A CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MANKIND

of Islam. The reason for this was not any rebellion of their Persian subjects, but Mangu’s
nervousness about the sinister descendants of Hasan bin Sabah, the order of Assassins.
It seems to have come about in this way. When the Kadi of Qazvin came to pay his respects to the
new khan in his capital Karakoram, he was wearing a shirt of mail; he explained that he had to wear
it all the time and told the story of the assassins, now led by an Imam called Rukn al-Din. He
probably emphasised the power held by this relatively small sect through the fear it inspired and
pointed out that the khan himself was undoubtedly on their list. When Ismaili ambassadors came to
present themselves at the khan’s court, they were turned away, and the khan probably felt the
danger was getting closer (although, of course, Ismailis were not necessarily assassins). The khan
redoubled his guard, which seems to suggest he was now losing sleep and brooding on stories of
the assassins’ ability to creep under doors and down air vents. This is why, in 1256, Hulagu was
ordered to go and stamp out the menace.
The assassins had a series of impregnable castles, and might have been in a good position to hold
out indefinitely, as they had against the Seljuks. But their new Imam Rukn al-Din was a pacifist. He
made a submissive reply to Hulagu’s demand that he destroy his own castles, and even sent his
seven-year-old son as a hostage. Fortunately, Hulagu returned the boy; for this demand to offer
their necks to the Mongols had the assassins understandably worried. Hulagu prepared to attack the
castle in which Rukn was staying, and Rukn hastily made his submission. Hulagu received his
treasures condescendingly, but treated Rukn well and gave him a hundred white camels and a
beautiful Mongolian girl for his bed. He needed Rukn to help him subdue the other castles without
bloodshed. And this is precisely what the new Imam did. A whole string of forts surrendered,
including - finally - the Eagle’s Nest itself, at Alamut. The Mongols burned it; they would probably
never have entered as besiegers.
Now that the Mongols no longer needed Rukn, his family was murdered. Rukn himself managed to
buy a little more time by asking permission to go and present himself to the khan at Karakorum; but
Mangu refused to receive him and he was murdered on the way back, he and his followers being
‘kicked to a pulp’ according to the Arab chronicler Juvaini.
So the assassins had finally ceased to exist in Persia, as they already had in Egypt, where the sultan
Baybars had annihilated them. It was the price the Old Man of the Mountain paid for his terrorist
methods.
Hulagu, who seemed to be as stupidly sadistic as most of the Mongol conquerors, now marched on
Baghdad, held by Mustasim, last of the Abbasid Caliphs. They reached there in January 1258 and
laid siege to the great city of al-Mansur and Haroun al-Raschid. After a few weeks, Mustasim
begged for mercy. It could easily have been granted - Baghdad had committed no wrong against the
Mongol khan. But Hulagu must have been disappointed at the tame surrender of the assassin
strongholds; possibly his men were growing restive for a little rape. He stormed the city and
ordered a total massacre. It was probably one of the largest the Mongols had ever undertaken. So
Baghdad, the most beautiful and exciting city since Byzantium and Alexandria, was left a smoking
ruin full of corpses. The sultan himself was trampled to death by horses. Hulagu surveyed his work
with satisfaction, and prepared for new conquest.
His object was Africa, and the gateway was Syria and Palestine. It looked as if nothing would
prevent conquest of the whole north coast of Africa; there were no armies strong enough to oppose
him except those of Baybars, sultan of Egypt. He took Aleppo in 1258, and moved on Egypt. But at
this point he received word of the death of his brother Mangu; and this was serious news. For