HE DESTROYED A CIVILIZATION!

Hulagu Khan was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia. He was the son of Tolui and the Kerait princess Sorghaghtani Beki, grandson of Genghis Khan, and the brother of Ariq Böke, Möngke Khan, and Kublai Khan. Hulagu’s army greatly expanded the southwestern portion of the Mongol Empire, founding the Ilkhanate of Persia, a precursor to the eventual Safavid dynasty in Persia which became known as Iran in the 20th century.

Hulagu’s brother, Möngke khan, was installed as Great Khan in 1251. In 1255, Möngke charged Hulagu with leading a massive Mongol army to conquer or destroy the remaining Muslim states in southwestern Asia.

On his campaign westward, he reached the walls of Baghdad in 1258 which was the then centre of an Islamic caliphate. He asked the Abbasid caliph, Al- mu’tasim to surrender but he refused. He then besieged the city and conflict between the caliph’s army and the Mongols ended in the defeat of the former.

The Mongols damaged Baghdad throughout the week massacring people and destroying the Baitul Hikmah (House of wisdom) which contains thousands of books written by Islamic scholars and academicians. They turned the river Tigris black with the ink of these books.

Moving forward, they sacked Syria under the Ayyubid dynasty and proceeded to Egypt. Sultan Qutuz and his general Baybars defeated the Mongols in a historical battle of Ain Jalut (1260) sending them packing from the middle east which was the first of its kind in their history.

After Hulagu Khan became the Khan of the Mongol empire, mobilized his army to avenge the battle of Ain Jalut but was drawn into a civil war by his brother, Berke Khan (he established the Empire of the Golden Horde), who converted to Islam and fought against Hulagu Khan because of the sacking of Baghdad in 1258.

Hulagu Khan died in 1265 in Maragheh, Present-day Iran, and was buried on Shahi Island in Lake Urmia. He was succeeded by his son Abaqa, thus establishing his line to the throne of the already fracturing Empire.