Before the Invasion
622 |
The emigration—or hijra—of the Prophet MuÎammad from Mecca to Medina. Beginning of the Muslim calendar. |
638 |
The caliph ÝUmar takes Jerusalem. |
Seventh |
and Eighth Centuries: the Arabs build an enormous empire, from the Indus River in the east to the Pyrenees in the west. |
809 |
Death of the caliph HÁrÙn al-RashÐd: the Arab empire at its apogee. |
Tenth Century: Although their civilzation is still flourishing, |
|
political decline among the Arabs begins. The caliphs lose their power to Turkish and Persian military officers. |
|
1055 |
The Seljuk Turks are rulers of Baghdad. |
1071 |
The Seljuks crush the Byzantines at Malazgerd and seize Asia Minor. They soon control the entire Muslim East except for Egypt. |
Invasion
1096 |
Kilij Arslan, sultan of Nicaea, crushes a Frankish invasion army led by Peter the Hermit. |
1097 |
First great Frankish expedition. Nicaea is taken; Kilij Arslan is defeated at Dorylaeum. |
1098 |
The Franj take Edessa and then Antioch, and triumph over a Muslim rescue army commanded by KarbÙqa, ruler of Mosul. The incident of cannibalism in MaÝarra. |
1099 |
Fall of Jerusalem, followed by massacres and plunder. Debacle of the Egyptian rescue army. The qÁÃÐ of Damascus, al-Íarwi, leads a delegation of refugees to Baghdad to denounce the lack of action by Muslim leaders in face of the invasion. |
Occupation
1100 |
Baldwin, count of Edessa, escapes an ambush near Beirut and proclaims himself king of Jerusalem. |
1104 |
Muslim victory at ÍarrÁn, which checks the Frankish eastward advance. |
1108 |
Curious battle near Tel BÁshir: two Islamo-Frankish coalitions confront one another. |
1109 |
Fall of Tripoli after a 2000-day siege. |
1110 |
Fall of Beirut and Saida. |
1111 |
Ibn al-KhashÁb, the qÁÃÐ of Aleppo, organizes a riot against the caliph of Baghdad to demand intervention against the Frankish occupation. |
1112 |
Victorious resistance at Tyre. |
1115 |
Alliance of Muslim and Frankish princes of Syria against an army dispatched by the sultan. |
1119 |
Ilghazi, ruler of Aleppo, crushes the Franj at Sarmada. |
1124 |
The Franj take Tyre: they now occupy the entire coast, except for Ascalon. |
1125 |
Ibn al-KhashÁb is murdered by the Assassins sect. |
Riposte
1128 |
Failure of a Franj thrust at Damascus. ZangÐ the ruler of Aleppo. |
1135 |
ZangÐ tries, unsuccessfully, to take Damascus. |
1137 |
ZangÐ captures Fulk, king of Jerusalem, then releases him. |
1140 |
Alliance of Damascus and Jerusalem against ZangÐ. |
1144 |
ZangÐ takes Edessa, destroying the first of the four Frankish states of the Orient. |
1146 |
Murder of ZangÐ. His son NÙr al-DÐn replaces him in Aleppo. |
Victory
1148 |
Debacle at Damascus for a new Frankish expedition led by Conrad, emperor of Germany, and Louis VII, king of France. |
1154 |
NÙr al-DÐn takes control of Damascus, unifying Muslim Syria under his authority. |
1163–69 |
The struggle for Egypt. ShÐrkÙh, lieutenant of NÙr al-DÐn, finally wins. Proclaimed vizier, he dies two months later. He is succeeded by his nephew Saladin. |
1171 |
Saladin proclaims the overthrow of the Fatimid caliphate. Sole master of Egypt, he finds himself in conflict with NÙr al-DÐn. |
1174 |
Death of NÙr al-DÐn. Saladin takes Damascus. |
1183 |
Saladin takes Aleppo. Egypt and Syria now reunited under his aegis. |
1187 |
The year of victory. Saladin crushes the Frankish armies at ÍiÔÔÐn, near Lake Tiberias. He reconquers Jerusalem and the greater part of the Frankish territories. The occupiers now hold only Tyre, Tripoli, and Antioch. |
Reprieve
1190–92 |
Setback for Saladin at Acre. Intervention of Richard the Lionheart, king of England, enables the Franj to recover several cities from the sultan, but not Jerusalem. |
1193 |
Saladin dies in Damascus at the age of 55. After several years of civil war, his empire is reunited under the authority of his brother al-ÝÀdil. |
1204 |
The Franj take Constantinople. Sack of the city. |
1218–21 |
Invasion of Egypt by the Franj. They take Damietta and head for Cairo, but the sultan al-KÁmil, son of al-ÝÀdil, finally repels them. |
1229 |
Al-KÁmil delivers Jerusalem to the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, arousing a storm of indignation in the Arab world. |
Expulsion
1244 |
The Franj lose Jerusalem for the last time. |
1248–50 |
Invasion of Egypt by Louis IX, king of France, who is defeated and captured. Fall of the Ayyubid dynasty; replaced by the rule of the Mamluks. |
1258 |
The Mongol chief Hülegü, grandson of Genghis Khan, sacks Baghdad, massacring the population and killing the last ÝAbbasid caliph. |
1260 |
The Mongol army, after occupying first Aleppo and then Damascus, is defeated at the battle of ÝAyn JÁlÙt in Palestine. Baybars at the head of the Mamluk sultanate. |
1268 |
Baybars takes Antioch, which had been allied with the Mongols. |
1270 |
Louis IX dies near Tunis in the course of a failed invasion. |
1289 |
The Mamluk sultan QalÁwÙn takes Tripoli. |
1291 |
The sultan KhalÐl, son of QalÁwÙn, takes Acre, putting an end to two centuries of Frankish presence in the Orient. |