Anarchy at Samarra

A period of political instability in the Abbasid Caliphate, usually dated 861–870, marked by coups, military factionalism, and rapid succession of caliphs.

Turkish guard: A military corps of Turkic soldiers recruited to serve the Abbasid caliphs. Its commanders gained decisive influence over the caliphate’s government and succession.
Al-Mutawakkil: An Abbasid caliph who ruled from 847 to 861 and was assassinated at Samarra. His killing by members of the Turkish guard triggered the succession crisis.
Ahmad ibn Tulun: A Turkish military governor who founded an autonomous dynasty in Egypt in the ninth century. His rise illustrates how provincial rulers gained room to act as central control faltered.
Assassination of al-Mutawakkil: The 861 killing of Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil by members of his Turkish guard. This act opened the sequence of palace violence and contested accessions.
Samarra: A city in Iraq that served as the Abbasid capital from 836 to 892. The caliphs and military factions at the center of the crisis were based here.
Al-Mu'tasim: An Abbasid caliph who ruled from 833 to 842 and established a new capital at Samarra. His military recruitment and capital-building helped shape the forces behind the later crisis.
Saffarid dynasty: An Iranian dynasty that ruled parts of eastern Iran from the ninth to the eleventh century. Its expansion formed part of the broader regional fragmentation accompanying Abbasid weakness.
Siege of Baghdad (865–866): A siege during the Abbasid civil conflict between al-Musta'in and al-Mu'tazz. The struggle brought a caliphal succession dispute into open warfare.
Al-Muntasir: An Abbasid caliph who ruled from 861 to 862 after his father, al-Mutawakkil, was assassinated. His accession began the rapid turnover of caliphs that defined the period.
Abbasid Caliphate: An Islamic empire ruled by the Abbasid dynasty from 750 to 1258. The crisis exposed the weakened central authority of this empire.

Linked from 4 pages