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Strategy and Doctrine

Saladin's Unification of Egypt and Syria

Medieval

This entity is the atlas's own label for a documented pattern rather than a named doctrine in the historical literature: Saladin's combination of a strong personal appeal to jihad, patient diplomacy, and selective military pressure to unite Egypt and Muslim Syria under one rule before turning his combined forces against the Crusader states. After Nur ad-Din's death in 1174 he entered Damascus peacefully at the governor's request, arranged truces with Zengid rivals and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and defeated remaining Zengid forces at the Battle of the Horns of Hama in 1175, after which the Abbasid caliph declared him Sultan of Egypt and Syria. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Core Claim
Unite Egypt and Syria under one rule through diplomacy, dynastic consolidation and selective force, using the appeal of jihad against the Crusaders to legitimize annexing fellow Muslim territory, before confronting the Crusader states directly. 1
Origin Year
1174 1
Classification
Domain (Land, Sea, Air, Cyber)
Land 1
Connections

Associated With

Ayyubid-Crusader War, Wars
Source Wikipedia: Saladin

Developed By

Saladin, Commanders
Source Wikipedia: Saladin
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Saladin
Wikipedia
  • body text, quoting a contemporary biographer
    The sacred works are full of passages referring to the jihad. Saladin was more assiduous and zealous in this than in anything else.
  • body text, after the Battle of the Horns of Hama
    declared him Sultan of Egypt and Syria
  • body text
    peaceful entry into Damascus in November 1174 at the governor's request
  • A land campaign of diplomacy and battle, per the entity's own sourced description.
  • Associated With: Ayyubid-Crusader War, Lead paragraph
    He was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty and the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, he spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant.
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