Nine Seljuk sultans rule Baghdad between 1118 and 1194; only one dies a natural death.

The atabegs, who initially had been majordomos for the Seljuks, begin to assert themselves.

Several found local dynasties.

An atabeg originates the Zengid Dynasty (1127-1222), with its seat at Mosul.

The Zengids are instrumental in encouraging Muslims to oppose the invasions of the Christian Crusaders.

Toghril (1177-94), the last Seljuk sultan of Iraq, is killed by the leader of a Turkish dynasty, the Khwarezm shahs, who live south of the Aral Sea.

Before his successor can establish Khwarezm rule in Iraq, however, Baghdad will be overrun by the Mongol horde.

A powerful Mongol leader named Temujin brings together a majority of the Mongol tribes in the early years of the thirteenth century and leads them on a devastating sweep through China.

He changes his name at about this time to Genghis Khan, meaning "World Conqueror."

He turns his force of seven hundred thousand west in 1219 and quickly devastates Bokhara, Samarkand, Balkh, Merv, and Neyshabur (in present-day Iran), where he slaughters every living thing.

Pillaging and burning cities along the way, Genghis Khan reaches western Azerbaijan in Iran
before his death in 1227.