The Mongol Hulagu Khan entering Baghdad in 1256 (litho)

The Mongol Hulagu Khan entering Baghdad in 1256. After the beginning of the twelfth century Persia, nominally under the Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad, was really divided up into many principalities, the later Seljuks, the Shahs of Khwarizm and the Salghari Atabegs of Fars acting in succession as regents for the Caliphs. It was the internecine strife between the Seljuks of Rum and the Shahs of Khwarizm that gave the Mongol leader Hulagu Khan his chance, and enabled him to put an end to the Caliphate in 1256, and found the dynasty of the Mongol Ilkhans (nominal viceroys) of Persia, whose empire extended from the Bosphorus to the confines of China. Illustration for Hutchinson's History of the Nations (Hutchinson, c.1920). Note: Image has been digitally enhanced to facilitate repro.