To date, the word "assassin" has gained great momentum in the mass gaming industry. The culprit was the company “Ubisoft” and their wonderful creation called “Assassin's Creed”. For many parts of this game, the fans have developed a fairly clear image of these secretive mercenaries from ancient Arabia. However, in many ways this image does not correspond to the real story. So who are these assassins?
The emergence of assassins
The foundation was laid on the Arabian Peninsula when a Cairo school preacher named Hassan ibn Sabbah was sent into exile on a ship, wanting to send him away from these lands. However, a disaster occurred during the voyage. Death was almost inevitable, a big storm arose, and the people on the ship were already ready for the inevitable death. Only Hassan ibn Sabbah was completely calm. In an imperative tone, at this difficult moment, he informed his guides that the Almighty promised him complete safety, and therefore nothing bad would happen to the ship. Then the almost impossible happened, because the words of the preacher were true. As if by a magic word, the storm abated at that very moment. The sailors believed that Hassan ibn Sabbah is actually a holy man, whom the Almighty himself blessed. It was from this moment that the history of the Assassins began.
That day, those accompanying the criminal became his faithful servants. They vowed to follow Hassan ibn Sabbah, a powerful warrior who never knew fear. Together, the soldiers crossed many lands, including Persia, replenishing the number of adherents and followers. In the end, the group stopped at the border of Iraq, which is located next to the Caspian Sea. They found their home in the Alamut fortress. The wise Hassan ibn Sabbah did not resort to extreme measures, and the fortress was not subject to a siege, although he could well do so. Instead, the preacher made a smarter decision: he introduced himself to the locals as a teacher and a wanderer, as a result of which they became his faithful followers. So the future empire was built.
It is worth noting that the place chosen by Hassan ibn Sabbah was almost impregnable, and this ideally served his goals. Having succumbed to the influence of this man, the owners of the fortress announced that they intend to serve the great leader. After some time, they built even more fortresses on his orders. The ancient territories occupied by Hassan ibn Sabbah and his army were in fact considered a separate state. Thus formed the Assassins, or Hassasins, which means "followers of Hassan."
Assassin activities
Today, the word “assassin” is synonymous with the phrase “secretive killer”. But not all assassins were secretive, and not all needed it. Here everything depended on a specific task and the essence of a specific operation. And if you delve deeper into the essence of the terminology, it would be more accurate to call the assassins not secretive killers, but terrorists. For the most part, this order performed loud and bloody operations with a large crowd of people, reminiscent of today's terrorists. They did this so that information about any crime or murder reached every local resident.
For the assassins, the elimination of some persons had a political connotation, and their main enemy was a high class of various types of bureaucrats. The activities of individual killers depended on the essence of the operation. Some of them always remained at the crime scene in order to “reach out to the people”, while others, after committing terrible crimes, began to preach, trying to attract witnesses to their group.
Assassins in modern times
Assassins exist to this day, while modern society is no less afraid of them than in those days. True, today terrorists do not have a separate state, but everything else is fully consistent with the image of the killers of that time, who committed their insidious atrocities in the distant past. Secret organizations exist all over the world in our time, where the followers of the order study the art of courage of the Assassins, their philosophy and values. Such associations are small sects. Entering them, people completely renounce real life, undergo the necessary initiation procedure, plunge into the world of martial arts, learn how a real assassin should look.
Some modern studies confirm that among the assassins there are many suicide bombers who commit terrible crimes without fear of dying. Their opponents are often government leaders, people with high incomes, as well as those individuals who do not recognize the achievements of Hassan ibn Sabbah, considering him a cruel person, and not a savior, as is interpreted in the teaching of the Assassins.
The influence of the assassins
After the founding of their state, the Assassins immediately began to seize foreign lands, because one of their main goals was to expand the territory. Acting wisely and progressively, they began their bloody activities with small villages and small fortresses. Before the capture of Hassan ibn Sabbah, in order not to spill excess blood and not to lose his faithful adherents, he always tried to take the fortress by cunning. He already did such a trick when he subdued Alamut. Some people obeyed, because the leader of the Assassins had the gift of influence.
However, not everyone went on about Hassan ibn Sabbah. And if he could not take the fortress by cunning, then he resorted to arms. Faithful assassins supported their mentor. They did not experience the torment of conscience, killing completely innocent people. Every year the empire of the preacher was gaining more and more scale, and according to some reports, the number of his minions reached more than fifty thousand.
The hand of Hassan ibn Sabbah and his empire was quite long, the influence of the Assassins began from the Arab lands and reached central Europe. The rulers and kings were in panic when they heard the name of the preacher and the word "Hassasin." They were so afraid of these true “carriers of horror” that they did not dare to take an extra step to the side without being accompanied by a large group of bodyguards.
In addition to European kings, the Assassins were also afraid to know the Seljuk Turks. To combat the ill-wishers, they always kept chain mail and weapons at the ready. Many wealthy gentlemen at that time secretly paid tribute to Hassan ibn Sabbah, doing this not only as a sign of respect, but also for self-defense, because many people at that time dreamed of protecting themselves and their families from the atrocities of the order. This was the single most effective way of not becoming a victim of assassins.
