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Debacle at Manzikert, 1071: Prelude to the Crusades

Debacle at Manzikert, 1071: Prelude to the Crusades

By Brian Carey

Medieval History Magazine, Issue 5 (2004)

Introduction: The Seljuks, like other Central Asian nomads before them, relied on light cavalry horse archers as their primary means of attack. These Turks proved irresistible on the battlefield, conquering the Muslim states in present day Syria, northern Mesopotamia, and Armenia and continuing a tradition of raids into warfare with the Eastern Roman Empire. The conflict between the Byzantine army and Seljuk invaders would culminate in one of the most important battles in western civilization, the battle of Manzikert in 1071, the results which would forever weaken a great empire and become a casus belli for the crusades against the Islamic residents of the Holy Land.

Click here to read this article from De Re Militari

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