The Real Assassin's Creed: Deadliest Special Forces Of The Dark Ages | Ancient Black Ops | Chronicle

The Order of Assassins were the deadliest special forces of the Medieval world. They were masters of disguise and stealth, wielding psychological warfare as their greatest weapon. Originating in 11th-century Persia, the Assassins, led by Hassan-i Sabbah, targeted prominent figures, including Sunni leaders, employing tactics like stabbing with stilettos and slashing with concealed weapons. The Assassins successfully assassinated key figures, instilling fear and dread across the Middle East.

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They are the deadliest special forces
in the Medieval World.

Their symbol is the dagger.

Experts in disguise, masters of stealth,

they strike out of nowhere.

They made themselves appear like ghosts.

They would come in, stabbed, disappear.

Terror is their greatest weapon.

Psychological warfare it's about
the impact that you have.

This is the story of how a tiny community

takes on the most
feared warlords of their day.

They were a small marginalized
persecuted sect.

They would become a legend.

The first true assassins.

100 miles north of Jerusalem
lies the port of Tyre.

In the 12th century
it is a crusader stronghold.

Its ruler, Conrad of Montferrat

is about to become
the most powerful man in the Holy Land.

the Crusader King.

That night, Conrad
is returning home from dinner.

He's going along a particularly
narrow street.

There's two men sat one on either side.

He believes they are monks,

trusted members of his household.

But Conrad is about to fall victim

to the most feared
black ops force of his time,

the legendary Assassins.

The origins of the Assassins
lie hundreds of miles away,

from the Holy Land.

In 11th century Persia the country
we now know as Iran.

The Islamic world is torn apart

by the age-old struggle
between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

It's a division about who follows
the truest Islamic tradition.

The Sunni believe that they are
the rightful preservers of that tradition.

They're the party of the community.

Their rivals,the Shiites,
support a different tradition.

They take its authority
from the prophet Muhammad's descendants.

The followers of Ali, the son-in-law
and the cousin of the Prophet

say that the imams, the political
religious leaders of their faith

should descend from him.

Even today this rivalry within Islam
fuels bitter religious conflicts.

In a remote area of Northern Persia
is the mountain fortress of Alamut,

It is here that a particular Shiite community,
the ismaelis, takes refuge.

There were a small marginalized
persecuted sect of Islam

at a time when it was extremely unhealthy
to be any of those things.

Their base is known as the Eagle's Nest.

Alamut itself is a natural fortress.

it's not like a crusader castle

that's built with a tremendous
amount of science

but it sits atop a natural redoubt
that's 300 ft almost like a sheer cliff

and at the bottom,
you got very deep gorges,

it's very, very difficult to approach.

The leader of this small remote community
is Hasan i-Sabbah, a charismatic man

who demands total devotion
from his followers.

One wonders if he had a rather magnetic

or perhaps hypnotic personality
about him as well

to draw these people to him

despite the fact that he's actually
asking them

to submit to a very,
very harsh regime indeed.

Hassan's Ismailis are facing
overwhelming odds.

His Sunni enemies have a vast army
of 300,000 men.

He will have to wage what we now call
asymmetric warfare.

He's not in a position to fight back.

He's not got large armies at his disposal.

To survive, Hasan has to find
something he can do

even with limited manpower.

Finally, he hits on a radical solution.

He will decapitate his Sunni enemies,
by murdering their leader.

They're not going to be able
to defeat him in battle

so, they go in on a much narrower front.

they're going to take out the man himself.

At the top of the Persian hierarchy,

Nizam al-Mulk is a champion
of Sunni Orthodoxy

It is basically a one-man government

and he has made it his work
to root out heresy

right at the center of the Persian State.

Hasan's Ismailis
are one of his prime targets.

He has described them
as the puss of sedition.

He really thinks they should be expelled

so, if Hassan picks him out
and if he removes him,

he really will be striking a blow
against the man

who is the real cheerleader
against his group.

Hasan starts to train an elite squad
to carry out the mission.

They're chosen
from his most devoted followers.

the Fedayeen.

The early Fedayeen were almost certainly
from that particular area of Iran.

So, these are tough mountain men.

Hasan begins by teaching them
how to fight at close quarters.

Their actual personal skills
are in many ways much higher

than you find in armies today.

So, commandos won't be so well trained
in individual hand-to-hand combat

because they have technology

people today rely on technology.

Then they had no technology,
it was just them, they were the weapon.

The key question is how to make the hit,
to take out their target.

They could have killed people using poison

but the victim could take
an antidote and survive.

They could have killed people
using arrows or projectile weapons

but there's always the risk
of missing the vital organs.

Eventually, the weapon they choose
is the dagger.

Striking up close,
you can make sure of a kill.

A dagger gives you a greater chance
of actually achieving your aim.

But using daggers in combat
demands immense skill.

Throughout history

there's only three different types
of weapons available in a dagger.

You have a stabbing,

you have a slashing

and you have a slashing and stabbing.

Now, the first one we have
is something like a stiletto.

The key point about the stiletto
is it's very strong.

Thin blade for high penetration power.

So, a stabbing of a stiletto
goes straight through.

So, in and stab through.

With a weapon concealed,
you walk towards him

pull out, stab walk on.

The next type is a slashing blade.

From here they will just draw and slash.

As you can see, in one motion,

it would be very hard
to even see that it happened.

The third major design would be
a slashing and stabbing weapon.

Now, this is a modern version,

so, from here it's got sharp blade curves would also have a back blade so you can cut back if you miss very strong guard here this guard
10:30
allows you to stab down very heavily so you have different options as to how you move and how to combine
10:41
[Music] it the ismael's next step is familiar to
10:46
Today's Special Forces to gather local Intelligence on their
10:53
target it's a big operation it will require inside knowledge
11:00
an ismaeli spy infiltrates the Sunni leader headquarters watching naam al- mul's
11:06
every move how does he conduct his
11:13
life what's the best opportunity we can get where is there a in that
11:25
[Music] armor this information is fed back to
11:38
base with a detailed profile of his Target Hassan identifies what he thinks
11:44
is a weakness in al- mul's security that weakness is his
11:54
religion this is the only way he's going to actually get that close to him and he
11:59
calls on a man to represent a Sufi Mystic a holy man an athetic somebody
12:04
who normally one would never suspect of misdeed a Sufi would be seen as a man of
12:14
Peace anybody who has an air of Holiness about them is almost guaranteed a warm
12:22
reception from a powerful leader of the secular State such as nul the opportunity to to be blessed by
12:30
such an individual is not to be
12:36
missed having worked out how to get close to him Hassan's next problem is
12:42
how to kill him the trick is to use
12:48
distraction the person must be distracted by an event so you trip or you drop something and this moment you
12:54
exploit it
13:04
[Music] The Chosen killer rehearses the
13:16
technique after months of training he is [Music]
13:21
[Applause]
13:28
ready [Music]
13:37
[Music]
13:42
Hassan's trained killer infiltrates the Sunni base no one suspects a holy
13:54
man in the quarters of nisam al- mul there is no no sense of any threat
14:01
everything is
14:06
routine at this time of the evening n is probably in High
14:12
Spirits he has finished his work for the day this is perfect timing for mes he's
14:20
much more difficult to actually get anywhere near during the normal working business
14:27
day so no doubt any his own mind he's thinking of the pleasures of the evening among his
14:35
[Music] women in the shadows the ismi killer
14:42
waits for the moment to [Music]
14:48
strike al- mul is about to be carried off to his harim on his
14:58
litter