Battle of Manzikert 1071
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1071 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Turkey | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Byzantine–Seljuq Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Byzantine Empire, Seljuk Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 39.1000, 42.5900 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, eastern Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and the capture of the emperor Romanos IV Diogenes played an important role in undermining Byzantine authority in Anatolia and Armenia, and allowed for the gradual Turkification of Anatolia. Many Turks, travelling westward during the 11th century, saw the victory at Manzikert as an entrance to Asia Minor.
The brunt of the battle was borne by the Byzantine army's professional soldiers from the eastern and western tagmata, as large numbers of mercenaries and Anatolian levies fled early and survived the battle. The fallout from Manzikert was disastrous for the Byzantines, resulting in civil conflicts and an economic crisis that severely weakened the Byzantine Empire's ability to defend its borders adequately. This led to the mass movement of Turks into central Anatolia – by 1080, an area of 78,000 square kilometres (30,000 sq mi) had been gained by the Seljuk Turks. It took three decades of internal strife before Alexius I (1081–1118) restored stability to Byzantium.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Manzikert (revision 1371431660), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Kara Killisse (1915) 1915 · 79 km
- Battle of Bitlis 1915 · 88 km
- Defense of Van (1896) 1896 · 93 km
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Other battles of the Byzantine–Seljuq Wars
- Battle of Kapetron 1048
- Battle of the Stragna River 1048
- Siege of Manzikert (1054) 1054
- Siege of Nicaea (1113) 1113
- Battle of Philomelion (1116) 1116
- Battle of Myriokephalon 1176
- Siege of Trebizond (1205–1206) 1205
- Siege of Attaleia 1207
- Battle of Antioch on the Meander 1211
- Siege of Sinope 1214
All 11 battles of the Byzantine–Seljuq Wars →
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