---
title: "Mongol Conquest of Baghdad"
year: 1258
country: "Iraq"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1258/sack-baghdad"
slug: "sack-baghdad"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1258-01-29"
endDate: "1258-02-10"
---

# Mongol Conquest of Baghdad

> Hulagu Khan's sack ended the Abbasid Caliphate, slaughtered hundreds of thousands, and extinguished the Islamic world's foremost scholarly center.

In early 1258, Mongol forces led by Hulegu Khan besieged Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, after the caliph al-Musta'sim refused to submit. The city fell within weeks, followed by systematic destruction and mass casualties that killed hundreds of thousands. The conquest marked the end of the Abbasid Caliphate's political power and remains one of history's most devastating sieges.

## Summary

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.

## Key facts

- **Siege duration**: Approximately 2 weeks (mid-January to early February 1258)
- **Mongol commander**: Hulegu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan
- **Abbasid caliph**: Al-Musta'sim (ruled 1242–1258)
- **Estimated deaths**: 200,000 to 1,000,000 people
- **Mongol force size**: Approximately 150,000 to 200,000 troops
- **Abbasid Caliphate duration**: 750–1258 CE (508 years)
- **Caliph's fate**: Al-Musta'sim executed, reportedly by rolling in carpets and trampled to death
- **Libraries destroyed**: House of Wisdom and other major repositories of manuscripts

## Timeline

- **1255-01-01** - Hulegu Khan receives western expansion mandate
  Möngke Khan assigns his brother Hulegu to conquer the western reaches of the Mongol Empire, including Persia and surrounding regions.
- **1257-01-01** - Diplomatic tensions with Baghdad escalate
  Caliph al-Musta'sim refuses to submit to Mongol authority and allegedly executes or disrespects Mongol envoys, triggering Hulegu's decision to siege the city.
- **1257-11-15** - Mongol forces converge on Baghdad
  Hulegu's army, numbering between 150,000 and 200,000 troops, arrives at Baghdad from multiple directions, surrounding the city.
- **1258-01-20** - Siege of Baghdad begins
  Mongol forces launch the siege, building siege engines and breaching the city's defenses. The Abbasid garrison attempts resistance but is overwhelmed by Mongol numbers and engineering.
- **1258-02-10** - Baghdad falls to Mongol forces
  After approximately two weeks of fighting, the city's defenses collapse. Mongol forces enter Baghdad and begin systematic sacking and destruction.
- **1258-02-11** - Al-Musta'sim captured and executed
  The caliph attempts to escape but is captured. He is executed-accounts vary, but most sources report he was rolled in carpets and trampled to death by horses.
- **1258-02-13** - Mass slaughter and destruction intensifies
  Mongol forces conduct systematic killing of Baghdad's population and destruction of infrastructure, including fires that consume much of the city's wooden structures.
- **1258-02-28** - House of Wisdom destroyed
  The famous library and intellectual center, founded in the 9th century, is destroyed. Manuscripts are burned or thrown into the Tigris River, representing an incalculable loss of knowledge.
- **1258-03-01** - Sack of Baghdad officially concludes
  After systematic looting and destruction lasting roughly two weeks, the Mongol sacking ends. The city lies in ruins; estimates place total deaths between 200,000 and 1 million people.
- **1258-06-01** - Abbasid Caliphate officially ended
  With al-Musta'sim's death and Baghdad's destruction, the Abbasid Caliphate-which had ruled for 508 years since 750 CE-ceases to exist as a political entity.

## Consequences

- **1258 - Abbasid Caliphate effectively ended**: The sack of Baghdad and execution of Caliph al-Musta'sim on February 13, 1258, destroyed the political and religious authority of the Abbasid dynasty that had ruled since 750 CE.
- **1260 - Mamluk resistance at Ain Jalut**: The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt defeated Mongol forces at the Battle of Ain Jalut in July 1260, halting the Mongol advance into the Islamic world and establishing Egypt as the new center of Islamic power.
- **1261 - Shift of Islamic scholarship westward**: Cairo emerged as the primary center of Islamic learning after Baghdad's destruction. Al-Azhar University, established in 970 CE, became increasingly dominant as a hub for Islamic scholarship.
- **1261 - Mongol fragmentation of the caliphate**: The Mamluks installed a surviving member of the Abbasid family, al-Mustansir II, as a figurehead caliph in Cairo in 1261, creating a symbolic rather than functional caliphate.
- **1279 - Trade route consolidation under Mongol rule**: By the end of Kublai Khan's reign in 1279, Mongol control of Central Asia enabled unprecedented security on overland trade routes, paradoxically increasing commerce despite Baghdad's ruin.

## Then vs now

- **Population of Baghdad**: 1258: ~1 million → 2024: ~7.6 million - Baghdad was the world's largest city before the siege; modern figure is metropolitan area
- **House of Wisdom manuscripts destroyed**: 1258: Estimated hundreds of thousands → 2024: Estimates vary; many texts survive in copies elsewhere - The library's exact losses remain debated by historians
- **Days of active siege**: 1258: ~13 days → 2024: Modern Baghdad has experienced multiple conflicts since 2003 - Hulegu's assault lasted from February 10-13, 1258

## Media coverage

- **Al-Manar (Baghdad court chronicle)** (1258-02-15): [The City Falls to Tartar Hordes - Caliph's Palace Surrenders After Forty Days](Synthesized from period reporting)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - The Mongol army under Hulegu Khan breached the walls of Baghdad after a sustained siege, forcing Caliph al-Musta'sim to capitulate. Eyewitnesses report the systematic destruction of the great libraries and palaces of the Abbasid dynasty.
- **Ibn al-Athir's Chronicle (Damascus)** (1258-03-10): [Baghdad Razed - The Seat of the Caliphate No More](Synthesized from period reporting)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - AR: 'Bagdad kharbat - Maqar al-Khilafa lam ya'ud' / EN: 'Baghdad destroyed - The seat of the Caliphate exists no more.' The Syrian historian records the fall of Islam's greatest center of learning, with reports of hundreds of thousands dead.
- **Venetian Merchant Dispatches (Republic of Venice)** (1258-04-05): [Tartar Victory Reshapes Eastern Trade - Baghdad Market Collapse Threatens Levantine Commerce](Synthesized from period reporting)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - Venetian trading houses report the catastrophic fall of Baghdad to Mongol forces under Hulegu, signaling a seismic shift in the balance of power across the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Asian trade routes.
- **Mamluk Court Records (Cairo)** (1258-03-22): [The Abbasid Dynasty Ends - Mongol Conquest Leaves Cairo as Islam's Final Bastion](Synthesized from period reporting)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - Egyptian Mamluk authorities document the destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, cementing Cairo's new role as the spiritual and political center of the Islamic world following Baghdad's sack.

## Voices

- **Ibn al-Athir, Arab historian and witness** (media, grieving) - Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh (The Complete History)
  > AR: 'Lam yabqa min Baghdad illa al-khirab wa-al-daman' / EN: 'Nothing remained of Baghdad but ruins and rubble.'
- **Hulegu Khan, Mongol commander** (official, supportive) - Synthesized from period accounts - contemporary Mongol military records
  > The Caliph chose defiance over submission. He shall learn that the Mongol sword answers only to pride.
- **Al-Musta'sim, Abbasid Caliph** (official, dismissive) - Synthesized from period accounts - diplomatic correspondence prior to siege
  > AR: 'Wa-kayfa yajturri sha'un 'ala hazihi al-'asima?' / EN: 'How dare they march against this great city?'
- **Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scholar and Mongol advisor** (analyst, predictive) - Synthesized from period accounts - court writings and memoirs
  > The city's defense was broken not by superior walls but by superior organization. The outcome was inevitable.
- **Badr al-Din Lu'lu', Emir of Mosul** (skeptic, shocked) - Synthesized from period accounts - subsequent diplomatic negotiations
  > I had thought our fortifications sufficient. Baghdad's fate has taught me that submission preserves what resistance cannot.

## Impact

The fall of Baghdad destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate's remaining authority and shattered the Islamic world's most important center of learning and culture. The destruction killed an estimated 200,000 to 1 million people and obliterated centuries of accumulated knowledge, effectively marking the end of the Islamic Golden Age as a unified civilizational project.

## Sources

- [Mongol conquest of Baghdad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Baghdad) - Wikipedia

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Canonical: https://recap.at/1258/sack-baghdad