Introduction: This topic is a bit big, and the causes are also very complicated: religion, imperial system, ethnicity, beliefs and other factors are all important reasons for the demise of the empire. The empire went through three stages: the four caliphates, the Umayyad dynasty, and the Abbasid dynasty, spanning more than 600 years; inferior to the Eastern Roman Empire of the Thousand Years of Guozuo. At its peak, the Arab Empire covered an area of more than 13 million square kilometers, from the steppes of Central Asia to the Atlantic coast. As for the complexity of the causes of the fall of the empire, this article only lists some of the reasons that cannot be covered; at the same time, it only represents personal views, and does not like it.
The Arab Empire went from its founding to its peak for just over a hundred years, reaching its peak in the hands of the Umayyad Empire, and it was also in this year that dynastic change was completed within the Arab Empire (replaced by the Abbasid Dynasty). It was not until 1258 AD, when the Abbasid empire was destroyed by the Mongol Empire, that the Arab Empire was officially declared to withdraw from the stage of history. In fact, for a long time before that, the governors of various places were divided, and the imperial decrees had been out of the situation of the Two Rivers Valley. From the steppes of Central Asia to the Atlantic coast, the territorial myth gradually disappeared,
The rise of the vast Arab Empire was somewhat accidental, and the agricultural era lacked the soil for continuous unity and growth
The rise of general ancient countries is often accompanied by the inheritance of civilization, and in ancient times, when social productivity was relatively low, large rivers and rivers became a necessary condition for farming and urban drinking water, so the birth of the four ancient civilizations was in the great rivers and rivers. The conditions for the birth of the empire were relatively harsh, and the huge territory, sufficient water sources, sufficient arable land, and fierce army became the indispensable labels of the empire.
The rise of the Arab Empire in the Two Rivers Valley was somewhat accidental, and perhaps there would have been no Arab Empire without the long war that preceded Rome and Persia. The war over trade routes between East and West lasted for 7 centuries, and both sides were greatly weakened. Sandpipers competed for fishing and profit, and Sassanid Persia was severely weakened before the Rise of the Arab Empire took advantage.
But when the Arab Empire expanded rapidly and rushed out of the Arabian Peninsula, its territory spanned thousands of kilometers from east to west. In the Arab Empire's territory of more than 13 million square kilometers, deserts, mountains, and hills accounted for the vast majority. In ancient times when productivity was low, the lack of freshwater resources constrained the output of farming and population growth. It is not uncommon for clans to fight over water and pastures. The lack of sufficient water sources to irrigate the arable land led to a shortage of farming populations, and nomads alone could not support the basis for the outward expansion of the main peoples for a long time (the Middle East is now developed because of the discovery of oil). The output of the Two Rivers basins of the Empire and the Nile River basin was not enough to support expenditure, so economically trade taxes and mineral revenues became necessary supplements. There is no large-scale population, no perfect management system to support the long-term peace and stability of the empire, and no basis for stable inheritance of the empire by force alone.
The multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-faith empires have always affected the stability of the empire, and the 200-year-long Crusades have seriously depleted the strength of the empire
Empires beyond the Arabian Peninsula came largely from the Byzantine Empire (North Africa, the Mediterranean coast) and Sassanid Persia (the Iranian plateau, Central Asia). Farming in the oasis of the desert, ports for maritime trade, grazing pastures, many scenes are presented within the empire. The natural inheritance of thousands of years has formed different peoples and different beliefs. Although the Arab Empire expanded its religion by force, multi-ethnicity, multi-religion, and multi-faith have always been a problem for the stability of the empire. There are divisions and contradictions of one kind or another between different peoples and faiths, and even within Islam there are different sects of strife. The conflict between the forces of faith, the unbearable contradiction between the people at the bottom and the aristocracy, will profoundly affect the stable operation of the empire. According to the objective law of natural development, when the strength of the empire is not enough to suppress these contradictions, these factors will erupt and become the gravediggers who push the empire to decline.
As we said earlier, the rise of the Arab Empire was triggered by the mutual weakening of the Wars between Rome and Persia, which allowed the Arab Empire to rise. However, along with the exaggeration of the Empire, for reasons of religion and war, the Empire inevitably came into conflict with Christendom. North Africa, Egypt, and the Mediterranean coast of the Middle East were all the territory of the former Eastern Roman Empire, which had sharp contradictions with the Arab Empire with Islam as the state religion. The entanglement of various factors such as religion, territory, and interests led to frequent wars between the Arab Empire and Europe and the Eastern Roman Empire. Especially during the Umayyad dynasty, the Arab Empire twice threatened the security of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which shows the fierceness of the war. During the time of the Seljuk Empire, the successor of the Arab Empire, the Nine Crusades of the two sides lasted nearly two centuries. Although the outcome of the war ended in the defeat of the Holy See, the prolonged war dealt an equally heavy blow to the Arab Empire (or the splintered Seljuk Empire). The power of the Arab Empire was further weakened and its decline accelerated.
The divisions caused by military fiefdom, the fierce struggles between sects within religions, and the constantly vocal peasant uprisings all caused great trauma to the vast empire
After the establishment of the Arab Empire, there were also fierce sectarian struggles within the Muslims. The fierce dispute between Shiites and Sunnis dated back to the arab Empire, even to the point of dynastic change. The Umayyad dynasty (white-clad eater), which created the heyday of the Arab Empire (covering an area of more than 13 million square kilometers), was replaced by the Abbasid dynasty as a sectarian strife. The establishment of the Sunni Umayyad dynasty heralded divisions within the Arab Empire. The defeated Hashemite, with the help of The Shiites, replaced the Umayyad dynasty, but never returned to its heyday. Although the Abbasid dynasty was established, after all, the Umayyad dynasty, which was larger than the horse, also had its own heritage, and the Spanish state founded a state as far away as southwestErn Europe continued the dynasty. After sealing the Strait of Gibraltar, the Abbasid dynasty was also out of reach.
The Hashemite family, which founded the Abbasid dynasty, received tremendous help from the Shiites in the process of establishing the country. But after the founding of the Abbasid dynasty, the Abbasids converted to Sunnis and began to fight the Shiites. This provoked great outrage among the Shiites, who, just a few decades later, in 788 AD, established the Shia Idris dynasty in North Africa; also in Egypt, the Shiites founded the Fatimid dynasty (the green coat), which at its peak spanned Eurasia and Africa (although Europe only had southern European islands); and the powerful Shiite Fatimid dynasty frequently launched attacks on the Abbasid dynasty.
Fatimid dynasty
In the eastern part of the original Abbasid territory, there were also separatist forces such as the Tahir Dynasty and the Seljuk Empire. Moreover, these separatist forces were so powerful that the Seljuk Empire even became the main force in dealing with the Crusades. The Arab Empire, which flourished in the unity of the Umayyad Dynasty, continued to split up during the Abbasid period; it is conceivable that the Abbasid Dynasty was very congested, and the Arab Empire as a unified Empire was greatly weakened.
The migration of trade routes caused by the interruption of the Silk Roads, and thus the rise of the Maritime Silk Roads, caused a huge loss of tax revenue in the Arab Empire
As we said earlier, the Arab Empire, due to the inherent shortage of agricultural output, commercial trade accounted for a large proportion of the empire's income. Moreover, the Arab Empire occupied the middle of the East-West trade route (the Silk Road), and commercial taxes were very profitable. The Empire had sufficient financial resources to maintain enough standing armies directly under the central government to ensure the unhindered passage of government decrees. And the local governors were also able to share the full benefits and thus obey the central government of the empire. At this time, the Tang Empire in the East was unprecedentedly powerful, and the stable political situation with the two major empires of the Arab Empire further promoted the prosperity of trade.
With the end of the War of Qiluo and the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, Tubo gradually replaced the Tang Dynasty as the ruler of the Western Regions. Civil strife in the Tang Empire deprived the Silk Road of its former prosperity, and Tubo's heavy taxation on merchants in the Western Regions further depressed the Silk Road. The Central Plains Dynasty lost control of the Western Regions for a thousand years, and was not unified again until the Qing Dynasty pacified the Dzungar Khanate. At the same time, the northern part of the Tang Empire was not lightly destroyed by the rebels, and in order to quell the rebellion, it was only possible to extract taxes from the south controlled by the imperial court. Both the division of feudal states and the southward shift of economic center of gravity caused the traditional Silk Road to shrink (maritime trade routes flourished during the Song and Yuan dynasties), which was a heavy blow to the economy of the Arab Empire, which relied on trade taxes. It was obvious that it was impossible to maintain enough mercenaries without sufficient taxes, and that the governors of arabia under the military feudal system could not obtain sufficient benefits and naturally would not be as obedient as they had been. The separatist forces are independent, the divided empire cannot be restrained, and the empire inevitably declines.
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