Egypt's Mameluks vs. Mongols - THE BATTLE OF AIN JALUT SEPTEMBER 3, 1260 (755 years ago today)

Mongol Empire 1260.

 

AIN JALUT THE BATTLE OF AIN JALUT (AYN JALUT, IN ARABIC: عين جالوت, THE "SPRING/EYE OF GOLIATH" TOOK PLACE ON 3 SEPTEMBER 1260 BETWEEN MOSLEM MAMELUKS AND THE MONGOLS in the southeastern Galilee, in the Jezreel Valley, not far from the site of Zir'in. The battle marked the south-westernmost extent of Mongol conquests, and was the first time a Mongol advance had been permanently halted.

AIN JALUT SEPTEMBER 3, 1260 (755 years ago today)

Heading towards Egypt and Morocco, the last stronghold of the Moslems, the Mongol Houlagu Khan sent a threatening letter to the Emir of Egypt, “Al-Muzaffar Saif el Din Qutuz” (Arabic) "God has elevated Genghis Khan and his progeny and given us the realms of the face of the earth altogether. Everyone who has been recalcitrant in obeying us has been annihilated along with his women, children, kith and kin, towns, and servants. We have demolished the land, orphaned the children, tortured the people and slain them, made their honoured despised and their leader a captive. Do you think that you can escape from us? After a while you will know what's coming to you....

“If you are in submission to our court, send tribute, come yourself, and request a Shahna (royal pardon as an instrument of surrender) otherwise be prepared for battle."” However, the sudden death of the then-Khagan Möngke Khan; the brother of Houlagu, forced the Mongol Ilkhanate Houlagu Khan to take a large part of his army back with him on the way to Mongolia. He left his lieutenant, Kitbuga, with about 20,000 soldiers.

Mongol Warriors

KitBuga















But the Emir’s reply was to kill the 40 Mongolian delegation and leave their corpses hanging in his capital. He decided to meet the Mongols before the enemy reached Egypt. So they sent out an army in Palestine. Both Moslem and Mongol armies encamped in Palestine in July of 1260.

 

Mameluk Bahri Sultan Kutuz

He ruled only 1 year.

On the right Sultan Al Zahir
Baibars. He ruled 17 years.









When Kit Buqa heard of this, he ordered his troops to prepare for battle and commended them to "Stay where you are and wait for me." But before Kit Buqa arrived, Quduz attacked the Mongol advance guard and drove them to the banks of the Orontes. Kit Buqa, his zeal stirred, flared up like fire with all confidence in his own strength and might.

Mongol Lancers & Mounted Archers

The opposing forces met, both sides numbering about 20,000 men. The first to advance were the Mongols, whose force also included troops from the Kingdom of Georgia and about 1500 knights from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, both of which had submitted to Mongol authority.

 

At the head Egypt’s Bahari Mamelukd was the Emir Al-Muzaffar Saif el-Dind Qutuz, aided by the powerful commander Baybars (El-Zahir Rukn el-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari) who it is said had laid out the overall strategy of the battle since he had spent much time in that region, earlier in his life, as a fugitive. The two armies fought restlessly for many hours, with Mamlouk leader Baibars most of the time implementing hit-and-run tactics, in order to provoke the Mongol troops and at the same time preserve the bulk of his troops intact. When the Mongols carried out another heavy assault, Baibars and his men feigned a final retreat, drawing the Mongols into the highlands to be ambushed by the rest of the Mamlouk forces, who were concealed among the trees in the highlands.

Mameluk Archer's Training while another watches in full armor.

 

Representation of Sultan Kutuz spearing a Mongol.

The Mongol army and its leader KITBUGA fought very fiercely and very aggressively to break out, but the Mongols were pushed back and fled to the vicinity of Bisan followed by Qutuz's forces. There, they managed to rally and returned to the battlefield making a successful counterattack. However, the battle shifted in favor of the Mamlouks, who now had both the geographic and the psychological advantage, and eventually some of the Mongols were forced to retreat.

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

Mameluk Heavy Armored Cavalry
















Notice the hand pistols (cannons) in its holsters      

The Mongols attacked, raining down arrows, and Quduz pulled a feint and started to withdraw. Emboldened, the Mongols rode out after him, killing many of the Egyptians, but when they came to the ambush spot, the trap was sprung from three sides. A bloody battle ensued, LASTING FROM DAWN TILL MIDDAY. The Mongols were powerless to resist, and in the end they were put to flight. Kit Buqa kept attacking left and right with all zeal. Some encouraged him to flee, but he refused to listen and said, "Death is inevitable. It is better to die with a good name than to flee in disgrace. In the end, someone from this army, old or young, will reach the court and report that Kit Buqa, not wanting to return in shame, gave his life in battle”.

When the battle ended, the Egyptian Mamlouk heavy cavalrymen had accomplished what had never been done before, BEATING THE MONGOLS IN CLOSE COMBAT. ALMOST THE WHOLE MONGOL ARMY, INCLUDING KITBUQA, WAS DESTROYED.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF AIN JALUT

THE BATTLE OF AIN JALUT saw a decisive victory of the Mamelukes of Egypt over the invading Mongols, which saved Egypt and Islam and halted the westward expansion of the Mongol empire. It was one of the most significant battles of world history - comparable to Marathon, Salamis, Lepanto, Chalons and Tours - in that it set the future course of both Islamic and western civilization.

Had the Mongols succeeded in conquering Egypt, they might have been able, following the return of Houlagu, to carry on across North Africa to the Straits of Gibraltar. Europe would have been surrounded from Poland to Spain. UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, WOULD THE ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION HAVE FLOURISHED? WOULD THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE HAVE OCCURRED? ITS FOUNDATIONS WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN FAR WEAKER. THE WORLD TODAY MIGHT HAVE BEEN A CONSIDERABLY DIFFERENT PLACE.

                    

 Illustration of Rukh El Din Baibars, future Sultan of Egypt

AFTERMATH

On the way back to Cairo after the victory at Ain Jalut, Qutuz - a very brave & courageous Mameluk was assassinated by several emirs in a conspiracy led by Baibars. He was reinterred in Cairo and a Mosque is name after him.

Baibars (El-Zahir Rukn el-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari) became the new Sultan.

His successors would go on to capture the last of the Crusader states in The Holy Land by 1291. The Mongols were again beaten at the First Battle of Homs less than a year later, and completely expelled from Syria.

BELLIGERANTS
MAMELUK    SULTANATE 1.      MAMELUKES 2.      Circassia’s Turks 3.      Egyptian infantry	MONGOL  EMPIRE 1.      MONGOLS 2.      Kingdom of Georgia 3.      Cilician (mercenaries) 4.      Armenia (mercenaries)
COMMANDERS & LEADERS   1.      SEIF EL DIN QUTUZ 2.      BAIBARS	COMMANDERS & LEADERS   1.      Ket Buga
UNITS INVOLVED   Light cavalry and horse archers & infantry 1.      Heavy cavalry Mamelukes 2.      Hand cannoneers	UNITS INVOLVED   Light cavalry and horse archers & infantry 1.      1500 Cilician Armenian troops 2.      1000 Georgian contingent 3.      Local Ayyubid contingents (Syrians) 4.      Uzbek Lancers
STRENGTH 18-20,000	STRENGTH 16-18,000
LOSSES 1.      Heavy (9,000 est.)	LOSSES 1.      Near Complete 2.      Kit Buga (beheaded)

Historic Details

When the Sultan of Egypt Qutuz consulted with Baibars, his chief emir, in private: "My opinion," said Baibars, "is that we should kill the Mongol emissaries and ride as one to attack KitBuqa “ Win or die, in either case we will not be blamed, and we will have people’s gratitude." Quduz approved this plan, and by night he had the emissaries beheaded and stuck their heads on poles at the gates of his capital city Al Fustat (Cairo).

When Kit Buqa heard of this, he ordered his troops to prepare for battle and commended them to "Stay where you are and wait for me." But before Kit Buqa arrived, Quduz attacked the Mongol advance guard and drove them to the banks of the Orontes. Kit Buqa, his zeal stirred, flared up like fire with all confidence in his own strength and might. The two armies finally met at Ain Jalut on September 3, with both sides numbering about 20 000 men. The Mamelukes drew out the Mongol cavalry with a feigned retreat, and were almost unable to withstand the assault. Qutuz rallied his troops for a successful counterattack, along cavalry reserves hidden in the nearby valleys. Quduz had stationed his troops in ambush and, himself mounted with a few others, stood waiting. When the unsuspecting, Kit Buqa arrived with the main Mongol cavalry, Qutuz pounced on him clashed with him and his several thousand cavalry, all experienced warriors.

Qutuz, ordered Kitbuga’s head severed from his body and displayed to the retreating Mongol soldiers.

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More Details.

After the battle of Ayn Jalut, the Moslem armies surged throughout Syria as far as the banks of the Euphrates, overthrowing everyone they found, plundering Kit Buqa’s camp, taking captive his wife, child, and retainers, and killing the tax collectors.

Only those Mongols who were warned escaped, and when the news of Ket Buqa Noyan’s death and his last words reached Houlagu Khan, he displayed his grief over his death and the fire of zeal flared up to avenge this defeat. But another Mongol invasion of the Moslem world was not to take place. Houlagu remained confined to the affairs of his homeland and could never bring himself to launch another invasion. After his death, the Mongol Golden Horde did rule the largest empire till then, that stretched from China to Muscovy (modern Moscow).

MONGOLS NEVER CAME AGAIN

A tendency that had started to gain hold among the Mongols was the creeping conversion to Islam. This was to put paid any further Mongol attempts to threaten Islamdom. Meanwhile the truculent Moslem armies did not stop at ejecting the Mongols from the Middle East, but they also give the final push to the Crusaders who were in occupation of Acre and Antioch, by capturing the last Crusader bastion in 1291.

By that time, most of the Mongols ultimately turned to Islam making Central Asia a Moslem land. (Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkomans, Kazaks, Ughirs, Kirgiz, others).

NOW THE MOSLEMS DEFEATED THEIR ENEMIES ONE AFTER THE OTHER, AND BOTH THE MONGOLS AND CRUSADERS BECAME HISTORY IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

                                       

Video reconstruction of the battle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGPffMycJec




More Notes On Sultan Baibars

Baibars or Baybars (Arabic: الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري‎, al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari), nicknamed Abu l-FutuhBaibars or Baybars (Arabic: الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري‎, defeated the crusaders in THREE CAMPAIGNS.  In order to support his military campaigns, Baibars commissioned arsenals, warships and cargo vessels. He was also arguably the first to employ EXPLOSIVE HAND CANNONS IN WAR, at the Battle of Ain Jalut. His military campaign also extended into Libya and Nubia.

Baibars 13th century magnificent (illuminure) KORAN - British Museum.

POST SCRIPTUM

His memoirs were recorded in Sirat al-Zahir Baibars ("Life of al-Zahir Baibars"), a popular Arabic romance recording his battles and achievements. He has a heroic status in Kazakhstan, as well as in Egypt and Syria. Al-Madrassa al-Zahiriyya is the school built adjacent to his Mausoleum in Damascus. The Az-Zahiriyah library has a wealth of manuscripts in various branches of knowledge to this day. The library and Mausoleum are being reconstructed by Kazakhstan government fund.

In 2009, a copy of Sultan Beibars Mausoleum in Damascus was to be built in Kazakhstan.



The Bahri Mameluk Empire 1325