Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood--A History in Thirteen Centuries

by Justin Marozzi

Overview

For much of its extraordinary life, Baghdad, known for centuries as the "City of Peace," enjoyed both cultural and commercial preeminence. For five centuries it was the seat of the Abbasid Empire, a marvel of glittering palaces, exquisite parks, magnificent mosques, and Islamic colleges. It was a city boasting the most accomplished astronomers, mathematicians, doctors, musicians, and poets—it was here, in the time of the caliphs, that the great Arabic classic One Thousand and One Nights was set. With its teeming markets watered by the Tigris, Baghdad was a thriving trading emporium, attracting merchants from Central Asia to the Atlantic; its economy was the envy of West and East alike.

Yet Baghdad's inhabitants have also seen many terrible hardships, from epidemics and famines to invasions and devastating floods. And it has also been one of the most violent cities on earth. When U.S. troops entered in 2003, they became the latest participants in a turbulent history stretching back to the city's founding in 762. Over most of its thirteen-century history, Baghdad has endured the rule of brutal strongmen, from capricious caliphs to Saddam Hussein; and it has suffered violent occupations at the hands of its conquerors, from the Mongol Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, to Tamerlane, known as the "Sword Arm of Israel."

Here, in this vivid new history—the first published in English in nearly a century—Justin Marozzi brings to life the whole splendorous and tumultuous story of what was once the greatest capital on earth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306823985
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	11/04/2014
Pages:	536
Sales rank:	227,604
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Justin Marozzi is a former Financial Times and Economist foreign correspondent. He has spent much of the past decade living and working in Iraq. His previous books include the highly acclaimed Tamerlane and The Way of Herodotus. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

List of Maps xv

Acknowledgements xxxiii

A Note on Spelling xxxix

The Abbasid Dynasty xli

Preface xlii

1 The Caliph and His Capital: Mansur and the Foundation of Baghdad (750-751) 1

2 Harun al Rashid and A Thousand and One Nights in Baghdad (775-809) 27

3 'The Fountainhead of Scholars', Centre of the World (809-92) 62

4 The Later Abbasids: Farewell to The Meadows of Gold (1892-1258) 92

5 'This Pilgrimage of Destruction': The Mongol and Tatar Storm (1258-1401) 135

6 Black Sheep, White Sheep (1401-1534) 162

7 Of Turks and Travellers (1534-1639) 180

8 Plagues, Pashas and Mamluks (1639-1831) 206

9 Empires Collide (1831-1917) 239

10 A Very British Monarchy: Three Kings in Baghdad (1917-58) 283

11 Coups, Communists and Baathists: The Mother of All Bloodshed (1958-) 331

Appendix: Iraqi security apparatus under Saddam Hussein 381

Bibliography 384

Notes 401

Index 427

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the UK edition of Baghdad

"An epic history"—The Economist

"[An] epic biography of the city... Marozzi feasts his reader in every sumptuous detail."—The Times

"Vivid and compelling...the best account we have in English"—Hugh Kennedy, Literary Review

"A tremendous narrative history... A great achievement: brave, densely researched, authoritative, vivid"—Sunday Times

"Marozzi gets to the unchanging sould of his city."—The Guardian

"Brilliant, evocative, and erudite...a work of love and an homage to the city"—The Spectator

"Superb history...a gripping account"—Daily Telegraph

"Adventurous, sophisticated, respectful...a truly splendid work of erudition, storytelling, and huamnity"—Standpoint

Kirkus Reviews, 10/15/14

“Pertinent, patient study of the tumultuous history of this strategic city since its founding …a useful, relevant history of a ‘relentlessly tempestuous' city.”

Booklist, 11/15/14, starred review
“Marozzi pays tribute to the endurance and vibrancy of the city and its citizens…in this fine combination of history and travel genres”

From the Publisher

11/15/2014
Journalist and writer Marozzi lived in Baghdad for ten years after the American invasion and was moved by the vicious internecine fighting to investigate the history of this once great city. Baghdad occupied the center of the vast Abbasid Empire (750–1258 CE) and was the richest and most powerful metropolis in the world. Artistic and commercial vitality persisted as the dynasty weakened, but after the city was razed by Mongol and Tatar attacks in the next two centuries, it suffered war, floods, and disease. Marozzi delights in the achievements of the Abbasids and enlivens his detailed chronicle with creative and intellectual activities characterizing a confident, gracious society. Efforts at modernization in the 19th century and political independence in the 20th century could not restore earlier glories, and, instead produced repression and disorder, culminating in the megalomania of Saddam Hussein, ongoing war, and urban decay. The author interviewed many Baghdad residents to produce a portrait of this city, conveying the lushness of a dominant past and the despair of a violent and chaotic present. VERDICT As an integration of political, economic, and military achievements with a vibrant cultural portrait that weaves poetry, literature, and the arts, this recommended history is contrasted with a contemporary society characterized by brutal repression of "enemies" of all kinds. The historical sweep is fascinating, if not finely balanced.—Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL

Library Journal

2014-10-05
Pertinent, patient study of the tumultuous history of this strategic city since its founding in 762.British foreign correspondent Marozzi (The Way of Herodotus: Travels with the Man Who Invented History, 2008, etc.) has experience living in the "slaughterhouse" that Baghdad has become since the mid-2000s. In fact, sectarian violence has plagued the city since its creation as the new capital by the victorious Abbasid caliph al-Mansur. Eclipsing the Sunni Islam capital at Damascus and sending the Umayyad dynasty into exile, the new Shia-based Abbasid leaders chose the ancient Mesopotamian site between the Tigris and Euphrates for its central location and fertile land. The city's name might be from Persian, meaning "founded by God," yet Mansur preferred the name Dar as Salam, or "house of peace," which would prove heavily ironic even for the murderous Mansur, who had a storehouse of corpses of his enemies. Originally constructed as a walled, round city, it soon expanded across the Tigris. Following Mansur's death in 775, Baghdad would endure nearly 40 Abbasid caliphs, many enjoying splendid building projects and cultural efflorescence—e.g., the prosperous reign of Harun al-Rashid, immortalized in A Thousand and One Nights. The Mongol raids descended on the city from the mid-1200s onward, followed by Persia in 1508 and the Ottomans in 1528, who would remain until 1917. Yet despite the turbulence and frequent destruction, Baghdad remained a "bustling emporium," with a thriving Jewish population as well. Marozzi has sifted through the numerous tales of travelers throughout the centuries, and he also makes use of the rich British accounts, which saw the city's opening to outsiders by the mid-1800s. Indeed, the British introduced a succession of colorful characters—e.g., Sir Stanley Maude, who wrested the city from the Turks, and Gertrude Bell, champion of modern Iraq and preserver of its antiquities. A useful, relevant history of a "relentlessly tempestuous" city.

Kirkus Reviews