ABSTRACT
The Mongol invasion of Syria was part of an ambitious program of conquest intended to spread the Mongol Empire from China to the Mediterranean. Entering Syria after the sacking of Baghdad in 1258, the Mongol leader Kitbugha invested Damascus in 1260, unleashing a terrible bombardment when an Ayyubid garrison held out in the Citadel. The slaughter and destruction were sustained and systematic. From Cairo, the mamluks (slave soldiers), sustaining the last vestiges of Ayyubid rule, responded by sending forces to expel the Mongols, winning a decisive battle at ʿAin Jalud in Palestine. The mamluks under Qutuz and later Baybars took advantage of their recovery of Syria to remove the last vestiges of the Ayyubid regime. Moving swiftly to implant the authority of the new leadership, known as the Mamluks, Baybars restored a central authority based in Cairo, using rapid communications and professional military forces. Within 30 years, the Mamluks had rolled back all the remaining Crusader states. The Mamluks’ firm administrative hand encouraged trade. Damascus began to attract foreign merchants and visitors who found the city impressively well maintained compared to European equivalents. The last Mongol invasion led by Tamerlane in 1400 again resulted in massive casualties with many Syrian craftsmen deported to Samarkand. In 1516, Syria fell to Ottoman Turkish forces whose capabilities in warfare enjoyed a technological edge over the depleted Mamluk forces.
