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The grandson of Genghis Khan, Mongke Khan, however, was determined to rule over all of the Middle East and attacked the seat of the Caliphate, the city of Baghdad. The Mongols were occupied with battles in other areas and for the most part, left the Assassins alone. It is estimated that the group controlled as many as 100 fortresses at the time. The Assassins aligned with the Mongols, which left the strongholds of the Assassins as the only areas in Persia that were not under the control of the Mongols. This infuriated Genghis Khan who led his army into Central Asia to get his revenge against Khwarezm. He murdered a group of Mongol traders in his city. The ruler of Khwarezm (part of present-day Uzbekistan) made a major tactical error in 1219. Instead, they chose to carry out their terror missions from their mountaintop strongholds throughout Persia and Syria. The Assassins were no match in a direct confrontation with the Sunni Seljuks.
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As the Sunni’s power waned in the 10 th and 11 th centuries and as Christian crusaders attacked in the eastern Mediterranean, the Shi’a were empowered to seize the moment. Shi’ites in Persia had a long history of being mistreated by the ruling Sunni Muslims that ran the Caliphate for centuries. He reacted by taking all Persian and Syrian pilgrims as hostages until a rich woman from Alamut paid the ransom. He was convinced that he was the actual intended victim due to his close resemblance to his cousin. The Sharif of the holy city of Mecca had his cousin killed by the Assassins in 1213. 14th-century painting of the successful assassination of Nizam al-Mulk. In 1131, a Sunni caliph by the name of Mustarshid was killed during a dispute over succession rights. An Assassin disguised as a Sufi mystic killed him in 1092. The first known victim was Nizam al-Mulk, a Persian who served as a vizier in the Seljuk court. Typically, the Assassins focused their attacks on Seljuk Turks or their allies. This caused panic among the leaders of Middle Eastern countries, and many of them began wearing chain mail or armor under their clothes for protection. Assassins were typically merciless in carrying out their missions. When the opportunity arose, the assassin would stab the unsuspecting sultan, vizier or mullah.Īn assassin martyred for the cause (which typically happened shortly after the attack) was assured a place in Paradise. The spy sometimes spent years gaining the trust of the victim and their advisers. They would then plant a spy in the inner circle of the intended victim. The Assassins carefully studied their targets, learning their language and culture. This is when the group first becomes known as the “Hashshashin” – Assassins in English. Hassan-i Sabbahīased out of a fortress on a mountaintop, Sabbah and those who followed him developed a network of strongholds and challenged the Seljuk Turks, who were Sunni Muslims in control of Persia at the time. He led his followers into the castle of the king of Dayam and successfully pulled off a bloodless coup in 1090. The founder of the group was a Nizari Ismaili missionary named Hassan-i Sabbah. We do know that the Assassins were an offshoot of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. Accounts of their existence that have survived into our times come in the form of the recollections of their enemies or European accounts, which were surely embellished as they were passed along. When the fortress of the Assassins was conquered in 1256, their library was destroyed so there are no written historical accounts from the sect itself available to us. There is another, perhaps more compelling explanation in the Egyptian word “hashasheen” which translates to “noisy people” or “troublemakers.” Engraving of the Elder from the Mountains, as Hassan-e Sabbah was called, 19th century. In truth, the group strictly adhered to the Koran when it forbade the use of intoxicants. It is possible that this explanation developed after the fact as a convenient way to lend credence to an original story but we have no way of reliably verifying this.