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This article refers to elements from The Dune Encyclopedia Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons: |
Muad'Dib's Jihad (10196 AG - 10208 AG), also known as Paul's Jihad or the Fremen Jihad, or the Second Jihad in relation to the Butlerian Jihad, was a jihad which followed the defeat of Shaddam IV and the Imperial Forces on the Plain of Arrakeen.
History[]
Background[]
When Paul Atreides was enthroned as Emperor, several Great Houses of the Landsraad viewed the defeat of House Corrino and the dreaded Sardaukar as their chance to break with the Imperium, or make their own bid for the throne. For their part the Bene Gesserit saw the Kwisatz Haderach, the intended culmination of their centuries-long plan, turn against them, and therefore rather than have him live independently of them, they hoped to kill and replace him. Therefore the Bene Gesserit supported Paul's enemies.
The Jihad[]
Fremen combat deaths and transfers through the end of Paul's Jihad
The rebellious Houses saw themselves as merely taking advantage of a moment of political instability, and expected the new Imperial House to react no more harshly than the political realists of House Corrino would have. This proved to be a fatal mistake - the Fremen did not view them as political opportunists but as unbelievers defying their long awaited messiah and their Mahdi. Adding fuel to their religious fervor was the memory of their long oppression by the Harkonnens and the Imperium.
The first victory of the Fremen, against House McNaught of Malathon and three Houses Minor from nearby Kalakh, was the harbinger of a new and bloodier style of warfare. By Landsraad standards the McNaught army was large and well-trained; nonetheless ten legions of Fremen (300,000 men) annihilated the McNaught and allied force which mustered over ten times as many soldiers. Barely a few hundred survivors were left to spread the shocking news of this lopsided slaughter.
Ignorant as they were of the Fremen and their Fedaykin fanatics, other opponents across the Imperium continued in their rebellion against Paul Muad'Dib, and so the Jihad began in earnest. Fremen warriors spread throughout the entire galaxy, crushing not only political opponents but also those religions that they encountered and found loathsome. Between this repugnance and the Qizara Tafwid seeing the Jihad as its chance to spread its own faith, forty ancient religions and their followers were wiped out.
A key factor in this religious culling was the Bene Gesserit's support of Paul's opponents. The Sisterhood aided and organized the mustering of an army consisting of Sardaukar elements and those Landsraad members still strong enough to mount serious opposition to the Fremen. In the Molitor system the two sides clashed in the greatest campaign of the Jihad. While the Landsraad-Sardaukar force put up a strong fight, the Fremen ultimately triumphed. The Bene Gesserit's role in the battle had dire consequences for their religious affiliates, as most of the forty faiths annihilated by the Jihad were purged after Molitor and specifically targeted because of their strong ties to the Sisterhood.
Another notable campaign was fought on Naraj and its moons. The Fremen Fedaykin commander Farok was head of the Naraj Campaign.
The only planet that was spared the raging fire of Muad'Dib's Jihad was the home world of House Atreides, Caladan. Lady Jessica, mother of Paul Muad'Dib, refused the Fremen any access to the planet, including religious pilgrimage.
Paul sent terraformers offplanet to observe rivers, lakes, oceans and jungles and then seek their reduplication on Arrakis.[1] Conquered worlds provided Paul with workforce, material and whole structures for his palace.[2]
Aftermath[]
The Jihad ended in 10208 AG. By this point the new emperor's victory was total. The old order, characterized by a balance of power between House Corrino and numerous factions, was no more. The Landsraad was toothless, the Bene Gesserit survived as an order but without its former influence, the Spacing Guild had been reduced to a pawn of the emperor, and CHOAM was dominated to an extent that House Corrino had never managed. One ruler, one religion and one army now controlled the known universe.
The human cost of the Jihad dwarfed any other conflict in history. Muad'Dib stated that, at a conservative estimate, 61 billion people had died, ninety worlds had been sterilized and five hundred others "demoralized", and forty ancient religions with their followers had been exterminated.
During that period, many elegies and laments were transmitted orally, recorded on alien planets while longing for Dune. Some of them were gathered by Mustava Rozalen in the collection Lament of the Lost.