Battle of Ain Jalut halts the Mongol advance
- Date
- 3 September 1260 CE
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Levant (Palestine)
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
On 3 September 1260, at Ain Jalut ('Spring of Goliath') in the Jezreel Valley of Palestine, the Mamluk army of Egypt under Sultan Qutuz and the general Baybars decisively defeated a Mongol force commanded by Hülegü's lieutenant Kitbuqa.
The Mamluks lured the Mongols into an ambush in the hills with a feigned retreat, killing Kitbuqa and shattering his army. The victory was historically pivotal: it was the first major, lasting halt to Mongol expansion and ended the myth of Mongol invincibility. With the bulk of Hülegü's forces withdrawn eastward over a succession dispute, the Mamluks secured Syria and Egypt, preserving an independent centre of Islamic power and culture. The Euphrates became the effective western frontier of the Ilkhanate, while Baybars soon seized the sultanate and built the Mamluk state into the leading power of the eastern Mediterranean, later providing refuge to a restored shadow Abbasid caliphate in Cairo.
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Empires active in 3 September 1260 CE
- Mongol Empire1206 CE – 1368 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
- Song Dynasty960 CE – 1279 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Kilwa Sultanate957 CE – 1505 CE
- Almohad Caliphate1121 CE – 1269 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Mongol sack of Baghdad ends the Abbasid Caliphate10 February 1258 CE
- Failed Mongol invasions of Japan and the 'kamikaze'1274 & 1281 CE
- Mongol sack of Kiev and the fall of Kievan Rus'December 1240 CE
- Battle of Kirina founds the Mali Empire under Sundiata Keitac. 1235 CE
- Mongol Invasions Topple the Pagan Empire of Burma1277-1287 CE (Pagan collapse, 1287)
- Second Battle of Bach Dang: Dai Viet destroys the Yuan-Mongol fleet9 April 1288
Further reading
The wider story
The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades
Fresh, readable Islamic-side history culminating in Mamluk triumph.
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