Battle of Baghdad ( 946 ) The Battle of Baghdad ( 946 AD ) was fought between the forces of the Buyid amirate of Iraq under Mu ' izz al - Dawla and the Hamdanid amirate of Mosul under Nasir al - Dawla within the city of Baghdad . The battle lasted for several months ; it eventually ended in victory for the Buyids , who expelled the Hamdanids from Baghdad with a major offensive and secured control of the city . The battle was the first conflict in the Buyid - Hamdanid Wars ; it was also the only one to occur largely on Buyid , rather than Hamdanid , territory . Background . Baghdad became a Buyid possession when Ahmad ibn Buya advanced from al - Ahwaz with his army and entered the city in December 945 . Upon his arrival , he met with the Abbasid caliph al - Mustakfi , who agreed to give him control of the affairs of the state and conferred on him the honorific of " Mu ' izz al - Dawla . " News of this event was received negatively by the Hamdanid amir Nasir al - Dawla , who ruled over Mosul and the districts of the eastern Jazira . Nasir al - Dawla had previously controlled Baghdad in 942 and he still entertained hopes of regaining the city ; Mu ' izz al - Dawla ' s takeover of the capital was therefore an unwelcome development for him . Nasir al - Dawla had reason to be confident that he could defeat Mu ' izz al - Dawla if he made an attempt to capture Baghdad . His army had been bolstered by the arrival of numerous Turkish soldiers who had fled from Baghdad just before Mu ' izz al - Dawla ' s entrance into the capital , and he was much more familiar with the territory between Mosul and Baghdad than his rival was . Mu ' izz al - Dawla , on the other hand , was on less secure ground ; Baghdad was in a sorry state thanks to years of mismanagement and he was hamstrung by its numerous financial and military problems . Nasir al - Dawla furthermore gained a pretext for war when in January 946 Mu ' izz al - Dawla deposed and blinded the caliph al - Mustakfi and replaced him with the more obedient al - Muti ' . As a result of these factors , Nasir al - Dawla took a belligerent tone with the Buyids ; he withheld the payment of tribute to Baghdad , refused to recognize al - Muti ' as caliph and continued to mint coins in al - Mustakfi ' s name . Initial hostilities . It quickly became clear that the two amirs would be unable to work out an agreement with each other . In February 946 , Mu ' izz al - Dawla sent an army under the command of Musa Fayadhah and Yanal Kushsh to Ukbara , in preparation for a campaign to conquer Mosul . The expedition was terminated , however , when Yanal Kusush suddenly attacked Musa and deserted to the Hamdanids . Nasir al - Dawla responded to this act of aggression by leading his army , which included a number of Turks , to Samarra the following month . Mu ' izz al - Dawla similarly gathered his forces and departed from Baghdad with the caliph al - Muti ' for Ukbara . While stationed at Samarra , Nasir al - Dawla sent his brother Jubayr to sneak around the Buyid army and head south to Baghdad . When Jubayr arrived at the city , he was welcomed by the citizens and by Mu ' izz al - Dawla ' s former secretary Abu Ja ' far ibn Shirzad , who declared his allegiance to the Hamdanids and administered the affairs of Baghdad on their behalf . Nasir al - Dawla then decided to head for Baghdad himself . Leaving his cousin al - Husayn ibn Sa ' id in the field to distract Mu ' izz al - Dawla , he headed south and reached western Baghdad on April 15 , and though he was forced to destroy his baggage when a number of Dailamites threatened to seize it , he and his forces were able to gain control of the city . When Mu ' izz al - Dawla learned that he had lost Baghdad , he gathered his Dailamite soldiers , who had been busy plundering Tikrit and Samarra , and headed back to the city . When he arrived , he found that Nasir al - Dawla had crossed the Tigris and set up camp outside the Shammasiyyah quarter of eastern Baghdad ; he therefore dug in on the western side of the city , and the two sides prepared for fighting . The battle . Stalemate . For the next three months , control of Baghdad was divided between the Hamdanids and Buyids , with the Tigris acting as a dividing line between them . On the Hamdanid side , Nasir al - Dawla promoted Ibn Shirzad to serve as one of his chief commanders , while on the western side , Abu Ja ' far Saymari , the chief secretary of Mu ' izz al - Dawla , managed the Buyid war effort . Both sides were clearly determined to take permanent control of the city , and the battle quickly turned into a stalemate . Combat took place in multiple locations throughout Baghdad , with both the Hamdanid and Buyid forces launching offensive sorties against each other . Neither side , however was able to generate a victory large enough to win control of both halves of the city . Getting troops across the Tigris successfully was a challenge , and even if an army managed to make it to the opposite shore , they were usually forced to retreat in short order . The attempts of the opposing sides to gain control of the Tigris was a major aspect of the fighting . The Hamdanid and Buyid armies both built " zabzabs " or small riverboats and used these to launch attacks on each other . Each day , Ibn Shirzad led a number of " zabzabs " filled with Turks up and down the Tigris , and they shot arrows at the Dailamites stationed on the western side of the city . Mu ' izz al - Dawla also constructed a fleet of " zabzabs " , and his troops used these to battle the Hamdanid forces patrolling the river . On the eastern side , Nasir al - Dawla attempted to legitimize his seizure of the city by re - issuing the coinage of 942 - 3 , from when he had last been in control of Baghdad . At least part of the population accepted his claims and supported him throughout the fighting . Ibn Shirzad was also able to augment the ranks of the Hamdanid forces by enlisting local citizens and criminals , and they participated in attacks on Mu ' izz al - Dawla ' s Dailamite troops . The economy of Baghdad suffered greatly throughout the fighting . Both sides seized the produce of local cultivators to feed their troops . Eastern Baghdad was able to avoid any serious shortages thanks to shipments flowing down from Mosul , but the western side was subjected to a blockade for the duration of the conflict . Nasir al - Dawla ' s forces prevented civilians on the western side from crossing to the eastern , while a number of allied Arab tribes surrounded western Baghdad and cut off the flow of supplies . The blockade was effective and soon shortages were rampant on the Buyid side ; the price of bread soared to more than six times what it was selling for on the eastern side of the river , and was sometimes not available at all . Starving people were reduced to eating grass and carrion , and several women were executed for acts of cannibalism . Buyid victory . By July 945 , with no end to the battle in sight and with the blockade making supplies increasingly scarce , Mu ' izz al - Dawla was giving serious thought to abandoning western Baghdad and retreating to al - Ahwaz . He eventually decided to make one final attempt to take the eastern side , and if the effort failed he would give the order to withdraw . He gave orders to his chief secretary Saymari to cross to the eastern bank with a number of handpicked Dailamites , while he himself would attempt to distract the Hamdanid forces with a ruse . The plan was carried out on the night of August 1 . Mu ' izz al - Dawla led a number of men north , instructing them to light torches and blast trumpets along the way . The Hamdanid army , seeing his movements , moved north as well to prevent him from crossing the river . Saymari and his soldiers were therefore free to cross to the eastern side and began to do so . When the Hamdanid army realized what was happening , they sent a number of men in " zabzabs " to stop him , and a fierce fight broke out . Eventually the Dailamites were victorious and the Hamdanid forces were pushed back to the Shammasiyyah gate at the northeastern corner of the city . As the Dailamites spread throughout eastern Baghdad , the Hamdanid army began to fall apart in disorder . Nasir al - Dawla , realizing that he was in danger of losing the city , ordered Ibn Shirzad to take command of the troops and push the Dailamites back across the river . Ibn Shirzad set out , but when he attempted to convince the panicking soldiers to regroup he was unable to do so and therefore decided to flee . Nasir al - Dawla then realized that the fight was lost and joined the retreat ; the Hamdanid forces withdrew from Baghdad and allowed the Buyids to take control of the city . Eastern Baghdad , meanwhile , remained in a state of turmoil . The Dailamite army occupied the eastern quarters of the city and began retaliating against the population for their support of the Hamdanids during the fighting . Ignoring an order by Mu ' izz al - Dawla to refrain from pillaging , they began looting , set fire to houses and killed a number of civilians . Many of the residents fled in fear and attempted to head north to Ukbara , but died along the way in the summer heat . The chaos ceased only when Saymari executed several pillagers and sent out patrols to reestablish order . Aftermath . Following their expulsion from Baghdad , Nasir al - Dawla , Ibn Shirzad and the Hamdanid army proceeded up the Tigris to Ukbara to regroup . After they arrived , Nasir al - Dawla sent an envoy to Mu ' izz al - Dawla to sue for peace . Mu ' izz al - Dawla agreed to the terms , and the war between the two sides came to an end . Mu ' izz al - Dawla agreed to recognize the Hamdanid as ruler of the territory from Tikrit northwards , and to release him from the obligation of transmitting tax revenues from Mosul and the Diyar Bakr district . In exchange , Nasir al - Dawla was made responsible for forwarding the tax proceeds of Ikhshidid Egypt and Syria on to Baghdad , and promised to regularly send supplies to the city which were to be exempt from any taxes ; in addition , he agreed to recognize al - Muti ' as the legitimate caliph . The Turkish mercenaries in the Hamdanid army , who were vehemently opposed to Mu ' izz al - Dawla ' s continued occupation of Baghdad , were not informed that Nasir al - Dawla was seeking peace with the Buyids . When they learned that the two amirs had agreed to a treaty , they rebelled against Nasir al - Dawla and compelled him to flee . Nasir al - Dawla was forced to call on Mu ' izz al - Dawla for assistance , and a Buyid army under the command of Saymari was sent to quell the Turks and enforce the treaty . Saymari defeated the rebels and confirmed Nasir al - Dawla in his position , but also confiscated a number of supplies and took a son of Nasir al - Dawla as a hostage to ensure that he would abide by the terms of the peace ; he then returned to Baghdad . Ultimately , peace did not last for long between the two sides , and less than three years later the Buyids and Hamdanids were again at war with each other .