Al-Mu'tasim

Timeline

1. c. 796–833Baghdad · Baghdad ProvinceAl-Mu'tasim was the youngest son of Harun al-Rashid, his mother a Turkic slave concubine. In his early years he participated in campaigns on the Byzantine frontier and gradually built up a private force centered on Turkic slave soldiers.
2. 833–836Baghdad · Baghdad ProvinceAfter al-Ma'mun died, Al-Mu'tasim succeeded and greatly expanded the Turkic ghulam guard, weakening the power of the Persian bureaucratic families; the status of Turkic generals in the army rose sharply.
3. 836–842Samarra · Saladin ProvinceTo isolate conflicts between the Turkic troops and the citizens of Baghdad, Al-Mu'tasim ordered the construction of a new capital at Samarra, building palaces and mosques on a grand scale and inaugurating the Samarran period, which lasted half a century. He died of illness there in 842.