Battle of Manzikert

The Battle of Manzikert was one of the most decisive battles of medieval history, permanently altering the demographic and political map of Anatolia. The Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan faced the Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes, who had personally led an army of approximately 100,000 — including Norman, Cuman, and Frankish mercenaries — to drive the Seljuks from Anatolia. Alp Arslan's force of approximately 40,000 Turkoman cavalry employed classic steppe tactics: feigned retreat and encirclement. As the Byzantine mercenary wings deserted during the retreat phase, the Byzantine centre was enveloped. Romanos IV was captured — an unprecedented humiliation for the Byzantine state. Alp Arslan treated the captured emperor generously and released him for a ransom and territorial concessions. However, Romanos was deposed on returning to Constantinople and blinded. The battle opened Anatolia to Turkic settlement and eventual Islamisation, transforming what had been a core Byzantine territory into the heartland of what would become the Ottoman Empire.