35. Turk Mercenaries Kick Off the Decline of the Abbasid Caliphate
The Turk mercenaries first introduced by al Mu’atsim engaged in widespread robberies and rapes that made them hugely unpopular with the civilian population. So in a bid to reduce the friction between his subjects and soldiers, al Mu’tasim relocated his capital in 835 from Baghdad to a new city, Samarra. That calmed things down for a while, but did not solve the core issue of controlling the Turkish mercenaries.
Things came to a head in 1861, in what came to be known as “The Anarchy at Samarra”. It began when the Turkish Guard murdered the caliph al Mutawakkil, and replaced him with his brother, al Muntasir. It was just the start of a period of chaos. By the time the dust had settled, the Turk mercenaries had fatally weakened the Abbasid Caliphate, and set in on the path to extinction.