Hulagu destroys the Assassin strongholds

1256

The Mongol army besieged and captured the mountain fastnesses of the Nizari Ismailis, including the legendary Alamut with its library and gardens. Their grand master surrendered and was later murdered. The sect that had terrorized sultans and caliphs for a century was crushed. The Assassins' network of mountain fortresses, which had seemed impregnable for generations, fell one by one to Hulagu's Chinese siege engineers.