Mongol Sack of Baghdad

The Mongol sack of Baghdad in February 1258 was among the most catastrophic events in Islamic history, bringing to an end the Abbasid Caliphate which had been the symbolic centre of Sunni Islam for five centuries. Hulagu Khan's force of approximately 150,000 invested Baghdad, and despite the vast city's resources, the Caliph al-Musta'sim failed to mount an adequate defence or send for aid. After thirteen days of bombardment, Baghdad fell. The city was subjected to a week of massacre and burning; modern estimates of casualties range from 200,000 to 800,000 dead. The Caliph was executed — the Mongols were reportedly reluctant to spill royal blood, so he was wrapped in felt and trampled by horses. The House of Wisdom, with its irreplaceable libraries, was destroyed, with books thrown into the Tigris until the river reportedly ran black with ink. The catastrophe was so severe that contemporaries believed it was the end of Islam itself. Ibn al-Athir wept as he wrote: 'I wish I had not been born to witness this.'