Anarchy at Samarra

Abbasid Caliphate
اَلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلْعَبَّاسِيَّةُ
861–870
Abbasid Caliphate at the time of al-Mutawakkil's death in c. 861
Abbasid Caliphate at the time
of al-Mutawakkil's death in c. 861
CapitalSamarra
Common languagesArabic
Religion
Sunni Islam
GovernmentCaliphate
Caliph 
• 861–862
Al-Muntasir
• 862–866
Al-Musta'in
• 866–869
Al-Mu'tazz
• 869–870
Al-Muhtadi
History 
• Assassination of al-Mutawakkil began the Anarchy at Samarra.
861
• Deposition and murder of al-Muhtadi.
870
Amir al-Mu'minin (أمير المؤمنين), Khalifa (خليفة)

The Anarchy at Samarra (Arabic: فوضى سامراء, romanizedfawḍā Sāmarrāʾ) was a period of extreme internal instability from 861 to 870 in the history of the Abbasid Caliphate, marked by the violent succession of four caliphs, who became puppets in the hands of powerful rival military groups.

The term derives from the then capital and seat of the caliphal court, Samarra. The "anarchy" began in 861, with the murder of Caliph al-Mutawakkil by his Turkish guards. His successor, al-Muntasir, ruled for six months before his death, possibly poisoned by the Turkish military chiefs. He was succeeded by al-Musta'in. Divisions within the Turkish army leadership enabled Musta'in to flee to Baghdad in 865 with the support of some Turkish chiefs (Bugha the Younger and Wasif) and the Police chief and governor of Baghdad Muhammad, but the rest of the Turkish army chose a new caliph in the person of al-Mu'tazz and besieged Baghdad, forcing the city's capitulation in 866. Musta'in was exiled and executed. Mu'tazz was able and energetic, and he tried to control the military chiefs and exclude the military from the civil administration. His policies were resisted, and in July 869 he too was deposed and killed. His successor, al-Muhtadi, also tried to reaffirm the Caliph's authority, but he too was killed in June 870. With Muhtadi's death and the ascension of al-Mu'tamid, the Turkish faction around Musa ibn Bugha, closely associated with Mu'tamid's brother and regent al-Muwaffaq, became dominant in the caliphal court, ending the "anarchy".

Harem wall painting fragments from 9th-century Samarra

Although the Abbasid Caliphate was able to stage a modest recovery in the following decades, the troubles of the "Anarchy at Samarra" inflicted great and lasting damage on the structures and prestige of the Abbasid central government, encouraging and facilitating secessionist and rebellious tendencies in the Caliphate's provinces.

Family tree of the Abbasid dynasty in the middle and late 9th century