Quote Originally Posted by NeoSpartan View Post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVh_eZkiTAI
Uh, it's nice, but how's it relate to much anything.
---Now... for some reason I get the feel that too much blame is being put on the Mongols. Just a feeling I am getting..
Why ? They pretty much nuked the Khwaramzian kingdom (which covered much of Central Asia) and did more or less the same to Mesopotamia, and probably much of the region inbetween while they were at it. Did a fine job killing the know-how to build and maintain the irrigation systems on the side AFAIK, as insofar as the Mongols were concerned the hydraulic engineers didn't rank among those useful people that were spared when a city was razed...

Previous conquerors in the area hadn't been quite so thorough and systematical about making object lessons, far as I'm aware of.
True that the major irrigation systems fell into disrepair in Iraq (the general area between Baghdad and Basra) after 1258 (?).
Yeah, wot a coincidence there.