The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra (200-275 Ah/815-889 Ce) (S U N Y Series in Medieval Middle East History) [Hardcover]

Matthew S. Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Series: S U N Y Series in Medieval Middle East History | Publication Date: January 2001

A portrait of the Samarran Turk community while in the employ of the 'Abbasid caliphate during the ninth centuries.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Provides a portrait of the Samarran Turks as members of a community with a specific and complex history in the early medieval Islamic world. It considers: the encounter of the Turks as rough, non-Muslim outsiders, with the sedentary, urbane world of Baghdad; the closely related encounter of the Turks with the Islamic tradition in its urban, scholarly guise; the settlement of the Turks, in Baghdad then in Samarra, through the use of land grants and appointments to office; the impact upon the affairs of the Turkish community of not only a military ranking but of a socio-political hierarchy as well; the construction by the Turkish elite of an elaborate network of patronage and support, both within urban Iraq and throughout the provinces (Egypt in particular); and the emergence, and impact, of factionalism within the community. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Matthew S. Gordon is Assistant Professor of History at Miami University, Ohio. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791447952
• ISBN-13: 978-0791447956
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,703,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars The Sammaran Military and the Origins of Abbasid decline, June 1, 2004

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Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking of a Thousand Swords the: A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra (A.H. 200-275/815-889 C.E.) (Suny Series, Medieval Middle East History) (Paperback)

Gordon has written an excellent history of the origin of the 'Turkish' (as Gordon notes, not only Turks were involved)military under the Abbasids. Locating the construction of the slave-soldier Turkish regiments under the reign of al-Ma'mun, he adeptly attributes the origin of this practice to the need of the 'Abbasid state to reconstruct its military power following the devastating civil war of al-Ma'mun vs. his brother, al-Amin. Thereafter, his account traces the founding of Sammara--a nearly unparalleled, massive medieval city bordering on a million inhabitants at its peak--which served as both the the new seat of the caliph and the base of the Turkish armies. Gordon gives a cogent, lucid picture of the political and social dynamics that the formation of the Turkish slave-soldier regiments. While tracing the rise and influence of the new Turkish elite, he convincingly points to the internal contradictions that led the undoing of Turkish influence over the caliphate and the eventual erosion and waning of central Abbasid power (which was always fragile). Half of the pages dedicated to the work consists of the bibliography and footnotes. Gordon demonstrates a fluency in the source material that does not deprive him of an analytical edge that many of the historians of his field too often lack.