History of Baghdad Timeline

(762 CE – Present)

This timeline traces the history of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, from its founding in 762 CE by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur. It covers Baghdad's rise as the center of the Islamic Golden Age and the House of Wisdom, its devastation by the Mongols in 1258, centuries of Ottoman control, its transformation under the British Mandate and the Iraqi monarchy, and its modern history through dictatorship, war, and reconstruction. More Less

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Founding and Golden Age

Massive brickwork of the city wall

762 - 767

According to 11th-century scholar Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in his History of Baghdad, each course of the city wall consisted of 162,000 bricks for the first third of the wall's height.

Baghdad established as Abbasid capital

762

The city of Baghdad was established by the Abbasid dynasty as its capital in the 8th century, marking a new era in Islamic history after their defeat of the Umayyad Caliphate.

Image source: Baghdad

Decline of Seleucia-Ctesiphon

770 - 800

Baghdad replaced Seleucia-Ctesiphon, a Sasanian capital 35 km southeast of Baghdad, which was virtually abandoned by the end of the 8th century.

Image source: Seleucia

Center of the Caliphate during the Islamic Golden Age

800 - 1000

Baghdad was the center of the Caliphate during the Islamic Golden Age of the 9th and 10th centuries, growing to be the largest city worldwide by the beginning of the 10th century.

Image source: Islamic Golden Age

Capital relocated to Samarra (First period)

808 - 819

Baghdad's early meteoric growth slowed due to troubles within the caliphate, including relocations of the capital to Samarra during 808–819.

Image source: Samarra

Al-Jahiz writes in Baghdad

815 - 868

The ninth-century essayist, polymath, and polemicist al-Jahiz was among the celebrated literary figures who flourished in Abbasid Baghdad at the height of its cultural prominence.

Image source: Al-Jahiz

Capital relocated to Samarra (Second period)

836 - 892

The Abbasid capital was again moved to Samarra from 836 to 892, depriving Baghdad of its role as the seat of the caliphate for over half a century before it was restored as the capital.

Baghdad among world's largest cities

900 - 1000

By the 10th century, the city's population was between 300,000 and 500,000, making Baghdad one of the largest cities on Earth and a leading center of commerce and scholarship.

Medieval Turmoil

Iranian Intermezzo decline begins

900 - 1100

It began to decline in the Iranian Intermezzo of the 9th to 11th centuries, a period marked by the fragmentation of Abbasid authority and the rise of Iranian dynasties.

Image source: Iranian Intermezzo

Buwayhid political domination

945 - 1055

Baghdad experienced periods of political domination by the Iranian Buwayhids from 945 to 1055, during which the Abbasid caliphs retained largely nominal authority under military governors.

Image source: Buyid dynasty

Seljuk Turkish domination

1055 - 1135

From 1055 to 1135, the Seljuk Turks dominated Baghdad politically, further diminishing the effective power of the Abbasid caliphs while the city remained an important cultural hub.

Image source: Seljuk Empire

Mongol sack of Baghdad

Feb 10, 1258

On February 10, 1258, after having remained one of the cultural and commercial hubs of the Islamic world, Baghdad was sacked by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan, destroying much of the city and ending Abbasid rule.

Image source: Siege of Baghdad (1258)

Jalayirid control of Baghdad

1400 - 1411

Following Timur's conquest, Baghdad became a provincial capital controlled by the Jalayirids from roughly 1400 to 1411.

Image source: Jalayirid Sultanate

Timur conquers Baghdad

1401

In 1401, Baghdad was again conquered, this time by Timur ('Tamerlane'), whose forces sacked the city once more, deepening its devastation; it subsequently fell under Turkic rule.

Image source: Timur

Qara Qoyunlu rule

1411 - 1469

After the Jalayirids, Baghdad was controlled by the Turkoman Qara Qoyunlu confederation from 1411 to 1469, serving as a provincial capital of their realm.

Image source: Qara Qoyunlu

Baghdad Citadel built under Qara Qoyunlu

1430 - 1439

The Baghdad Citadel was built in the 1430s during the Qara Quyunlu period and would go on to survive until the 20th century.

Aq Qoyunlu rule

1469 - 1508

From 1469 to 1508, Baghdad was governed by the Aq Quyunlu Turkoman confederation, continuing the pattern of Turkic domination over the city.

Image source: Aq Qoyunlu

Ottoman Era

Safavid occupation under Shah Ismail

1508 - 1523

Baghdad was briefly occupied by Safavid Persia in 1508, coming under the rule of Shah Ismail, marking the beginning of Persian control over the city.

Image source: Ismail I

Dhul Fiqar Al Kurdi governs Baghdad

1523 - 1529

Between 1523 and 1529, Baghdad was controlled by Dhul Fiqar Al Kurdi, a brief interlude between periods of Safavid rule.

Safavid rule under Shah Tahmasp

1529 - 1534

Safavid Persia under Shah Tahmasp controlled Baghdad from 1529 until 1534, when Ottoman expansion finally reached the city.

Image source: Tahmasp I

Ottoman conquest by Suleiman the Magnificent

1534

In 1534, Baghdad was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under the leadership of Suleiman the Magnificent, bringing the city into the Ottoman Empire.

Image source: Ottoman Iraq

Constantinople overtakes Baghdad as largest Middle Eastern city

1550 - 1600

For a time, Baghdad had been the largest city in the Middle East before being overtaken by Constantinople in the 16th century.

Image source: Constantinople

Safavid recapture under Shah Abbas

1624 - 1638

Baghdad was captured by Shah Abbas I of the Safavids in 1624, restoring Persian control; the city had also been held by the Safavids under Shah Abbas earlier in the century (1624–1638).

Image source: Abbas the Great

Ottoman reconquest under Murad IV

1638

Baghdad was retaken by the Ottomans under Murad IV's command in 1638, during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1623-1639, returning it permanently to Ottoman hands.

Image source: Murad IV

Revival under the Mamluk dynasty

1750 - 1831

The city saw a relative revival in the latter part of the 18th century under the Mamluk dynasty, which governed Baghdad with considerable autonomy within the Ottoman Empire.

Image source: Mamluk dynasty of Iraq

Modern Iraq

Population reaches 145,000

1900

Around 1900, Baghdad's population stood at an estimated 145,000, a fraction of its medieval size but growing steadily as the modern era approached.

Population reported at 185,000

1907

The Nuttall Encyclopedia reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000, reflecting continued urban growth under late Ottoman rule.

British capture of Baghdad

Mar 11, 1917

Baghdad remained under Ottoman control until World War I, when on March 11, 1917 it was captured by British forces.

British Mandate over Iraq

1920 - 1932

With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Baghdad fell under the British Mandate in 1920, becoming the administrative center of Mandatory Iraq.

Image source: Mandatory Iraq

Baghdad becomes capital of independent Kingdom of Iraq

1932 - 1958

Iraq was given formal independence by the British in 1932, and Baghdad became the capital of the independent Kingdom of Iraq, gaining increased autonomy in 1946.

Population grows to 580,000

1950

The city's population grew from an estimated 145,000 in 1900 to 580,000 in 1950, reflecting rapid twentieth-century urbanization.

14 July Revolution ends the monarchy

Jul 14, 1958

On July 14, 1958, the Iraqi king Faisal II was executed and the monarchy was dissolved after a revolution, forming a republic with Baghdad as its capital.

Image source: 14 July Revolution

Gulf War damages Baghdad infrastructure

1991

In 1991, the first Gulf War caused extensive damage to Baghdad's transportation, power, and sanitary infrastructure, degrading living conditions across the city.

Image source: Gulf War

2003 invasion and bombing of Baghdad

Mar 2003 - Apr 2003

Baghdad was bombed heavily in March and April 2003 in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and fell under US control by April 7–9.

Image source: 2003 invasion of Iraq

Gallup poll shows support for regime removal

Sep 23, 2003

On September 23, 2003, a Gallup poll indicated that about two-thirds of Baghdad residents said that the removal of the Iraqi leader was worth the hardships they encountered and that they expected a better life in five years' time.

Image source: Gallup, Inc.

Curfew lifted but nightlife remains subdued

Dec 2003 - Feb 2004

The curfew imposed immediately after the invasion had been lifted in the winter of 2003, but the city that had once had a vibrant night life was still considered too dangerous after dark for many citizens.

Image source: Iraq War

Follow-up poll shows declining support for invasion

Apr 2004

In April 2004, USA Today reported that a follow-up Gallup poll in Baghdad indicated that 'only 13 percent of the people now say the invasion of Iraq was morally justifiable.'

Intermittent electricity in summer 2004

Jun 2004 - Sep 2004

In the summer of 2004, electricity was only available intermittently in most areas of the city, compounding hardships for residents after the invasion.

Coalition Provisional Authority dissolves

Jun 28, 2004

The Coalition Provisional Authority ceded power to the interim government at the end of June 2004 and dissolved itself, formally transferring sovereignty back to Iraqis.

Image source: Coalition Provisional Authority

US builds wall around Sunni district

Apr 10, 2007

On April 10, 2007, the United States military began construction of a 3-mile-long (4.8 km), 3.5-metre-tall (11 ft) wall around the Sunni district of Baghdad.

ISIS suicide bombings in 2021

Jan 2021 - Jul 2021

In 2021, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant suicide bombers killed 32 people in January and 35 people in July, underscoring ongoing security challenges for the Iraqi capital.

Image source: Islamic State

Key Facts

Baghdad was founded in 762 CE by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur as a purpose-built circular city, designed to be the new capital of the Islamic Empire.
During the 8th and 9th centuries, Baghdad became the world's largest city and the intellectual heart of the Islamic Golden Age, home to the House of Wisdom, where Greek, Persian, and Indian texts were translated.
In 1258 CE, the Mongol army under Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad, destroyed its libraries, and killed the last Abbasid Caliph, ending the city's era as the center of Islamic political power.
Baghdad was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1534 until 1917, when British forces captured the city during World War I, later making it the capital of the Kingdom of Iraq in 1921.
Baghdad became the capital of the Republic of Iraq in 1958 and has since experienced major upheavals, including the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, the 2003 US-led invasion, and ongoing reconstruction efforts.

Source

This History of Baghdad timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

We work hard to keep these timelines accurate, but mistakes do get through. If you spot one, email us at [email protected] and we'll fix it for future visitors.

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