Mongols in the Holy Land

The death of the great Genghis Khan in 1223 marked Mongol expansion into Asia-minor. He was succeeded in the east by his grandson Kublai, who went to conquer China. In the west, Hulagu, another grandson, succeeded (a third was the founder of the Golden Horde in Russia). It was Hulagu who crossed the Oxus River in 1254 with a huge army, intending to conquer all the way to the Mediterranean and to destroy Islam. Hulagu was a pagan, but he and his court was very favorable to the Christians.

Hulagu first swept into Persia, then he turned on Baghdad. The Caliph Nasir had died in 1255 and was succeeded by Musta`sim, who lacked the drive needed to withstand the Mongols. Hulagu demanded the complete surrender of the city, which the Caliph could not do, though everyone understood the alternative was utter destruction.

A Muslim army tried to interpose itself between the horde and the city, but Hulagu's engineers trapped the army by cutting the dikes on the Tigris River. He then laid siege to the city. As the walls were falling, the Caliph and his entire family came in person to surrender, but it was too late. All the males were taken out and killed, including the Caliph himself, and the city was sacked so thoroughly that it did not recover until modern times. The sack of Baghdad went on for over a month. Perhaps a hundred thousand were killed.

This ended the Abbasid Caliphate. After Baghdad fell, other cities followed. Damascus yielded and was spared. Aleppo resisted and was sacked. Egypt was next on the list, but events intervened to distract the Great Khan.

Hulagu himself had to go north, for his brother in the Golden Horde was inclining toward Islam and was horrified by Hulagu's treatment of the faithful. The Khan kept most of his troops in the north, but sent his general Kitbogha to deal with the Egyptians.

Kitbogha commanded mainly Turks, drawn in fact from much the same sources as the Mameluks he was facing. The Egyptian Mameluks raised an army commanded by the Sultan Qutuz and his great general Baibars. At Ain Jalut (the Springs of Goliath) near Nazareth, the two armies met (September 1260). It was a ferocious battle, but Baibars distinguished himself. The Mongols were defeated and Kitbogha was killed, supposedly by Baibars himself.