Editing Baghdad (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Baghdad}}
{{For timeline}}

=== Foundation ===
[[File:Baghdad_150_to_300_AH.png|thumb|The [[Round City of Baghdad]] between 767 and 912&nbsp;AD|left]]
After the fall of the Umayyads, the victorious Abbasids sought a new capital.<ref name="Corzine-2005" /><ref name="Times Books-2000" /> On 30 July 762, the Caliph Al-Mansur commissioned Baghdad's construction, guided by the [[Barmakids|Iranian Barmakids]]. He believed Baghdad was ideal for ruling the Islamic Empire. Historian [[al-Tabari]] recorded a prophecy from [[Christian monk]]s about a leader named [[Miklas]] building a great city in the area, and Al-Mansur, who was once called Miklas, saw this as a good omen. He expressed deep affection for the site, declaring it would be the home of his dynasty.<ref name="Corzine-2005">{{cite book |last=Corzine |first=Phyllis |title=The Islamic Empire |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2005 |pages=68–69}}</ref><ref name="Times Books-2000">{{Cite book |title=Times History of the World |publisher=[[Times Books]] |year=2000 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bobrick|2012|p=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiet |first=Gastron |url=https://archive.org/details/baghdadmetropoli00wiet |title=Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-8061-0922-0 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

The two designers who were hired by [[Al-Mansur]] to plan the city's design were [[Naubakht]], a Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city would be astrologically auspicious, and [[Mashallah ibn Athari|Mashallah]], a Jew from [[Khorasan province|Khorasan]], [[Iran]].<ref name="ref2">{{cite book |last=Hill |first=Donald R. |title=Islamic Science and Engineering |publisher=Edinburgh Univ. Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-7486-0457-9 |location=Edinburgh |page=10}}</ref><ref>Islam's Contribution to Science By Husain Muzzafar, S. Muzaffar Husain, pg. 31</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Māshāʾallāh ibn Atharī (Sāriya) {{!}} ISMI |url=https://ismi.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/biography/Masha'allah_ibn_Athari_BEA.htm |access-date=14 April 2025 |website=ismi.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de |language=en}}</ref> They determined the city's auspicious founding date under the sign of [[Leo (astrology)|Leo]] the [[Asiatic lion|lion]], symbolizing strength and expansion.{{sfn|Wiet|1971|p=12}}

Baghdad's strategic location along the Tigris and its abundant water supply contributed to its rapid growth. It was divided into three judicial districts: Round City (''Madinat al-Mansur''), al-Karkh (''al-Sharqiyya''), and Askar al-Mahdi. To prevent disturbances, Al-Mansur moved markets to al-Karkh. Over time, Baghdad became a hub for merchants and craftsmen. Officials called "Muhtasib" monitored trade to prevent fraud.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tillier |first=Mathieu |title=Les cadis d'Iraq et l'État Abbasside (132/750-334/945) |date=2009 |publisher=Presses de l'Ifpo |isbn=978-2-35159-028-7 |doi=10.4000/books.ifpo.673}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UB4uSVt3ulUC |title=Historic Cities of the Islamic World |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15388-2 |language=en}}</ref>

Baghdad surpassed [[Ctesiphon]], the former Sassanid capital, located 30&nbsp;km southeast. The ruins of Ctesiphon remain in [[Salman Pak]], where [[Salman the Persian]] is believed to be buried.<ref name="aljayyash1">{{cite web |title=سلمان الفارسي - الصحابة - موسوعة الاسرة المسلمة |url=http://islam.aljayyash.net/encyclopedia/book-9-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191728/http://islam.aljayyash.net/encyclopedia/book-9-28 |archive-date=29 October 2013 |access-date=25 December 2012 |publisher=Islam.aljayyash.net |language=ar}}</ref> Ctesiphon itself had replaced [[Seleucia]], which had earlier succeeded [[Babylon]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080505055518/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/gibbon/edward/g43d/chapter8.html#fn8.37 ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', by Edward Gibbon]</ref><ref name="OP2011">[https://www.academia.edu/1904365/Excavated_and_Unexcavated_Libraries_in_Babylon] Pedersén, Olof, "Excavated and Unexcavated Libraries in Babylon", Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Margarete van Ess and Joachim Marzahn, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 47-68, 2011</ref> According to the traveler [[Ibn Battuta]], Baghdad was one of the largest cities,<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=102}}; {{harvnb|Defrémery|Sanguinetti|1854|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m-UHAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA142 142 Vol. 2]}}</ref> not including the damage it has received. The residents are mostly [[Hanbali]]s.<ref name="KassamBlomfield">{{citation |author1=[[Zayn Kassam]] |title=The Shi'i World |year=2015 |editor=Farhad Daftory |chapter=Remembering Fatima and Zaynab: Gender in Perspective |publisher=[[I.B Tauris]] Press |author2=Bridget Blomfield}}</ref> Most residents were Hanbali Muslims. The city housed [[Abu Hanifa Mosque|Abu Hanifa's grave]], marked by a mosque and cell.<ref name="Elders of Time and Neighbors of Nu'man">{{cite book |last1=al-Aadhamy |first1=Waleed |title=Elders of Time and Neighbors of Nu'man |date=2001 |publisher=al-Raqeem Library |location=Baghdad}}</ref> Its ruler, [[Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan|Abu Said Bahadur Khan]], was a [[Tatars|Tatar]] who had embraced Islam.<ref>Battuta, pg. 75{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}</ref>

Baghdad was designed to symbolize [[Paradise]] as described in the [[Qur'an]].<ref>{{Cite web |title='Soul Of Old Baghdad': City Centre Sees Timid Revival |url=https://www.forbesindia.com/article/lifes/soul-of-old-baghdad-city-centre-sees-timid-revival/94371/1 |access-date=14 April 2025 |website=Forbes India |language=en}}</ref> It took four years (764–768) to build, with over 100,000 workers involved. Al-Mansur recruited engineers and artisans worldwide. Astrologers Naubakht Ahvazi and Mashallah advised starting construction under Leo, associated with fire, productivity, and expansion. Bricks for the city were 18 inches square, and [[Abu Hanifah]] supervised their production. A canal supplied water for drinking and construction. Marble was used extensively, including steps leading to the river.<ref>{{cite book |last=Corzine |first=Phyllis |title=The Islamic Empire |publisher=Thomson Gale |year=2005 |page=69}}</ref>{{sfn|Wiet|1971|p=13}}{{sfn|Wiet|1971|p=12}}<ref name="ox">{{cite web |title=Abbasid Ceramics: Plan of Baghdad |url=http://islamicceramics.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/Abbasid/baghdad.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030325090348/http://islamicceramics.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/Abbasid/baghdad.htm |archive-date=25 March 2003 |access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref><ref>"Yakut: Baghdad under the Abbasids, c. 1000CE"</ref>

The city's layout consisted of two large semicircles, with a 2&nbsp;km-wide circular core known as the "Round City." It had parks, gardens, villas, and promenades. Unlike European cities of the time, Baghdad had a [[Sanitation|sanitation system]], [[fountains]], and [[Public bathing|public baths]], with thousands of [[Hammam|''hammams'']] enhancing hygiene. The mosque and guard headquarters stood at the center, though some central space's function remains unknown. Baghdad's circular design reflected ancient Near Eastern urban planning, similar to the Sasanian city of [[Gaur (city)|Gur]] and older Mesopotamian cities like Mari.<ref name="ox" /><ref>{{harvnb|Bobrick|2012|p=65}}</ref><ref name="Bobrick 2012 67">{{harvnb|Bobrick|2012|p=67}}</ref> While [[Tell Chuera]] and [[Al-Rawda (tell)|Tell al-Rawda]] also provide examples of this type of urban planning existing in Bronze Age [[Syria (region)|Syria]].<ref>Jan-Waalke Meyer, Tell Chuera: Vorberichte zu den Grabungskampagnen 1998 bis 2005, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden,  2010 ,{{ISBN|978-3-447-06182-7}}</ref><ref>Helms, Tobias, and Philippe Quenet, "The Fortifiction of Circular Cities: The Examples of Tell Chuēra and Tell al-Rawda", Circular Cities of Early Bronze Age Syria, pp. 77-99, 2020</ref> This style of urban planning contrasted with Ancient [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] urban planning, in which cities are designed as squares or rectangles with streets intersecting each other at right angles.

Baghdad was lively, with attractions like cabarets, chess halls, live plays, concerts, and acrobatics.<ref name="iranica-baghdad-iranian">{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=H. |title=BAGHDAD i. Before the Mongol Invasion – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baghdad-iranian-connection-1-pr-Mongol |access-date=24 January 2018 |website=Iranicaonline.org |language=en}}</ref> Storytelling flourished, with professional storytellers (''al-Qaskhun'') captivating crowds, inspiring the tales of ''Arabian Nights''.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title=Arabian Nights |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |editor=Kate Fleet |edition=3rd |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_0021 |quote=Arabian Nights, the work known in Arabic as ''Alf layla wa-layla'' |author=Marzolph, Ulrich |editor2=Gudrun Krämer |editor3=Denis Matringe |editor4=John Nawas |editor5=Everett Rowson}}</ref> The city had four walls named after major destinations—[[Kufa]], [[Basra]], [[Khurasan]], and [[Syria]]; [[Gates of Baghdad|their gates]] pointed in on these destinations.<ref>See:
* {{cite book |last=Hattstein |first=Markus |title=Islam Art and Architecture |author2=Peter Delius |publisher=Könemann |year=2000 |isbn=3-8290-2558-0 |pages=96}}
* [[Encyclopædia Iranica]], [[Columbia University]], p.413.</ref> The gates were 2.4&nbsp;km apart, with massive iron doors requiring several men to operate.<ref name="Na">[http://www.narjesmag.com/news.php?action=view&id=2230 الباب الوسطاني حكاية بغداد المدوّرة وأقدم مدفع عراقي] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723013948/http://www.narjesmag.com/news.php?action=view&id=2230 |date=23 July 2022 }}. ''Narjes Magazine''. Retrieved 3 January 2018.</ref> The walls, up to 44 meters thick and 30 meters high, were reinforced with a second wall, towers, and a moat for added defense.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Marozzi |first=Justin |date=16 March 2016 |title=Story of cities #3: the birth of Baghdad was a landmark for world civilisation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/16/story-cities-day-3-baghdad-iraq-world-civilisation |access-date=14 April 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> On street corners, storytellers engaged crowds with tales such as those later told in Arabian Nights.<ref name="Bobrick 2012 67" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=بالصور.. أبو تحسين آخر حكواتي في بغداد |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2019/5/16/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%82-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d8%b5%d8%ae%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%ad%d9%83%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%8a-%d9%85%d9%82%d9%87%d9%89 |access-date=29 April 2024 |website=الجزيرة نت |language=ar}}</ref> The Golden Gate Palace, home of the caliph, stood at Baghdad's center with a grand 48-meter green dome. Only the caliph could approach its esplanade on horseback. Nearby were officer residences and a guardhouse. After Caliph [[Al-Amin]]'s death in 813, the palace ceased to be the caliph's residence.

===Center of learning (8th–9th centuries)===
{{Further|Islamic Golden Age}}
[[File:المدرسة المستنصرية في بغداد (3).jpg|thumb|left|Courtyard of [[Mustansiriya Madrasah|Mustansiriya]] [[madrasa]], established in 1227, was one of the oldest universities in the world. Its building survived the [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Mongol invasion]] of 1258. The modern [[Al-Mustansiriya University|Mustansiriyah University]] was established in 1963.]]

Within a generation of its founding, Baghdad became a hub of [[learning]] and [[commerce]]. The city flourished into an unrivaled intellectual center of [[science]], [[medicine]], [[philosophy]], and [[education]], especially with the [[Abbasid translation movement]] began under the second caliph [[Al-Mansur]] and thrived under the seventh caliph [[Al-Ma'mun]].<ref name="Meri"/> ''[[House of Wisdom|Baytul-Hikmah]]'' or the "House of Wisdom" was among the most well known academies,<ref name="Kh">[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/baghdad-centre-of-scientific-world When Baghdad was centre of the scientific world] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214120137/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/baghdad-centre-of-scientific-world |date=14 December 2019 }}. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 16 February 2019.</ref> and had the largest selection of books in the world by the middle of the 9th century.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Notable scholars based in Baghdad during this time include translator [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]], mathematician [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi|al-Khwarizmi]], and philosopher [[Al-Kindi]].<ref name="Kh"/>

Although Arabic was used as the international language of science, the scholarship involved not only Arabs, but also [[Persians]], [[Syriac Christianity|Syriacs]],<ref>{{Cite book |quote=The population of Hira comprised its townspeople, the 'Ibad "devotees", who were Nestorian Christians using Syriac as their liturgical and cultural language, though Arabic was probably the language of daily intercourse. |date=1983 |editor-last=Yarshater |editor-first=E. |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |doi=10.1017/chol9780521200929 |isbn=978-1-139-05494-2}}</ref> [[Church of the East|Nestorians]], [[Jews]], [[Ibad|Arab Christians]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Early Islam – The hidden origins of Islam: new research into its early history |last=Ohlig |first=Karl-Heinz |publisher=Prometheus Books |quote=The 'Ibad are tribes made up of different Arabian families that became connected with Christianity in al-Hira. |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-61614-825-6 |page=32 |oclc=914334282}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Beeston |first1=A.F.L. |last2=Shahîd |first2=Irfan |title=al-ḤĪRA |year=2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_2891}}</ref> and people from other ethnic and religious groups native to the region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meri |first=Josef |date=12 January 2018 |title=Routledge Revivals: Medieval Islamic Civilization (2006) |doi=10.4324/9781315162416 |isbn=978-1-315-16241-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 1933 |title=Sir Henry Lyons, F.R.S |journal=Nature |volume=132 |issue=3323 |page=55 |doi=10.1038/132055c0 |issn=0028-0836 |bibcode=1933Natur.132S..55. |s2cid=47244046|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Medieval Islamic medicine |last=Pormann |first=Peter E. |date=2007 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |others=[[Savage-Smith, Emilie]]. |isbn=978-1-58901-160-1 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=71581787}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://humanitieswest.net/baghdad-in-its-golden-age-762-1300/ |title=Baghdad in Its Golden Age (762–1300) {{!}} 25–26 April 2014|last=HumWest|date=14 March 2015|website=Humanities West |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-date=7 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207020302/http://humanitieswest.net/baghdad-in-its-golden-age-762-1300/ |url-status=live}}</ref> These are considered among the fundamental elements that contributed to the flourishing of scholarship in the Medieval Islamic world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Falagas |first1=Matthew E. |last2=Zarkadoulia |first2=Effie A. |last3=Samonis |first3=George |date=1 August 2006 |title=Arab science in the golden age (750–1258 C.E.) and today |journal=The FASEB Journal |volume=20 |issue=10 |pages=1581–1586 |doi=10.1096/fj.06-0803ufm |doi-access=free |pmid=16873881 |s2cid=40960150 |issn=0892-6638 |url=http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full.pdf |access-date=14 September 2022 |archive-date=21 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821205855/http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Saliba |first=George |date=2007 |title=Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance |doi=10.7551/mitpress/3981.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-262-28288-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The House of Wisdom : How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization |first=Jonathan |last=Lyons |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-60819-190-1 |oclc=1021808136}}</ref> Baghdad was also a significant center of Islamic religious learning, with [[Al-Jahiz]] contributing to the formation of [[Muʿtazila|Mu'tazili]] theology, as well as [[Al-Tabari]] culminating in the scholarship on the [[Tafsir|Quranic exegesis]].<ref name="Meri">Gordon, M.S. (2006). Baghdad. In Meri, J.W. ed. ''Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia''. New York: Routledge.</ref> Baghdad is likely to have been the [[Historical urban community sizes|largest city in the world]] from shortly after its foundation until the 930s, when it tied with [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |title=Largest Cities Through History |publisher=Geography.about.com |date=2 November 2009 |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |archive-date=27 May 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref> Several estimates suggest that the city contained over a million inhabitants at its peak.<ref>Matt T. Rosenberg, [http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm ''Largest Cities Through History''.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |date=27 May 2005 }}</ref> Many of the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'' tales, widely known as the ''Arabian Nights'', are set in Baghdad during this period. It would surpass even Constantinople in prosperity and size.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bobrick |first1=Benson |title=The Caliph's Splendor: Islam and the West in the Golden Age of Baghdad |date=2012 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-6762-2 |page=65}}</ref>
[[File:Khan murjan.jpg|thumb|[[Khan Murjan]], built in the 14th century as a [[caravanserai]]]]
Among the notable features of Baghdad during this period were its exceptional libraries. Many of the Abbasid caliphs were patrons of learning and enjoyed collecting both ancient and contemporary literature. Although some of the princes of the previous Umayyad dynasty had begun to gather and translate Greek scientific literature, the Abbasids were the first to foster Greek learning on a large scale. Many of these libraries were private collections intended only for the use of the owners and their immediate friends, but the libraries of the caliphs and other officials soon took on a public or a semi-public character.<ref name=mackensen>Mackensen, Ruth Stellhorn . (1932). Four Great Libraries of Medieval Baghdad. ''The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy'', Vol. 2, No. 3 (July 1932), pp. 279-299. University of Chicago Press.</ref>

Four great libraries were established in Baghdad during this period. The earliest was that of the famous [[Al-Ma'mun]], who was caliph from 813 to 833. Another was established by [[Sabur ibn Ardashir]] in 991 or 993 for the literary men and scholars who frequented his academy.<ref name="mackensen" /> This second library was plundered and burned by the Seljuks only seventy years after it was established. This was a good example of the sort of library built up out of the needs and interests of a literary society.<ref name="mackensen" /> The last two were examples of ''madrasa'' or theological college libraries. The [[Nezamiyeh]] was founded by the Persian [[Nizam al-Mulk]], who was vizier of two early Seljuk sultans.<ref name="mackensen" /> It continued to operate even after the coming of the Mongols in 1258. The [[Mustansiriya Madrasah|Mustansiriyah ''madrasa'']], which owned an exceedingly rich library, was founded by [[Al-Mustansir (Baghdad)|Al-Mustansir]], the second last Abbasid caliph, who died in 1242.<ref name="mackensen" /> This would prove to be the last great library built by the caliphs of Baghdad.

===Stagnation and invasions (10th–16th centuries)===
[[File:AlKhulafa Mosque in Baghdad 46.jpg|thumb|233x233px|[[Al-Khulafa Mosque|Al-Khulafa mosque]] retains an Abbasid-era minaret]]
[[File:Zubaida tomb.JPG|thumb|[[Zumurrud Khatun Mosque|Zumurrud Khatun Tomb]] in Baghdad (built in 1202&nbsp;AD)|left]]
By the 10th century, the city's population was between 1.2&nbsp;million<ref name=Modelski>[[George Modelski]], ''World Cities: –3000 to 2000'', Washington, D.C.: FAROS 2000, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-9676230-1-6}}. See also [http://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/ Evolutionary World Politics Homepage] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520065457/http://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/ |date=20 May 2007}}</ref> and 2&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite book |title=International dictionary of historic places, Volume 4: Middle East and Africa |author1=Trudy Ring |author2=Robert M. Salkin |author3=K. A. Berney |author4=Paul E. Schellinger |year=1996 |publisher=[[Taylor and Francis]] |page=116}}</ref> Baghdad's early meteoric growth eventually slowed due to troubles within the [[Caliphate]], including relocations of the capital to [[Abbasid Samarra|Samarra]] (during 808–819 and 836–892), the loss of the western and easternmost provinces, and periods of political domination by the [[Iran]]ian [[Buwayhid]]s (945–1055) and [[Seljuk Turks]] (1055–1135). The [[Seljuks]] were a clan of the [[Oghuz Turks]] from Central Asia that converted to the [[Sunni]] branch of Islam. In 1040, they destroyed the [[Ghaznavids]], taking over their land and in 1055, [[Tughril Beg]], the leader of the Seljuks, took over Baghdad. The Seljuks expelled the [[Buyid dynasty]] of Shiites that had ruled for some time and took over power and control of Baghdad. They ruled as [[Sultans]] in the name of the Abbasid caliphs (they saw themselves as being part of the Abbasid regime). Tughril Beg saw himself as the protector of the Abbasid Caliphs.<ref>''Atlas of the Medieval World'' pg. 170</ref>

Baghdad was captured in [[Capture of Baghdad (1394)|1394]], [[Capture of Baghdad (1534)|1534]], [[Capture of Baghdad (1624)|1623]] and [[Capture of Baghdad (1638)|1638]]. The city has been sieged in [[Siege of Baghdad (812–813)|812]], [[Abbasid civil war (865–866)|865]], [[Battle of Baghdad (946)|946]], [[Siege of Baghdad (1157)|1157]], [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|1258]] and in 1393 and 1401, by [[Tamerlane]]. In 1058, Baghdad was captured by the [[Fatimids]] under the Turkish general Abu'l-Ḥārith Arslān al-Basasiri, an adherent of the [[Ismailis]] along with the 'Uqaylid Quraysh.<ref>Virani, Shafique N. ''The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation'', (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 6.</ref> Not long before the arrival of the Saljuqs in Baghdad, al-Basasiri petitioned to the Fatimid Imam-Caliph [[Al-Mustansir Billah|al-Mustansir]] to support him in conquering Baghdad on the Ismaili Imam's behalf. It has recently come to light that the famed Fatimid ''[[da'i]]'', al-Mu'ayyad al-Shirazi, had a direct role in supporting al-Basasiri and helped the general to succeed in taking [[Mosul|Mawṣil]], [[Wasit, Iraq|Wāsit]] and [[Kufa]]. Soon after,<ref name="Daftary, Farhad 1990">Daftary, Farhad. ''The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 205-206.</ref> by December 1058, a Shi'i ''[[adhān]]'' (call to prayer) was implemented in Baghdad and a ''[[khutbah]]'' (sermon) was delivered in the name of the Fatimid Imam-Caliph.<ref name="Daftary, Farhad 1990" /> Despite his Shi'i inclinations, Al-Basasiri received support from Sunnis and Shi'is alike, for whom opposition to the Saljuq power was a common factor.<ref>Daftary, Farhad. ''The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 206.</ref>

[[File:Fall Of Baghdad (Diez Albums).jpg|thumb|left|[[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Conquest of Baghdad]] by the Mongols in 1258 CE|220x220px]]
On 10 February 1258, Baghdad was captured by the [[Mongols]] led by [[Hulegu]], a grandson of [[Genghis Khan]] (''Chingiz Khan''), during the [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|siege of Baghdad]].<ref>[https://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/CAWC.htm Central Asian world cities] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118121401/https://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/CAWC.htm |date=18 January 2012}}, George Modelski</ref> Many quarters were ruined by fire, siege, or looting. The Mongols massacred most of the city's inhabitants, including the caliph [[Al-Musta'sim]], and destroyed large sections of the city. The [[canal]]s and [[Levee|dykes]] forming the city's [[irrigation]] system were also destroyed. During this time, in Baghdad, Christians and Shia were tolerated, while Sunnis were treated as enemies.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C.E. |editor2-last=Donzel |editor2-first=E. van |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W.P. |editor4-last=Pellat |editor4-first=Ch. |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume VII (Mif-Naz) |date=1998 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09419-2 |page=1032|title-link=Encyclopaedia of Islam}}</ref> The sack of Baghdad put an end to the Abbasid Caliphate.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/baghdad-sacked-mongols |title=Baghdad Sacked by the Mongols {{!}} History Today|website=historytoday.com |access-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910014525/https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/baghdad-sacked-mongols |archive-date=10 September 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> It has been argued that this marked an end to the Islamic Golden Age and served a blow from which Islamic civilization never fully recovered.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qwuhK3BBH8C&pg=PA215 |title=Challenges of the Muslim World: Present, Future and Past |last1=Cooper |first1=William W. |last2=Yue |first2=Piyu |date=15 February 2008 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |isbn=978-0-444-53243-5 |access-date=9 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909223531/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3qwuhK3BBH8C&pg=PA215 |archive-date=9 September 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Timur reconstruction03.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Timur]] sacked the city and spared almost no one]]
At this point, Baghdad was ruled by the [[Ilkhanate]], a breakaway state of the Mongol Empire, ruling from Iran. In August 1393, Baghdad was occupied by the Central Asian Turkic conqueror [[Timur]] ("Tamerlane"),<ref>{{Citation |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, US |editor1=Michael R.T. Dumper |editor2=Bruce E. Stanley |chapter=Baghdad |title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa |date=2008}}</ref> by marching there in only eight days from [[Shiraz]]. Sultan [[Ahmad Jalayir]] fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan [[Barquq]] protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the [[Sarbadar]] prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he [[Capture of Baghdad (1394)|was driven out]] when [[Ahmad Jalayir]] returned.

In 1401, Baghdad was again sacked, by Timur, a [[Central Asia]]n Turko-Mongol figure.<ref>Ian Frazier, [https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/25/050425fa_fact4?currentPage=5 Annals of history: Invaders: Destroying Baghdad] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607053406/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/04/25/050425fa_fact4?currentPage=5 |date=7 June 2011 }}, ''[[The New Yorker]]'' 25 April 2005. p.5</ref> When his forces took Baghdad, he spared almost no one, and ordered that each of his soldiers bring back two severed human heads.<ref>[http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav042806.shtml New Book Looks at Old-Style Central Asian Despotism] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118203132/http://eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav042806.shtml |date=18 January 2009 }}, EurasiaNet Civil Society, Elizabeth Kiem, 28 April 2006</ref> Baghdad became a provincial capital controlled by the Mongol [[Jalayirid]] (1400–1411), Turkic [[Kara Koyunlu]] (1411–1469), Turkic [[White Sheep Turkmen|Ak Koyunlu]] (1469–1508), and the Iranian [[Safavid]] (1508–1534) dynasties.

===Ottoman and Mamluks (16th–19th centuries)===
{{see also|Baghdad Eyalet|Baghdad Vilayet|History of Baghdad (1831–1917)}}
The Safavids took control of the city in 1509 under the leadership of Shah Ismail I. It remained under Safavid rule until the Ottomans seized it in 1535, but the Safavids regained control in 1624. A massacre occurred when the Shah's army entered the city. It remained under Safavid rule until 1639 when Sultan Murad IV recaptured it in 1638.

In 1534, Baghdad was [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55)|captured]] by the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Ottoman Iraq: Geography, People and History |date=2011 |work=The Ottoman Origins of Modern Iraq |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9780755610983.ch-001 |access-date=2025-05-29 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-84885-425-3}}</ref> Under the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], Baghdad continued into a [[History of Baghdad (1831–1917)|period of decline]], partially as a result of the enmity between its rulers and [[Iran]]ian [[Safavids]], which did not accept the [[Sunni]] control of the city. [[Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–1639)|Between 1623 and 1638]], it returned to Iranian rule before falling back into Ottoman hands.<ref>{{Citation |last=Güngörürler |first=Selim |title=Settings and Trends of the Ottoman–Safavid Detente |date=2024-03-01 |work=The Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran, 1639-1683 |pages=15–35 |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781399510103.003.0002 |access-date=2025-05-29 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-3995-1010-3}}</ref> Baghdad has suffered severely from visitations of the [[plague (disease)|plague]] and [[cholera]],<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=F2TGkO7G43oC&pg=PA99 The Fertile Crescent, 1800-1914: a documentary economic history] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504154243/https://books.google.com/books?id=F2TGkO7G43oC&pg=PA99 |date=4 May 2016 }}''". Charles Philip Issawi (1988). [[Oxford University Press US]]. p.99. {{ISBN|978-0-19-504951-0}}</ref> and sometimes two-thirds of its population has been wiped out.<ref>Suraiya Faroqhi, Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert (1997). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513231157/https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 |date=13 May 2016 }}''". [[Cambridge University Press]]. p.651. {{ISBN|978-0-521-57455-6}}</ref> The city became part of an [[Baghdad Eyalet|eyalet]] and then a [[Baghdad vilayet|vilayet]].<ref>{{Citation |title=vilayet, n. |date=2023-03-02 |work=Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oed/4317922580 |access-date=2025-05-29 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

For a time, Baghdad had been the largest city in the Middle East.<ref name="Cetinsaya-1890" /> The city saw relative revival in the latter part of the 18th century, under [[Mamluk dynasty of Iraq|Mamluk]] government.<ref name="Cetinsaya-1890" /> Direct Ottoman rule was reimposed by [[Ali Rıza Pasha (governor of Baghdad)|Ali Rıza Pasha]] in 1831.<ref name="Cetinsaya-1890" /> From 1851 to 1852 and from 1861 to 1867, Baghdad was governed, under the Ottoman Empire by [[Mehmed Namık Pasha]].<ref name="Cetinsaya-1890">Cetinsaya, Gokhan. ''Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890–1908''. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.</ref> The [[Nuttall Encyclopedia]] reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000.<ref name="Cetinsaya-1890" />

The city's municipality was established in 1868, and Ibrahim al-Daftari was appointed its first mayor.<ref name="neelwafurat-2025">{{Cite web |title=Nwf.com: الإدارة العثمانية في ولاية بغداد: جميل موسى النجا: كتب |url=https://www.neelwafurat.com/itempage.aspx?id=lbb146642-108021&search=books |access-date=15 February 2025 |website=www.neelwafurat.com}}</ref> The year 1869 is of great importance in the history of Baghdad in the Ottoman era, as it was the beginning of what can be considered a distinct era of the Ottoman eras, the foundations of which were laid by Governor [[Midhat Pasha]], who implemented a number of reform systems and laws that the state legislated during the era of reforms and reconstruction, which was called the Tanzimat era.<ref name="neelwafurat-2025" /> The overall importance of Baghdad to the Ottomans was that they made the headquarters of the Sixth Corps of the Ottoman Army in the city.<ref name="neelwafurat-2025" />

By the 19th century, Baghdad emerged as a leading center for Jewish learning.<ref name="issuu-1846">{{Cite news |title=EIGHT YEARSI NASIA AND AFRICAFROM 1846 TO 1855. |url=https://issuu.com/dsegal2k/docs/ben2/260?ff=true |access-date=23 August 2018 |work=issuu}}</ref> The city had Jewish population of over 6,000 and had numerous yeshivas.<ref name="issuu-1846" /> The Jewish population has grown so rapidly that by 1884, there were 30,000 Jews in Baghdad and by 1900, around 50,000, comprising over a quarter of the city's total population.<ref name="issuu-1846" /> Large-scale Jewish immigration from Kurdistan to Baghdad continued throughout this period.<ref name="issuu-1846" /> By the mid-19th century, the religious infrastructure of Baghdad grew to include a large yeshiva which trained up to sixty rabbis at time.<ref name="issuu-1846" /> Religious scholarship flourished in Baghdad, which produced great rabbis, such as Joseph Hayyim ben Eliahu Mazal-Tov, known as the [[Ben Ish Chai]] (1834–1909) or Rabbi [[Abdallah Somekh]] (1813–1889). During this time, Baghdadi Jews established a successful trade diaspora in China, India and Singapore.

<gallery widths="200" heights="160" mode="packed">
File:Baghdad Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (1609).png|[[Baghdad Eyalet]] in 1609
File:Baghdad Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (1900).png|[[Baghdad Vilayet]] in 1900
File:Market-Place of Bagdad.jpeg|Souk in Baghdad, 1876
</gallery>

===Modern era (1917–2000)===
{{see also|Mandate for Mesopotamia|Kingdom of Iraq|Mandatory Iraq|Iraqi Republic (1958-1968)|Ba'athist Iraq}}
[[File:Baghdad LOC 13186.jpg|left|thumb|[[Al-Rashid Street]] in 1931]]
Baghdad and southern Iraq remained under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule until 1917, when they were captured by the [[British Empire|British]] during [[World War I]].<ref name="Jackson-2016" /> A revolt erupted against the British rule in Iraq.<ref name="BBC News-2014">{{Cite news |date=6 October 2014 |title=The 1920s British air bombing campaign in Iraq |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29441383 |access-date=23 March 2025 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> The revolt was retaliated in air bombing campaigns by the British forces in 1920 and thousands of residents were killed.<ref name="BBC News-2014" /> In 1920, Baghdad became the capital of the [[Mandatory Iraq]] under the [[British Mandate of Mesopotamia|Mandate of Mesopotamia]], with several architectural and planning projects commissioned to reinforce this administration.<ref name="Jackson-2016">{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Iain |date=2 April 2016 |title=The architecture of the British Mandate in Iraq: nation-building and state creation |journal=The Journal of Architecture |language=en |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=375–417 |doi=10.1080/13602365.2016.1179662 |issn=1360-2365 |doi-access=free}}</ref> After receiving independence in 1932, the city became capital of the new [[Kingdom of Iraq]].<ref name="Jackson-2016" /> During this period, the substantial Jewish community (probably exceeding 100,000 people) comprised between a quarter and a third of the city's population.<ref name="GhareebDougherty2004">{{cite book |author1=Edmund A. Ghareeb |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ghar |title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq |author2=Beth Dougherty |date=18 March 2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-6568-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000ghar/page/125 125] |quote=Jews represented 2.5 percent of 'Iraq's population and 25 percent of Baghdad's. |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Jewish Quarterly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w75tAAAAMAAJ |volume=42 |year=1995 |publisher=Jewish Literary Trust |page=11 |access-date=2 May 2021 |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502134253/https://books.google.com/books?id=w75tAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 1 April 1941, members of the "[[Golden Square (Iraq)|Golden Square]]" and [[Rashid Ali al-Gaylani]] staged [[1941 Iraqi coup d'état|a coup in Baghdad]] and installed a pro-[[Nazi Germany|German]] and pro-[[Kingdom of Italy|Italian]] government to replace the pro-British government of [[Regent]] [[Abd al-Ilah]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=On this day 31st May {{!}} Royal Signals Museum |url=https://www.royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk/on-this-day-31st-may/ |access-date=3 October 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="Warfare History Network-2024">{{Cite web |title=The Nazi March on Baghdad |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/wwii-the-nazi-march-on-baghdad/ |access-date=3 October 2024 |website=Warfare History Network |language=en-US}}</ref> On 31 May, after the resulting [[Anglo-Iraqi War]], Gaylani and his government had fled, and the mayor of Baghdad surrendered to the British and Commonwealth forces.<ref name="Warfare History Network-2024" /> On 1–2 June, during the ensuing [[power vacuum]], Jewish residents were attacked following rumors they had aided the British.<ref name="Tsimhoni-2001" /> In what became known as the [[Farhud]], over 180 Jews were killed, 1,000 injured and hundreds of Jewish properties were ransacked.<ref name="Tsimhoni-2001">{{cite book |last=Tsimhoni |first=D. |year=2001 |chapter=The Pogrom (Farhud) against the Jews of Baghdad in 1941 |editor-last=Roth |editor-first=J. K. |editor2-last=Maxwell |editor2-first=E. |editor3-last=Levy |editor3-first=M. |editor4-last=Whitworth |editor4-first=W. |title=Remembering for the Future |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-80486-5}}</ref><ref name="gilbert">[[Martin Gilbert]]. [https://archive.org/details/atlasofjewishhis00mart <!-- quote="Jewish property destroyed June 1941 During riots following collapse of pro- Nazi Government of Rashid Ali, 175 Jews killed and 1000 injured. Much looting of Jewish property. 900 Jewish houses destroyed. Many Jews tortured July 1946". --> The atlas of Jewish history], William Morrow and Company, 1993. pg. 114. {{ISBN|978-0-688-12264-5}}.</ref> Between 300 and 400 non-Jewish rioters were killed in the attempt to quell the violence.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kaplan |first=Robert D |date=April 2014 |title=In Defence of Empire |language=en-US |pages=13–15 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |type=Print}}</ref> 

Between 1950 and 1951, Jews were targeted in series of bombings.<ref name="Middle East Eye-1950">{{Cite web |title=Avi Shlaim says he has 'proof of Zionist involvement' in 1950s attack on Iraqi Jews |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/avi-shlaim-proof-israel-zionist-involvement-iraq-jews-attacks |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}</ref> According to [[Avi Shlaim]], [[Israel and state-sponsored terrorism|Israel was behind bombings]], which is also believed by the majority of the Iraqis.<ref name="Middle East Eye-1950" />
[[File:14 July Revolution.jpg|left|thumb|Revolutionary soldiers in a street of Baghdad, 1958]]
The city's population grew from an estimated 145,000 in 1900 to 580,000 in 1950.<ref name="ReferenceA">This section depends on Levine, 397-402.</ref> A development plan came during the reign of [[Faisal II|King Faisal II]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> On 14 July 1958, members of the [[Iraqi Army]], under [[Abdul-Karim Qasim]], [[14 July Revolution|staged a coup to topple the Kingdom of Iraq]].<ref name="bataween-2022">{{Cite web |last=bataween |date=3 August 2022 |title=Memories of the 1958 Iraqi revolution – Point of No Return |url=https://www.jewishrefugees.org.uk/2022/08/memories-of-the-1958-iraqi-revolution.html |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=jewishrefugees.org.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> King Faisal, former Prime Minister [[Nuri al-Said]], former Regent Prince [[Abd al-Ilah]], members of the royal family, and others were brutally killed during the coup.<ref name="bataween-2022" /> Many of the victim's bodies were then dragged through the streets of Baghdad.<ref name="bataween-2022" /> 

Qasim adopted new principles to develop the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Global Socialist Planning of Baghdad |url=https://jacobin.com/2023/10/socialist-bloc-baghdad-city-planning-poland-miastoprojekt |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}}</ref> New projects such as [[Sadr City|Al–Thawra]] and [[New Baghdad]] (''Baghdad al-Jadeeda'') came under his rule.<ref>{{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://makingmaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/bahgdad052.png |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718094851/http://makingmaps.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/bahgdad052.png |archive-date=18 July 2011 |access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref> In 1960, Baghdad hosted an international conference with dignitaries from [[Iran]], [[Venezuela]] and [[Saudi Arabia]], that founded [[OPEC|Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries]] (OPEC).<ref>{{Cite web |title=OPEC : OPEC to celebrate its 60th Anniversary in Baghdad on 16 June |url=https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/press_room/7164.htm |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=opec.org}}</ref>
[[File:Fonds André Raymond (1925-2011) - Irak - Bagdad - Le Tigre (MédiHAL 4971868).jpg|thumb|Baghdad in 1982]]
During the 1970s, Baghdad experienced relative prosperity and growth because of a sharp increase in the [[price of petroleum]], Iraq's main export.<ref name="Stanek-2020" /> New [[infrastructure]] including modern sewerage, water, highway facilities, and airport were built during this period.<ref name="Stanek-2020" /> Master plans of the city in 1967 and 1973 were delivered by the Polish planning office Miastoprojekt-Kraków, mediated by Polservice.<ref name="Stanek-2020">Stanek, Łukasz (2020). ''Architecture in global socialism : Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War''. Princeton. {{ISBN|978-0-691-19455-4}}.</ref> [[Saddam Hussein]] oversaw the beautification of the city and sponsored architectural and artwork events, that attracted world's popular architects.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ouroussoff |first=Nicolai |date=15 December 2003 |title=Patron of fear |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-et-ouroussoff15dec15-story.html |access-date=29 April 2025 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ouroussoff |first=Nicolai |date=15 December 2003 |title=Patron of fear |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-et-ouroussoff15dec15-story.html |access-date=28 February 2025 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Numerous museums, offices, palaces, convention centers and hotels such as [[Ishtar Hotel|Sheraton]] and [[Babylon Rotana Baghdad Hotel|Oberoi]] were built.<ref name="Stanek-2020" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=New Silk Roads - Azadeh Mashayekhi et al. - Consuming Baghdad |url=https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/new-silk-roads/624665/consuming-baghdad/ |access-date=28 February 2025 |website=e-flux |language=en}}</ref> Baghdad was called as "the [[Nuremberg]] of 1930s" and "[[Las Vegas]] of the 1980s".<ref name="Iddon">{{cite web |last1=Iddon |first1=Paul |title=Baghdad's four decades of conflict and strife |url=https://www.newarab.com/analysis/baghdads-four-decades-conflict-and-strife |work=The New Arab}}</ref>

However, the [[Iran–Iraq War]] of the 1980s was a difficult time for the city, as money was diverted to the [[Iraqi Army|army]] and thousands of residents were killed.<ref name="wilsoncenter-2024">{{Cite web |title=The Iran-Iraq War: The View from Baghdad {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-iran-iraq-war-the-view-baghdad |access-date=3 October 2024 |website=wilsoncenter.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Iran]] launched a number of missile attacks against Baghdad in retaliation for the Iraqi Army's continuous bombardments of [[Tehran]]'s residential districts.<ref name="wilsoncenter-2024" /> The city was attacked numerous times between 1986 and 1988 by the Iranian forces.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to the New York |date=12 September 1986 |title=Baghdad Area Struck By an Iranian Missile |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/12/world/baghdad-area-struck-by-an-iranian-missile.html |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dickey |first=Christopher |date=29 May 1985 |title=Iranian Missile Hits Baghdad |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/05/29/iranian-missile-hits-baghdad/658c708f-bae3-49fe-be6c-8e6cf5f15c5c/ |access-date=12 March 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=29 February 1988 |title=Many Killed, Wounded as 2 Iran Missiles Hit Baghdad |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-29-mn-285-story.html |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Power plants and oil refineries in Baghdad were damaged.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morrison |first=Kenneth |title=The Al Rasheed Hotel: 40 years of an iconic Baghdad landmark |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/11/10/the-al-rasheed-hotel-40-years-of-an-iconic-baghdad-landmark |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 November 2015 |title=The Iran–Iraq War (Baghdad, October 1980) |url=https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/the_iran_iraq_war_baghdad_october_1980-en-9ae6866a-6a21-427a-a180-46eae07e207e.html |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=CVCE.EU by UNI.LU |language=en}}</ref> In 1981, a nuclear reactor near Baghdad was destroyed in an airstrike by Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peace mission to Baghdad, May 1988 |url=http://www.hanskoechler.com/HK-peace_mission-1988.htm |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=www.hanskoechler.com}}</ref> Iran also fired numerous rockets towards the city, landing dangerously close to [[Al-Rashid Street]] and the Jewish Quarter. In 1983, a [[Non-Aligned Movement|Non-Alignment Movement]] summit was proposed to be held in Baghdad.<ref name="UPI-2025">{{Cite web |title=Iraq concedes non-aligned summit - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/08/11/Iraq-concedes-non-aligned-summit/4531397886400/ |access-date=23 March 2025 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> However, due to security concerns, the summit was postponed to be held in [[New Delhi]].<ref name="UPI-2025" />

During the [[Gulf War]], the multinational forces preceded with aerial bombings and airstrikes in Baghdad, described as "fireworks".<ref>{{Cite web |title=ABC Evening News for 1991-01-17 {{!}} Vanderbilt Television News Archive |url=https://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/programs/131211 |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=tvnews.vanderbilt.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shales |first=Tom |date=18 January 1991 |title=THE GRIM NEWS FROM BEHIND A MASK |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/01/18/the-grim-news-from-behind-a-mask/e5f8eb20-8ffe-4a00-81c6-aa338a07aaca/ |access-date=12 March 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref name="Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 19892">{{cite book |author=Thabit Abdullah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeMehH-JadMC&pg=PA82 |title=Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 1989 |publisher=Zed Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84277-787-9 |page=82}}</ref> Air defenses, bridges, communications systems, chemical weapons facilities, tanks and artillery were damaged.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=17 January 2018 |title=Bombing of Iraq begins, Jan. 17, 1991 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/17/shock-and-awe-bombing-of-iraq-begins-jan-17-1991-340599 |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=30 Years After the Gulf War, Emad Levy Recounts Iraqi-Jewish Perspective |url=https://en.davar1.co.il/276670/ |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=Davar |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Clarity |first=James F. |date=17 January 1991 |title=WAR IN THE GULF: BAGHDAD; From TV Reporters in Iraq, News an Attack Has Begun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/17/world/war-in-the-gulf-baghdad-from-tv-reporters-in-iraq-news-an-attack-has-begun.html |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Oil refinery and airport were targeted.<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 January 1991 |title=1991: 'Mother of all Battles' begins |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/17/newsid_2530000/2530375.stm |access-date=12 March 2025 |language=en-GB}}</ref> On 13 February 1991, an [[Amiriyah shelter bombing|aerial bombing attack]] in [[Amiriya]] killed at least 408 civilians.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 February 1991 |title=1991: US bombers strike civilians in Baghdad |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/13/newsid_2541000/2541107.stm |access-date=12 March 2025 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Jeenah |first=Na'eem |authorlink=Na'eem Jeenah |date=July 2001 |title=Al-Amariyah – A Graveyard of unwilling martyrs |url=http://naeemjeenah.shams.za.org/amariyah.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080128175408/http://naeemjeenah.shams.za.org/amariyah.htm |archivedate=28 January 2008 |accessdate=6 May 2009}}</ref> Shortly after the war ended in 1991, ethnic Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq led [[1991 Iraqi uprisings|uprisings against the government]].<ref name="Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 19892" /> Baghdad was sight of clashes between the Shi'ite rebels and [[Republican Guard (Iraq)|Republican Guard]] led by [[Qusay Hussein]].<ref name="Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 19892" /><ref name="Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 1989">{{cite book |author=Thabit Abdullah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeMehH-JadMC&pg=PA82 |title=Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 1989 |publisher=Zed Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84277-787-9 |page=82}}</ref> Another [[1999 Shia uprising in Iraq|uprising occurred in 1999]], after Ayatollah [[Muhammad al-Sadr (jurist)|Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr]] was assassinated in [[Najaf]].<ref name="DavidBlair">{{cite news |author=David Blair |date=17 December 2002 |title=Attack could be spark for Shia Muslim uprising |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1416418/Attack-could-be-spark-for-Shia-Muslim-uprising.html |access-date=1 February 2013 |newspaper=The Telegraph}}</ref> Unrest began as large scale protests took place in Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad, specially [[Saddam City]].<ref name="DavidBlair" /> The Republican Guard deployed in the district suppressed the demonstration, leaving between 27 and 100 dead.<ref name="DavidBlair" /> The city was targeted by the United States and the United Kingdom in [[1993 cruise missile strikes on Iraq|1993]], [[1996 cruise missile strikes on Iraq|1996]], [[1998 bombing of Iraq|1998]], 2000 and [[February 2001 airstrike in Iraq|2001]], with the attack in 1993, led to the killing of Iraqi icon and actress [[Layla Al-Attar]].<ref name="Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 19892" /><ref name="Dictatorship, Imperialism and Chaos: Iraq Since 1989" />

=== 21st century (2001–present) ===
The Gulf War and subsequent sanctions on Iraq led to the decline of Baghdad.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Imperialism |first=Anthony ArnoveTopics |date=1 December 2000 |title=Monthly Review {{!}} Iraq Under Siege |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2000/12/01/iraq-under-siege/ |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=Monthly Review |language=en-US}}</ref> By the end of the 1990s, the government made improvements in Iraq's economy and infrastructure.<ref name="CNN-2001">{{Cite web |title=CNN.com - A decade after Gulf War, Iraq endures - January 17, 2001 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/01/17/gulf.war/ |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=CNN}}</ref> In 2000, a broad initiative came to restore Baghdad's cultural heritage.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whitaker |first=Brian |date=3 January 2001 |title=The great survivor |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/03/iraq.brianwhitaker |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Older mosques, churches, ''mandis'' and synagogues were restored and other historical structures were rebuilt.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 June 2001 |title=ICRC activities on behalf of Iraqi civilians 2000-2001 - Iraq {{!}} ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/icrc-activities-behalf-iraqi-civilians-2000-2001 |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=reliefweb.int |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CNN.com - A sorry state of affairs - Sep. 27, 2002 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/27/sproject.irq.sanctions/index.html |access-date=12 March 2025 |website=CNN}}</ref> Saddam Hussein continued his architectural vision, which boosted further after the war.<ref name="Al-Jazeera">{{Cite news |date=12 December 2001 |title=Baghdad Municipality is preparing to restore al-Rashid Street to its historical status |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2001/12/12/%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%ba%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b9%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%b9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%af |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar}}</ref><ref name="CNN-2001" /> A large number of presidential palaces, and government symbolic structures were built.<ref name="Al-Jazeera"/> These structures further beautified Baghdad.<ref name="Al-Jazeera"/> As a part of Saddam's [[Faith Campaign]], numerous mosques such as [[Umm al-Qura Mosque]] were built.<ref name="Al-Jazeera"/> However, these efforts were interrupted by the war which began in 2003.<ref name="Al-Jazeera"/>
[[File:SaddamStatue.jpg|left|thumb|The statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in [[Firdos Square]] after the U.S invasion of Iraq, 2003]]
In 2003, the United States-led coalition invaded Iraq.<ref name="Tunzelmann-2021">{{Cite news |last=Tunzelmann |first=Alex von |date=8 July 2021 |title=The toppling of Saddam's statue: how the US military made a myth |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/08/toppling-saddam-hussein-statue-iraq-us-victory-myth |access-date=27 July 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> [[Multi-National Force – Iraq|Coalition forces]] launched massive aerial assaults.<ref name="Tunzelmann-2021" /> The resistance of the Iraqi Army of the city's airport delayed coalition's entry into Baghdad.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Limited |first=Elaph Publishing |date=2009-06-03 |title=المقاومة العراقية : أسرار لم تنشر عن سقوط بغداد |url=https://elaph.com/Web/NewsPapers/2009/6/447481.htm |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=Elaph - إيلاف |language=ar}}</ref> Following the [[Battle of Baghdad (2003)|fall of Baghdad]] on 9 April 2003, the government lost its power.<ref name="Tunzelmann-2021" /> A [[Saddam Hussein statue destruction|statue of Saddam was toppled]] in [[Firdos Square|Firdous Square]], symbolizing the end of his rule.<ref name="Tunzelmann-2021" /> Many of the former government officials were either killed or captured, while others managed to escape and flee.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Scott |date=20 May 2003 |title=Iraqis Killing Former Baath Party Members |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/05/20/iraqis-killing-former-baath-party-members/23a5fd36-e6eb-4cc6-bec4-87fca79bc571/ |access-date=3 April 2025 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> After the overthrow the government, the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] (CPA) was formed.<ref name="Karon-2005">{{Cite web |last=Karon |first=Tony |date=29 March 2005 |title=A Power Vacuum in Iraq? |url=https://time.com/archive/6938882/a-power-vacuum-in-iraq/ |access-date=3 April 2025 |website=TIME |language=en}}</ref> [[De-Ba'athification|CPA's decisions]] caused a [[power vacuum]].<ref name="Karon-2005" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rubin |first=Alissa J. |date=3 November 2015 |title=Ahmad Chalabi and the Legacy of De-Baathification in Iraq |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/world/middleeast/ahmad-chalabi-and-the-legacy-of-de-baathification-in-iraq.html |access-date=3 April 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Also two minor riots took place in 2003, on 21 July and 2 October, causing some disturbance in the population.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Staff |date=12 April 2003 |title=Chaos in Baghdad |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/apr/12/iraq6 |access-date=2 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="Vick-2023">{{Cite news |date=24 February 2024 |title=Riots Erupt as Iraqis Await Payment |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/10/05/riots-erupt-as-iraqis-await-payment/6e577fcd-6250-469a-abee-a9ef478d950e/ |access-date=2 October 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Shortly after the invasion and the fall of the regime, an insurgancy began against the U.S-led rule of Iraq, consisting of former government officers and Islamist groups.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iraq's persistent insurgency |url=https://www.rusi.org/publication/iraq%E2%80%99s-persistent-insurgency |access-date=3 April 2025 |website=www.rusi.orghttps |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Flickr - The U.S. Army - Helicopter over Baghdad.jpg|thumb|A [[United States Military]] helicopter flying over [[Al-Rahman Mosque, Baghdad|Al-Rahman Mosque]]]]
Bombings took place at [[Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad|Jordanian Embassy]] and [[Canal Hotel bombing|Canal Hotel]].<ref name="ISW-2025">{{Cite web |title=Institute for the Study of War |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/region/baghdad-city-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%BA%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF |access-date=6 February 2025 |website=Institute for the Study of War |language=en}}</ref> Religious and ethnic minorities,— Christians, Mandaeans, and Jews, began leaving the city out of fear of being targeted in attacks, as they were subjected to kidnappings, death threats, and violence.<ref name="ISW-2025"/> The Iraqi Film Archives site was bombed, priceless collection of artifacts in the [[National Museum of Iraq|National Museum]] was looted by people, thousands of ancient manuscripts in the [[Iraq National Library and Archive|National Library]] were destroyed.<ref name="ISW-2025"/><ref>{{Cite news |title=Out of sight: Iraq's TV archive lost to the war |url=https://www.newarab.com/analysis/out-sight-iraqs-tv-archive-lost-war}}</ref> The [[Haifa Street helicopter incident]] on 12 September was controversial.<ref name="ISW-2025"/> On the eve of [[Ashura]] on 2 March 2004, one of the deadliest bombing took place in Baghdad, that killed at least 80–100 were killed and injured 200 [[Shi'a]] [[Muslims]].<ref name="ISW-2025"/> In 2005, over 965 people were killed in [[Al-Aimmah Bridge]] near [[Al-Kadhimiya Mosque]].<ref name="Sunni rescuer hailed as Iraq hero">{{cite news |date=5 September 2005 |title=Sunni rescuer hailed as Iraq hero |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4214926.stm |access-date=9 November 2013 |publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> Attempts were made to rescue people, specially from the Sunni district of [[Adhamiyah]], which is today seen as a symbol of unity.<ref name="Sunni rescuer hailed as Iraq hero"/>

Coinciding the [[execution of Saddam Hussein]] in 2006, violence increased during the [[Iraqi civil war (2006–2008)|civil war]] between Shi'ite militias and Sunni insurgents.<ref name="ISW-2025"/> Shi'ite militias were [[Muqtada al-Sadr|Muqtada as-Sadr]]'s [[Mahdi Army|Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM)]] and the [[Axis of Resistance|Iranian-backed Special Groups]] and among Sunni insurgents, the largest was [[Al-Qaeda in Iraq|Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)]].<ref name="ISW-2025" /> Sunni insurgents established their bases Mansour, [[Adhamiyah]] and [[Dora, Baghdad|Doura]].<ref name="ISW-2025" /> [[Mansour district]] borders the Shi'ite populated Kadhimiyah and [[Al-Rashid, Baghdad|East Rasheed]].<ref name="ISW-2025" /> Before 2003, it was home to wealthy Sunnis and Ba'athist officials.<ref name="ISW-2025" /> Hence, when the regime fell, it quickly became a stronghold for the Sunni insurgency.<ref name="ISW-2025" /> While Shia militias were based in [[Sadr City]], [[Kadhimiya]]h, and West Rasheed, with [[Bab Al-Sharqi]] becoming stronghold for the Mahdi Army.<ref name="ISW-2025" /> Later, they also expanded into the surrounding districts of eastern Baghdad. 9 Nissan, Karadah, and Rusafa were dominated by Shias.<ref name="ISW-2025" />

Under [[Operation Imposing Law]] (''Operation Fardh al-Qanoon''), the coalition forces and post-2003 Iraqi Army successfully defeated Al-Qaeda and targeted Shia militias.<ref name="ISW-2025" /> By 2009, the level of violence decreased.<ref name="ISW-2025" /> However, violence continued.<ref name="ISW-2025" /> The period surrounding Provincial Elections was remarkably peaceful.<ref name="ISW-2025" /> But Baghdad witnessed an uptick in attacks in early April 2009, when a series of suicide bomb and vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attacks were perpetrated across the capital. <ref name="ISW-2025" /> The war and subsequent occupation ended in 2011, that caused [[Damage to Baghdad during the Iraq War|huge damage]] to Baghdad's transportation, power, and sanitary infrastructure.<ref name="Tunzelmann-2021" /> It resulted in massive civilian casualties, whose number is disputed.<ref name="ISW-2025" />

Though the war ended, but an [[Islamist]] [[Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013)|insurgency]] lasted until 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The March to Baghdad: A Timeline of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq |url=https://teamrwb.org/blog/the-march-to-baghdad-a-timeline-of-the-2003-invasion-of-iraq |access-date=3 October 2024 |website=Team Red, White & Blue |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Institute for the Study of War |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/will-isis-take-baghdad-0 |access-date=3 October 2024 |website=Institute for the Study of War |language=en}}</ref> Baghdad experienced anti-government protests by Sunnis during the Arab Spring. It was followed by [[War in Iraq (2013–2017)|another war]] from 2013 to 2017 and a [[low-intensity conflict|low-level]] insurgency from 2017, which included [[suicide bombing]]s in [[2018 Baghdad bombings|January 2018]] and [[2021 Baghdad bombings|January 2021]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 January 2021 |title=At least 32 killed as first suicide bombing in nearly 2 years rocks Baghdad |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/21/middleeast/iraq-baghdad-explosion-intl/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122065840/https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/21/middleeast/iraq-baghdad-explosion-intl/index.html |archive-date=22 January 2021 |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> It has been site of clashes between the citizens and the government. The city attracted global media attention on 3 January 2020, when Iranian general [[Qasem Soleimani]] was [[Assassination of Qasem Soleimani|assassinated in a U.S. drone strike]] near Baghdad Airport.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 July 2020 |title=Qasem Soleimani: US strike on Iran general was unlawful, UN expert says |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53345885 |access-date=2 October 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>  In December 2015, Baghdad was selected by [[UNESCO]] as the first Arab city of the center of literary creativity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNESCO chooses Baghdad as the first Arab city for literary creativity – Union of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation |url=https://una-oic.org/en/culture-and-arts/2015/12/13/7e63d4ee-4ff2-4611-aa32-b4a3ea257972/ |access-date=18 February 2024 |language=en}}</ref>