Mongol invasions of Syria

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The Mongol Invasions
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Mongol invasions of Syria

Starting in 1253, the Mongols made repeated attempts to invade Syria. Most failed, but they did have some success in 1260 and 1300, though each time they were beaten back by the Mamluks within a few months.

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[edit] 1260 invasion

In 1253, the Mongols began their conquest of the remaining Muslim states. A small detachment of mongols under Bachu raided Syria in 1253[1]. However there was no power withstand against them, mongols left Syria due to heat same as mongols did in Indochina later. By 1259, the Mongol's entered Syria. At the time,Egypt was under the control of the Bahri Mamluks, while most of Syria (aside from the Crusader states) was still under the control of Ayyubid princes. Mongol control was asserted as far south as Palestine, but the death of Mongke Khan forced most of Hulegu's gigantic army to withdraw from the area, leaving just 20,000 troops in Palestine. They were quickly destroyed by the Mamluk sultan, Qutuz at the Battle of Ain Jalut, and then defeated again at the Battle of Homs.

[edit] 1271 invasion

The second Mongol invasion of Syria took place October of 1271. Under the request of the crusader Edward I, the King of England, 10,000 Mongols and Seljuk auxiliaries moved southwards from Rum and captured Aleppo, however they retreated back beyond the Euphrates when the Mamluk leader Baibars marched on them from Egypt.

[edit] 1281 invasion

The third major invasion took place in 1281 under a pressured Abaqa Khan. Having crossed the Euphrates and captured Aleppo, the Mongols moved as far south as Homs with 80,000 men before they were beaten back to the Euphrates river at the 2nd Battle of Homs.

[edit] 1299/1300 invasion

See also: Mongol raids into Palestine
See also: Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar

In the summer of 1299, King Hetoum II of Armenia sent a message to the Mongol khan of Persia, Ghâzân, to obtain his support. Ghazan and his army crossed the Euphrates river and again invaded Syria, continuing south until they were slightly north of Homs. Along the way, Ghazan sent letters to the Franks of Cyprus (the King of Cyprus, and the heads of the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights), inviting them to come join him in his attack on the Mamluks in Syria. Ghazan's first letter was sent on October 21, which arrived 15 days later. He sent a second letter in November.[2]

There is no record of any reply, but Ghazan moved ahead, and the Mongols successfully taking the city of Aleppo. There, Ghazan was joined by King Hetoum, whose forces included some Templars and Hospitallers from the kingdom of Armenia, who participated in the rest of the offensive.[3]

The Mamluk relief force sent from Damascus met the Mongol army north-east of Homs numbering around 60,000 men with about 40,000 Georgian and Armenian Auxiliaries. The Mamluk force numbering at only 20,000-30,000 men was routed at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar. Western historians say that the Mongols routed the Mamluks on December 23 or 24, 1299.[4] However, Muslim historians who recorded the battle claim that the battle was in the favour of Egypt and that a false rumour of defeat caused the army to route. The Mamluk army on its retreat was then harassed by Maronite and Druze bowmen who wanted independence of the Mamluks. One group of Mongols also split off from Ghazan's army, and pursued the retreating Mamluk troops as far as Gaza,[5] pushing them back to Egypt.

The bulk of Ghazan's forces then proceeded on until reaching Damascus in early 1300. Most of the populace of Damascus (Upon hearing of the Mongol approach) had fled to Egypt and the governor of the city had entrenched himself deep inside. The populace left in the city was friendly towards the Mongols. Ghazan Khan wanted to spare the city the usual atrocities that came with Mongol conquests. However, the 10,000 strong army of Qypchaq, perhaps a Mamluk from the conquered lands of the Cumans, began to sack Damascus. This prompted the rest of the Mongol army to sack the surrounding area. Around 3,600,000 dirhams was plundered.

The governor of the city, Arjawash, who had entrenched himself within the centre of the city took up arms. The Mongols besieged the city for ten days, nearly destroying the entire city a before leaving the area. Damascus surrendered somewhere between December 30, 1299, and January 6, 1300, though its Citadel resisted.[6][7] Ghazan then retreated most of his forces in February. The reasons for the Ilkhan withdrawal is believed to be either the Chagatai Mongols invading their eastern borders, or the need to retreat to areas where there was better grazing room for the horses. The Mamluks had learned that the availability of pastures was important to the Mongols, and so the Mamluks had taken to burning pastureland so as to remove that resource from the equation.

Ghazan promised to return in the winter of 1300-1301 to attack Egypt.[8]

In the meantime the remaining forces of the Mongols, about 10,000 horsemen under the Mongol general Mulay, ruled over Syria for about three months,[9] and engaged in raids as far south as Jerusalem and Gaza.[10][11][12][13] But that small force had to retreat as well, when the Mamluks returned in May 1300.

After defeating the Chagatai invasion, Ghazan Khan returned to Syria in late 1300 and crossed the Euphrates river between December 14, 1300 and November 1, 1301. Panic arose in Damascus upon hearing of the renewed threat, especially since the Mamluk army in Syria withdrew to Egypt without even fighting the Mongols. A small section of the Mongol army however, was defeated near Aleppo by the post of Hamat. This created order in Damascus, enough for the governor to send for a larger relief force from Egypt. However, the Mongols had already left Syria due to a death in Ghazan Khan's family.

[edit] Gibelet

In early 1300, two Frank rulers, Guy d'Ibelin and Jean II de Giblet, had moved in with their troops from Cyprus in response to Ghazan's earlier call, and established a base in the castle of Nefin in Gibelet (Byblos) on the Syrian coast with the intention of joining him, but Ghazan was already gone.[14][15] They also started to besiege the new city of Tripoli, but in vain.[16] They soon had to reembark for Cyprus.

[edit] 1303 invasion

The Ilkhanate returned to Syria in 1303 and travelled unopposed down the Levant until they reached Damascus. However, near Damascus they were once again defeated. The Battle of Shaqhab was a major defeat to the Mongols.

[edit] Christian actions

Main article: Franco-Mongol alliance

There were many communications between the Ilkhans and the Christian kings of western Europe, however almost all of this failed to take the shape of a joint military effort.[17] The Mongols did have support from some Christian states that had submitted to them: Georgia, Cilician Armenia, and Principality of Antioch.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Rene Grousset, Russian and Mongolian scientists found out that there was a raid on Syria.
  2. ^ Demurger, p.143
  3. ^ Demurger, p.142 (French edition) "He was soon joined by King Hethum, whose forces seem to have included Hospitallers and Templars from the kingdom of Armenia, who participate to the rest of the campaign."
  4. ^ Demurger, p.142
  5. ^ Demurger, p.142 "The Mongols pursued the retreating troops towards the south, but stopped at the level of Gaza"
  6. ^ Demurger 142-143
  7. ^ Runciman, p.439
  8. ^ Demurger, p.146
  9. ^ Demurger (p.146, French edition): "After the Mamluk forces retreated south to Egypt, the main Mongol forces retreated north in February, Ghazan leaving his general Mulay to rule in Syria".
  10. ^ "Meanwhile the Mongol and Armenian troops raided the country as far south as Gaza." Schein, 1979, p. 810
  11. ^ "He pursued the Sarazins as far as Gaza, and then turn to Damas, conquering and destroying the Sarazins". Original French: "Il chevaucha apres les Sarazins jusques a Guadres et puis se mist vers Domas concuillant et destruyant les Sarazins." Le Templier de Tyr, #609
  12. ^ "Arab historians however, like Moufazzal Ibn Abil Fazzail, an-Nuwairi and Makrizi, report that the Mongols raided the country as far as Jerusalem and Gaza"— Sylvia Schein, p.810
  13. ^ The Arab historian Yahia Michaud, in the 2002 book Ibn Taymiyya, Textes Spirituels I-XVI, Chap XI, describes that there were some firsthand accounts at the time, of forays of the Mongols into Palestine, and quotes two ancient Arab sources stating that Jerusalem was one of the cities that was invaded by the Mongols
  14. ^ Demurger, p.144
  15. ^ "After Ghazan had left, some Christians from Cyprus arrived in Gibelet and Nefin, led by Guy, Count of Jaffa, and Jean d'Antioche with their knights, and from there proceeded to go to Armenia where the camp of the Tatars was. But Ghazan was gone, so they had to return."|Le Templier de Tyr, 614. - Le Templier de Tyr, 614: "Et apres que Cazan fu partis aucuns crestiens de Chipre estoient ales a Giblet et a Nefin et en seles terres de seles marines les quels vous nomeray: Guy conte de Jaffe et messire Johan dantioche et lor chevaliers; et de la cuyderent aler en Ermenie quy estoit a lost des Tatars. Cazan sen estoit retornes: il se mist a revenir"
  16. ^ Jean Richard, p.481
  17. ^ "Despite numerous envoys and the obvious logic of an alliance against mutual enemies, the papacy and the Crusaders never achieved the often-proposed alliance against Islam". Atwood, Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p. 583, "Western Europe and the Mongol Empire"

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