How Did the Abbasid Empire Crumble?

How did the Abbasid Empire crumble? The Abbasid Empire crumbled for two primary reasons:

• Because they had simply lost power
• After a civil war between two Islamic sects, the Abbasid Empire fell into a financial crisis

These are the two main reasons that the Abbasid Empire ultimately failed, although the process was a bit more complex than that.

We know the Abbasid Empire crumbled because of financial trouble and because they lost their power over the people. However, these are very complex issues and so there is no one simple answer to how the Abbasid Empire crumbled. Instead, you need to look at their history and the rise and fall of the empire to best understand how the Abbasid's lost their power.

Rise and Fall of the Abbasid Empire

To better understand how the Abbasid Empire crumbled, let's start at the beginning:

• The Abbasid Empire rose to power under the beliefs of the Shi’ite movement.
• In 747, due to extensive propaganda, the Abbasid Empire had rallied the support of many and two different sects of Islam were created.
• The two empires created out of the split were the Abbasid and the Umayyad, which were both ruled by caliphates.
• In 748 the caliph of the Abbasid’s was captured by the Umayyad, but this did not stop of the spread of the Abbasid Empire to westward locations. By 750, they had expanded and killed the Umayyad caliph.

Building an Empire

• The Abbasid’s built their empire under harsh rule and by claiming that their beliefs were better than that of the Umayyad because their caliph had been directly related to the prophet Mohammed.
• Umayyad Arabs quickly lost their political and social superiority and class within the system began to be determined by how close one was with the ruler of the time of the Abbasid Empire.
• In the period of time between 786 to 809, the Abbasid were ruled by Harun al-Rashid. His period of reign is known for being the Abbasid high point.
• However, it was also during this time that the weakness of the Abbasid Empire became noticeable. Revolts against the rule of the Abbasid Empire had begun in Syria and other places. The caliphates weaknesses also became noticeable and his death led to a civil war.

Fall of the Empire

The civil war lead to the creation of many other sects, each with their own caliphates and their ideas of religion and power. These sects led to the official downfall of the Abbasid Empire.

• The power and influence of the Empire began to fade. This was especially true in areas like Persia and Iraq.
• In an attempt to re-instate power, the Abbasid were thrown into a financial fiasco.
• After this move, the Turks joined in the civil war as well. The caliph was moved farther away from the people and they lost all power.

In the period of time from 847 to 862, an attempt to re-instate the power of the Abbasid’s was made by al-Mutawakkil. He revolted on behalf of the Abbasid against the Turkish military. However, his efforts failed and in 862 he was murdered. His successor, his brother, fought as well and briefly won back power for the Abbasid. However, the rule did not last very long. The Buyid ultimately took over and were able to unify the Muslim states after many years.