EMA 16.1 | The Abbasid Revolution: How Baghdad Replaced Damascus

Описание: In 750 CE, the Abbasid dynasty overthrew the Umayyads and did something remarkable: they abandoned Damascus and built an entirely new capital from scratch. Baghdad — a perfect circle with the caliph's palace at its center — was not just a city but a political statement. This video traces how a multi-layered revolt reshaped the Islamic world, pivoting its center of gravity from the Mediterranean toward Persia, Central Asia, and the Silk Road.

Key concepts covered:

• The Umayyad caliphate's failed western expansion — the 717 siege of Constantinople and the 733 Battle of Poitiers as turning points
• The mawali problem: how non-Arab Muslim converts were promised equality but treated as second-class citizens
• Shiite grievances and the belief that the caliphate belonged to the Prophet Muhammad's direct family
• The 747 revolt in Persia and the Abbasid seizure of power by 750
• Baghdad's deliberate design: concentric walls, four named gates (three facing east and south), and the caliph's palace at the geometric center
• The significance of Baghdad's location — just thirty miles from Ctesiphon, the old Sasanian Persian capital
• How the Abbasids absorbed Persian bureaucratic traditions, court culture, and administrative methods
• The betrayal of Shiite supporters: promised austerity and religious leadership, they received a lavish, centralized Sunni monarchy
• Three broader lessons: empires reorient when expansion stalls, revolutions betray their essential supporters, and cities embody ideology
• How the political foundation of 750 set the stage for the House of Wisdom, the translation movement, and the golden age of Islamic science

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SOURCE MATERIALS
The source materials for this video are from    • 16. The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000: The ...