Egypt as the final barrier
After Baghdad and Damascus, Egypt is the principal political power capable of opposing the Mongol advance in the Levant.
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Battle
Ayn Djalout
3 September 1260
A feigned retreat draws the Mongol cavalry into a Mamluk counterattack.
Military history
How did the Mamluks trap Mongol mobility in a battle of their choosing near Ayn Jalut?
Ayn Jalut is often presented as the moment when the Mongols were finally defeated. More precisely, it was a battle in which the Mamluks exploited a local constraint: a Mongol vanguard separated from the main body and drawn into terrain where a concealed reserve could intervene.
A reduced Mongol army
Hülegü has withdrawn part of his forces because of the succession in Iran. Kitbuqa remains powerful, but does not command the entire army of conquest.
Cavalry against cavalry
The Mamluks know Mongol methods and can employ a feigned retreat, but they must avoid the open plain where Mongol mobility excels.
Military history
Sources
Indirect primary source, medieval chronicleIbn al-Athir et al-Maqrizi, récits des Mamelouks
Passages sur la campagne de 1260 et Ayn Djalout
Chronology, commanders, and consequences.
Modern monographReuven Amitai, Mongols and Mamluks
Chapitre 2, consacré à la bataille d’Ayn Djalout
Conservative troop estimates, Mongol context, interpretation of the terrain, and map reconstruction.
View ↗Academic overviewDavid Morgan, The Mongols
Section sur l’Ilkhanat et la Syrie
Strategic significance and limits of the myth that the Mongols were stopped.
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