Qutuz was the Mamluk sultan who defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut. The battle was fought on 3 September 1260 near a spring in the Jezreel Valley, in modern-day Israel.
The Mongol advance into the Middle East had already captured Baghdad, Aleppo, and Damascus. Their commander, Kitbuqa, led a smaller force into Palestine after Hulagu Khan withdrew much of his army to deal with political affairs in Mongolia. Qutuz, ruling Egypt, marched north with a Mamluk army to meet them.
Mamluk commander Baybars played a major role in the battle by leading the vanguard and using hit-and-run attacks and a feigned retreat. Qutuz then committed the main force and helped turn the engagement into a decisive Mamluk victory. Kitbuqa was killed, and the Mongols were pushed out of Syria.
A common mix-up is to credit Baybars alone because he was the battlefield strategist and later became sultan. However, Qutuz was the reigning sultan and the political leader of the victorious Mamluk army. He was assassinated on the journey back to Cairo, after which Baybars succeeded him.