Episode 52: Power struggle

Royal advisors, court attendants, and other officials began to hold some real political power in the Abbasid caliphate, a development which progressed with every caliph who came after the micromanaging al Mansur. The Baramika during al Rashid’s reign represented the pinnacle of t ...  Show more

Due to his father al Mahdi’s arrangement, Haroon al Rashid endured a traumatic year during which his brother tried to have him removed from the line of succession. Having barely survived the experience, he put a great deal of thought and effort into the matter of his own successi ...  Show more

The Emperor Anastasius deals with more riots along with an invasion in the West by the Bulgars and the East by the Persians. He then begins to give in to his monophysite sympathies and is almost toppled after allowing his Patriarch to interfere with the O Hosted on Acast. See aca ...  Show more

We take a look at the pros and cons of the Komnenian system. Then trace why it was causing enough resentment to lead to provincial separatism.We then move on to discuss the army and the bureaucracy and the people of Constantinople. Looking at how each was affecting political stab ...  Show more

Muslims spilled a lot of ink pondering what good government should look like, what a wise ruler should be like, and why it mattered for society. And this is the type of political intrigue that makes Baghdad, the city of Peace, into a place of civil war. The War of the Two Brot ...

On his death bed, Babur tells his eldest son not to fight with his brothers however awful they will be to him. As his father passes away, Humayun inherits a fragile empire on shaky ground. And his dad’s message of peace quickly comes to the fore when his treacherous younger broth ...  Show more