The Siege of Baghdad
The City of Baghdad in Iraq was founded around 763 AD., and by 812 AD. had already become an enormous city with suburbs on both sides of the River Tigris. Ruled by the Caliph al Amin in that year the country was invaded by his brother and rival, the Caliph al Mumin, who quickly invested Baghdad.
Al Mumin's army consisted mainly of Khurasanis tribesmen from Neighbouring Iran, with numbers of Persian infantry and Turkish horse archers. The Baghdad garrison in contrast consisted of the Abnu, Al Amin's elite personal guard together with numbers of Arab tribesmen and the urat, the citizen militia.
Commencing in September 812 with a bombardment by ballistae and manonels against the city walls, which burnt down the North Western Suburbs, Al Mumin's men worked forward against stiff opposition from the elite sword armed Abna . The fighting was to continue for a full year; the attackers having to fortify every street as they worked forward towards the fortified Round city in the centre of town which contained the Royal palace, the barracks and the Government offices.
Finally in September 813 AD, the Southern and Eastern Suburbs fell, which left Al Amin only in control of the Round City. Al Amin seeing that defeat was inevitable tried to escape from the city, but was caught and killed in the attempt. So ended the Abbasid Civil War.
Sources: David Nicolle, The Armies of Islam 7th-11th Centuries (Osprey Publishing Ltd.1982)
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Article added: 2005-09-05 @ 3:01 am | Last Modified: 2005-09-07 @ 2:11 am
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