Warriors of Ain Jalut

The battle of Ain Jalut (1260) was a relatively small, but symbolically important battle fought in modern day Israel between the Mongol Ilkhanate of Iran/Anatolia and the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt.

Background
In 1260, the Mongols had taken over most of the known world, claiming to own everything from modern day Poland and Turkey in the west to China and parts of India in the east. Their armies were probably the most organised fighting force ever to have existed up until the invention of musket warfare, and writers at the time were nothing short of bitter that this rather small tribe of milk-drinking nomads had defeated some of the largest empires ever to have existed. However, by 1260 they had begun to settle down -- especially in Iran, where they set up the prosperous Ilkhanate, and the rulers did typically Iranian things like drinking wine, painting, looking at gardens and writing homoerotic poetry about slave boys.

In a long-winded twist of irony, their conquest of modern day Ukraine ended up causing their first major defeat. When they captured this region, it gave them access to one of the largest and most prevalent people-trafficking rings at the time. Nomads living in the region often fought against one another, and since the origin of Islam were trained from a young age as "slave soldiers", or Mamluks, in various Islamic kingdoms and sultanates. Some of them held considerable power, especially in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and modern day Pakistan, where they managed to overthrow the government on several occasions. The Mongol capture of the Crimea and the regions surrounding the Caucus mountains sent thousands more prisoners of war on their way to become Mamluks, including Qutuz, who was the general at Ain Jalut.

However, since they were transported away from their families, there was no risk (from a Sultan's point of view) of your jealous and power-hungry aunty turning the Mamluks against you, so quite often they were used as full-time guards in an era where armies would be raised only when needed. They didn't take nonsense from anyone.
This was especially true in Egypt. They took over Saladin's former empire and fought off two crusades without breaking a sweat. Their neighbours quickly realised that these badboys weren't playing around.

The Battle
The Mongol Ilkhans decided it was time to conquer Egypt, because you know, why not. They quickly scrounged together an army of over 100,000 men (an enormous amount, which approached the limits of army supply back then). They sent the same message they sent to all their enemies before conquering them, which went along the lines of, "we're horrible people. We'll cut your cute little babies into four pieces and feel no remorse because we're that nasty. If you don't surrender right now, we'll commit genocide and enjoy doing it"
The Mamluk sultan at the time, the blonde-haired Qutuz, killed the messener, which was a heinous crime in the Mongol code of conduct. He'd probably have been responsible for the destruction of Egypt, but as the Mongol army led by Hulegu was marching south to kick his ass, Great Khan Mongke, ruler of all the mongols, died. 
This sent the four lesser (but still incredibly powerful) Khans back to Mongolia to stake their claim to the throne. Hulegu left Kitbuqa, one of his generals, with around 17,000 men to finish the job while he ran back off to Mongolia.

Long story short, Hulegu took all the good soldiers for himself. Kitbuqa was left with Georgians, Armenians, Anatolians and other not-so-warlike people who weren't too motivated. He was actually a fairly cautious man and was about to retreat, but the Mamluks forced him into battle and (barely) defeated him. This was a huge blow to the Mongols who had never been so badly defeated in open battle before.

Over the next few decades, the Mongols made several attempts to defeat the Mamluks but never gained much ground. Similarly the Mamluks just didn't have the manpower to take on what was essentially the entire middle east. Modern day Israel and Syria stagnated into an impoverished no-man's land and never fully recovered.

The Armies: Left to Right
Armenian Footman.
The Armenians surrendered to the Mongols quite quickly and ended up forming a large portion of their army in the region. They would have been nigh indistinguishable from European footmen of the same time period, wearing chainmail and nasal helmets. They were used as spearmen in the battle of Ain Jalut.

Sudanese Spearman.
The Sudanese had been fighting for the rulers of Egypt for thousands of years. They were feared locally for their fighting prowess, but often came into conflict with the Mamluks and Bedouins who came to make up the Egyptian army between 900AD and 1200AD.
They are often depicted wearing padded cloths over chainmail, but they would have worn and used a variety of weapons and fulfulled a number of roles. Some were horsemen, others archers, still others were generals.

Mamluk Horseman.
The Mamluks would have worn armour similar to the Ayyubids, who ruled Egypt before them. They were primarily horse archers but were trained in swordsmanship and lancemanship as well, making them incredibly flexible in a field battle. It's said that they would practice the same sword cut hundreds of times a day, every day.
They would have worn Lamellar, which was comprised of metal scales interlinked, and chainmail underneath, making them nearly impervious to sword cuts and spear thrusts -- perhaps even arrows. They quite often used maces instead of the typical straight arab swords.

Mongol Horseman.
The "Mongols" I refer to above were not all Mongolian. Most were other nomads from around the empire. They were also primarily horse archers, but very few of them would have worn as much lamellar as is depicted above. Most wore various types of leather, which was effective against glancing sword blows but not a spear point. It's also believed that they wore silk under their clothes, which protected against arrows remarkably well.
They used "recurve" bows, which had more tendons in them than wood. They could fire remarkably far and were small, perfect for use on the tiny horses the Mongols rode.