Battle of Manzikert Opens Anatolia to the Turks
- Date
- 26 August 1071
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- West Asia
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
On 26 August 1071, near Manzikert (modern Malazgirt in eastern Anatolia), the Byzantine army under Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes was decisively defeated by the Seljuk forces of Sultan Alp Arslan.
Treachery among the Byzantine commanders and the collapse of the army's wings led to a rout, and Romanos became the only Byzantine emperor ever captured alive by a Muslim ruler, though Alp Arslan released him on terms after a brief captivity. The defeat shattered the empire's professional field army and, amid the civil wars that followed, fatally undermined Byzantine authority across Anatolia and Armenia. Turkish warbands subsequently overran the Anatolian plateau, beginning the long process of its Turkification and the founding of the Sultanate of Rum. The loss of these wealthy recruiting and grain-producing heartlands marked a turning point in Byzantine decline, and the empire's later appeals to the West for military aid helped spur the First Crusade.
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Empires active in 26 August 1071
- Abbasid Caliphate750 CE – 1258 CE
- Seljuk Empire1037 CE – 1194 CE
- Almoravid Empire1056 CE – 1147 CE
- Song Dynasty960 CE – 1279 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Fatimid Conquest of Egypt and Founding of Cairo969 CE
- The Norman Conquest of England (Battle of Hastings)14 October 1066
- Battle of Bach Dang ends Chinese rule over VietnamDecember 938 CE
- The First Crusade and the capture of Jerusalem1095–1099
- Mongol sack of Baghdad ends the Abbasid Caliphate10 February 1258 CE
- Battle of Lechfeld ends Magyar raids on the West10–12 August 955 CE
Further reading
The wider story
When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World
Popular history of the Abbasid golden age.
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