Timur sacks Baghdad (1401)

Timeline

1. 1401Baghdad · IraqAfter his Syrian campaign Timur marched east and personally oversaw the siege of Baghdad. The Jalairid defenders under Emir Faraj resisted stubbornly behind the walls; Timur's advance forces were at first checked, but prolonged siege and siege engines eventually pressed the defenders, and the siege lasted about forty days.
2. 1401Baghdad · IraqAfter the walls were breached on July 9, Timur ordered a systematic massacre of the resisters; contemporary accounts state each soldier had to bring at least one head. Except for religious figures, nearly all the city's residents were killed or enslaved, and the treasury was plundered empty.
3. 1401Baghdad · IraqTimur ordered the walls, palaces, and most public buildings dating from the Abbasid era demolished, sparing only mosques, madrasas, and Sufi lodges. He then led his army from Baghdad to Tabriz to continue his campaign against the Ottomans; Baghdad remained under Timur's occupation until around 1405.