Battle of Ain Jalut

Battle of Ain Jalut
Part of the Mongol raids in Palestine
Date September 3, 1260 Location Ain Jalut, Palestine Result Decisive Egyptian Mamluk victory
Belligerents
Egyptian Mamluks	Mongols Georgians Cilician Armenians
Commanders and leaders
Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Baibars C *	Kitbuqa +
Strength
ca. 20,000	ca. 20,000
Casualties and losses
heavy	heavy

The Battle of Ain Jalut (or Ayn Jalut, in Arabic: عين جالوت, the "Eye of Goliath" or the "Spring of Goliath") took place on September 3, 1260 between the Egyptian Mamluks and the Mongols in Palestine, in the Jezreel Valley in Galilee, just north of Biblical Samaria.

This battle is considered by many historians to be of great macro-historical importance, as it marked the highwater of Mongol conquests, and the first time they had ever been decisively defeated. After previous defeats, the Mongols had always returned and avenged the loss, but after the Battle of Ain Jalut they were unable to do so. The Mongol Ilkhanate leader Hulagu Khan not able to advance into Egypt, and the Khanate he established in Persia was only able to defeat the Mamluks once in subsequent expeditions, briefly reoccupying Syria and parts of Palestine for a few months in 1300.

Preceding events

When Mongke Khan became Great Khan in 1251, he immediately set out to implement his grandfather Genghis Khan's plan for world empire. To lead the task of subduing the nations of the West, he selected his brother, another of Genghis Khan's grandsons, Hulagu Khan.

Compiling the army took five years, and it was not until 1256 that Hulagu was prepared to begin the invasions. Operating from the Mongol base in Persia, Hulagu proceeded south. Mongke Khan had ordered good treatment for those who yielded without resistance, and destruction for those who did not. In this way Hulagu and his army had conquered some of the most powerful and longstanding dynasties of the time. Other countries in the Mongols' path submitted to Mongol authority, and contributed forces to the Mongol army. By the time that the Mongols reached Baghdad, their army included Cilician Armenians, and even some Frankish forces from the submitted Principality of Antioch. The Hashshashin in Persia fell, the 500-year-old Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad was destroyed (see Battle of Baghdad (1258)), and so too fell the Ayyubid dynasty in Damascus. Hulagu's plan was to then proceed southwards through Palestine towards Egypt, to confront the last major Islamic power, the Mamluk Sultanate.

Mongol envoys to Egypt

In 1260, Hulagu sent envoys to Qutuz in Cairo, demanding his surrender:

"From the King of Kings of the East and West, the Great Khan. To Qutuz the Mamluk, who fled to escape our swords. You should think of what happened to other countries and submit to us. You have heard how we have conquered a vast empire and have purified the earth of the disorders that tainted it. We have conquered vast areas, massacring all the people. You cannot escape from the terror of our armies. Where can you flee? What road will you use to escape us? Our horses are swift, our arrows sharp, our swords like thunderbolts, our hearts as hard as the mountains, our soldiers as numerous as the sand. Fortresses will not detain us, nor arms stop us. Your prayers to God will not avail against us. We are not moved by tears nor touched by lamentations. Only those who beg our protection will be safe. Hasten your reply before the fire of war is kindled. Resist and you will suffer the most terrible catastrophes. We will shatter your mosques and reveal the weakness of your God and then we will kill your children and your old men together. At present you are the only enemy against whom we have to march."

Qutuz responded, however, by killing the envoys and displaying their heads on Bab Zuweila, one of the gates of Cairo.

Troop movements leading up to the Battle of Ain Jalut

The campaign

The power dynamic then changed due to the death of the Great Khan Mongke, requiring Hulagu and other senior Mongols to return home to decide upon his successor. A potential Great Khan, Hulagu took the majority of his army with him, and left a much smaller force, only around one or two tumens (10,000-20,000 men) under his best general, the Nestorian Christian Turk Kitbuqa Noyan.

In late August, Kitbuqa's forces proceeded south from their base at Baalbek, passing to the east of Lake Tiberias through Palestine.

The Mamluk Sultan Qutuz at that time allied with a fellow Mamluk, Baibars, who wanted to defend Islam after the Mongols captured Damascus and most of Sham.

The Mongols, for their part, attempted to form a Franco-Mongol alliance with (or at least, demand the submission of) the remnant of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, now centered on Acre, but Pope Alexander IV forbade this, and Julian of Sidon caused an incident which resulted in the death of one of Kitbuqa's grandsons. Angered, Kitbuqa sacked Sidon. The Barons of Acre, though they still regarded the Mamluks as a threat, also saw the Mongols as the more immediate menace, and so the Crusaders opted for a position of cautious neutrality between the two forces. In an unusual move, they agreed that the Egyptian Mamluks could march north through their territories unmolested, and camp to resupply near Acre. From Acre, Qutuz proceeded southeast toward the spring at Ain Jalut in the Jezreel Valley.

The battle

The bulk of the Mamluks were a force specifically prepared to deal with Mongol tactics. Many of them were Turkic or Circassian tribesmen purchased in Constantinople by the Sultan of Egypt and trained at the Mamluk headquarters on an island in the Nile. They were not only great horsemen themselves, but were familiar with steppe warfare and with Mongol tactics and weapons.

The opposing forces met at Ain Jalut on September 3, both sides numbering about 20,000 men. The Mamluks drew out the Mongol cavalry with a feigned retreat, but were almost overwhelmed by the savage Mongol attack. Qutuz rallied his troops for a successful counterattack, along with cavalry reserves hidden in the nearby valleys. The Mongols were forced to retreat, and Kitbuqa was captured and executed. Mamluk heavy cavalrymen were clearly able to beat the Mongols in close combat, something that no one had previously done.

The Battle of Ain Jalut is notable for being the earliest known battle where explosive hand cannons (midfa in Arabic) were used. These explosive cannons were employed by the Mamluk Egyptians in order to frighten the Mongol horses and cavalry and cause disorder in their ranks. The explosive gunpowder compositions of these cannons were later described in Arabic chemical and military manuals in the early 14th century.

Aftermath

On the way back to Cairo after the victory at Ain Jalut, Qutuz was assassinated by several emirs in a conspiracy led by Baibars. . Baibars became the new Sultan. His successors would go on to capture the last of the Crusader states in Palestine by 1291. The Mongols were again beaten at the First Battle of Homs less than a year later, and completely expelled from Syria.

Internecine conflict prevented Hulagu Khan from being able to bring his full power against the Mamluks to avenge the pivotal defeat at Ain Jalut. Berke Khan, the Khan of the Kipchak Khanate in Russia, had converted to Islam, and watched with horror as his cousin destroyed the Abbasid Caliph, the spiritual head of Islam. Muslim historian Rashid al-Din quoted Berke as sending the following message to Mongke Khan, protesting the attack on Baghdad (not knowing Mongke had died in China): "he has sacked all the cities of the Muslims, and has brought about the death of the Caliph. With the help of God I will call him to account for so much innocent blood." The Mamluks, learning through spies that Berke was both a Muslim and not fond of his cousin, were careful to nourish their ties to him and his Khanate.

After the Mongol succession was finally settled, with Kublai as the last Great Khan, Hulagu returned to his lands by 1262, and massed his armies to attack the Mamluks and avenge Ain Jalut. However, Berke Khan initiated a series of raids in force which lured Hulagu north away from the Levant to meet him. Hulagu suffered severe defeat in an attempted invasion north of the Caucasus in 1263. This was the first open war between Mongols, and signaled the end of the unified empire.

Hulagu was only able to send a small army of two tumens in his only attempt to attack the Mamluks after Ain Jalut, and it was repulsed. Hulagu Khan died in 1265 and was succeeded by his son Abaqa.

References

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• Amitai-Preiss, Reuven (1995). Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260-1281. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0521462266.
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• Tschanz, David W. (July/August 2007). "History's Hinge: 'Ain Jalut". Saudi Aramco World. Retrieved 2007-09-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• The Lion of Ain Jaloot---Google Video
• History Decided At The 'Spring Of Goliath': The Battle Of Ain Jalut
• Leaders and Battles database: Ain Jalut, the Mongol Wars