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The Battle of Baghdad in 1258 was a victory of Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan.
Baghdad was the capital of an Islamic state and was ruled by Al-Musta'sim, the current Abbasid Caliph. The Abbasid state had been in existence for over 500 years, since the accesssion of the first caliph in Baghdad 751 CE following the defeat of the previously ruling Umayyads. In century or so before the Mongol invasion, the state had lost much of its former strength due to the increasing political dominance of its Mamluk troops.
The Mongol army, led by Hulagu (or Hulegu) Khan set out to Baghdad in November of 1257. The Mongols set up camp near the Hulwan river, and some of them crossed the Tigris to attack Baghdad from the rear. Al-Musta'sim's army launched a counterattack, which at first drove the Mongols back that had crossed the Tigris, but the Mongols were able to lure their opponents into a marshy terrain. Al-Musta'sim's soldiers were routed, and only a few managed to escape back to Baghdad.
The Mongols pushed inward and reached the city wall. Baghdad was defended by an army of Mamluk soldiers and auxiliaries from some southern Iraqi tribes. There was also a Citizens' Militia. The Mongols laid siege to the city and constructed a palisade and a ditch; siege equipment was erected as well. The bombardment began on January 29 and by February 4, a breach was made. By February 5 the Mongols controlled a stretch of the wall. Al-Musta'sim tried to negotiate, but was refused.
On February 10 Baghdad surrendered. The Mongols swept into the city on February 13, which began a week of massacre, looting, and fire. The cruelty associated with the capture of the city has been chronicled many times in historical accounts of the invasion. The Grand Library of Baghdad, which contained countless precious historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed, much as the library in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople had been fifty years previously. Massive loss of life resulted when citizens were killed by the Mongol army when they resisted or attempted to flee, while raping and looting destroyed order and defaced many architectural buildings within the city.
Baghdad lost most of its population and prestige for the next three centuries, but was later rebuild by the Persian Safavid dynasty in 1526.
External link
- A long article about Hulagu's conquest of Baghdad, written by Ian Frazier, appeared in the April 25, 2005 issue of The New Yorker. It explains Osama bin Laden's reference to Hulagu.