Siege of Baghdad (1638)

Timeline

1. 1638outside Baghdad · MesopotamiaThe Ottoman main force arrived outside Baghdad and quickly completed the encirclement. Murad IV personally came to the front to deploy artillery positions, while Ottoman sappers dug trenches outside the city and built parallel siege works, cutting off routes for Safavid reinforcements to enter. The Safavid commander Bektaş Khan held the city with about twenty thousand troops, awaiting relief.
2. 1638walls of Baghdad · MesopotamiaOttoman heavy guns subjected Baghdad's walls to sustained bombardment, opening breaches in several places. The defenders counterattacked and repeatedly repelled Ottoman infantry assaults. Safavid Shah Safi I assembled reinforcements, but due to the great distance and slow troop movements, they failed to reach Baghdad in time. Ammunition and supplies within the city grew increasingly scarce.
3. 1638Baghdad · MesopotamiaOn December 25, 1638, Ottoman troops stormed into Baghdad through multiple breaches. Commander Bektaş Khan surrendered with his remaining forces, ending fifteen years of Safavid occupation. After entering the city, Murad IV granted special protection to some Shia shrines while punishing resisters. Baghdad thereafter returned to Ottoman territory until the early twentieth century.