Siege of Baghdad 1258
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1258 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Iraq | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Mongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Abbasid Caliphate, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Ilkhanate, Kingdom of Georgia | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 33.3475, 44.3350 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Siege of Baghdad, also known as the Sack of Baghdad, took place in early 1258. A large army commanded by Hulegu, a prince of the Mongol Empire, attacked the historic capital of the Abbasid Caliphate after a series of provocations from its ruler, caliph al-Musta'sim. Within a few weeks, Baghdad fell and was sacked by the Mongol army—al-Musta'sim was killed alongside hundreds of thousands of his subjects. The city's fall has traditionally been seen as marking the end of the Islamic Golden Age; in reality, its ramifications are uncertain.
After the accession of his brother Möngke Khan to the Mongol throne in 1251, Hulegu, a grandson of Genghis Khan, was dispatched westwards to Persia to secure the region. His massive army of over 138,000 men took years to reach the region but then quickly attacked and overpowered the Nizari Ismaili Assassins in 1256. The Mongols had expected al-Musta'sim to provide reinforcements for their army—the Caliph's failure to do so, combined with his arrogance in negotiations, convinced Hulegu to overthrow him in late 1257. Invading Mesopotamia from all sides, the Mongol army soon approached Baghdad, routing a sortie on 17 January 1258 by flooding their opponents' camp. They then invested Baghdad, which was left with around 30,000 troops.
The assault began at the end of January. Mongol siege engines breached Baghdad's fortifications within a couple of days, and Hulegu's highly-trained troops controlled the eastern wall by 4 February.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Baghdad (revision 1378473365), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Baghdad (1401) 1401 · 0 km
- Capture of Baghdad (1534) 1534 · 8 km
- Siege of Baghdad (812–813) 812 · 8 km
- Siege of Baghdad (1157) 1157 · 8 km
- Siege of Baghdad (1733) 1733 · 8 km
- Siege of Baghdad (1638) 1638 · 8 km
Browse more: battles in Iraq · Asia · Medieval battles