1071
Battle of Manzikert
The setting
Near Manzikert (modern Malazgirt), eastern Anatolia, in Byzantine Armenia
The open Malazgirt plain, with the Seljuk army deployed in a crescent several kilometres from the Byzantine line.
Reveal the outcome
Recorded sideSeljuk Empire (Alp Arslan)
Recorded resultvictory
Decisive Seljuk victory; Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes was captured, the first such capture by a Muslim commander.
How the atlas explains it
Seljuk horse archers used feigned retreat and harassment to draw out and tire the Byzantine line; when Romanos ordered a withdrawal at dusk, the rearguard under Andronikos Doukas abandoned the army (through misunderstanding or treachery) and earlier Turkic mercenary defection compounded the collapse, allowing the Seljuks to envelop and shatter the center.
What followed
Though militarily not a slaughter, it led to the capture of the emperor and triggered Byzantine civil strife that opened the Anatolian interior to permanent Turkish settlement, beginning the long decline of Byzantine power in Asia Minor.