The 1534 Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...

 of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 from the Safavid dynasty

Safavid dynasty

The Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...

 under Tahmasp I

Tahmasp I

Tahmasp or Tahmasb I was an influential Shah of Iran, who enjoyed the longest reign of any member of the Safavid dynasty...

 was part the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1532 to 1555

Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555)

The Ottoman–Safavid War of 1532–1555 was fought between the Ottoman Empire of Suleiman the Magnificent and the Persian Safavid Empire of Tahmasp I.-Background:...

, itself part a series of Ottoman–Persian Wars

Ottoman–Persian Wars

Below is the list of wars between the Ottoman Empire and Persia in the 16th–19th centuries. The Ottomans consolidated their control of what is today Turkey in the 15th century, and gradually came into conflict with the emerging Persian state, led by Ismail I of the Safavid dynasty...

. It was taken without resistance, the Safavid government having fled and leading the city undefended. Baghdad's capture was a significant achievement given it's mastery of the Tigris

Tigris

The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...

 and Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 rivers and their international and regional trade. It represented, along with the fall of Basra

Basra

Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...

 in 1546, a significant step towards eventual Ottoman victory and the procurement of the lower Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

, the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, opening a trading outlet into the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

. The Ottomans wintered there until 1535, overseeing the reconstruction of Sunni and Shia religions shrines and agricultural irrigation projects. Suleiman returned to Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 leaving a strong garrison force. Over the next few decades the Ottomans solidified their control of the region, incorporating it into the Empire until it's collapse following the First World War.

See also

• Growth of the Ottoman Empire
  Growth of the Ottoman Empire
  The Growth of the Ottoman Empire is the period followed after the Rise of the Ottoman Empire in which the Ottoman state reached the Pax Ottomana. In this period, the Ottoman Empire expanded southwestwards into North Africa and battled with the re-emergent Persian Shi'ia Safavid Empire to the east...
  
  
• Campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent
• History of Baghdad
  History of Baghdad
  This article documents the history of Baghdad. Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. With a metropolitan area estimated at a population of 7,000,000, it is the largest city in Iraq...