Siege of Baghdad (1157)
- See Sieges of Baghdad for other sieges Template:FixHTML
| Seljuq siege of Baghdad 1157 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Abbasid-Seljuq Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Seljuq of Hamadan-Zengid of Mosul | Abbasid caliphate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Muhammad of Hamadan, Qutb ad-Din Mawdud of mosul | Al-Muqtafi | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000 Seljuq | unknwon | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown but heavy | Unknown | ||||||
The siege of Baghdad was the last Seljuq attempt to capture Baghdad from the Abbasids,Caliph Al-Muqtafi successfully defended his captial against the collision army of Muhammad of Hamadan, and Qutb-adin of Mosul.
Background
in the tenth century AD the Abbasid Caliphate lost control of most of it's former provinces,most of the governors were able to establish their own dynasties,and in the mean time the central government was unable to stop this independent movements within the empire,though the retained their spiritual leadership upon the Muslims since the new states like (Tulunids/Ikhshidid,Hamdanids...) acknowledged the Caliph as the head of the state and the successor of the prophet.
the siege
Muhammad marched to Baghdad with an army numbered 20,000 men,while his ally Qutb-adin marched from Mosul to capture the Caliphate's provinces in Central Iraq. in the 12th of January Muhammad reached the walls of western Baghdad. in response the Caliph gathered all his troops from Hillah and Wasit to defend the capital. in February unable to defend western Baghdad the caliph abandoned the western side and ordered all the bridges over Tigris river -which separates the western side of Baghdad from it's Eastern side- to be destroyed,Muhammed crossed with his army with ships to western side of Baghdad and easily captured it. in the same time the caliph fortified the walls of eastern baghdad, several catapults ,ballistes were installed on the city's walls,the caliph also armed the native of Baghdad by giving them armours and weapons, and incited them to fight the enemy of the caliphate,he called them infidels (since they waged a war against the caliph -the successor of the prophet and the leader of the ummah),he also ordered his vizier Ibn hubayra to give 5 golden dinars to every wounded soldier. in the 4th of march Sultan Muhammad and his ally Zayn-adin -Qutb-adin's vizier- attacked eastern Baghdad and bombarded the city,the army of Baghdad repulsed the attack thanks to the courage of the natives of Baghdad and the naffatuns.
The end of the siege
in the 16th of March the seluqs repaired one of the bridges and crossed to the eastern side of the city, where they engaged both the Caliph's army and the native militias of Baghdad the result of the battle remained indecisive for both side. in the meantime Nur ad-Din blamed his brother for attacking the caliph's realm,that's breaking the Seljuq of hamadan- Zengid of Mosul co-operation. Zayn-adin lift the siege and returned to Mosul Muhammad also was forced to lift the siege after his men informed him that his brother Malikshah has Captured Hamadan,he eventually knew that the siege is useless,so he preferred to fight for his throne,thus the siege of Baghdad came to end.