Underrated Leaders of History - Saladin, the Ayyubid Sultan

Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi commonly known by the epithet Saladin was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, he spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, Ayyubid's territorial control spanned Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, the Maghreb, and Nubia.