The Battle of Ayn Jalut

From one perspective, the battle in the Valley of Ayn Jalut, not far from Jerusalem, the victory of the Mamluk from Egypt was hailed as a milestone in the history of the Muslim Empire. How come the Mongols were defeated?

Mongke Khan's(grandson of Genghis Khan)expansionist policy had earlier seen the Mongols pushing westwards into the Muslim territories. The forces were led by his brother Hulagu. After the fall of the Hashshashin in Persia, the 500-year-old Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, and 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. Their envoys to the court of Qutuz in Cairo delivering the demand for his surrender had been killed and their heads had been displayed over one of the gates of the city.

Fate had it that news of the death of Mongke Khan who was campaigning in China was soon to be received. With this a large size of the Mongol army was withdrawn to return home for an impending decision on the successor. The Great Khan was always chosen from the best in the family of Genghis. Only one commander and about 15,000 men and Syrian conscripts were left behind to guard the borders of Damascus.

Two groups of Crusaders were the first to harass the Mongols. The Mongols retaliated and the cities of Sidon and Beirut were destroyed. The Templars were reduced to bits. It could be that the Crusaders had entised the Mongols to enter Palestine to help him achieve Muslims' release of their hold of the region. In fact Hulagu, whose wife was a Christian, had earlier agreed to the alliance. However, when Hulahu withdrew a big portion of his army, the Crusaders decided to have a go at them instead. That was why they were completely destroyed by the Mongol.

On the other front, the Mamluk, tired of waiting for the Mongol.decided to attack the Mongol instead. First they defeared a Mongol border petrol. With that in hand, the Mamluk proceeded into the Valley of Ayn Jalut. It was a tough battle , 50-50. The Syrian conscript bolted and the Mongol commander wad killed there. The detail of the battle is interesting. While it was a fight to the death they, the Mamluk did not meet the full force of the Mongol army.....

After that the Mamluk went on to conquer Damascus dan Aleppo. Due to development elsewhere in the Mongol Empire, the Mongols never returned to Syria.

The Mamluk Sultan was Qutuz. It is said that his wife died in the battle.