Capture of Baghdad (1534)

For other uses, see Battle of Baghdad.

Battle of Baghdad (1534)
Part of the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55)
Suleiman's conquests in the 1532–55 Ottoman-Safavid war gave him access to the Persian Gulf.
Date December 1534 [1] Location Baghdad province, Arabian Iraq, Safavid Iran [2] 33°21′N44°25′E / 33.35°N 44.42°E / 33.35; 44.42 Result Ottoman victory Territorial changes Ottomans capture Baghdad
Belligerents
Safavid Empire	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Tahmasp I	Suleiman I Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha

The 1534 capture of Baghdad by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent from the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I was part of his Campaign of the Two Iraqs. ^[3] The city was taken without resistance, the Safavid government having fled and leaving the city undefended. ^[4] Baghdad's capture was a significant achievement given its mastery of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their international and regional trade. ^[5] It represented, along with the fall of Basra in 1546, a significant step towards eventual Ottoman victory and the procurement of the lower Mesopotamia, the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, opening a trading outlet into the Persian Gulf. ^[6] The Ottomans wintered there until 1535, overseeing the reconstruction of Sunni religious monuments destroyed by the Safavids and initiating agricultural irrigation projects. Suleiman returned to Constantinople, leaving a strong garrison force. ^[4] After the capture, Suleiman adopted the title “Shah of Baghdad in Iraq”. ^[7] Over the next few decades, the Ottomans solidified their control over the region, incorporating it into their empire until it was recaptured by the Persians in 1623. ^[4]

See also

• Growth of the Ottoman Empire
• Campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent
• History of Baghdad
• Ottoman Iraq

References

1. Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-First Century. Vol. 1: A-E. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 95. ISBN   978-0-313-33537-2.
2. Nasiri, Mirza Naqi (2008). Floor, Willem (ed.). Titles & Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration . Translated by Willem Floor. Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers. ISBN   978-1-933823-23-2.
3. Matthee, Rudi (2006). "IRAQ iv. RELATIONS IN THE SAFAVID PERIOD". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica . Vol. XIII. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. pp. 556–561. ISBN   0-933273-95-9.
4. World and Its Peoples: The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa . London: Marshall Cavendish. 2006. p. 193. ISBN   0-7614-7571-0.
5. Masters, Bruce Alan (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire . New York: Facts on File. pp.  280, 428. ISBN   978-0-8160-6259-1.
6. Matthee, Rudolph P. (1999). The politics of trade in Safavid Iran: silk for silver, 1600-1730 . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p.  17. ISBN   0-521-64131-4.
7. Dimitri Korobeinikov (2021). "These are the narratives of bygone years: Conquest of a Fortress as a Source of Legitimacy". medieval worlds comparative & interdisciplinary studies (PDF). Vol. 14. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. p. 180. That the Ottomans might have had a different view was demonstrated by Sultan Sulaymān the Magnificent, who called himself the shah of Baghdad in 'Iraq (Shah-i Bagdād-i 'Irāq).