The destruction of Baghdad in 1258 was a devastating event in the history of the city and the Islamic world. It occurred when the Mongol forces of Hulagu Khan captured and sacked the city, marking the end of the Abbasid Caliphate. The once-glorious city, renowned as a center of learning and culture, was left in ruins, its libraries and palaces burned, and its citizens murdered or enslaved. The events of that day marked a turning point in the history of Baghdad, and the city would never fully recover during the next centuries from the destruction wrought by the Mongols. The sack of Baghdad remains a symbol of the brutality and violence of Mongol expansion.