This article is about the specific polity Fatimid Caliphate and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east.
Establishment
March 909: Beginning in 902, the dā'ī Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i had openly challenged the Abbasids' representatives in the eastern Maghreb (Ifriqiya.), the Aghlabid dynasty. After a succession of victories, the last Aghlabid emir left the country, and the dā'ī's Kutama troops entered the palace city of Raqqada on 25 March 909. Abu Abdallah established a new, Shi'a regime.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Were a series of military invasions of Egypt by the Fatimid Caliphate. The Fatimids were finally able to conquer Egypt in their third invasion, in 969 AD.
1.1.Fatimid invasion of Egypt (914-915)
Was the first unsuccesfull Fatimid attempt to conquer Eygpt, at the time part of the Abbasid Caliphate.
August 914: The Kutama raided south along the River Nile and devastated the country, reaching as far as Giza.
August 914: The ambitious Habasa, also known as Ahmad ibn Tulun, was the founder of the Tulunid dynasty in Egypt. He defeated an Abbasid force led by Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid at al-Hanniya before capturing Alexandria on 27 August 914.
January 915: Unable to cross the river to Fustat, al-Qa'im moved, with a large part of his army, around Takin's defences and into the fertile Fayyum Oasis.
January 915: On 8 January 915, in a large-scale battle at Giza, the Fatimids were decisively defeated. With his army collapsing, al-Qa'im retreated to Alexandria, which he entered on 23 January.
June 915: Al-Qa'im evacuated Alexandria hastily and without battle, leaving much of his armament and equipment behind.
1.1.1.Conquest of the Cyrenaica
Was a Fatimid military campaign in Cyrenaica, at the time part of the Abbasid Caliphate.
February 914: The expedition against Egypt in 914 was led by the Fatimid Caliphate, who successfully took control of Sirte and Ajdabiya after the Abbasid garrisons abandoned the towns without a fight. This marked a significant victory for the Fatimid Caliphate in their campaign against the Abbasid dynasty.
February 914: Habasa entered Barqa.
1.2.Fatimid invasion of Egypt (919-921)
Was the second unsuccesfull Fatimid attempt to conquer Eygpt, at the time part of the Abbasid Caliphate.
July 919: The vanguard arrived before Alexandria on 9 July 919. The arrival of the Fatimid expeditionary force in July 919 caught the city's governor, Dhuka's son Muzaffar, by surprise. Along with his aides and many of the populace, he fled without giving battle.
August 919: Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im left Alexandria and, bypassing Giza, took over the fertile Fayyum Oasis.
July 921: The city was captured with relative ease from its Kutama garrison (May/June 921).
July 921: On 28 June, Mu'nis and Takin, along with Thamal's fleet, set out to with all their forces to attack Fayyum. Once the Abbasid forces began to advance into the oasis, on 8 July al-Qa'im ordered the retreat.
1.3.Fatimid conquest of Egypt
The troops of the Fatimid Caliphate under the general Jawhar captured Egypt, at the time ruled by the autonomous Ikhshidid dynasty in the name of the Abbasid Caliphate.
June 969: A Fatimid vanguard advanced towards the Fayyum oasis.
June 969: In May 969, the Fatimid army entered the Nile Delta. Jawhar occupied Alexandria without resistance.
July 969: On 3 July, the two armies clashed, and the Fatimids prevailed. No details are known, but the entire Ikhshidid force sent from Giza to oppose the Fatimids was destroyed. The rest of the Ikhshidid troops then abandoned Rawda and dispersed, leaving Fustat.
Were a series military campaigns from the 8th century until 1492 by the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula to reconquer the region from the Islamic rulers that had conquered it during the Umayyad conquest of Hispania.
2.1.Conquests of Abd ar-Rahman III
Were the conquests of the Emir and later Caliph of Córdoba, Abd ar-Rahman III.
January 932: Ceuta conquered by Caliphate of Córdoba.
January 952: Tangiers conquered by Caliphate of Córdoba.
Were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 11th century. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, in the 7th century and continued by their successors until the mid-11th century.
January 976: After dealing with more Church matters, Tzimiskes returned in the spring of 975. Syria, Lebanon, and much of Palestine fell to the imperial armies of Byzantium.
January 996: Aleppo under siege by Abu Mansoor Nizar al-Aziz Billah.
January 996: Byzantine emperor Basil II sacked Emesa and reached as far as Tripoli.
February 996: The Byzantines leave Emesa and Tripoli after a raid.
February 996: End of the Fatimid siege of Aleppo.
April 1000: Byzantine emperor Basil II spent three months in Syria, during which the Byzantines raided as far as Baalbek and sacked Rafaniya.
April 1000: Byzantine emperor Basil II took garrisoned Shaizar, and captured three minor forts in its vicinity: Abu Qubais, Masyath, and 'Arqah.
May 1000: The Byzantines leave Syria after a raid.
January 1018: Acknowledgement of Fatimid suzerainty by Lu'lu' of Aleppo in 1004.
3.1.Byzantine conquest of Damascus, Tiberiade, Nazareth, Acri and Caesarea
Byzantine conquest of Damascus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Acre and Caesarea.
January 976: Byzantine conquest of Damascus, Tiberiade, Nazareth, Acri and Caesarea.
The Caliphate disintegrated in the early 11th century during the Fitna of al-Andalus, a civil war between the descendants of caliph Hisham II and the successors of his hajib (court official), Al-Mansur, leading to the establishment of a multitude of independent Muslim kingdoms (taifas).
January 1032: With the breakup of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 23 taifas, sveral of its territories were acquired by its neighbours.
Expansion during the rule of Tughril I in the Seljuk Empire.
January 1061: Seljuk Sultan Tughril reconquered Baghdad and personally strangled his foster brother İbrahim Yinal who had defected to th Fatimids.
Expansion during the rule of Malik Shah I in the Seljuk Empire.
January 1074: In 1073, the Seljuk Turks captured Jerusalem.
January 1080: The great sultan of the Seljuk Empire, Malik Shah I, occupied Syria, removing it from the control of the local Arab princes and Turkish lords who had already settled there.
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the Medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291.
7.1.First Crusade
Was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic rule.
January 1099: The Fatimids recover Jerusalem in 1098.
June 1099: During the First Crusade Tancred of Hauteville and Gaston IV of Béarn captured Bethlehem.
June 1099: The Crusaders reached Jerusalem and began a siege.
July 1099: Siege of Duncannon.
7.2.Battle of Ramla (1101)
The second Battle of Ramla (or Ramleh) took place on 17 May 1102 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimids of Egypt.
May 1102: The second Battle of Ramla took place on 17 May 1102 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimids of Egypt.
7.3.Crusader invasions of Egypt
Were a series of campaigns undertaken by the Kingdom of Jerusalem to strengthen its position in the Levant by taking advantage of the weakness of Fatimid Egypt.
7.3.1.Siege of Ascalon
Capture of that Egyptian fortress by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
January 1154: Capture of Ascalon, an Egyptian fortress, by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Were a series of conflicts in the Middle Ages between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire.
January 1140: Territorial change based on available maps.
January 910: The dynasty governed as a Muslim theocracy for a century and a half from its capital Tiaret until the Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate destroyed it.
January 921: He went on to capture Fez in 920, expelling the local Idrisid dynasty.
January 922: Kingdom of Sijilmasa conquered by Fatimid Caliphate.
January 922: The Idrisids occupy Fez.
February 922: In 917 the Miknasa and its leader Masala ibn Habus, acting on behalf of their Fatimid allies, attacked Fes and forced Yahya ibn Idris to recognize Fatimid suzerainty, before deposing him in 921.
January 923: End of the Fatimid occupation of Sijilmassa.
January 949: After 948 Sicily became an autonomous emirate under the Kalbids.
January 970: The Ikhshidids came to an end when the Fatimid army conquered Fustat in 969.
January 986: Emesa (Homs), Baalbek, Damascus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Caesarea, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos, and Tripoli are conquered by the Fatimid Caliphate.
January 1001: From the 10th century, after the fall of the Rostemid kingdom by the Fatimids, refugees from Tahert settled in Sedrata near Ouargla. Then they reach the inhospitable region of Chebka du Mzab ("net"). In the eleventh century, they built several cities in the region: Ghardaïa, Melika, Beni Isguen, Bounoura and El Atteuf.
January 1005: In 1004, the Fatimid Imam al-Hakim conferred the name Kanz al-Dawla on the leader of the tribe for the merit of having captured the fugitive Abu Rakwa. This clan gained tremendous power in the Aswan region, gaining formal independence.
January 1013: In 1012, the Emir of Mecca Abu'l-Futuh al-Hasan declared himself caliph.
January 1014: In 1013, Sharifate of Mecca leader, Sharif al-Hasan ibn Ammar, was persuaded to give up his title by the Fatimid Caliphate. This event marked the transfer of power from the Sharifate of Mecca to the Fatimid Caliphate.
January 1015: Hammadid Secession from the Fatimid Caliphate.
January 1025: The Mirdasid Dynasty was Arab dynasty that controlled the Emirate of Aleppo more or less continuously from 1024 until 1080.
January 1030: The Mirdasids lost Hisn Ibn Akkar to the Fatimids in 1029.
January 1050: In 1049 the Zirids broke away from the Fatimid Caliphate by adopting Sunni Islam and recognizing the Abbasids of Baghdad as rightful Caliphs.
January 1050: According to Al-Himyarī, Malta remained almost uninhabited until it was resettled in around 1048 or 1049 by a Muslim community and their slaves, who rebuilt the city of Melite as Medina, making it "a finer place than it was before".
January 1059: A revolt by Turcoman forces in Baghdad against the Seljuqs, led to the loss of the city to the Fatimids Caliph in 1058.
January 1061: Seljuk Sultan Tughril reconquered Baghdad and personally strangled his foster brother İbrahim Yinal who had defected to th Fatimids.
January 1063: The first Sulayhid ruler conquered the whole of Yemen in 1062, and proceeded northwards to occupy the Hejaz.
January 1070: The Sulaymanids were a dynasty of Sherifs from the line of al-Ḥasan, whose center of power was in Ḥarāḑ in northern Tihama in present-day Saudi Arabia and reached Yemen.
August 1111: The population of Ascalon revolted against the Crusaders. Taken over by the Fatimids, Ascalon was their last stronghold in Palestine.
January 1136: Expansion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by ca. 1140 AD:
June 1147: Baldwin III of Jerusalem makes a raid against the fertile Hauran region near Damascus.
July 1147: The forces of Baldwin III of Jerusalem leave the Hauran region after a raid.
January 1170: Nur ed-Din's Kurdish general Shirkuh was successful in conquering Fatimid Egypt in 1169.
January 1171: Saladin destroyed the Frank colonists' unfortified quarters at Darum and Gaza.
Disestablishment
January 1172: On the death of the last Fatimid caliph al-Adîd, on September 13, 1171, Saladin annexed the caliphate, thus returning it to Sunnism.
Selected Sources
Shephard, W. R. (1923): Historical Atlas, New York, Henry Holt and Company, p. 68
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Fatimid Caliphate
