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The Byzantine Empire was the successor to the Roman Empire and ruled a large area in Europe and the Middle East. It was very important in the history of the Balkans and Russia especially and it kept the Arabs and the Muslims out of Europe for centuries. In 1071 the Empire seemed invincible, it had reversed many years of decline under a series of energetic Emperors. It had recovered many territories that had been lost to its enemies and was a powerful political and military force. The Battle of Manzikert was to change this and this article will argue that it led to the decline in the Byzantine Empire, the beginning of Turkish control in Asia Minor and directly led to the Crusades. The Battle was undoubtedly one of the most important in medieval history and its repercussions can still be felt to this day.

====Background====

By 1050 the Byzantine Empire was a very strong state, with a highly professional army, sophisticated bureaucracy and extensive territories from northern Iraq to the Danube. The Empire had enjoyed a renaissance under the Macedonian Dynasty and especially under the capable Basil II. A common Greek Christian Orthodox Culture unified the diverse peoples’ of the realm, and this was exported to the Slavs of Eastern Europe. However, after the death of Basil II, the Macedonian dynasty came to an end and the Empire was led by a series of ineffectual Emperors and was devasted by several civil wars. In 1071 the Emperor was Romanus IV Diogenes (1068–1071), a member of the Cappadocian military aristocracy. He was an experienced general, but he had alienated many in the Byzantine aristocracy who saw him as a usurper and resented his authoritarianism. The strategic situation facing the Byzantine Empire was very dangerous. The Empire had appeared secure especially after its destruction of the Bulgar Empire. However, the Pencheng Turks, from the Eurasian Steppes threatened the Empire’s Balkan and Black Sea possessions. In Italy, the Normans were seizing the last remaining Byzantine possessions in Italy. The biggest threat to the Empire was posed by the Seljuk Turks. These had been nomads in Central Asia and had been converted to Islam about 1000 AD. The Turks were led by the Seljuk family and they invaded southwestern Asia in the 11th century<ref> A.C.S. Peacock and Sara Nur Yildiz, The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East, (I.B. Tauris, 2015), p. 29 </ref>. They were able to defeat the various Muslim dynasties that had seized power after the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate. They founded an empire that included Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the majority of Iran. Their conquests were at the start of Turkish domination in the Middle East that was to last for centuries. The Seljuks attacked the Christian allies of the Byzantines in the Caucasus' and conquered Armenia. They also began to raid deep into Byzantine territory which they regarded as a Jihad and even managed to seize key fortresses on the Christian Empire’s territory.