Editing Turkic Army

{{Era|Organizations}}
{{WP-REAL|Ghilman}}
{{Spoilerhd|5 January 2024|[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]}}
[[File:ACMirage DB Turkic Army.png|thumb|250px|Soldiers of the Turkic Army]]
The '''Turkic Army''' was the military force of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] composed of ''{{wiki|ghilman|ghilmān}}s''. These were slave-soldiers primarily descended from Turkic-speaking peoples but whose number also included Slavs and Caucasians.<ref name="Turkic Army">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[Database: Turkic Army]]</ref><ref name="Abbasid Army">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[Database: Abbasid Army|History of Baghdad: Abbasid Army]]</ref><ref name="Ghilman">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[Database: Ghilman (Servant Soldiers)|History of Baghdad: Ghilman (Servant Soldiers)]]</ref> They were raised from childhood to serve their master with unwavering loyalty.<ref name="Ghilman" />

==History==
The Abbasid military was always multi-ethnic in composition, but in the first century of their rule, the backbone of their professional army was the Khurasani, Persian troops from the eastern region of {{wiki|Greater Khorasan|Khorasan}} who had played a substantial role in the [[Abbasid Revolution|revolution]] that brought the Abbasids to power.<ref name="Abbasid Army" /> After the [[Fourth Fitna]] (811–813), a civil war between [[al-Amin]] and his brother [[al-Ma'mun]] for the throne, the Khurasani came under suspicion for their loyalties, and al-Ma'mun and his son [[al-Mu'tasim]] actively worked to phase them out with a counter-acting military force. To that end, they formed a unit comprising slaves who they trained from childhood to serve them with utmost devotion as their elite soldiers.<ref name="Ghilman" />

By the time of Caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]] (r. 847–861), the Turkic body of troops had become so powerful as to be a threat to the regime in their own right.<ref name="Abbasid Army" /> Their commanders amassed wealth and status to hoist themselves into positions of tremendous political and financial influence over the government,<ref name="Abbasid Army" /><ref name="Ghilman" /> a development exacerbated by the [[Order of the Ancient]]'s co-optation of their ranks.<ref name="The Raptor and the Demon">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[The Raptor and the Demon]]</ref> After al-Mutawakkil was murdered by a young [[thief]], [[Basim Ibn Ishaq]], at his Winter Palace in [[Anbar]],<ref name="The Master Thief of Anbar">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[The Master Thief of Anbar]]</ref> subsequent history attributed his death to an assassination by disaffected Turk guards instead. Misadventure by a third party as it was, factions of the Turk military apparatus reacted to the decline in central authority by jockeying for control, violently deposing and instating caliphs as they pleased.<ref name="Abbasid Army" />

During the [[Anarchy at Samarra]], as this period of internal turmoil became known, the Order of the Ancients wielded control over the Turkic Army through the command of [[Wasif al-Turki]].<ref name="Den of the Beast">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[Den of the Beast]]</ref> Wasif effectively controlled half of [[Baghdad]] from the [[Qasr Salih|Great Garrison]] in [[Sharqiyah]] district,<ref name="Al-Mardikhwar">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – Investigation: Al-Mardikhwar</ref> and he held sway over the city's governor [[Muhammad ibn Tahir]], who was otherwise unaligned with the Order.<ref name="Judge and Executioner">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[Judge and Executioner]]</ref> This signified the Turks' erosion of legal authority with their military power. Other important members of the Order from the army were [[Jasoor ibn Basil]]<ref name="Al-Rukh">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – Investigation: Al-Rukh</ref> and [[Nadir ibn Havid]], who commanded the Baghdadi navy.<ref name="Al-A'eshma">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – Investigation: Al-A'eshma</ref> All three were assassinated in the reign of [[al-Musta'in]] by Basim after he joined the [[Hidden Ones]].<ref name="Den of the Beast" /><ref name="Bird Trap">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[Bird Trap]]</ref><ref name="To Catch a Demon">''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' – [[To Catch a Demon]]</ref>

==Behind the scenes==
The Turkic Army is an enemy faction in ''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]'' (2023). In the game, their soldiers are colour-coded with cyan garb, as opposed to the other Abbasid soldiers, who are clothed in red. They can be principally found in the Sharqiyah district, with their headquarters at Qasr Salih.

==Gallery==
<gallery captionalign="center" position="center" spacing="small" widths="180">
ACMir Turkic Army Banner.png|Turkic Army banner
</gallery>

==Appearances==
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Mirage]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{ACMir}}
[[Category:Armies]]