that the city of peace was built around which walls were built.

In the beginning, it was not like any city today, but was the center of government offices. The four main highways connected the Caliph's palace to the rest of the empire, in addition to the main mosque in the middle.

Despite the small size of this main city, the city gradually expanded as shops and houses began to be built rapidly outside the walls. Outside the north-east gate, the Khorasan Road was built, which led to the eastern edge of the Tigris with the help of a bridge made of boats.

By 946, the east bank of the river had become so populated that a new city was thought of compared to the center. According to encyclopedia Britannica, Baghdad reached its peak economically in the eighth and ninth centuries, especially during the reign of Caliph al-Mahdi and his successor, Harun al-Rashid.

The splendor of Baghdad of this period is also reflected in literature and at that time it was considered to be the richest city in the world, where trade goods reached from China, India and East Africa.

Scholars, scholars, poets, philosophers, scientists and thinkers from India to Egypt started arriving here. At the same time, The Muslims learned how to make paper from the Chinese and the city became full of academic activities. In the 9th century, every citizen of Baghdad could read and write.

From 775 to 932, Baghdad was the world's largest city in terms of population, according to the research of historian Tertius Chandler. Apart from this, it also has the honor of being the first city in the world to reach a population of one million.

However, two of Haroon al-Rashid's sons, al-Amin and al-Ma'mun, damaged large parts of the main city during fighting. After coming to power, al-Ma'mun did a lot of work on arabic translation of the ancient Greek language, as well as built hospitals in the city, gathered poets and art people in Baghdad.

But in the middle of the 9th century, the Abbasid Caliphate began to weaken due to internal differences, including one hand in the agricultural sector, which was in decline due to less focus on the canal system.

Between 836 and 892, those who became caliphs left Baghdad and moved north to Samarra, and Baghdad fell into the hands of the Turks who had been brought as guards. However, later when the Caliph returned to Baghdad, the new capital was established on the East Bank.

External factors and attacks by the Seljuk Turks later turned many parts of Baghdad into ruins.

cessation

The slow decline was the beginning, followed by a series of devastating external attacks that Baghdad could not cope with until the 20th century.

When the Abbasid Caliphate was destroyed by the Mongols, Baghdad's fate was no different.

In 1258, Genghis Khan's grandson Hulegu invaded Baghdad and did not know how many people were killed. Hulegu did what his grandfather Genghis Khan had been doing for the past half a century. He killed all the nobles except the Caliph with a sword there, and the Mongol troops entered Umm al-Balad Baghdad.

What happened over the next few days can be gauged from the words of historian Abdullah Wasef Shirazi:

"They walked around the city like hungry donkeys, like angry wolves barking at sheep. Beds and pillows were torn with knives. The women of the harem were dragged into the streets, and each of them became a toy for the Tatars. ‘

It is difficult to accurately estimate how many people fell victim to the massacre. Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 100,000 people were killed with swords, arrows or spears.

It is written in history books that the streets of Baghdad were littered with dead bodies. Hulegu Khan was forced to camp outside the city within a few days. The Mongols also destroyed several dams, making it almost impossible to restore the canal system and the possibility of Baghdad's economic recovery in the near future.

As far as the last and 37th Abbasid Caliph, Mustasam Billah, is concerned, there are many stories about the death of the Caliph, but more often is the statement of Nasir-ud-Din Tusi, the minister of Hulagu, who was present on the occasion.

He writes that after starving the Caliph for a few days, a covered food was brought in front of him. The hungry Caliph eagerly lifted the lid and saw that the vessel was full of diamonds and jewels. Hulegu said, 'Eat. ‘

"How do I eat diamonds?" replied Hulagu: "If you had made swords and arrows for your soldiers from these diamonds, I would not have been able to cross the river." ‘

The Abbasid Caliph replied: "This was God's will. ‘

Hulegu said: "Well, so what I'm going to do to you now is also God's will." He wrapped the caliph in embers and ran horses over him so that blood would not flow on the ground.

It is said that it was an honorable death given by the Mongols because they believed that people of high status should be killed without shedding their blood.

The Abbasid caliphs were killed, but the caliphate lasted forever. The great power of that time, the Mamluks, gave the status of caliph to the members of the Abbasid family, but in the Mamluk Empire of Egypt, they were caliphs by name and the power was elsewhere. However, because of these individuals, the concept of khilafat definitely survived.

But this center of Muslim power ended in Baghdad and later during the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire gained the caliphate.

Part of the Ottoman Empire

After the Mongol invasion, Baghdad remained a regional capital, but in 1400, it was destined to be destroyed again when Timur invaded.

In 1508, Baghdad went under the influence of Safavid Shah Isma'il I, but in 1534 it became part of the Ottoman Empire when Sultan Suleiman I captured it.

Despite numerous Iranian attacks, Baghdad remained in the Ottoman Empire until World War I. During this time, only once the Iranians were able to capture it for a short time.

In the 19th century, Baghdad also began to see European colors when trade increased. Around 1800, when Britain established its diplomatic mission in Baghdad, they quickly gained power and influence, until the British began to be ranked after the governor.

At the same time, a new era of Baghdad's development began when the journey on the river began with the help of steam engines, and on the other hand, the Ottoman caliphs carried out development works in the city.

Grand Minister Ahmed Shafiq Mudhat Pasha strengthened the administration by demolishing the walls of the city during his tenure, installed modern printing presses and built hospitals, schools, military factories.

A Hashemite king and independent Iraq from Britain

In 1920, Baghdad became the capital of Iraq again, but how did this happen? According to encyclopedia Britannica, Britain captured Basra, Baghdad and Mosul during World War I, which were taken away from the Ottoman Empire.

However, in May 1920, when there was a local uprising against British occupation, 100,000 British and Indian soldiers were deployed. The insurgency that spread throughout the country was barely contained, killing thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of British soldiers.

In such a situation, Britain felt the need for a new system in Iraq and at one time the situation reached such a point that the local British commander requested the supply of poisonous gas. In 1921, Britain decided to appoint Faisal bin Hussein as iraq's representative.

When Faisal arrived in Iraq, he was given a warm welcome and in August he was recognized as the ruler of Iraq and Syria. In fact, Faisal was hailed as an Arab leader even though he had nothing to do with Iraq. On the other hand, despite his connection to Britain, he was recognized by Arab nationalists as their leader.

Thus, the three kingdoms of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul were united under a Hashemite king, King Faisal, who came from Hejaz. According to encyclopedia Britannica, Faisal made agreements with Britain, under which Iraq got independence and membership of the League of Nations by 1932.

However, many Iraqis believed that the real rulers of the country were British. Faisal was the ruler of Iraq until his death in 1933.

The monarchy lasted until 1958 when King Faisal II was killed in a coup.

The end of the monarchy, military coups and a new era of destruction

Iraq was not fully liberated from British rule until 1958, but the Hashemite family was removed from the throne as a result of a military coup.

Thus began a period of political instability during which several military regimes came. In 1968, the Arab Socialist Party Hizb al-Ba'ath came to power, which brought stability with it.

After the increase in the price of oil in 1973, the government's income and the quality of life of the people improved and Baghdad developed and expanded. However, during the war with Iran in the 1980s, there was a decline again.

After the invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein, the United States and its allies heavily bombed Baghdad. Un sanctions made development difficult in the city. Although many buildings and bridges were rebuilt in the late 1990s, Baghdad did not return to its original form on a large scale.

Iraq's oil exports were banned and imports were limited, so the necessary equipment needed to rebuild electricity, water and sewerage facilities also disappeared. Educational and medical institutions also reached a dilapidated condition and disease, malnutrition and illiteracy increased.

Another U.S. attack

The 2003 war broke out amid tensions between the U.S. and the Iraqi government. U.S. forces entered Baghdad in April of the same year.

The main purpose of the new US administration was to restore peace and basic facilities in the city, but then due to communal civil war as well as clashes with the US military, the city was destroyed and thousands of deaths were once again caused.

The evacuation was officially completed in December 2011, but violence in Baghdad, like the rest of Iraq's cities, did not end. As Syria's civil war escalated across the border, the number of trained fighters and weapons and cross-border arrivals also increased.

Al-Qaeda and then the so-called Islamic State carried out many attacks in Baghdad. The situation worsened so much that in 2019, protesters in the streets of Baghdad demonstrated against the economic downturn, alleged government corruption. Local anger escalated in December this year when the United States launched an air strike on an Iranian-backed paramilitary group in Iraq. Two days later, protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

U.S. operations continued even after that. These include the January 2020 U.S. strike targeting Soleimani.

Fifteen years ago, the bombs started falling on Baghdad. U.S. war planners had hoped a campaign of “shock and awe” would expedite the conflict, demoralize the Iraqi forces, and speed up their surrender. While the initial overthrow of Saddam Hussein was relatively quick, the Iraq War itself was anything but. For nearly nine years, occupying coalition troops tried to work with Iraqis to secure and rebuild in the face of mistrust, poor post-invasion planning, U.S. mismanagement of defeated forces, insurgent rebellions, eruptions of sectarian violence, and serious self-inflicted issues like the inability to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (the main pretext for invasion), and the scandalous abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. The Iraq War caused more than 150,000 deaths, cost trillions of dollars, and its repercussions continue to have strong effects in the region, on foreign policy, and on thousands of families to this day