Blackwell Reference Online

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(1217–65) Hulegu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the supreme commander of the Mongol forces in western Asia, is famed for having destroyed Alamut and other fortresses of the Ismailite sect – the Assassins – in Mazandaran (1256) and, more particularly, for having taken Baghdad in 1258, where he put an end to the Abbasid caliphate and destroyed the city. He also captured Aleppo and Damascus. Muslims were the victims of his conquests; Christians were spared. In 1259 Hulegu's brother, the Great Khan Mongke, died in China so Hulegu returned to the East leaving only a remnant of his army in Syria. See also ain djalout ; genghis khan ; mongols ; tamerlain . The Cambridge History of Iran , ( Cambridge , 1968 ), vol. v ; B. Lewis, The Assassins: a radical sect in Islam (London, 1967); J. J. Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests (London, 1971); David Morgan, The Mongols (Oxford, 1986) . ... log in or subscribe to read full text