"The Assassins were never popular, but they had a plan. Like all good strategies, the Assassins' plan was simple but profound. It had four elements - castles, conversion, carnage and chaos. With a remote network of mountain castles in your possession, you had safety and a place to regroup. From the security of those bases it was possible to launch conversion programmes, building up a greater base of followers who could provide economic support to the group."
"'Hasan exerted every effort to capture the places adjacent to Alamut or that vicinity. Where possible he won them over by the tricks of his propaganda, while such places as were unaffected by his blandishments he seized with slaughter, ravishment, pillage, bloodshed, and war. He took such castles as he could and wherever he found a suitable rock, he built a castle upon it.'"
The Assassins built a resilient strategy based on four elements: castles, conversion, carnage, and chaos. Securing remote mountain castles provided safety, self-sufficiency, and bases for regrouping and launching conversion missions to recruit followers and economic support. Targeted political assassinations generated fear and leveraged influence beyond conventional military means. Selective killing of enemy leaders produced persistent instability and off-balance adversaries. Acquisition of fortified positions relied on persuasion where possible and brutal seizure where necessary. Hasan Sabbah expanded the network across Persia, sending missionaries and capturing or building castles to establish semi-autonomous bases under central direction.
Read at Medievalists.net
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