The Washington times., 1917-03-12
Bagdad, Caliphs' Capital,
War Prize for 1000 Years
Garden Spot of Desert, Now Captured By Brit
ish, Has Been Held By Many Tribes; Under
Turkish Rule for 279 Years.

many forgotten capitals. Its ruins
are mounds OF dust.
But that Is today.
For a thousand years after Mansur
pitched his tent beside the river and
traced the lines for the great walls
Bagdad remained the wonder city OF
the East. Its glories spread through
out Islam and were embaIrned in the
literature OF Persia and Arabia It's
only rival through much OF the time
was Cordova, the Moorish capital in
Spain. Both, at a time when Europe
was barely emerging from complete
barbarism, were famous seats Of art,
science and learning: but In COM
merce and wealth the Caliph's capital
far surpassed Cordova-
Best Stories of City.
The best pictures which have come
to US of life under the olives and
palms of the Caliph's capital are the
stories of the arabian Nights" It
was through the streets where the
British cavalry rode Sunday morning
as conquerers that Haroun al Raschid
played the beggar to learn the truth
about his subjects, and 1t was from
them that he sent the armies that
held the whole East in awe.
Haroun was the last of the great
Caliphs. The race degenerated, and
the wild Turkish adventurers from
the north who had been gathered into
the Caliph's bodyguard took the rule
of the palace and finally of the realm.
Their naturesS like those of their de-
scendants today, cared nothing for art
and beauty, and the science and lit
erature which had been patronized by
the sons OF Mansur, languished and
died. The Caliph remained the spir-
itual head of Islam, but first the Turk
adventurers and then the Buyids and
later the Seljuks-the present rulers
of Turkey-held the temporal power.
MonEoIs Wiped Out Caiiphate.
The Caliphate finally was wiped out
in 1888, when a Mongol horde swept
down from the north. 1t was headed
by Hulagu, a grandson OF JenEhiz
Khan, and the Turks and the Caliph
fed to the west. For about $50 years
these particular Mongols ruled here
Then came the Tartar invasion under
Timurlane the Great, and the city
again changed hands.
From then on the city was shuttled
back and forth, as one conqueror or
another rose out of the maelstrom
into which Asia was turned by the
successive invasions from the north
ern plains. Ismail swept together
the broken provinces south of the
Caucasus and founded the dynasty
which still sits on the throne of Per-
sia- He reached out to the west and
took Bagdad.
Won 1t Back Again.
Sulsiman the Magnificent-known
TO every boy as the friend, rival and
foe of Richard of the Lion Heart
found time from his wars with the
Crusaders to win IL back again. with
in the next score of years twas
thrice captured, and finally, in 1888,
was won back by the Turks.
From that day till yesterday II has
been, at least nominally, subject to
though the packas
have made trouble now and then It
has fallen, with all the other cities
which the Seljuks ruled, and as a
prize of war is worth almost as little
TO the British as the pulverized vil-
lagos which they are winning in
Flanders.
But 1t Is a city which, more than
any other, may again be made the
center of an empire, and with Brit
Ish engineers and British money the
plain could again be turned into the
richest granary of the world. So the
hoof beats of the British squadrons
may be the reveille which will call
tho ancient capital once more to
greatness.