Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

(Through the courtesy of H.E. the Persian Minister.)
CHAPTER XLVII
THE TRAGEDY OF
KERBELA
The ship
is
broken, shattered by the storm of Kerbela ;
Fallen in the dust and blood on the field of Kerbela.
If the Eyes of the World openly wept
The blood would have risen above the Arch of Kerbela.
From the Elegy of Muhtasham.
The Accession of Hasan and his Abdication^ A.H. 40
(661). Upon the death of AH, Hasan, his eldest son
by Fatima, was elected Caliph. Muavia prepared to
march against Kufa, where an army 40,000 strong rallied
to support the claims of the house of Ali. But Hasan,
unworthy son of a noble father, was more occupied with
the pleasures of the harem than with the toils of administration
or the dangers of war. He sent a vanguard of
12,000 men to the front and kept the main body behind
at Madain, where he himself remained dallying among
the gardens, afraid to try
his fortune on the battlefield.
On a false report that the vanguard had been cut to
pieces, the fickle Kufans looted the camp of the Caliph
and attempted to seize his person, hoping to make good
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