For those who have a basic knowledge of history, they will know that the 13th century was the area of the Mongoles under Genghiz Khan. In January 1257, Genghiz Khan’s grandson Hulague had reached Iraq with a 150.000 men strong army. Hulague declared his demands to Al-Mustasin, the ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate. In order to stay alive, Hulague ordered Al-Mustasin to surrender and give up his wealth. Al-Mustasin did not take the threats seriously despite knowing about the fate of Beijing, Kaifang, Kiev, Moscaw, etc., which had succumbed to the Mongol Empire. 

Al-Mustasin refused to comply, triggering a six-day ordeal in February 1258. Bagdad – once the centre of culture, wisdom, trade – was torn down to the grounds. In the wake of the ensuing carnage, tens of thousands of people had been sloughtered, and all treasure had been plundered. Hulague summoned Al-Mustasin, who had been in a state of near-starvation by the siege imposed upon him and his kinship. Mockingly Hulague gave him a bar of gold, demanding Al-Mustasin to eat it, followed by a lecture on Al-Mustasin’s error of judgment of refusing to surrender when he had been given the chance to do so. Al-Mustasin was executed, along with his kinship, ending the centries old Abbasid Caliphate.  

The siege and subseequent attack on Bagdad has been topic to countless historic records, of which I found the following to be the most accurate and palpable one in description: 

This source refers to the atrocities committed by the Mongols, who sloughtered around 90.000 people in Bagdad and destroyed the House of Wisdom library, which contained all intellectual property available to humanity to that date.

Though Bagdad never managed to achieve its previous glory, it made a successful recovery.

You might be asking yourselves, “Why the lesson on history on a Sunday afternoon?’ or maybe not. For those who have a basic knowledge of our recent history, they might remember that twenty years ago, exactly today, the United States and its allies invaded Iraq under false allegation of Mass destruction weapons. The promise of freedom and democracy for Iraq ended up in privatisation of the oil sector primarily contracted by BP, Shell, and the likes. I am not going to elaborate on the events covering the last twenty years of Iraqi history.

But, I cannot close this without assuring that the people of Iraq will find their core, remember their splendid past, and reinvent themselves. You may call me too optimistic – be it so. However, there is a new world order in the making …