Battle of Ain Jalut The Battle of Ain Jalut ( or Ayn Jalut , in Arabic : , the " Spring of Goliath " ) took place on 3 September 1260 between Muslim Mamluk s and the Mongols in the southeastern Galilee , in the Jezreel Valley , not far from Zir ' in . The battle marked the high - water point of Mongol conquests , and was the first time a Mongol advance had ever been permanently beaten back in direct combat on the battlefield . After previous battlefield defeats , the Mongols had always returned and avenged their loss , ultimately defeating their enemies . The Battle of Ain Jalut marked the first time they were unable to do so . The Mongol Ilkhanate leader Hulagu Khan was not able to advance into Egypt , and the Khanate he established in Persia was only able to defeat the Mamluks once in subsequent expeditions , briefly reoccupying Syria and parts of Galilee for a few months in 1300 . Preceding events . When Möngke Khan became Great Khan in 1251 , he immediately set out to implement his grandfather Genghis Khan ' s plan for world empire . To lead the task of subduing the nations of the West , he selected his brother , another of Genghis Khan ' s grandsons , Hulagu Khan . Assembling the army took five years , and it was not until 1256 that Hulagu was prepared to begin the invasions . Operating from the Mongol base in Persia , Hulagu proceeded south . Mongke Khan had ordered good treatment for those who yielded without resistance , and destruction for those who did not . In this way Hulagu and his army had conquered some of the most powerful and longstanding dynasties of the time . Other countries in the Mongols ' path submitted to Mongol authority , and contributed forces to the Mongol army . By the time that the Mongols reached Baghdad , their army included Cilician Armenians , and even some Frankish forces from the submitted Principality of Antioch . The Hashshashin in Persia fell , the 500 - year - old Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad was destroyed ( see Battle of Baghdad ) , and so too fell the Ayyubid dynasty in Damascus . Hulagu ' s plan was to then proceed southwards through the Kingdom of Jerusalem towards the Mamluk Sultanate , to confront the major Islamic power . Mongol envoys to Egypt . In 1260 , Hulagu sent envoys to Qutuz in Cairo , demanding his surrender : Qutuz responded , however , by killing the envoys and displaying their heads on Bab Zuweila , one of the gates of Cairo . The campaign . The power dynamic then changed due to the death of the Great Khan Mongke ( while on an expedition to China ) , requiring Hulagu and other senior Mongols to return home to decide upon his successor . A potential Great Khan , Hulagu took the majority of his army with him , and left a much smaller force west of the Euphrates of only around one or two tumen s ( 10 , 000 – 20 , 000 men ) under his best general , the Nestorian Christian Naiman Kitbuqa Noyan . Upon receiving news of Hulagu ' s departure , Mamluk Sultan Qutuz quickly assembled a large army at Cairo and invaded Palestine . In late August , Kitbuqa ' s forces proceeded south from their base at Baalbek , passing to the east of Lake Tiberias through Galilee . The Mamluk Sultan Qutuz at that time allied with a fellow Mamluk , Baibars , who wanted to defend Islam after the Mongols captured Damascus and most of Bilad al - Sham . The Mongols , for their part , attempted to form a Franco - Mongol alliance with ( or at least , demand the submission of ) the remnant of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem , now centered on Acre , but Pope Alexander IV had forbidden this . Tensions between Franks and Mongols had also increased when Julian of Sidon caused an incident which resulted in the death of one of Kitbuqa ' s grandsons . Angered , Kitbuqa had sacked Sidon . The Barons of Acre , contacted by the Mongols , had also been approached by the Mamluks , seeking military assistance against the Mongols . Though the Mamluks were the traditional enemies of the Franks , the Barons of Acre recognized the Mongols as the more immediate menace , and so the Crusaders opted for a position of cautious neutrality between the two forces . In an unusual move , they agreed that the Egyptian Mamluks could march north through the Crusader territories unmolested , and even camp to resupply near Acre . When news arrived that the Mongols had crossed the Jordan River , Sultan Qutuz and his forces then proceeded southeast toward the spring at Ain Jalut in the Jezreel Valley . The battle . The opposing forces met at Ain Jalut on September 3 , 1260 , both sides numbering about 20 , 000 men . The first to advance were the Mongols , whose force also included troops from the Kingdom of Georgia and about 500 knights from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , both of which had submitted to Mongol authority . The Mamluks had the advantage of knowledge of the terrain , and Qutuz capitalized on this by hiding the bulk of his force in the highlands , hoping to bait the Mongols with a smaller force under Baibars . The two armies fought restlessly for many hours , with Mamluk leader Baibars most of the time implementing hit - and - run tactics , in order to provoke the Mongol troops and at the same time preserve the bulk of his troops intact . When the Mongols carried out another heavy assault , Baibars – who it is said had laid out the overall strategy of the battle since he had spent much time in that region , earlier in his life , as a fugitive – and his men feigned a final retreat , drawing the Mongols into the highlands to be ambushed by the rest of the Mamluk forces , who were concealed among the trees in the highlands . The Mongol leader Kitbuqa , already provoked by the constant fleeing of Baibars and his troops , committed a grave mistake ; instead of suspecting a trick , Kitbuqa decided to march forwards with all his troops on the trail of the fleeing Mamluks . When the Mongols reached the highlands , Mamluk forces appeared from hiding and began to fire arrows and attack with their cavalry . The Mongols then found themselves surrounded on all sides by the Mamluk forces . The Mongol army fought very fiercely and very aggressively to break out . Some distance away , Qutuz watched with his private legion . When Qutuz saw the left wing of the Mamluk army almost destroyed by the desperate Mongols seeking an escape route , Qutuz threw away his combat helmet , so that his warriors could recognize him . He was seen the next moment rushing fiercely towards the battlefield , urging his army to keep firm and advanced towards the damaged side followed by his own unit . The Mongols were pushed back and fled to a vicinity of Bisan followed by Qutuz ' s forces but they managed to gather and returned to the battlefield making a successful counterattack . However , the battle shifted in favor of the Mamluks , who now had both the geographic and the psychological advantage , and eventually some of the Mongols were forced to retreat . When the battle ended , the Mamluk heavy cavalry men had accomplished what had never been done before , beating the Mongols in close combat . Almost the whole Mongol army that had remained in the region , including Kitbuqa , was destroyed . The Battle of Ain Jalut is also notable for being the earliest known battle where explosive hand cannon s ( " midfa " in Arabic ) were used . These explosives were employed by the Mamluk Egyptians in order to frighten the Mongol horses and cavalry and cause disorder in their ranks . The explosive gunpowder compositions of these cannon were later described in Arabic chemical and military manuals in the early 14th century . Aftermath . On the way back to Cairo after the victory at Ain Jalut , Qutuz was assassinated by several emir s in a conspiracy led by Baibars . Baibars became the new Sultan . His successors would go on to capture the last of the Crusader states in The Holy Land by 1291 . The Mongols were again beaten at the First Battle of Homs less than a year later , and completely expelled from Syria . Internecine conflict prevented Hulagu Khan from being able to bring his full power against the Mamluks to avenge the pivotal defeat at Ain Jalut . Berke Khan , the Khan of the Kipchak Khanate to the north of Ilkhanate , had converted to Islam , and watched with horror as his cousin destroyed the Abbasid Caliph , the spiritual head of Islam . Muslim historian Rashid - al - Din Hamadani quoted Berke as sending the following message to Mongke Khan , protesting the attack on Baghdad ( not knowing Mongke had died in China ) : " He ( Hulagu ) has sacked all the cities of the Muslims , and has brought about the death of the Caliph . With the help of God I will call him to account for so much innocent blood . " The Mamluks , learning through spies that Berke was both a Muslim and not fond of his cousin , were careful to nourish their ties to him and his Khanate . After the Mongol succession was finally settled , with Kublai as the last Great Khan , Hulagu returned to his lands by 1262 , and massed his armies to attack the Mamluks and avenge Ain Jalut . However , Berke Khan initiated a series of raids in force which lured Hulagu north , away from the Levant to meet him . Hulagu suffered severe defeat in an attempted invasion north of the Caucasus in 1263 . This was the first open war between Mongols , and signaled the end of the unified empire . Hulagu was only able to send a small army of two tumens in his only attempt to attack the Mamluks after Ain Jalut , and it was repulsed . Hulagu Khan died in 1265 and was succeeded by his son Abaqa .