On 3 September 1260, the Battle of Ain Jalut was fought between the Mongols under Kitbuqa against the Mamluks under Baibars during the Mongol Invasions.
Why did it happen?
In 1257, the Mongol Khan Mogke ordered his brother Hulegu to send an army to occupy Persia and destroy the Assassins of Syria. On 11 January 1258, Hulegu’s army besieged Baghdad and captured the city one month later. According to Muslim sources, 80,000 citizens were killed in the sack of the city before “the stink of decaying corpses in the streets persuaded Hulegu to move on” (Grant, 2005, p.93). Hulegu went on to capture Aleppo and Damascus before sending envoys to the Sultan of Egypt, Saif ad-Din Qutuz, calling on him to accept Mongol suzerainty. Qutuz had them executed, but before Hulegu could react, he received news in 1260 that Mongke had died, forcing him to return with most of his forces to Mongolia to discuss the succession. Seizing his chance, Qutuz and his general Baibars gathered their forces and marched into Palestine to confront the Mongols under Kitbuqa at Ain Jalut.
Who was involved?
The Mongol army at Ain Jalut numbered 5,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry. The cavalry was arrayed in three divisions in the vanguard, while the infantry, which included Crusaders, Armenians and Georgians, was positioned in the rear. The Mamluk army at Ain Jalut numbered 30,000 infantry and cavalry. Most of the infantry, which included hand gunners, were arrayed in front of a forested hill under Baibars, while Qutuz positioned the cavalry and remaining infantry on the flanks. The Mamluk plan was to provoke the Mongols into charging before feigning retreat, surrounding the Mongol army from the flanks and annihilating them.
What happened?
Baibars ordered his hand gunners and archers to conduct hit-and-run attacks on the Mongols to provoke them into charging. After several hours, Kitbuqa ordered the Mongols to advance against the Mamluk hand gunners and archers, which drew them into a pursuit. As the Mongols chased the Mamluk vanguard back towards the hills, the Mamluk army under Qutuz ambushed and surrounded the Mongol army. Despite taking heavy losses, the Mongols succeeded in turning and breaking the left wing of the Mamluk army. Qutuz threw down his helmet to rally his forces and urged his men to fight in the name of Islam. When Kitbuqa was slain in the fighting, the remaining 5,000 Mongols and their Christian allies retreated 13 kilometres away to Beisan, pursued by the Mamluks.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Ain Jalut was a Mamluk victory. In the aftermath of the battle, The Mamluks entered Damascus in triumph, and Baibar’s servants murdered Qutuz to ensure that their master became Sultan of the Mamluk state. The Battle of Ain Jalut was the first major Mongol defeat and shattered their myth of invincibility. As Geoffrey Regan states, “The Christians had gambled by siding with the Mongols, and with the defeat of these previously invincible warriors the Muslims were able to extinguish the last vestiges of a Christian presence in the Holy Land” (Regan, 2002, p.66). The Mamluks captured the Crusader city of Acre in 1291 and ruled Egypt and Palestine until they were absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.
Bibliography
Grant, R.G. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. London, Cassell Illustrated, 2011.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Regan, Geoffrey. Battles That Changed History: Fifty Decisive Battles Spanning Over 2,500 Years of Warfare. London, Andre Deutsch, 2002.
Zaid, Mohammed. “Battle of Ain Jalut, 1260.” The Art of Battle. Last revised 2013. www.theartofbattle.com/battle-of-ain-jalut-1260/
Comments