Byzantine–Seljuk wars

Byzantine–Seljuk wars

The Byzantine–Seljuk wars were a series of conflicts in the Middle Ages between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire. They shifted the balance of power in Asia Minor, Armenia and Syria, sparking multiple wars for control over these regions, including the Crusades. These conflicts lasted until the collapse of the Sultanate of Rum in 1308. The Battle of Manzikert of 1071 is widely regarded as the turning point of the wars. The battle opened up Anatolia for further Turkoman raids, migrations and settlements. The Byzantine military had declined in manpower and equipment prior to 1071, with constant Turkoman incursions overrunning the failing Thematic System. After Manzikert, Byzantine rule over Asia Minor did not end immediately, nor were any heavy concessions levied by the Seljuks on their opponents. It took another two decades before the Seljuks, Turkomans, Danishmendids and Chaka were in control of most of the Anatolian peninsula, before they were repulsed from the coastlines. During the course of the war, the Seljuks and their allies attacked the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt, capturing the religious center of Jerusalem and catalyzing the call for the First Crusade by Pope Urban II, after Alexios I Komnenos asked for military assistance. Within a hundred years, the Byzantines had successfully driven back the Seljuks from the coasts of Asia Minor and extended their influence to the Levant. Following the Fourth Crusade however, and the sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Byzantine Empire became fractured, beginning the Struggle for Constantinople. Before the conflict ended, the Seljuks managed to raid and conquer more territory from the weakened Empire of Nicaea, until the Sultanate itself was taken over by the Mongols, leading to the fall of Rum and the rise of the Ghazis, and the conclusive Byzantine–Ottoman wars.

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Byzantine–Seljuk wars

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