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The People Profiles, bringing fantasy and history to life. (dramatic music) (soft music) The year is 1260. Word reaches the Holy
Land that an unstoppable invasion force is advancing from the north with the aim of destroying Islam. But instead of yet
another Christian Crusade, the Children of the Prophet now face an even more formidable foe in the shape of the seemingly
invincible Mongol Empire that has enslaved or destroyed nearly every opponent
that has dared resist it. But unbeknownst to the rampaging hordes, the Islamic Mamluks of Egypt have no intention of capitulating, and so march forth to meet
the invaders in battle. Led by the sultan of Egypt, Qutuz, and his greatest commander,
a man who in life would go from being a slave
to one of the most feared and powerful rulers the Islamic world has ever known, Baibars. (bright music) (soft music) The man known in history as Baibars was born on the 19th of July,
1223 in the western region of the Eurasian steppes known as Cumania that formed part of the
Cuman-Kipchak Turkic confederation, which is now comprised of
the countries of the Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan
north of the Black Sea. A member of the Barli
tribe that was displaced by the Mongol invasion of their territory in the early 1240s, it is thought that Baibars, who
was age 19 around this time, along with his people,
fled the invading hordes and sought refuge in the
second Bulgarian Empire on the western shore of the Black Sea. However, the Bulgarians
soon turned against Baibars and his tribe, captured them, and sold them into slavery
in modern day Turkey in what was then called
the Sultanate of Rum in the Turkish city of Siwas in 1242. This practice was common at the time, largely because there was a market for Turkish-speaking slaves
within the Islamic world as they filled the ranks
of many Muslim armies. And in Baibars' case, it is
believed that he was sold to a high-ranking Egyptian called Alā' al-Dīn Īdīkīn al-Bunduqārī in the modern day Syrian city of Aleppo. But soon afterwards, in
1247, al-Bunduqārī is thought to have been arrested
by the Egyptian sultan, Al-Malik as-Salih Najim al-Din Ayyub, who then seized his slaves, including Baibars, as his own property. These slaves, such as Baibars, along with hundreds of other tribesmen from the Russian steppes, were
then transported to Egypt, where they came to be known as mamluks, meaning property, and were,
over the coming years, indoctrinated into the Islamic faith and trained from an early
age the art of warfare, eventually making them
the elite fighting force of the sultan's armies. Most of these fighting slaves were still young when they
started their training, which was sponsored by
the Egyptian noblemen, who eventually purchased them, fostering a great degree of loyalty between the slaves and their patrons, often meaning that the
more talented Mamluks gained promotion to
positions of high status in the Egyptian sultanate. Therefore, we can safely assume it was through his martial
excellence as well as loyalty that Baibars earned his first command within the Sultan's armies. It is also likely, because Baibars was born
in the Russian steppes, that he was already a skilled horseman, which was a skill he no
doubt put to good use as, although the Mamluks were expert in most fighting disciplines at the time, they were particularly
renowned for their horsemanship in which they were
schooled from an early age, often honing their abilities by playing in a early form of polo, eventually making them amongst
the most feared cavalrymen in the Middle East, and indeed the world. There are few accounts handed down to us regarding Baibars' own indoctrination into this elite slave fighting force, but it is likely that
he soon proved himself to be amongst the very best
of his Mamluk brethren. And if the accounts of him being purchased in Aleppo in Syria are to be believed, he must have risen
rapidly through the ranks of the Sultan's armies as in 1250, he was a commander against
the Christians in Egypt. The reason for this rapid promotion of Mamluks within the Egyptian military was that the sultan of
Egypt, As-Salih Ayyub, after succeeding his father in 1240, faced numerous challenges to his throne across his territories, and thusly then sought to
form an ultra-loyal group of Mamluks around him by promoting them to positions of power within his regime and forming two corps
of elite slave solders, the first being named
the Corps of Bahriyya, after an island in the River Nile, of which Baibars was a member as well as a second close bodyguard unit named the Jamdārīyah, all of whom swore loyalty to the sultan who they referred to as father. It is said that Baibars
was an extremely tall man with a large, broad face and small eyes, one of which is supposed to
have contained a cataract. And some even suggest
that due to his pale skin, Baibars may have been of
European Caucasian heritage. Although at the time, Egyptians
also referred to people of Turkish ancestry as having pale skin, therefore we will never really know if Baibars was truly white or otherwise. The Ayyubid Dynasty itself, to whom Baibars was now a loyal
servant, was founded in 1173 when a Sunni Kurdish Muslim
commander named Saladin overthrew the Shiite Fatima Dynasty, and during his reign, mobilized the previously
separate Muslim states of the Middle East to
fight the Christians, famously winning the Battle of Hattin against the Crusaders in
July of 1187 and afterwards capturing Jerusalem itself
in October of the same year. These brilliant victories meant that by the time of
Saladin's death in 1193, the Egyptian sultan had formed the most powerful Muslim
sultanate in the world, stretching from modern day Turkey to the deserts of North Africa. But upon Saladin's death, his territories were split
between his two sons, Al-Aziz Uthman, as the second
Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, and his second son, Al-Afdal, who became the emir of Damascus. Following Al-Aziz Uthman's reign as the second Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, there were four more sultans before Al-Malik as-Salih
Najim al-Din Ayyub became the seventh Ayyubid sultan. And it was he who
captured Baibars in 1240, and as previously mentioned,
took him as his slave. However, the Muslim-held
territories of the Holy Land were only a loosely
tied coalition of rivals by this time who distrusted one another just as much as they did the Crusaders. Despite Saladin's successes
against the Christians, the Crusader states, such
as the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, and
the Principality of Antioch still held sway over much of the Holy Land among the eastern coast
of the Mediterranean around this time whilst Jerusalem itself was even retaken by the Christians after the Sixth Crusade in 1229, but was later lost again
to the muslims in 1244. After which, the might
of the Crusader states began to fade away due to weak leadership, meaning that the real power
within the Crusader territories increasingly lay in the hands
of the holy military orders such as the Knights Templar
and Knights Hospitaller. Although the Christians had
initially been successful in conquering much of the Holy Land, the achilles heel of the
Crusader states had been, like from the beginning,
a shortage of manpower. And as the Muslim
leaders, such as Saladin, could call upon tens if not
hundreds of thousands of troops, the Christians were forced, due to their numerical disadvantage, to construct dozens of
castles and fortresses across the Holy Land,
which could be manned with relatively few
knights and men at arms. The most important of all
the Christian strongholds at this time was the coastal city of Acre that had become rich in the years since Richard the Lionheart's
crusade as the city was the multicultural trading
center of the Holy Land. And despite the fact that
Christians and muslims were supposed to be adversaries, as both sides were not unified
under strong leadership, their religious ardor faded away, resulting in an uneasy if
profitable lull in hostilities interspersed with small
scale confrontations or failed crusades. Meaning that, by and large, both sides grew richer from mutual trade. And as a result, the desire for a resumption
of hostilities subsided. This reluctance to resume
Holy War was soon shuttered, however, when the king
of France, Louis IX, who was obsessed by the
life of Jesus Christ, pledged to retake Jerusalem
in what would prove to be the largest Crusade for over 70 years. And after securing the backing of much of the French
and European nobility, as well as the church,
Louis set sail from France in August of 1248 and
crossed the Mediterranean at the head of 1,800 vessels
carrying 25,000 troops. This Seventh Crusade would
have surely been welcomed by the militarily weak Crusader states, however the French king's target was not, at least to start with,
the city of Jerusalem, but instead was the center of Muslim power in the Middle East, that being Egypt. At first glance, the logic
of attacking the Muslims at their strongest point
seemed to many to be folly. Nonetheless, Louis' strategy
was based on the fact that even if the Holy City
of Jerusalem was retaken, the Christians could not
hope to hold it for long against a full scale attack from Egypt. Thusly, the French king decided to assault the Muslims in Egypt, and after defeating them, march from the Ayyubid capital
of Cairo to the Holy Land, which would be ripe for the picking. Then on the 5th of June, 1248, after crossing the eastern
Mediterranean from Crete, the Crusader army landed
on the coast of Egypt at the mouth of the
River Nile near Damietta. But as the Christians
neared the Egyptian coast, they were greeted by the awe-inspiring and terrifying sight of tens of thousands of the sultan's troops waiting
for them on the shoreline, their banners lined with gold, glistening in the hot African sun. Nonetheless, the Christians
boarded their landing craft and headed for the shore where fierce hand to hand fighting broke out. And gradually, Crusaders managed
to force the Muslims back, enabling them to secure a
bridge head, after which, ignoring the advice of
his commander to attack the strategically important
coastal city of Alexandria, Louis gambled once again
and ordered his men to march across the Nile
delta and on towards Cairo. At the time of the
Christian landings in Egypt, the sultan as-Salih was
away on campaign in Syria. However, he quickly returned to Cairo in order to command his forces which were encamped in the Nile delta in the city of Al Mansurah. But he would never get the chance to crush King Louis' campaign in person as he quickly developed a massive
abscess in one of his legs which had to be amputated
due to the infection, resulting in the sultan's death
the 22nd of November, 1249. Despite having an heir
in the shape of his son, al-Muazzam Turanshah, the late sultan as-Salih had
never trusted or liked him, meaning that he had never publicly declared him to be his heir. And as the country was under attack, perhaps fearing that
proclaiming the sultan's death would end in an Egyptian collapse, as-Salih's wife, Shajar al-Durr, who was not actually Turansah's mother, conspired with the Mamluk
commanders of the Egyptian army to conceal her husband's death in order to facilitate a
transfer of power to her stepson. Before dying, as-Salih had signed a number of blank pieces of
paper which were intended to be used by his ministers
to dispense orders. However, his wife, Shajar al-Durr, now used these papers to give false orders from her dead husband who
she continued to have meals prepared for with the
intention of transferring power to her husband's son by
another wife, Turanshah. Whilst in the meantime, in an effort to deal with the Christians, Shajar al-Durr transferred command of the Egyptian forces
around al-Mansur to Baibars, as well as the commander
of the sultan's armies, Saif ad-Din Qutuz. Then on the 8th of February, 1250, the Crusader army reached the
River Talus in the Nile delta near the fortified town of Mansurah, where they were confronted by the Muslims. But after an Egyptian traitor informed the Christians of
the location of a secret ford by which the Christians
could cross the River Talus, King Louis' vanguard, under
the command of his brother, Robert of Artois, ignoring the king's orders
to form a bridgehead, crossed the ford and
attacked the Muslims head on, who taken by surprise, took heavy losses, including one of their
commanders, Fakhr ad-Din Yussuf. But in the heat of the fighting, Artois ordered his men to storm Mansurah, as they saw that the town's
gates were wide open. Then, after storming through the gates and entering the town, Baibars, who was in command of the
Muslim forces in the fortress, ordered the gates to be closed, trapping the Christians inside. Who, being unable to escape, were cut down by a hail of
arrows and Saracen swords. And after the carnage had ended, only five Templar knights
left Mansurah alive. At the Battle of Mansurah, Baibars had shown himself to
be amongst the most talented of the sultan's Mamluk commanders, as his actions during the confrontation had stopped the Christians
dead in their tracks. And as they now could not
advance towards Cairo, they were, over the coming months, forced to stand their
ground whilst their numbers were slowly worn down by Muslim attacks and the onset of disease. This defeat also marked
the furthest advance of the French king's crusade. And afterwards, the Christians, through lack of supplies
as well as pestilence, were forced back through the
Nile delta towards the sea, being attacked as they went. Whilst King Louis, who became
so wracked with dysentery that his men had to cut
a hole in his trousers, suffered the ultimate humiliation of being captured by the Muslims, and was ultimately ransomed at the cost of nearly half a million
(speaking in foreign language), which was almost half of the
French kingdom's annual income. Once the Seventh Crusade
had ended in defeat, the victorious Turanshah then
began to encounter problems with his stepmother Shajar al-Durr and her Mamluk supporters. As for as long as she was alive, he did not possess full
control of the sultanate and would often drink excessively and abuse his female slaves and even threaten the Mamluks with death. That soon alienated him
from the very people who had aided his ascension
to power in the first place. Ultimately, Turanshah's reign would prove to be extremely short, as
after he sent a message to Shajar al-Durr while
she was in Jerusalem demanding that she hand
over his father's money, properties, and family jewels, Shajar al-Durr complained
bitterly to the Mamluks, whose immediate response is unclear. But what we do know is that Turanshah was eventually assassinated by the Mamluks on the 2nd of May, 1250, making him the last of the
Ayyubid Egyptian sultans. After Turanshah's death, the Mamluks, along with the
sultanate's leading emirs, met to discuss the succession
and shortly afterwards, decided to install Shajar
al-Durr as Egypt's female ruler along with her new husband, the Mamluk commander Izz al-Din Aybak, who became the first Mamluk
sultan of Egypt in July of 1250. Despite this transfer of power, the assassination of the Ayyubid sultan was met with opposition from
his extended family members, particularly the emir of Aleppo and the Abbasid caliph
in Baghdad as, after all, the Mamluks were slaves who had overthrown the rightful sultan of Egypt. And then, in an effort to avoid war, the leading Mamluks, which
included the sultan Aybak, Faris ad-Din Aktai, Bilban
al-Rashidi, Qutuz, and Baibars, agreed to install the six year
old Ayyubid Al-Ashraf Musa as a puppet sultan in an effort
to appease their enemies. This meant that the Mamluk Aybak was forced to stand down as sultan after little more than a week
to allow the six year old Ayyubid Al-Ashraf to replace him. However, this course of
action was seen as necessary as the Mamluks feared that the Ayyubids, who still controlled Syria
as well as Palestine, could potentially throw them out of Egypt. Thusly, installing a puppy Ayyubid sultan whom they could control gave
them a veneer of legitimacy. Then, despite their
efforts of appeasement, the Ayyubid emir of Syria, An-Nasir Yusuf, who was now the Mamluk's main
rival for ultimate power, led an army into Egypt in January of 1251. But it was ultimately defeated
by the Mamluks under Aybak. And An-Nasir Yusuf, who
was now the Mamluk's main rival for ultimate power, led an army into Egypt in January of 1251. But it was ultimately defeated
by the Mamluks under Aybak near Al-Salihiyya not far from
the Egyptian capital of Cairo after which al-Ashraf was
taken prisoner by Aybak, who had now eliminated his Muslim enemies. After this, Aybak then used Ashraf as a bargaining tool to negotiate a truce with the Syrian Ayyubids, which was mediated by the
Abbasid caliph in Baghdad and resulted in the Mamluks
getting control of Palestine, Gaza, Jerusalem, and the
Mediterranean Syrian coast. And feeling that his power was now secure, Aybak then had the young
Ayyubid puppet co-sultan Musa thrown into prison,
reinstated himself as ruler, and appointed his deputy, Qutuz, as vice sultan in his place in 1252. After this, Aybak moved
to consolidate his rule by eliminating any Mamluks he deemed to be a threat to his position, culminating in the assassination
of the leading Mamluk emir, Faris ad-Din Aktai by Qutuz in 1254, marking the beginning of a
rift within the Mamluk ranks which saw Aktai's fellow Mamluks that included Baibars being
forced to flee to Syria as they feared assassination themselves. And after this, Aybak
dethroned the infant Musa once and for all and
finally declared himself to be the sole Mamluk
sultan of Egypt in 1254. This period in which the Mamluks
had seized power over Egypt would ultimately prove to be bloody as Aybak would face numerous rebellions against his rule over the coming years, one of which sprung up
in northern Egypt in 1255 in which Baibars joined the
rebels against the sultan. Despite becoming so powerful, Aybak's rule would end in
bizarre circumstances in 1257 when he sought to marry the daughter of the emir of Mosul in modern day Iraq. But filled with jealousy over her husband seeking the hand of another woman, and also feeling betrayed by him, his wife and former
co-ruler, Shajar al-Durr, had Aybak murdered whilst
he was taking a bath. The sultan's death meant that Aybak's son, the 15 year old Mansur Ali, was installed as the new sultan of Egypt. But in an act of revenge
for the death of his father, Ali had Shajar al-Durr stripped naked and beaten to death with
clogs by his handmaidens before her body was thrown from
the city walls into a moat. Whilst Aybak's son, Al-Mansur Ali, then ruled as sultan of Egypt from 1257 with Qutuz as his vice sultan. Whilst the Mamluks were securing
their power base in Egypt, word reached the Middle East that a new threat was fast approaching. However, this time the Muslims would not have to repel another Christian crusade, but instead would have
to defend themselves against the most feared horde of invaders the world had ever seen, that being the merciless and
seemingly invincible Mongols, who under the rule of the
all powerful Genghis Khan, as well as his successors, had in the space of 50 years
formed a massive empire that encompassed the vast
majority of mainland Asia from the Korean peninsula to
the borders of eastern Europe. Then in 1258, the Mongol
hordes entered the Middle East through Iraq and sacked
the city of Baghdad, putting some 30,000 Muslims
to death in the process, after which the last Caliph
of the Abassid, Al-Musta'sim was wrapped in a rug and trampled to death by the Mongol horses, as they did not want to
spill his royal blood. The downfall of the Abassid Caliphate caused panic throughout the Muslim world. And in response, Qutuz assembled the call to the 15 year old sultan Al-Mansur Ali where he told the
assembled dignitaries that, as the Mongol invasion
was such a serious threat, Egypt needed a strong and capable sultan in order to fight them. And thusly, on the 12th of November, 1259, Qutuz formally seized power in Egypt by deposing Al-Mansur Ali, thusly becoming the third Mamluk sultan. But all this time, Baibars had been residing in Syria. But after hearing that Qutuz
had formally seized power, and perhaps realizing
that Syria was too weak to resist the Mongol invaders,
he returned to Egypt in 1260 where he was warmly welcomed by Qutuz who now needed all the experienced
commanders he could get. And shortly afterwards, after gifting Baibars a
small town within Egypt, the sultan formally promoted him to become a commander
within the Egyptian army. As the Abassid Caliphate had fallen, the Holy Land was now wide open to attack. And after gathering their forces in order to mount an invasion in 1260, envoys of Genghis Khan's grandson, Hulagu, arrived in Cairo demanding the surrender of the Egyptian sultanate by stating, from the King of Kings of the
East and West, the Great Khan. To Qutuz the Mamluk, only those who beg our
protection will be safe and we'll shatter your masks, reveal the weakness of your god, and then we will kill your
children and old men together. You are the only enemy
against whom we have to march. In response to this insult, Qutuz ordered the Mongol
envoys to be executed, after which their heads
and butchered bodies were hung from Cairo's city walls, thusly making war between the Muslims and the Mongols inevitable. Indeed, the coming conflict would be one of the most important
wars in Islamic history as if the Mamluks failed
to stop the invaders, there was every possibility that the Middle East and
Islam itself would fall. Although today we know a great deal about the Mongol invasion and its leaders, it is difficult for us
to comprehend the effect that their rampaging hordes must have had on the minds of people in their path. As to them, these merciless,
murderous warriors who could not be bought
off or reasoned with, came from another world. And perhaps a fair example would be to liken the Mongols to
an alien invasion force that threatened to destroy everything and everyone who resisted them. Then, just as it seemed the Mongols would descend on the
Holy Land in full force, word reached Hulagu that his brother, the supreme Mongol leader Möngke Khan had died in the later summer of 1259. And as the threat of civil war now loomed, Hulagu left the region for Mongolia along with the majority
of his invasion force leaving the weakened
Mongols and their vassals under the command of one
his generals, Kitbuqa. After the decimation of Baghdad, the Mongols continued their advance to the northwest through Syria, sacking the city of Aleppo
in 1260 as they went and forcing the weak Crusader state of the Principality of Antioch
to accept their supremacy and join their armies as vassals, until eventually the invading army came within a matter of miles
of the walls of Jerusalem. But when they reached lower Galilei, the walls of the Holy City,
they halted as in front of them stood a 20,000 strong Mamluk army commanded by Qutuz and his
right hand man, Baibars. The following battle, which
is known as Ain Jalut, would prove to be one of the
most important confrontations in the entire history of the Middle East as not only did it save the Holy Land, including the Christian
kingdoms from total subjugation, but it also proved that the
Mongols were not invincible and marked the greatest extent of their westward invasion
into the Middle East. During the battle, Baibars,
who led the Mamluk vanguard, attacked the Mongols head on. After a series of feints, eventually he lured the invaders towards the main body of the
Mamluk army commanded by Qutuz. Then after hours of ferocious fighting in which both sides tried
to outflank the other, the Mamluks, who enjoyed greater numbers, eventually gained the upper hand. And after the death of the
Mongol commander, Kitbuqa, his troops began to round leaving over 10,000 of
their men dead on the field. Although Ain Jalut was not
the first time the Mongols had been defeated during
their numerous invasions, the battle did prevent them from controlling the Middle East. And as the collapse of
their armies in the area, combined with Hulagu returning to Asia, resulted in a power vacuum, the Mamluks were then able to occupy Syria up to the Euphrates River meaning that, with the exception of the Crusader states that still maintained their foothold along the Mediterranean coast, the Mamluks were now the major
power in the Middle East. However, despite securing a
great victory over the Mongols, which should have solidified his position, Qutuz was not destined to rule
over Egypt for much longer as in October of 1260, whilst
the sultan of his army, marched back southwards towards the Egyptian capital of Cairo, Qutuz ordered his army
to halt in the desert as he wanted to practice
his hobby of hare coursing along with his closest commanders, who evidently were far from
happy with their master. It is clear that due to his leadership and service during the
Battle of Ain Jalut, Baibars now expected to be given the governorship of the town of Aleppo. But Qutuz, having feared that doing so would make his general too
powerful, refused his request. And then after the Mamluk
leaders had halted in the desert, Baibars approached Qutuz and asked him for the gift of a captive Mongol slave, which the sultan agreed to. But, after Baibars
kissed his master's hand, which may have been a prearranged signal, the Mamluks surrounded
and attacked the sultan with Baibars stabbing him
in the neck with his sword. Meaning that moments later, Qutuz lay dead on the desert sand, which was stained red with his blood. It is probable that Baibars
had arranged to depose Qutuz after the former sultan refused to grant him the city of Aleppo, but it is also probable
that he had been planning to seize the sultanate
for some time before this, as the attack on the sultan
seems to have been well planned and carried out with the
other Mamluk's backing. But whatever the truth, in the aftermath of the assassination, Baibars, who was now clearly
the leader of the Mamluks, moved in speed to consolidate
his power base in Egypt where no one opposed him, resulting in him being
officially proclaimed as the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt on the 24th of October, 1260. Although the previous Mamluk sultans had arguably proven themselves to be weak or misguided in their decisions, particularly with regard to their closest advisors
and relationships, Baibars would, over the coming years, show himself to be a truly
gifted and able sultan who would rank alongside
the very greatest leaders of the Muslim world as from
the very start of his reign, he began to make intelligent strategic and political decisions that consolidated his
power and would enable him to eventually exert his authority over the entire Middle East. Although the new sultan's
power base in Egypt was secure, the Mamluk emir of
Damascus, Sinjar al-Halabi, still challenged his authority. Thusly, the sultan moved to
unite the Muslim Middle East under his rule by bringing Syria and Damascus under his control
and in January of 1261, defeated the forces of the
emir al-Halabi in the process, granting him control of
the majority of Syria. After this, Baibars struck a deal with the Ayybuid emir of Homs in which they recognized
each other's sovereignty, effectively meaning that the
Egyptian sultan's position was now only threatened by the Mongols. But as the emir of Homs
and governor of Hama had defeated the Mongols
in battle the year before, the Eastern Horde was
not an immediate threat. Meaning that Baibars could now
turn his attention elsewhere, to uniting the Muslims against the Christian Crusader states. The first example of Baibars' shrewdness and talent as a leader
was his decision in 1261 to reinstate the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate that had been destroyed
by the Mongols in Baghdad under his direct rule in Egypt, as having a puppet caliph
or religious leader under his control would enable Baibars to shape the entire Islamic
Middle East to his own designs. And after finding a suitable candidate in the shape of al-Mustansir, Baibars publicly swore allegiance to him, promising to defend the faith
against the enemies of Islam, thusly giving the impression that he was a devout and righteous leader. However, in private, it was the caliph who
obeyed Baibars' commands. As his position within the
Muslim word was now unchallenged, in the summer of 1261, Baibars staged a mass celebration
in the streets of Cairo in which the sultan and his puppet caliph rode together through the
streets of the Egyptian capital, after which he was officially proclaimed to be the sultan of Egypt as well as the entire Muslim East. And as the threat of another
Mongol invasion still loomed in the minds of many
Muslims across the region, they willingly accepted the rule of the pale skinned,
blue eyed former slave whom they would come to love
and fear in equal measure. Now that he ruled the hearts
and minds of all Muslims, the new sultan set about turning Egypt into a state geared for aggressive warfare with the aim of exerting his
control over the entire region, and in the process
forging an Islamic empire that would last for centuries. As a trainee slave soldier, Baibars had received the strictest and most thorough military
training imaginable in which he and his fellow slaves were forced to practice
lethal sword strokes sometimes up to a 1,000
times in a single day. And so, it was this total dedication and disciplined training regime that the sultan now began to
incorporate into his armies, but also began to experiment
with new ways of fighting and new weaponry, meaning that soon, Baibars' armies were
amongst the most disciplined and well trained in the
Middle East, if not the world. As well as this, the sultan began to rebuild his citadels and fortifications across
the Middle East and Syria to enable him to withstand
any Mongol incursions. And because they had bent the knee to the Mongols before
the Ain Jalut campaign, the sultan now turned his
eye to the Christian states, including the Mongol vassal state of the Principality of Antioch, which was now, like all
the Christian kingdoms, cut off and surrounded by
the sultan's Muslim empire. Indeed, the coming conflict
against the Christians would become one of the most ferocious and bloody in the entire
history of the Crusades as Baibars, along with his new army, would prosecute a war of
annihilation against the Christians in which no quarter was
given as it is clear that the sultan was determined to, once and for all, expel the
Christians from the Middle East and the Holy Land that he
deemed to be an Islamic domain. Then in 1265, when the sultan had
gathered his Mamluk forces, he laid siege to the
seemingly impenetrable coastal city of the Kingdom
of Jerusalem, Arsuf, which was defended by a pitiful force of some 250 Knight Hospitallers. But as the fortress was thought to be a masterpiece of military architecture, it was considered by
Christians to be impregnable. But Baibars had other ideas. Noticing that the city's walls were constructed of soft coastal stone, the Egyptian sultan deployed
his largest siege engines which fired hard limestone rocks at the porous walls of Arsuf. And finally, realizing
that no help was coming, negotiations for the
city's surrender began in which Baibars offered the Hospitallers safe passage to Christian lands if they laid down their arms. But after they agreed, the
sultan went back on his word and the Crusaders were
taken into slavery in Egypt where they were marched
through the streets of Cairo with wooden crosses around their necks. Then, in order to ensure
that the fortress at Arsuf could never again be used as a foothold for future Christian crusades, Baibars ordered its total destruction. And so, one of the largest
and most formidable castles in all of the Christian lands was erased from the map
on Baibars' command, leaving the remaining Crusader strongholds now facing total oblivion from a merciless and relentless enemy. Although this policy of
eradicating the Christians from the Holy Land was
ruthless in the extreme, it is clear that all of Baibars' decisions were predicated on
securing him total control of the Muslim Middle East as, if he proved himself to be the sultan who finally defeated the Mongols
as well as the Christians, he would be revered and praised by the entire Islamic
population of the region, in turn making his position as sultan effectively unassailable. Indeed, it would be easy to conclude that Baibars' reasons for
sweeping the Christians into the sea were entirely
due to his religious beliefs, but this could arguably be
said to be ignoring the fact that he now controlled the Abbasid Caliph, therefore his motives were as
much down to power and control as they were about defeating the infidel. It is also clear that the sultan was an exceptionally gifted
organizer and bureaucrat as his armies were amongst
the most well provisioned and equipped of the period. And as well as this, the sultan tied his territories together by instigating infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges, including the Baibars Bridge
in the Israeli town of Lod that bears the sultan's
emblem of a rampaging lion with a rat under its claws, depicting the feeble enemies of Islam. The construction of
these bridges and roads ensured speedy communication
between population centers across Baibars' domains, which was facilitated by a
courier service of riders who would, in relay,
carry important messages from town to town ensuring that the sultan and his commanders were kept up to date with the latest developments
as soon as they arose, as this system meant that
messages could be sent from Cairo to Damascus and vice versa in as little as four days. All in all, painting a picture
of an extremely intelligent and capable sultan whose
brain and eye for detail and logistics were the
key to his grip on power. Although we may think of Baibars
as a militaristic sultan, there is a great amount of evidence to suggest that he was
respected across Europe and the wider world as he
enjoyed cordial relations with the Byzantine Empire
and forged agreements with the Mongols of the Golden Horde for more Turkish slaves to be sent south to bolster his armies. And there is even evidence
of him having treaties with the kings of Sicily,
Aragon, and Castile, whom he exchanged gifts with. And in addition to his
diplomatic achievements, Baibars also, in his capture of Cairo, built a mosque which still bears his name and was also the first ruler of Egypt to appoint chief justices representing the four main
schools of Islamic law. It is also said of the sultan that he was not just a formidable warrior, he was also fond of hunting,
polo, jousting, and archery, and was also a devout Muslim who saw to it that his subjects obeyed
the letter of the Quran. As in 1271, he prohibited
the consumption of wine throughout all of his territories. And whilst in Cairo, he
continued this Islamic tradition inspired by the Prophet's love of cats by constructing a garden
for them within the city designed to provide them with care. And this tradition of having cats as pets within Cairo still
persists to this very day. Over the coming years, Baibars continued to lay siege to the isolated Crusader
strongholds one after another, including Athlit and
Haifa and Safad in 1266, bringing the Kingdom of Jerusalem to the very brink of defeat. And then in May of 1268, the sultan's Mamluk army
finally arrived at the gates of the largest remaining
Christian city of Antioch, that had nearly 200 years
before been one of the first cities to be conquered by the Crusaders. But now, its fall would mark the end of the European dream of
securing the Holy Land. The Christians had
initially captured Antioch after an eight month long siege from October, 1097 to June, 1098. But in contrast, it would take Baibars and his Mamluk army a single day to take the fortress city, pouring through a breach in
its weakly defended walls after which they embarked on what could only be
described as total slaughter. As on the sultan's orders, all the town's defenders
were put to death, the women and children
were sold into servitude, the Christian churches were burned, and the leaves from their
bibles were thrown to the wind. According to 18th century scholars, the total number of Christians killed in the sacking of Antioch may
have been as high as 18,000 with another 100,000
being sold into slavery. However, whatever the number was, many claim that the
mass killings at Antioch were the largest of
the entire Crusader era and were meant to, once and for all, eliminate the Christians altogether from the Kingdom of Heaven. These victories effectively
marked the beginning of the end of the Crusader states in the Holy Land. And even though the final
defeat of the Christians did not occur during Baibars' reign, it is certain that the
eventual victory of the Muslims would not have occurred without Baibars, who in 1268, then as previously mentioned, sought to foster better relations with the Mongol Golden Horde to the north who now ruled his former
homelands in the Russian steppes. The reason for the sultan
attempting to foster better relations with the
northern Mongols was due to the fact that after the
death of Mongke Khan in 1259, the Mongol empire had been ruled over by his successor, Kublai Khan, whose rule saw the Mongol territories reach their colossal greatest extent, encompassing virtually all of
modern day China to the east to the borders of Hungary to the west. However, during his reign, Kublai more and more took the mantle of a Chinese emperor
rather than a Mongol khan, meaning that as the
13th century progressed, the Mongol territories began to fragment under regional leaders
including the Golden Horde that controlled the majority
of modern day southern Russia as well as the Ilkhanate
Mongols who controlled the southwest Persian
territories of the empire, whose rulers were descendants
of Genghis Khan's grandson, Hulagu, who died in 1265
leaving this portion of the empire to his son, Abaqa Khan. It was this fragmentation
of the Mongol Empire that prompted Baibars in 1268 to send emissaries to the
new khan of the Golden Horde, Mengu-Timur, and in
particular his general, Noqai, who was a Muslim. And although these diplomatic endeavors did not result in any concrete assistance against the sultan's Ilkhanate
Mongol rivals in Persia, it is likely that the warm relations that Baibars enjoyed with the Golden Horde may have prevented them from going to war against the Muslims in the years to come, in turn enabling Baibars
to concentrate his efforts on the Persian Mongols
and the Crusader states. From 1271, the Egyptian
sultan renewed his attacks on the remaining Crusader strongholds which were now held by the
elite Christian fighting orders of the Knights Templars and
the Knights Hospitallers. Although as powerful and
rich as these orders were, their state of the art castles were no match for the well-oiled
Mamluk fighting machine, resulting in the Christian strongholds falling one after the other, such as the Templar castle
of Krak des Chevaliers, which was assaulted by
Baibars' army in March, 1271, surrendering a month later. However, this time the sultan spared the Christian defender's lives, ans as the fortress commanded a strategically important
position in Syria, Baibars allowed it to stand as he felt it would be an effective bulwark against further Mongol invasions. Despite these Muslim successes, the Siege of Antioch
and its subsequent fall had understandably sent a shockwave across Christian Europe, resulting in the so-called
Lord Edward's Crusade, or Ninth Crusade, which
had initially been formed by Edward, Prince of Wales, son
of King Henry III of England in support of Louis IX of France who had led the failed
Seventh Crusade in Egypt and been defeated by Baibars at Mansurah. However, after leaving Europe, the French king died of
dysentery in August of 1270 in modern day Tunisia, putting
an end to the Eighth Crusade and thusly forcing the English prince to continue to the Holy Land
with a greatly weakened force. Upon arriving in the Holy
Land, Edward attempted to form an alliance with Baibars' archenemy, the leader of the Persian
Ilkhanate, Abaqa Khan, culminating in the Mongols and Christians mounting attacks against northern Syria. Whilst in the meantime, Baibars, fearing a possible
Christian landing in Egypt, had begun the construction of
his own Mediterranean fleet with which he'd land an attack against the island of Cyprus
in 1271 with the intention of severing Edward's supply
lines in the Holy Land. But despite this, the Muslims, who had disguised their
vessels as Christian ships, were defeated off the coast of Cyprus and forced to withdraw southwards. Despite this Muslim reversal, Edward now realized that the Christians simply did not have the strength to retake the Kingdom of
Heaven from the Muslims, and as the Mongols had now
retreated back into Persia, the Prince of Wales then began peace negotiations with Baibars, culminating in a 10 year,
10 month, and 10 day treaty being signed in May of 1272 between the Christians and the Muslims. But when an assassination
attempt was carried out on Edward in his bedchamber the following month, which may have been ordered by Baibars or a mysterious old man of the mountains who was the leader of an Islamic
sect know as the Assassins, the Prince of Wales left the
Holy Land in September of 1272. And whilst passing through Sicily, received news that his
father, Henry III, had died, culminating upon his return to England in the prince being crowned Kind Edward I, or the man known to history
as Edward Longshanks. After the end of the Ninth Crusade, Baibars turned his attention to expanding his borders once again. This time, south of Egypt
in the kingdom of Makuria in modern day southern Egypt on the borders with northern Sudan, effectively ending his
hostilities with the Crusaders, as it would take the Egyptian
sultan another four years to bring the African kingdom
under Mamluk control. In 1277, Baibars then once
again turned his attention to his archenemies, the Ilkhanate Mongols, along with their Seljuq Turk vassals in the shape of the Sultanate of Rum by invading southern Anatolia
in the spring of 1277 where the Mamluks confronted
the Mongols once again at the Battle of Elbistan
on the 15th of April, 1277. During the battle, the
highly trained Mamluks were able to overwhelm their enemies, whose army consisted of
thousands of irregulars as well as ill-disciplined
troops from the Mongols, Georgian, and Seljuq vassals. However, during this battle, the Mamluk left wing had collapsed in the face of the Mongol right despite the fact that afterwards Baibars' armies advanced into Anatolia, the sultan was far from jubilant and at one point stated how can I rejoice? I had believed that if
10,000 horsemen of my army were to meet 30,000 Mongols,
I would defeat them. But today, I met 7,000
Mongols with all my army and they aroused panic
and my men lost heart. Without Allah's grace, they
would have defeated us. After marching into Syria
and southern Turkey, word then reached the Egyptian sultan that another Mongol army was
also invading into Asia Minor. And as his supply lines were
now stretched to the limit, Baibars decided to retreat back southwards and return to Damascus, having secured his northern
borders against the Mongols, for the time being, at least. And despite securing
another famous victory against his enemies, little did the sultan
know that this campaign against the Mongols would
in fact be his last. Despite being arguably
the most powerful man in the Middle East, if not
the world at this time, Baibars would eventually meet his end, not on the battlefield, but
in mysterious circumstances. As whilst in Damascus on
the 1st of July, 1277, the sultan drank a cup of poison which is thought by some to
have been intended for another, whilst others suggest that Baibars actually died of battle wounds. But whatever the real cause of his death, the sultan was ultimately interred in a specially built mausoleum in the Az-Zahiriyah Library in Damascus where he remains to this very day. There are very few examples
in the history of the world of people rising from the very bottom of a given country's social
order or class system to become one of the most
powerful human beings on the planet during their lifetime. The fourth Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, Baibars, is one such person. As at the start of his life, he was a member of a tribe
in the Russian steppes, and after fleeing the Mongol invasion, was eventually sold into
slavery in Egypt where he, through Spartan-like training,
eventually became one of the Egyptian Sultanate's
greatest generals, and ultimately one of
its greatest sultans. In leading the vanguard at
the Battle of Ain Jalut, which is regarded by many as being one of the most important
battles of the Middle Ages, Baibars and his Mamluk comrades proved that the Mongols
were not invincible, and in defeating them, saved
the entire Muslim Middle East from total annihilation and subjugation. After this, Baibars formed
one of the most powerful Islamic empires the world has ever seen, which he held together with
state of the art infrastructure and an incredibly powerful
military that, during his reign, continued to reclaim the Holy
Land from the Christians. It also prevented the Mongols from ever again invading the Middle East. In the decades after his death, Baibars' Mamluk successors continued to retake the Christian strongholds until finally the coastal city of Acre fell on the 18th of May, 1291, effectively ending the
permanent crusader presence in the Middle East and along with it, the era of the Crusades. What do you think of Baibars? Was he a brutal slave soldier
who forged a tyrannical militaristic empire across the Middle East that murdered thousands of civilians or was he one of Islam's greatest heroes who united the Children of
the Prophet under his banner and saved them from the Mongols
as well as the Crusaders, who he brought to the
very brink of defeat? Let us know in the comment section. And until next time, thank
you very much for watching. (soft music)
