There have been many superpowers in the history of the ancient world, such as Persia, Rome, Arabia, Ottoman Turkey, but now they have disappeared, they have not formed a complete central management system like China's "three princes and six departments", good or bad are determined by the emperor's military literacy and political quality, the powerful Rome has not even been able to form a nation, so far only China can maintain a complete map of the ancient world.
Asia Minor is the westernmost peninsula in Asia, covering an area of about half a million square kilometers, and most of the territory of modern Turkey is located in this area. This region is an important passage between Europe and Asia, and historically it has been the place of repeated rivalry between countless powers, and the Turks gradually gained a foothold here after countless battles into Asia Minor, and a decisive battle with Byzantium took place here.
During the Tang Dynasty, there was a powerful nomadic people in northern China, the Turks, which later split into the Eastern Turks and the Western Turks, which were defeated by the Tang Dynasty, and the Western Turks migrated to Central Asia and developed in Central Asia. Now Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, etc. are descendants of the Turkic peoples.
In Central Asia, the Amu Darya River Basin and the Syr Darya River Basin are famous river-in-river regions, which are important passages for nomads to enter the agricultural civilization of the Middle East. When the Arab nation was strong, they completely controlled the Transoxia region, and there was a battle with the Tang Dynasty, which resulted in the Tang Dynasty's defeat in Central Asia. The Western Turks established themselves in Central Asia were sandwiched between the mighty Arab and Tang powers, during which time the Turks converted to Islam, and the unity of faith made them brothers.
In fact, around the sixth century AD, the Byzantine Empire came into contact with Turks from the steppes of Central Asia, and due to wars and famines, some Turkic peoples entered the Asia Minor Peninsula and established some small states here. These Turkic peoples who settled in Asia Minor often plundered the caravans of the Byzantine Empire at first, and later, perhaps forced by the strength of the Byzantine Empire, these Turks gradually began to ally with the Byzantine Empire, and were assimilated by the Byzantines and became mercenaries of the Byzantine Empire.
The Turkic people who first entered the Asia Minor Peninsula did not make much waves, and while they were fighting for the Byzantine Empire, there was another "slave trade" in the steppes of Central Asia in their homeland, because of the rise of the Ghulam system, countless Turkic herders from Central Asia were trafficked to the Arab Empire to serve as mercenaries for the Abbasid caliphs.
The fate of these Turks who entered the valley of the Two Rivers was obviously much better than that of the Turks who first entered the peninsula of Asia Minor, and as the Abbasid dynasty weakened, the power of the Ghulam mercenaries began to expand, and these arrogant warriors became more and more unpolite to the caliph. In 841 AD, the ninth Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, the death of the Vatic, marked the decline of the Abbasid dynasty, and the subsequent caliph could no longer control the Ghulam mercenaries, and even several calips were killed by Ghulam officers.
In 1055, the Seljuks of Ghulam's mercenaries, led by leader Tucrook, entered Baghdad and proclaimed the Seljuk Empire (1037-1194). Tucrook proclaimed himself sultan (supreme ruler of Islam) and retained only the titular caliph (successor of Muhammad).
Tucrook died shortly after entering Baghdad, and his nephew Ayersland became the new ruler of the empire, a brave and warlike lord who fought numerous battles in his life, each of which ended in a resounding victory. The rise to power of Aylesland brought the Seljuk Empire to its peak.
When the Seljuk Empire occupied large territories, they faced the problem of a nomadic people governing the agrarian peoples and the backward peoples dominating the advanced peoples. The nomads were accustomed to a life of herding and plundering, and there was a huge conflict with the local farming peoples, and in order to secure the rivers and mountains, they had to carry out reforms, but the biggest obstacle to reform was the traditional Turkic nobility, who had to marginalize them. So the Seljuks created a new army, independent of the traditional Turkic cavalry, with soldiers drawn from prisoners. The Mamluk (feudal quarry) system was implemented financially, and the lords of the quarry paid tribute to the central government. In this way, complete control of military and financial power was completed.
In order not to allow the traditional Turkic nobles to plunder the territory, they were sent to the unoccupied region of Asia Minor (Turkey) (which was still under the control of Eastern Rome), so a large number of Turks began to migrate to Turkey. The Turks who entered Asia Minor immediately began attacking the natives, and at this time, on the other side of the Bosphorus, the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV needed to stabilize his throne with a brilliant victory, and the hot-tempered monarch led his army into Armenia and showed his toughness to the Seljuk Empire in the east.
In the autumn of 1070, Aylesland and Romanus signed a friendly agreement that the two countries would no longer harass each other, but only a year later, Romanus broke the agreement and gathered an army of 100,000 men from Constantinople, which Romanus personally led on an expedition against the Seljuk Empire, vowing to completely eliminate the Seljuk threat.
Hearing the news, Aylesland immediately gathered his army to meet the battle, and about 40,000 cavalry followed Aylslan to intercept the Byzantine army, and the two armies met in the Manzikert region of Armenia, and a big battle was inevitable. Prior to this, Aylesland had always avoided war with the Byzantine Empire, because he knew in his heart that although the Byzantine Empire had declined, it was still not to be taken lightly, and the number of troops of the Byzantine Empire showed that they were still capable of fighting a big battle with the Seljuk Empire.
However, since Romanus had already conquered the army, Aylesland had to lead his soldiers to face the battle, and in the middle of August of that year, the two armies that had been assembled began a decisive battle. The Byzantine forces were mainly infantry, while the Turks were cavalry, and in the era of cold weapons, cavalry was tantamount to today's fast-acting armored forces. In the first tentative confrontation, a Byzantine army entered the ambush circle of the Seljuk army, the Seljuk cavalry who were good at riding and shooting slaughtered the Byzantine army, and the commander of the legion told Romanus the news of the heavy casualties, and the enraged Romanus immediately decided to go out and completely destroy the Seljuks.
But what Romanus did not expect was that the Seljuk army at this time had entered the camp of the Byzantine army, and many unsuspecting Byzantine soldiers were killed by the Seljuk cavalry, and when Romanus was ready to go out, he found that there were not many troops he could assemble, and other soldiers were in a melee with the Seljuks. So Romanus had to bite the bullet and take the Byzantine soldiers who could be assembled to the decisive battle, and the army of the Seljuk Empire began to quickly return to the defense, and they returned to Aylesland, waiting for the lord's command.
In order to prevent accidents, Aylesland gathered the nobles and ministers and made them make a vow to support Elslan son Maliksha as the new sultan if Aylslan died in battle. After a simple deployment, Aylesland handed over command of the army to the trusted eunuch Taraug, who himself put on a white robe and rode his horse with the soldiers to charge the battles of the Byzantine Empire.
This behavior of Aylesland undoubtedly aroused the morale of the Seljuk soldiers, who followed Aylslan's side, constantly charging the battle formation of the Byzantine army, and Romanus also immediately commanded the battle, but due to the hasty assembly, many Byzantine soldiers had not yet arrived on the battlefield, resulting in the front army could not stop the fierce Seljuk cavalry. After only one afternoon of fighting, Romanus' army fled, many soldiers fled, and the Seljuk army took advantage of the victory to annihilate the fleeing Byzantine army and capture Romanus alive.
After the Battle of Manzikert , Aylslan met the captured Romanus , and the victor did not execute Romanus , and he ordered the release of Romanus and his remnants on the condition that the Byzantine Empire pay a large ransom to the Seljuk Empire. Helpless, Romanus agreed to Aylesland's request, but soon after Romanus returned to Constantinople, he lost a court battle, Romanus was blinded, and died a tragic death on an island.
The victor of the Battle of Manzikert, Aylesland, died soon after in an accidental assassination that led to the fall of the Seljuk Empire. However, this decisive battle between the Seljuk Empire and the Byzantine Empire opened the prelude to the invasion of the Asian Minor Peninsula by the Turks. After the Battle of Manzikert, the power of the Byzantine Empire had been eliminated from the Asia Minor Peninsula, and the Central Asian Turks began to migrate to the rich Asia Minor Peninsula in large numbers, which within a few years changed the ethnic structure of Turkey and still live here, while the Turkic people left in Central Asia were gradually assimilated by the natives.
Later, the Asia Minor Peninsula was ruled by the royal family members of the Seljuk Empire, who established many small principalities such as the Sultanate of Roma (1077~1307, meaning the Roman state of the Turks) on the peninsula. The Byzantine Empire asked the Roman Catholic Church to send troops to help, and the famous Crusade took place. At the beginning of the Crusades, the Romani Sultanate could not resist and even lost the capital, but the task given by the Pope to the Crusaders was not to destroy the Turks, but to take back the holy city of Jerusalem, so they did not stop for a long time in Turkey, and immediately moved south to occupy Damascus, besieged Jerusalem, and began to slaughter the city after the city was broken. The crusades lasted for more than 200 years, after which the Mongol Xulehu conquered Central and West Asia, captured Baghdad and slaughtered cities, advanced to Asia Minor, and the Roma state became the head of the country, and the Mongol Ilkhanate (1256–1335) quickly declined like a whirlwind.
The Roma state barely survived for more than 200 years, giving birth to the mighty Ottoman Empire. Then, the Ottoman army captured Constantinople in 1453 AD, and if the Battle of Manzikert opened the curtain on the decline of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman rulers buried the Byzantine Empire with their own hands.