=?UTF-8?Q?from_Quora_-_Mongol_horde_of_H=c3=bcleg=c3=bc_Khan_besieg?= =
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All on Sun Mar 5 16:12:58 2023
XPost: soc.history.war.misc
Yo 5G's ! Here is one in your area of interest.
Bianca Amalia
Studies Political Science at National School of Political Science and
Public Administration (Expected 2025)Feb 11
What is the coolest line in history?
When the Mongol horde of Hülegü Khan besieged Baghdad in 1258,
Hülegü sent this warning to the Caliph:
“The past is over. Destroy your ramparts, fill in your moats, turn thy kingdom over to your son, and come to us… If you do not heed our advice,
get ready. When I lead my troops in wrath against Baghdad, even if you
hide in the sky or in the Earth, I shall bring you down. I shall not
leave one person alive in your realm, and I shall put your city and
country to the torch…”
Caliph al-Musta'sim ignored the warning, and as such in February 1258,
the siege commenced. The city did not hold, contrary to the expectations
of the Caliph, and Hülegü Khan’s warning came to be. Baghdad was burned
to the ground. Mosques, hospitals, parks, libraries and schools were
destroyed. Millions of parchments, centuries of accumulated knowledge
and records perished. And the people of Baghdad, nobles or commoners,
women, children or men, they were put through the sword. This was the
end of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the most powerful states in all of
human history.
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38 comments from
Brian Lucey
and more
First, they did a side-trip to Macedonia:
Brian Lucey
Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, to the Spartans
“If I conquer Lakonia you will be destroyed, never to rise again.”
The Spartans replied with one word, “If.”
David Senashvili
I mean Spartans did get their Ass handed to them tho
Ravi Sadana
Are we supposed to understand this comment? This is a public forum. Has
Quora no standards? Phewy to Quora.
Mridul J Kurup
yes it means they got their ass kicked
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DGermanFunk
Despite the destruction the Mongols caused that set humanity back a few centuries, you have to admit that he did warn them.
Ian Campbell
I’m not sure they did. Baghdad at the time was ruled by the most
repressive, backward and unpleasant regime that ever existed - just as a certain city in Arabia is now.
Bianca Amalia
The Abbasid Caliphate was in a bad state already at the time, that is
true, but the destruction of the House of Knowledge in Baghdad did set
back humanity quite a lot. It contained hundreds of years of gathered knowledge, including from the prior times when the Caliphate was
actually the most enlightened regime of its time.
Eric Blanton
Please explain how it set humanity back at all, let alone centuries.
Adam Wu
They certainly did. It was their standard operating procedure. A
targeted city gets one warning to surrender, and if they did the Mongols usually kept their word. The city is spared any significant pillaging.
There is no slaughter. And sometimes the old ruler ship even gets to
stay in nominal power as Mongol vassals.
Refuse the warning and you get exterminated to the last dog if you lose
the seige (which in their heyday, you almost always did).
Unless your leaders had already executed a Mongol envoy. If that was the
case, you’re screwed.
Ian Campbell
I wasn’t clear enough. I meant that I am not sure that the Mongols set
back humanity by razing Baghdad.
Adam Wu
I see. In that case, they most likely didn’t. Any more than the (final) burning of the Library of Alexandria did. The Abbasid Caliphate was a
mere shadow of its former self by then and Baghdad had long been
superceded as the most important center of learning in the Islamic
World. And all the books the Mongols destroyed in that library likely
had copies elsewhere by then.
If anything, by inadvertently facilitating trade and the exchange of
ideas between East and West, the Mongols quite likely accelerated the
overall pace of human advancement over the couple of centuries that they
ruled, probably offsetting most if not all the damage they did during
the initial conquests.
Isa C Rodack
Mongols killed 30 million people overall.
DGermanFunk
True. The Mongols do have a brutal history of conquest and barbarity,
but that does not mean they dont know the importance of negotiation.
Prederring subjucation over slaughter.
Its just too bad that many major cities and proud foolish kings thought
they could wait out the storm behind their tall walls, while damning its
people from the frustrated besieging Mongols.
Ravi Sadana
How many were killed in World War 1 and World war 2? There were 3-year,
10-year and 100-year wars in Europe between Catholics and Protestants.
Just add up. Man will never be civilized unless she/he takes to
Spiritualism Not religion.
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