Baibars

Biography

Al-Zahir Baibars was a Kipchak Turkish slave-soldier who rose to become one of the most formidable sultans of the Mamluk dynasty and the great destroyer of the Crusader States. As a young Mamluk commander he led the ambush that shattered Louis IX's army at Mansurah in 1250, and two years later he played a leading role in the overthrow of the Ayyubids and the rise of Mamluk power in Egypt. In 1260 he helped win the epoch-making victory at Ain Jalut, the first major defeat of the seemingly invincible Mongols, then murdered his way to the sultanate. As sultan he waged relentless war on the Crusader States, taking Antioch and a string of great fortresses and steadily strangling the Latin presence in the Levant. Ruthless, energetic, and brilliant, he laid the groundwork for the final destruction of the Crusader States, which his successors completed at Acre in 1291. He died in 1277, by tradition from poison meant for someone else.

Key Battles