Crusades · 1187

Battle of Hattin

Salahuddin cut the crusaders off from water on a hot July day. Their army was destroyed and King Guy captured, leaving Jerusalem almost undefended.

The site of the battle on the 1190 map. Shaded: Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Ayyubid Sultanate, 1192, Crusader territory left in 1192.

Key facts

When: 1187
Where: Near Tiberias, Palestine
Sides: Ayyubids vs Kingdom of Jerusalem
Commanders: Salahuddin al-Ayyubi vs King Guy of Lusignan
Result: Decisive Muslim victory
Type: Crusades
Chapter: 3. The Abbasids, the Crusades and the Mongols

Who led it

Salahuddin al-Ayyubi1137 to 1193
A Kurdish officer who ended the Fatimid caliphate in 1171 and united Egypt and Syria.

The wider picture: The Crusades and Salahuddin

The Seljuk win at Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to the Turks, and Byzantium asked Europe for help. The First Crusade took Jerusalem in 1099. Zengi, his son Nur al-Din and then Salahuddin rebuilt Muslim unity, and Salahuddin won back Jerusalem in October 1187, three months after Hattin.

See the 1190 map Read chapter 3

More crusades battles

All 9 crusades battles · Battle explorer

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