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Article: Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260-1281.
- Article from:
- The Journal of the American Oriental Society
- Article date:
- January 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 American Oriental Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1256, a large reinforcement increased the Mongol presence in the Middle East to 150,000 troops, at least, accompanied by women and children (perhaps another 600,000) and herds (at least 15 million animals) - a population about equal to that of Chinggis Khan's homeland. (Simultaneously, an even larger Mongol force attacked southern China; such were the military resources of the Mongol Empire.) Thereupon, the Mongols destroyed the strongholds and state of the Assassins, who had defied or imperiled all previous Middle Eastern powers since the eleventh century. Next, the Mongols seized Baghdad, killed the caliph and essentially terminated the caliphate, the sometime and ...