24. Exterminating the Assassins Cult
In 1251, Hulagu was recognized by his brother Mongke as ruler of the Ilkhanate in Persia, and was ordered to extend Mongol power into the Islamic world. As a preliminary, Hulagu attacked and seized the mountain fortresses of the Assassins cult, a militant Islamic sect led by a mystic known as the “Old Man of the Mountain”. The Assassins recruited and brainwashed young men by claiming that they controlled entry to paradise. They got recruits high on hashish, set them loose in a beautiful garden full of gorgeous women, and convinced them they were in heaven. When they came down from the high and woke up, the recruits were back in regular and austere surroundings.
The Assassins convinced the young men that the only path back to heaven was to die while killing for the cult. It proved highly effective. With no shortage of horny young men high on hash and desperate to die while killing the Assassins’ enemies so they could return to paradise, the cult terrorized the Middle East for generations until Hulagu extinguished them.
Read More: Deadliest Assassin Groups in History.