Islam
Baibars
His name was Rukn ad-Din Baibars Bundukdari. He was a big man, recklessly brave with a reputation for ferocity, but he was also an outstanding field commander. Not long after the Battle of Ain Jalut, he murdered Kutuz with his own hands and became Sultan himself. He vanquished a rival at Damascus in January 1261, whereupon Homs and Hama submitted peacefully. After occupying Aleppo later that same year, Baibars was in command of nearly as much territory as Saladin had been.
Prince Bohemond of Antioch, along with King Hethoum of Armenia, had allied with Hulagu and the Mongols. Baibars swore revenge for this, and was raiding as far as the port of Saint Symeon by 1262. He threatened Antioch itself, but King Hethoum called for help from his Mongol allies and Baibars was forced to withdraw.
In 1263 he captured Nazareth and raided up to the walls of Acre. He returned in 1265 and captured Caesarea. Haifa fell soon after, and its citizens were massacred. He then attacked the great citadels of Athlit and Arsuf; the former held, the latter fell. Everywhere he went Baibars slaughtered the Christians if they resisted, and either killed or sold into slavery everyone in the military orders, for he understood that the Templars and Hospitallers were his most dangerous enemies.
Hulagu died February 8, 1265. The Mongol empire in the west divided between the Golden Horde, which was now Muslim, and the heir of Hulagu, Abaga. This freed Baibars to move even more energetically against the Christians. In 1266 he besieged Safed and eventually captured it. Toron followed soon after.
Further north, Baibars' best general, Kalavun, was leading an army into Armenia, in alliance with al-Mansur of Hama. They routed the Armenians in Cilicia on August 24, 1266, and captured the capital, Sis, in September. This effectively eliminated Antioch's only remaining ally.
Baibars himself attacked Acre again in 1267, but again he was turned back. He march once more in 1268, capturing Jaffa in March. The castle of Beaufort followed in April. He arrived before Antioch on May 14, 1268. Prince Bohemond was at Tripoli. His constable was captured in the first day of fighting, and the city itself fell on May 18. The Muslims destroyed the great city. One of the emirs ordered all gates locked, so that no one could escape. All those not killed were enslaved. Depopulated and destroyed, Antioch never recovered. Of the Principality, on Lattakieh survived.
The Sultan made a run at Acre in 1269, trying to lure the defenders into a trap, but they stayed within the walls. The next year, he was relieved to learn that the great crusade of King Louis had been diverted to Tunis and that the king himself had died there.
Meanwhile, the Mongols were still a threat. Abaga, Hulagu's son, married Maria of Byzantium. But he was so occupied in the north and east that he was never able to send significant military forces against Baibars, who, for his part, was careful not to attract the anger of the Khans.
In 1271, Baibars captured the White Castle of the Templars, and then the Krak des Chevaliers, the famous Hospitaller stronghold. He then made a ten-year truce with Bohemond at Tripoli, then went south and captured Montfort in June. That fall, at the request of Prince Edward of England, who was in the Holy Land on Crusade, Abaga sent ten thousand horsemen into Syria. This was as close as anyone ever came to the much-discussed alliance between the Mongols and the Christians. They raided Aleppo and Apamea, but could capture neither. When the Sultan led a large army north in November, the Mongols retreated and did not return.
In 1272, he accepted Edward's offer of a ten-year truce. Baibars had captured many key cities and fortresses, so he may have felt that he could finish the job later. In the meantime, he was still very much concerned about the Mongol threat. And, in any case, he had other tools to hand. In June, the Sultan had an Assassin try to murder Prince Edward. He nearly succeeded; Edward was sick for months, and returned to England not long after his recovery.
Meanwhile, he spent the next few years invading Cilicia and Armenia. The Seljuks here were nominally under the Mongols. When Baibars defeated the Mongol garrison in 1277, Abaga himself led the retaliation. Baibars retreated to Syria and Abaga was able to recover Anatolia. The Sultan died July 1, 1277.