Capture of Baghdad (1534)

For other uses, see Battle of Baghdad.
Battle of Baghdad (1534)
Part of Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55)

Suleiman's conquests in the 1532–55 Ottoman-Safavid war gave him access to the Persian Gulf.
DateDecember 1534[1]
Location
Baghdad Province, Safavid Iran
(now Iraq)
Result Ottoman victory
Territorial
changes		 Ottomans capture Baghdad, lower Mesopotamia, the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris, and part of the Persian Gulf coast.
Belligerents
Safavid dynasty Safavid Empire Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Safavid dynasty Tahmasp I

Suleiman I

Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha

The 1534 capture of Baghdad by Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire from the Safavid dynasty under Tahmasp I was part of the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1532 to 1555, itself part of a series of Ottoman–Persian Wars. The city was taken without resistance, the Safavid government having fled and leaving the city undefended.[2] Baghdad's capture was a significant achievement given its mastery of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their international and regional trade.[3] 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.[4] The Ottomans wintered there until 1535, overseeing the reconstruction of Sunni and Shia religious shrines and agricultural irrigation projects. Suleiman returned to Constantinople, leaving a strong garrison force.[2] 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.[2]

  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. ^ a b c World and Its Peoples: The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. London: Marshall Cavendish. 2006. p. 193. ISBN 0-7614-7571-0.
  3. ^ Masters, Bruce Alan (2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Facts on File. pp. 280, 428. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1.
  4. ^ 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.