The Fall of the Abbasids

In the 8th century, in the 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.