The Battle of Manzikert

Since ancient times, among those steeped in history, there has been a saying that still holds true today:,
about when the history of modern Hellenism begins
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Some date the beginning to 1453 when Constantinople fell,
others
in 1204 when Constantinople fell for the first time during the Fourth Crusade
and others
from 1071 and the Battle of Manzikert
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For many, this battle is the most important one in the history of modern Greece.
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So let's go see it.
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When Basil the Bulgar-Slayer died, he left behind a powerful empire, with coffers full and incredible prestige and power.
therefore
all the big shots want to be emperors
and so began the feasting
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the intrigues were going on and the most incompetent and corrupt took over
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and give him intrigues
and give him plans on how they will eat the throne
and give him marriages of convenience
and give him intrigues
and those who rose to power were able to buy influence with public money, of course.
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As you can imagine, this caused the empire to gradually decline,
until we reached 1059,
when Constantine X Doukas became emperor, a scoundrel of the few
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He squandered everything he had left standing, specializing in money, which he scattered among the church and his close friends.,
the positions of power he distributed among his relatives
and to the army that completely destroyed him
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After ten years, however, his widow died, and she was married by a great man, Romanos IV Diogenes.
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As soon as he took over, problems began to surface.

Throughout the empire, we had attacks, occupations of territories, and looting.
to the west, they were attacked by the Normans, and to the east, the Seljuks carried out raids.
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and have the aspiring suitors in Constantinople trying with a thousand intrigues to knock you off your throne
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decided it,
He will campaign himself, going to the eastern border of the empire, present-day Malazgirt in Turkey,
(much deeper than Ankara, almost next to Armenia)
and he will strike them there,
will win and thus have 2 successes:

and
will be rid of the Seljuks and their attacks
and
will consolidate his position as emperor
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But what army?;
the previous ones had destroyed it...
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Eventually, he managed to assemble an army of locals and mercenaries,
about 40,000 nomads
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made it and started
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To show unity to the people, he took Andronikos Doukas, son of his greatest internal enemy, and made him commander of the rearguard.
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To cut a long story short,
Today, Wednesday, August 26, 1071, in Manzikert, he meets with the main army of the Seljuks under their leader, Alp Arslan.
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Alp Arslan has climbed a hill and is watching the movements to direct them accordingly.
So when he sees how big it was
the opposing army orders them to follow the tactic of checking.

i.e.
They knock and retreat a little to see
and again and again and again
something like guerrilla warfare but on a battlefield
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In any case, the battle continues and by the afternoon the Byzantines have suffered heavy losses.
so
the emperor seeing that night was falling
orders a tactical retreat.

and tomorrow is your day, he says,
Let's gather together to camp and continue tomorrow.
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then,
the leader of the reserve and his political opponent, Andronikos Doukas,
orders a disorderly retreat,
type
They ate us alive, every man for himself...

so
you suddenly saw the rearguard disband, throw away the weapons that weighed them down, and run
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The others who were returning, seeing this, thought that a general order to retreat had been given, and they too ran away, caught up in the psychology of the crowd.,
everyone started running
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Alp Arslan, seeing this,
He gets excited and says that Allah has driven them mad, and they leave. Chase them.

But what should they pursue?;
Only a few remained behind with the emperor, who were surrounded by the Seljuks, and few survived.
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The emperor was arrested, wounded, and taken to the sultan's tent.
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When he woke up,
the sultan, after stepping on his neck (according to the gossip of the time)
to show him that he had defeated him, then he sat him down in an armchair next to him and told him that
does not want the Kingdom
He wants money, borders, cooperation, and to be left alone to head for Egypt.
(This was the Sultan's goal from the outset, Egypt)
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The emperor accepted them, and so the sultan set him free, allowing those of his people who were still alive to return home.
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HOWEVER,
By the time they arrived, the others had already arrived first.,
Andronikos Doukas, with those who retreated,
they had installed another emperor and seized all the positions
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Upon arriving in Asia Minor, Romanus Diogenes is told that he is not an emperor.
What do you say?;
tells them
I signed an agreement with the Seljuks, and we were saved.
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they learn this from the traitor Andronikos Doukas and his father, who had already been appointed commanders of the army.
and they go out with the army,
surround Romanos Diogenes,
they slaughter all the emperor's companions,
arrest him and force him to sign his abdication from the throne
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He realizes that his lamp is running low on oil and tells them, "I will sign, but you must let me live and go become a monk in a monastery.".
They swear they won't kill him,
he signs,
They let him live, but they cut out both his eyes with a knife right there on the spot.
and send him to the monastery
but
Because they were always afraid, they had someone poison him, and so Romanos Diogenes died within a few days.
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all is well
the swindlers will continue to tear the empire to shreds
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hmm
Everything would be fine if Alp Arslan didn't find out, who says
I had an agreement with him.
now that he's dead, I don't have a deal
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Thus, the highly capable Seljuks conquered all of Asia Minor (except for the coast and the region of Trebizond).
Facing an incompetent and corrupt army of an already tattered Byzantine Empire
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the rest is history...
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since then (1071) we have been condemned to have the Turks as neighbors
or rather
they condemned us...

no,
neither God nor Allah
Our corrupt internal fraudsters have condemned us... Does this remind you of anything?;

Author of the article:

Yannis Golias