Battle of Ain Jalut (1260)

The Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine in 1260 saw the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt defeat the Mongol army that had swept through Persia, Iraq, and Syria — the first major defeat of the Mongols in open battle and their permanent westward limit. Had the Mongols prevailed, their advance into Egypt and North Africa might have continued, potentially destroying the cultural infrastructure of the Islamic world that preserved ancient knowledge through the Dark Ages.