Battles & Wars › Medieval wars › Mongol conquests
Siege of Baghdad (1258)
January 29 – February 10, 1258· Battle· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
A Mongol army under Hülegü, Genghis Khan's grandson, besieged and sacked Baghdad and executed the Abbasid caliph.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
The Abbasid caliphs had ruled from Baghdad since 762, though by 1258 they held little real power. Caliph al-Musta'sim refused Hülegü's demand to submit. Mongol forces, with Chinese siege engineers and Georgian and Armenian allies, surrounded the city and broke through its walls in under two weeks. After the surrender the city was sacked for about a week, the caliph was executed and libraries were destroyed. Estimates of the dead range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
Why it matters
It ended the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, a symbolic center of the Islamic world for five centuries, and is remembered as a great cultural catastrophe.
How we know
Persian historians including Rashid al-Din, Arab chroniclers, and a short account by the scholar Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, who traveled with Hülegü's army.
Still debated
Accounts of the caliph's death differ, and the story of the Tigris running black with ink from drowned books is probably later embellishment.
Connections (4)
▸Mongol conquests destroyed the Abbasid capital in Siege of Baghdad (1258)Well documented
The connection
Great Khan Möngke sent his brother Hülegü west with a large army to crush the Ismaili 'Assassins' of Iran and bring the Abbasid caliph to heel. After taking the Ismaili fortresses in 1256, Hülegü demanded the caliph's submission. Al-Musta'sim refused, and the Mongols besieged and sacked Baghdad, ending a caliphate that had ruled there for about 500 years.
When and how
Baghdad, January–February 1258; Hülegü's Mongol army with Georgian, Armenian and Chinese contingents, against Caliph al-Musta'sim.
How we know
Persian, Arab and Armenian chroniclers describe the siege; Rashid al-Din's history, written for Hülegü's descendants, gives the Mongol side.
Debates and open questions
How much the sack itself, rather than long decline, ended Baghdad's golden age is debated, as is the death toll.
▸Siege of Baghdad (1258) was followed by the Mamluk stand at Battle of Ain JalutWell documented
The connection
After Baghdad, Hülegü's army took Aleppo and Damascus in 1260 and sent envoys demanding Egypt's surrender. The Mamluk sultan Qutuz executed them and marched north. By then Hülegü had pulled most of his troops back east after news of Great Khan Möngke's death, leaving his general Kitbuqa a much smaller force to face the Mamluks.
When and how
Iraq and Syria, February 1258 to September 1260; Hülegü, Kitbuqa, Sultan Qutuz and the Mamluk commander Baybars.
How we know
Arabic and Persian chronicles record the sequence from Baghdad to Aleppo, Damascus and Ain Jalut; Mamluk historians quote Hülegü's threatening letter.
Debates and open questions
Whether Hülegü withdrew because of the succession crisis, a looming war with the Golden Horde, or a lack of pasture in Syria is debated.
▸Timur (Tamerlane) sacked Baghdad again, 143 years after Siege of Baghdad (1258)Well documented
The connection
Baghdad had partly recovered after the Mongols sacked it in 1258. Timur took it in 1393, and when it rebelled he stormed it again in 1401 and destroyed much of the city. After these sacks the old Abbasid capital did not regain its medieval size or importance for centuries.
When and how
Baghdad: February 1258 under Hülegü; 1393 and July 1401 under Timur.
How we know
Persian and Arabic chronicles describe both sacks: Rashid al-Din and others for 1258, Ibn Arabshah and Timurid court histories for 1401.
Debates and open questions
Death tolls for both sacks are uncertain and probably inflated by chroniclers. How much Baghdad's decline came from sacks versus shifting trade routes is debated.
▸Mongol conquest of Khwarazm (Bukhara and Samarkand) opened the Islamic heartlands to the later Siege of Baghdad (1258)Mostly agreed
The connection
Destroying Khwarazm removed the only great Muslim power between Mongolia and the Middle East, and Mongol armies then held much of Iran. In the 1250s Hülegü, Genghis's grandson, used that base to destroy the Assassins' castles and take Baghdad, ending the Abbasid caliphate.
When and how
Central Asia and Iran, 1219–1221; Hülegü's campaign 1253–1260, with Baghdad taken in February 1258.
How sure are we?
Persian historians, notably Juvaini, who served Hülegü, describe the campaigns as one continuing Mongol conquest of Iran.
Debates and open questions
Historians debate how far Mongol rule in Iran also brought trade and learning, and how to weigh that against the destruction.