|
Battle Of Ain Jalut
The Battle of Ain Jalut (), also spelled Ayn Jalut, was fought between the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and the Ilkhanate on 3 September 1260 (25 Ramadan 658 AH) near the spring of Ain Jalut in southeastern Galilee in the Jezreel Valley. It marks as the first major loss of the Mongolian advances and halted their expansion into Arabia and Europe. Continuing the westward expansion of the Ilkhanate, the armies of Hulegu Khan captured and sacked Baghdad in 1258, along with the Ayyubid capital of Damascus sometime later. Hulegu sent envoys to Cairo demanding Qutuz surrender Egypt, to which Qutuz responded by killing the envoys and displaying their heads on the Bab Zuweila gate of Cairo. Shortly after this, Möngke Khan was slain in battle against the Southern Song. Hulegu returned to Mongolia with the bulk of his army to attend the kurultai in accordance with Mongol customs, leaving approximately 10,000 troops west of the Euphrates under the command of Kitbuqa. Learning of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mongol Invasions Of The Levant
Starting in the 1240s, the Mongols made repeated invasions of Syria or attempts thereof. Most failed, but they did have some success in 1260 and 1300, capturing Aleppo and Damascus and destroying the Ayyubid dynasty. The Mongols were forced to retreat within months each time by other forces in the area, primarily the Egyptian Mamluks. The post-1260 conflict has been described as the Mamluk–Ilkhanid War. First invasion During the governorship of Bachu in Persia, the Mongolian army under Yisaur attacked Syria in 1244. The reasons for the attack are unclear, but it may have been in retaliation for the Syrian participation on the Seljuk side in the Battle of Köse Dağ. In the autumn 1244, Yisaur concentrated the Mongol forces in the upper Tigris valley where they subjugated the Kurdish province of Akhlat. Moving across, the Mongolian army encountered no resistance and ravaged the area en route. The fortified cities were untaken in his advance because Yisaur was not prepared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kitbuqa
Kitbuqa Noyan (died 1260), also spelled Kitbogha, Kitboga, or Ketbugha, was an Eastern Christian of the Naimans, a group that was subservient to the Mongol Empire. He was a lieutenant and confidant of the Mongol Ilkhan Hulagu, assisting him in his conquests in the Middle East including the sack of Baghdad in 1258. When Hulagu took the bulk of his forces back with him to attend a ceremony in Mongolia, Kitbuqa was left in control of Syria, and was responsible for further Mongol raids southwards towards the Mamluk Sultanate based in Cairo. He was killed in 1260 at the Battle of Ain Jalut, which was the first major loss of the Mongolian advances and halted their expansion into Arabia and Europe. Biography In 1252, Möngke Khan ordered Kitbuqa to lead the advance guard of Hulagu Khan's army against the fortresses of the Nizari Ismailis. He advanced with Hulagu into western Persia, mounting a series of sieges, and commanded one of the flanks that sacked Baghdad in 1258 before ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Baghdad
The siege 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. After the accession of his brother Möngke Khan to the Mongol throne in 1251, Hulegu, a grandson of Genghis Khan, was dispatched westwards to Persia to secure the region. His massive army of over 138,000 men took years to reach the region but then quickly attacked and overpowered the Nizari Ismaili Assassins in 1256. The Mongols had expected al-Musta'sim to provide reinforcements for their army—the Caliph's failure to do so, combined with his arrogance in negotiations, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hulegu Khan
Hulegu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulagu; ; ; ; ( 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Western Asia. As a son of Tolui and the Keraite princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan and brother of Ariq Böke, Möngke Khan, and Kublai Khan. Hulegu's army greatly expanded the southwestern portion of the Mongol Empire, founding the Ilkhanate in Persia. Under Hulegu's leadership, the Mongols sacked and destroyed Baghdad, ending the Islamic Golden Age and the Abbasid dynasty. They also weakened Damascus, causing a shift of Islamic influence to the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo. Background Hulegu was born to Tolui, one of Genghis Khan's sons, and Sorghaghtani Beki, an influential Keraite princess and a niece of Toghrul in 1217. Not much is known of Hulegu's childhood except of an anecdote given in Jami' al-Tawarikh and he once met his grandfather Genghis Khan with Kublai in 1224. Military campaigns Hulegu's brother Möngke Khan ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galilee
Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and south of the east-west section of the Litani River. It extends from the Israeli coastal plain and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea with Acre, Israel, Acre in the west, to the Jordan Valley to the east; and from the Litani in the north plus a piece bordering on the Golan Heights to Dan (ancient city), Dan at the base of Mount Hermon in the northeast, to Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa in the south. It includes the plains of the Jezreel Valley north of Jenin and the Beit She'an Valley, the Sea of Galilee, and the Hula Valley. Etymology The region's Hebrew name is , meaning 'district' or 'circle'. The Hebrew form used in Isaiah 9, Isaiah 8:23 (Isaiah 9:1 in the Christian Old Testament) is in the construct state, leading to "Galilee of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ain Jalut
Ma'ayan Harod () or Ain Jalut ( ', or , and ) is an all-year spring in the Harod Valley (the easternmost part of the Jezreel Valley) on the northwest corner of Mount Gilboa, that was the location of the 13th-century Battle of Ain Jalut. This was a major turning point in world history that saw the Mamluks inflict the first of two defeats on the Mongols that ultimately halted their invasion of the Levant and Egypt. The traditional name of Ain Jalut has been used since the 12th century and is commonly believed to mean "Spring of Goliath". Alternative etymologies have suggested that it might be derived from the name Gilead, potentially an archaic name for Mount Gilboa. Other names given to the site include " En Harod" or "Ein Harod", a biblical place name that was associated with Ain Jalut in the 19th century; subsequent scholarship, specifically the work of Israel Finkelstein and Oded Lipschits, has refuted this connection. Other associations have also been suggested, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mamluk Egypt
The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks (freed slave soldiers) headed by a sultan. The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (1250–1382) and the Circassian or Burji period (1382–1517), called after the predominant ethnicity or corps of the ruling Mamluks during these respective eras. The first rulers of the sultanate hailed from the mamluk regiments of the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub (), usurping power from his successor in 1250. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. They then conquered or gained suzerainty over the Ayyubids' Syrian prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bahri Dynasty
The Bahri Mamluks (), sometimes referred to as the Bahri dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1250 to 1382, following the Ayyubid dynasty. The members of the Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves ( mamluks) and manumitted, with the most powerful among them taking the role of sultan in Cairo. While several Bahri Mamluk sultans tried to establish hereditary dynasties through their sons, these attempts were ultimately unsuccessful, with the role of sultan often passing on to another powerful Mamluk. The Bahri Mamluks were of mostly Kipchak Turkic origin. Fourteen of eighteen sultans between 1279 and 1390 belonged to the Qalawunid lineage. After 1382/1390, they were succeeded by a second Mamluk regime, the Burji Mamluks, who were largely of Circassian origin. The name ''Bahri'' or ''Bahriyya'' means 'of the river', referring to the location of their original barracks on Roda Island in the Nile (''Nahr al-Nil'') in Cairo, at the citadel of Al-Rodah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Archer
Mounted archery is a form of archery that involves shooting arrows while on horseback. A horse archer is a person who does mounted archery. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals. In large open areas, mounted archery was a highly successful technique for hunting, for protecting herds, and for war. It was a defining characteristic of the Eurasian nomads during antiquity and the medieval period, as well as the Iranian peoples such as the Alans, Sarmatians, Cimmerians, Scythians, Massagetae, Parthians, and Persians in Antiquity, and by the Hungarians, Mongols, Chinese, and Turkic peoples during the Middle Ages. The expansion of these cultures have had a great influence on other geographical regions including Eastern Europe, West Asia, and East Asia. In East Asia, horse archery came to be particularly honored in the samurai tradition of Japan, where horse archery is called Yabusame. The term mounted archer occurs in medieval English sources t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancer
A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by India, Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by heavy cavalry, but fell out of general use by the late 16th century, before its revival by light cavalry in the early 19th century. Lance cavalry remained in an active role into the early 20th century and World War I. In modern times, many militaries retain units designated as lancers. However, the lance itself has been relegated to a ceremonial role. 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century lancers The lancer ( Polish: ''ułan'', German: ''Ulan'', French: ''uhlan'') had become a common sight in the majority of European, Ottoman, and Indian cavalry forces during this time, but, with the exception of the Ottoman troops, they increasingly discarded the heavy armour to give greater freedom of movement in combat. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infantry
Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadly encompasses a wide variety of subspecialties, including light infantry, irregular infantry, heavy infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry, mechanized infantry, Airborne forces, airborne infantry, Air assault, air assault infantry, and Marines, naval infantry. Other subtypes of infantry, such as line infantry and mounted infantry, were once commonplace but fell out of favor in the 1800s with the invention of more accurate and powerful weapons. Etymology and terminology In English, use of the term ''infantry'' began about the 1570s, describing soldiers who march and fight on foot. The word derives from Middle French , from older Italian (also Spanish) ''infanteria'' (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latin '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavy Cavalry
Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a Military reserve, tactical reserve; they are also often termed ''shock cavalry''. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and historical period, heavy cavalry were generally mounted on large powerful warhorses, wore body armor, and armed with either lances, swords, Mace (bludgeon), maces, flail (weapon), flails (disputed), battle axes, or war hammers; their mounts may also have been protected by barding. They were distinct from light cavalry, who were intended for raid (military), raiding, reconnaissance, screening (tactical), screening, skirmishing, patrolling, and tactical communications. History Persian Empires Iranian tribes such as the Massagetae were believed to be the originator of the class of heavy cavalry known as cataphract. During the time of Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenid Persia cavalry was the elite arm of service (as was the case in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
