Diane Wolff

The destruction of the caliphate at Baghdad was one of two great disasters visited upon the Muslim world. the second being the coming of the West. Yet the event has been totally lost to Western history.

This book explores the reasons why Mongke Khan, the greatest emperor of the Mongol world after Chinggis Khan, ordered his younger brother Hulegu Khan to take 50,000 troops and cross the Roof of the World. 

It was a secret that Hulegu was ti remain in Persia and create a khanate there. The Emperor had a battle plan for the Middle East. Hulegu was to go to war against the Order of the Assassins and the Caliph at Baghdad, the two centers of power of the Muslim world, Shia and Sunni. Then he was to fight in Syria and Egypt and reduce the power structure there to Mongol rule.

 

It was the time of the Crusades, and Christians were fighting Muslims for control of the Holy Land. The campaign brought the Mongol world in direct connection with the Christian and Muslim worlds.

 

What was the cause of this momentous decision?

  

 At last! The final book in the Silk Road Series: The Heirs of Genghis Khan.

 

The victories of Hulegu Khan bring the Mongol Khans into the world of the Crusades. The Mongol Empire has expanded further West into Russia and has a border with Europe and the lands of Islam. The heirs of Genghis Khan are no longer the far off masters of East and Central Asia.

 

Christians and Muslims have been fighting over the Holy Land for 100 years and hate each other.

 

King Richard the Lion-hearted has been defeated by the great warrior Saladin. King Louis the IX has been captured and resides in an Egyptian jail where he has been held for ransom.

 

Will the Mongols align with the Christian Crusader Kings or the Muslim rulers? Who will make the alliance? Why do the Egyptian rulers turn the alliance down? And what about the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut? Was it a huge blow to Mongol confidence or did they care?

 

Hulegu Khan is a double spare because both of his elder brothers become emperors.

 

Hulegu does not take up residence in Baghdad, but lives on the steppes with his army, like a true nomad.

 

He may have put Baghdad to the torch, but after he takes possession of the city, Hulegu rebuilds Baghdad as a commercial and intellectual center.

 

The books in the great library bring about the rebirth of science in Europe, a backwater still struggling to recover from the fall of the Roman Empire.

 

The destruction of the caliphate is lamented by The Faithful to this day. He is the Christian Khan whose heirs convert to Islam. One of his descendants Ghazan becomes one of the greatest rulers in Muslim history.

 

Book Five of the Silk Road Series: The Heirs of Genghis Khan COMING SOON! Stay tuned for a posting of a chapter.

 

 

For an illustrated slide presentation of the story of Hulegu Khan's life, click on the link in the left menu.