New Article: The United States Government Experimented With Camels In The 19th Century

(Army Camel Corp training at Menangle Park, c. 1916, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons). It's an Australian photo, but unfortunately, no decent pictures of the American Camel Corps could be found.

George H. Crosman is credited as the first man to suggest that camels could be a valuable asset if utilized by the U. S. military in dry, desert regions of the United States. He first brought up this point in 1836, when he was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He claimed that camels would be unaffected by America’s most arid climates, and would also require less feed or water than the horses and mules already used by the government. Despite these fair points, Lt. Crosman’s ideas were rejected and shelved by the United States for more than a decade.

Continue reading about the United States procurement and experimentation with camels in the 19th century, HERE.

The Dualistic Reign of Ghazan Khan Of The Ilkhanate

(Depiction of Ghazan and Öljaitü. Jami' al-tawarikh, Rashid al-Din, image produced c. 15th century, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

The Mongolian-descended Mahmud Ghazan was born around 1271 and was raised by his grandfather (Abagha Khan, r. 1265-1282) and his father (Arghun Khan, r. 1284-1291) to be a follower of the Buddhist faith. When Abagha Khan died, his son, Teguder, became the new khan of the Ilkhanate. Yet, Teguder’s brother, Arghun successfully raised a large faction against the khan, with one of the main complaints being that Teguder had forsaken Buddhism for Islam. Arghun managed to overthrow Teguder and continued Buddhist dominance over the Mongolian-ruled Ilkhanate.

In 1284, Arghun Khan named his teenage son, Mahmud Ghazan, as the new viceroy or governor in charge of the Ilkhanate’s lands around the region of Persia. Ghazan remained in this post for about ten years, during the reigns of both his father, Arghun Khan, and his uncle, Gaykatu Khan (r. 1291-1295). During his post in Persia, Ghazan battled against a rival faction of Mongolians, known as the Chagatai Mongols, and also defeated a rebellion led by an officer named Nawruz. Even though the revolt was finally crushed in 1294, Nawruz’s life was spared. Interestingly, the rebel leader would play a significant role in Ghazan’s later rise to power.

Continue reading about this khan's reign and his two-sided rule, HERE.  

New 'Did You Know?': The Groundbreaking Akkadian Priestess Enheduanna Is Mankind’s Oldest Known Author To Have Signed Her Work

She also may be the mother of hymns, poetry and verse, and likely influenced Homer and the authors of the holy texts of Abrahamic religions

(Calcite disc of Enheduanna discovered by Sir Leonard Wooley in 1927 depicting Enheduanna and her attendants, photographed by Mefman00 and cropped, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Enheduanna was born in Akkad (thought to be within modern Iraq), the capital city of the Akkadian Empire, which may be the world’s first multi-ethnic empire. While dating the lives of people from earth’s most ancient civilizations is often unreliable, the scholars seem to be comfortable placing Enheduanna’s life between 2285 and 2250 BCE. Enheduanna was an incredibly bright princess, was the daughter of the empire’s equally brilliant king, Sargon I of Akkad (2334-2279 BCE), also known as Sargon the Great.

Continue reading about this mother of hymns and poetry, HERE.

The Adventures of Emperor Theophilus:

The Joust, A Prized Warhorse And The Horse Thief:

Theophilus (also spelled Theophilos) was an emperor of Roman Constantinople who was at his best during peace-time rule. He was excellent at administration and seeing to the various needs of his empire. He was known as a just emperor (except by those who disagreed with his iconoclast policies), and found decent governors to see to the different provinces of his empire. 

Unfortunately for Theophilus, his time on the throne was in no way a peaceful reign. He constantly fought against the Abbasid Dynasty. He had some early successes, but the situation eventually got out of hand, and both lives and land were lost as a result. Even though Theophilus did not gain glory on the battlefield, he did leave behind an interesting legacy--his people recorded some really dramatic stories about their emperor.

Read our article about the intriguing adventures of Theophilus, here (or click the above picture). 

New Article: Strange War Tactics—The Sieges of Nisibis (337-350 CE)

During the 3rd Century CE, the Romans and the Sasanian Persians lost the city of Nisibis to each other multiple times, but the Romans controlled the region well into the beginning of the 4th century. This brings us to the clash between two emperors, Constantius II and Shapur II, over none other than the city of Nisibis. The 4th century sieges of Nisibis were quite dramatic.

Read more about the dramatic sieges of Nisibis on our website, here (or click on the picture above).

Skeletons From An Underground Skirmish In Dura-Europos

 

The astonishing archeological dig of Dura-Europos has just about anything you could ever want in a preserved ancient city. The old Roman city housed a mithraeum, a synagogue and a early Christian house-church, which can still be seen within the old city ruins. The foundations of buildings can be seen surrounded by remains of defensive walls and towers. The city, however, preserved even more history under the earth. Tower 19 contained a huge surprise for archeologists! Skeletons were found underground from when Roman defenders intercepted a sapping tunnel of the Sassanid army--the army which eventually conquered Dura-Europos in 256 C.E. When the two teams of tunnelers met, an unclear event occured, leaving 20 Romans dead, along with at least one Sassanid (whose skeleton is the photograph above). 

Read more about Dura-Europos here at historybuff.com.

Kurdistan: A Nation Divided...Among Other Nations

The Kurds are the largest ethnic group without a nation to call their own. The Kurdish population is split between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, creating tensions in each of these countries. The Kurds have lived in their politically-unrecognized region of Kurdistan since Biblical times, serving, or ruling, many empires in the Middle East. When WWI ended, and new nations were carved out of the collapsed Ottoman empire, why was no Kurdistan created, and is there hope for a Kurdistan, today?

Read about Kurdistan's complex history here at warhistoryonline.com.