Editing Abbasid Caliphate (section)

==Military==

In Baghdad there were many Abbasid military leaders who were or said they were of Arab descent. However, it is clear that most of the ranks were of [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] origin, the vast majority being from [[Khorasan Province|Khurasan]] and [[Transoxiana]], not from western Iran or Azerbaijan.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baghdad-iranian-connection-1-pr-Mongol |title=Baghdad i. The Iranian Connection: Before the Mongol Invasion |first=H. |last=Kennedy |date=15 December 1988 |access-date=22 August 2011 |volume=III |issue=4 |pages=412–415 |encyclopedia=[[Iranica Online]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117004858/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baghdad-iranian-connection-1-pr-Mongol |archive-date=17 November 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Most of the Khurasani soldiers who brought the Abbasids to power were Arabs.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq-i-late-sasanid-early-islamic |title=Iraq i. In the Late Sasanid and Early Islamic Eras |first=Michael |last=Morony |author-link=Michael Morony |date=2006 |access-date=30 March 2012 |volume=XIII |issue=5 |pages=543–550 |encyclopedia=[[Iranica Online]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229181405/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq-i-late-sasanid-early-islamic |archive-date=29 February 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

[[File:Al-Akhdar Castle.jpg|thumb|[[Al-Ukhaidir Fortress|Ukhaidir Fortress]], located south of [[Karbala]], is a large, rectangular fortress erected in 775 AD with a unique defensive style. ]]
The standing army of the Muslims in Khurasan was overwhelmingly Arab. The unit organization of the Abbasids was designed with the goal of ethnic and racial equality among supporters. When Abu Muslim recruited officers along the Silk Road, he registered them based not on their tribal or ethno-national affiliations but on their current places of residence.<ref name="ira62">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvx9jq_2L3EC&dq=umayyad+abbasid+non+muslim+support&pg=PA62 |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |date=1975 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-20093-8 |editor-last=Frye |editor-first=Richard N. |volume=4: The Period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs |location=Cambridge |page=62}}</ref> Under the Abbasids, Iranian peoples became better represented in the army and bureaucracy as compared to before.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2004|p=134}} The Abbasid army was centred on the Khurasan [[Abna al-dawla]] infantry and the Khurasaniyya heavy cavalry, led by their own semi-autonomous commanders ({{lang|ar-Latn|qa'id}}) who recruited and deployed their own men with Abbasid resource grants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jo Van Steenbergen |title=A History of the Islamic World, 600–1800: Empire, Dynastic Formations, and Heterogeneities in Pre-Modern Islamic West-Asia |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1000093070 |chapter=2.1|year=2020 }}</ref> al-Mu‘tasim began the practice of recruiting Turkic slave soldiers from the [[Samanids]] into a private army, which allowed him to take over the reins of the caliphate. He abolished the old ''jund'' system created by Umar and diverted the salaries of the original Arab military descendants to the Turkic slave soldiers. The Turkic soldiers transformed the style of warfare, as they were known as capable horse archers, trained from childhood to ride. This military was now drafted from the ethnic groups of the faraway borderlands, and were completely separate from the rest of society. Some could not speak Arabic properly. This led to the decline of the caliphate starting with the Anarchy at Samarra.{{Sfn|Kennedy|2004|pp=156–169}}

Although the Abbasids never retained a substantial regular army, the caliph could recruit a considerable number of soldiers in a short time when needed from levies. There were also cohorts of regular troops who received steady pay and a special forces unit. At any moment, 125,000 Muslim soldiers could be assembled along the Byzantine frontier, [[Baghdad]], [[Medina]], [[Damascus]], [[Rayy]], and other geostrategic locations in order to quell any unrest.{{sfn|Bobrick|2012|p=44}}

The cavalry was entirely covered in iron, with helmets. Similar to medieval knights, their only exposed spots were the end of their noses and small openings in front of their eyes. Their foot soldiers were issued spears, swords, and pikes, and (in line with Persian fashion) trained to stand so solidly that, one contemporary wrote "you would have thought them held fast by clamps of bronze".{{sfn|Bobrick|2012|p=44}}

The Abbasid army amassed an array of siege equipment, such as [[catapult]]s, [[mangonel]]s, [[battering ram]]s, ladders, grappling irons, and hooks. All such weaponry was operated by military engineers. However, the primary siege weapon was the {{lang|ar-Latn|manjaniq}}, a type of siege weapon that was comparable to the [[trebuchet]] employed in Western medieval times. From the seventh century onward, it had largely replaced [[Torsion siege engine|torsion artillery]]. By Harun al-Rashid's time, the Abbasid army employed fire [[grenade]]s. The Abbasids also utilized [[field hospital]]s and ambulances drawn by camels.<ref>{{harvnb|Bobrick|2012|p=44}}</ref>