Key Facts
- Siege start
- 1625
- Siege lifted
- July 1626
- Duration
- Approx. 1 year
- Ottoman retreat to
- Mosul
- Safavid capture of Baghdad
- 1624 (preceding event)
Strategic Narrative Overview
Ottoman forces advanced on Baghdad and breached the city's outer fortifications, appearing to gain early momentum. However, Shah Abbas of Persia dispatched reinforcements that bolstered the city's defenses. Repeated Ottoman assaults failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough, and the besieging army suffered increasingly from logistical difficulties and dwindling supplies, gradually eroding the viability of continued operations around the fortified city.
01 / The Origins
In 1624, Safavid Persia seized Baghdad from the Ottomans, reversing decades of Ottoman control over the strategically vital city in Mesopotamia. This loss prompted a direct Ottoman response: Grand Vizier Hafız Ahmed Pasha was tasked with organizing a major military expedition to retake the city, launching the siege in 1625 as part of the wider Ottoman–Safavid War that had erupted in 1623 over control of Iraq.
03 / The Outcome
Unable to take Baghdad and weakened by supply shortages, the Ottomans lifted the siege in July 1626 and withdrew northward to Mosul. The result was a strategic Persian victory: Safavid control over Baghdad was preserved and remained intact for years. The city would not return to Ottoman hands until 1638, when Murad IV finally recaptured it under the Treaty of Zuhab.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Hafız Ahmed Pasha.
Side B
1 belligerent
Shah Abbas I.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.