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Army, Regime, And Society In Fatimid Egypt, 358–487/968–1094

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Yaacov Lev
Yaacov Lev
Affiliation:
Department Of Middle East History University Of Haifa
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Extract

Tensions between the regime and the army are a crucial component for the understanding of Fatimid history and, as will be shown, they had a mostly destabilizing impact on society and the economy. A host of factors shaped the relationship between the regime, the army, and society. Among these factors, the socio-military composition of the army was especially important. The composition of the army was partly an outcome of deliberate policies of the regime, partly a consequence of local conditions, and partly a reflection of wider Islamic practices. In the case of the Fatimids, the local conditions of Ifrīqiya (Tunisia) and Egypt and the military traditions of the deposed regimes of the Aghlabids and the Ikhshidids must be taken into consideration. Fatimid reliance on the Berbers of Kutāma was not much a matter of a choice; they were the first adherents of the Fatimids and had helped bring them to power in Ifrīqiya. However, from the earliest years of Fatimid rule the Aghlabid military traditions and local conditions were reflected in the composition of the Fatimid army and had an influence on Fatimid policies. Conditions in Egypt played a smaller role in shaping the Fatimid army. Certain elements of the defeated Egyptian army (the lkhshīdiyya and the Kāfūriyya) were incorporated into the Fatimid army while others were disbanded. The Fatimid drive into Palestine and Syria, whose ultimate goal was Baghdad, confronted the Fatimids with militarily superior armies built on the model of the Buyid-'Abbasid and the Byzantines.

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Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , August 1987 , pp. 337 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

NOTES

Author's note: I Would like to thank my friend and colleague Dr. R. Talman of the Department of Arabic (University of Haifa) for his valuable suggestions and criticisum.

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