Battle of Manzikert

August 26, 1071

On a plain in eastern Anatolia, Alp Arslan's Seljuks routed the Byzantine army of Romanos IV and captured the emperor himself. Released on humiliating terms, Romanos returned to Constantinople to find himself deposed, blinded, and dying. Anatolia, the heart of Byzantine manpower for seven centuries, began slipping under Turkish settlement.