The Seljuk Turks Seljuk was the chieftain of a group of Turkish tribes These tribes were originally from the steppes of central Asia In the late 10 th century, they migrated into modern day Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq and converted to Islam

In 1055, the Seljuk Turks, under their leader Mas’ud, conquer Baghdad, and establish control over the Abbassid Dynasty At the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, they deal a serious blow to the Byzantine Empire Much of Anatolia is now under Seljuk Turk control

Seljuks dominate the aging Abbassid Empire Byzantine Empire is weakened by Seljuk advances into Anatolia (modern day Turkey) This prompts the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus to ask Western Christendom for help

The Byzantine Emperor Alexius convinces Pope Urban to call for a “crusade” to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims First Crusade ( ) Captures Jerusalem in 1099 Crusader armies establish kingdoms in Syria and Palestine When the Crusaders capture Jerusalem, they celebrate by killing all Muslims, Jews, and even Orthodox Christians!

The Crusaders

The Crusader Kingdoms in the Middle East last for less than 200 years Lasting impact was the exposure of Western Europe to the wealth, trade, and knowledge of Middle East culture

The Mongols were from central Asia Under their great leader Genghis Khan, they would eventually control the largest continuous empire in history

Were very effective cavalry Left a path of death and destruction in their wake

Extent of Mongol Empire

In 1258, Hulagu, a grandson of the great Genghis Khan, led a huge Mongol army to invade the Abbassid Empire. The caliph of Baghdad believed that his forces could withstand a siege. He was wrong…

The city of Baghdad fell to the Mongols, and was destroyed 80,000 people were put to the sword, except for the Christians The Caliph was stuffed into a felt bag and ridden over by hundreds of horses 6pA 6pA U U

Mongol invasions caused terrible destruction in the Middle East Millions of people were killed, and thousands of towns and cities destroyed Mongol invasions, did, however, link the Middle East with China and India via trade routes