the disintegration of the empire 69
three continents of the known world. outside of this region, only con-
stantinople enjoyed such a privileged position.
the rulers of the middle east and of Byzantium also played a pre-
destined role as mediators. their tenacity in defending the region was
matched only by the attackers’ zeal to take it, whether such attacks came
from east or West. such determination is explained by the region’s huge
revenue-generating capacity.40 the crusades, especially those of the thir-
teenth and fourteenth century, are an example, and scholars are ever more
convinced that these too were primarily an economic phenomenon.41
the fertile crescent also worked its charms in the other direction,
where the chinggisids were equally beguiled.42 spuler revealed this irre-
sistible attraction in his unsurpassed geopolitical sketch of the ilkhanate,
the basic lines of which are set out below.
the ilkhans took over all attributes of the persian shahs. they ruled
approximately the same territory that the persian state’s borders had
always enclosed, in ancient and more recent times. given that the geo-
political situation remained unchanged, their fundamental obligations
remained those of any national ruler: to defend the territories against
invaders, who exercised constant pressure on iran from the north, from
central asia as from the cuman steppe. this latter concern was always
imperative for the ilkhans, since the transcaucasian lands were the buffer
for the core of their state.
in contrast to their primarily defensive policy in the north, the ilkhans
followed a policy of active conquest to the south-West of their territory,
40 in all likelihood, both the pyramids of egypt and Babylon’s architectural wonders
were built with money drawn from the indian ocean-mediterranean trade!
41 see ehrenkreutz, “implications,” pp. 337–338, for a particularly explicit statement
of this view: “various other goals or manifestations of a political, ideological or religious
nature were usually subordinate to the overriding pursuit of economic gains. [.. .] the
establishment of the county of edessa and of the principality of antioch opened possibili-
ties of penetration into Upper mesopotamia, permitting economic participation of inter-
dictory intervention in the flow of traffic between the mediterranean and persia and the
persian gulf. it is in this perspective that one can appreciate the full significance of cru-
sader pressure against aleppo, of the abortive siege of damascus by the second crusade,
and, above all, of the century-long efforts to conquer egypt. even before the campaigns
against egypt began, the crusaders had established a chain of strategic fortresses, stretch-
ing from the mediterranean to aylah on the gulf of aqaba, which allowed them to control
the movement of the caravans between syria and sinai, as well as to derive monopolistic
benefits from the flow of trade along the syro-palestinian littoral.”
42 ciocîltan, “Kreuzzüge,” sets out the elements common to the crusades and the
mongol expansion, which attacked the fertile crescent with equal fervour, from opposite
directions and equipped with complete different ideologies.