18 - The Anarchy

The Anarchy at Samarra begins.  Following the assassination of Al-Mutawakkil by a desperate group of Turkish slave soldiers, a son of the late Caliph is put on the throne by the slave army.  But his reign proves short, and quickly divisions emerge between rival Turkish slave generals.  Eventually, following an outbreak of horrific violence, rival Turkish armies prop up competing Caliphs in Samarra and Baghdad.  The Anarchy rages as Baghdad itself is besieged by the Samarran Turkish slave army - and the Caliphate itself begins to splinter.