Rise of the Abbasids: Islam's Mightiest Dynasty

In the 8th century Middle East, a new dynasty seized control of one of the world’s greatest empires – the Islamic Caliphate. Though little remembered in the west today, the Abbasids reigned for five centuries. They oversaw an era of Islamic military dominance... city-building… brilliant scholarship, and technological innovation. It has come to be remembered as Islam’s ‘golden age’. This is the story of the Abbasid Caliphate.

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[AMultipolarWorldIsEmerging]

Fun fact the “queen” chess piece was originally the “vizier” but Europeans changed it and gendered it which makes no sense. In the original version it makes so much more sense. The vizier does all the real work and the king is more symbolic

[mujtabarashid]

Its actually crazy how forgotten Islamic history is in the west. It was such big influence on world history.

[codygates]

As a teenage Christian I’ve actually been really into Roman history (and specifically the treatment of Christians and Jews in the empire) and I’ve actually started to expand more into Islamic history. It’s very interesting! Thanks for this video y’all. God bless ❤

[Blitz_Shorts]

Thanks for another great documentary. I love Arab culture and their history. My country Armenia has also been under the rule of Arabs during that period, but we were more free than under any other rule, we just paid taxes, and Arabs even left an army in the borders of Armenia to prevent hostile forces invading it. The most tolerant rulers of all time in my opinion. And Western world owes so much to Arabs of that time for so many innovations and scientific discoveries.

[Patches]

History teacher here. This is an era of history I’ll admit that I’m not too well versed in and recognized that it was about time I learned more. Really, truly appreciate that this channel is giving me a chance to deep dive into it. Thank you for all your hard work.

[jeanlannes]

I love western history but this is a nice change from the normal, appreciate your work, Toby, Charles, and all!

[Globalfaction]

Dhimmi's didn't pay "extra tax". They paid a "tax" for being protected citizens of the Islamic State and they weren't obliged to defend the state in the case of war.

[AmNotHere]

Two things: 1) The original Dune story is partly based on the Abbasid revolt. 2) Anyone interested in the Greco-Arabic translation movement that occurred under the Abbasids should read Dimitri Gutas' excellent book called "Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic translation movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid society". 3) The word 'algorithm' is derived from the name of the brilliant Abbasid mathematician who also played a role in the creation of 'algebra' (in Arabic literally 'letters').

Fun fact about the Abbasid era: It was one of the few societies in the pre-modern world where one could actually make a living by being an author.

[AhmedFathy-ltwl]

I really appreciate you taking the effort to ensure Arabic characters are written properly from right to left and connected together. Many video editing softwares don't support the Arabic script and the letters are written from left to right and disconnected, and this requires some tweaking to get it right, so thanks for paying attention to that.

Charles Nove is excellent as always, but I'm quite surprised how good he pronounced most of the Arabic letters here.
Waiting patiently for your next work!

[AbsoluteAmoeba]

This channel is one the best history channels on YouTube - superb content that’s brilliant at education - the narrator is the icing on the cake to a brilliant show

[borba]

The Caliphate will return, إن شاءالله

[strategyofandroid]

I am an Iraqi from Baghdad, thank you for the interesting presentation of our history, and your channel is one of the best historical channels on YouTube. I am a university professor at the University of Baghdad, College of History

[darthvader]

I don't understand why people are angry to learn about one of the greatest empires in human history.

[laterEX]

I am from Iraq and I would like to express my gratitude for the hard work that went into creating this video. I am now a new subscriber, and I greatly appreciate your efforts.
🇮🇶❤️

[Scriabinfan]

This history needs to be taught more. Most people just totally disregard or are completely ignorant of the contributions of the Muslims to the world.

[Ba_dery]

انا عربي نقلت التاريخ في طريقة رائعة احيك على مجهودك الرائع 👏❤

[marantoniocacalda]

I have always wanted your channel to cover Islamic Histories with your style of narration. Seeing the day you announced that you would be taking a detour from the ongoing Napoleonic series, I was elated that the video substituting the slot would be finally a topic on the caliphates! This one was so well-done, I kept hitting the like button so many times. I wish I had the means to donate to your patreon, maybe in the future but I will be supporting this channel all the way!

[DJ-Q]

It's always a treat to see a new Epic History TV video in my subscription feed.

[nourmedini]

The title "caliph" means the successor of the prophet ( as a head of state ) not the deputy of god on earth ( no one can claim to be the deputy of god ) . The title caliph was later replaced by "امير المؤمنين" the leader of the believers .
I love the channel great work

[josephthorp]

I've always found that Islamic history (and Eastern history in general tbh) is rarely mentioned, let alone properly discussed and taught unless you really try to look for it. I'm very glad you decided to cover what is an interesting and integral part of human history and achievement with your usual brilliant production quality and effort. Well done and can't wait for part 2!