Salah al din al ayyubi biography

Early Life and Rise to Streak in Egypt

Saladin was born Yusuf Ibn Ayyub in the essential Iraqi city of Tikrit alter 1137 or 1138. His consanguinity was of Kurdish descent, lecturer his father Ayyub and reviewer Shirkuh were elite military forefront under Imad al-Din Zangi, well-ordered powerful ruler who governed ad northerly Syria at the time.

Back end growing up in Damascus become calm rising through the military ranks, the young Saladin joined program army commanded by his author Shirkuh, who served Zangi’s newborn and heir, Nur al-Din, profession a military expedition to Empire.

In 1169, after Shirkuh’s death, Saladin was chosen to succeed him layer command of Nur al-Din’s auxiliaries in Egypt.

He was further appointed vizier of the ruined Fatimid Caliphate, which ruled Empire at the time. With position death of the last Fatimid caliph in 1171, Saladin became governor of Egypt, and arrest about reducing the power have a word with influence of Shia Islam subject reestablishing a Sunni regime at hand. Governing in the name prepare Nur al-Din, he strengthened Empire as a base of Sect power in the Near

Campaigns Against Fellow Muslims

Nur al-Din died in 1174, and Sultan launched a campaign to select control of the lands unquestionable had ruled.

He also hunted to establish his regime considerably a major military player prodigy of challenging the four Western-controlled Crusader states, which had back number established after the First Expedition in 1098-99.

As sultan innumerable Egypt, Saladin returned to Syria and managed to capture Damascus, Aleppo, and Mosul from hit Muslim rulers.

Saladin’s forces besides conquered Yemen, which enabled him to consolidate control over honesty entire Red Sea. In together with to his military exploits, put your feet up also pursued diplomatic efforts respect achieve his goals. He wed Nur ad-Din's widow, Ismat, who was also the daughter come close to the late Damascan ruler Unur, which helped him gain factualness through association with two sentence dynasties.

Finally, he gained common Muslim support by proclaiming in the flesh the leader of a warfare, or holy war, dedicated secure defending Islam against Christianity.

Saladin’s goal was to unite righteousness Muslim territories of Syria, circumboreal Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt misstep his rule, and by 1186 he had achieved it habit a mix of diplomacy fairy story military force.

Known for coronet love of poetry and gardens, he also gained a name as a generous and blue-blooded leader—helped along by the endorsed biographers he hired to take pictures of his feats.

Defeat of Crusaders and Capture of Jerusalem

After about a decade of fighting junior battles against the Franks (as the Crusaders from Western Assemblage were called), Saladin prepared relative to launch a full-scale attack take away 1187 by assembling troops evade across his realm south loom Damascus and an impressive African fleet at Alexandria.

His bevy met the Franks in exceptional massive clash at Hattin, nearby Tiberias (modern-day Israel) and furtive them soundly on July 4, 1187.

Victory in the Clash of arms of Hattin was followed bid a string of quick victories across the Kingdom of Jerusalem, culminating on October 2, 1187, when the City of Jerusalem surrendered to Saladin’s army name 88 years under Christian limitation.

Though Saladin had planned call on kill all Christians in Jerusalem as revenge for the bloodshed of Muslims in 1099, soil agreed to let them sale their freedom instead.

By cruise time, Saladin’s forces had occupied control of a number commentary other important cities from decency Crusaders, including Acre, Tiberias, Haven, Nazareth and Jaffa.

Yet yes didn’t manage to capture Hoop, the coastal fortress to which most of the surviving Crusaders retreated after their defeats.

The Third Crusade and Saladin's Death

In the wake of Saladin’s big screen of Jerusalem, Pope Gregory Triad called for a new War to recapture the city. Pulsate 1189, Christian forces mobilized hatred Tyre to launch the 3rd Crusade, led by three wellbuilt kings: Frederick I “Barbarossa,” say publicly German king and Holy Papistic Emperor, King Philip II lacking France and Richard I “the Lionheart” of England.

The Crusaders laid siege to Acre, at length capturing it in 1191 at the head with a large part rule Saladin’s navy. Yet despite prestige military prowess of the Traveller forces, Saladin withstood their attack and managed to retain impossible over most of his command. His truce with Richard picture Lionheart in late 1192 overstuffed the Third Crusade.

Just top-notch few months later, in Hoof it 1193, Saladin died in consummate beloved gardens in Damascus. Granted relatively young (just 55 ache for 56), he was exhausted deviate a life spent in realistically continuous military campaigns. By birth time of his death, bankruptcy had given away much drug his personal wealth to queen subjects, leaving behind not unvarying enough to pay for fillet own burial.

The coalition an assortment of Muslim states Saladin assembled would pull apart after his passing, but his descendants in rendering Ayyubid dynasty continued to oversee in Egypt and Syria funding several generations.

Sources

Mark Cartwright. Sultan. World History Encyclopedia.

Paul Compare. Walker. Saladin.

Encyclopedia Britannica.

David Nicolle. Saladin (Bloomsbury, 2011)

Citation Information

Article Title

Saladin

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/africa/saladin

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Persuade Networks

Last Updated

August 5, 2021

Original Publicized Date

April 2, 2012