The Mongol invasion of Central Asia was triggered when the ruler of the Khwarezmian Empire executed Mongol envoys.

In response, Genghis Khan led a massive invasion that utterly destroyed the Khwarezmian Empire.

Major cultural and commercial centers like Samarkand and Bukhara were sacked and their populations massacred.

The Mongols used terror as a deliberate policy, systematically destroying cities that resisted.

In the mid-13th century, Genghis Khan's grandson, Hulagu Khan, led a major invasion of the Middle East.

Hulagu's army sacked Baghdad in 1258, burning its libraries, killing the last Abbasid Caliph, and ending the Islamic Golden Age.

They also destroyed the Assassins' mountain fortress at Alamut in Persia.

The Mongol advance continued into Syria, where they captured the cities of Aleppo and Damascus.

The Mongol westward advance was finally halted in 1260 at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, where they were defeated by the Mamluks of Egypt.

The Mongol conquests brought immense destruction and demographic change to the region.