Baghdad. The city walls collapse, and the Mongol armies of Hulegu and Baiju storm into the city. The Islamic ministers are executed on the spot. Caliph al-Mustafa’sim’bi’llah surrenders and grants the Mongol request to gather the entire population in the esplanade outside the walls, where, as per Mongol tradition, they are all massacred. At least 800,000 civilians die. The now empty city is looted and set ablaze.
