While our previous videos on the nomadic peoples
from Central Asia’s vast steppe might have informed you on a new tribe or confederation,
almost everyone, history buff or otherwise, knows of the Seljuks. After bursting into the high-medieval Middle
East, these fearsome conquerors created a vast empire. The Turkic incursions into the traditionally
Greek Anatolia would, centuries later, blossom into the mighty Ottoman Empire. However, to begin that story, we must travel
hundreds of years into the past and, once again, look at events transpiring on the vast
grasslands of Eurasia. We understand that not everyone likes the
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or the QR code on the screen to get all of the rewards! At some point in the late eighth-century,
probably during the reign of Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi, a horde of Turks, known as the Oghuz,
migrated west to the vast steppe region between the Caspian and Aral seas. This area became home to the so-called Oghuz
yabghu state, in which nomads would migrate vast distances in order to secure optimal
seasonal pasturage for their herds. Though there were some sedentary settlements
in this area, the ‘imperial legacy’ left by the Gokturks had been inherited by the
Khazars, to whom the Oghuz appear to have been at least loosely subordinated to. It is in the late tenth-century Khazar realm
that we find our first references to the Oghuz Turkic warlords, known to history as Duqaq
and his son, who we know as Seljuk. According to records composed during the reigns
of later Seljuk sultans, the ancestors of their dynasty served Khazaria’s khagan as
military commanders. This seems to imply that Seljuk and his father
were active near Itil and might, like most other elite Khazars, have embraced Judaism. During the Khazar disintegration during the
960s, Seljuk migrated east with a small band. The true reasons for this are shrouded under
the historical veil, but range from court intrigues to rebellion by Seljuk himself. Modern scholars even argue that changing climate
might have forced Seljuk and his group to migrate in order to escape pasture shortage. Seljuk led his band of 100 horsemen, 1,500
camels and 50,000 sheep to the town of Jand, located on the fringes of Islamic Khwarezm. Jand was the first Muslim-ruled region through
which Seljuk’s roving band passed, and it is there that Seljuk embraced the Islamic
faith. This is a crucial moment in history, as it
was a conversion which would have immense consequences. With that, Seljuk supposedly managed to gain
more followers from ‘the Turks of that frontier who incline towards holy war’ - men who
seem to have been ghāzī - warriors of Islam. This brings us to the reason for this increasing
Islamisation of the Turks, outlined by Korean historian Kim Hodong: “Islam provided nomadic
tribal people with the consciousness of a homogenous religious community and religious
sanction for the expansion of the domain of Islam, becoming an ideology of unification
as well as an ideology of expansion.” This is essentially all we know about Seljuk
himself, who died in Jand in 1009, according to some sources at the age of 107. At that point, the region had been going through
an upheaval for over a decade. Two militant new realms - the Karakhanids
in Transoxiana, and the former Turkic slaves Ghaznavids in Khorasan and the Oxus - emerged,
consuming vast tracts of the collapsing Samanid Emirate. Compounding this were events on the eastern
steppe, where nomads known as the Khitans were disrupting matters in the process of
their expansion into what the Chinese would call the ‘Great Liao’. This pushed waves of refugees towards the
Islamic world’s frontiers, right where Seljuk’s tribes were located. The Seljuks now began to gain strength rapidly,
probably due to their ability to absorb many of these rowdy, disaffected nomadic warriors,
many of whom converted to Islam and became ghāzī. After the progenitor’s death, his elder
son Arslan Isra’il became the tribe’s chief, and we find him intervening in Transoxiana’s
politics, supporting a Karakhanid prince known as ‘Ali Tegin, who tried to establish himself
as ruler of Bukhara in 1020. Tegin was opposed by his own brother’s most
powerful supporter Mahmud - Sultan of the Ghaznavids. It was in a military engagement on the steppe
outside Bukhara that the Sultan of Ghazni first saw the Seljuks, and was somewhat awestruck
with their numbers. No longer the small band of a hundred people,
they were now an increasingly potent threat. Mahmud’s response was to seize and imprison
Isra’il - either in battle or by intrigue - hoping that this would simply dissolve the
burgeoning Seljuks, but he was wrong. Mahmud of Ghazna’s actions did lead to some
Seljuks joining his own Ghaznavid realm as soldiers, while some chose to flee west into
Iran. However, most remained where they were, and
a struggle for leadership began. By its end, three figures had taken their
place at the top of the Seljuk hierarchy - Chaghrı and Tughrıl - who were the sons of Isra’il’s
brother Mika’il - and Musa, another relative of the inner clan. While the Seljuks were sorting themselves
out, Mahmud’s 32-year reign came to an end and the sultanate was inherited by a son,
Ma’sud, in 1030. Despite resolving their own leadership contest,
the growing Seljuks were defeated in battle by the Karakhanids of ‘Ali Tegin. No longer safe where they were, the Seljuk
triad decided to flee towards Khurasan. They were assisted in this by a treacherous
Ghaznavid governor in Khwarezm known as Harun, who helped the nomads pass through his lands
in return for their help in conquering Khurasan province from his sovereign. Despite Harun’s assassination at the hands
of Ma’sud’s agents in 1035, the Seljuks continued south. Eventually, they arrived in a town known as
Nasa, located in the mountains of Khurasan. Khurasan was an important province; it was
one of the ‘jewels in the crown’ of Ghaznavid power, and now seemed very vulnerable. While nomadic life and reputation is often
a very ruthless one, the Seljuks weren’t just wandering mass-killers hungry for conquest,
they were people seeking more prosperous lives for themselves and their families. So rather than invading, the Seljuk chiefs
authored a diplomatic proposal to the Ghaznavid governor, Suri, explaining their situation
and exodus, and asking him to intercede with Sultan Ma’sud on their behalf. The Seljuks essentially pledged their service
and homage to the sultan and his court, promising to ‘rest in his great shadow’, if only
they were granted a small province of their own on Khurasan’s frontiers, where they
could settle. Moreover, they also pledged to defend Ghaznavid
territories from other Turkic tribes. Seljuk leadership stated that “If, god forbid,
the sultan does not agree, we do not know what will happen, for we have nowhere else
to go.”. However, Ma’sud, distrustful because of
previous damage inflicted by Seljuks in his territory, declined the offer and prepared
to march for war. This expedition was a total disaster that
ended when the sultan’s army was hit by a cavalry ambush on the plains near Nasa in
June 1035. While the sultan quickly acceded to the now
seemingly quite modest Seljuk demands, the Seljuks, feeling in control of the situation,
began sending even steeper demands. When these were declined, Seljuk hordes swept
through Khurasan, capturing all of it, including the great cities of Merv and Nishapur by 1038. The sole exception was Balkh, which remained
in Ma’sud’s grip. War continued for the next two years, with
ever more Ghaznavid forces being poured into the defence of Khurasan against the Seljuks. Though we don’t know much about the campaigns,
we have an idea of why the nomads eventually won. Ma’sud’s armies were incredibly powerful,
having inherited traditions of Indian elephant use and possessing high quality, heavily armoured
mamluk slave infantry. However, these tactics were not suited for
extended steppe warfare, while the swift, lightly armoured Seljuk Turks, mounted on
their fast horses, had little issue. The potential for Seljuk cavalry armies to
attack anywhere allowed them to stretch and scatter Ma’sud’s armies thinly across
the entire Khurasan area. Although sometimes successful in restoring
their authority in some areas, the Ghaznavids failed to re-secure the province, and were
eventually met for the final battle at the small town of Dandanaqan near Merv in May
1040. A massive Ghaznavid army, with many dozens
of elephants in tow, marched from Nishapur towards Merv in search of the Seljuks, but
its legions of troops were exhausted from the long desert road and a lack of supplies. When a brawl broke out between the sultan’s
elite guard and his regular soldiers over use of a water source, Chaghrı, who had been
quietly shadowing Ma’sud’s lumbering army with his own units, pounced just as the Ghaznavid
squabbling was reaching its peak. Mounted Seljuk ghāzī, wielding their fearsome
composite bows, swarmed the numerically superior but disorganised force that was arrayed in
front of them, completely destroying the enemy army. Ma’sud fled back towards India, but quickly
met his death in a palace coup. After the victory at Dandanaqan, the Seljuks
seem to have been in a state of disbelief. They at first refused to believe Ma’sud
had been defeated, and it is said they kept themselves close to their horses in fear of
being caught by surprise when the Ghaznavids returned. When the leadership eventually did realise
just how crushing their triumph had been, they set about securing Khurasan for themselves. Hostile sources emphasize devastation in the
province caused by the Seljuks and their animals, but it can’t have been entirely their doing. After all, Ma’sud’s giant army had also
been placing a severe burden on the region during years of campaigning. Pro-Seljuk texts especially emphasize the
role that Tughrıl played in restoring order and crushing the bandits which had arisen
following the collapse of Ghaznavid authority. Rather than acting as a steppe warlord with
his boot on the necks of those whom he had conquered, Tughrıl - who became the prominent
Seljuk ‘triumvir’ at this point - began to act in the manner of a legitimate Islamic
ruler. It is said that Tughrıl even went so far
as to threaten suicide if his brother Chaghrı sacked the city of Nishapur. Upon taking his seat on Ma’sud’s throne
in the city, Tughrıl claimed the title of Sultan and asked for guidance from the Islamic
judges installed by the previous regime, proclaiming that: “We are new men and strangers, and
we do not know the Persians’ customs.”. The Turks had accepted Islam but had done
so on their own terms, with nomadic traditions, customs, and tribesmen still making up the
majority of Seljuk strength. From this point, a Turkic flavour was added
to the Islamic world which it still maintains to this day. It also seems that the first elements of Seljuk
statehood began to appear, with coins being minted in the name of Tughrıl and the Caliph
in Baghdad, who was still symbolically revered as the leader of Islam. Each Seljuk leader went on their own path
at about this time. Musa was given Herat to govern, while the
two leading partners Chaghrı and Tughrıl were given the eastern and western areas respectively. The former repulsed a series of attempted
Ghaznavid reconquests from India and began Seljuk raids on Sistan, while his brother
prepared to advance west, deeper into the Islamic world. The areas of Iraq and Iran not yet under Seljuk
control were, for the most part, ruled by a group of Shi'ite princes, known altogether
as the Buyids. These regional sovereigns often squabbled
and jostled with one another for power. Beginning in about 1050, through a mix of
diplomacy, opportunistic backing of regional allies, and outright conquest, the militarily
supreme Seljuks asserted sovereignty over the Iranian plateau. As nomads, the Seljuks largely concentrated
on the countryside pasture for their animals and a few main cities - such as Ray and Hamadan
- which served as bases. Aside from these strategic settlements, Tughrıl
made little effort to assert direct rule over urban areas. Therefore, many city-dwellers in the annexed
lands experienced almost no change in the short term, and local princes were even allowed
to continue their own feuding, as long as they did it under Seljuk auspices. In this period, we also have clear evidence
of Seljuk administrative practices. In the key cities under direct rule, ‘agents’
were installed, essentially Turkic governors who prioritised the raising of revenue from
the cities they governed. As the realm’s governance matured though,
it became more than just wealth extraction. After Isfahan was conquered in 1051, a system
of tax exemptions was put into practice to tempt peasants back onto lands that they had
previously abandoned. Forts were also constructed in order to ensure
the security of nearby roads from bandits, a measure intended to reassure merchants and
boost trade activity. Tughrıl’s actions so far had attracted
the attention of Baghdad’s Abbasid government, particularly Caliph al-Qa’im’s vizier
- a man called Ibn Muslima. The greatest of Tughrıl’s achievements,
however, was yet to come. Abbasid rulers had largely lost political
control over the peripheral regions of their formerly vast empire by the eleventh-century,
but there was an understanding that the caliph in Baghdad was the symbolic leader of Sunni
Islam, and had to be respected as such. However, the Shi'ite Buyids occupying Iran
barely acknowledged his authority at all, leading to a Sunni reaction in the Round City,
a reaction led by al-Qa’im’s aforementioned vizier, who was known for his fanatical hatred
for the Shi’ites. He saw the potential of these increasingly
powerful Sunni Turks as allies and, despite his caliph’s initial suspicion, convinced
al-Qa’im to establish good relations with Tughrıl. In Muslima’s mind, the Seljuks would be
a deadly sword for use against his rivals in the city, most prominently the commander
of Baghdad’s Turkic slave troops - a Shi’ite general named al-Basasiri. The vizier and Tughrıl planned extensively
for Seljuk intervention in the ‘City of Peace’. Muslima had various religious titles granted
to the Turk leader and, in 1053, proclaimed persecution of heretics in both Baghdad and
Tughrıl’s city of Nishapur simultaneously. The intended symbolism was clear - Tughrıl
and the Abbasid caliph were allies, and al-Qa’im’s enemies were Tughrıl’s enemies, making
the latter a legitimate sultan. With the road paved specifically for his advance,
a nomadic Seljuk army advanced into Khuzistan on the borders of Iraq, its leader proclaiming
that he intended to perform the Hajj - the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca - and to lead
an expedition against the Shi’ite Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt afterwards. Whether or not Tughrıl actually intended
to do this is irrelevant, it was another piece of deliberately engineered propaganda aimed
at showing his credentials as a legitimate Sunni ruler. Seeing the writing on the wall, General al-Basasiri
fled Baghdad. Then, finally, Tughrıl and his Seljuks peacefully
entered Baghdad in December of 1055, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. They were welcomed by a procession of local
notables and crowds which had gathered to see what was happening. It is at this moment of Sultan Tughrıl’s
greatest achievement that we shall leave him and conclude by examining just how far the
Seljuks had come and where they would go. In the later 900s, Seljuk and his tiny group
of only a hundred Oghuz Turks had crossed into the Muslim world as irrelevant pastoralists. Less than a century later, his grandson was
riding into Islam’s most glorious city at the head of massive Turkic army, tens of thousands
strong, having received the formal backing of Islam’s most revered religious figure. Though this was likely the proudest moment
of Tughrıl’s life, the apogee of the Great Seljuk Empire was yet to come, when it fought
against the Fatimids and invaded Anatolia, eventually defeating the Romans at Manzikert
a few decades later. We always have more stories to tell, so make
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