Iraq’s Rivers and Abbasids’ Military Strategies(132- 334 AH)

For centuries, the Abbasid caliphs turned the centers of their caliphate into secure business areas through controlling and securing Iraq and its surrounding territories. Several factors contributed to such flourishing economic condition which consisted of staying away from the opposition and their bases, proximity to their governments' supporters, and the political geography of Baghdad in terms of being close to the Tigris and Euphrates. These rivers and their numerous waterways had two important commercial and military functions for the Abbasids. The most important function of rivers for the Abbasids, however, was military and strategic helping them to suppress domestic and foreign rebels. The present study that takes a historical-descriptive-analytical approach seeks to answer the following questions, relying on the method of collecting information from historical sources: What was the military importance of the Arab Iraq's rivers for the Abbasids' caliphate? And what strategies and methods of warfare did they employ in the Iraq’s rivers? The findings show that the Iraqi rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates, were important to the Abbasids for several reasons such as providing dominance of commercial and communicative routes, and distancing from government opposition centers. They used a variety of offensive and deterrent methods to defeat insurgents, including spying, information and intelligence systems, sudden attacks, deceit, deploying signs and flags, and psychological warfare.