The Abbasid Revolution Overthrows the Umayyads
Abu Abbas 'the Bloodthirsty' takes the caliphate and hunts down the old dynasty
Quick facts
- Decisive battle
- Greater Zab river, 750 CE
- Last Umayyad caliph
- Marwan II, killed fleeing to Egypt
- New caliph
- Abu Abbas al-Saffah
- Survivor
- Abd al-Rahman I, later founds Emirate of Cordoba
What happened
Resentment against Umayyad rule, especially among non-Arab converts and supporters of Muhammad's family, built for years before erupting into open revolt under the Abbasid movement, descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abbas. In 750 CE, Abbasid forces under Abu Abbas defeated the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, near the Greater Zab river, and Marwan was later hunted down and killed while fleeing to Egypt. Abu Abbas, who took the title al-Saffah, the Bloodthirsty, was declared caliph at Kufa, and his forces then dug up and burned Umayyad graves in Syria while massacring surviving male members of the family. Only one prince, a young Abd al-Rahman, escaped, fleeing across North Africa to found a rival Umayyad emirate in Al-Andalus in 756 CE.
Why it matters
The Abbasid Revolution replaced an Arab-centered dynasty with one that drew heavily on Persian administrative traditions and non-Arab converts, shifting the empire's center of gravity from Syria toward Iraq and setting the stage for the move of the capital to Baghdad. The one surviving Umayyad prince's flight to Spain also split the Islamic world permanently into rival caliphates.
How we know
The battle at the Greater Zab, Marwan's death, and the purge of the Umayyad family are described in the World History Encyclopedia's account of the Abbasid Dynasty, corroborated by its dedicated biography of Abd al-Rahman I covering his escape.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Abbasid Dynasty · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Abd al-Rahman I · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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